I have been writing this column for 18 years by my count. We have shared a lot trips and adventures during that time. I have talked to hundreds of folks who enjoy the outdoors in many fashions. The most rewarding thing for an outdoor writer is to get a good story from someone. I have been fortunate that folks are generous in sharing their experiences and adventures. Another exciting aspect to communicating the outdoor experience is meeting the industrys celebrities and heroes. Ill never forget the first time I met Uncle Homer Circle, a legend in outdoor sports writing and photography. I have never known such a renowned man to be so personable and humble. Uncle Homer is one of those people who creates automatic friendships part of that is his skill as a listener. I recall him saying to a group of novices in a workshop, You boys need to know, you dont get any stories by retelling yours to others. You get stories by getting folks to share theirs with you. And remember, listen with intensity and dignity to everyones tale. I am a sucker for folks I meet who have only been known to me as a brand name or the name on a byline. Serving on a committee in the Southeastern Outdoor Press Association, I once went to a meeting and sat down with Soc Clay, a Kentucky writer, lecturer and outstanding photographer; Sharon Rushton, formerly with Berkley Fishing and now nationally promoting the hunting and fishing industries through the STEP Outside program; funny-man boat-builder Cliff Shelby with Ranger Boats in Flippin, Ark., the best outdoor cartoonist in the business; Tim Tucker, who has authored numerous fishing books and commonly has articles in three or four top magazines each month; Boyd Pfeiffer, a photographer extraordinaire; and Wade Bourne, of Clarksville, Tenn., a radio and TV personality and one of the most published outdoor communicators of the last quarter-century. What all of these men and women had in common besides being enormously talented communicators was that they each met me, the rookie, on my ground and helped me build my knowledge and comfort through their patience and experience. It was exciting the first time I met David Hale of Knight and Hale fame. Here was one of the giants of the game-call industry living in Cadiz. Over the years, David has been a resource for countless pieces of information that I have passed on to you. Russ Marksbury can make an alien feel like an old friend in minutes. He and his brother began some of the first work on in-line black powder rifles and patented the Marksbury Rifle series, some of the most accurate and reliable firearms on the market. Recently I rekindled an acquaintance with Lee Sisson, a self-made hero in the business of designing artificial lures. I bet you have crankbait in your tackle box right now that was either designed or refined by Lee. Louisiana-born, Lee grew up fishing and was an avid fisherman until the dreaded malady of teenager-dom overcame him. Lee didnt start fishing again until he was playing football for Louisiana Tech. Oddly enough, it was his quarterback that got him out on the water again. That was Terry Bradshaw youve heard of him. After a career-ending injury during his junior year, Lee took up fishing to replace football. He got good at it, nearing to the top in numerous tournament circuits. Lee said he decided that he was a lot better at making lures than he was at casting them. He began before 1975 whittling crankbaits in his garage and sharing them with a local bait shop owner. The lures looked good and they worked well. His bait shop buddy sent a sample of Lees lures to Jim Bagley. That started a new venture that took him through a dozen years as chief designer for Bagley Baits. Ever heard of the Balsa Bee, Honey B, Killer B, and the Bagley BDO series of lures? They were Sissons designs. Lee believes his greatest contribution to the industry was developing the long-lip, deep-diving crankbaits that changed the world of angling. In talking with him, I discovered that Lee is still at it. He has lived in Florida for several years and has been working on some new ideas and improving some of the old. He insists on wooden lures his slogan: Woods Better. He recently started a series of Classic Wood lures. In the 1970s, many wooden lures were made of balsa wood because it was light, easy to work and had the right buoyancy to make good action. The balsa worked very well to attract fish, but had a few drawbacks. Because the wood was soft, occasionally the bill would pull out. In fact, I am ashamed to say that I have had a few shake off the weeds fits and have broken off a lip whacking the lure in the water to rid the hooks of coon weed. The new wood that he is using comes from the Malaysian jelutong tree. Jelutong is very light but much tougher than balsa, so it holds hooks and lips well. It also takes the new paints and finishes superbly. A refinement Lee has contributed to angling is a greater understanding of the tuning button, a lead weight placed in the front of the lure originally to hold the lip wire secure. Now the science has expanded. Better use of the weight forward idea makes the new wood baits orient to the bottom for diving and stabilizes the lure so it runs deeper faster. The weight forward also allows the bait to stop when snagged and, because it floats nose down, it will back off tree limbs and rocks before it hangs. His new lures are collectibles and he is signing the first 1,000 of every series. I couldnt talk him out of one, though I tried. Out of curiosity, I did fumble through my tackle and came up with about nine different Sisson lures. Call us crazy, but we outdoor people need our celebrities and icons, too. I have a baseball from a Cubs game and an autographed program from Magic Johnson. They are great memories to go along with an ancient Heddon Spinner that came from my dads old tackle box and the Castmaster Gold spoon that I caught my first muskie on too many years ago. Maybe it is age creeping up, but I find connecting to people who share kindred interests and sentimentality about the great outdoors about as rewarding as a good stringer of fish or a few days in deer camp. Go enjoy great people in the great outdoors.