R.K. Tilley calls fishing his "stress reducer."
And so almost every day he goes to either Wright Patman Lake, Caddo Lake, Lake O' the Pines or the pond at the Queen City Independent School District's Thornton Administrative Office building.
The district's pond is one of the more peaceful and beautiful of all the small water bodies in Cass County. It's clear with plenty of tall trees surrounding it that provide shade as well as reflections upon the water.
Six geese paddle around and are sometime seen walking out of the woods and up to the water's edge with several goslings following behind their mother.
The green plant life growing abundantly in the water along the bank gives little fishes a place to hide and grow up. If they weigh a pound or so when Tilley catches them, he throws them back. He kept the six-pounder he caught the other day, however.
Tilley said successful fishing is about figuring where the fish are gathered at any one time during the day. Perhaps they are in "school" at the QCISD.
It's mighty nice of a school district to have a pond on its property that the public can appreciate and even fish in. There are picnic tables around this pond, too, so many a noon time lunch is enjoyed here.
It's probably rare that any visitor comes to the pond and doesn't think about the adage that to teach people to fish is to feed them for a lifetime.
Perhaps without realizing, Tilley is continuing to get an education from his hometown public school. Only this time, he comes and goes when he pleases and doesn't have to answer the bell. He's fishing.
