As some of you may know, I grew up in rural Kansas but was not really ever exposed to fishing. The most fishing I had ever done was at someone's pond or a nearby lake and rarely caught anything (other than a crappie, another fisherman's rod and reel, but that's another story).
Long story long, this past Wednesday I went to Corpus Christi, Tx to visit some friends and go to the beach. On Friday, I went just up the road a bit to Rockport, Tx and Saturday I went bay fishing for my first time ever. Earlier on Saturday I went and bought a single day license that expired at midnight and it was 1:30pm when I made the purchase. Got back to the house and we decided to go fishing around 2:30pm. We put in the water and went out into the bay about 15 minutes. Found a good spot and set anchor.
Now the fun starts, I only have a basic idea of what I'm in for at this point. My friends dad baits 4 hooks and puts all 4 in the water. We're sitting there chatting and one of the reels starts spinning slowly, then more frequent and faster and faster. Now, I know what fishing is and I've watched Bill Dance a few times so I have a general idea of what's happening but again, this is my first time ever doing such things. I grab the rod and reel the line tight and YANK!, to set the hook. About that time, another reel starts rolling like the first one did. I keep reeling the one I have and end up getting a 22 inch, 8lb, redfish in the boat. We rebait the hooks as necessary and get them back in the water. We have a couple more fish come in the boat and we're all having a good time.
At this time, we've been on the water maybe 2 hours and have two fish in the cooler on ice. Again, one of the reels starts rolling and I grab it to let it run a bit, then reel the line tight and YANK! FISH ON and it felt BIG! I kept reeling, taking up the slack when the fish would relax. The fish kept pulling line and I'd reel it in. This went on for over 30 minutes. The fish would get roughly 50 feet from the boat then turn and run in the opposite direction! So I'm letting the fish run a little and hopefully wear itself out a little. I look down and I can see the center of the reel...I'm running out of line! About that time, I see THE KNOT which secures the line to the reel. I'm at the end! We adjust the drag a little and I start reeling. This fish will NOT give up! So we get some line on the reel and then the reel falls off the rod! I'm standing on the boat, rod in my left hand, reel in my right, rod bending like crazy with a BIG fish on it. What else could go wrong?!?!
We get all that situated and put back together and I continue fighting with this fish. It ended up circling the boat 3 times and coming in a running back out at least half a dozen times. Finally, he gets close enough to the boat that we can get him in the net. We get him on board and remove the hook and get him weighed and measured. He was 35 inches in length and weighed 13lbs!! Apparently this size of fish is known as a "Bull Red".
So here I am with my single day license and getting to use a tag on a 35 inch fish!
Long story longer, that evening we go to a shin-dig at the local pool and I'm introduced to folks I've never met. One guy said, "Ohh, you're the Travis who bought a single day license and used a tag on a 35 inch Bull Red."
Sounds like you might be hooked on fishing now!
What kind of bait did you use to catch that good lookin' gal in the photo?
Great story, glad you had fun on the water.
Those things used to be called "Channel Bass" and or "Red Drum" back in the old day's. Then the "blackened" style got dreamed up by a spice monger and Blackened redfish was a big hit (fad). Still popular here in Fl. Personally I don't like it but that's because snapper and grouper are always available.
When are you buying a boat? 😉
I've told this story before, but it's relevant here.
A friend bought himself a new boat, a trailer to haul it, and a new pickup truck to pull it, all for only $110,000.
His first day fishing he only caught one fish!
His wife said, "It's a good thing you didn't catch two."
A surveyor I know here in Oregon got a moose tag in Montana and bagged a Montana state near-record moose on opening day. Conversing with him I said - Man, that must have been a long day, humping up and down those Montana mountains, stalking the moose, guttin', quartering and packing it out. He said, "well, surprisingly, no. I parked next to a logging road, hiked a quarter of a mile in down the nearly flat grade of a road, started calling and I heard what sounded like a D9 cat crashing down the hill towards me. It got to the road, I shot, killed, gutted and quartered it and then wheeled it up the logging road to the truck". He went into town, they weighed it, said it was the (fourth? fifth?) biggest ever in the state, looked at his out-of-state license plates, spit on the ground in disgust and walked away".
Must be a surveyor's luck kinda thing. One that has evaded me, but at least it has shined on a few fellow team members.
My stunning good looks and witty person....Hahahaha I couldn't do it without laughing.
She lost a bet and I won! 😉
Someone at the pool asked this same exact question. Lol
I don't want a boat, I want a friend with a boat.
A boat makes you happy twice:
- The day you buy it
- The day you sell it
Bring
Out
Another
Thousand
Boat = a hole in the water you throw money into
I've been happy about 12 times so far. Broke, but happy.😉
A friend, and fellow surveyor, was a quail hunter for years but had never been deer hunting. After hearing us talk about deer hunting he decided he'd try it. He bought a 5 pack of 00 Buckshot and loaded his old Remington pump shotgun. He walked less than a hundred yards from where he parked when an 11 point buck jumped up and he shot and killed it. A once in a lifetime buck on his first trip. Ain't nothing to this deer hunting, just walk out and shoot one.
Andy
