Blustery Battle

A few years ago a typical fishing day turned crazy & slightly embarrassing! My husband, my mom and dad, and I had loaded up the boat for a beautiful March fishing trip; it was a little cool and windy but nothing too bad that would keep us on dry land. We hit up a few of our normal spots and caught some small fish but no keepers. We moved on to a hot spot under a bridge that always seemed to provide some great fish. We tied off to a large concrete pylon, baited up and started casting.

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It was perfect; spending time with my parents and husband on the water, enjoying being outdoors and sharing moments. My mom had taught me almost everything she knew about fishing growing up so anytime we could fish next to each other as adults was priceless. There wasn’t too much action fishing but the weather decided to bring the chaos. We had seen some clouds rolling in but nothing that looked too alarming – boy were we wrong!
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The wind intensified drastically and began blowing like crazy!! We were under a low bridge which basically turned into a wind tunnel with waves crashing and tackle flying everywhere! We all reeled in, put everything up and prepared to take off; as we untied from the pylon, my husband was at the wheel as I watched in horror as I thought the motor was about to crash into the concrete pylon! I ran to the back of the boat to push us away from the pylon at the same time my husband put the boat into gear! As he went forward, I went backward right into the water!! Natural instinct was to try to grab onto the square concrete pylon but I knew better; It was covered in razor sharp barnacles that would slice me up, so I just went into the deep water. My dad saw the whole thing and was there to snatch me back in the boat! (I can swim fine, but a daddy’s reaction to a daughter in distress is great!!)
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As I made my way back into the boat we were still in trouble with the crazy wind and waves trying to get out from under the bridge and keep from being slammed into the concrete. We made it out safely (except with a little hurt pride haha) and headed in a different direction. I was soaking wet but safe! I had jeans, socks, tennis shoes, and a long sleeve shirt on when I went in the water; a great palette for soaking up water and not drying off fast!! As we drove I ‘hung myself out to dry’ in the wind hoping to warm up. I was freezing at this point from the cool air, cold water, and a damaged ego! Who falls out of the boat?!?!?!
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We contemplated on what to do…my husband said “let’s just go home” but I said “Why? I am soaking wet! I can’t even get in the truck, I’ll have to ride in the bed! Might as well just stay on the water!” The weather wasn’t getting ugly it was just a cool front moving through but the sun was still shining, it was just extremely windy (great for drying off haha). We discussed our options…to find out how the rest of the day turned out, watch for part 2 of the blog coming out soon!

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Soaking wet on a boat with my pride hurt and a decision to make…(if you missed the first part of the story go back and check out Blustery Battle Part 1 to find out my current state of being!) We all decided to just stay and fish, battle the winds, but enjoy the day! We headed to the channel (away from any bridges haha) anchored up and decided to give it our best shot.

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We were all fishing one side of the boat to work with the wind when my mom’s reel starting screaming and line was being pulled so fast! My husband, dad and I all reeled in to help with whatever was about to happen! Mom began working whatever was on the end of her line in towards the boat but she knew it was heavy! Hands gripped tight, anticipation building and heart pounding; she reeled, and reeled, and fought and fought for over an hour! A few times the monster would get close to the boat, start coming up the slope of the channel and turn around and head back out to see putting all of her work to shame. Her hands were tired and sore, her spirit never broken. We knew it would be worth it!

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After an hour and a half we finally saw her catch and he was just as tired as my mom! We got the net to try to get him in the boat (he only fit about 1/3 of the way in though) and as we brought him on the boat my mom was overjoyed. There he was! A beautiful 55 inch massive black drum! Mom was ecstatic but we knew there was more out there! We took pictures of her amazing catch, put him back in the water, took a few minutes to revive him (he was exhausted too!) and watched as he headed back into the water swimming away from us! We knew this time of year was the ‘Drum Run’ when all the big black drum head in to spawn and catching more of these monsters was on our list!

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So there I was still wearing wet jeans, an oversized jacket trying to stay warm with some hope of catching some good fish. I grabbed a small live shrimp, hooked it on and threw out into the channel. Mom was taking a break, changing the line on her reel because the big ol drum had stretched her line into ‘rubber band’ status! Within a few seconds of my line hitting the water, MY reel started screaming! Oh no, the fight was on! This time we knew what to expect a little more and prepared for the fight! I fought and reeled just as my mom had waiting to see my awesome catch. 45 minutes later I had worked my black drum to the boat. We attempted another ‘netting’ to get the tired fish into the boat and now it was my turn to be excited about my 45 inch black drum!

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I was so happy that we had stayed to fish despite the earlier events and grinned with pride as I took pictures with my awesome catch. Again we revived him and released the beautiful creature back into the water. I was exhausted but excited for such an amazing trip. We fished the rest of the live bait and made our way back to the boat dock…my jeans were almost dry at this point so I was allowed to ride in the truck haha.
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This trip is one of my families most talked about fishing trips and will be forever in our hearts and minds. Such a crazy day turned into some of our biggest bay fish ever caught and to share it with my mom was perfect. Not only did we have some awesome fish stories to share but it will forever be the day I fell out of the boat!