Rickr's Story Of The Week

[reevesr1]

I couldn't make up my mind what I wanted to write about this week. I had decided on skipping the story and just talking about like on a Submarine, but then I spoke to my mom this weekend. She asked me if I would write down as many of my dad's stories as I could think of so she could compile them into some sort of book. I told her I've already kinda started doing that here, and will send her a link to the website. However, this puts a bit of pressure on me to write a story knowing my mom is reading it, and probably critiquing it!

 

Anyway, it got me thinking about what makes a good story, or more specifically, what makes a good fish story. Everyone has stories about their biggest fish and while these are interesting, if nothing special happened while catching the fish, they are in the long run forgettable other than "my biggest brown is 26"". When I got to thinking about it, I realized I don't even know how big my biggest speckled trout is (our primary species back home). I have a pretty good idea, but I cannot point to any specific fish and say that one was the biggest. But I do remember many individual fish I caught who for some circumstance seared themselves into my memory. One of my dad's favorite stories was about a couple of such fish. I'll add one of mine afterwards.

 

This probably happened in the late 80s or early 90s, after we had moved back to Texas from Louisiana.

 

Dad was fishing by himself late one afternoon at a place called Dollar Point, probably our favorite reef system in Galveston Bay. He was chunking a big plastic mullet imitation when it is slammed by what he thinks is a huge trout. But it pulls so much drag so fast, he decides it cannot be a trout and it had to be a jack crevalle (a much bigger and much stronger non-game fish). This would be like thinking you had the brown of a lifetime only to discover a pike on the end of your rod. Anyway, the fish almost spools him before he turns him and starts to get some line back. Around that time, a ship wave (the reef is a couple of miles from the Houston Ship Channel) rolls in and he sees a trout in the wave, approximately where he thinks the jack is. When he sees the trout, he thinks "nice fish" but since it only looks 24" or so, does not for a second think that it is his fish. He picks up a bit more line, and the fish hits the surface for the first time and he realizes that what he thought was 15-20 lbs of jackfish was actually 26" or so and maybe 6# of trout. He said he could hardly believe his eyes. After 40 yrs or so of fishing, he had never had a 6 lb. trout pull like that, or even close. Anyway, he lands the fish, and just couldn't believe how "little" it was. (I think he released it, but cannot remember exactly. In my memory he does release the fish, but that could be wishful thinking.) For reference, the type of trout we caught and brown trout in the Bow are very similar in size. So a big spec in Galveston would map very well to a big brown on the Bow. So a 26" fish is a very, very nice fish, but not spectacular, particularly for someone who had caught hundreds bigger.

 

Anyway, shaking his head in awe, he makes another cast. And hooks another fish, and the same story is repeated except for the wave part. Said the second one was a twin of the first in both size and fight. Both big males and both pulled like a fish twice its size. Never caught one before, or since, that compared. In all my dad's fishing stories (and lord knows there are a bunch) this was one of his favorites. Not because of the size, but really because of the lack of size.

 

Here is my addition:

One early winter morning I headed out by myself to a secluded bay shoreline. I only had a few hours to fish as I had an exam that afternoon (was in college at the time). When I got to the bay, it was totally locked in by fog. The depth break I wanted to fish was 1/4 mile or so off the bank and I could not take the chance of fishing it for fear of getting lost in the fog and missing my test. So I decided to throw some big topwater baits near the shore in hopes of maybe scaring up a big girl or two, but holding out very little hope. I spotted a big pod of huge mullet "rafting" (a big school of bait fish huddled very close together with their mouths right on the surface). Sometimes big trout would hide under the mullet for protection, as the mullet were too big to eat. So I cast into the pod and kaboom, start hooking massive trout. Had the best day of my life catching fish between 25 to 28". I only caught one trout under 25". And that one is the single fish I remember from that day. All the big fish were females. The little one was 3.5 lb of the most acrobatic, hardest fighting male I have ever caught. Took me twice a long to get him in than it did the big girls he was with, and I couldn't believe how little he was to have all that go! I caught 25 fish that day and have had nothing like it before or since. It was truly a day of a lifetime (or maybe several lifetimes) and would equate well with someone catching 25 trout over 25" in 3 hours on the Bow. But I couldn't tell you how big the biggest one was other than "big!" and odds are the biggest trout I have ever caught was caught that day. But the one I will always remember was the smallest, and boy, was he a stud!!

 

Edit:

It would be cool if some of you guys/gals could add your memorable fish stories. There are some awesome story tellers on this board, and I would love this post to start a round of 'em.

[HenHackle]

Great stories, Rick. Two questions comes to mind: did you make your exam? What was your grade?

[reevesr1]

Great stories, Rick. Two questions comes to mind: did you make your exam? What was your grade?

Yes, made the exam.

And the grade must have been pretty good. I actually got straight A's my first year of university. I found it incredibly easy after the Navy's Nuclear training. In fact, that'll be next weeks story. Its a good one.

[HenHackle]

Yes, made the exam.

And the grade must have been pretty good. I actually got straight A's my first year of university. I found it incredibly easy after the Navy's Nuclear training. In fact, that'll be next weeks story. Its a good one.

Interesting you would say that about the military training. I remember an interview with Bob Woodword of the Washington Post, who said that after serving as a soldier in Vietnam, everything that he did in life afterwards seemed easy. I, on the other had, could have used a bit of military discipline before college -- just scraped by in first year! Looking forward to next week's story.

[Tyler25]

So what you're saying is - when midterms roll around this fall, I should just fish - then i'm guarenteed good marks! Alright, I accept, and hold you responsible.

[HenHackle]

Tyler, the master logician! Don't worry, be happy. Even if you fail, there are always jobs at Tim Hortons, and you'll get to wear a uniform again, too.

 

HH