March 12, 2010
Corpus Christi, Texas
Joe De Santos
Against everybody’s wishes, I went out and bought myself a kayak a couple of weeks ago. Some of the comments made by my family members were “you’re too old, you are going to drown, etc.”. I didn’t research anything about kayaks until after I bought it at a local store when I saw an ad at a great price. Now, the reason I wanted a kayak was because last summer, My nephew introduced me to a fishing area on North Padre Island where I could catch some good fish, however, one had to walk the flats in 1 to 2 feet of muddy water for about half a mile or so to find the fish. I walked it twice and never got to the spot where the fish supposedly were. I had to turn back, my knees were killing me. A couple of months after the long walks in the shallow water, I had knee surgery. This was about 6 months ago. Now, I did see some people coming back out with nice fish. They all walked slowly in the mud, muck and good sized holes one steps in. That’s why I came up with the idea of a kayak. No more walking. I forgot about low tides, the wind, fog, etc. Anyway, after searching different Kayak sites, I read that the ride-on-top kayak I bought is kind of unsteady and will flip easily. So, after waiting 2 weeks because I was leery about going out by myself without someone that knew something about kayaking, I took the plunge (literally). I went out to the Island yesterday afternoon to do it to it. I first stopped at a place where they rent and sell kayaks, surfboards and the like. I spoke to a real nice gentleman that went outside to check out my new kayak and he more or less validated what I had read. He stated that my kayak was for someone that was a beginner and that he thought that once I went out a few times, I would want to upgrade. He also said that it was true that the ride-on-top kayak would flip easier than some of the ride-inside more expensive models. Anyhow, I asked him to recommend a place for me to get in the water and he gave me directions to a spot where I could launch my new toy. So after buying half a pound of bait, I went to the area. I had carried the kayak in back of my little GMC Sonoma. I pulled it out of the back of the truck and dragged it into the water. I had brought a bunch of stuff to put in the kayak with me. An anchor, life vest, the double sided paddles, a drift anchor, two rods and reels, tackle box, live bait bucket, a scoop net, a small thermos ice cooler, a quart insulated water cooler to keep my important stuff from getting wet, etc. I was ready for some serious fishing. By the time I put all that stuff in the kayak, there was hardly room for me. I locked the truck and here goes nothing. I am ready to climb into the kayak. Mind you, there are houses all around the area where I was. I say this because I had hell trying to get in the kayak. Everytime I tried to get in, it seemed like it was going to flip over. I kept looking around cause I knew somebody was watching me. It was embarrassing. Remember, I’m doing this in about 4 inches of water. I finally jumped in, and the kayak rocked pretty bad but it stayed upright. By this time, my butt is soaked. The little ice cooler flipped upside down and I discovered later that some sandwiches I had in it got soaked from melting ice water. Finally, I started paddling and got into deeper water, approximately 1 to 2 feet. The current was surprisingly strong and I started drifting sideways, towards some pilings. I began to paddle hard and started moving pretty good. I had to fight the current all of the 20 minutes I was in the water. I guess I went out about 75 yards and I felt pretty proud of myself. The ride was very uncomfortable due to the fact that the back of the seat is very short, maybe down to one’s waist and there is no back support. I asked the gentleman at the kayak shop and he told me that a good seat runs between $80 and $150 bucks. I ain’t telling my wife. Anyway, after the short run, I was exhausted. I was breathing heavy and both my arms were tired as hell. I turned the thing around and started paddling back in. No sweat, I was back near shore and in inches of water pretty quick. The current pushed me in. Now what? How do I get out? Another 5 minutes rocking the kayak trying to get out. I kept looking around cause I knew someone was watching. I never saw anybody, but I could feel eyes watching me. The kayak was touching bottom and I couldn’t get out. I finally made a great effort and stumbled out. Wheww, I was glad that was over! Needless to say, I didn’t even attempt to fish when I was in the water for fear of flipping over or worse, the wind and current carrying me to deeper water. I loaded the kayak into my truck, secured it and decided that I was not going to let my bait go to waste. I drove further in to the island and turned around at the base of the JFK bridge and stopped to fish from the water’s edge. A deep channel runs left to right about fifty yards out. I backed my truck near the edge of the water, stepped out and promptly baited my hook and I grabbed my rod and cast out towards the channel. Since this is the season where the big drum come in to spawn, folks fish the channels in the area. There were other fishermen there and I’ll bet I was the only one with a soaking butt. After about an hour, I lost most of my bait and never got a real bite. Fog was rolling in and I was getting cold so I decided I was leaving. There was this guy fishing about twenty yards from me and on my way out I decided to give him the few shrimp I had left. I stopped next to his truck and we struck up a conversation. He hadn’t caught anything yet. He had two rods in rod holders, baited and in the water. He was using sea lice, real popular for drum fishing. The drag was set on both reels. For you non- fisherman, the drag starts clicking loud when something pulls on the unattended fishing line to alert you that you have something pulling on it. I hadn’t been talking to this man for 3 or 4 minutes when the “clicker” started raising cane on one of his reels. He quickly ran to the rod and grabbed it an started pulling. He fought the fish for about 5 minutes or more. The rod bent so bad, I thought it was going to snap in half. He kept saying he was getting real tired. He was a good sized man and to me he looked to be in pretty decent shape. I wondered how long I could have held on before I had to cut the line. Anyway, he finally got the fish to shore and the picture you see up on top of this story is what he caught. It was a huge black drum! I got permission from him, quickly got my camera and took the photo. The fishing regulations that I read state that a black drum has to be between 14 to 30 inches to be a legal keeper. This one was a lot bigger. A person can keep one black drum that is 52 inches or more in length per day. So, I am assuming that it is not legal to keep black drum that are between 30 and 51 inches. Please correct me if I’m wrong. This guy didn’t even measure it, he placed it back in the water and after awhile, it took off. By the way…….. he was fishing on the edge, no kayak and his butt was not wet. I got home, cold, wet and tired with no fish and when I showed my wife the photo, told her the story, she said……………..Well, you know what she said.