Corpusfishing.com

[Tyler]

"Words of Caution to Seasoned and New Kayakers about Weather!"

Wear your PFD's. I have never come so close to dying on the water as did about 5 other people that day. Most were experienced kayak anglers. Should we have known better? You would think. I am always prepared and thought so on this day. Unfortunately the Epic thread on the the TKF forum got deleted years ago but here is the "Unvarnished Cautionary Tale".

Everyone was excited to fish this big event. The biggest Kayak tournament to ever take place in Rockport to that date. Caller Times Outdoors Writer, David Joseph Sikes was my fishing partner. We had a great time meeting with our kayaking buddies at the Captain's Meeting the night before. The big talk was about the late strong cold front that was expected to hit around noon that day. Me, being the cautious type, decided we would put in at the Palm Harbor launch and do the one mile paddle to fish the Estes Flats area so we could rush back when we saw the front coming. Good plan right? Or so we thought.

We were all having fun enjoying the pre-front mild cloudy conditions. I was on the Perception Kayak Pro Staff then and David was paddling my red Perception Illusion and I was in a yellow Perception Bimini. We had caught a few dink trout but nothing to put on the board yet. We kept an eye to the north. About 11am we were fishing the flats in view of the harbor. To the north we could see the front coming with big dark clouds and flashes of lightning. With my dad being a mechanical engineer and a true "Rocket Scientist", I used that big tower/antennae in Rockport as my "calibration gauge" to check on when it was time to make a run back to the marina. The dark cloud tops hadn't reached the top of my calibration gauge yet but suddenly the wind shifted and we started to paddle back towards the harbor. Then I saw Sikes capsize about 50 yards in front of me. I laughed thinking "What the hell is he doing"? Well about then the 50 mph gusts kicked in and soon dumped me over too! David started wading with the kayak back to the harbor. I thought you had to cross the ICW to get there so I slogged in the opposite direction towards shallower water and the mangroves through the rain, lightning, 55 degree air temperature and high winds wearing only a pair of waders and a fishing shirt. My jacket was in the trooper for after the front. It was a nightmare just walking in those gusts and mud. I fell down several times. Then just as I was about to collapse from exhaustion Ruben Garza Jr aka Snookdude and his wife Sandra Hinojosa Garza waded out and guided me to safety in a group of mangroves where others had sought shelter. We sat there for several hours and the rain, cold, and 50 mph gusts continued.

Later I learned that Dean Thomas saw the conditions coming before we did and abandoned his kayak and any chance of winning the tournament to go get his Carolina Skiff Guide Boat and began rescuing stranded kayakers. Dean Thomas is one first class man and friend.

I had no idea what happened to David. I honestly thought he might have drowned. Even then he was not built like Michael Phelps . For several hours we sat there and got pelted by the heavy raindrops and wind. After a few hours we saw a game warden in a big Mowdy come to our rescue. We would leave the kayaks there and pick them up later when the weather settled. Whew we were finally safe! Or so I thought. Then we ended up picking another three kayakers who were huddled behind their kayaks on a spoil island. As we approached the harbor I saw my friend David right out in front of the Hamburger joint on the dock. I was on the bow with with three other hapless souls when the boat came quickly off plane in the middle of the harbor in the "no wake" zone. Well that big Mowdy was carrying more weight than it was designed for and when it came off plane the wake from behind us picked up the bow and tossed all of us on the bow overboard. I felt like the Michelin Man wearing those flooded waders in the middle of the harbor. Somehow we all managed to scramble back up on the boat.

Finally we were safe! I think the most serious injury came at the weigh in station and Rockport beach when a 2 x 4 got blown off one of the structures there and whacked Arnold Wells aka "Liverdog" on the head sending him to the hospital for stitches. To add insult to injury after all that happened that day, I went to start my 1998 Izuzu Trooper and the Transmission light came on and that led to more problems. But that didn't matter I was safe, David was safe and nobody died.

If something like that can happen to me, it can happen to you!
My memory may have missed some of the finer details in there so my kayaking friends can fill in the rest!
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[ratherbefishing]

Danger Danger, Will Robinson!

Wow! What an epic adventure. Glad that all survived it.
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[maxthelab]

Dang, Tyler, kept me on the edge of my seat with that story. Having fished that area many times, I was trying to imagine areas to hide from those north winds. That was an amazing story and quite the lesson to remind us fisher dudes, you gotta respect mother nature. Thanks for the refresher course!