It has been a while since I got to write a “memory” article and after last weekend, I had the opportunity to run into an old friend by the name of Big Josh C (Josh is 6 foot 7 and around 375lbs) that I had many a fishing trip years ago. We got to talking and next thing I know another memory story was here…
Now let me start by going back about 16 years, back to my home part of Ohio, Piedmont Lake.
It was a long surprise early week of heat and humidity in the Ohio Valley with temps in the high 90’s and as high or higher humidity readings. At that time I owned an complete auto repair business and Josh worked with us. I was always getting packages from Bass Pro Shops and Cabela’s at the shop on a weekly basis, even the UPS drivers knew where I would be at different times to make sure I got the latest order.
Josh had been the one that signed for a lot of these deliveries at the front counter and had fished before off and on. With me being the owner I had the ability to fish all the tourneys in the area plus do the pre-fishing during the week. Josh and I had talked many days about fishing and going to the lake at some point in the future. The time was just about there…
My boat at the time was having the motor repaired and was out of service. The heat was getting worse and I guess Josh had signed enough for my packages it was time to go spend the day on the water…
We made plans to go on a certain day come rain or shine, (in those days weather never kept me from fishing, I guess I was young and dumb thinking of all the stupid chances I took then) and as luck would have it, it turned colder and rainy the day before and the day of our day on the lake.
We packed up my blazer and head on out to Piedmont Lake ignoring the weather and not really packing for “cold”… a mistake we both paid for.
We had no boat since mine was down so we decided to rent one for the day. Now this was not a big bass boat or pontoon boat, it was not even a homemade decking job which I have done and seen some from our readers that look like they came from a showroom.
Nope not this, this was a plain aluminum boat with a 6hp outboard (That spit and sputtered and did not even run up to it full throttle) It had two bench seats with the markings of the third one that someone had removed… But before we went on the water in this for lack of a better word, boat, that we paid enough for the day rental to make a month payment on a top of the line Bass Tracker we decided it was time to get a nice warm lunch…
So we by this time were surprised at the rental price as I had never had to rent a boat before, between the two of us we had a few dollars left. We sat down at the counter and ordered a total of two burgers, two fries and two Pepsis… Nothing special at all. The surprise came when the bill came, I thought they gave us the bill for their entire freezer of meat! Now remember this was 1990 and in 2006 -07 it may be the normal price of this lunch but then, $29.45 seemed a bit shocking! We should have known that was yet another hint to stay away that day…
So after another case of sticker shock we gathered the gear and walked on down to our “boat” which by the way was number 13… another hint.
20 minutes later and a hundred plus pulls to get the 6hp running and keep it running we were going to one of the favorite spots to catch some big bass! Needless to say it was now raining at a more steady pace and the cold wind was just getting worse by the nautical mile! But were determined (or stupid) and could not let the events so far take away the bass we were going to bring in!
Well needless to say this was one of those trips that everything that can go wrong did! The rain got worse along with the waves increasing with the wind… Josh decided to sit in the very front of the boat turned towards me so we could talk as we putted around in the churning waters. He got SOAKED almost by every other wave that came across the boat... It was just a blanket of water crashing down over his head and shoulders. He even “gave up” and let it hit him from that point on… Then the really cold air hit as we moved about at a top speed of about 3 miles per hour in this rented speed demon…
After a while the weather started to let up and we once again had visions of big bass along the shores. So with that we hit the banks casting crankbaits and jigs and spinners… It was no time at all until bad luck set in and Josh was having a hard time casting his baitcaster. I remember watching him cast, pick apart, pick apart then slam rod and reel on the boat floor. Then a minute later he stepped on the rod, broke the tip and then next thing I know…”Splaaaaaash” rod, reel and bait, into the water about 15 yards from the shore… I yelled Josh, what are you doing as he threw his other rod and reel set up that was NOT broke into the water in his fit of rage!
I just sat there, first in shock then in tears as it was THE comical event that just capped off the entire day…
We then decided it was just time to cut our losses and get back home, this time we got beat big time… No fish, no money, half the tackle now overboard and colds setting in as we drove home…Yes folks, life lessons do not come cheap…
There where many other fishing trips and memories that I will write about later on…
So just remember, in the worse possible day on the water, there is always something to make you laugh, oh and in case you were wondering, don’t worry Josh got his share of laughs at my expense also over time…