Read about a not-so-recent incident the other day concerning an old Redman tournament up on the Potomac River. During that event, participants would witness the incredible power of Mother Nature at her worst.
With a stalled storm over the Atlantic Ocean, wind and high tides caused havoc for the fishermen. During official tournament practice on Saturday, one of the anglers had damaged his boat in only 20 minutes of battling the waves and wind, creating a new non-boater status for himself. Making matters worse was the prospect of more bad weather...perhaps worse than they already had seen...again the following day.
Sunday morning showed no promise of change as competitors waited patiently for the start of the tournament. They could only watch as 200 boats rocked from side to side in the turbulence. How rough would it be? they wondered, as they took off from Nanjamoy Creek.
When boat No. 117 finally was called, it, like all the others before and after, moved out into the main-river channel. Almost immediately, waves hit from both sides, as the angling duo pushed southward on their journey. With each wave, they were thrown upward by the force of the water, only to come crashing back down into their seats. The force of the impact sent a jarring pain, searing through the spine and into the skull like a kick from a steel boot, but they kept going. Suddenly and without warning, a large wave appeared in their path. It was too late to turn or avoid.
The angling duo in boat No. 117 hit the wave full force and watched helplessly as the electronics at the boat's bow were ripped from the mounting and slid along the flat casting platform toward them. Equipment straps began to give way as they pressed on, and rods bounced toward them.
The driver was battling crosswinds and waves with each passing moment. The next large wave ripped the console electronics and windshield from its bolted mount in front of the driver's face. How he wasn't injured still is a mystery. Now without depth, temperature or location electronics and no shoreline in sight, with the waves continually beating them from all sides, they had no choice but to proceed.
After what seemed like an eternity (actually one hour and 40 minutes), the angling duo in boat No. 117 reached their destination. Gathering their thoughts, they began fishing. The creek provided them with some shelter from the wind and current, and soon the journey seemed but a distant memory.
With the size limit on the Potomac at 15 inches, the duo knew they were looking for two-plus-pound fish...a daunting task. They caught and released 40 fish in the 13- and 14-inch range, but the driver finally caught a keeper. Now, though, they were facing an outgoing tide, which brought the fishing to an abrupt halt. They searched for a few more fish in vain before deciding they should begin their journey back to the launch site and weigh in their only legal fish of the day.
The duo tried to be optimistic about the journey back, hoping that the wind would be at their backs and that the turbulence somehow would have subsided. How wrong they were, though!
Once they left the bay, the wind lifted them into the raging river system again. Pressing onward, they hit large waves similar to those they had seen in the morning. The trolling motor was ripped from its gator mount and plunged into the water, causing a large spray to cover both of them from head to toe. The driver cut the engine, and the passenger tied the motor down to protect both of them from the possibility of it breaking free and hitting them in the face.
They noticed water coming into the lower deck area around their feet as they moved on. The driver turned on the bilge, only to find that the unit had failed. They began to fill with water and still had several miles to go before reaching safety.
After nearly two hours, they finally pulled into Mattawoman Creek, opposite the launch site. There they tried to find out what was wrong with the bilge, but there was little they could do with so much water in the boat. With time almost running out, they had to make a final crossing of the river at one of the widest points.
When the driver tried to get the boat on plane, they became lower in the water at the rear of the boat. The only solution was for the passenger to sit on the bow and counterbalance the boat, so that they could attain enough speed. This procedure has to be repeated twice before they got back to shore.
Just when they thought it couldn't get any worse, the wind picked up again and began rocking the boats tied to the moorings. The boat No. 117 duo could not prevent the boat from being pounded into the dock and other vessels tied close by. So great was the force of the wind that the boat cleats were ripped from the bodywork.
The driver went for the truck and trailer while the passenger took the boat out from the area and moved along the shoreline, where some other fishermen had tied their boats. Throwing a line to the shore, the boat was "secured," so the passenger waited for the trailer to arrive on the ramp to load the boat. While waiting, the passenger timed the water coming into the boat as being around an inch every five minutes. They just had made it back in time.
When the duo finally had gotten the boat out of the water, the lower deck area was full. As they raised the boat onto the trailer, the driver turned to the passenger and asked, "Have you ever had worse?" He said "yes," but added that he would tell that story another day.
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