Day of Wind

The first hour wasn’t too bad. The wind was around 7mph with a few gusts here and there. I plink two buckets right off the bat. One was from dink city but the second was a respectable 13’er maybe 14’er bass, pound and a half in the weight section. Things were looking ok.

Then the gusts got gustier and everything from dogs and dumpsters was getting tossed in an easterly direction. One belly boater headed to shore right away. Another decided to hang out for a few minutes before tucking behind the large island structure he was within flipping distance to. Shortly after another tuber joined him. Just me and the tooner with the whole lake now. All I have to do is row through constant 50mph winds. At this moment common sense abandons me.

“My rowing skills are invincible.” The voice in my head reassures myself falling back on years and years of amateur rowing prowess. “I can do this!”

Push the oars down, swing them around fast plunging the paddles deep into the water. Grit my teeth, plant my feet and power down on the oars with all my body can give. Take a deep breath and repeat the cycle over again. Then again. Again. Again Again. The whole time I am looking at the shoreline structure fading further and further away. In an effort to buy some time I toss my puny 10lb anchor into some submerged trees structure left long ago. The rope drops and catches in the branchwork. This will be my respite.

“Wait!…the shoreline is still moving.” My voice mutters in confusion.

My eyes look into the water and see the tree structure moving at about 7 knots with a huge cloud of sediment behind. I was dragging the tree structure across the bottom like a rake.

“Oh no.” It was all I could say. Scrambling for the rope I pulled the weight off the tree and resumed a casual coasting speed of 15 or 20 knots.

At this point there was little left to do but pick a line and drift to the best place I could find which was pretty much the shoreline on the other side of the lake. Any shoreline would have been better than the one the wind was pushing me towards. Trees covered the entire shoreline with wind tossed branches everywhere.

“This will be perfect for landing an inflatable device.” Cracked my voice working the oars enough to save me from the submerged tree trunk, then the large branch I didn’t see until the last minute and completely missed the one spot that could have provided decent portage.

Sometimes it is very tough to describe a Day of Wind without sounding like a scaredy-cat or overly exaggerate. In this case I am only exaggerating slightly and that is very rare. Maybe a video will help support my case.



My name is Matt and I'm a fishaholic.