With all the reports coming from the surf, a couple of buddys and I decided to give it a try yesterday evening. Keep in mind that I am a bay fisherman and have only fished the surf 2 times. My neighbor caught his limit toward the east end of Galv. yesteday morning, so with a fresh report I went straight to his spot after work (should have went west). By the time we got there the wind had picked up and the water had sanded and gotten fairly rough, but we walked in anyway.
We were standing on the second bar and my friend had landed 2 dinks on plastic. I kept seeing bait and a few birds working out past the third bar, so I thought we should try to get out to deeper water. Well the gut was over our head so we had to start swimming. Maybe it was not knowing where the third bar was, or maybe it was the rough surf, but I got tired real quick. I was trying to swim with one arm as to not dunk my reel. My buddys were behind me and I could tell they were having a tough time as well. I yelled at them to turn back. They both are a bit taller than I am, and werent nearly out as far as I was when we decided to turn back so they made it back to the second bar well before I did. I think that the combination of the waves and an outgoing tide was what made it so tough.
I got REALLY fatigued and started having trouble catching my breath. My stringer getting tangled around my legs didnt help matters either. I went completely submerged a couple of times and finally had to yell to one one my friends to come give me a hand. One buddy handed his rod to the other and swam out to me. I handed my rod to him so that I could use both arms and shortly after made it back to the second bar. It was a scary situation for a minute there. I stood on the second bar for at least 10 minutes before I could catch my breath.
It really was an eye opener for all of us. Things happen pretty quick out there. Now some of you surf fisherman probably do what I attempted every day with no problem and may think that we just couldnt hang, and that very well may be the case. I think next time I decide to fish the surf, it will have to be like a pond out there and they better be bitting in the first or second gut or Im not going in. lol. Or maybe I could tag along with one of you veterans.
Sorry for the long story. I just wanted to post this and tell all to be carefull and take someone with you. I was a mere minutes away from going down there by myself, and that could have gotten really ugly. John and Brandon, if yall read this dont make fun of me too bad. I am the in shape guy of the bunch and was the first to run out of steam. lol. Tight lines and be safe.
We were standing on the second bar and my friend had landed 2 dinks on plastic. I kept seeing bait and a few birds working out past the third bar, so I thought we should try to get out to deeper water. Well the gut was over our head so we had to start swimming. Maybe it was not knowing where the third bar was, or maybe it was the rough surf, but I got tired real quick. I was trying to swim with one arm as to not dunk my reel. My buddys were behind me and I could tell they were having a tough time as well. I yelled at them to turn back. They both are a bit taller than I am, and werent nearly out as far as I was when we decided to turn back so they made it back to the second bar well before I did. I think that the combination of the waves and an outgoing tide was what made it so tough.
I got REALLY fatigued and started having trouble catching my breath. My stringer getting tangled around my legs didnt help matters either. I went completely submerged a couple of times and finally had to yell to one one my friends to come give me a hand. One buddy handed his rod to the other and swam out to me. I handed my rod to him so that I could use both arms and shortly after made it back to the second bar. It was a scary situation for a minute there. I stood on the second bar for at least 10 minutes before I could catch my breath.
It really was an eye opener for all of us. Things happen pretty quick out there. Now some of you surf fisherman probably do what I attempted every day with no problem and may think that we just couldnt hang, and that very well may be the case. I think next time I decide to fish the surf, it will have to be like a pond out there and they better be bitting in the first or second gut or Im not going in. lol. Or maybe I could tag along with one of you veterans.
Sorry for the long story. I just wanted to post this and tell all to be carefull and take someone with you. I was a mere minutes away from going down there by myself, and that could have gotten really ugly. John and Brandon, if yall read this dont make fun of me too bad. I am the in shape guy of the bunch and was the first to run out of steam. lol. Tight lines and be safe.
