Posted by rusty hook on 03/15/10 - 4:55 PM
#1
TWO OL FISHING FARTS LOST IN THE FOG EXPERIENCE A HAPPENING WITH A GAME WARDEN.
My only experience with a game warden was on Lake Livingston, Texas with a former friend of mine about 1992 or so. It was a very foggy early morning, but we decided to go ahead and put in at White Rock Creek because we had driven all the way from Baytown and wanted to fish badly. We had been there a thousand times and knew it well, RIGHT, BUT NOT IN THE FOG. Anyway we made it to the river and down the pipeline in the “JUNGLE” and started fishing, but quit because the fog was so thick you could not see 30’ away and we were getting hung up on everything around us. We heard another boater, and decided to catch up with him by listening to his motor. We thought maybe he could lead us out. The problem was he keep starting and stopping!! We never caught up with him. The more we called to him, the further he moved away, SO VERY STRANGE, HMMM. So finally we found the river and low and behold in front of us not 30’was a figure of a man in a big boat. Great, we found someone who could lead us back! HOLT CRAP, It was game warden standing with one foot on the side of his boat with his hand on his gun. Now you talking about almost losing it, to pop out of the fog, and the first thing you see is a man with a gun looking at you! He pulls up to our boat and looks in and sees nothing but rods and reels and two scared ol farts. He looks at my friends boat, and says the sticker had expired two years ago! He asked for our license, and we both had left our billfolds in the truck! He says, where are your life jackets, and again we say, left them in the truck. He said in a nice calm demeaner, boys I cant give yall a ticket for fishing because I did not see yall fishing so your off there. Boy are we going to the ol jailhouse or something else we might not like! He asked why we kept starting and stopping our boat, and we told him, because we were lost in the fog, and there was another boater doing the same and we were just trying to catch him so maybe he could tell us how we COULD GET THE HECK OUT OF DODGE and back to our truck. . The more we called to him, the further he moved away. He said the other boat was a poacher and he was trying to catch them and we messed him up. Now I know we are really in trouble. By now the other boat was long gone and I wish we were also. He finally took his hand off his gun in his holster, and said very nice and very polite but in a very stern voice to us, GET THE HELL OFF “MY LAKE NOW”! He did lead us back to White Rock Creek so we could load up.
WOW, what a nice guy and we were very thankful for it. It could have been very bad, a day in the ol jailhouse for sure!
We had not caught any fish, so we decided to go on down the lake around Rocky Creek to my uncles house, rest relax and drink some coffee and gather our thoughts and change our underwear! There was a private boat ramp in my uncles subdivision. We figured what can happen now to us?? We will just stay in this little area and not bother anyone! RIGHT. We put the boat in and cruised down the canal out to an area that used to be an old farm house and very big fields where we could fish out of the wind, and hopefully not see another game warden! By then, the fog had cleared up. We were working the brush line and an old tree line when the boat got hung up on a old surmerged stump. It was in the summer so the water was warm. My friend said its only about 2 feet deep here, so he grabbed the rope up and slid over the side of the boat to pull us off the stump, he had not gone approx 5’ when all of a sudden he disappeared with nothing but his hat floating on top of the water and a floating rope! In a few seconds, it looked like Moby Dick coming out of the water hollering like crazy, I fell into the damn creek, DUH! Needless to say we loaded up and came home before something else happened, and it was only 10:00 that morning!!! MAN WHAT A TRIP FROM HELL!!
This is a true story, and my only encounter with a game warden, and thank God, it was a good one, otherwise we still might be in the ol jailhouse.
P.S. I just thought of something, the poacher could have shot us both!! thanx.