Fisher of Fish and Men

Well, I didn't get to fly fish in Yellowstone, but I have had some outstanding fishing experiences in my life.  They are not necessarily exotic (except maybe Angola) but they are memorable because of the people I was with and the experience of it all.  Fishing, like most experiences, is really never about the fish - unless you are ML Morrow.  Then it is always about the fish and that is ok too.  

Fishing with dad and the Stones on Lake Buchannon 

Herb Stone was my dad's best friend.  They were pilots together in the airport, had their kids born together in Salina, Kansas, and continued to be best of friends after retirement.  They did have a two year feud because my dad put ketchup on Herb's steaks one night - but other than that, they were the best of friends.  

They fished a lot together, all over the world when they were in the military.  My dad even owned an old aluminum fishing boat.  He eventually sold it, to Herb.  Herb and his boys, Walter-Lee-Harold & Barry, continued to fish out that boat until it was at least 40 years old.  

When I was in my teens,  my dad and I started meeting Herb and the twins (Harold & Barry) at a little town on Lake Buchannon called Tow.  There was awesome little fishing place that had these one room cabins (kitchen, living, and beds all in one room).  Also had nice boat docks with lots of lights so you can dock fish all night long.  My dad and Uncle Herb (which is what I called him although we were not really related, he and my dad were that close) were very competitive with their fishing.  

One day, Herb & the twins were fishing with minnows in a little cove on Lake Buchannon.  My dad and I were in our boat and started trolling with lures.   We trolled right by Herb and presto - I caught a fish.   My dad was so excited.   We were making another trip around that cove and then when we got close to Herb's boat, my dad said "get that fish you caught and put it back on the hook and let's catch it again".  So I did.   We were very precise to catch the same fish again once in front of Herb.   We did this until that fish was beyond dead and had fallen apart.   Pretty soon Herb and several other boats were following us.   When we finally got to the dock, Herb wanted to see all of our fish.  My dad's response was "catch & release"!   At night, my dad love to eat sardines and vienna sausages with a beer.  Herb's payback was replacing a few sardines with minnows.  My dad never noticed.   That was a great fishing trip. 

Fishing in Angola

The only time off we got in Angola was Sunday afternoon.   I was able to talk my way on to the fishing crew.  This was a select group of guys that would take a supply boat (about 70' long and diesel boat that had a long flat back used to take supply out to the outer rigs).   We would take this supply boat out to an outer rig and tie up.   This took 2-3 hours to get out there, so you had to really want to go.  We would use cut bait and fish for tuna and such at about 300'.  We  brought up some really wild fish.  This picture is of the Chevron IT Director for Africa with a typical catch.  

After doing this for a couple hours it would start getting dark.  Then we would troll around the flares.  Flares are the large outlets from rigs used to burn off unwanted gas.   Big flames would constantly burn and heat up the water around them.  This attracted a lot of fish.   Three of us would put on a fishing harness to hold our rods and also tie a rope around us to keep us in the boat.   We would then stand on the edge of the back of the boat.  We had several nationals holding on the end of the rope to keep us from falling in.  Then the boat would make a big sweep around the flare.  Everyone always got a bite and normally they were big yellow fin and other surface fish.   When they hit your lure, you would get jerked towards the ocean and the guys holding the rope would pull like they were playing tug-of-war.   It was a lot of fun.   

Then we would make the 2-3 hour trip back and normally arrive around midnight.   We gave all of the fish the nationals who kept some for themselves and cleaned the rest.   We then would have a big fish fry on the beach on Tuesday night.  Good times.  

Port O'Connor

I have only fished Port O'Connor a few times, but each trip was so memorable.  One was with my buddy Steve Roberts.  Steve and I worked together at Arthur Anderson Business Consulting and were both working in Angola.  We were seldom on the same rotation but were in constant contact since he was my "back-to-back" for awhile.   He also has a boat and house in Port O'Connor.  One rare weekend we were in Houston at the same time and decided to go down to PoC to fish.   We were home for several weeks so our wives blessed the trip.  

Steve knows the waters of PoC better than anyone I know, or did.  Steve now has three beautiful little girls with the oldest being seven, so fishing is something he did in the past vs present.  Steve and I got up and went fishing for redfish using top lures (walking the dog) in his favorite honey hole.   Our lures were blowing up everywhere.  We caught our limit in no time and had to resort to catch & release.   We caught so many reds, we actually decided to move on.    We next decided to site fish for trout.  The waters around PoC can be extremely clear, especially when you get in the bay where teh floor is rocky vs muddy.  We caught our limit on trout in no time too.  

Next goal was to go just past the surf and chum for shark.   We headed out through the cut and scattered chum and cut bait in the water.  We then put out several rods with more cut bat and waited for a shark to come along.  Instead we came across a school of bull reads that hit all of our rods.  It was a crazy moment.  We had four bent rods, which was pulling our boat backwards, and there were only two of us.   Steve put the boat in reverse and we tried to pull in all we could.  We pulled in 3 out of 4.   Bull reds are not good to eat because they are too big and fat.  They are really fun to catch though.  The picture above is one of the bull reds we pulled in.

Men of CLPC

The men's group at CLPC has annual trips every year.  These last few years they have been really adventurous trips in memory of our buddy Oran Tarlton.  Oran lost his battle with cancer in January 2011, a month before I was diagnosed.  Oran was an adventurous guy so the men of CLPC have hiked the Grand Canyon, hiked a 14k peak in Colorado, hiked Big Ben, and this year will be paddling for a week in Arkansas.   They also golf in Bastrop every October and make other trips whenever somebody steps up and organizes it.  

One year, Jimmy McGregor and I organized a fishing trip to PoC.  We used my buddy Steve's house and boat.  We had about 30-40 guys show up.  We didn't catch many fish - or some boats caught a lot and others caught none.  But, it was a great trip.   The most memorable parts of that trip for me was ML Morrow freaking out because Greg Gilmis brought a banana on his boat.   If you an experienced fisherman, then you know that banana's on a fishing boat is a big no no.   Not sure where it started, but it brings bad mojo and something you should never do.  I think ML wanted to hold some type of special blessing event to cleanse his boat so they could catch some fish.   Then they decided to put on some music from ML's iPod.  Out of nowhere, instead of music was a sermon from CLPC that ML had downloaded.  They decided that was the perfect cleansing for the boat.  So they all sat there fishing listening to the sermon again with hopes it would break the curse of the banana.  

I promised Steve that we would not fish his honey hole, where we had previously crushed it with redfish on our PoC trip.   He wanted to keep it a secret and his brother was coming down to fish it during a big tournament that weekend.  So we stayed away.  His brother fished it on Friday using lures with no hooks just to make sure it was still loaded with reds.  Once he got a ton of blow-ups he felt confident that he would win the tournament.  On Saturday, the tournament kicked off and he went straight to the honey hole.  Nothing.  Not a single blow up.  Fish were nowhere to be found.  He looked in other places but it was too late.   When he was coming in he had a conversation with the guys from Parks & Wildlife.  Turned out they had ran a drag net through the honey hole to collect fish for research and the fisheries.  Even the best of plans can go astray!  

I have many more memorable fishing experiences.  Most include fishing with my dad.  He used to use fishing trips to teach me how to cuss.  We would get in the middle of the lake and then I was allowed to say any bad word I wanted as long as I never told my mom.   That was awesome.  

 I hope to be able to take Ross fishing this spring. He really wants to go and has the fishing spirit.   One of the reasons we moved to Brownwood is because this is the perfect place for a boy to grow up.  Every guy here likes to hunt and fish and take it serious.   I hope to be able to give Ross the same memories I have of fishing with my dad.   Even if I am not able to, I am confident that Ross will grow up fishing with his buddies.  We have a small pond with gold fish in our front yard.  They spend a lot of time trying to spear the gold fish with sticks.   That is at least a start.  

Fishermen Make Great Disciples

The first disciples were fishermen.  Who knows why Christ picked them.  I think it is because good fishermen have the patience required to be a disciple of Christ.  You have to put up with a lot and success is hard to come by.  In discipleship and fishing, you can start in shallow water and then move out deeper, like Steve and I did.  However the reward is great.

Jesus Calls His First Disciples - Luke 5:1-11 

5 One day as Jesus was standing by the Lake of Gennesaret,[a] the people were crowding around him and listening to the word of God. 2 He saw at the water’s edge two boats, left there by the fishermen, who were washing their nets. 3 He got into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, and asked him to put out a little from shore. Then he sat down and taught the people from the boat.

4 When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into deep water, and let down the nets for a catch.”

5 Simon answered, “Master, we’ve worked hard all night and haven’t caught anything. But because you say so, I will let down the nets.”

6 When they had done so, they caught such a large number of fish that their nets began to break. 7 So they signaled their partners in the other boat to come and help them, and they came and filled both boats so full that they began to sink.

8 When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at Jesus’ knees and said, “Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man!” 9 For he and all his companions were astonished at the catch of fish they had taken, 10 and so were James and John, the sons of Zebedee, Simon’s partners.

Then Jesus said to Simon, “Don’t be afraid; from now on you will fish for people.” 11 So they pulled their boats up on shore, left everything and followed him.

Steve Olgesbee has given a lot of great sermons at CLPC over the years.  One of my favorite is the first sermon he ever gave at CLPC.  He referenced Luke 5 and made the point that Christ wants all of us to stop fishing in shallow waters and to go to deep water.  It is hard to do, but the prize is bigger.  I really resonated with this and it has stuck with me every since.  In my faith journey and role as a disciple, I am constantly challenging myself to go deeper.   All because of that first sermon by Steve.   Thank you Steve! 

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