Man vs. High Tide

Sunday, September 30, 2007
10:41 PM

Friday afternoon. Big test. Done at 11:00. The plan? Go fishing in the ocean to celebrate. Drag the wives down to Savannah for a day of fun in the sun. Get to Savannah around 1800. Dinner at local fish house followed by stop at Basspro shops.

2 sinkers
1 large bopper
5-pack assortment of swimbaits
1 pack of BPS supershad III fake minnows
3-way swivel

2 hours later I am sleeping, dreaming of the next day's events.

We had been planning on going down to Savannah for some time. Recently, my study mates and I have taken up fishing. Every Saturday morning for the past two months or so, we have spent down on the river trying to catch largemouth bass or large stripers. Though we have technically caught largemouth (I even caught a random member of the Pike family, the Chain Pickerel), We have been disappointed by the smallness of the fish and by the amount of time it takes us to pull in 2 or maybe 3 fish.

Discouraged by our bad luck/inadequacies as fishermen, we decided it was time to try something else. Garrett lives down in Savannah and we heard there are some good inlets down there you can take your canoe/kayak to and catch some serious ocean fish. And so we headed down.

5:30am rolled around pretty early, having gone to bed around 1:00 the night before (as well as every night for the past week or so--we did have a test on Friday). We stopped at a bait shop to pick up a casting net and a minnow bucket, which eventually saved the day…

We put in at the fishing dock at the inlet to the "Back River" between Tybee and Little Tybee islands. We had heard from numerous people that the fishing is awesome there and canoes/kayaks are more than sufficient to get your way around. We had also heard from both the Basspros and the bait shop owner that it was really windy out and that Saturday was to have the largest tide of the year (9+ feet). Not to be discouraged, we testosteroned our way out into the sea.

At first the waves were a little choppy, but appeared innocent enough that we lulled ourselves into a false sense of security. About halfway across the 1000 yard+ channel the wind really started to pick up as did the incoming tide. The current got real strong and the waves got really choppy. The only thing more amazing than the fact that we didn't capsize is the fact that there was hardly any water in the boat after we finally did make it to the other side. We gradually made our way around the island, looking for a cut to go in between the different waterways. All around us was tall grass that seems to thrive in the brackish water of the incoming and outgoing tide. As we navigated our way through the grasses, we quickly realized that we would need some calmer water if we were going to be able to get a cast out, let alone catch any fish. Unfortunately, we spent the better part of the next 5 hours navigating our way through rough water, fast wind, and few fish (which means we saw a few fish and caught none).

After rowing for a couple hours, we made our way around the island and somehow made it back to the main channel separating the two islands. The water looked even worse than before, with increased wind and this time the water was going out, the tide having peaked and switched about an hour previous. Tying down all our equipment and taking a well-earned rest, we chilled in the tall grasses on the edge of the channel. Luckily the ride to the other side was much better than we built it up to be.

Once on the other side, we hugged the shore and I decided to get out of the boats and try my new toy out. As I awkwardly cast the monofilament/nylon/lead net out into the water, I felt weak and defeated. Then, to my astonishment, I managed to catch a tiny minnow. I repeated the throwing of the net only to catch a shrimp. Encouraged, I continued to cast that net out into the water until I had about a dozen shrimp. Justin and Garrett also got in on the action and within about a half hour we filled our little minnow bucket up with shrimp.

We then headed back to the pier to meet up with our ladies for lunch. As we enjoyed our footlongs from Subway, we mulled over strategies to hunt our elusive water-prey. Luckily the ladies didn't mind us going back out and we decided we would meet up with them later for dinner. Now encouraged with our live shrimp for bait, we once again set out. Though the shrimp rigs proved heavy for our small rods and reels, we managed to get a couple good casts out there. I even had fish on my line on 3 different occasions, but unfortunately I have been fishing for bass too long and tried to set the hook before the fish managed to ingest my entire bait. You can imagine how excited I finally was to actually feel a fish tub on the end of my line and you can probably also imagine my letdown when I didn't pull them in. Such is life.

Oh, and I almost forgot to mention all the dolphins while we were out there. At one point, we were fishing in between some docks when a dolphin came within about 5 feet of our canoe. It scared the living crap out of us and this giant fishlike thing rose and then lowered back into the water. It was the last thing we were expecting and seriously, it gave me quite the startling. We continued to have dolphins swim all around us for a good part of the day as we went in and out of the channels.

So, yeah, we still suck at fishing. However, we did manage to get back with a bucket full of the freshest shrimp any of us had ever had. We fried it up plain in a little butter and it was good. Very good. Than, after paddling sunup to sundown (quite literally) I got a really good night's rest. It was awesome.