A day to remember.

Friday night the wind and rain ran us off the lake. At 8:00 this morning Levi ( my 8 year oid son) and I left to finish setting our mudcatjugs. We ran into Mudcat at the Lake Houston Marina. It sure felt good to see a fellow FishinTx. com member on such a dreary day. The wind was southeast at 15 to 20, cloudy and looking like rain any minute. Our kind of day except for the wind. But Heck, the ghost (our boat) could handle it! We put out three more jugs, picked up two nice cats, lost the third trying to get him in the boat and three twist offs. I am thinking this may turn out to be a pretty good day considering we were fishing a area we didn't want to because of the wind. Then Levi says "Dad, that man on the bank is waving at us to come over". He told us that we needed to take cover because there was a strong thunderstorm in Humble headed this way. We then headed for the MaCay Bridge when we see Mudcat on the north side so we went and told him about the storm. We could see the dark black clouds to the west and northwest. We returned to the bridge figuring on dropping anchor and sit the storm out. The wind my guess was 30 plus out of the south. I threw the anchor out on the south side in hopes of drifting back under the bridge but it was more like I put up a sail. By the time I got the anchor back in the boat we were out from under the bridge on the north side. Then the wind changed to the north fast and a lot harder. I am thinking 40 plus. I knew we had to get to the bank or we would be sunk. Well, we made it to the bank under the bridge and out of the boat. Well, for future reference there is nothing to tie off to. By this time the rain was blowing horizontal under the bridge like there was no bridge at all and taking everything I had to hold the boat. About an hour later the wind laid so we moved back between the pilings and dropped anchor. Levi was telling me let's go run our jugs! I said no we better wait a little longer. Then the second storm hit, not near as strong as the first. But the waves were coming over the bow because of the anchor. I tried to pull up the anchor but couldn't. So I tied a jug to the line and threw it overboard, (another good use for mudcat flagging jugs). When we got the boat on the trailer I thanked the Lord twice once for Levi and once for me. I also asked him to slap mother nature for being so mean.(HAHA lol) My lesson in this is. A bridge can be a wonderful thing to hide under in a rain shower but in a storm it's not the place to be. It is like a wind tunnel. It increases the wind and water current through it making it a very dangerous place to be.

Whoa that was close.... I'm glad you guys made it through safe and all together. I'll put that one in the memory bank for future reference.

Thanks for sharing.

man i talked to mudcat yesterday and he told me of his plans to go fellows you dont need fish that bad to take a chance like that man i see it getting bad im off the water well im gkad you all made it in

Glad you guys made it back :D : it is not the need of fish that drives this guys Gator ,but the need of a fix, a Mudcat Flagging Jug fix :lol: ,Once you get hooked on this flagging jugs of mudcats you are hooked and the only thing that will satisfy the urge is to see a Mudcat Flagging Jug flagging :shock:

Man you got that right, I first want to thank the Lord for getting me off the lake , and Dave for comming and telling me.
I was going to get off anyway but not as soon, if Dave hadn't told me it was a bad one I would not have made it off in time.
When i got to the dock, the wind hit, my boat was not out of the water so i tied it off, just lucky i tied it short along the bulkhead by the pier.
The wind came and the rain. my little boat swung around and the motor was 8 inches from the pier. I thought the motor would be beat up on the pier but it came up short.
The waves started shortly after the wind, right down the bulkhead, right over the bow of my boat, it was taking on water, I had to get it out or it would sink.
I looked at the Boat ramp, and my truck, there was a man already parked in the middle of the boat ramp, looking out at the water, hollering, "come on Jack where are you ,come on. where are you."
I thought to my self I hope he gets here soon, that man is going to have a heart attack. then i could hear the sound of the motor, he came flying into the boat dock, and onto the trailer. I don't know how that little boat made it thru the waves, I guess the Lord was watching him too.
I went to the truck, the rain and wind was blowing sideways, i could hardly see, I backed into the dock, but there was no way i could get into the boat, which was taking on lota water,
I said to myself" Don't get in that boat. I untied the boat and pulled the rope, that pulled the motor around away from the pier , walked down to the pier pushing the boat away from the pier, as i walked. when i got to the end of the pier the wind and the waves caught my boat and pulled the rope from my hands. luckily it was a long rope, i reached down and grabbed the end of the rope, the boat was pitching wildly, i coud hardly hold it, so i pulled and pulled, I thought thr rope was going to break, and my little boat would be gone. There was no one to help me, then all of a sudden the wind stopped ,for a brief moment , only a few seconds, just enough for me to pull the little boat to the other side of the pier. I pulled the boat to the waiting trailer and pulled the strap from the winch hooked it to the boat and winched it onto the trailer.

That little brief moment the wind died down was the only thing that saved my little boat.
Why do you think the wind died, just at the moment I was about to give up?

Because we have a friend watching over us.
I gave the heads up to Medula and his bud that I knew was in the bay. They made it out and 5 min on the hwy ran into the storm. Glad they made it out since neither one of them would have enough sense to get out on their own :D . You all know how Joe is if he thinks there is a fish in the water. HaHa!
I was glad they listened so we can fish again!
glad ya'll made it thru, that's a story for the young-un to tell.

He did it so one of His kids would get his toy out of the sea :shock: , He also calmed the seas ands stopped the winds in the sea of Galilee :wink:

i thank GOD that all my playmates are okay

I had a similar experience trying to wait out a summertime thunderstorm almost 2 years ago on Lake Houston in my bay boat. Little did I know, this would turn out to The Perfect Storm. Was hanging out on one of the sandbars up in the East Fork with the girlfriend and her niece. Sky started getting dark to the north, so I decided to head back south, had put in at the LH d-a-m. Turns out this was not just a typical thunderstorm, but was more of the severe variety. I did the same thing, anchored up under the 1960 bridge to try and wait the storm out, but the wind started kickin' about 60+ mph when the storm hit and my anchor rope slipped. I got blown out from under the bridge, then my motor starting dying on me. Well, what happened was my anchor rope got wrapped in the prop during all the confusion, which would kill the motor when I tried to put it in gear. So my boat was hung with the stern facing into the waves! And, I couldn't get back under the bridge, so we were out in the open water, with lightning directly overhead, and heavy rain coming down sideways with the high winds! Couldn't reach out far enough to cut the rope because the water was so rough. Talk about a bad feeling . . . the waves were coming over the top of my 150 hp and filled the boat with water in no time. Had 8 - 10 inches of water in the boat. :shock: Thank goodness the bilge pump was working, but it was barely keeping up. The girls were doing all they could to help bail the water, but they were really freaked out. I was more mad than anything for letting this happen . . . I actually thought my boat was going to sink there right by the bridge. :bad-word: This all happened so quickly . . . hardly had time to think, just had to react. Anyway, the storm finally started slacking off after maybe 20 - 30 minutes. I was able to get the rope out of the prop, get the motor started, get most of the water out of the boat, and head back. Ended up losing the anchor, it was hung real good under the bridge. Most of the signal lights were out on the way back home, and there was lots of debris lying around everywhere. So, it really was a bad one.

Moral of the story is . . . DO NOT attempt to anchor under the 1960 bridge to get out of a storm! The wind will get ya, and you'll probably lose your anchor. There's nothing to tie to under there. A person would be much better off waiting out a storm up in a protected cove near a shoreline, out of the wind. If hindsight were 20/20, I should have just parked in one of the coves along on the East Fork, and maybe taken cover in the woods somewhere. Mother Nature doesn't discriminate!

Glad everyone is ok. Gentleman be very careful on Lake H. It a small lake but can get the size of the gulf if your caught in a storm. I've seen many men cry cause of mother nature on the lake. Keep one eye in the sky :shock: