Story by Hunter Baughman | Photos by Tanner & Travis Lyons
Another week has already come and gone. Time seems to be flying. Through the winter months there is not as much day-to-day fishing-related content happening. Therefore, as we proceed through the slower time of year this column may transition into fishing tricks, tips and stories. This week I will share a comical story from several years ago.
It was summer of 2011, and it was absolute scorcher in Arkansas — our typical summer temps of lows in the upper 70s, highs around 100 and extreme humidity. My wife, Andrea, and I had been dating for a few months. On this particular day we were going fishing. She had fished many times, but it was her first trip going with me.
I had a local tournament coming up in eastern Arkansas on the White River. I knew what areas I wanted to fish but I wasn’t sure if I could access some of the backwaters with the low water levels. The ramp was 30 miles or so from my house, but it was within a few miles of Andrea’s house. I figured with the close proximity to her house and the short trip I had planned, it would be a great time for her to ride along.
We set a meeting location and time the night before. I pulled into the parking lot that morning and she wasn’t there. No big deal. As I sat waiting the minutes clicked by. I sent a text and didn’t receive a reply. After about 15 minutes I started calling her phone assuming she had overslept. She had three jobs at the time, including working nights, and the possibility that she was exhausted and didn’t hear her alarm wasn’t out of the question. I figured the best chance I had to wake her up was to continue to call repeatedly.
For the record, she’s a heavy sleeper! When I was about to leave, she finally called back and said she was on the way. I asked how many missed calls were on her phone and to the best of my memory it was over 20, so you can’t say I didn’t try!
A little later, she arrived and got in the truck. We were late but no big deal. We were doing more looking than fishing anyways. On the way out of town she asked about ice and drinks. I told her we didn’t need any seeing as this was a short recon trip.
That was a very bad decision on my part.
We launched the boat and headed downriver. We went into a few lakes. Fished a little. Basically, I was able to accomplish what I was there to accomplish. It was still early so we headed on down the river. Soon, we were 25 miles or so downriver of the truck and at the last lake I wanted to look at. It was shallow getting into the backwater, but I managed to get in and fish around a little. At this point it’s hot and I’ve seen all I need to see. Time to head to the truck.
We idle back through the gap and into the river and take off. We made it a few miles up the river and the motor shut down. Not good. I do what little mechanic work I know how to do to no avail.
It ended up being the compressor on the motor, but I didn’t know that at the time. Not sure if it was the skinny water idling or bad timing, but we were down. There was way too much current for the trolling motor to be an option for the several miles we still had to travel. So, I parked the boat on a sandbar and took out my phone.
This area is notorious for bad cell reception. Looking back, I guess we were fortunate to even get a call out. Andrea called her dad who said he’d come get us. By the time he got home and hooked up a boat then got to us it had been a couple hours. All the while, we are sitting on a sandbar with no ice, no drinks, no food and no sunscreen. Eventually he gets to us and pulls us back to the truck. That was another hour or two pulling us against the current. By the time we arrived back at the truck, most of the day had passed.
Andrea was not a happy camper. I was exhausted and you could have cooked an egg on the metal latches in the boat. We both looked like lobsters we were so burned. I had never been so happy in my life to climb in a truck with air conditioning and go to a gas station to get a drink.
I figured if she stuck around through that day she was in for the long haul! Plus, now it gives us something to look back on and laugh. It took her several years to get back in the boat with me and we both learned a valuable lesson. It doesn’t matter how quick a trip we plan to take, if she and I get in the boat there’s always ice, drinks and sunscreen!
Hunter Baughman – Angler Profile
