I am a new member, and I want to share this story.
I grew up in Pensacola Florida, though sadly, I now live in Ohio, hope to move back one day.
1986 was a really tough year for my family, my mother went through a series of medical problems (that would eventually take her life 10yrs later), and had to quit her job, my younger sister was in high school, and I had just been fired from my job for taking too many days off to take my mother to the hospital, (I guess 3 times in one year was too much for my bosses), and we weren't on any government assistance. This particular day was a monday, I looked in the cupboard, and there was just a bag of rice, a small bag of beans, and a little flour, That was it, nothing in the fridge, but some leftover cooking oil. In the freezer there was a small bag of chicken gibblets that comes with a whole chicken, Nothing else. I knew that we were in trouble, that food wasn't enough to feed us for long, so I prayed to God, and asked for help. Then I went to my tackle box and looked in, I only had 4 hooks left, and no sinkers, so I grabbed a few nuts from my toolbox to use as sinkers, unchained my dog "Rusty" and walked about a mile to fish an area called Bayou Chico. The bayou channel opened out into pensacola bay, and sometimes, the tugboats would stage barges at the edge of the channel, while waiting to be loaded, or unloaded. Those tugs while idling would create deep holes with their propeller wash. It was one of these holes I discovered while wading out on a shallow flat near the channel, that i decided to fish. I used the chicken gibblets as bait, and caught 4 small pinfish, and cut them up to use as bait. I proceeded to fish that hole. I caught white trout on just about every cast, one right after another, for over 2 hrs, I'd make a long cast, and bam! a white trout, I'd make a short cast 5-10 feet in front of me, and bam! a white trout. It didn't matter how I cast, or in what direction, I caught fish. I was able to catch several with the same piece of bait. It was like fishing in a bowl. Finally, the bite slowed, and I walked back to shore. I checked my mesh fish bag, and counted 60 white trout, all were about 12-16 inches, all caught using 4 small fish for bait. It took me about 45mins to walk home because that bag was heavy, and i had to stop to rest. We ate fish for breakfast, lunch, and dinner for over 2 weeks, and never got tired of it. Finally, I found work, and things started to improve for us. I fished that hole a couple of times after, and never caught another fish, of any kind. God answered my prayer, and provided just enough fish for what we needed. I learned alot about the love, and grace of God during those hard times. Sorry for the length. Matt. |