Cadiz, Kentucky Surf Fishing Club

Back in April I led a group of eight men from Crossroads Fellowship on our first-ever retreat at the beach. We stayed at the beautiful retreat center operated by First Baptist Church of St. George Island.

The fishing was perfect on the first day. It was hot. The water was warm. The surf was perfect. And everyone caught fish. Then the cold weather came. For the next three days we suffered agonizing cold and north winds in the morning. It warmed up for some fishing in the afternoons.

We still managed to have the tournament that we had planned on Friday afternoon. The rules were simple … catch and weigh in up to ten legal, edible fish. The bite was mighty slow, but I managed to catch 15 whiting. Everyone else caught whiting, too. In fact, they were the only thing biting. I chose my ten biggest fish, and it was enough to win with 6.4 pounds.

But the highlight of my week came on the first morning. We had an ongoing contest for “big fish” that week. Whoever caught and weighed in the biggest fish (of any species) for the week would be the official “big fish” of the Crossroads Tournament/Retreat.

I won with this behemoth 43-inch-long, 32.0 lb bull Red Drum (Redfish). The pic is a bit washed out and grainy … I had to scan a 35mm that one of my fellow fishermen took with his camera. I quickly weighed the fish, posed for photos, then resuscitated and released the fish.

Funny … his old boy makes the 12-pounder on my wall at home look like a wee little baby.