First Time Angler [Fishing in Austin]

I'm living through my second Chicago winter and I think two is more than enough. By next week, I'll be out in California.

In the process of moving out, I've started to clean out my e-files. So because of that, I'm going to telling you about a fishing guide by the name of Allen Christensen. Back in March of 2008, I visited my friend Bryant out in Texas. With original plans to check out SXSW, we ended up camping, hiking, and fishing in the area.

On one of the days, we decided to go fishing along lake Travis. Bryant had heard that Allen was pretty familiar with the lake. It was a day of firsts. First time fishing, first time with kettle chips. With a six-pack of beer, thai-flavored kettle chips, and a light tackle rod, I felt instantly like an old chinese man. Loved it.

With my beginners luck, I started to catch fish left and right which left Bryant a bit miffed. But suddenly I realized that my line had snagged on something big. My line was meant to catch 3-5 pound bass. This was a lot bigger. 5 minutes pass by, I'm trying to reel in the fish but at times my line looks like its going to snap. 11 minutes pass by, like spotting the loch ness, we shout as we see a flicker of the fish. It's huge.

My arms are screaming as after 15 minutes the fish gets close enough to the boat for Allen to shovel the fish on board. Turns out it was a 36 pound buffalo.


The stretched line fell back into the water, whereby we felt another tug. By hand, we reeled it in to discover that I caught a bass in the process.

Let me tell you, when we got back to the campsite, we had too much fish with us. Good thing we found people to share in on the food.