great weekend at the P.O.I.N.T.

[Monty]

April 8th and 9th marked the 8th annual P.O.I.N.T. drum tournament’s return to Galveston Yacht Basin. This was my fifth year of participating in the tournament and I was joined by more than a dozen SCA Texas members and boats. P.O.I.N.T. is an acronym for Paraplegics On Independent Nature Trips and is usually the only time the folks fishing in it each year get to wet a line. Friday evening is the social hour and captains meeting where the anglers and captains meet to pair up. We were treated to our usual tasty dinner and cold drinks, along with raffles and door prizes. Saturday morning, we paired up with Devin and her Dad for the 4th year in a row along with a new angler, Patrick. It was one of those Chamber of Commerce Saturday mornings and we made our first stop for the day on the north jetty. It wasn’t long afterwards that one of the starboard lines doubled over in what would become our first catch, photo and release of the day, a very nice 39” black drum. After a couple of quick pictures, the fish was released back into the bay waters to continue on her way. The wind was beginning to pick up as predicted, so we made the decision to move to a more protected area on the end of the Texas City Dike.

The deep hole there has been a long time producer for drum and we weren’t disappointed when the 2nd fish hit. Patrick did a great job of reeling his in with a little assistance in holding on to the Ugly Stick. He was all grins as we got a quick picture and release. Our morning wasn’t done, we pulled a total of four drum out of our honey hole despite winds that were now in excess of 25 mph. The SCA Texas boats combined landed over 30 black drum, all of which were released. This is an annual tournament and one of the most rewarding things I do as a part of SCA Texas each year.

Here's a few pics, of Patrick, Devin and another angler on my buddy, Rex's boat.

http://2coolfishing.com/point1.jpg

http://2coolfishing.com/point2.jpg

http://2coolfishing.com/point3.jpg

[Deb]

Wow! I'm still barely able to catch a lil sunfish lol

He looks tickled pink! You're looking great yourself! It sounds like the trip, albeit windy, was perfectly put together and executed!!! Great story, great pics, wondeful event! I always love it when you share these with us each year.... it's just spectacular!!!! I can't even imagine how much you lighten their days for a LONG TIME into the future with events like this. Beats visiting the famous rat any time!

Does the event have an info site, donation page, or anything of that sort?

Deb
- All I did was pull weeds and play in dirt..hmmm must do more with my life!

[Monty]

Every year when I go to this event, I realize just how trivial my problems in life really are. Pat can only move one arm and bend at his waist. He's as tough of a man as I know and put a hurt on that fish, one handed. Devin had discovered boys this year (or maybe the other way around, lol), and it was a hoot to hear her version of boyfriends vs. her Dad's.

Deb, they don't have a website, it's just a lot of home grown local support that makes it happen. The guy that runs it, is in a chair himself, and he comes from one of the old families on the island aka "old money". Brent knows everyone in town, and pulls them together to pull this off. I promote it heavily on 2cool and it always makes the paper several times.

[sheila]

Thanks for sharing the pictures and story, Monty. Looks like a great time was had by all. :)