Hey Hall of Fame family,
Failure is such a great learning tool; making mistakes is part of being a human being. While in the moment failure may be hard, we learn and grow as to not make the same mistakes moving forward. Mistakes teach us as anglers, as well. Let's set the scene.
Mid July, a few years ago. My brother, Paul, and I set our sights on a slow moving, meandering stretch of river with the promise of spotted and smallmouth bass. We had eyed this portion of the river on Google Earth for quite some time, and were excited to explore some new waters from the kayaks. This river had low current and dumped into another, larger river downstream from our launch. We borrowed an old, heavy trailer from my grandpa, loaded the kayaks, and set off. After the 50 minute drive, we dropped Paul's car off at the take out, and headed out to the launch point. We had packed the bare minimum, as this was one of the first trips we had taken in the kayaks and we were inexperienced. I brought one small bottle of water, an energy drink, and no food. I remember eating something from a gas station on the way there. I had no sunscreen, and my had did not shade my ears or face very well. I was also wearing a tank top. Paul had a little more water than me, but was otherwise equally ill-prepared. We set off, fishing our way down stream, and catching bass along the way. We paddled downstream about 3 or 4 miles, and before long, the July sun began to beat down. The fishing was still good. By the time we had traveled about 7 or 8 miles down river, I was out of water, and Paul was critically low. Both of us were hungry. I started to feel my shoulders burning. As the river was so slow moving, it wasn't really propelling us downstream, and all the moving we did was from paddling. Sometimes I wondered if we really were going downstream. By about the 12th mile, we reached where the river dumps into a larger, slightly faster moving river. We stopped to stretch, hoping to find fresh drinking water. We did not. We also did not realize we had another 7.5 miles of paddling left.
After the short break, we headed back out, burnt and out of water. After so long, we had stopped fishing and were just paddling to get to the car. We finally made it to the ramp, and began licking our wounds. We paddled 19.5 miles, and were so poorly equipped for the journey. We did not even realize how far apart the boat ramps were. We failed, but we sure did learn. I don't kayak now without two or three 40 oz bottles of water, some snacks of my liking, including a sandwich or something larger if its a longer trip, sun screen, a good hat, and a sun shirt. These are critical to a successful trip. I just use a small Igloo cooler for my food and drinks with some ice. Try to remember keeping your food in a water proof bag or container, so it won't get wet. I hope this story helps you not to make the same mistakes as we did. Love the adventure!
Tight lines,
Erik Hoffman, Hall of Fame Outdoor Co