There are many stories floating around about Day 4 of the RCL Lake Erie tournament. I thought I’d share mine…
I woke up on Saturday, Day 4, knowing that I would be working against nine of my biggest competitors. Little did I know, that there would actually be ten competitors and the tenth was going to be my biggest competition.
6 AM…My co-angler arrives at my hotel. It is a dark, gloomy morning and the rain is coming down steadily and the wind is slightly blowing. I quickly learn that my partner is a Lake Erie Charter Captain of 17 years. He immediately lets me know that he thinks a blow day should be called. He tells me he has been fishing Erie for 40 years and he knows what this body of water can do.
7 AM…The final ten boats are at the landing. No one is in a real hurry to take off their boat covers and launch their boats. The wind has picked up a little and the water has some small white caps. The tournament director calls a quick meeting and we are informed that the Coast Guard has been contacted and the winds are due by mid-day. The tournament day is cut short to noon. The boats are launched and we are off on our way by 7:30.
8 AM…I had been catching my fish on a spot about 25 miles from the launch. With the weather looming, I decided to go to a secondary spot, about 10 miles out. By the time we arrived, Erie was already rolling at about 3-4 feet. As I slowed up for my spot, my big motor died. I got it restarted for a bit, but it only ran for another few minutes and died again. I did not get it restart after that. Using my kicker, I motored into the spot. We made one pass and landed 19 fish. In the time that it took to make that one pass, Erie went from rough to scary. I tried to turn the boat to make a second pass, but Erie had another idea. My kicker didn’t have enough power to push back against the waves. I was determined, but by this point my partner was yelling, “if you turn this boat around, kid, I will be forced to change your mind…get us back to shore!!!”
8:45AM…I decide that listening to the Lake Erie Charter Captain would probably be the best idea. Waves are beating on us and crashing over the boat by now. We were starting to take on water. I put on a second life jacket, and put one between my legs. My partner and I are no longer talking to each other– we are yelling, just to hear over the wind and water. Right around this time is when I heard a fellow tournament angler’s call for help on the marine radio. We heard “mayday, mayday” and then a bubbling sound. My partner says, “He’s gurgling”…I asked him what he meant. He said, “His radio is under water”.
I leave a message for my fiancée, telling her that I was eight miles out, my big motor was down, and I was taking on water. I told her to contact the tournament director, because there may be problems.
The ride back in was the scariest water experience I have ever had. For the entire ride, the boat was holding water that was shin deep and at sometimes, knee deep. We would get pushed on to the top of a wave; the kicker would come out of the water and whine as we teetered on the wave. Then we would slide down the wave, sideways and backwards. When we were down in the waves, we couldn’t see anything but water for 30 seconds at a time.
We were still about 5 miles out and there was a spot where I was pinned. We were getting blown into an island that was on one side of us and I needed to get out to deeper water to avoid the shallow reef around it. The kicker did not have strength to get us out, so we ended up going over the reef. Everyone has seen pictures of the ocean when the water hits the shore…that is exactly what it looked liked. The waves crested at almost 12 feet and we were tossed around like a toy. It was about a ½ mile stretch of the ‘beating’ and there were a few moments where I didn’t think we’d make it.
10:45am… It took us nearly 2 hours to make it in. If it had not been by the grace of god that the wind was blowing us right back toward the landing, we would not have made it back. But we did, as well as everyone else. It took some of the other anglers right up until noon to make it. Some blew their motors, some lost their windshields, and one lost his entire boat. Most of us were pretty shaken up and counting our blessings for making it back.
Day 4 on Lake Erie is a day that I will never forget. I learned more in 3 ½ hours about respecting the water, than I ever have. I have a tournament coming up in a few weeks on Devil’s Lake in ND. Lake Erie lived up to her name…Erie. Hopefully Devil’s Lake won’t live up to the name it carries. 
Jamie Friebel
