Reminded to be fishers of men
PROTECTED CONTENT
If you’re a current subscriber, log in below. If you would like to subscribe, please click the subscribe tab above.
Username and Password Help
Please enter your email and we will send your username and password to you.
Faith Fitness
Bro. Sam Kaufman
Getting out and enjoying God’s creation can be rejuvenating. There’s just something relaxing and calm about being around water.
My two sons and I found the perfect location. It’s about the only area where we consistently catch fish.
Now, we’re the ones who are hooked. We can’t wait for our trips to Madwind, as we call it.
It’s a fairly secluded fishing area off Highway 280 several miles before Dadeville. You get off 280 and onto Peckerwood for about a mile and a half, and take a left on Point Windy. About a half mile down, you take another left on Madwind and drive a half mile to the pipe area.
That’s where the fish are!
For a while, we fished off the pipes – on both sides of the roadway. Then, I spotted a lagoon area off the roadway that required a brief trip through the woods.
Fishing is a great way to block everything out. We call it fish therapy. You can enjoy God’s handiwork – the fall colors are presently evident. It’s just serene and peaceful out there…until an alligator bursts upon the scene.
At least, that’s what we thought it was a few nights ago.
That night, I had climbed down to the sparse amount of shoreline to try my luck. The boys had a good day on the pipe. They both caught nice-sized largemouth bass and were feeling good about life.
I cast out my line and saw and heard a big jump right by it. I thought for a second it was “fish on” the hook. But that wasn’t the case. The fish had just jumped right near it. I cast the line back out. Bingo.
This time, there was no doubt he hit. My fishing rod immediately let me know something good was on.
I won the fight and reeled in a beautiful channel cat. I caught it on a worm because I don’t have a license and have to use live bait.
The boys came down to check it out. After seeing the fish, they immediately shifted to catfish. By this time, it was dark, and we only had a cellphone and moonlight.
The boys found the tackle box and adjusted bait for catfish. While they were navigating brush, trees and rocks around the narrow shoreline, we heard a massive jump about 20 yards away by the pipe.
It sure didn’t sound like a fish! There was a double splash like someone rolled a boulder straight off the roadway into the lake. Kerplunk!
We thought it was pretty impressive.
A few minutes later, we heard another one. This time, it was even louder. Then we saw a V-shape current swimming from the splash.
That’s when our imaginations kicked in. It was dark. We were on the narrow shoreline. Surely there aren’t alligators in Lake Martin, right?
Even so, with the water down, the low side of the pipe is kind of a swampy area right now with big white great egrets standing in the water with their long spindly legs trying to snatch up fish.
We left the shoreline in a hurry and made it up the embankment to the roadway. We later learned what we heard was likely an alligator – but not the kind we had imagined. The massive splash was probably from a large gar or a carp.
Recently, the boys have had a hankering to eat their fish. They tried it for the first time the other night. A YouTube video instructed them. It turned out great!
We’ll be doing more of that in the future as one way to beat inflation. It’s not cheap nowadays feeding a family of six. The lake catch was wholesome and tasty.
Our efforts to catch fish relate to Jesus’ words about “making you fishers of men.”
Jeremiah 16:16 states, “Behold, I will send for many fishers, saith the Lord, and they shall fish them; and after will I send for many hunters, and they shall hunt them from every mountain, and from every hill, and out of the holes of the rocks.”
Sam Kaufman pastors The Church of God at 405 13th Ave. N in Alex City. Contact him at 432 266-0154.