When the fish are biting, rain or shine! One fisherman inadvertently braved a tornado while on a fishing trip. But the strong winds capsized his boat and nearly caused him to drown.
Brian Johnson, a pastor in Texas, didn't mean to accidentally stare down a tornado and live to tell the tale. He was just wanting to catch a few and enjoy some time on the lake. With storms in the forecast but not seeming close, he wanted to use that to his advantage. The fisherman spoke about his crazy encounter with Outdoor Life.
The fisherman explained, "I was home alone on Dec. 28 and had the whole day to myself, so I went fishing. I hooked up my boat, a Bass Tracker Pro Team 175, and loaded up my dog, Sam. We headed for a private lake near my hometown of Winnie in East Texas, where I'm the pastor at First Baptist Church. I'd seen storms in the forecast that morning, but it sounded like they were moving north-northeast — away from the lake — and I thought the pressure change might trigger a bite."
Oh, they were biting alright. He was hooking them almost as soon as he could catch them. So when he saw a storm approaching he thought nothing of it. Brian even invited his friend Tony out to catch some.
Fisherman Vs Tornado
He explained, "Tony and I saw the tornado, but it was blue because it was water wrapped, or rain wrapped. The problem was, I thought it was just a big wall of rain — I'd never seen a tornado like that."
Unfortunately for the two, the tornado and storm were barreling right for him. His family tried to warn him about the storm, but he didn't see their calls on the phone. However, the fisherman believes that fishing actually saved his life. With winds reaching 161 miles per hour, he believes he would have been blown away at his truck.
He said, "We were anchored there with my Minn Kota Talon when the rods started flying. And those things will hold you in a 160 mile-per-hour wind. When we finally got the anchor up, I was trying to head to the closest shoreline. It's only a 300-acre lake, so we'd have to beach somewhere. But I couldn't see. I couldn't even breathe because the pressure was so strong."
Unfortunately, the high winds caused the boat to flip, trapping the fisherman and his buddy under the water.
He said, "Sam, my dog, went into a little cubby hole, probably a rod box or something. There was an air pocket down there, so he was fine. And I now know that Tony stayed under the boat because he thought it was better than being out in a tornado. But when I tried to get out from under there, my trousers got hung up and I was stuck with just my torso out of the boat. That's when the waves were pounding me in the face, and for a split second I thought, Man, in the movies, this is where the guy drowns."
Fortunately, that wasn't the end of the tale. He managed to survive and so did his buddy and dog. Due to the incredible tale of survival, he refuses to sell the boat and fishes out of it even now.
