So Me and my uncle are wade fishing the end of the Texas city dike. We are about 75 yards out or so. I notice my uncle slowly backing away and heading toward shore. He fishes this area 100 days a year. I fish it about 5 days a year. He has a very sick sense of humor but is a great guy. I notice he has his "this is going to be hillarius" smile on. I think to my self what does he have up his sleeve now.

I listen to my gut and slowly follow him in. About half way back i ask hey why we going back. He smiles and says oh no reason. I still am sure that he is messing with me so i continue to follow. Now I notice that one of the largest ocean liners Iv ever seen is heading out of the port across the bay. I yell to him, hey check that out. No reply. Then he say Alex get over here. I say why? He tells me to do it again, so i do.

Next thing i know the water level drops atleast 15 feet or so and the shallow flat we were fishing is now completly emptied. It was like in a movie. The fish and crabs etc. etc. are now flopping on dry ground. I run out in amazment. Wow look at this Holy Sh&t. The water seemed as if it had litterally been sucked out of the bay at an amazing rate. Litterally in the blink of an eye.

We had our tackle on rocks that were about 8-10 feet up from the shore line and about 4 feet up in the air. As i run around my uncle gives me the you better move your [censored] tone. So i get up to the rocks. Next I get a lesson in physics. Every action has an equal reaction. So here comes all that water again but this time it comes with the force it left with and floods the bay. It runs the water up the beach a good 15-20 feet higher then it was when we first got there.

Now im on a tackle rescue mission. Running through the violent surf to save my now floating away tackle. This was quite an expierience but had i been in the water im sure it could have been nearly instant death.

Any one else ever seen this happen. It really is amazing.

A few years ago a friend of mine and I were fishing the Dike, but on the South side. It was about 11 pm and we had been there quite awhile. We had all of our stuff up on the rocks, tackle boxes lantern, rods, etc. So I get tired and decide to lay down and rest(the beer had nothin to do with it)on the rocks. Next thing I know my buddy who is about ten yards away yells my name, I dont know what I was thinking but I immediately got up and grabbed the lantern and leaped about 8 ft off the rocks toward the road. As I landed this huge wave crashed along the rocks, had I not jumped right when my friend yelled, I could've been washed off the rocks.
Watch those large ships, when they are full they pull alot of water.

That's happened to me before, I saw it coming and backed up enough, my buddy wasn't so quick and had a wave wash over him... I had to run out there and grab him since his waders were now full. It's not a fun experience...

Charlie's pasture in port-a, ship will come through and all the beach bums run out after the crabs and occasional flounder, pretty funny but like you said, better move your butt

this post is useless without a video!


glad yer ok!

we were starting to come out the Marina at Port A last year in the TX-21 Triton as a very large tanker passed.
it started sucking us into the ship channel.
i had the 225 Opti at about 3000 rpm just to hold us in place !

kinda freaky!!!

imagine being in a little jon boat or a bass buster.

would be needing to change the SHORTS !!!

Several years ago, driving our 20 foot Redfin parallel to the Galveston North Jetty, channel side, heading out to park near the jetty 2/3's out and fish. Saw a ship heading into port, seemed to be going faster than usual. The ship sent out a strange double wave. We went up, then down, and speared the second wave with the front of the boat. I don't know how deep the water was in the boat, but I quickly pulled the floor drain plugs and kept driving, which drained the water out of the boat. Can't imagine what would have happened if we were in the old 16 foot Big John boat which we used to fish in the same place before getting the Redfin. That experience made us a lot more alert to passing ships when sitting on that side of the rocks.

That can also get excitng at the boat ramp towards the end of the dike. Boats crashing into each other,left high and dry, then crashing into each other agian when the water comes back in.

A couple of guys were fishing in aa anchored boat just off the wall near the station street pier at Port Aransas last winter. A big tanker cruised by...when the water came back in the resulting wave left the boat in somebodies yard. The wave washed him completely over the seawall. It was in the PA paper in Dec. Bet that was one scary ride.It really got my attention I like to anchor up near the north jetty and fish, I always start my engine and and stay at the throttle when a big tanker passes just in case my anchor pulls free.

Smart thinking!!

This is a perfect example of why I preach to anyone who will listen , never, ever, never go into the open waters off Galveston without being in a boat with upright flotation. Things can happen fast and "do overs" not generally available.

wow dude, sounds pretty intense.

does anyone know of a youtube video that shows the water being sucked out and rushing back in?

Yah these things are intense i wish i had it on video. Real T.V. is where id send it.

That kind of personal experience makes it hard to reply or offer advice to people asking about taking a bass boat into saltwater. I've never had one so I don't know how they respond to an unexpected instant boat full of water. Don't really want to discourage them with horror stories that might happen once in a lifetime, possibly missing a fishing trip of a lifetime or discovering a passion that will last a lifetime as mine has.

I'll never forget the old man (70+) in the 14 foot+/- OLD aluminum v-bottom boat at the ramp at the base of the north jetty. Engine cowling off, trying and trying to get it started. Finally started, put the cowling back on and headed out. Not sure if that was a crusty old salt or a total DA.

This thread reminds me of the partially exposed, upside down bow of a fiberglass hull, bobbing up and down on the north channel side of the north jetty boat cut that was there for a couple weeks a few years ago. Every time I passed by it, there were people fishing near it. Or the big shrimp boat resting on the gulf side further out. Passed that one for months, smelling the leaking diesel fuel before it finally disappeared.

The ocean is a big powerful place, and even on calm days, can be brutal. We always wear our life jackets when underway or wading the beachfront. I can not believe how many people don't.

I've accepted an attitude with boat operators on the saltwater when they pass, be it 20 foot personal boat or ship: If you're there in a boat that can't handle it... oh well, why are you there? And wade fisherman are quite simply out of sight, out of mind. I wish they'd wear something brighter on early mornings in the bay, it would make navigation so much easier. All too often they look like crab trap markers until we're close enough to upset their quiet fishing.

my little 16 footer does fine in the bay, cuts right through small waves and wakes and jumps the bigger ones. I can go 50 mph with that little evinrude and go airborne with a gracful landing on the next wake. Im good at it but my bilge pump broke the other day and i dam near sank but i pulled up on el jardin beach in seabrook and had my dads truck pull me up. Dont pull a beached boat full of water out of the sand using the frontmost cleet because it will break and slingshot into your plastic tailgate handle shattering it.

i was in a flat out of port a when a large tanker passed and sucked all the water out. it really does happen. it went from knee deep to ankle deep in about 30 seconds. in about 2 minutes i was floating again.

same thing happend to few months ago when i was wading off the dyke. not a good feeling when the water suddenly disappears from around you, so i ran back to shore!

I was putting boat on the trailer off of the Dyke one day and was by myself and noticed the water leaving so i put trailer deeper. Then boat was lined up behind the trailer and i heard water. I looked back to see a wall of water behind me. I had to slam boat into full reverse. It hit my Tahoe about mid-way up on the back hatch. I landed 1" from the front of the guide on my trailer. I watch a little closer now. If i was not good with boat would have been in back of Tahoe.

We were fishing on a beach and left our tackle beer CELL PHONES all 25 feet away from the water we out prolly another 20 feet from show and almost shoulder deep in the water trying to fishh in the deeper channel... well a huge autmobile container ship(Those big ugly ones) went by wayyy too fast it was hard enough to get sucked out let alone get back to our stuff. Half of everything was gone and the cell phone i borrowed from my girlfriend looked like it had a fish tank for a screen.