The Lake Caballo Incident

So a good friend of mine retired from law enforcement last year in New Mexico. I happened to be in New Mexico in the fall teaching and decided to swing through Elephant Bute and visit he and his wife for a few days between classes in Alamogordo and Santa Fe. The weekend hit and we wanted to go fishing and ended up doing so out on Caballo Lake. We went with his brother and brother in-law, both really good guys.

It started off slow looking for a good fishing spot but we had beer so we were good. If we couldn't catch a fish maybe we'd catch a buzz instead. We went all over this lake and finally decided to try a spot over by the shore in this big pontoon boat. It was a pretty large pontoon boat with an awning and plenty of room to walk around. It was one of the ones with s square shape and a little door in the front, or maybe it would be considered a gate. Trust me this will matter later.

So everything was going well and I even caught a carp that was a decent size. It had gotten windy out on the lake and we'd started drifting towards the shore so decided to move the boat out a little bit. That's when it wouldn't start. The battery was dead. After trying and failing for a few more minutes to start the boat we decided to hop into the water, which was only knee deep at this point, and pull the boat to shore and stake it down. There was another brother with a boat that could bring us a fresh battery so we were gonna wait it out.

So it wasn't too bad it was a nice day out. If I remember right the brother took maybe an hour to get out there and the battery was replaced and the boat started. There was some foul weather on the radar so we decided to call it a day. We opened up full speed headed back over the lake but the waters were getting pretty choppy. We were seriously taking a bath going across that lake back to the dock. I'd been on water rides at amusement parks and gotten less wet than this. We were getting pounded. Then suddenly that little door/gate up front....remember that? Yeah, that got knocked open by one of the waves. I started to go up front to close it really fast but my friend beat me to it. The problem is the boat hadn't stopped and we were still hitting waves. Water rushed onto the boat through that door and now the door would not close. The front end of the boat went under and the boat started to sink right there in the middle of the lake! I grabbed a life vest because I'm a bad swimmer. Then another wave hit after a moment and knocked the front of the boat up out of the water and the water on the boat went to the back and drained out of the port holes on the sides. The water was off the boat and we'd dodged a bullet. We all thought for sure that boat was gone it was going to sink. It was just dumb luck that other wave hit the way it hit.

So we started the boat back up and continued across the lake... but at a much slower pace. Once we made it back to the boar docked and got it back up on the trailer we all looked at each other relieved. The fish that we caught got cleaned and we headed home. I had gotten sunburned really bad so I rubbed some aloe on it and took a nap. I'd started to peel by the time I woke up and went downstairs. Dinner was ready and we were eating those fish! After what we went through those fish were going to be eaten no matter what! All that being said everyone was fine and it made for a good story to tell. Boat sinking or not these were some great guys and I'd go fishing with them anytime. Just maybe in a different boat.

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you all have a wonderful day!