bluecordfishermen 
Caution: Kayak Rentals from Army MWR sites
It had been a long week but I wanted to get out on the water. It rained hard that morning so I was out at Toledo Bend after a hair cut in Leesville and some lunch.
I was serious about going after some catfish so the night before I bought a small bag of frozen raw shrimp. Never had a bad day fishing shrimp for catfish. At the Army Rec site rental office, I decided on a kayak. they had ten footers and I wanted to compare it to my 12 foot kayak back at Fort Drum NY. The selection was on the rough side and I picked out this fine looking craft. Notice the missing drain plug.
I loaded up my spinning rod and fly rod, tackle box, bait, jug of ice tea. I was ready with the exception of an anchor. I was lucky they didn’t have one. On my first trip, I was issued a large 30 pound anchor for a canoe. The clerk forgot this time. I actually wore my life vest as skimpy as it was.
I entered the water and headed out of the dock area and felt like the 10 foot kayak was really pulling hard and sluggish. I gave thought to returning and getting a canoe but I pressed on and paddled to the cove where I was successful the previous Saturday.
I settled in and fought the wind while my bait moved along the bottom in deep water. Twice my shrimp was swiped. I paddled back out to the up wind shore so the wind could push me over the deep channel. I noticed the kayak was becoming more unstable. After another cast, I noticed the bow was raised up about 6 inches higher. I reached behind me and felt water where I should have felt some plastic. In a glance I knew I was in trouble.
In a split second, I decided to paddle for it hoping to close the distance between a sinking kayak and the shore across the next cove. I got maybe three strokes in and the kayak flipped.
I returned to the surface and grabbed what I could. I have no idea how I kept my glasses and hat on. I was able to immediately secure the paddle and the capsized kayak. My tackle box was floating so I grabbed it. I saw my jug of tea was floating but the wind already caught it. It floated away like Wilson did in Cast Away.
I began to kick myself the paddle, tackle box and submerged kayak toward a peninsula that was inhabited. The distance might have been a quarter mile but it took 30 minutes. For about a 5 second period, I thought the result may be in question but I pushed that out of my mind. It was a matter of making slow progress and just keeping steady.
I climbed out of the water onto somebody’s back yard. They weren’t home. I crossed the street and saw an older gentlemen and asked for some help. Of course, he looked at me with a “where in the hell did you come from?” look. I caught my breath while he put some jeans on and a mask. We loaded the kayak in his Expedition and returned me to the Rental office with the items I salvaged. He waited until I could get my car started. He was a Vietnam Vet and we immediately struck up a relationship of mutual respect.
At one point I thought I could slip out his backyard and cross the channel before it capsized. I gave me the are crazy look. I really looked after me for that next 20 minutes.
The rental office was not very curious about it which I found odd. The clerk mentioned its happened several times. I asked to talk to the manager and waited outside since I was still soaking wet. After a 10-20 minutes, it began to rain and I repeated my request to see the manager. The clerk said the fella was busy but she called the site manager. She had difficulty understanding me because of the poor connection and I gave up. The clerk provided me the email for the Army MWR Director at Fort Polk. Nobody thought it was strange for a guy over 50 was rented a kayak that sank.
I provided the MWR Director a summary of the events and heard nothing.
I returned the next day to thank the man who helped me. I left a note since he was gone. I checked on the Kayak I salvaged and it was in the same spot I left it. My gut tells me its back on the line of kayaks waiting for the next person to select for an exciting afternoon.
I did not have to pay for the rental, but the final tally of losses included two fishing rods, a very nice folding knife, my favorite thermos jug and my cellphone. The phone remained in my pocket but the 30 minutes in the water was beyond the limits of the case. If the anchor was provided, I’m not so certain the kayak would have been salvaged.