Leslee, her sister Amy Adams and her best friend Eryn Pierdolla with their catch! Love the matching shirts ladies!
By Leslee Oden
Three years ago, my family started a tradition – take a big vacation together! Growing up we didn’t take many big family trips and since moving to D.C. it’s a time each year that I cherish more than ever. This year, we chose Port O’Connor, Texas as our destination; a small fishing town by Matagorda Bay in the Gulf of Mexico. The town itself is quite small, but provides some of the best fishing for salt water fish, trout, red fish, and flounder in the beautiful bays of Texas Middle Coast.
Making the trip this year were my parents (Bubba and Lenora), brother (Cody), sister and brother-in-law (Amy and Glenn), my sweet niece (Kimber), my Uncle Ralph and Eryn, my best friend from college and her husband, Cody. After settling into our home away from home, the excitement of fishing and being out on the water began. Over dinner the guys started talking up their fishing expertise. About how many fish they were going to catch. And why they didn’t want to go with the girls because we didn’t know how to fish. Well morning came and it was our time to show the guys that we could fish. And boy did we show them!
Leslee and one of her big fish!
Our day started off bright and early at 6 AM with a 45 minute ride out to an abandoned oil rig. From there the rest is history! On the first cast, my sister hooked a 41 inch monster red fish. It was so big it bent Captain Bo’s net. Amy was so excited – it wasn’t just the fish of the day…it was her first time fishing on the coast and she caught the daddy of them all. It didn’t matter if we caught another fish that day, the smile on her face was priceless and made the trip completely worth it. From there our luck continued, all three of us caught our limit on red fish, 3 bull red fish and Eryn topped the trip off by catching a trout. It was a great day on the water and we couldn’t wait to get back to the dock to show off our trophies. Back at the dock, everyone was in shock when we pulled out our prizes. Especially the boys! They ended the day by only catching 5 fish proving Girls RULE and Boys DROOL on the water!
At the end of day, it was a wonderful long weekend spent with the people I love the most in the world and some awesome fishing. If you’re ever in the Port O’Connor area hit up Double H Guide Service and Hammertime Fishing Guides and tell them the Oden family sent you. You will not be disappointed!
Leslee Oden is the Legislative Manager of the National Turkey Federation in Washington, D.C. In her role, she works to ensure the federation’s membership is extremely active and engaged in the legislative process on policy issues relating to agriculture, energy and the environment.
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