In The Locker Room With Rick Gerla
Sep 18, 2002 | Football
Sept. 18, 2002
- by Kerri Mueller, Kansas State Sports Information student assistant
Wildcat senior, punter Rick Gerla, loves to spend his summers throwing a line in the water, sitting back and relaxing. We're not talking about catching catfish or flathead in Milford Lake, we're talking about reeling in red fish, sea trout, flounder, stingray and shark in the East and West Matagorda Bay. The Louise, Texas, native grew up about 45 minutes from the East Bay and cannot remember a summer he has not gone fishing.
"I have been fishing there since I can remember," Gerla said. "My uncles, my dad and I would always go out, probably since I was four or five. Every summer we would go fishing."
When most people think of Texas, they think of it as being warm year round, but the Gerla men have found that summer is the best time to pack up the gear and head out to the Bay.
"That's when we were off school," Gerla said. "The climate is warmer so that is when the fish are there. We go wade fishing, so you are actually in the water walking around, instead of staying in the boat."
You might think that you can't catch big fish while walking around in a bay, but Gerla's biggest catch came in just shy of three feet long.
"I caught my biggest fish when I was probably 10 or 11," Gerla said. "I hooked into a 32" red fish. It was over the limit so unfortunately, we had to put it back. But it was the biggest fish I have ever caught."
Gerla has found one of the better places to fish is out at "The Wells." "The Wells" are old oil rigs where coral has begun to build up and created a place for the fish to live. However, this place is where he found out that the tables of prey and predator could be turned.
"We had got into some black-tipped shark and I had one on my line," Gerla said. "My uncle had also caught one and already pulled it out and he nudged me with it. He got a little too close and the shark bit my clothes on my butt."
For Gerla, being bitten on the butt is just one of the numerous memories that the family shares each year and laugh about. They have enjoyed countless memorable times together.
"I can remember a time when we were out fishing early in the morning and there was hardly a sound," said Lawrence Gerla, Rick's father. "Rick was fishing on one side of the inlet and I was on the other. It was very peaceful and still. All of the sudden I heard someone shout 'Dad, I got one'. And it was Rick hollering across the inlet."
Maneuvering around the inlets is what usually gives the Gerla's trouble, though. Many of the inlets around the bays are less than four-foot deep. Normally this would not be deep enough for a fishing boat to safely move about in, but the Gerla's use a special kind of boat, a bay boat. This style of boat has a V in the front and a tunnel in the back.
"They are fishing boats made for very shallow water," Gerla said. "I've been in boats where they have run in six inches of water going 45mph."
The real reason for Gerla to spend time fishing in Matagorda Bay is not for the excitement of catching the "Big One", or for racing around the Bay in boats, but for the time he is able to spend with his family and friends. In recent years, he has been unable to attend the fishing trips with his family because of athletic conflicts, but he has found going with his friends to be a welcomed time away from the routine of college life.
"Going out there and being with my family is the best part," Gerla said. "With football, being at a JuCo, being up here and being away from them, it's nice to go back and spend time with them. Every time new memories are made, and we reminisce about the old ones. The past couple of years, I've been able to go out with my friends because my family has been unable to make it out at the same time."
It maybe hard for Kansas natives to even image fishing in a bay that is many times the size of Milford Lake, but Gerla has found that even though it's not the same as fishing in the Matagorda Bay, it is still gratifying.
"I've been out with my roommate to Milford Lake a couple of times," Gerla said. "The way you fish here is different. I've never trolled or fished out of a boat before like we do up here. Fishing is something that once you get into it is very enjoyable. I love to do it. I've been out there at three in the morning and had school the next day and it doesn't phase me. It is a great pastime."
Even his dad hopes to get a chance to put his line in the Kansas waters.
"Rick's roommate is going to take us out to the lake," Lawrence Gerla said. "It should be interesting to see the differences in fishing styles."
As interesting as it is to fish in other parts of the U.S., fishing in the East Matagorda Bay of Texas is where Rick Gerla is happiest.
