Father-daughter trip a memorable experience
By Melissa Zamora
LSONews.com
Waking up three 19-year-old college students just before dawn is no small feat and generally results in upside-down smiles, pillow-styled hair and belly scratching.
Shelby Samford, Ashley Stowkoski and Elizabeth Connor, best friends since sixth grade, take summer vacations together with Samford’s father, Bob, as chaperone. They found themselves in Port Mansfield this year, wade fishing for the first time.
“The first day of the trip, the girls didn’t want to get up and were dragging most of the morning,” Bob said. “They soon caught a 27 1/2 inch redfish, and they were suddenly wide awake with all the excitement.”
Bob Samford, an Operation Game Thief board member, purchased the trip as part of an auction package at the OGT annual banquet this spring. The package included a two-day guided fishing trip with Captains Lynn Waddell and Mike Lowe; a Sam Caldwell original giclée created from a photo the renowned artist took on the trip; and a custom-made OGT “Limited Edition” rod from Woodee Rods.
“I bought this for a generational moment,” Bob said. “I will have Sam’s art to pass on to the kids, grandchildren, etc.”
Bob Samford is director of governmental affairs with Austin-based Temple-Inland; Shelby Samford attends Texas Tech University; Ashley Stowkoski attends Oklahoma State University; and Elizabeth Connor attends Louisiana State University. Father-daughter fishing trips are commonplace for Bob and Shelby. With Father’s Day weekend around the corner, both found this to be a most memorable trip.
“You don’t see dads bringing their kids on fishing trips anymore,” Lowe said.
Fishing and more
The guests received top-notch hospitality from everyone involved. Caldwell, a 2004 Texas Parks and Wildlife Artist of the Year, went the extra mile and cooked up his famous Lazy Boy Biscuits for breakfast.
“And breakfast sure was good,” Waddell added. “But did he have to use every dish in the kitchen?”
As Waddell poked fun at Caldwell and shared his mouth-watering fish batter recipes that included jalapeño potato chips or fried French onions, the rest of the group lounged around a patio table chatting about fishing experiences, local politics and the latest controversial Willie Nelson tune.
“Enjoying the South Texas breeze has been phenomenal,” Samford said while leaning back in chair. “This is what it’s all about.”
The young ladies didn’t seem to mind jumping into some murky waters, and they quickly learned the art of the “shuffle-shuffle” to avoid contact with stingrays. Their use of artificial lures proved successful with some good-sized trout and redfish hitting the ice chest for the evening’s lip-smacking dinner.
Still, there were the usual false-alarm catches that come with every fishing trip.
“Every time we caught grass, we thought it was a fish,” Connor said, noting that every line tug was an adrenaline rush. “I’d even be happy catching a jellyfish.”
“Hey,” Shelby added, “we got memories.”
