Fish of a (long) lifetime

Junction resident Adelaide Copeland loves to fish.

The 98-year-old has been going to the Texas coast near Rockport with her family for at least the past 60 years. But this year’s trip stood out, thanks to an old fishing spot and one big redfish.

“We take her every year, and we have been going with Jay (Nichols, of Just Add Water Guide Service) for the past three years,” said Copeland’s daughter, Connie Booth. “She’s in a walker and blind, so jay lifts her in and out of the boat.”

Booth said she lost her older brother last year at age 74, and when the family was growing up, he would take his mom to a special spot to fish.

“We’d rent a boat and he’d take momma out to fish,” Booth said. “She loved to fish a certain post that marked a reef in the bay in front of Rockport. So this time, I told mom we were right out in front of Rockport. Well, Jay found that damn post — it had a pelican sitting on it.”

The family pitched lines in the water and it wasn’t long before Copeland hooked into a big bull red.

“Her fish was the biggest of the day — a bull red measuring 31 ¼ inches and weighing 14 pounds,” Booth said. “And of all the places; that is where she’d fish with my brother. It was one of her old spots.”

The big red was caught on a cut mullet, and Booth said it was the fishing highlight of her mom’s life.

“It’s the biggest fish she’d ever caught,” she said. “It was her fish of a lifetime at 98 years old.  We are so proud that momma is still game to enjoy a fun day on the water chasing the big ones.

“She is an inspiration to everyone who meets her.”