Spades!

I could not sleep last night.  This could have been the result of just going through Hurricane Isaac or just something to do with age but I just could not sleep.  So....I did my usual thing of heading to the pier.  I was worried about my little Green Herons.  I had not seen them since before the storm and was in hopes that the two of them would be on the pier to greet me. As I stepped onto the first board of the pier, the fluttering of wings told me that at least one bird had survived.  I was followed to the end of the pier with the bird constantly begging for breakfast.  

After filling the craw of the heron with nine finger-sized mullet, I checked the crab traps.  There had been a span of three days that I had not baited the traps so I knew that the traps would not be filled with crabs.  Five traps were found..one was missing.  The hurricane had pulled the rope loose.  I fished around under the pier with the boat hook...aha!..there was the trap!  I heaved it onto the pier.  To my surprise, there were four fish in the trap!  One Pinfish and three Spadefish had somehow slipped into the trap.  One of the Spadefish had tried to escape by pushing its way through the wire.  Its head had become wedged in the loop of wire.  This had created a massive problem for the Spadefish.  The one crab in the trap was trying to catch the ensnared fish!  Spadefish are pretty fish so I turned the trap up on end and knocked the fish free.  All three Spadefish and the Pinfish lived to see another day!  I tossed each of them back into the water!

The Spadefish that were in the crab trap were smallish fish with interesting black stripes.  Their dorsal fins were almost like fine spikes!  These Spadefish were juveniles and had a lot of growing to do!  One thing that I find interesting about Spadefish is that they nibble on the tentacles of jellyfish!  For some strange reason, the sting of the jelly does not seem to bother this predator!  The jelly is not safe from the Spadefish!