What a catch!

  It is a sad state of affairs when I cannot even catch a fish large enough for a meal!  This evening, as usual, I headed to the pier to catch a few mullet for the injured heron.  While there, I thought that I might as well try to catch my supper, too.  A few shrimp were the only things I saw that resembled food.  Well, perhaps as bait those few could be turned into something larger.  While I waited for the heron, I baited my hook and tossed the line in the water near the shore.  I had high hopes of snagging a redfish!  Well, it did not happen!  As matter of fact, nothing happened!  The bird did not show, I did not catch mullet nor did I catch my supper.  My catch of the day consisted of one teeny-tiny Gafftopsail!  This wee bit of a catfish was not much larger than my bait! How in the world did it completely swallow the shrimp?

  It seems that this is a prolific year for catfish of all sorts.  I have caught more tiny, baby catfish this year than any other that I can remember.  This is not the only strange catch of the season. Shrimp..large shrimp..very large shrimp filled the Bay this past month. Every fall, we usually catch a few shrimp but never the size of the ones this year.  Each evening, I spent several hours throwing the net and filling my freezer with the beautiful, white shrimp!  When Mark was home, he would go out in the boat and throw the net.  Between the two of us, we caught buckets full of the delectable critters!  Our freezer is filled to capacity!  There will be plenty of fine eats for us come this winter! Gumbo, jambalaya, po-boys...you name it, it will be served!  

  If I cannot catch a fish, I definitely am not complaining about the shrimp.  There will be plenty of lazy days ahead that can be spent hooking a redfish but shrimp are here only for a short while.  The usual catchphrase around here is "Catch 'em while the catchin's good!"