A Prickly Pinfish!

  Oh, how I wish the fish were biting!  Ms. Ez and I would spend hours on the end of the pier in the cooling breeze.  We could while away the hours yet have a wonderful excuse...errr...reason for doing so.  The old Bayou Dog and I would be catching our lunch or at least bait for the crab traps.  But as it is, we have to admit that we are just being a tad lazy. Every day or so, we wet a line and try our luck but to no avail.  Not a thing wants our bait.  Why I cannot even catch a stingray which is a bit unusual for this time of year.  Where have all our fish gone?

  After a sleepless night, I figured that I deserved to have a relaxing day. The old dog and I headed to the pier with good intentions of cooling off in the breeze and perhaps catch our lunch as well.  Once again, our well-laid plans were foiled!  Nary a nibble came our way.  I threw the net a couple of times thinking perhaps a few mullet may have wandered close to the pier but that came up empty as well.  The only thing I caught was one nice size Pinfish and by "nice size", I mean about five inches in length. These things are always around the pier eating whatever they can find.   They love to hang around under the pier where they feast upon the barnacles that cover the posts.  This is probably a good thing since a lot of larger fish dine upon the Pinfish.  Where there are Pinfish, there should be Red Drum fish..only not today.

  The Pinfish is so called because of twelve spines along its dorsal fin.  These spines are needle-sharp and can cause painful puncture wounds to those not careful.  Not many expect such a pretty little fish to pack such a wallop!  The punctures are bad enough but now with the flesh-eating bacteria just lurking about in the waters, it can mean real trouble!  A bit of advice from some well-meaning folks is to carry some sort of antibacterial hand-sanitizer with you and use it if you get any wounds while fishing.  That may or may not be good advice but I guess it cannot hurt.  I should follow this but sad to say, I do not.  If and when I get injured, more oft than not, I will soak the wound in Epsom salts, turmeric and oregano.  It has always worked for me!  (The kids always said it made them smell like pizza!)

  My little friend, Pinfish, hung around just long enough for a photography session before being released back into the water. When one is first taken from the water, it is not uncommon to see the lovely colors of the little fish.  The body is mainly a sandy color with green, blue and purple iridescence.  This little guy seemed to be more purple than anything else!  After just a short time being out of the water, the fish began to fade so my lonely little Pinfish was tossed back into the murky waters quickly!  Once it was free, I was in hopes it would attract something a bit bigger.  (And, no, I did not get pricked by those spines!)