Caught the Thief!

  Mark and I have surely been enjoying our morning fishing from the pier.  We have been able to catch a good many fish but, also, have lost our share.  We were beginning to think our fishing skills were lacking until Mark caught a fish in the net while throwing for bait.  That explains the missed fish!  He caught a nice sized blackdrum!  Those bait thieves are at it again!  Blackdrum are so adept at stealing a bait off the hook that it is sometimes hard to even tell you have a bite.  Now, fish like we do with at least two poles each and it is doubly hard.  Mark and I have a tendency to bait and throw out two lines each.  We leave the reels on "free spool" and set them on the bench.  We watch the lines to "see" a bite.  I do this so I can still be photographing whatever critters are in the area.  He does it since he is usually still trying to catch more bait or is baiting the crab pots.  This fishing method works great for us and we usually catch our supper in just a short while.  But not recently as our hooks would come up empty with no trace of a nibble!
  These fish are notorious bait stealers.  They can cut a minnow from the hook without ever wiggling the line!  These fish usually feed on crustaceans and mollusks but are not above taking a "soft" meal when the opportunity arises.  Eating shellfish gives them powerful jaws that can cut a minnow in half with a simple snip.  When they do bite and you do set the hook, they give a great pull! 

  Now that we know what has been taking our bait without our knowledge, we will be extra watchful of the lines.   While I prefer a good redfish or trout for supper, a blackdrum will work just as good! The only problem is those sharp spines along the back.  Those things make it a bit difficult (though not impossible!) to clean the fish.  Today, however, the fish caught in the net was given a reprieve.  After a stern warning for it to leave our bait alone, I tossed it back into the water.  It will live to see another day....if it agrees to stop its thieving ways!