Nine Catfish, One Stingray, One Trout and a Big Lizard!

   Early this morning, I caught a few menhaden so Mark and I could go fishing.  The end of the pier is my choice of fishing spots as it is convenient.  If the fish are not biting, I can simply head back to the gardens to work.  This morning, however, we were determined to catch some hardhead catfish to use as crab bait.  It was not long before the fish started biting and I was pulling in one catfish after another. Suddenly, the pull bent downward and the drag started humming.  I knew I had something a bit larger than a hardhead. One nice gafftopsail (catfish) was hauled to the pier.  Then, another good pull and a stingray was flopped onto the pier.  That could be used as crab bait, as well!  At one point, Mark was swishing around in the bait bucket to hand me a minnow, when I heard his line going out like crazy!  I grabbed the pole and pulled in a small trout.  Well...maybe our lunch?  Catfish continued to bite until I had to head back to chores.  All in all, it was a good morning!

  As I walked back up to the pier, I became exasperated.  In the edge of the marsh was a large piece of plastic.  Since it was out of reach, I grabbed my reel and tossed the hook over the edge of the plastic.  The hook slid around and caught hold of an attached rope.  Smooth sailing!  The plastic sheet easily came to the pier.  I picked it up and had to start giggling.  After all of those fish, I had now caught a "Big Lizard"!  It seems this was one of those "boogie boards" or "wake boards" that I have seen young folks using.  (Not sure on either of those terms.)  Anyway, the name printed on the top was "Big Lizard"!  I wonder where that came from? It sort of fit...maybe?  I went from fishing to the garden and caught a big lizard?  Anyway, the morning was fun and now...beautiful rain!  Hopefully, it will rain all night and end this dreadful drought!

The Day of Variety!

    As usual. our day started on the pier.  Since the redfish are biting, we hustle down before daybreak, catch some little mullet to use as bait and set our lines.  It seems that the reds only want the tiny mullet and refuse to even taste a menhaden.  Personally, that suits me fine as it seems catfish prefer menhaden.  I am not pestered by nibblers that are of no use other than as crab bait.  Before the sun started showing its face above the pines on the far shore, we were ready and waiting.

  The morning did not go quite as planned, however.  Instead of refish, Mark started catching mullet...ones large enough to eat.   With that, I was left watching the poles while he threw the net.  He caught several dozen of the fish and I still had no bites.  Then, he caught a trout and a tiny flounder.  Well, that was different!  These were tossed back into the water as they were too small.  Still no reds, however.

  Oh a whim, I hooked on a menhaden and threw the line straight out from the pier.  Wham!  Woo hoo!  I pulled back to set the hook and the drag on the reel started singing!  I got one!!  Yeah...right.  As soon as I thought I had a good fish, that goofy thing started dancing on top of the water.  I knew exactly what I was fighting...a ladyfish.    I may as well have a bit of fun so I battled the ladyfish.  For anyone who has never caught one of these fish, it is quite the experience.  Picture a fish acting like a pinball bouncing around madly while you try to reel it in.  To top it off, ladyfish are known to be able to throw off a hook in the bat of an eye.  It takes a bit of skill to get one landed.  I did!  Too bad these are not considered to be a "food fish".  I had a nice one!

  After all of the ruckus from throwing the net for mullet and catching a wild and crazy ladyfish, Mark did finally catch that elusive redfish and we went back up to the Little Bayou House with quite a variety of cleaned fish!  Meals for free!  Fun for the day.

Chores first....fishing later

  Pop always used to say that there was never a bad fishing day rather there were days that you just did not catch any fish.  It was his belief that if you had the good fortune to be able to go fishing, it was a grand day indeed.  He told stories of how he and his brothers would skip out on chores to go fishing when they were youngsters.  My grandpa depended upon his boys' help in running the farm and did not tolerate slacking on the job.  Instead of telling Grandpa that they fished, they would tie the fish to a post and retrieve them "after" they did their field work.  It did not take Grandpa long to realize what was happening and he remedied that problem real quick!  Chores first...fishing later.  The love of fishing stayed with Pop and, in his later years, he went most every day.  Usually he caught a good many but even if he did not, he still enjoyed being on the water.  I am much the same. Any day spent fishing is a good day.

  No, I did not spend the day fishing.  I did my chores.  Grandpa would have been proud of me! Actually, I did more than I intended to do when I got up this morning.  It was late afternoon when I finally made my way down to the pier for the final hike of the day.  On a whim, I caught a few minnows and tossed out a line.  Whip!  That line never stopped!  Some fish had definitely wanted that bait!  Second bait and the same thing happened.  This time, a nice trout was landed.  Third bait...another trout.  Well, this was good!  Supper would be fine tonight!  It did not stop there.  Two more trout and a small redfish were hauled onto the pier.  Since the red was a mite small, he got a reprieve and was tossed back into the water.  Then....wham!  Whoa!  This was no trout!  A good five minutes later saw a beauty of a redfish in the scoop net!  My goodness!  This is my kind of fishing!  There was one minnow left in the bucket so the line went out again.  Since there were plenty of fish for two meals now, I set to work cleaning the fish.  The cleaning table on the pier allowed me to clean fish while watching that last line.  Right as I was filleting the big redfish, I noticed the line zipping out from the reel.  The struggle to land this fish was much like the other.  Another twenty-two inch redfish was scooped in the net.  Whew!  I was glad I was out of bait!  I cleaned the last redfish and thought of how fortunate I had been!  In less than an hour,  I had caught plenty of fish for several meals.  Yep, a good day fishing!  

Just a Good Day of Fishing

  Once again, Mark and I were on the pier at daybreak.  To be honest, this is our favorite place to be at any time of day but sunrise is always the best!  After yesterday's nice catch of ground mullet (Southern Kingfish), he and I decided to give it a go again.  There is nothing tastier than a good mess of fried fish especially when those fish are fresh!  Seafood is one of those things that he and I can eat most every day of the week and never tire of it.

  This morning started off with a bang.  He had two poles out..one with a menhaden and the other with a shrimp.  I had two..both with shrimp.  He was fishing bottom while my shrimp simply floated on top.  One good sized trout started the morning off nicely and things progressed from there.   Seven trout and one large flounder later, we were ready to head back to the house.  

  The only thing strange about this was it seems that we were the only one catching legal sized fish!  Several of our trout were in the 16 inch range, while our smallest was nigh on 14.  We were told that the other fishermen were catching small 8 inch fish which are far below the acceptable size as keepers.  I am not sure just what we were doing differently than the others but I am sure glad that the fish decided to like our baits!  Seems that the Good Lord gave us more than enough and now we have plenty of fish to share with others.  What a great day!