Birthday Present to Me -- Fishing Charter

Yesterday was another disappointing day of fishing here in Port Aransas and it started with sucking some of those Gulf Shrimp out of the sands and light surf (cold it was with my sandals on and jeans rolled up).  I did manage to get more than two dozen of those little shrimp and it seemed only one out of 3 or 4 holes yielded anything big enough to cover a hook -- more were small and I left them for the sea gulls to swoop in and feed on.  After about an hour of work, I decided that my feet were too cold and my arms too sore to continue the gathering and I had enough to catch something (or so I thought).

I decided to fish the seawall where I had caught numerous Sheepshead off the boulders with the hope some of the bigger ones like the one keeper I caught previously would return and attack the bait I had worked to get.  By 4:20 I had used all my shrimp and one sea lice I apparently had sucked from the sands and surf -- only caught two Sheepshead and both were too small.  I fished right near the parked RV of Annie and Peter (couple from Montana) and I had some good visiting time with them and any others that came by to inquire about the fishing.  After the bait was gone, I headed to Bernies for a couple drafts and a bottle of Coors Light before heading back to the RV.  Met some more nice people there at the bar -- one retired couple to my right from Des Moine and two young local couples to my left who were celebrating one of the guys birthdays.

Before I left the campground around noon, I had earlier visited another neighbor (Marlo and his wife Donna) to let him know that I would be willing to join him and 4 other guys on a charter going out tomorrow morning.  I decided this would be my birthday present to myself and am hoping to stock the freezer with Red Snappers -- apparently Texas has an open season on them even though all other states have a closed season until June but, they have to be caught within a nine mile limit.

It is supposed to be in the mid to upper 60s tomorrow and the seas are supposed to be less than 2 feet with us fishing in about 100 foot deep waters of the Gulf.  Today is supposed to be a repeat of yesterday so, I guess I will hit the beach around low tide (1:34 p.m.) and head to a different spot on the south side of the jetty in Port A.  The sun is shining so, that is a good start and the low last night was higher than some of our daily highs of the past couple weeks.  And the winds are not as intense as previous days.