Packery Channel - "Fish of Souls"

After winning the Fishing Tournament here on Friday, I have been trying to fight this dousy of a cold -- brought on by the "chill to the bones" from wading into the Gulf waters for 3-1/2 hours up to waist deep and more.  Saturday seemed like a good day to pay a couple bills and that involved driving over to the Wells Fargo bank in Flour Bluff, just a short distance from the H.E.B. store across the street -- good time to stock up a few food items and more Fish Bites.

My mind was also drawn to a guy cleaning some really nice Sheepshead late Friday afternoon while I was cleaning my small but, numerous Whiting which had won me the tournament.  This guy said he had been to Packery Channel (which I passed on my way to the bank and store) and he said one guy caught a 23 or 24 inch Sheepshead.  So, I picked up some frozen shrimp at H.E.B. too since I had to pass Packery Channel on my way back to the RV park.  Why waste gas?  So, I stopped at the jetty there and dug out my heavy jacket and walked the short jetty for awhile to see what might be happening, if anything.

The wind was pretty stiff and out of the north and northeast whipping up some sizeable waves on the beach side but, some nice fish were being caught and I even bumped into that same guy as he was leaving with three more Sheepshead in his bucket -- heading back to Pioneer Beach RV park's fish cleaning station.  I spent a little more time walking and watching, trying to determine if I felt well enough to stay and try my luck.  After a short drive up the beach to the nearest port-a-jon, I felt the wind had died down enough to at least try a few casts

Long story, short.  I caught four nice Sheepshead and three were keepers -- one just shy of 15 inches.  I lost one really nice one over 20 inches when it broke my line as I tried to lift it from the water covered boulder just beyond the one I stood on -- should have had my net closer at hand but, didn't.  I also caught a beautiful, small Red Drum some 17 or 18 inches but, released him.

I usually don't fillet my fish but, since no one else was in the small building, I decided to get some practice on these three fish (and I didn't feel like popping all those huge scales off them).  Two of the fish were not quite dead and beating their hard heads against the table didn't get it done either.  After getting the fillets off both sides of the first one so that the skeletal bones and spiked dorsal fins were exposed with the tail and head still left on, it reminded me of the silohuette on the book writtern by Gary Williams -- "Fish of Souls".  Eery looking!  A couple were still twitching when I carried the bag of remains to the dumpster across the street.

Fishing Tournament - Pioneer Beach Resort

Well, after a nice Valentine's Dinner and Dance last night (including some "Appe Pie" drink concoction made by my neighbor Mike - grain alcohol and spicy apple juice and cinnamon), I left before 9:00 p.m. with a bit of a headache and sore throat (thinking I should get some rest for today's fishing tournament on the beach near the RV Park).  I decided I should pay the $5 the day before and hope for a door prize at best -- some were nice pieces of fishing gear and a couple fishing charters, gift certificates from all around the area courtesy of many of the local establishments.

Since I have had no desire to fish from the beach here because it looks so trashed and flat, I figured that I might as well give it a try anyway and bought some additional tackle to supplement what I had.  The high tide this morning was at 8:11 a.m. and the tournament started at 8:30 a.m. so, I figured the fishing would really be lousy too (as most other people might agree).  As I tried to wake up this morning after sleeping mostly upright and taking a number of throat losenges, I pondered the possibility of not participating since it was only in the low 50s -- easy out for feeling poorly (maybe blame the neighbors concoction a little too).

After getting checked in, I headed for my spot #45 down the beach.  By the way that's my birth year for some who don't know.  Earlier, I had stopped at the nearest Stripes store and purchased a container of frozen shrimp and threw some hot water I had nuked on them to thaw them out -- next step to throw some saltwater from the Gulf on them to season them.  I slipped out of my corduroy pants and slipped on my old rubber sandals to go with my bathing suit (that I had on under my pants) topped off with my "Margaritaville" t-shirt (last year's Christmas present from Tim and Laura).

That first step into the chilly waters finished the wake up process and I had a half bucket of water to throw on the bait and to hold any fish I might be lucky to catch from the yucky looking beach (heavily strewn with plant debris and a few Men of War mixed in with their little blueish balloons).  The guy next to me was named Rick and we talked a bit while we waited for the word to start fishing.  Soon a pick'em up truck came honking down the beach and the cold, wet fun began -- thank goodness it ended at noon, as I began to get chills and started shaking or shuddering at times with my rod in hand.  "Blew out my flip-flop" too near the end.

I used some tiny squares of Fish Bites and a small piece of shrimp on each of the two hooks of my bottom rig specifically purchased for this outing.  I had bites on my first cast and then caught my first Whiting on the second cast (thrown farther to my left as the current was taking my weight and hooks to the right).  By the time the tournament ended, I had caught 15 Whiting and one Pompano (my first of the year) for a total of sixteen fish -- most fish caught and the most Whiting caught by anyone.  This old man won the top prizes and one of the door prizes too (an indoor/outdoor thermometer).  Sixty dollars and a nice gift too for a five dollar investment.

Now, I just hope this cold doesn't get worse -- Nice Day anyway.  More fish in the freezer and gave some away to that neighbor who shared the "Apple Pie".

My Highlights from South Texas

Though I haven't left this area yet, I eagerly look forward to mid March when I will and I don't expect there will be much change in the fishing and the top highlight will probably never be replaced -- making love to Jennifer Anniston (in my dreams, of course but all the more real or as real as it can get).  The second most memorable thing will be the Red Snapper charter trip to the gas rigs in the Gulf where we caught (and were allowed to keep) our limit of those tasty fish.  The third most memorable thing will be the huge Red Drum (Redfish) that I hooked (and nearly landed) while fishing the south jetty in Port A -- a really beautiful fish that had to be over 36 or 37 inches in length and nearly 12 inches in height as I estimated when I pulled him (with the help of a timely wave) onto the large flat boulder at the water's edge (too bad that hook straightened out when I tried to yank him to me on the less slippery boulder I stood on).  Saved me from having to realease him anyway.

More memorable or equally as memorable as the Redfish will be the nice Black Drum that I landed on my birthday with the broken reel which I had to turn by the spool by hand.  A tasty 21 inch fish.  I'm still hoping to catch another nice keeper Sheepshead to match that 18-incher I caught before Christmas and maybe that will happen sometime before I leave here (and never look to coming back again for a winter).

State of the Union -- Same Old, Same Old

Didn't need to waste my time watching the dufus say the same old things and try to blame the GOP (anybody but himself, of course).  No Surprise!  No Surprise!  Same Old story and never a sign of leadership by working with the party across the aisle -- he must still be under the delusion that the 51.8% "majority" who voted for him thinks he knows what is right for this country (they probably do but not the rest of us).

I say "March on Washington and take them all out, including the Lobbyists" -- way past time for another revolution.  Do away with the Electoral College too and only represent a "true majority" or don't represent us at all (because you don't -- you only represent yourselves).

Government hasn't improved one iota and the fishing here hasn't either -- winds from the north are making it poor.

Puzzling Times

Well, I resorted to digging out one of my jigsaw puzzles last night and cleared my dining room table where I spent the evening until midnight working to put it together -- and pondered or "puzzled" over the perplexing problem with the cats (Tiger and Molly).  The jigsaw puzzle was a picture of two cute little kittens, each not much bigger than one of the canning jars filled with peaches (also part of the picture).

The problem with Tiger and Molly (besides having picked up some fleas) is that they have pooped and pissed in a few places on the furniture -- luckily I have had plastic over all the leather pieces but, the smell has permeated the air at times and the Lysol spray only sets off the air monitoring alarm if I spray too much.  I have rubbed their noses in their business, smacked their bottoms and dropped them in the litter box a number of times.  I have even resorted to adding a layer of tin foil (which they both hate) over the plastic and covered other areas prone to their possible peeing and pooping.

Last night I kept a watchful eye on the twins and the furniture, as I struggled to piece togethere the puzzle hoping too that I might come up with some explanation for their recent change in behavior but, with the puzzle only about half complete, I headed for bed -- none the wiser.  By 1:30 in the morning, I found myself answering the calls of the twins and got them both back to the bedroom and spent a half hour brushing each of them as they meowed for more and more.  I also sprayed them both with a hydrocortisone spray I had picked up earlier this week (and brushed that in too).  Toward the end of the brushing session, I noticed that Tiger had a little patch of hair missing on the top of his head and my worries increased two-fold for fear it might be more than fleas -- but, I was just way too tired to jump up and get on the computer just then (still blurry-eyed too from looking at all those puzzle pieces).

Both of them quieted down and fell asleep -- Molly on the dashboard and Tiger on a pile of my old jeans on my dresser (old but, recently washed jeans).  Around 3:30 a.m., I awoke again to the sound of Molly snoring on the dashboard -- Tiger just zonked on the pile of jeans so, I fell back asleep myself -- until 5:30 and got up to browse the web looking up their symptoms.  Didn't discover anything to upset me more so I noted some brand names of more powerful flea treatments to purchase and got back to that jigsaw puzzle and a few cups of coffee -- decided today would not be a fishing day (though the forecast showed it to be one of the three best days so far this month) and I would just be here for the twins (and the puzzle).

By daybreak (and 3 cups of coffee later), a thought came to me and I set about testing this by putting the twin's favorite cat treats in their dish -- on the floor.  Neither of them would get down off the dashboard and they seemed to stare at the little silver plate beneath them as if it was floating in a sea of monsters -- just outside their reach (they even tried to reach down too but, too far).  Low and behold!  They thought the nasty little bugs biting them had come from the floor and they weren't about to touch any of the floor.  I offered them some tuna fish in the same manner as the cat treats and that confirmed it for me -- gave them both dishes on the dashboard or any place off the floor and they were there.

I went back to my jigsaw puzzle feeling much better -- and I discovered a flea there jumping around on the puzzle (one dropped undoubtedly by Molly during an earlier visit there while I was on the computer).  After finishing the puzzle, I found that one little (the tiniest) piece of the puzzle was missing but, who cares when you have all the other pieces.  I made a trip to Walmart after that and now both cats are resting peacefully (most of the time -- meds may take 12 hours to work completely)

No Bingo for me tonight but, maybe some fishing tomorrow -- and thinking of how to correct the twins bathroom habits back to the litter box.

Sucking Was Bad -- Fishing Okay

I didn't get out to the beach right at low-tide this morning so, I didn't see more than a couple of the small holes or mini-mud volcanoes in the sand -- only got one of those Gulf shrimp for possible bait so, decided to throw it to one of the sea gulls who had followed me up and down the beach hoping to get the ones I missed with my pump (they have a pretty good pair of eyes for even the smallest of shrimp and usually can beat me to the ones I spray up toward the end of the surf).  Therefore, I stopped at the nearest Stripes store and purchased a small container of frozen shrimp to take along to the jetty at the shipping channel -- though not fully committed to using them at all as I had my mind on trying for some of the Whiting in the shipping channel.

With the threat of rain seemingly all around, I decided to only take a short walk out on the jetty and decided to stop at the end of the concrete where I would normally fish for the Whiting but, my mind went back to the day before last when I saw a guy catch 4 or 5 keeper Sheepshead on the surf side of the jetty behind where I had been fishing.  So, I threw my rig on the big surf-casting rod deep and rigged my small rod for the shrimp and hoped to get some of those tasty Sheepshead.  The shrimp weren't quite thawed when I checked before getting some tackle out of my little box of goodies then, realized I had left a bag of new hooks in the Jeep.  Oh well!  Too lazy to walk back to the Jeep so, I just nursed along the shrimp with a little more saltwater and cut them into a couple pieces each and began to fish just off the big boulders before me -- about three rows of them with two of them looking pretty wet from the surf and looking pretty slick too (hoped I wouldn't have to climb onto them if I got something big on the line).

After half a dozen casts with the small line and after losing my bait to some bait stealers, something hit my big rod and I tried to get to it but, missed whatever it was and threw it back out again farther to the left.  I went back to throwing short with the small rod and kept my attention on the big rod when something big hit my small rod and I immediately could see a Big Red Drum rolling to the surface on the big rolling waves -- trying to head for deeper water.  My 50 lb test held and I turned him back toward the boulders and I yelled to the nearest guy down the jetty to see if he had a net but, he did not so, I tugged and guided this beauty back to the right and tried to plan where I might get down on the next line of boulders without slipping into the water or on my ass.

The row of boulders at the waters edge were alternately being washed over by the waves and I had an eye on the lowest one just to my right and timed my biggest tug with one of the waves and hoped the two forces would work together to get this beauty on the top of that flat boulder -- it happened nearly perfectly and the big fish landed on the top right corner of the boulder where I could see he had to be 36 or 37 inches long.  But, when I gave another big tug to pull him from that boulder to the one I was on, the hook straightened out and he disappeared back over the edge of the large boulder with the next wave that came washing in.  Probably best for him as I would have had to puncture his bladder with a spike before releasing him since he was way too big to keep.

A good reason to perhaps invest in a long handle net or dig that one out from Beaver Creek Reservoir that I found last summer.  I did move back to the other side of the jetty later and managed to catch a few fish to feed the Pelicans and two nice Whiting and a Sand trout for me and the twins.