Somethings Fishy.

We are naive when it comes to saltwater fishing, but we are learning. We can see beautiful black and white striped sheepshead down on the pilings.  We are told they are good eating. They are crafty and smart when it comes to fishing.  We used live shrimp and caught them fairly easily. Luckily they run straight when they are hooked, so they don’t wrap around the pilings.  They have unusual teeth, like a child in the front then rows in the back.

Several were legal size, but we were going for the bigger ones. The locals told us the smaller ones are bony and don’t have much meat.  We never kept one and now I wish we had so we could taste them. We have all winter to try again.

Saltwater fish are spiny and toothy. There is nothing sissy about using pliers and a glove, especially for us now knowing what the fish are and if they have poisonous barbs.

Our son, Allen, was visiting for Christmas. The three of us went on a charter with Captain Jared on an inland fishing charter.  He is a young man who has big dreams of having a 16-boat fleet. He is completely booked now so he is working on boat number 2.  He is doing his homework about marketing and it is working. We caught all kinds of fish on our hunt for Spotted Sea Trout. We caught puffer fish, they have very sharp teeth and would take a bite right out of our sardines we were fishing with. We caught Lady Fish which jump like crazy when hooked, Pin-fish that were not much bigger than our bait, and Needle Fish which smell bad.

We caught our limit of Spotted Sea Trout, but threw back the largest one, because she is a breeder fish, to insure there will be more fish for future trips. We had delicious trout dinner that night. Yum.

One more fish story…It was our son  Allen’s  last morning with us before he headed home and we still had a few shrimp in the bucket. We fished and he got the thrill of catching a few Sheepshead among other fish.  Time ticked away and we all said this is our last shrimp then we had to go. Allen lost his to a bait thief, I flung my tattered shrimp off with a cast and Scott couldn’t get rid of his. Time was getting shorter, he started fishing his way toward our boat.  He was in the slip right next to our boat and down to the last minute and of course he hooks into a nice trout. He was about to throw it back because we had to leave, when I recalled our neighbor wanting to buy a fish off the unwilling fishermen on the dock.  I called to Barb and asked if she wanted it.  They were excited and took the fish. So glad they could enjoy one too.

Now a crustacean story.  Scott and I got brave and tried raw oysters.  We didn’t gag but we didn’t LOVE them either.

Thanks for reading.

Karen and Scott

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