In October, I went to Padre Island with a couple guys from work. We were originally going to fish on the Gulf side but it was too windy, gusts to 40 mph, so we went to the other side of the island. We caught most of the fish wading in about chest deep water. I caught two speckled trout, a perch, and had a couple other fish come off. The other guys caught some trout and some nice sized red drum. Here is a picture of me with the biggest drum and then my meager trout.
In February I went to Calaveras Lake one Saturday morning for an hour and a half and caught a 15" bass and a 20" catfish. And in defense of my haggard appearance, I left the house at 5:30am.
For my birthday, Miyoshi let me go for the whole weekend back to the coast. This time the guys from work took their boats and we went to a part of the intercoastal waterway called the land cut. Thanks to Michael whose friend let us stay on the dock and porch of his cabin. It was a rough two and a half hour ride to the cabin as the wind and the waves were really strong. But the ride ended up being well worth it. We went there trying mainly for red and black drum, but they were mostly slow except for a short stretch the other boat had. Gary and I were in the other boat and although we didn't get any keeper drum, he caught a 36" black drum and I broke in my new rod and reel with a 35" black drum. It was so much fun fighting it for about 15 minutes. And the thing around my neck is just to make me look good, it's to keep my northern skin from frying and it worked great.
At night we fished from the dock under some lights which brought just tons of trout, that were surprisingly fickle with what they were biting. I actually caught most of mine on freshwater lures and the first couple with my ultralight rod which was a lot of fun. There were so many, we stopped fishing because we were tired not because they stopped biting. Gary ended up limiting out with 20 and I had 13 so I was able to break in my new fillet knife. I just ate a couple fillets last night and they were really good.
I am definitely hooked on saltwater fishing, though I think catching big bluegill with an ultralight will still be fun. Thanks again Miyoshi for letting me go especially when Lily was teething. I love you.
