Part 2 of the story tells of our successful fishing trip that had a very unusual ending.
My Daughter, suzanne, the heroine of this story, hold up a very, small catfish. This little fish holds second place in our family’s “Smallest Fish Contest”. Our Uncle Gus hold down first.
Young Lady, Just Who Are those Men
Because of the late hour, we launched at the Galveston Yacht Basin, rather than making the ten mile trip from Bayou vista, by water. In and out launching was $3.00 and gasoline was still less than $1.00 per gallon.
The weather still looked a little “iffy” so we decided to buy some shrimp and fish around the Pelican Island Flats, near the old, sunken concrete ship, a good spot for spring time Specs. We drifted for about forty-five minutes catching a few small Specs and the tide started out, and of all things, the wind laid. I told my crew, “Get your lines in, we’re going to the Gulf side of the South Jetty.”
Seven-miles out, there’s no wind blowing as we rounded the end of the jetty and headed for my favorite spot, and since the tide was going out, the water on the Gulf side was moving toward the beach. As we anchored I noticed small fish hanging close to the rocks. A real good sign!
Changing from “regulation” popping corks used when we were drifting, to a split shot ten inches above a small hook, we baited up and cast toward the rocks. Dick got hung on a rock and had to break off and while he was re-rigging Mike had a big strike and was fast into a nice Red Fish. Catch the conditions right at this spot and it always paid off.
We had been fishing for about an hour and had five nice Red Fish and two Trout, when I heard a “Hmmpf” from Suzanne and saw her rod nearly bend double. A big Red and he is moving down the rocks to our right, out to sea, as Suz holds her rod up high and hangs on. Soon we boat a very nice twenty-eight inch, Red, that she fought perfectly.
For a day that started as a washout, we now had nice mess of fish, Spanish Mackerel, Red Fish, Trout and a couple of big Sheepshead. Our big cooler was close to one half full of fish, so as the tide changed, we headed back to the Yacht Basin. We were four grubby, stinky, fisher persons with a box of fish to clean!
This particular day, we were the only boat that had gone out, so as we loaded the boat on to the trailer, we drew a nice crowd of onlookers who, when we got the cooler down and opened it, appropriately “oohed and aaahd” over our catch.
Mike, Dick and I were kidding around, chewing tobacco and spitting, and cleaning the fish when a well to do appearing lady came up to Suz and asked her, “Did you catch some of these fish?” and Suz replied, “Yes Mam, I caught the big Red.” The lady replied “Good for you!”
We finished cleaning the fish and iced them down. Then, as Dick and I were lifting the big cooler up to Mike, he leaned over to grab it and, by accident, belched. We paid no attention and just kept loading the heavy cooler.
The well to do lady turned to Suz and asked her, “Young lady, just who are those men?” Suzanne replied, “The big guy over there with gray hair is my Dad and the big guy in the boat is my brother in law and the other big guy is Dick, a friend.” “Hmmpf, they’re gross!” the well to do lady said, as she turned and scurried off.
Suzanne has been fishing with me since she was eleven years old. She can bait her own hook, cast the bait out, land the fish with a net and take the hook out, all of this even though she is a graduate of Texas A & M University.