Fish stories

I went fishing today.  It was another good day to be on the water.  This time I took the flats boat to be able to get into very shallow water and fish the outgoing tide.  I used to fish a lot when I was a kid. My father was a recreational fisherman who really knew the water.  He first set me up with a hand line and as I got older and more capable, I graduated to a fishing rod with a Penn reel.

Later in graduate school, I would surf fish on the outer banks.  I built my own rods from blanks.  We called those long rods Hatteras Heavers.  Those were the days of sleeping in my truck on the beach, fishing the outgoing tide for blue fish and red drum, standing around a camp fire, telling fishing yarns and having a few beers.  It was serious fun. 

Sadly enough, two fellows who used to go with me died way too young.  One died from complications of falling off a pier at a Christmas party after getting drunk and passing out.  Those attending to him were also drunk, so when they picked him up and carried him, his spinal nerve was severed/damaged to such an extent that he became a quadraplegic.  He later died from the severity of this condition.  Another friend developed a brain tumor and died within six months of diagnosis.  I still have photos of all of us on the beach enjoying the comraderie and eating fresh fish cooked up in a skillet with some garlic, olive oil, and a bit of soy sauce.   It all seems like yesterday.  

Anymore, my fishing time has been limited by work and sailing.  But today, in mid-week, it just seemed like the perfect thing to do.  So I set out to fish the marsh fringes on the falling tide. 

At first there was a bonnet head shark and then a few small sting rays.  All the fish were caught on circle hooks which prevents swallowing of the hook.  Each fish was released after being caught. 

This poor bonnet head shark looked really scared.  He was fine though after getting the hook out of his lip and gladly swam away.

A small sting ray.  Note the circle hook which is easy to remove and prevents damage to the gullet.

 Finally, a school of red drum moved in after maximum ebb tide.  The oyster reefs were exposed and the drum were feeding on shrimp and crab around the submerged parts of the reef.  It was a lot of fun to catch these 7-8 pound fish.  Note that the hook is being removed by a telescoping device that acts a lot like forceps. 

Finally, it was time to head home.  All fish were released alive and swam away.  I don't like to kill anything anymore.  I guess that I have gotten really gentle as I've gotten older.  Hopefully, these fish will grow, reproduce, and provide some excitement for another day.  And maybe some kid will enjoy spending a day on the water fishing.  Today I was that kid.