Fishing Trip

First, let me apologize to those who have chastized me for not posting recently. I have been just too busy to sit down and write. OK, I haven't been too busy. But I just haven't thought of anything good to write about so I haven't done it.

Wednesday, I had a chance to go offshore for the first time since the end of March, so naturally, I was very eager to go. Tommy left a message on the machine Tuesday night while we were out saying that tomorrow's the day!

You wouldn't think there would be much preparation for going fishing, but when the flag goes up, it seems like there won't be enough time to get it all done.

For starters, there is the rod and reel which always needs attention. It needs to be re-cleaned and oiled, even if you did it when you put it away. To me, it always seems that I missed something and have to go over it again. This is especially true when you aren't going every week. That's why it's very important to keep all maintenance done when you put everything up as soon as you get it from a trip. Salt wreaks havoc on any metal so you can't be too careful.

I always re-rig the terminal tackle before each trip. Usually the hook that you used last time has rusted and needs to be discarded. Then all knots have to be cut and re-tied. If you've ever lost a good sized fish due to a faulty knot, I promise you won't ever let that happen again!

Then, all the food and beverages have to be rounded up and stowed in the bag. I have found through experience that beenie weenies and Lance cheese and peanut butter crackers are my best choice for eats while on the boat. Throw in a couple of granola bars and some soda crackers and that rounds out the food supply.

All that needs to be done now is put all this together and wait for the ride. For this trip, I rode to Tommy's with Jack Mossburg and his son Jack. I think this situation is something like the Green Acres "Ralph and the other brother Ralph". If you say "Jack", either will likely answer. Another twist is that Jack's wife is named Jackie. And one of their grandson's name is Jack. We call him J W so that's not too bad. Somehow it all seems to work out.

We arrived at Tommy's around 8:30 A.M. just in time to find out that Tommy's canal had too little water to get the boat out into the bay. So we helped Tommy take the top off of a deck boat he is rehabbing. I think he is going down to the pontoons and rebuilding it from there. After about 45 minutes, the tide had come in sufficiently to float the boat and we took off.

As soon as we cleared the end of the canal, Tommy hit the throttle and we're off at around 30 mph. This is a pretty good pace over the water. We could go faster, but at a much greater fuel consumption rate. Tommy's boat burns about 15-16 gallons per hour even at this speed.

The route we take is west down the bay to the Bob Sikes Cut and then Southeast at around 162 degrees for about 11 miles to the first spot. First, we had to stop and pick up some live bait that Jack and Jack caught from a dock near the Cut. Pinfish are the preferred bait for grouper if you can find them. This early in the year, there are not many pinfish in the bay because the water is still too cold for them. Most of what we had this day were grunts, so named for the grunting sound they make when you pick them up. Anyway, they had caught us about 30 of these little guys so we transferred them to the livewell and headed out.

We spent the day fishing and caught several keeper gray snappers and a few gag groupers, enough so that everybody could have enough to eat and some to put in the freezer.

We got back to the house around 6 P.M. Jack, Jack and I cleaned up the boat while Tommy cleaned the fish. Finally got home at 7:30 and collapsed on the couch.