38 Fishing Charter

     On one of our afternoon trike trips we visited the Laguna Atascosa wildlife refuge. Nice ride however it is  so large 98,000 acres that unless you are extremely lucky or spend a lot of time there your chance of seeing anything is pretty slim.  This is the closest we came to an Ocelot, seemed harmless enough.
      That evening the motel group had organized a pot luck.  Bring your dish to pass and something for the grill.  We had a hamburger with a grilled portabella mushroom on top.   What a great evening.  Early to bed, tomorrow was going to be a big day.   From the first time Lonnie and Jane had  

mentioned our Texas get together, they had talked about the fishing trips they take on the bay side, they had suggested that we join them if we visited them..  Since that conversation Ruthie has been looking forward to this fishing adventure.   Lonnie and Jane made the arrangement with a guide they had used before.  On January 23 we set off on our fishing trip.  Lonnie drove us to the dock and during breakfast Capt Cliff Fleming joined us for introductions.   We soon  loaded our gear and headed out to the Lower Laquna Madre Bay.  It was a gorgeous day.  As we went thru the Isabel fingers channel  he pointed out the unique houses that lined the water  way.   One of the homes reportedly belonged to the virus software billionaire that had went goofy in Belize.  Supposedly he had this mansion built and hasn't used it since.  It was a beautiful morning, we had on light jackets and were quite comfortable.  It didn't take long to reach the first "spot".   The Capt  supplied us with poles and fishing instructions.  Cliff's idea of fishing is artificial bait, casting and working the bait to imitate live bait.  The Capt refers to fishing with a floating bobber like we do on the Mississippi  back home as "sandwich eating and beer drinking fishing."  The poles had 10 pound test line and 5 inch Zman SwimmerZ Smokin Shad. ( I have no idea, it's what the Capt told me.                                         

 I think it's fisherman talk for artificial bait. ) The only thing I do know is that ten pounds isn't much for the fish we hope to catch.  We stayed at first spot for a short while casting and reeling in trying to imitate the Capt's actions.  I enjoyed this as I'm not a patient person, it gave me something to do.   We moved to a spot closer to the bridge that leads to the South Padre Islands and Cliff ( formerly the Captain, I feel like we know him now.)  had us change our cast and reel in procedure.  Soon the skipper had a hit. ( the fish know technique) immediately he knew it was a big one.  He made sure the hook was set and handed the pole to Jane,  for the next 30 minutes at least she fought the monster.       By having the brake set on the line so that when the fish starts to run away it will give and not snap the line you are able to land a much heavier fish than the line is actually tested for.  She would reel and then all of a sudden the fish would turn and run,  we didn't see the fish during this struggle.  While this was going on the rest of us continued our casting and reeling procedure's. Ruthie seen what she thought was a large sea turtle off the starboard bow. (Navy talk for right front.)  Cliff said he thought it was a black drum which he surmised we must have on Jane's line. 

 By this time Jane was getting pretty tired and asked Lonnie to take over the pole.  Lonnie continued the fight with several runs on the fish's part countered by Lonnie working him up to the boat.  We finally caught a glimpse of the monster, and Cliff confirmed it was a black drum.   Finally on the boat, approximately 39inch 40 pound,  on a ten pound test line.  Exciting!  We received a call from Lonnie and Jane after their return to Minnesota and found out Lonnie had caught a large black drum off the pier and was going to have his picture in the Port Isabel  paper.  Because it did not reach the required 52 inches to keep this black drum was returned to the water.        We moved on and several times changed our fishing technique for the different locations.  We spotted several dolphins working in less than 30 inches of crystal clear water on the flats.   Not a common site on our local river.  We were catching and releasing several white trout as we moved across the bay.  They had to be at least 15 inches to keep. 

        The map inset shows (on the water, at no time did the good captain did take his boat off the water,  That would just be wrong.) our fishing path.

     Ruthie was gaining a reputation on the boat, every time a fish was brought in she said now that's a keeper and the patient Capt Cliff had to get out the stick and prove it was just short of the mark.  After several of these challenges Ruthie said okay I'm not going to say it anymore. However the excitement of a fish brought on board would bring up "Now that's a keeper"   she just can't help her self.  It was getting late in the day and everyone had landed a keeper except for Ruthie.

   .   Cliff moved us to several places, we tried everything, and still no keeper for Ruthie,  I knew we were staying out past our chartered time limit however the good captain was determined to get a keeper for little miss "that ones a keeper".  

      Evidently the stars were aligned that day and the last catch of the day was a "keeper for Ruthie.  And the relieved Capt plants a kiss on her head.

 

         

  Another golden day for our memory bank, thanks to all who made it possible.  Now on to the Alamo, the town,  not the shrine.  

     A parting shot from Port Isabel!