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| Picou
Wall Hanger Username: Picou Post Number: 3124 Registered: 8-2004  Rating: N/A |
Well, we did not have any internet at the beach house so I just took a few pictures between naps, beers, cleaning fish, playing with the kids, and fishing. Got to the beach on Monday at noon and headed into the surf with the cast net to catch some quick bait. Cut mullet cast into the dirty water only produced hard heads and gaftop catfish so I gave up on that effort and swam with the kids for a while. Monday night after the grilled bacon wrapped shrimp and scallops I grabbed the lantern and gig and headed to the pass for some giggin action. My night was rewarded with 6 good flounder as a start to the vacation trip. I stopped at the pier on the way back for some action under the lights and all I caught were speckled trout with the largest around 17 inches -- didn't keep any. Tuesday morning I slept in while Connie and the kids headed to Oyster Creek for some crabbing where they returned with 3 keeper crabs on ice. After cleaning the flounder we spent more time in the surf and for dinner was fried flounder with fries, hushpuppies, and fried okra. Again I headed out to the pass for another shot at the flounder. 15 minutes into my walk I had already gigged a solid flounder when I noticed flashlights headed my way. It was a man and two boys asking for help. 3 hours later and a trip to Galveston they were out of the rising water and on their way while I went back for another hour of gigging and managed one more flat fish before giving into being tired. Wednesday was relatively uneventful. We played in the surf, lounged around the house, and baked some fresh crab stuffed flounder for dinner. Connie made some quick crab cakes with what was left over and they were suprisingly good.  I had a trip planned with a guide website customer of mine for Thursday AM so I did not try any gigging. I did walk the beach with the family on their nightly ghost crab hunt. It was entertaining to watch the kids chasing these crabs around in the sand. They caught several and released them all for another hunt.     Thursday morning I was picked up by Captain Cody Maddox of Saltwater Assault and we headed to the ramp in hopes of some trophy trout wading action. We fished several spots and I lost a topwater trout and a nice redfish and missed a few other blowups. Cody managed one decent trout and we cut the trip short because the motor was not spitting water like it should and he needed some time to work on it before his next scheduled trip. I had a great time hanging out with Cody and learning some more about wade fishing. We got back to the house around 11:00 and the kids were in the surf swimming so I just headed straight out to play with them and Connie. Early in the afternoon I tied on my favorite saltwater bait -- strawberry/white power mullet and headed to the bay behind Sea Isle for a wade. I ended up catching a keeper redfish just over 20 inches and a small trout. While I was fishing in the morning, Connie and the kids hit the creek again for another attempt at the crabs for the table and managed 4 or 5 more keepers so she boiled those while I was wading and peeled them for use as stuffing again. We boiled jumbo shrimp and grilled bacon wrapped scallops for dinner and I once again headed to the pass for another round of giggin. I only managed 2 flounder during my short effort but they were both nice 17 - 18 inch fish. Friday mid morning my brother-in-law Buddy and I headed back to the bay for his first ever wade fishing adventure. It turned out to be a very productive wade and we caught several fish including my 23" redfish and a nice flounder. After the wade I pulled out the two from the gigging effort and got ready to clean them. I realized I had not taken any pictures of fish yet so I broke out the camera and snapped a quick picture.  That night we took flounder fillets, the crab meat, and left over boiled shrimp and made some "fish in a bag" on the grill. Knowing that the pass would be crowded on a Friday night I opeted to hit the sheets early and make a morning wade trip to the bay. Saturday morning Buddy and I waded the bay again and I managed one nice trout and Buddy caught an under sized flounder before we called it a morning.  I spent some time playing in the surf or lounging around on the couch watching hunting programs on Verses. Later in the afternoon I took the kids to the pass in hopes of catching some Ladyfish on ultralight tackle and the girls had a blast catching numbers of piggy perch, croaker, whiting, small redfish, little sand trout, and one acrobatic Ladyfish. For dinner we had "Redfish on the half shell" with some Boudin and smoked sausage on the side. After dinner Jessica and I went to the pier to use up the rest of the bait shrimp and spent an hour or so catching all kinds of little fish on our last night of vacation. Sunday was time to come home and we left the cool, comfortable beach to return to the sweltering heat of North Texas.  Thank you Lord for my family and the waters I get to fish
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| Hawlin_bass
Crappie Username: Hawlin_bass Post Number: 314 Registered: 1-2005  Rating: N/A |
you guys had a blast sounds like! you wouldn't think that little fish would entertain a bunch of kids but it does. And some fine eating going on. Hope all these recipes are listed! nice recap! | ||||||||||||
| Redskeeter
Moderator Username: Redskeeter Post Number: 273 Registered: 8-2007  Rating: N/A |
Man, I really need to get down south... Your just making it worse.. hehehehehe !! Nice tell Mike, no boat and you still ate good. I bet the Kiddo's really loved it down there, those pictures made me do some "remember when" I was a young'un doing the same stuff. Those stuffed flounder fillets made my pot lick'n chops start to water.. Wooo Weee they looked good. KBD Fishing | ||||||||||||
| Dru
Crappie Username: Dru Post Number: 504 Registered: 2-2005  Rating: N/A |
I guess you are forgiven for not answering my email in a timely manner.  Looks like a lot of fun.BassZone.com  
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| Bigun
Lunker Username: Bigun Post Number: 1586 Registered: 8-2004  Rating: N/A |
PQ for dad of the year no doubt and only the PQ's could make a meal out of 4 crabs! That would just make my wife mad. Don't worry Mike, my special guests coming in this weekend will put up the FISH pictures for you. One day you will learn where to come rent a camp.  Quit being a mad, little bald man! | ||||||||||||
| Wes
Moderator Username: Wes Post Number: 485 Registered: 8-2004  Rating: N/A |
well done PQ | ||||||||||||
| Tomc
Bluegill Username: Tomc Post Number: 274 Registered: 12-2006  Rating: N/A |
Great recap Mike. Way to show them a good time. Super job!! Nothing like some good family time. To give a complete recap of our vacation: Just watch the next Corona commercial. (Message edited by tomc on August 7, 2008) Thanking the Lord, all day long --- tomc | ||||||||||||
| Charles
Moderator Username: Charles Post Number: 1119 Registered: 7-2004 Rating: N/A |
Well played! | ||||||||||||
| Picou
Wall Hanger Username: Picou Post Number: 3128 Registered: 8-2004 Rating: N/A |
Thanks everyone, it was fun while it lasted and now back to work and busy as heck. Hopefully I can get the boat on the lake this weekend to get ready for our next Media tournament. Bigun, I must have learned from Grandma on making the food stretch... BTW: Bring on the pics because I know the good times will be flowing down there this weekend... I hope ya'lls livers survive!!!!!!! Thank you Lord for my family and the waters I get to fish
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| Zeeter
Bluegill Username: Zeeter Post Number: 191 Registered: 3-2007  Rating: N/A |
Dang we got a regular chef boy rr dee on here.....ha next time you vacation I'm tagging along for the grub man, Nice recap and heck of a time. Catching Big Ole PIGS... It's Awesome Man Zach Hughes http://www.vicious-fishing.com http://www.sundogeyewear.com http://www.proanglersassociation.com PAA Skeeter Boats / Yamaha Outboards |
