last time we fished from the beach (several years ago) we didn't need a fishing license, but this time we did. We bought ours online before we left. It was very convenient, and we could even set the start date & time.
We surf fished most of the time. I had a really good night on my birthday. After that, I didn't catch a thing. I did feed the fish a lot, though. On my birthday I caught a decent size Atlantic sharpnose shark. They don't get very big, maybe 4' for a large one. Mine was between 18-24". Tyler said he prayed that I would catch a shark. (I told him I'd really like to see an octopus next, but that prayer wasn't answered with a yes.) I also caught a stingray. It was HUGE. Several passersby got pictures of it, but I didn't. It was easily 2 1/2 ' across and felt like a log to reel in. I was amazed it didn't break my line.
The kids wanted to fish but found it to be too boring because the fish were biting so infrequently. Danielle "helped" Ron fish one evening and they caught a shark, too. She was really excited.
At various times during the week Ron also caught skates, stingrays, croaker, a mystery fish that we failed to get a pic of so we can't identify, and a gulf kingfish. He also caught several hardhead catfish. Early in the week while he was trying to take a catfish off the hook, he got punctured by one of the catfish's barbs. He said it was terribly painful, much much worse than a bee sting. It got red and angry looking as the evening went on, too. When we came in for the evening, we looked up information about it and found that there is venom on the barbs. Many times a puncture will require a trip to the ER. Ron soaked his hand in hot water for awhile, which was recommended on a couple different sites. We looked up the closest Urgent Care, said a prayer, and decided to wait until morning. When we woke up the next morning, the redness was gone. The area was tender to the touch, but it was a lot better. Phew! Later in the week another 
passerby told us she stepped on a dead catfish's barb earlier in the week. (It seemed that lots of people want to stop and talk when you're surf fishing.) It punctured her heel and got stuck all the way in her foot. She had to have it cut out at the Urgent Care. Ick!
The fishing pier had been rebuilt since the last time we visited, so we decided to try fishing from there once. When we first got there around dusk, the water was full of giant moon jellies. They were so pretty! I didn't have any luck fishing on the pier either. Ron caught a large barnacle covered shell, a couple croaker, and an Atlantic spadefish. Someone at the end of the pier told the kids he saw a hammerhead shark, but we didn't see it.
We primarily fished with frozen squid. Tyler wanted to try mullet, but nothing even nibbled on that. We had to buy fresh squid once, and that didn't work well either. Ron didn't like the fresh squid either. One of them inked him. Guess what...squid ink doesn't wash out. Now Ron has a beach souvenir, too.
No comments:
Post a Comment