Shell Point 7/19-21
Posted: July 21st, 2013, 8:21 pm
Had a trip planned with friends from Lake Charles, La for a long time now. They arrived Friday afternoon with the rain in tow. We grilled out and then the weather cleared for a little while. I had a few pinfish in the trap and I put one out below the house. We were sitting around talking when my son said " I think something is messing with your rod." We walked out in the rain to check it about the time the fish pegged the rod. I picked up the rod and handed it to Adam (my buddy's 11 year old son). The fish is strong and makes several good runs. Adam says "this is nothing like bream fishing" as the fish tries to run off again. By this time we have an audience on the deck so Adam is getting plenty of encouragement. The fish rolls on the surface and I see the spot and a square tail- redfish! Adam plays the fish in close and I wade in and grab it and the crowd went wild. A quick measure and it goes just short of 27" so we take our time taking pictures before icing it down. Adam had never caught a red before so he was super excited and was ready to go back to fishing. We stood in the rain for the next hour next to the rod (he did not want to miss a bite) and caught 5 sailcats between 3 and 5 pounds. I was a little frustrated by the trash but he kept saying "This is awesome. I've never caught so many big fish in my life!" which helped me keep things in perspective. Finally we got tired of being cold and wet and called it a night. They slept in on Saturday (BIG Surprise with 5 teenagers) and I snuck out for a quick trip. I caught 3 trout right at 15" on pinfish (all released), and a 16.5" on a jerk shad. Also caught another big sailcat. I ran in and fixed breakfast and we got ready to go out and it rained. It cleared up, and then it rained. We started to leave and it rained again. Finally, we were able to get out for a little bit and we saw an alligator and a bald eagle as well as several ospreys. The kids managed 3 short trout before we had to high tail it back to the house ahead of the rain. I ran to My Way Seafood and picked up some fresh shrimp which I served with sautéed redfish and Tiger sauce over pasta. After dinner, the skies cleared again and we were treated to a spectacular double rainbow that hung around for nearly 25 minutes while a pod of dolphins worked in the bay. This morning it was clear and calm and I managed 3 trout 16-18" on live baits. Threw topwater for an hour with no luck. No kids as they were sleeping. After breakfast, we went back out in front of Live Oak Island and caught 2 sharks before we were run off the water again by storms. The weather was terrible, but we had a great weekend with our friends. Rest in Peace Walt(Nov 1970-2/27/2011). Your kids are great and we told them all about you like I promised.
