Stormy...
Since we are about to head back feel OK saying we have been at the beach for a couple 'a weeks. It has been great, restful and just nice. We met some nice people some drunk people (who were nice). I helped some kids learn to fish. Everyone tends to use too big of a hook and too much bait and they just continually lose their bait. I use a long shank #6 hook with 1/3 to 1/2 of a frozen bait shrimp and catch a whiting, catfish, or pinfish on almost every cast... fishing is much more fun when you are catching something.
So, I catch a whiting or a pinfish, whack it in back of the head, cut off the head and put the rest on a much bigger rig with a bigger hook and a #4 lead weight and an extra leader, then throw it out as far as I can (the whiting and other small fish are 10 to 20 ft out from the edge of the water). So I set this kid up and he started to catch fish. It got dark and we kept fishing. Thankfully my wife was sitting out there too. I had the bog rig out with most of a whiting on it and was fishing to pass the time with a smaller rig, catch and release. All at once she jumped up and yelled. My large rig had gone over. I had it in a sand spike with a metal piece that pushes down into the sand... the whole thing flipped over and was headed for the water. I had the drag loose but not loose enough I guess. I went to set the hook and snapped the rod. It was a 12 ft rod. I still managed to get the fish onto the beach. It was a Black Tip shark a bit over 2ft long, maybe 2.5. Little sharp teeth everywhere. I was able to get the hook out with needle nose pliers and got the shark back in the water. I was worried about it but it swam away, it swam with it's head out of the water for about 10 ft. I guess it was taking a good look at me so it will remember me in the future, lol.
So, yesterday it rained most all day. Today it has stormed and rained all day. The squall line woke us up this morning between 8 and 9. I do not think I have ever been in a storm with more continuous lightning strikes, they were like overlapping... the house was shaking, the mirrors and pictures on the walls were swaying, the glasses in the kitchen cabinets were clinking against each other... it was a BAD storm. Radar says there are more to come but I don't think they will be as bad. I think this line probably went through McCue_ville about the same time.
So I am glad there is a couch and ibuprofen. I have SO lazy... our 36th anniversary was Monday and we went to the Sunset Costal Grill, a great place to eat and have a sip!
OH... something that made me smile. When the neighbors left on Sunday the dad left me the rod and reel that he had bought here. It is an almost brand new Shakespeare salt rig. I don't even know their names, just that they drove down from Missouri.
I've played my guitar, looked through my binoculars (at fish and birds of course... *). I didn't see them but my wife and a bunch of others saw a manatee in the surf. It came right up to the people then went out to a couple who had swam out to the sand bar. That was the first sighting. She didn't see it then, we just heard everyone talking about it. Then a couple of days later I was at the store and a story came on about people spotting a manatee in the surf down the road a way. The next day was when my wife saw it and... it was hanging out with a sea turtle! Manatee are very social and I guess it took up with the turtle. She said that she first saw the manatee then the turtle surfaced. She said it stayed on the surface until a seagull landed on it's back, then it went back under.
It has been a good trip. Going to try to catch another shark tomorrow weather permitting... maybe detect a little after this storm has moved everything around. We have the frame for a 10x10 shade/tent thingy out on the beach. I set it up about 30 ft back from the waterline... this AM the water was reaching about 6 ft past it. There was s much runoff from a nearby creek that there were logs, limbs, and all sorts of stuff floating out on the gulf.
Anyway.. will be home soon. I miss my fluffy little cat.
J
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