Fishing Trip

We got up at 5:00 a.m. to get ready and meet Hardy and Judy at 6:00 a.m. at Green Gate. Judy drove us to South Padre Island. Steve and Jan picked up Jean and met us at Dolphin Docks for our 8:00 a.m. fishing trip. It was foggy and the seas were a bit rough, especially when we first reached the spot our captain had chosen, beyond the breakers. Steve, Hardy, and I were fishing, while Ken, Judy, Jan, and Jean were on the top deck to watch for dolphins and sightsee. We spotted some dolphins off the rear of the boat right away, along with lots of pelicans and even some jellies floating in the water.

Well, as you can probably imagine, the top of the little craft swung back and forth in a larger arc than the bottom, so the spectators felt the rough seas even more than the anglers. One woman was acutely ill the entire trip. Ken was pretty miserable until he came downstairs and discovered that he could lie down on the padded benches in the cabin.

Meanwhile, we had baited our hooks with cut up bits of squid and dropped them to the bottom, heavily weighted with lead, to wait for fish to bite. Steve didn't have long to wait. He pulled in the first fish caught after just a few moments, and then he went on to catch three more in fairly rapid succession, while Hardy and I waited. Some of the others started to pull in wriggling whitefish too.

Finally, Hardy caught a couple, and I was the only one left skunked. I was beginning to wonder if I'd lost my touch, but then I started catching fish too. We ended up with a stringer full of fish for the Spauldings' annual fish fry.

After the successful fishing trip, we all headed next door to Pelican Landing for lunch. We had a great waterfront table and some delicious seafood.  By this time, Ken was feeling fine. Steve had some problems earlier, probably because he hadn't eaten enough and had taken his pain pills for his foot on an empty stomach. Lunch was just the ticket for that, and he started to feel better, but still let Jan drive home.

We went to Joe's dance tonight. Hardy and Judy were there too, but Jan and Steve were home resting up. We're hoping we might see them tomorrow night.

I got a chance to talk some more with Joe's mom, who is in town visiting. She is a square and round dancer herself, but has not yet finished C-1 lessons, so at this dance, she's a spectator. She was telling me about a friend who had taught himself to round dance by looking at definitions on the computer. That takes real dedication!