June 9 – “The Extravaganza”

OK.  I promised a fishing report to close out the news of Zakary’s birthday fishing bash.  Josh, Zak, Cousin Micah and I left the house around 6 and made our way to the home of our illustrious fishing guide, Mr. Kenny.  We had to wait a few minutes because he is a fire fighter and was just coming off duty.  Once he got changed and we made our way over to the water where Mr. Kenny did some casting for bait.  That accomplished, he launched the boat and we headed into the Bay for our fishing adventure. 

Well, not exactly yet.  We stopped at the Causeway bait camp for some live shrimp, and horror of horrors … they were all out.  Not to be deterred, Mr. Kenny had a back-up plan.  We headed over to the Yacht Basin, and sure enough, their bait shop was well stocked.  Soon, so were we and finally on our way to the Jetties, a prime fishing spot around Galveston.  I remember (vaguely) the last time I was there.  I was but a child and I was with my Dad.  We had a pretty good catch of specs and mackerel.  All of a sudden a shark swept by the boat and took a huge hunk out of our stringer (which in those olden days hung off the side of the boat to keep the catch fresh).  Dad took a look at it and immediately lamented the fact that the shark had been so discerning in his selection.  He bit only the specs and left the mackerel.  On the next cast my Dad caught a shark.  Probably not the same on, mind you, but it represented the species.  And the creature was none too happy when Dad finally returned it to the water.  Some of Dad’s frustrations were - how shall I say? – lessened, however. 

So why the shark story?  Glad you asked.  See, we caught some fish out there.  Josh caught a spec that we are “absolutely positive” was under the limit, because it was accidentally returned to the deep just before it could be measured.  A small mangrove snapper grabbed one line.  We pulled in two nice sized sheepheads.  But the absolute highlight of the trip was the shark catching.  All five of us managed to snag a shark, but Josh was able to record the boys’ catch on his camera.  Their reactions were nothing short of priceless and as they struggled to land their three or four foot-long prey.  And then they faced the trauma of holding the critter so Dad could get a picture.  Zak did pretty well.  Micah’s shark was almost half his size, so he was a bit more skittish.  Josh got the photos of proof, though, and the sharks were returned to terrorize for another day.  Zak’s comment after his successful shark-catching ordeal ended?  “OK.  I’m ready to go home now.”  His day was made.

Oh, wait.  On our way back home we had one more exciting occurrence.  We were boarded by the Coast Guard.  No we weren’t smuggling anything, although they did ask if we had any weapons on board.  I guess a fillet knife doesn’t count as a weapon.  Actually it was a random equipment check.  And Mr. Kenny’s boat passed with flying colors.  The Coast Guard guys were great.  One was in training, so he was pretty nervous, but they let us take their picture with the boys before they left.  And so the “Detainment” ended in a positive way.

Apparently Mr. Kenny was having so much fun with us, he offered to take us out again in the early evening.  This time he had a little more trouble finding bait with his cast net, but he managed to get enough for us to make one final stop for the day at a spot near his house.  The target this time was red fish.  They didn’t disappoint us.  I don’t think Josh caught anything on this leg of the journey, but both boys had their hands full with a few huge hardhead catfish.  Zak landed a big ladyfish that leapt from the water several times, giving him quite a thrill.  And finally, Zak hooked on to a nice red fish.  The creature wasn’t going to give in without a fight, though.  It dragged Zak in a circle around the entire boat before finally tiring enough for us to net him.  It was the only keeper of the evening. 

I would have to say that the Zak Birthday Fishing Extravaganza was a rousing success.  Mr. Kenny even gave us a bag of fillets when he heard we were planning a fish fry today.  Hmm.  Maybe it’s time Zak learned the finer points of a Galveston fish fry.  Then I could hand off that responsibility to the younger generation.  That’s what us old dudes are supposed to do, isn’t it?

Psalms 68:3 says, “But may the righteous be glad and rejoice before God; may they be happy and joyful.”

Father, thank you for the experience yesterday.  I’m pretty sure it will be a day Zak and Micah will remember for a long time.  Amen.