May 25 – “3 Seagulls”

Ah, fishing in Galveston.  The thing I like most about casting a line in our fair waters (actually they are muddy waters most of the time, thanks to the silt from the Mississippi River and the tides that bring it here) is the fact that you never know what you are going to catch, especially if you use live shrimp for bait.  I have caught speckled trout (my personal favorite), Spanish mackerel, flounder, red fish, and sheepshead.  I have tangled with and finally got rid of hardhead catfish, gafftop catfish, sharks, eels, ribbon fish, sun fish, and pompanos.  I once spend 45 minutes bringing in a jack crevalle.  Not to mention all the possibilities involved in a deepsea fishing adventure: king fish, red snapper, and the like.   Yesterday I was invited to join a friend from church for a day of bay fishing in his boat.  Now it was kind of windy, so we knew from the outset that there might be some bumpy rides, but we thought we could surely find just the spot alee from the wind.  Like my fishing talk?  That just means hide behind something so the wind isn't so bad.  We went from Jamaica Beach to Green's Cut to the causeway and back again.  We stopped several places in the intercoastal canal.  I managed to land (and throw back) two little gafftops.  I pulled in a small croaker and a piggy, which I used for bait.  Not a very impressive resume, is it?   My buddy hooked a big one at the causeway.  He fought with it awhile and lost it fairly close to the boat.  We both thought it broke his line, but he said it looked like the fish was a bit more dexterous than we imagined.  The knot had been untied and the hook removed.  Hmmm.  He asked how I tied knots, so I showed him they way I was taught.  He cast again and seemed to get another strike.  The line went slack much quicker this time, though.  He reeled in another missing hook.  "Your knot didn't work either," he said.  But after a second or two of closer inspection, he revised his interpretation of the events.  "No, wait," he said.  "The knot is still there.  Still tied.  It's just the hook that's gone."  So how does that happen?  All I can catch is trash fish, and he gets the only multi-talented fish in the whole ocean – the one that can untie knots with his tongue and make whole hooks disappear without disturbing the unsuspecting knot.   I did catch something else.  One source of aggravation among anglers in our area is the seagulls.  They are vicious creatures, swooping down from the sky and preying on helpless live shrimp that have just been returned to their natural habitat.  You guessed it.  I made one cast and the seagull swooped and my bait was history.  But I had a problem.  The hook remained in the gull's mouth.  And he flew away.  Made for an interesting fight, as you can imagine.  Ned asked me what I was going to do.  "Reel him in," was my reply.  So I pulled and tugged as gently as I could to get the goofy bird close to the boat.  Them I pulled him into my arms, paying special attention to his head.  That would be the business end where pecks come from.  This one was not going to be a problem, though.  The hook was in his mouth, holding it open.  We carefully dislodged it and let the bird fly away.  Ned said he had never seen that happen before.  I was kind of worried when he said that.  Just some of the old fisherman jinx lore rearing its ugly head, I guess.    Ah, but sometimes there is reality behind the mythology.  Several casts later another live shrimp disappeared into the belly of the gull.  And another hook did its job.  This one, however, made its way into the wing and lodged there.  Again I had to carefully reel him in.  Ned helped me unwrap the line and remove the hook.  We even talked to the bird, trying to calm it down.  Finally, success once again.  At least until it happened yet a third time.  Three seagulls.  What a catch.  Welcome to Galveston.   Proverbs 9:10 says, "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding."   Father, thanks for my friend Ned.  Give him patience to persevere until his wife gets back in town.  I remember how difficult that can be.  Amen.