Good Friday Fishing

Since we had so much fun on our fishing trip to the wonderful Bay Flats Lodge last year, we decided to do it again this year on our long Easter weekend.  Things were off to a rough start, as hubby had to work late on Thursday & Dad needed some fashion help before heading out on Friday.  Hubby was still fielding phone calls as we pulled into our first fishing stop & we started seeing some porpoises.

The sunrise on the first morning was glorious!  It’s like fuel to the soul to be out on the water, wind in your face, watching the birds fly above us & the sun reflecting off the water as it danced up into the sky behind a few clouds.

I took tons of photos, so I thought I’d throw them into a huge collage.  We like to wade fish- so we actually get in the water in the bay where it is a few feet deep & start slowing walking with the wind at our back.  We look for areas where the bottom is changing or their are bait working (jumping) to search out our prey- hopefully redfish or trout, maybe even a flounder.   Let me just say the wind was BRUTAL- 20+ mph winds & we just weren’t having too much luck.  There were 5 of us out there casting every directions & trying all types of lures, but we were only getting one or two fish before moving onto the next place.  Luckily the weather was awesome, besides the wind, so I just enjoyed soaking up the sun & having the waves gently lap against me in the water.

Even if the “catching” is crappy, I just love being out there surround by all the beauty in the estuary system- so many really big birds, gorgeous passes through to the bays and the sun shining down on us.  I was also having a wee bit of fun furiously snapping off photos with my camera trying to catch a few good bird shots.

Dad did manage to catch a few big fish the first day- including this pretty red fish.  They are fun to catch- they are generally larger than trout & put up much more of a fight getting them reeled in and onto a stringer.  Brenda & I do the catching, but we still get the men kindly remove them from our poles.  I teased Dad because he let a really nice red fish I caught on Saturday get away as he was trying to get it off the hook.

Our last stop of the day, we waded right near the bank & I was hoping to catch a flounder in the super-shallow water.  I’d caught 2 trout earlier & a lady fish (also called a jumping fish cause it flies out of the water on the hook, but it’s not a keeper).  I ended up catching this little fish (rock fish maybe?), but it’s also not a fish you keep to eat even though it’s kinda pretty.

Back at the lodge, we got showered up and got some cocktails going while the guide cleaned our fish & we waited on our appetizers.  I have such fond memories of growing up dancing with my dad & I’m super glad hubby had my camera to capture this moment.   The settings were left on manual from shooting outside, but I was able to recover them & I’m thrilled to have these.

Yup, you know I’m having a darn good time when *I* start singing along!

We sat out on the patio, snacking, laughing, telling stories & patiently waiting for Sherman to cook our bacon wrapped quail.

I even convinced hubby to dance with me!  I have to drag him out on the dance floor, but I seriously LOVE dancing.

After my big dance, we headed upstairs to enjoy a delicious dinner & even more visiting, as we were able to hang out with the owner for most of the night after dinner swapping business stories and trade secrets in between fishing tales.

GOOD NEWS OF THE DAY: Going out to dinner with an old running buddy of mine who is moving to India to teach.