Day 4: Port Aransas

Monday

The morning was beautiful! High 50s with no wind, and a forecast for very pleasant weather. We started by going out after ghost shrimp (Grandpa Dick, Dad, Mom, and Joel), but the tide was too high and we couldn’t get to where the shrimp were. So, instead Grandpa Dick took us on a guided tour of Port Aransas, driving us to various places and telling us stories, of which he has plenty!

We returned home and went to the tennis courts. The three of us hit for a while and then Joel and Mom played a little, followed by another Dad vs. Joel set, which Dad won 6-4. We will play more soon. We considered playing another set or two before the day was over, but we just got too busy.

After tennis we went for a walk on the beach. We picked a few sea shells and tried to rescue some very beautiful purple jellyfish that were washed ashore, but I fear they will just wash back up again. There was a grader going up and down the beach leveling out the sand. They have a bunch of plant debris that has washed up and they have taken it out by the truckloads. Apparently it rots if they don’t remove it.

After a quick lunch, it was time to go out for the afternoon fishing, this time it would be Grandpa Dick, Dad, Mom, and Joel. We went to the same place where the fishing was good yesterday and it didn’t disappoint us. We caught lots of sheephead and Joel caught a grunt (not to be confused with the croakers he caught yesterday). Grunts do exactly that. Like a croaker, they make a noise, but a grunt makes a sound like a pig grunting whereas croakers … well, they croak!

Joel managed to steal the biggest fish of the trip by getting snagged. Dad was helping him out and said “here hold my pole while I get this out for you” and sure enough, Joel hooked into a sheephead that measured 22 inches and probably weighed 6-7 pounds. It was a day of fast action, with Mom and Joel busily catching fish, breaking their line and getting snagged while Grandpa and Dad tied knots, unhooked fish, untangled snags, and had a few moments to catch some fish as well.

We were tied up by a big concrete block and rusty pilings from an old pier that once had a walkway overhead. The sheephead like to chew the barnacles off these structures with their teeth that look like horse teeth. At one point the boat must have bumped one of the pilings and a pile of rusty metal fell right on Grandpa’s head. It sounded like someone had spilled a can of sinkers on the boat floor. We looked up and realized that there was a lot of metal and concrete up there that could come spilling down. Maybe we won’t anchor in that spot any more, even though it is very good for fishing!

We went home and cleaned fish – we have a nice system where Grandpa fillets the fish, Dad skins them, and Joel rinses and bags them. Then Grandpa fried up some of our day’s catch and we had a fantastic meal of sheephead, salad, fried potatoes and onions, followed by a desert of cantaloupe and 7 layer bars. Everybody was stuffed! It was delicious!

Now we are at the house winding down and getting ready for an early bedtime and a sound sleep after a day of fish, fresh air, and fun.