Our Favorite Saltwater Fish

Just as we have different tastes, Renita and I both rate the Saltwater Sheepshead as our favorite fish to eat! Close behind it is the Black Drum, followed by Speckled trout, and finally Redfish. There are many fish that are better, Flounder and Pompano are two, but we rarely catch them. Right now, the Sheepshead are moving into the bays for spawning and are very catchable. If you have never caught a sheepshead, think of a freshwater bluegill that may weigh up to eight pounds and be a length up to twenty-three inches. The fish in Texas must be fifteen inches to keep, and a measuring stick is a must! Our favorite ways to cook them includes beer batter and baked Parmesan Crusted Fillets. We also like to grill them on a half shell, (after filleting them leave the skin on). The grilled half shell works good for redfish. Finally, there are other fish we sometimes enjoy, Gaff Topped Catfish is one and Spanish Mackerel are both great when grilled or smoked. Also add Black Tipped, Bonnethead, and Atlantic Shark to the list, but we rarely catch them. (I am limiting myself to Texas Saltwater fish). Feel free to add your favorite in the comments. Clear skies ps and of course they are best when freshly caught, cleaned, and cooked. Yesterday, I cuaght my personal best sheepshead, a 21.5 inch fish

A tale of two big fish

It’s been a long time since I last posted…. Sometimes you get so busy that you don’t think of anything to write. For the last two weeks I have been making jewelry for our shows and went fishing twice. After all, Jed Clampett once said, “A man too busy to go fishing is just too busy!” Last week we went in Dave’s boat and caught three fish. Roy had the biggest fish of his life on but he couldn’t hold it. After a while the fish sensed something wasn’t right and took off. There was no stopping the fish! It was the biggest fish of Roy's life, but we never saw it as it broke the swivel during its run.. It wasn’t long before Dave’s pole went off and after an initial run, Dave stopped the run and turned the fish. He brought the fish to the boat, and I almost missed it with the net, (small net). It took both hands for me to lift the fish into the boat. The Texas State Record Black Drum was measured at forty-nine inches and weighed eighty-one pounds. Dave’s fish measured forty-eight inches and using the conversion scale on the Texas Game page, was estimated to be about fifty-six pounds. After measuring it he safely released it and we watched it return to the depths. It wasn’t the biggest fish he has ever caught but it was the biggest fish I have ever netted.

We all wondered how big Roy’s fish had been. Perhaps a new state record? Looking for smaller fish to eat, (Any Black Drum over thirty inches must be released), we moved from spot to spot but no luck. I did catch a string ray, and I kept it as I have always wanted to try eating stingray. They are supposed to be good to eat, I will let you know the results of my taste test. Clear skies

Another trip to Lamar, counting whooping cranes

It had been a couple of weeks since we had last gone to Lamar to see the whooping cranes, so we grabbed the cameras and crossed the Copano Bay Bridge. Driving along the St Charles Bay Road we saw cars along Eighth Street and that’s a great sign. The Whoopers had arrived for lunch and so we stopped and counted twelve birds.

Four others were flying away, bringing our total count to sixteen of the magnificent, endangered cranes.

The bird lined up. They were waiting for the feeder to start dispensing corn, and it looked like a bunch of snowbirds in our Recreation Hall! The birds do have a pecking order and the dominant whoopers are always first.

Some sandhills cranes were also waiting nearby and being smaller they wait patiently for the whoopers to allow them to also feed on the free handouts. In addition, a flock of rock doves, pigeons, flew in to wait for their turn. Meanwhile a large flock of Rosette Spoonbills napped in the warm sun.

The one thing we have not seen this year is the huge alligator that sunned itself in the backyard of a nearby beach house. Perhaps the reptile had been moved or more likely harvested. I certainly would not like such a large cold-blooded predator living in my backyard. The Texas flock now numbers over five hundred birds. It’s a success story as the flock at one time only numbered sixteen. The count was only twenty nine in the entire world. Hats off to all who saved the beautiful birds! Clear skies

Watching a dolphin fish in Rockport's Harbor

December has been an extremely busy month! Between Renita shopping and my rush to make jewelry, we haven’t done a lot of exploring. So, when our friend John told us about a place where we could catch fish from shore, we decided to take a short drive down Waters Street. Parking, we grabbed our phones and polarized sunglasses and headed out for a short walk along a small, protected part of the Harbor. As we neared the end of the walkway a dolphin surfaced.

It had been doing its own fishing and didn’t stop just because it had an audience. The large male dolphin would swim and herd the school of mullet into a frenzied mass before it would dive under and rising through the school emerge with a fresh fish in its mouth! I

t was the first time we have ever seen a dolphin with a fish in its mouth, and the first time it had a large mullet or speckled trout! Swallowing its meal it then hurried to cause the school to panic into a tight group before it again dive and then rose through the middle of the school with another lunch in its mouth! We only had our phones for pictures, (the pictures are Renita's using her old I phone), so they are not the best but she caught the action. Now that Christmas is over, we hope to do some fishing ourselves. Renita is excited about the new fishing reel Santa left her! Clear skies

Our fishing report, Texas 2025

I never thought of retirement as time to relax. One friend, a retired English teacher told me to never sit in a rocking chair as you will end up rocking your life away. You may also think you have lots of time, but when you retire you find out that time is the most precious thing you have left, so don’t waste it! I haven’t posted a new blog in a while because there is never enough time, so here is a brief catchup post. My time for the first half of December has been spent fishing and making jewelry for next year’s shows. The fishing was good, for the most part. My friend Dave and I have been concentrating on black drum. He did catch and release a thirty-six-inch red fish, one that big is a spawner and must be released) My big fish so far is a thirty-five-inch black drum, about 21 pounds. Thats too big to keep and so it was released unharmed. We have caught and eaten slot sized black drum, which is between fourteen to thirty inches and they taste great. Many anglers here in Texas prefer Red Fish but we like sheepshead, black drum, and speckled trout, (I don’t even mention flounder because its rare for us to catch a keeper.

The cold fronts are driving the speckled trout away from the shore, where we have been catching them on crankbaits. Our friend Dan did catch a beautiful 20-inch sheepshead which will feed two to four people. Today a cold front with winds from 20-30 mph is coming through so it’s a good time to catch upon the blog (which is our journal about retirement, its a way for us to remember and we have now been retired for eighteen yaers). I also have some repair work to do on our rv, if you didn’t know the initals rv, stands for repair vehicle. So hopefully I will get the work done early and go back to having fun, making jewelry while we watch the Broncos play the Green Bay Packers. Go Broncos! Clear skies

A Flock of Ten Whooping Cranes, November 28th, 2025

We had heard that the Whooping Cranes had arrived in Lamar. They usual are here by mid to late October but we had only had reports of three present in the field alongside St Charles Bay. Nearing Eighth Street we saw stopped cars and as we turned south we spotted a group of ten! It’s unusual to see so many in one spot, this flock was composed of eight adults and two colts, (young of the year with brown and white plumage). The colts are given that name as they prance around after leaving the nest. By the time they are here in Texas we usually see them with their heads down feeding voraciously after the long flight from northern Canada.

The adults were calling to each other, with their necks stretched out straight up into the sky. There were numerous calls, or warnings, and it was a vocal fight of ownership of the field.

Pairs and then a single bird decided to look elsewhere for their own territory, (each family will claim an area of about one and a half miles. Two took off and flew south to a feeder located in a field edged with cattails.

The single flew in circles, and another pair took off, heading towards the back bay. We often see a pair when we kayak St Charles Bay and travel by motorboat to Dunham’s Bay. The latter bay borders the Intracoastal. The intracoastal is filled with barges which the Whooping Cranes ignore. It’s an area called the Blackjack Peninsula. The Aransas Wildlife Refuge owns most of the area and frequently sets controlled burns. The whoopers follow the fires and feed on exposed snakes, (The snakes are a safely killed by the cranes and are then swallowed whole). At one point two families Males, approached each other. They then raised their necks and squared off as if to fight. However, one of the pairs backed off and leapt into the air looking for a more welcome place.

There were numerous Whooping Cranes flying around us, before disappearing over the trees. Three sandhill cranes stood by and watched the departures, (they are smaller, shorter, than the Whoopers), and will push their luck before backing off when challenged.

The adult Whoopers are a fearsome opponent, a little over five feet tall, and have been documented as killing a feral hog which approached their young. The adult had hit the pig in the head and had killed it instantly. That’s how strong their beaks are! We decided to drive to 12th street hoping for a closer view, but we couldn’t find one. Several Rosette Spoonbills perched in a tree, and an American Kestrel preened itself near Big Tree.

Having had a great morning birding, it was time to head back to our fifth wheel to upload the pictures and rest up for the nights card game of Joker and Pegs. Clear skies. Ps If you want to see Whooping Cranes up close. Go to the small town of Lamar and drive along St Charles Bay. They are a lot closer than you will usually find them at the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge

Warbirds, the 2025 Fall Commemorative Fly in at Rockport, Texas

For the past three years, the Commemorative Air Force has held a fall fly in at the Rockport, Texas Airport.

Several days before the start date, old war planes begin to fly overhead of our Rv Park. Being near the airport it’s fun to see the old biplanes.

While we have seen many of the planes before there were three warbirds that I was especially interested in seeing. These were the F4F Wildcat, the F6F Hellcat, and the TBD Douglas Devasator Torpedo Bomber.

The F4F Wildcat had borne the brunt of aerial combat during the first part of the Pacific battles during World War Two. It was inferior to the Japanese Zero, especially if it tried to turn inside the Japanese Fighter. The development of the F6F Hellcat changed things as that plane had a kill ratio of 19:1.

A Parachute jump was supposed to take place, but it didn’t happen while we were there. The wind was gusting thirty miles per hour, and it wasn’t safe for the jumpers. However, inside the hanger a display was set up showing the gear carried by the Paratroopers. My Uncle Manly was a Paratrooper during World War Two and fought at Bastogne.

Another display inside the hanger was of the women who delivered the warbirds. The military didn’t allow women to fly combat missions until 1993 over Bosnia. The first three women were not identified until much later.

In the picture of the equipment table, you can see a foldable M1 Garand that was hated by the Paratroopers. There was a display table loaded with gear including a mess tin, (the mess tin of a paratrooper consisted of one large spoon). It was a fun but hot day under the sun, something that we just aren’t used to, (we live in Wyoming). Renita and I had no interest in flying in planes older than we are, (you may purchase a ride in many of them). Thank you to all who worked to make the fly-in a success. It’s great to be able to see examples of living history, Clear skies