A Busy Week, Working Rocks, Fishing, and Relaxing

It’s been hot and humid, here in south Texas, but the first major cold front has just passed through bringing some rain and a relief from the hot temperatures.  In the past week we have started to work rocks at the rock shop, spent some more time sightseeing, and done some fishing,

We have been blessed with meeting and making many new friends here in south Texas, many of them members of the Gulf Coast Gem and Mineral Society. So, when we arrived at the rock shop we were warmly greeted by Big Mark, Russel, and Rita.  All the machines were busy, and that was fine as we only needed to saw a few rocks.

Mark showed us his beautiful specimen of Turkish Stick Agate and Russ and I talked about working Koroit Boulder opals. Rita said she has been finding quite a few fossils, including a large fossil shark tooth, a megalodon!

The best thing about our membership is to be able to get the expert advice on the proper way to work material. The rock shop survived the hurricane with very light damage. The roof leaked in some place and some tiles fell in, but the machines were all fine, so it promises to be a very busy season.

The reports are that the whooping cranes are starting to arrive. The wild flock here has grown, and they expect about four hundred and thirty birds, (at one time there were only fifteen birds left). Driving to Lamar we stopped along the shoreline, but didn’t see any whoopers. Each breeding pair with its young stake out a mile size territory and vigorously defend it from other whoopers and sandhill cranes. Due to the tremendous amount of rain from the hurricane there’s a great supply of berries and crabs so it portends a good year for the birds.

Another morning I went wade fishing to a nearby spot. Buying a pint of shrimp, I discovered that I have a leak in my good waders, but slogging on I begin to cast live shrimp, working them slowly along the oyster bottom. On each cast small fish stole my bait, almost as fast as I cast out.

As I worked along the shoreline, I begin to catch black drum and redfish. They were all undersize and, so I was able to release them back into the water, (I almost exclusively use circle hooks, which hook the fish in the corner of the mouth and allow for an easy live release).

I caught black drum, redfish, whiting, and pinfish. Surprisingly I did not catch any speckled trout. (weakfish in Florida), as other fishermen arrived. I watched them fish as it’s a great way to find hidden spots. They were casting jigs and I did see one catch a nice trout, but the school just wasn’t in

The next day Renita joined me, and we fished under the new bridge. The results were the same as the day before and, so we moved out to a spot near the airport. There, we set up the lawn chairs and fished with no success. It always takes a while before we catch some keepers and so we returned home and grilled hot dogs, (we don’t eat cornbread anymore due to the diet our doctor put us on. Molly likes hot dogs better anyway).

Our friends from Iowa, Kansas, and Michigan are starting to arrive and so today we are all going out to breakfast, before helping them set up their rig. The forecast is for some rain, which the area can use as it has been dry since the hurricane came ashore. Other friends are still trickling in and so to them all, and to you we say travel safe, and of course clear skies.