Kayaking, Black Drum, and A Great Day on the Water

 

On Sunday we went for a drive. Our goal was to do a little birding and to check out the fishing at some of our places we kayak. The whoopers are not here yet, but we did see quite a few cattle egrets and some really light pink roseate spoonbills. At one place two people were wade fishing and they were catching black drum! As black drum are one of our favorite fish to eat, we hurried back home and worked on the kayaks and poles. It took the rest of the day, but we finally went to bed and of course could not sleep.  

Getting up early I putzed around knowing it was not wise to wake Renita before she was ready. I drove to our favorite shrimp store only to be told that the store had no shrimp and was closing. Instead I bought a quart of live shrimp and the shrimp were so big that we had to cut them up to get them onto the hook.

The day before there were not any kayakers but when we arrived there were seven kayaks already out! Additionally, there were two wade fishermen so when we finally pushed off from the bank many of our spots were taken. Still we found a nice spot and anchoring we fished some newly made oyster reefs.

We did have a few bites but the fish were really small and so we decided to move closer to shore. I had caught a small black drum and a hardhead, (terrible eating), when Renita set the hook on a nice fish! It was almost comically as we did everything wrong, but we were still able to net the fish. I It was twenty-two-inch black drum, a perfect size for our dinner.

Casting back out she had another bite, but the fish came off. I cast on the other side of the structure she was fishing, and I was rewarded with a nice seventeen-inch black drum. We spent the rest of the day there and caught speckled trout, sand trout, and Renita had a large fish that swam around some posts before snagging up and getting away.

My big fish of the day was a stingray and several more hardhead catfish. It did not matter as we ran out of bait and headed back to the car. Now the decision of the day was how to cook the black drum. We ended up sautéing them and then we covered them with a lemon crème and caper sauce. They were excellent!  Clear skies