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

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

A Blue Lagoons happy hour fish fry.

Each Year we have a fish fry. These fish fries have been going on for at least twenty-three years. This year was harder to plan as we didn’t catch enough fish, at least for a while. Finally, nine different fisher people, (men and women), had just enough fish so that we could feed the twenty-four people in our happy hour group.

Dave and Jane always host the event, and we hold it in an empty space in the rv park. Dave prepares the fish, with very little help from me, and then he sets up his deep frier and I shake the fish in his special coating, (it took eight years before I was promoted to be the official shaker).

Meanwhile Jane and others set up tables with covers and filled them with each persons dish. Denny always does the beans, Barb bakes bread, and Renita makes a sugar free coleslaw,(low carb of course). Then when the last of the fish are fried, dinner is announced and after a short prayer the line forms. As always, we barely had enough fish to feed the hungry group, (twenty-five or so), and no one leaves hungry. That’s one of the many feeds we put on in our rv park. Spending the winter here allows us to make friends from all over. In the first picture are people from South Dakota, Michigan,(both trolls and Uppers), Illinois, Wyoming, Colorado, Iowa, Alabama, Texas, Oklahoma, and Minnesota. Thanks to Jane and Dave for planning and hosting the event!