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

Port Aransas, November 2025, an easy morning of birding and sightseeing

Our friends Dave and Jane invited us over for a day of fun at Port Aransas. They drove their van, they no longer travel with their diesel truck. It’s pretty fancy and different as we have never owned a van. The trip takes about twenty minutes, (if you don’t count the wait for the ferry, which was longer than usual this day). After crossing the ferry. we turned right and drove to the Leorna Turnbill Birding Center. They had read that a flamingo had returned to the park and as we walked to the first large salt marsh it was easy to see.

It had been seen at another marsh, far from the boardwalk, but we were lucky as it had flown closer. Of course, I felt foolish as I had only brought my phone, having left my camera and large lens at home in our fifth wheel trailer. The pictures aren’t great, and I even tried to take a small video of it as it fed by sweeping its large black bill back and forth along the muddy bottom. When feeding It sticks its whole head under water as it works back and forth along the bottom.

Of course, the American White Pelicans were present, along with Blue Wing Teal and Black Necked Stilts. Two Least Grebes, rare birds, fed below us, but I couldn’t get a picture of them before they disappeared into the tall rushes. We did not see any Whooping Cranes. We also did not see the large alligator as it was reported to be near the water tower. Our next stop was at the Jetty where we watched as ships came in and Dolphins fed. There were lots of people fishing on both the North and South Jetties, but we didn’t see them do any catching.The swells were large and a small boat, fishing near the end, rose up and down and almost disappeared into the trough. It would not be a good day for anyone with sea sickness, (I have been fortunate in that it has never bothered me). We did stop at the usual Mexican Restaurant for lunch. It’s so nice to have proper spicy food after the bland Mexican food served in most places in Star Valley. There were reporrs of a new bird, a Grooved Billed Ani. but we never saw it. It was a pleasant day, thanks Dave and Jane for inviting us along! Clear skies

Conspicuous Consumption, The Bishops Palace, Galveston

Years ago, but after we retired, we traveled to Rhode Island and toured the Vanderbilt Summer Home. It’s a classic example of Conspicuous Consumption. The Robber Barons built huge monuments to themselves with the riches they had acquired both legally and often illegally stealing money and land from the public trust.

In or about 1894 Walter Gresham built a palace in Galveston, Texas for himself and his family. We have often driven by the Bishops Palace, it was later acquired by the Catholic Church and eventually became the home of the Catholic Bishop, hence the name. When built, the palace was made from the finest materials and survived, mostly intact, the Great Hurricane that destroyed most of the Island. The self-guided tour of the Palace took about two hours and was worth the fourteen dollars per person admission. The floors were made with inlayed wood patterns, much like the home we saw in Kansas. The windows were stained glass, some with their children pictured. Some of the windows were changed by the bishop after he moved into the palace. One is on the Grand Stairway and is a picture of Holy Mother Mary. A conservatory made up one of the first floor room, alone with the reading room which was called the Silver Room.

Another room was the library filled with all the Classics.

The children were dressed in outfits that mirrored the fancy clothes of the adults. The formal dining room was decorated with wood carvings of Neptune.

Attached to that was the kitchen, also in the upstairs bathrooms, were three faucets for water, hot cold, and rainwater for washing one hair.

One of the bedrooms had been changed into a bedroom for the Bishop, and another into an Altar for the Bishop to celebrate Mass. The third floor was closed, as was the lorest level. Massive repairs are being done to save the building.We enjoyed the tour and recommend it! Its rare that I make reading suggestions, but do a search on Robber Barons of the Guilded age. The parallels to today are obvious. Clear skies

The Lunar Eclipse, 3/14/2925 2 am Central Standard time

I am always amazed when I see a total Eclipse of the Moon. How can some people think that the earth is flat when you can see the curve of the earth’s shadow as the moon enters the penumbra and then the umbra, (the Earth’s shadow). It’s just one of the many ways that flat earth believers deny that the earth is a sphere and make fools of themselves. last night I got up early and Renita and I attemped to view and photograph the Lunar Eclipe alongside of our fifth wheel.Fog had moved on and tin clouds gave us brief and short glimpses of the Eclipse

I changed the iso and the shutter speed trying to get the best image. The cloud cover finally became totally overcast and at three am we gave up and called it a night. I actually feel pretty good about the images as we were fighting the weather conditions. Clear skies

Port Aransas, Bollards, A Bittern, and Black Drum

We hadn’t been to Port Aransas for a while and we have been meaning to go see the Bollard coverings. Each year volunteers cover the bollards, (posts that prevent cars from entering areas, with knitting that decorates them. The coverings are removed before spring break.

Dan and Barb had also planned on going so we got together and planned a mutual adventure. Arriving at the beach, after purchasing a beach permit, we started to walk, view, and photograph them, ( we did this several years ago and tried to just take pics of the newest ones).

We were surprised to see that there are now over four hundred covered bollards, and the walk turned into a pleasant form of exercise.

Here is another of our favorites!

After finishing our walk our next plan was to go birding at Charles Pasture and then the Leorna Turnbill Birding Center. We had just finished eating our picnic lunch at Charley’ Pasture when Renita spotted an American Bittern. They are extremely hard to spot as their camoflague is excellent. Renita had her camera and I had left mine in the car!

Dan also had his camera which has the same zoom lens we do and so they both followed the American Bittern as it walked and stopped looking for its prey! The large bird didn’t seem to care about us but it stayed in the brownish brush, making it difficult to focus.

Still, Dan and Renita both got some good shots, (the first two are Dans).

It turned out to be a new life bird for Barb and Dan, they already had a least bittern, one bird we have not yet seen. It was a fun day at Port Aransas! Thanks for sharing the day we us!

Another day Dave and I went fishing to one of our favorite places. I had an exceptional day catching three Black drum. Two measured just under thirty inches and a third was twenty six inches. I ended up taking two home, (I accidently dropped the other twenty nine inch fish overboard while trying to put it into the live well). While I have caught my limit of black drum, these were the three largest I have caught in a single day! Clear skies

Black drum

It’s been too long since I have written in the blog, (which is really my personal journal). It’s now time to catch up! Our jewelry and rock shows are about to start and my excuses for not writing are many. So, the first catch up blog is basically a fishing report. I have been fishing with my friend Dave who as usual out fished me in the catching department. We have concentrated on black drum, mostly with lots of small fish and an occasional keeper. Did I forget to mention oversize fish? Both the red and black drums have slot limits. For the black drum the fish must be at least fourteen inches and with a maximum size of thirty inches. All others must be released, (unless you catch a black drum over fifty-four inches which is not going to happen). The huge black drum are the spawners. They are tremendous fighters and difficult to get in the boat. Their bite starts as a few taps and then they run. Twice this year Dave and I have both been spooled. That means that the fish decides to head out for Gulf of Mexico and takes all the line off your reel. Yup all the line! Tightening the drag, already set, causes the knot or line to brake, (which is a good way to release the fish as the hook quickly rust out) Another tactic of the fish is too head for the nearest barnacle covered object. When the fish gets around it the line is quickly cut by the razor-sharp edges. Sometimes I use reels with fifty-pound braid, with the same result! The largest we boated this year was the one first pictured, a black drum that measured forty-six inches, (estimated at forty-nine pounds, with the world record being over one hundred and thirteen pounds).

My largest this year was thirty-seven inches and the one pictured is thirty-two inches and all were safely released.The one in the cooler is twenty seven inches and tasted great!

Did I say that they are one of my favorite fish to eat? The pictures speak for themselves, Clear skies, and tight lines!

Wading Whooping Cranes at Lamar

Pam and Roy joined us for a birding trip to Lamar. Its only seven miles from our Blue Lagoons Rv Park, and so after crossing the Copano Bay Bridge we turned right and drove to St Charles Bay. The water was extremely low as a strong cold front, with high winds blew the water out. The tides are very small here, so the Coastal Winds and offshore storms are the determiner of the water levels. Reaching Eight Street we spotted three Whooping Cranes wading and feeding on objects in the water.

Renita got a picture of the family group and on the right, the young Whooper had a small crab in its beak. Bluer crabs are a great food along with fish and other seafood.

As we watched they dipped their beaks but did not catch any large blue crabs, (it is amazing watching them using their beaks to easily open a large crab). It has been verified that a Whooping Crane killed a feral hog by driving its beak into its skull!

The birds started wading further out and the male turned as if to say hurry up! We decided to leave the magnificent birds alone, (they are five feet tall) and drove further along the road. Turning the corner near Big Tree an American Kestrel perched on a Palm Tree Branch.

Its feathers were ruffed up and it had turned its back to the wind. Parking at Big Tree, located on twelfth street, we walked around the tree watching for other birds, but we didn’t spot any.

I got a picture of Renita and Pam looking at the tree and you can see they are bundled up!

As we drove back along the beachfront two American White Pelicans flew over head and we both got good pics.

A little further and a flock of Sandhill Cranes fed and a flock of seven Whooping Cranes flew across the sky.

We love taking photos of flying birds and of course to get pictures of the endangered Whooping Cranes is always a special treat!

Aransas National Wildlife Refuge, Texas 12/27/2024

We had not yet gone to the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge, so we invited Dan and Barb. Packing our our picnic lunch we headed there, looking for a day of birding, alligators, and perhaps a snake or armadillo. It’s a short drive, about 45 minutes, to the refuge which was established to protect the few remaining Whooping Cranes. Their numbers had plummeted to only twenty nine and the Whooping Cranes seemed to be headed for extinction, However, enacting protections, the numbers have slowly rose in the past century and today there are over eight hundred of the tall beautiful birds.

Now there are often whoopers on the Heron Flats Trail or visible from the Observation Tower and so those were the first two places we birded. The Heron Flats Trail is about one and a half miles in length. Walking the trail, you must be aware of both the alligators that cross the hike and be on the lookout for poisonous snakes, (besides being covered for the mosquitoes)!

The small observation platform gave us our first look at the flats, and Barb and Dan spotted either a Virginia Rail or a King Rail. The two birds are very similar in looks, but they were both new birds for their life list and so they added the King Rail. It would also have been a new bird for us but we were both taking pictures of other birds and never saw the rail before it disappeared into the brush.

Hiking down the trail we passed a flock of rosette spoonbills, numerous Great Blue Herons, (some white), and watched a pair of acrobatic Royal terns swooping down on surfacing minnows.

At one point a flock of Greater Kiskadees landed in a bush me and I got a great image!

We were all surprised that there was only one alligator on the brackish ponds and the only other birds we saw were pied billed grebes, Several Eastern Phoebes posed for pictures along with the ever present Northern Mockingbirds. Our next drive was to the Observation Towers, The tallest tower, has a great view of the waterways and brush covered mud flats. Usually three whooper’s, a family unit, are visible but all we saw were great white herons,

Black vultures, and Eastern Flycatchers. A metal post stood in the saltwater marsh and a Belted Kingfisher scanned the water before diving from its raised platform and making a fast meal of the rising baitfish. Three beautiful and brightly colored orange mushrooms had grown in a small area surrounded by the parking lot. I took a picture of them but didn’t touch them aware that many of the bright fungi were poisonous.

From the parking lot we turned onto the Eleven Mile Road. At one point we did spot a Golden Fronted Woodpecker which perched long enough for ne to get a focused picture. A little further several cars were stopped and the people had cameras and tripods set up!

It was the place where a Bald Eagle Pair had in past years, unsuccessfully nested and this year the male bird had returned! It was perched high on a dead branch of a towering Live Oak. Preening, it would stop and look at the eerie but we could not see if a female was sitting on eggs, One can hope for a successful hatch and rearing of young.

It has been over forty years since a pair had a successful rearing of eaglets on the refuge. We didn’t see much else on the drive as everything is parched from the prolonged drought, (we are on stage three water conditions as the local reservoirs are below twenty percent full). Reaching the main road we made our final stop at Jones Lake. Two alligators were sunning themselves and several Buffalohead ducks tempted fate by swimming near the large gators. A bobcat had been spotted that morning but didn’t appear.

On the way out, Barb spotted an armadillo! It was the first live one we have seen since we arrived in Texas. The armadillos are supposed to taste like pork but they do carry leprosy. Luckily, we don’t carry the genes that make some people susceptible. Even though we did not spot any whooping cranes, it was a successful day of birding with friends, Babr and Dan have almost as many birds on their life list and Dan is a better photographer that I am so I always try to learn some of his techniques! Clear skies and Happy New Year!

A Clapper Rail, Kite Surfing at Port Aransas, and lots of Dolphins

After lots of pictures of the Flamingo, another birder told us about the two clapper rails. He had spotted them earlier and if we could see one it would be a new life bird! As he was talking the clapper rail walked out from under the boardwalk and put on quite a show.

The low tide had concentrated the fish and crabs in a very small tidal pool. The birds were having a feast, and the clapper rail was enjoying the smorgasbord. At one point we watched as it waded into the shallow pool and caught a small blue crab!

It carried the crab onto the mud flat, dropped it, and then proceeded to kill it before finishing off a fresh blue crab feast. We also watched as the snowy egrets, a little blue heron, black necked stilts, and even the grackles were gobbling up small minnows.

After our own lunch we went to the beach front and watched as three kite surfers enjoyed the strong winds and launched themselves high into the air. I asked if Renita would like a kite, harness and surfboard for Christmas, but she responded by wondering aloud if I was trying to get rid of her. It looked like so much fun and we are only seventy-three, what could go wrong?

Our last stop was at Browne Point where a pod of dolphins was eating their lunch and enjoying the day as dolphins always seem to do. Renita and several others were taking pictures with their cell phones. It was too cold and windy for me and I stayed put in the car, taking a picture of the sand sculture wishing everyone a Merry Christmas. It was a good end to the busy day. Clear skies