Whoopers and Beach Time

Our friends Bob and Nancy are here visiting and as it’s their first time on the Texas Coastal Bend we had to take them fishing on the beach and birding at Lamar, (I taught with Bob for thirty years and his wife Nancy was a school guidance counselor).

I knew that Bob wouldn’t have any problem fishing as we had fished walleye tournaments for eighteen years. So it was no surprise to see him out fish me as he caught a nice black drum. My luck was that I was fishing and enjoying my new beach chair, (hard work I know but someone has to do it).

Bob taught science with me and I knew they would also like seeing the whooping cranes of Lamar. Luckily they haven’t left yet and so we were able to see a group of seven juveniles. They have separated from their parents and are hanging out in a typical teenage gang, party time!

In a year or two they will pair up for life and from then on the male will defend his territory. That makes it easy to spot the juveniles as adults would never gather in a group. We watched them as they fed and after a while they grew antsy as one male chased another around the watching females.

Spreading their wings they did several false takeoffs before finally heading into the wind, running a few steps and then lifting off! They, along with the adults, should soon be on their way north to Canada. This time they were probably just flying up the bay to feed on more blue crab.

It should be a good year for the flock as the blue crab are everywhere and whoopers usually have good nesting and egg laying season when they feed on lots and lots of blue crab. There are currently seven hundred birds so let’s hope for lots more chicks when they return next year!

Finally we had to show our friends the famous Big Tree of Texas. It’s over a thousand years old and is an enormous live oak, one of the biggest we have seen anywhere. As an added bonus the wildflowers surrounded the tree adding to the beauty of the day. Clear skies

Sheephead Harvest Time

“The sheephead are in”, are words that many here have waited to hear. Never mind that many disdain the fish, it’s one of many great eating fish that you can catch in the Gulf waters and one you can catch without a boat. The words mean that the sheep head have come in to spawn and so the local hot spots are crammed full of boats.

The fish can best be described as a crappie on steroids. It’s a fish that can reach up to eight pounds and comes equipped with sheep like teeth that literally crush clams, small crabs, oysters, and any of course shrimp. Now usually any fish that eat what I like to eat is itself great to eat and sheephead are no exception. It’s a white meat that you can fry, bake, or grill and you may even have eaten it without even knowing as it’s sometimes presented in restaurants as a fish called bay snapper.

Luckily I got the chance to fish the old Fina Docks as my friend Dave invited me along. Reaching the decaying structure, one must tie up to the rusted posts, using a rebar hook attached to a shock absorber rope. You can anchor if you want to lose the anchor and if you want to swamp the boat when a large ocean going vessel passes by and throws a large wake!

Hooking on to a jutting piece of the dock we were immediately catching fish. No time to take a sip of coffee, no time, or need for a bite or snack, no time really as every time you drop down your bait a sheephead eats your shrimp. The fish is a hard fighter that circles and dives back down suggesting the size of the fish, before you see it.

The fish in Texas must be fifteen inches long and so as soon as you take it off the hook you must place it on a measuring board before placing it in the cooler. This is no mean feat in itself as the fish is armed with large sharp spines, teeth that will remove fingers, and gill plates that will deeply slice your hand, (My fingers and hands are still aching from the damage the sheephead exacted before their cleaning).

It took us less than two hours to catch our limit, as we caught and released many undersized fish, two hours of frantic action that reminds me of harvesting salmon in Alaska. Now the question is should we fry, bake or grill the fish? Clear skies

The Gulf Coast Gem and Mineral Society Show 2016.

The doors opened at ten am sharp and a steady stream of gem and mineral enthusiasts flowed in. Soon we greeted our first customers, two ladies who have always stopped by and love our work. By noon the largest crowd had gathered and we greeted all with our usual promise that we could tell a story of each stone even if they didn’t want to hear it.

Still it was a steady flow of people but slower than the first day last year. This allowed me to check out the silent auction table where I was able to bid on several items. I won one, a soapstone Chinese carving of a sow and her piglets. It was what I really wanted as Renita and I are both originally from Iowa, a place with lots of pork!

The second day opened slowly at first, it usually does on a Sunday, but the two ladies returned and asked me to wrap a beautiful Tiffany stone cabochon in sterling silver wire. Another couple returned from Saturday and asked if I could wire wrap a pair of gold tiger eye earrings. There were a present from a bother in law who had passed away and they had been languishing in a desk drawer.

Renita handled the tables as I started working on the tiny stones. The smaller size always makes the wire wrapped more difficult as the short pieces of wire become very hard, making it a challenge to capture and display the beauty of the stone.

An hour and a half later I finished the pair and found the couple sitting in the food court area. Handing her the closed box she opened it and the smile on her and her husband’s faces made our whole show! We have been blessed with the knowledge and ability to work stone and metal and it’s all about making people happy.

The show finally ended and tired we repacked our cases, rocks, and fossils. The show was a success, the best two day show we have ever had, and not only the money but more important the many smiles we had seen on faces! That’s what it’s really all about. Clear skies

Crabbing On the Mission River

The Mission River is about thirty miles west of us. It enters Mission Bay, where several of our friends had been guided with great success. So we made several trips to the fish the Mission River, a new place for us, trying to learn something about the river and its connecting bay. The first was with our friend Captain John and the other was a shore fishing attempt where the main purpose was to trap crabs for a crab boil.

On the first trip John took us in his boat and we launched at the well maintained boat ramp. Heading up the river we quickly arrived at a place where a set of gates formed a narrow opening, almost like what I would call a wing dam on the Mississippi River.

It looked just like many I had seen near Grand Isle, Louisiana, places where Gary had taken me after speckled trout. Putting on a popping cork and a chartreuse jig I made my first cast and started to work it across the opening. Pausing every few feet the bobber suddenly disappeared and I was on a fish with my first cast! Fighting it in I measured the fish and sure enough it was half an inch short of the keeper slot size. C

Thinking we were really going to catch a lot of fish we all cast and cast but no more trout! Heading downstream we went to our second spot where we anchored and caught red after red, but again they were all small. Roy caught a black drum and again it was just under the legal size.

Being bothered by blue crabs we decided to return another day with crabs traps and nets, hoping for enough to have a crab boil. A few days later four of us arrived armed with chicken necks, smelly dead mullet and high hopes.

Soon we were catching crabs but many were too small. They have to measure five inches across the widest part of the dorsal caprice. As the day wore on they did start to get bigger and we did manage to catch fifteen legal blue crabs. Now if you have ever eaten blue crab you know that fifteen crabs won’t go very far so I called Renita and had her buy shrimp, Cajun sausage, corn on the cob, and red potatoes.

That night we gathered together and before long the pot was a boiling! Half an hour later all was ready and we gathered round to enjoy a taste of south Texas. After demonstrating how to open a cooked crab, everyone dived into the rich crab and shrimp. Life here is about letting the good times roll and a boil is certainly a good time! Clear skies

Tides, Water Levels, and Big Black Drum

We always check two things before we go out for a day on the water, the tide forecasts and the weather. The tide forecast tells us when the water is moving, (fish usually don’t bite when there is no movement). It also helps us to understand the water levels which are also affected by strong fronts which push water in and out of the bays.

A cold front had just passed through and we knew the water levels would be low. Not surprisingly the water was too low to reach the area we wanted to fish. However we did notice large brown muddy swirls as we frightened fish while entering the bay.

Anchoring the boat we decided to fish the swirls and it wasn’t long before Dave hooked a huge black drum. The water was really shallow so the fish could only fight using long hard runs, but Dave knew the tricks to battle this fish’s tactics.

Skillfully working the fish it finally grew tired and I was able to try to net the fish. Now the problem was that the fish was too big for the net! I was barely able to net some of the fish, just enough that using both hands I was able to just hoist the fish aboard. Lifting the fish the net broke in two and Dave held the fish up for a quick picture before he released it back into the bay.

Such giant brood fish are the future of the fishery and are not legal to keep. Usually these giant fish contain parasites they have acquired and wouldn’t be any good to eat anyway. It was a good release and the fish quickly swam away unharmed!

Oh and the fish was forty inches long, about forty pounds! Clear skies

Rings and Things and More Fishing

I checked the date on the blog and much to my surprise it has been a week since I posted. It’s not that we haven’t been busy, it’s just that I haven’t taken many images. While a fellow friend keeps weekly notes I look at my weekly images and that’s what inspires the story.

We are getting ready for one of our biggest shows and so most of the week has seen us busy finishing up orders and making rings. Lots of rings. Our friends Dave and John both invited me to go fishing and as we were out of fish I quickly accepted both their invites, (as we were out of fish).

Our new style rings have been well received. I learned the process by watching the show, “How It’s Made”. It is amazing, to me anyway, what you can learn on some of those episodes and we also spend time learning from videos on You Tube.

Step one is to select the rough stone, determine the shape, and size, and cutting the preform. Next we dop, (doping a stone involves cementing a stone to a wooden dowel using a special doping wax), the stone to make the rock manageable while grinding on our machines.  We don’t dop larger cabochons, finished semiprecious stones, as we simply hold them in our hands while working the grinding wheels.

Finally we set the stones and then finish grind the whole ring before buffing and polishing the final product. This is an image of rings set in silver using high grade Green Australian Marlborough Chrysophrase, Siberian purple charoite, light green Citron Chrysophrase, and high quality Wyoming Jade.

We are also making some Morenci Turquoise ring and blue stone rings using sodalite, Oregon Holly agate, South African tiger eye, and Namibian blue lace agate. We won’t get all of these done but that’s ok as we will have some new pieces for our summer shows.

As to the fishing, well we had to buy some fish at the fish monger so it was definitely time to get out again. From the images I post you may think we always catch fish, and while we usually do the fish are often too small to keep. I went out for two days and caught lots of small fish with John and Dave, before scoring with a limit of black drum.

Finally I must mention the daily ritual called happy hour. Our friends all gather together at four pm, some with a glass of wine or beer but not all, and discuss our day’s activities. The group usually averages fifteen to twenty and it’s going to grow in size as Renita’s sister Pam and her husband Roy are arriving next week!

Clear skies

A Days Birding In Port Aransas

We hadn’t yet been birding on Mustang Island and so when Renita mentioned this we packed a lunch, loaded up everything we needed, and made the drive to Port Aransas. Upon our arrival at the first birding area, Charley’s Pasture, we realized we had forgotten our binoculars, (note to self-bring binoculars when birding).

Still we had our cameras and telephoto lenses so we could still view the birds, just not as easily. As we started to walk the trail at Charley’s Pasture it was immediately apparent that the lack of rain had turned the area into a giant muddy salt flat. Still we walked the Salt Island Overlook Trail but the birding left much to be desired.

Our next stop was at Paradise Pond which is a small marsh/waterhole in a hidden tree protected bird sanctuary. It’s usually a good spot to pick up some warblers, night herons, and even a bittern. Much to our surprise we saw that most of the trees had been removed!

Instead of roosting night herons we saw bulldozers, tractors and trucks. Instead of trees we saw graded piles of sand. The curse of the coast, developers, has descended on the area and with the cities blessing. We did read the signs that replanting would take place. So perhaps I am being harsh but birds also need a place to call home.

Our last stop was at the Leonabelle Turnbull Birding area near the water treatment plant. The parking lot was overflowing as it was President’s Day, but the place saved our day of birding. As soon as we walked out on the boardwalk we were treated to a green heron poised ready to strike at the first sign of the marsh’s buffet lunch!

Two alligators, did I say large, lay in the mud pretending to be sleeping but Renita caught one opening its eyes. Perhaps it was waiting for a handout or perhaps manna from heaven, (a birder from above)? Continuing along the boardwalk roseate spoonbills displayed, (it’s soon to be breeding season), American white pelican’s rested, and common gallinueles walked atop the marsh plants.

Black necked stilts, sandpipers and plovers all entertained us, oblivious to the clicking cameras and soft whispers. Northern shovelers, green winged teal, and mottled ducks all added to the raucous bird frenzy. The days birding was saved!

Returning to the truck we talked about how unique the area is and how we look forward to next month’s migrating spring arrivals, in all their gaudy breeding plumage. Spring time is arriving here and the birding is always special as it’s also the time for migration fallouts. A friend in Corpus Christi told us the hummingbirds have already started to arrive.

Oh and one last thing, save places for the birds! Clear skies