A Fishing Reunion

Last weekend my dad, brother, and I flew out to Corpus Christi for a long weekend of fishing and catching up with the cousins.  It had been planned for quite some time and it was great that everyone could actually make it down.  In case you're wondering that's Billy, Cal, Spence, Christian, Christian, James, Tom, Evan, and Zach.  Everyone had a great time...it was "roughing it" at it's finest.

It was my first time "wade" fishing, and I'm not quite sure how I feel about it.  I should tell you that I'm not exactly the most patient person in the world, so fishing really isn't my thing to begin with.  Don't get me wrong, I love fishing when the fish are biting (i.e. stocked ponds), but I guess that's why they call it fishing and not catching.  Zing! (Thanks Danny G. for that one.)  

Anyway, back to the wade fishing.  We get out to our spot and jump in the water.  Shark infested water.  It's only about 3-4 feet deep, but it's not clear beautiful Florida water....it's more like the brown brackish water filled with seaweed.  Perfect for disguising those pesky bull sharks.  So we start walking in a line, sinking deep into the soft mud.  Keep in mind we had already seen a good 12-15 sting rays at the camp.  Not to worry, we were wearing some really special boots...size 9 for my size 12 feet to be exact.  Alas, we begin to fish.

Fast forward an hour- everyone is catching fish besides me.  This is typical of every single fishing trip I've ever been on.  It's like the fish can pick up on my energy.  Anyway, I was lucky enough to have our guide next to me catching huge fish on every other cast and attaching them to a string tied around my waist.  So now I'm wading in shark infested water with multiple bleeding fish attached to me.  At this point, my pasty white legs are beckoning to an apex predator like a light house to a lost ship.  I can already see the headline in the next Darwin Awards:  "Young idiot loses both legs and penis to bull shark after frolicking in shark infested waters with bleeding, dying fish attached to himself."  

Obviously nothing happened and I am overplaying the situation, but I still couldn't help but wonder why we couldn't have just cast off from the safety of the boat.  I hope I don't sound like a whiny pansy, it's just that I respect the hierarchy of the food chain and I know when I am out of my element.  Anyway, in hindsight it was actually really fun and I did end up catching 3 fish (compared to everyone else's 12).  

Other than the fishing it was great to just catch up with family and spend 3 days doing guy stuff...drinking whiskey, smoking cigars, peeing off the porch, not taking a shower for three days, you know...  I really do have some of the coolest cousins in the world (and I'm just not saying that because they might read this, they really are).  It's sad we don't see each other more often.  Oh well...I'm sure I'll see plenty of Cal when he comes to LSU.  

Here are some pics from the trip.  

Coyote tracks.

The beginning of the end.

Billy spittin' out some truth.

Night fishing. 

Windmills aglow.

I should get up early more often.  

Mater!  

Billy having a bit of trouble in the mud.

Storm's a comin'...

I would not want to be a sting ray (or hardhead) around Evan.

So long from South Padre Island!