I woke up at the butt crack of dawn in anticipation of a day of fishing with Jerome in Galveston Bay. In case I haven’t introduced him to you, he’s a detective in the Houston area, loves to fish, has bachelors and masters degrees, treats his cats and dog like people, and is lovingly referred to as “Bubba” by his family. You get the idea. So I woke up at 4:30, showered, and was at Jerome’s by 5:25. We headed to his special kolache joint (he knew everyone in the store) and then headed out for the Texas City Dike, which is where all the boats hit the water for Galveston Bay. Here is the bit of history on the Dike:
“[The] world's longest manmade (5 miles) fishing pier, part of Texas City's flood control system and haven for local fishermen, boaters, and water enthusiasts.
Texas City Dike extends five miles into Galveston Bay with 600 foot fishing pier beyond tip of dike. Pier offers the deepest water for pier fishing in the state where anglers often take speckled trout, redfish, flounder, and tarpon. Visitors also find beach, boat launching, and service facilities, bait, camping, and motel accommodations.”
We were guided by Clint who was a younger gentleman who used to work for the oil companies until he figured out that being a fishing guide was more lucrative. With our Coronas, limes, water, sunscreen, tackle, rods, and boat we headed out on the bay.
I hadn’t ever fished saltwater the way we fished the bay. You use lures (rubber worms or bright shiny thingies) instead of live shrimp/fish or cut bait. The water in the bay is only 5-7 feet in most places so, you can’t have a huge boat and you don’t throw anchor. So we floated for a while using a cast and reel method trying to catch trout in a big area marked off for clam harvest. After we caught a few trout we moved to another location and another. Finally it was time to start using live fish, so Clint called a shrimp boat captain to get some of his leftover baitfish (caught in the shrimp nets). We obtained them and headed to another location were we were going to catch Jerome’s favorite—Redfish. I used shrimp and they used lures and live bait. Because all the casting and reeling was new to me (plus the boat was floating), I didn’t pay as much attention as I should. I often wouldn’t reel fast enough and the line would be under the boat, because I had way too much slack. At one point I was looking down into the water noticing how much slack I had when everyone started screaming HEY HEY HEY. I looked up to see that my cork had disappeared underwater indicating a fish hit the shrimp. I set the hook and nothing happened. So I reeled in the slack and set the hook again. This time I had a fish. I turned out to be a 24 inch redfish and was quite fun to land. Jerome caught one as well; although I must point out his was smaller than mine. In all, we caught a few trout and a few redfish. It was a pretty sweet day. I really enjoyed being out on the water with nothing to distract me but the sunlight and the fishing. That’s something I’ll need to be doing more often.
After fishing we headed so a Mexican joint in Texas City for a very good burrito. It wasn’t Freebirds, but it was good after a long day of fishing and no food. Then we headed home. I hopped in the shower which was awesome after a long day. Then Kayla arrived and we were shortly joined by Michelle and Krista. I decided to grill the fish we caught. I marinated the fish for a few hours with an Emeril concoction and I also put together a mango salsa along with coconut rice. Even the fish had toasted coconut on it. Everything also had cilantro along with a bunch of other stuff to give things a South American flavor. We also had very good freshly baked French bread and wine. The girls helped out in the kitchen and we all drank cocktails and had fun. I remember Angelina Jolie being on the TV in a movie called Gia or something. Dinner was served and was quite good as I recall. It was a pretty kick ass day if I don’t say so myself. Jerome is a pretty cool dude. He is yet another example of how incredible Kayla’s entire family is. I’m very lucky to know all of them.
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“[The] world's longest manmade (5 miles) fishing pier, part of Texas City's flood control system and haven for local fishermen, boaters, and water enthusiasts.
Texas City Dike extends five miles into Galveston Bay with 600 foot fishing pier beyond tip of dike. Pier offers the deepest water for pier fishing in the state where anglers often take speckled trout, redfish, flounder, and tarpon. Visitors also find beach, boat launching, and service facilities, bait, camping, and motel accommodations.”
We were guided by Clint who was a younger gentleman who used to work for the oil companies until he figured out that being a fishing guide was more lucrative. With our Coronas, limes, water, sunscreen, tackle, rods, and boat we headed out on the bay.
I hadn’t ever fished saltwater the way we fished the bay. You use lures (rubber worms or bright shiny thingies) instead of live shrimp/fish or cut bait. The water in the bay is only 5-7 feet in most places so, you can’t have a huge boat and you don’t throw anchor. So we floated for a while using a cast and reel method trying to catch trout in a big area marked off for clam harvest. After we caught a few trout we moved to another location and another. Finally it was time to start using live fish, so Clint called a shrimp boat captain to get some of his leftover baitfish (caught in the shrimp nets). We obtained them and headed to another location were we were going to catch Jerome’s favorite—Redfish. I used shrimp and they used lures and live bait. Because all the casting and reeling was new to me (plus the boat was floating), I didn’t pay as much attention as I should. I often wouldn’t reel fast enough and the line would be under the boat, because I had way too much slack. At one point I was looking down into the water noticing how much slack I had when everyone started screaming HEY HEY HEY. I looked up to see that my cork had disappeared underwater indicating a fish hit the shrimp. I set the hook and nothing happened. So I reeled in the slack and set the hook again. This time I had a fish. I turned out to be a 24 inch redfish and was quite fun to land. Jerome caught one as well; although I must point out his was smaller than mine. In all, we caught a few trout and a few redfish. It was a pretty sweet day. I really enjoyed being out on the water with nothing to distract me but the sunlight and the fishing. That’s something I’ll need to be doing more often.
After fishing we headed so a Mexican joint in Texas City for a very good burrito. It wasn’t Freebirds, but it was good after a long day of fishing and no food. Then we headed home. I hopped in the shower which was awesome after a long day. Then Kayla arrived and we were shortly joined by Michelle and Krista. I decided to grill the fish we caught. I marinated the fish for a few hours with an Emeril concoction and I also put together a mango salsa along with coconut rice. Even the fish had toasted coconut on it. Everything also had cilantro along with a bunch of other stuff to give things a South American flavor. We also had very good freshly baked French bread and wine. The girls helped out in the kitchen and we all drank cocktails and had fun. I remember Angelina Jolie being on the TV in a movie called Gia or something. Dinner was served and was quite good as I recall. It was a pretty kick ass day if I don’t say so myself. Jerome is a pretty cool dude. He is yet another example of how incredible Kayla’s entire family is. I’m very lucky to know all of them.
>>View the PICTURES<<
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