#89 - Fishing, Fish and Fish Dishes

This past week, Deputy Dave had a week off from work.

Did we go on an exotic vacation?

No.

Did we go on a little road trip?

No.

Like most of the nation, we are hit by economic hard times, so instead of spending gas money and non-existent vacation money to drive to a dreamy bed and breakfast which will remain in my dreams, Deputy Dave spent his usual gas money used for driving back and forth to work every day to instead drive back and forth to the bay so he could fish. Near daily, he went fishing.

The payoff...fresh fish. Mostly trout. I love eating fresh fish for dinner, the fish that he caught on that same morning.

So, vacation for Deputy Dave meant lots of fishing and lots of photographic opportunities. And he does get the opportunity to take some gorgeous photos of the sunrise.



A shot of Kevin with the sunset.

 Fortunately, our photo editing program let us straighten a crooked horizon. Otherwise, everyone would be tilting their heads while looking at the picture and saying, "Wow, that sunrise is amazing."

You can see a ship in the distance.

Plus, he was able to capture an awesome shot of the clouds parting to expose a circle. Soon, the clouds around the circle began to resemble an arm reaching out with a fist enclosed...you can see the wrist, the hand, the knuckles...I wonder what message or blessing God was trying to send to Deputy Dave? Hmmmm.

Maybe, "Hold tight to your fishing holes?"

Nearly every day this past week, he woke up around 4:30am and headed out to fish the Galveston Bay. He's in a fishing tournament and this is serious business for my husband. His brother, Kevin, is also an avid fisherman, so they had a couple of delightful days together this week --- in the water, on the water, near the water. But, Deputy Dave goes with or without the brother.

These brothers have Ocean Kayaks and they are like boys when they get to go out on their sea adventures. Deputy Dave has another brother, Mark, but he is NOT a water person. Every time he gets on a boat or begins some floating action, he becomes Mr. Upchuck. Mark enjoys the beach, but leaves the fishing to his younger and older brothers. Mark might not be a fisherman, but he's a mean poker player.

Recently, during one of their trips, Deputy Dave and Kevin were wade fishing in several feet of water and Dave hooked into a fighter of a fish. He reached down and realized his net had a hole in it.

The fish put up a strong, familiar fight and Deputy Dave yelled to his brother, "I've got a shark on my line!

Kevin responded like any big brother, "You don't have a shark."

Meanwhile, both brothers are waist deep in the water.

"Yes, I do have a shark and I need your net," says Deputy Dave as he begins to shuffle his feet in the water toward his brother...shuffling his feet because you don't want to step down on a sting-ray, you want to shuffle your feet along in the sandy bottom so that you'll be more likely to give one of these water butterflies a gentle tap to encourage them to go along their merry way, leaving your body delightfully barb free.

Oh, Deputy Dave knows what it is like to step down on a sting-ray. He's spent some time being treated for one of these attacks at the University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB) in Galveston, Texas after one particular unfortunate fishing trip, years ago. He's not eager for a repeat experience, that's for sure.

Back to the shark on Deputy Dave's line. He is reeling the shark as he's shuffling toward his brother to get Kevin's net and now Kevin has decided that there is indeed a shark on little bro's line. But, now, the line has gone slack and the shark is swimming straight for them both.

Kevin began to move in the the opposite direction and he threw his net at Deputy Dave, "Here you go!"

Sure enough, Deputy Dave reeled in a small Black-tipped shark. Nonetheless, a shark this size can do some mighty damage.

I don't like sharks. Deputy Dave has been wade fishing on a jam-packed beach several times and caught sharks in the shallow waters. The moms will stand on the beach getting a close-up look at the shark while asking nonchalantly, "Wow, did you just get in from deep sea fishing?" And my husband will point to the shallow water while responding, "Nope, I caught it right about where your kid is playing in the water."

That always clears the beach. I wonder why? Don't these people know that the ocean is not a big swimming pool? Newsflash: The Gulf of Mexico has sharks!

Another morning while out fishing, Deputy Dave went kayaking and came across a grinning man that reminded him of Chong from Cheech and Chong. The man had a tone and cadence to his voice that made him sound like a Chong twin. If you've never heard the voices of Cheech and Chong, I can't help you with this one. Chong also played the record store worker on "That 70's Show."

Deputy Dave had noticed this guy in his tiny kayak as the man paddled WAY OUT into the bay...dangerously far out. Soon he made his way back to shore. He had a van parked on the shoreline, next to Deputy Dave's truck and he had a black rain umbrella set up for a bit of shade, a broken fishing pole with over a thousand yards of 80lb fishing line that he'd cast out while paddling his junior sized kayak and a 24-ounce can of beer in a brown paper bag.

While on shore, he and Deputy Dave shook hands and the guy said, "DUDE! My name is Dan, good to meet you dude."

Deputy Dave shook his hand and said, "I'm David, nice to meet you Dan."

The guy said, "Dude, some people call me David. You can call me David. Yeah, you can call me David."

Deputy Dave was thoroughly confused, so he told the guy with a chuckle, "No, your name is Dan; MY name is David."

And the guy just laughed, "Oh yea, I'm Dan. But Dude, it's cool to meet you David."

Deputy Dave was enjoying a big smile on the inside as he was loading his kayak in the truck to come home. Dan didn't want him to go, "David, you really leaving? You goin home? For real?"

"Yep, it's been a long day already for me, so I'm headed out, but you have a good time fishing."

Not to mention that the heat was fast approaching a temperature of over 100 degrees and being out in the full sun is not very enjoyable in the triple digits.

Dan obviously didn't want to be a lone fisherman, so he starts yelling and pointing to the water in excitement, "Look Dude! There's bait popping in the water! Look! You can see them!"

Deputy Dave smiled and said, "Next time Dude."

Good try Dan, the man with the groovy van.

Gotta love modern day hippies.

Needless to say, we had delicious trout this week that any restaurant would be enviable to serve. And Dude, wish you could have come to dinner to sit a spell and to savor some of that fish!