| The weather, and the fish, and the camaraderie and the food all came together for another terrific Boliver weekend. Actually, the trip began on Thursday evening, as seven of us arrived in time for dinner at the Stingeree Marina so we could get an early start Friday morning. As usual, most of us headed for the marsh to take advantage of the falling tide. Winds were light and the air was cool. Quite a few of us used live bait, which of course meant that we caught almost every species there was- sand trout and specks, flounder, reds, black drum, sheephead, hardheads, stingrays and crab. Brian Cezak landed his first ever "Big Ugly" and Joel had one keeper red out of about 8 caught. Many of the fish caught were undersized, but there were still numerous keepers.
As usual, we took advantage of the beach house and kitchen and had a delicious home cooked dinner Friday night- curry chicken and spinach and grits casserole. Both Tim and Brian brought venison and wild hog sausage to snack on. Tides were again excellent on Saturday and most of us returned with full stringers.Chris A. in his homemade kayak, caught numerous small reds, flounder and sheephead near the golf cart, back in the marsh.Tim, who brought his power boat , went to Yates and Big Pasture with Buzz where he caught some reds, flounder, and dink trout. Buzz caught a beautiful 28" red. Chris Busch had a 25" and 27" red- his best ever. Danny Scarborough came for the day and caught a nice red on a fly. Bill Leary had a couple of keeper trout and lots of dinks. And of course, Bruce had an outstanding day with three full limits of reds, specks, and founder- enough for at least 6 fish fry feasts. (He also paddled about 9 miles to do this.)
One of the more exciting moments Saturday was when Joel caught his very first Big Ugly- after 55 years of fishing. As he was in the midst of his epic battle, along comes Frank Stanley on a Texas sleigh ride- being pulled down the channel by another large black drum. Of course, the two fish HAD to become tangled in each other. After a few frantic moments, the lines were seperated, and both men landed their monster fish. Frank needed a little help as his fish was too big to fit in his net. AND WE HAVE THE PHOTOS TO PROVE IT.
Usually on PACK outings, too MUCH wind is the problem. For a while on Saturday, there was absolutely NO wind and many of us became targets of gazillions of biting gnats. Fortunately, it didn't last too long.
Saturday night we had our traditional fried fish feast, cooked by chef Bruce. For an appetizer Greg made delicious grilled oysters. Needless to say, nobody went to bed hungry.
Sunday, the weather was absolutely gorgeous and again lots of fish were caught. Overall, the trip was timed just right- excellent tides all weekend and we missed the cold front by 2 days.
Thanks again for everyone's contributions! See you at Boliver next year! Joel |