Yak attack with my boys! Pics at the end

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  • Labeeman

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    23   0   0
    Oct 11, 2010
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    Baton Rouge
    "Dad, I really want to fish while we are at the camp in Grand Isle this weekend. No problem, all you and your brother have to do is wake up and I'll handle the rest. "

    It had been almost three years since my family was together as a complete unit (well except for my youngest son who had football practice ) at the camp and this was even more special as my middle son had just returned from submarine school in Connecticut. He was here for a few weeks before being shipped to his sub.

    My wife and I were on the road late Friday as work and other commitments held us up from getting on the road earlier. We got to the camp somewhere after 10 and I was beat. Not long after we got there my sailor asked if we were going fishing and naturally I said yes. I really wanted to take my wife as she loves to fish, but we were limited by fishing gear and only two kayaks. When my son walked back in the camp my wife said you really need to take him, you and I can go another day. That brought great relief so I told the crew good night and hit the rack.

    Sleep comes fast, but so does the alarm clock. I get up and make coffee and start gathering gear and kayaks. The coffee does its job so I'm more alert now and look at the clock on the wall , 5:45 am. I grab my keys and head to the truck for the trip to the marina for bait. I can tell the boys are still asleep and chuckle at the fact that they are enjoying some well earned rest as the sailor hasn't had any extra sleep for over 10 months and the other son works shift work which keeps him hopping.

    The marina is alive with guides and fisherman all seeking bait. As the summer draws to a close, live shrimp are hard to come by so when the lady at the counter says they don't have any I'm not surprised. I go to plan B , live croakers and bait shrimp. I get the ticket and head to the bait wells. The croakers and bait shrimp are obtained in short order and then I'm headed back to the camp.

    The boys are up by now so we get all the gear loaded up and head to the bay behind the island. What I haven't told the boys is that the high tide occurred at 4 am and the all the tide charts and solar lunar tables all call for a bad fishing day but hey, what they know won't hurt them.

    I like to fish a certain rock pile in the bay, which from the shore is only 200 yards, but trying to get all the gear to that rock pile plus three people in 2 kayaks is a logistical nightmare. We paddle to the rock pile then get on the rock pile and fish like that. The easiest and safest way is to take the gear and two people and paddle out and one comes back to get the other. Well we were ready to fish, so we put all the gear, bait and three people in 2 kayaks and headed out. It actually went very well and we hit the rocks and started to fish. I made the decision to be the deck hand for the day and just let them fish. We started out with croakers on the bottom and my oldest son caught a decent speck in just a few cast. Well the excitement didn't last long as we were drowning croakers at a pretty good rate and with no fish to show for our efforts. I then went to the bait shrimp and got the sailor going on that as I knew it would produce something even it it wasn't the specks we were hunting for. Sure enough he started to land some catfish plus a few white trout which I put in the basket because we had people wanting fried fish for supper. He also caught a toad fish. They are some mean looking critters. I wasn't worried about my older son as he has mastered the art of fishing and can hold his own anywhere he wets a line. He stuck with the croakers and caught one or two more on the bottom but at some point he put one under a cork and ending up catching a nice speck. By this time the croakers were getting in short supply and my son went to artificial under a cork. He looked in the tackle box and pulled out a voodoo shrimp and tied it on. He loves this bait as he has caught fish on it in the past so it's always his go to bait. Well on his first or second cast his cork goes under and he reels in a decent speck. Well the deck hand is paying attention and he grabs a voodoo shrimp and ties it on the sailors line. The boys start casting and then start catching. I'm taking fish off at a pretty good rate and making the decision if they are keepers or not. It was a mix of white trout and specks and by the time the action ended they had caught about 60 fish. Even though they weren't large, about half were keepers which made for a darn nice mess of fish.

    It was around 10:30 am when we stopped to gather our gear and fish for the paddle back in. You could not find three happier people on Grand Isle that morning. We knew this was a special day as we all knew that it would be a long time before all three of us would be able to fish together again. My older son would be back working his shift work at the plant and dealing with daily life, and my sailor would be deep in the ocean silently cruising to areas only God and the submarine captain knows.

    We load the gear up and the paddle back to the shore is as good as the paddle out. We laughed and talked the whole way back to the camp. The wife and girlfriends were out when we arrived and the three of us were more than happy to show off our catch and give them the play by play of our fishing adventure.

    The fish were cleaned and the family gathered and the fish were fried and a few beers were consumed and memories were made. Keep your powder dry my friends and your lines in the water.
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    340six

    -Global Mod-
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    5   0   0
    Apr 12, 2012
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    Kenner, La
    Great pics and write up thanks for sharing
     

    Labeeman

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    23   0   0
    Oct 11, 2010
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    Baton Rouge
    Yes, oyster toad fish or oyster fish are other names that I've read about. They have really strong jaws with lots of teeth, so you have to be careful around them. Glad everyone enjoyed the story.
     
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