We left Palacios about 11 am with overcast skies and a building breeze.Coming down 35 along the coast was neat. Salt flats and scrub lands, beautiful and peaceful. The skies opened up and rain quenched the thirsty earth most of the way down the 70 mile stretch. Not as pleasant for driving as just being overcast, but with the drought that has encompassed this land, I'll only smile at the rain and say, "thank you!"
Hidden Oaks RV Park is a couple miles off hwy 35, 1 miles from Goose Island State Park and maybe 1/4 mile off the inland waterway. It is very peaceful. It is clean, the road and sites are gravel and more or less level, and the sites are large - 40 x 80; full hookups; spotty internet (it's working now!); spotty phone service, and no cable tv except for in the rec. room. The office and rec room are nice, and everything is clean. John is having a great time playing cribbage with Ron (He's been staying here for the past 5 years). We could hear the Whoping cranes the past 2 mornings, and we took a little detour to the park this morning and saw 9 of them under a tree out in the field just east of here. They are huge! What a sight - unfortunately, too far away for my camera. I need a long lens! That was such a treat!
We continued on to Goose Island State park to go fishing for the first time in salt water. We purchased an annual permit for $70 yesterday and found out we don't need to buy a fishing license as long as we only fish in the park. OK, that's doable. :) So it was 8 am by the time we finally got there. Kayle cat decided it was a great morning to sneak out the door just as we were about to leave at 7 and it took about an hour before she was ready to come back in. Just as before, she hopped up on the step and hopped back inside when we opened the door for her. There was no catching her before she was ready. So, we grabbed our new gear (Walmart yesterday for a new heavy duty rod and new bait and a new stringer- should have picked up a long handled net too). So how do we rig up? - we looked at each other, shrugged shoulders and opened the ghost shrimp lures. I thought there were 5 lures on leaders, but they were all connected and had loops on both ends! Double weights? Hmmm. John put on a big hook and a lifelike crab. Cast em out. We were the only ones there for quite a while - I think Kaylee's delay cost us some fish, and observation time. Nothing but oysters, and darn it, I got hung up and lost 4 of my ghost shrimp! The wind continued to blow harder, we figured at least 30 mph, and we finally gave it up around 11:45. It was beautiful though. The Pelicans were gliding over the waves, both brown and white ones and there were all sorts of sea birds! We saw a dolphin too!
After lunch and a nap, we headed out again. Low Tide was at 4:30 and that's about when we left. The wind had died down and this time, we were not alone. Oh my! Quite a parking lot full of trucks. Let's try this again. The folks next to us were pulling them in right and left. Dead shrimp for bait - that must be the trick. One of the men pulled in a big drum - 26" or so! Also speckled trout and catfish. I finally started playing around with different lures and found this little minnow with a spinner - sort of like a mepps. Holy Cow - I caught one!!! A very pretty litte speckled trout -- heeeheee. Of course the camera was in the truck - yeah I know, I know. Next time I'll abandon the chair and bring the camera. As it got dark the pier lights came on, and something was jumping - all over the surface they were jumping. then I saw the fish chasing the something and realized they were shrimp trying not to get eatten. How cool! I also saw 2 water snakes and a little gar and tons of trout - feeding frenzy under the lights. I caught one more little trout and threw him back just like the other one, and yes I did take them both off the hook myself! John with his infinate patience when it comes to fishing finally pulled in a red drum - of course we didn't know what it was at first. I pulled out our little chart and started looking for a fish with a spot by it's tail, and jsut as I found it, a fishing compadre confirmed it to be a red drum - cool! It was bigger than the 2 trout I caught, but not big enought to keep, so he followed his companions back into the water. I failed to mention why we need a net. When we were fishing this morning, John had a flounder on, but when he brought it out of the water to lift it to the pier, it got off, hence - a net would have had us dinner. He said it was nice sized too.
Now it's snuggle the Karma Cat time.
Hidden Oaks RV Park is a couple miles off hwy 35, 1 miles from Goose Island State Park and maybe 1/4 mile off the inland waterway. It is very peaceful. It is clean, the road and sites are gravel and more or less level, and the sites are large - 40 x 80; full hookups; spotty internet (it's working now!); spotty phone service, and no cable tv except for in the rec. room. The office and rec room are nice, and everything is clean. John is having a great time playing cribbage with Ron (He's been staying here for the past 5 years). We could hear the Whoping cranes the past 2 mornings, and we took a little detour to the park this morning and saw 9 of them under a tree out in the field just east of here. They are huge! What a sight - unfortunately, too far away for my camera. I need a long lens! That was such a treat!
We continued on to Goose Island State park to go fishing for the first time in salt water. We purchased an annual permit for $70 yesterday and found out we don't need to buy a fishing license as long as we only fish in the park. OK, that's doable. :) So it was 8 am by the time we finally got there. Kayle cat decided it was a great morning to sneak out the door just as we were about to leave at 7 and it took about an hour before she was ready to come back in. Just as before, she hopped up on the step and hopped back inside when we opened the door for her. There was no catching her before she was ready. So, we grabbed our new gear (Walmart yesterday for a new heavy duty rod and new bait and a new stringer- should have picked up a long handled net too). So how do we rig up? - we looked at each other, shrugged shoulders and opened the ghost shrimp lures. I thought there were 5 lures on leaders, but they were all connected and had loops on both ends! Double weights? Hmmm. John put on a big hook and a lifelike crab. Cast em out. We were the only ones there for quite a while - I think Kaylee's delay cost us some fish, and observation time. Nothing but oysters, and darn it, I got hung up and lost 4 of my ghost shrimp! The wind continued to blow harder, we figured at least 30 mph, and we finally gave it up around 11:45. It was beautiful though. The Pelicans were gliding over the waves, both brown and white ones and there were all sorts of sea birds! We saw a dolphin too!
After lunch and a nap, we headed out again. Low Tide was at 4:30 and that's about when we left. The wind had died down and this time, we were not alone. Oh my! Quite a parking lot full of trucks. Let's try this again. The folks next to us were pulling them in right and left. Dead shrimp for bait - that must be the trick. One of the men pulled in a big drum - 26" or so! Also speckled trout and catfish. I finally started playing around with different lures and found this little minnow with a spinner - sort of like a mepps. Holy Cow - I caught one!!! A very pretty litte speckled trout -- heeeheee. Of course the camera was in the truck - yeah I know, I know. Next time I'll abandon the chair and bring the camera. As it got dark the pier lights came on, and something was jumping - all over the surface they were jumping. then I saw the fish chasing the something and realized they were shrimp trying not to get eatten. How cool! I also saw 2 water snakes and a little gar and tons of trout - feeding frenzy under the lights. I caught one more little trout and threw him back just like the other one, and yes I did take them both off the hook myself! John with his infinate patience when it comes to fishing finally pulled in a red drum - of course we didn't know what it was at first. I pulled out our little chart and started looking for a fish with a spot by it's tail, and jsut as I found it, a fishing compadre confirmed it to be a red drum - cool! It was bigger than the 2 trout I caught, but not big enought to keep, so he followed his companions back into the water. I failed to mention why we need a net. When we were fishing this morning, John had a flounder on, but when he brought it out of the water to lift it to the pier, it got off, hence - a net would have had us dinner. He said it was nice sized too.
Now it's snuggle the Karma Cat time.
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