Matagorda - Day 2

Monday started with a little pier fishing while Tracy enjoyed some beachcombing.

I was able to connect with a few hardheads like this big boy.



Next on the list was a small stingray. You have to be careful with hardheads but this guy packs a stinger that would ruin your day.



You always seem to forget something on every camping trip and this time it was the grill. We took a trip to Stanley's and picked up a replacement, an "Old Smoky".


(some assembly required)


Success! This means "Silver Turtles" for supper tonight.

After lunch it was time to break in Tracy's fishing rod, a Pflueger Lady Trion.




We fished on one of the park piers in the Colorado River and caught some small fish.


Tracy caught this beautiful golden croaker. After a while we decided to head out to the big pier and try our luck in the Gulf. The surf was pretty rough but we found some calm water behind the stairs leading from the pier to the jetties.


There were several willing fish to be found along the rocks like this Grunt.


Tracy caught this Black Drum that was just shy of legal keeper size.

We also caught several croaker and I caught a small redfish but released it before taking a picture. Also caught and not photographed were several Silver Perch aka Yellowtail.


We gave several of the small jetty fish to some guys that were fishing for big fish up on the pier. They had landed a huge bull red before we arrived and were in the market for anything big.

They were leaving about the same time as we were and one threw a cast net into a school of mullet. They caught several mullet and this small Spade Fish. Too bad I don't have a saltwater aquarium!


After dinner I cast some big lines out into the river and caught a small shark.

This is the smallest member of the hammerhead sharks and is known as a Bonnethead shark.

To say the least the day was fun and full of surprises. The weather was great and aside from it being a little windy, you couldn't ask for a better start to our vacation.