Just a Bay Trip

**sctx** · 11-30-2007

well, reaching that time in your life when you finally have to accept that your parents won't be around much longer has finally come to me....... my father will be turning 80 soon, and for more than a year, we've been talkin about takin a fishin trip but it just hasn't worked out....... so when my irrigation supply vendor called with an invitation to head down to the coast for a day of flats fishin, I had him set up an extra day for me and my father........ When I was a kid, Dad generally travelled alot and wasn't much of a baseball player or golfer, so fishing was about the only father and son thing we ever did. When I was a little kid, we lived down on Galveston Bay, and fishin was almost a daily event for us..... when we moved inland to Oklahoma and Kansas, me and dad usually found at least one weekend a month to go fishin together...... but after I went to college in '83, we've only spent a handful of hours fishin down on the Blanco River at their house in Wimberley Tx....... needless to say, we were both lookin forward to the trip...... I gt to work at 5:30 Tuesday morning, blazed thru all my job costing and other computer/paperwork, got the crews out by 7:10, and by 1:00, I was leaving a new jobsite down by the airport in Austin and headin south on HWY 183......... 30 minutes later, I was in Luling Tx and just had to stop for some world class BBQ at Luling City Market

4 ribs, 3 slices of brisket, one sausage link, beans, potato salad, and an IBC root beer...... all for $10....... life is good

got back on the road south and a few minutes later, I saw the entry to Palmetto State Park just south of IH-10 on the San Marcos River.... had never been there, so since I wasn't in a big hurry, I decided to do a quick drive thru......... here's a shot lookin westward over the river valley

The San Marcos River is crystal clear spring water at the headwaters, but as you go south, it takes on kinda a turquoise green color

here's a typical central texas pic

I did pass thru the infamous town of Cuero and had hoped to get a pic of a chupacabra, but all I saw was a Dairy Queen and a few redneck girls

........ after about 2 1/2 hours I arrived at my destination........ Sea Drift, Texas..... . pretty much just a blighty little coastal town mostly known as the end point for the Texas Water Safari which is a yearly 260 mile canoe race that starts at Spring Lake in San Marcos........... checked into the Pintail Room at Bay Flats Lodge and then went and searched out my sales rep, Earl....... Earl had called me ealrier in the morning to see what kind of tequila I drank and I was very pleased to see he was successful in purchasing me a bottle of Don Julio anejo...... there were about 10 of us, and after an awesome ribeye steak dinner, we started drinking..... one of us in the group was pretty smart and drank 1/2 a bottle of Don Julio and went to bed at 9:15........ the other 9 weren't as smart and stayed up till 2:30 A.M drinkin Makers Mark and playing Texas Hold 'Em.....

We were sposed to be in the boats and headin out at 6:45 a.m., but it took till a little after 7:00 to round up the nine not so smart ......this is one of the nine not so smart, Earl........... he was lucky the bay was like a sheet of glass this morning or he mighta been hurlin over the bow

here's a few sunrise pics as we headed north to Espiritu Santo Bay

the coastal bays are very shallow and with the exception of the dredged shipping channels, the depths range from 6" to about 5 feet or so, depending on the tide..... lots of wildlife down in the bays..... egrets, cranes, ducks, geese.... and gators

.......here's some pelicans on an oyster reef

We saw quite a few porpoises out on the bay, never could get a decent pic since my camera has a slight shutter delay...... here's one of the porpoises circling an oyster boat on one of the flats.... the oyster boats turn in circles while pulling small dredging buckets to scoop up bottom sand and oysters, the dredge buckets scare the bottom feeding fish and as the fish flee, the porpoises just circle the boat and chew them to shreds

due to lack of wind and alot of fresh water dumping into the bays from recent rains, the water was pretty clear and the fishin kinda sucked on Wednesday...... out of about 30 fish caught, our boat returned with only four keeper fish...... three of which were mine.... two nice sized speckled sea trout and one 24" redfish

My Dad showed up around 4:30 Wednesday afternoon and an hour later, we drove into town and had a nice seafood platter dinner at one of the few restaurants in Sea Drift...... talked for a bit after dinner and we both turned in for the nite at 9:30........ woke up Thursday morning and was pleased to see the wind had picked up and figured we'd have a much better day on the flats..... our guide showed up at 6:30 and we were on the boat and headin out by 6:45........ our guide, David, said he was gonna run us 30 minutes north to seldom fished lake on Lavaca Bay...... I thought that was kinda far to travel, but once we got there and set the drift chute, I changed my mind ...... Dad hooked up on a nice sea trout on the first cast !!!....... we spent the whole morning drifting back over the same spot in the bay, picking up trout after trout and later, we started catching some redfish..... here's Dad hooked up on a nice red

by 11:30, we were nearing our limit on trout and Dad was gettin kinda tired, so we decided to call it a day and head back to the lodge.......... here's our haul for the day..... 18 speckled sea trout and 3 redfish

world class BBQ....... $10
lodging for two at Bay Flats..... $150
flats boat and local guide for a day.........$450
a day spent fishin w/ Dad............ priceless .......

Ginger · 11-30-2007

Awww....that's so awesome, Scott.

I'm so glad you finally did this, you've talked about it for awhile! Your dad looks like he had a great time...what great pics!!

Thanks for sharing this with us.

KMAN · 11-30-2007

Very Nice.

I think I'll call Pops to go play a little billiards this weekend.

TAPPY · 11-30-2007

Awwww a nice Father and Son trip report !!!

Thanks for posting the pics !!!

So what did you do with your fish ?????

mmmmmmmm redfish !!!

**Susie Q Roo** · 11-30-2007

Way cool, Scott, and it even fits what I first read your title as: "Just a Boy Trip!" Good on you for sharing some special time with your papa.

**sctx** · 11-30-2007

Quote:

Originally Posted by TAPPY

Awwww a nice Father and Son trip report !!!

Thanks for posting the pics !!!

So what did you do with your fish ?????

mmmmmmmm redfish !!!

trying to figure out if were havin some kinda baked trout or maybe grilled blackened redfish for dinner tonite....... I think we'll be havin lots of fish dinners for the next month or so

Doggiemom · 11-30-2007

Awwwww...Scott, that was great!

Thanks for sharing it with us!

Tommygurl · 11-30-2007

Very cool Scott!

Your Dad is too cute!

What a memory you both made! Awesome!!

Anna Tortuga · 11-30-2007

This is so sweet.

Your dad is really cute.

MWC · 11-30-2007

What a great thing for you two to have done, especially so close to the holidays.

Curious how Dad got there. Is he still driving on his own?

pamplemoose77 · 11-30-2007

definitely priceless! what a productive day of fishing!

woodman · 11-30-2007

Cool!

cuffedlinks · 11-30-2007

Cool.
Atta boy Scott.

BonnyW · 11-30-2007

What a great story Scott! Thanks for sharing it

Cinker1 · 11-30-2007

That is a great story Scott! Way to take advantage of your time and spend it with your Dad. Last year I finally went fishing with my Dad in Canada (I have always wanted to go, but girls were never allowed). We had a great time and I'm so glad I went because in January this year my Dad had a stroke and will probably never be able to do that again. So, my hat is off to you for taking the time to do something special with your Dad!

11-30-2007	#1 (permalink)
sctx political anarchist Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: Body in San Marcos Tx....Tankah in my mind Posts: 27,124	Just a Bay Trip well, reaching that time in your life when you finally have to accept that your parents won't be around much longer has finally come to me....... my father will be turning 80 soon, and for more than a year, we've been talkin about takin a fishin trip but it just hasn't worked out....... so when my irrigation supply vendor called with an invitation to head down to the coast for a day of flats fishin, I had him set up an extra day for me and my father........ When I was a kid, Dad generally travelled alot and wasn't much of a baseball player or golfer, so fishing was about the only father and son thing we ever did. When I was a little kid, we lived down on Galveston Bay, and fishin was almost a daily event for us..... when we moved inland to Oklahoma and Kansas, me and dad usually found at least one weekend a month to go fishin together...... but after I went to college in '83, we've only spent a handful of hours fishin down on the Blanco River at their house in Wimberley Tx....... needless to say, we were both lookin forward to the trip...... I gt to work at 5:30 Tuesday morning, blazed thru all my job costing and other computer/paperwork, got the crews out by 7:10, and by 1:00, I was leaving a new jobsite down by the airport in Austin and headin south on HWY 183......... 30 minutes later, I was in Luling Tx and just had to stop for some world class BBQ at Luling City Market 4 ribs, 3 slices of brisket, one sausage link, beans, potato salad, and an IBC root beer...... all for $10....... life is good got back on the road south and a few minutes later, I saw the entry to Palmetto State Park just south of IH-10 on the San Marcos River.... had never been there, so since I wasn't in a big hurry, I decided to do a quick drive thru......... here's a shot lookin westward over the river valley The San Marcos River is crystal clear spring water at the headwaters, but as you go south, it takes on kinda a turquoise green color here's a typical central texas pic I did pass thru the infamous town of Cuero and had hoped to get a pic of a chupacabra, but all I saw was a Dairy Queen and a few redneck girls........ after about 2 1/2 hours I arrived at my destination........ Sea Drift, Texas..... . pretty much just a blighty little coastal town mostly known as the end point for the Texas Water Safari which is a yearly 260 mile canoe race that starts at Spring Lake in San Marcos........... checked into the Pintail Room at Bay Flats Lodge and then went and searched out my sales rep, Earl....... Earl had called me ealrier in the morning to see what kind of tequila I drank and I was very pleased to see he was successful in purchasing me a bottle of Don Julio anejo...... there were about 10 of us, and after an awesome ribeye steak dinner, we started drinking..... one of us in the group was pretty smart and drank 1/2 a bottle of Don Julio and went to bed at 9:15........ the other 9 weren't as smart and stayed up till 2:30 A.M drinkin Makers Mark and playing Texas Hold 'Em..... We were sposed to be in the boats and headin out at 6:45 a.m., but it took till a little after 7:00 to round up the nine not so smart ......this is one of the nine not so smart, Earl........... he was lucky the bay was like a sheet of glass this morning or he mighta been hurlin over the bow here's a few sunrise pics as we headed north to Espiritu Santo Bay the coastal bays are very shallow and with the exception of the dredged shipping channels, the depths range from 6" to about 5 feet or so, depending on the tide..... lots of wildlife down in the bays..... egrets, cranes, ducks, geese.... and gators .......here's some pelicans on an oyster reef We saw quite a few porpoises out on the bay, never could get a decent pic since my camera has a slight shutter delay...... here's one of the porpoises circling an oyster boat on one of the flats.... the oyster boats turn in circles while pulling small dredging buckets to scoop up bottom sand and oysters, the dredge buckets scare the bottom feeding fish and as the fish flee, the porpoises just circle the boat and chew them to shreds due to lack of wind and alot of fresh water dumping into the bays from recent rains, the water was pretty clear and the fishin kinda sucked on Wednesday...... out of about 30 fish caught, our boat returned with only four keeper fish...... three of which were mine.... two nice sized speckled sea trout and one 24" redfish My Dad showed up around 4:30 Wednesday afternoon and an hour later, we drove into town and had a nice seafood platter dinner at one of the few restaurants in Sea Drift...... talked for a bit after dinner and we both turned in for the nite at 9:30........ woke up Thursday morning and was pleased to see the wind had picked up and figured we'd have a much better day on the flats..... our guide showed up at 6:30 and we were on the boat and headin out by 6:45........ our guide, David, said he was gonna run us 30 minutes north to seldom fished lake on Lavaca Bay...... I thought that was kinda far to travel, but once we got there and set the drift chute, I changed my mind ...... Dad hooked up on a nice sea trout on the first cast !!!....... we spent the whole morning drifting back over the same spot in the bay, picking up trout after trout and later, we started catching some redfish..... here's Dad hooked up on a nice red by 11:30, we were nearing our limit on trout and Dad was gettin kinda tired, so we decided to call it a day and head back to the lodge.......... here's our haul for the day..... 18 speckled sea trout and 3 redfish world class BBQ....... $10 lodging for two at Bay Flats..... $150 flats boat and local guide for a day.........$450 a day spent fishin w/ Dad............ priceless ....... __________________ Do I look like a freakin' groupie ???

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11-30-2007	#2 (permalink)
Ginger none Join Date: Apr 2001 Posts: 10,162	Awww....that's so awesome, Scott. I'm so glad you finally did this, you've talked about it for awhile! Your dad looks like he had a great time...what great pics!! Thanks for sharing this with us.

11-30-2007	#3 (permalink)
KMAN life=playa Join Date: Dec 2003 Location: Toronto, Canada Posts: 568	Very Nice. I think I'll call Pops to go play a little billiards this weekend.

11-30-2007	#4 (permalink)
TAPPY añejo Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: Louisiana Posts: 14,932	Awwww a nice Father and Son trip report !!! Thanks for posting the pics !!! So what did you do with your fish ????? mmmmmmmm redfish !!!

11-30-2007	#5 (permalink)
Susie Q Roo paradisiac Join Date: May 2003 Location: Q Roo Posts: 10,526	Way cool, Scott, and it even fits what I first read your title as: "Just a Boy Trip!" Good on you for sharing some special time with your papa.

11-30-2007	#7 (permalink)
Doggiemom Canine FANatic Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: Humble, Texas Posts: 5,983	Awwwww...Scott, that was great! Thanks for sharing it with us!

11-30-2007	#8 (permalink)
Tommygurl crab killer Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: I am Canadian!! Posts: 14,194	Very cool Scott! Your Dad is too cute! What a memory you both made! Awesome!!

11-30-2007	#9 (permalink)
Anna Tortuga añejo Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: playa del carmen...urgh Posts: 3,992	This is so sweet. Your dad is really cute.

11-30-2007	#10 (permalink)
MWC añejo Join Date: Jan 2003 Location: Connecticut Posts: 5,837	What a great thing for you two to have done, especially so close to the holidays. Curious how Dad got there. Is he still driving on his own?

11-30-2007	#11 (permalink)
pamplemoose77 añejo Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: dallas - kinda, tx Posts: 9,535	definitely priceless! what a productive day of fishing!

11-30-2007	#12 (permalink)
woodman añejo Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: knockem stiff ohio Posts: 4,031	Cool!

register to remove these adverts

11-30-2007	#13 (permalink)
cuffedlinks añejo Join Date: Nov 2003 Location: The City of Presidents Posts: 16,003	Cool. Atta boy Scott.

11-30-2007	#14 (permalink)
BonnyW añejo Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: Left Coast...So Cal Posts: 8,635	What a great story Scott! Thanks for sharing it

11-30-2007	#15 (permalink)
Cinker1 beachaholic Join Date: Jul 2005 Location: Minnesota Posts: 362	That is a great story Scott! Way to take advantage of your time and spend it with your Dad. Last year I finally went fishing with my Dad in Canada (I have always wanted to go, but girls were never allowed). We had a great time and I'm so glad I went because in January this year my Dad had a stroke and will probably never be able to do that again. So, my hat is off to you for taking the time to do something special with your Dad!