Tuesday morning, 2/11, Justin Badger and his father-in-law, John Schlashauser, fished lower Hickory Bay with me, baited with live shrimp. The guys caught a really nice pompano, at 20 inches, along with a brace of 14-inch sheepshead and three 11-inch mangrove snapper.
Wednesday, 2/12, was kind of a strange day offshore. There was a weather front approaching, not due until the evening hours, but seas were sloppy heading out, and the tide was low, so it was slow going getting out to where we were headed, about 25 miles west of New Pass, where I fished with long-time customers Jim McGrath and Bill Crockett. Seas calmed down later in the morning, but the bite was slow, and all the red grouper we caught were shorts—the guys released about thirty of those, along with an equal number of small porgies. They ended up with enough food-fish, including a 14-inch mangrove snapper, seven keeper lane snapper all about 11 inches, and four 14-inch grunts. By the time we headed back to shore, winds were beginning to pick up, ahead of the approaching front that brought high winds and seas on Thursday, cancelling out my offshore trip for that day.
Friday morning, Valentines’ Day, I fished in lower Hickory Bay with Russ and Teresa Marquart. The tide was low, but the couple did well, using live shrimp to box six keeper sheepshead measuring between 14 and 17 ½ inches. They released five smaller sheepshead, along with a couple of stingray.
Saturday, 2/15, I again fished in Hickory Bay, this time with brothers Robin and Irv Latham. They used live shrimp to catch a 15-inch black drum and three keeper sheepshead at 14 inches,16½ inches, and 17 inches."
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