Blessed With a Beautiful & Bountiful Day

[ChileRelleno]

We went down to Gulf Shore to the Gulf State Pier to do some fishing, we were blessed with a beautiful & bountiful day.

Arrived around 0530, walking out we saw Harley and some other ol'timer regulars working the Specks/Flounder.
Seemed the fish were cooperating at least a little bit as we did see Specks come over the rail.

Got to the Octi (Octagon shaped end of the pier) and it was packed with people.
Arrived just in time to see the end of a relatively hot but short lived Spanish & King bite, it was cut off by the arrival of a 'Running of the Bulls'.
Acres of Bulls feeding on the surface, always an awe inspiring site.
Madness & chaos ensued as every other rod bent and drags whined, the laughter was great, little mind paid to the few expletives.
The early crowd was pretty thick and thick with Googans, the usual ballet of people dancing over, under and around was not very graceful.
A few hard feelings, but most were OK... A few were just better off having their lines cut, one who annoyed me had his cut.
Heck over the course of the day, I cut my own line a few times just to extricate myself from some basket weaving 101 classes, and got super lucky getting a Yozuri loose out of a horrible mess of lines before losing it.
There were three 'Running of the Bulls' in the AM, and most of the Googans left shortly afterwards.
My son and I each put one in our cooler.

The rest of the morning/afternoon was sporadic Kings/Spanish macks and even a few scattered Flounder.
We went to the shallows to drown shrimp in hopes of Pomps or Specks, all to no avail, we kept entertained with the Ladyfish... Oh yay.
Watching the cruising sharks swim around the people in the surf, it both worried and enthralled the touristas.
It was entertaining, heard the usual sunburned tourist say "I'm never swimming at the beach again!" and I told her "Lady,they were all around you, ignorance was bliss, you're not on the menu."

Ate some lunch then wandered back out to the Octi and settled in to a rhythm of abusing LYs and Hardtails.
Landed my first unsharked King. Yep, I've caught Kings on the pier before, but every one has been taxed by the gray suits inn some manner, this one was untouched.
Thus ends a very long streak of my feeding the bastards. Jeff B. gaffed it for me, thanks Jeff.

Throughout the late afternoon it was flurries of Spanish, including some studs, a King here and there with some regularity, Jacks would come through and make a few happy for awhile and a few schools of Blues.
Sharks were few and far between, I don't remember anyone getting sharked and maybe just a few hooked up.
Schools of large Spades would not sit still long enough to fish them, exasperating, they were always on the move and fast... Bummer.

Come evening mixed schools Jacks & Reds provided semi controlled insanity.
At least this time there were more regulars than Googans and it was fairly smooth and coordinated.
The sound of laughter & happy shouts were punctuated with the thud of fish hitting the deck.
More Spanish & a few more Kings.

With my cooler packed full of two each Kings and Reds, a fat Jack, a few Spaniards & Blues, a single small Spade and a nice ray, we called it a day.
Thank you Lord for a beautiful & bountiful day.

The Jack, Ray, Spaniard & Hardtails are all going into the freezer for shark bait, I've a three day trip first week of June.

[conchydong]

Great variety on the pier. What do you do with the Crevalle?  I used to avoid eating them like the plague but my Filipino brother in law fried some with ginger added to the oil and it wasn't bad. I bet one that size would make good smoke. Nice Reds also.

[ChileRelleno]

Part was eaten and part is shark bait for an upcoming 3 day trip I have planned.
I'm very familiar with a Filipino Ginger & soy sauce recipe for Crevalle Jack, they're also good smoked and made into a dip.
Tonight I simply salted two big chunks of fillet and pan fried them with a crispy crunchy outside.
My in-laws had never had Jack before and they liked it.

[reelrepair123]

reel nice chile, yes it was a bountiful day and also a fun filled day, way to go.   harryk

[Steve-O]

Great report! Thanks for sharing.

Love the last pic ....the little Ace of Spades trumps the King in this instance.

Very nice mixed bag of eaters and shark bait. The ray wing are actually pretty good eating from one who knows. " faux scallops" yum!

Would love to have had the opportunity to gyotaku print the fish you caught there.

[ChileRelleno]

Great report! Thanks for sharing.

Love the last pic ....the little Ace of Spades trumps the King in this instance.

Very nice mixed bag of eaters and shark bait. The ray wing are actually pretty good eating from one who knows. " faux scallops" yum!

Would love to have had the opportunity to gyotaku print the fish you caught there.

LOL... Yeah, photobombed by my son with his Ace of Spades.
Most people look at like I'm nuts when I mention eating Cownose rays.

[Shark Hunter]

Great Work John!