My Diary 082001

Frog comes to town.

It was late Friday night as I waited for Frog to arrive from San Antonio. 

President Frog

Finally he pops his head around the door holding an ice chest full of beer.  Not a good sign. Guy had left and would return at 5.30am and here I am with Spur, Frog and Surfgirl. cases of beer and no self control. We had several of the beers and toasted our stand in president Spur, ( Voted in by attending members ) as this would be the last trip Frog would be able to make in the next 6 to 8 months.  Midnight and all is well. I set the alarm and hit the sack. No sooner had I shut my eyes and it was time to shake the bugs off. Or as my farther always used to shout at dawn. " Hands off cocks on socks."  We finally hit the beach at the crack of 7.30am. The convoy was growing as we contacted more Frog Hunters on their way south.  A decision was made to take the back road. As we headed in we had about 7 trucks. 

The CB was buzzing with chit chat and music provided by Spur  when we heard Laredo in the distance. We waited at the toasting spot on the back road and soon the convoy was complete including a couple from Houston,  Ken and Sherry Dunn. They had seen us head into the back road and decided to tag along because they thought we had some idea of what we were doing as we had pole holders and things on the trucks.

Ken and Sherry coming off the back road. They had no idea where we were going but we were glad they followed. They asked how we all met and were surprised to here, "Just like we met you, on the beach," (potential Frog Hunters!)

About two miles after we had exited the back road (28 miles south of the black top) Hardhead happened upon a Coyote pup in a bad way. 

Seeing how bad it looked Spur and Frog tried very hard to give it some food and water.  Although it was in a bad way the Coyote would soon attack and defend itself when it felt threatened. 

Spur feeding Coyote

Frog surprised it had tried to bite him. 

Spur gives it a sandwich. It would not take any water but kept walking into the surf and drinking salt water. Guy tells me that Coyotes can and do drink salt water as they have an extra gland that can process the salt from them. ( Question: Can they drink 100 % sea water or has it got to be a % fresh to flush the salt from them? )

The pup headed north but it was not the end of the Coyote story.   

A few miles south and we bumped in to Billy Sandifer with a group of clients from San Antonio. He had already caught a large Sting-ray and had tagged and released a 6 ft Bull shark. As we shared a few moments with him and his clients, Surfgirl shouted to Billy "Fish on"   In the next 30 minutes I was able to get some great pictures of Billy in action. It was about 10 minutes into the fight when his second rod was bent over. He ran to the second rod and as he made the strike the shark dragged him towards the water. He again passed the rod to his client and placed the fighting harness on him.  

Some pictures of Billy in Action:

Bite 1

Putting the harness on

Bite 2

Pulling Billy 

2 Black tips

Once it was all over Billy released the tagged shark. 

As you can see the water was pretty and we needed to head south. Our selected area for the camp was going to be at the 40 mile marker. The rest of the day was spent lure fishing under the birds and around structure. Tyler had some nice trout + 20 inches. Everyone seemed to be catching well except for me.  When this happens it does not worry me as I think its just a way of letting me not get too big headed. 

The next day started as the sun came up. We headed south and fished under the birds and went as far south as Miss Piggy 47 miles. (Hardhead :-)). On the way back for breakfast and camp, I was to have a new experience that I will enjoy for many years. 

Billy has been fly fishing the surf for a few years now and it has been something that I have wanted to try. This time of year under the birds and in the thick rain minnow lurks a very sporting fish called the Lady Fish ( the poor mans tarpon)  They fight "lb for lb" as good as anything out there. Guy, had given me some tuition and with my new 9 weight rod and very expensive fly line ($62) I headed into the surf. The minnow and shad were thick under the birds. The Lady Fish could clearly be seen aggressively attacking them.  Guy soon hooked up and demonstrated good skills as the Lady jumped, pulled, raced and jumped again. His fly rod bent to the action as the fish stripped the line off.    

So this is it. The wind is blowing over my shoulder towards the beach at about 10 miles per hour. Remembering what I had practiced I proceeded to  stick the hook in my back 7 times and  once in my hat. The line was wrapped around my legs and over my head as I mastered this new sport.  After about an hour I started to get the hang of it a bit and finally managed to get the fly out far enough to hook one of the ladies.  It was great. The reel was screaming line off as the lady did her thing. I finally landed my first fish on a fly rod. Time for breakfast. 

To our surprise as we sat down to eat breakfast we could see Bill coming from the North. He was by himself and joined us for breakfast. Now Billy don't often join us for anything and I was wondering what had brought him down this far with no clients. That tough, mean shark fisherman had come down the beach to find and look after the Coyote pup in its hour of need. He had some food for it and some protein drink and was going to spend 3 days with it and get it better. He thinks one reason the pup was by itself was the mother had dumped it because she was short on water and could not produce milk. Unfortunately, we could not find the pup for Billy to help. 

We finished breakfast and Billy taught me some basics on catching fish in the surf using a fly rod. In no time at all he had hooked 5 ladies. He taught me how to retrieve the line quicker and how to use a line basket. I caught one more, which stole my custom made fly. I want to thank Billy for taking the time to teach me in my hour of need. "Thanks mate", We decided it was time to head out and the back road was the best  bet. 

 Tray makes it into the back road. 

Hope I have not dragged this on too much. Till the next time, on behalf of the Frog Hunters. Nickaway