DaParson's Fishing Adventures

This was carved by Lynn Benefield, a retired Marine Biologist and Deacon at Bayshore. It is absolutely stunning. Click on each image for a high-resolution image of each picture.

I had the pleasure of fishing with a new friend of Bayshore, Lee Attema aboard his beautiful brand new Glacier Bay. This was only his 3rd trip getting it in the water and man, it was fantastic. Lee has seen my blog, visited the church, and wanted to put some big ugly drum in the brand new boat. So out we went! We ended up with a Biblical Fishing trip, "Simon said, "Master, we've been fishing hard all night (day) and haven't caught even a minnow." Luke 5:5 Message Translation. I was frustrated - I knew it would be slow with the water still a bit too cold, and with the low tide and high pressure - but thought we could at least scare up one or two Big Uglies - but not today! We didn't even have a bite! It was still a priviledge and a joy to fish with Lee! Hopefully, next trip we will put it on 'em!

It was a great day to be on the water. We had 2 boats out today - Jerry Thompson's Boat "Top Kat" and Wayne Hamiltons Boat "Blue Blazer." Jerry and his family have recently become part of the Bayshore Family, so I was anxious to fish with him, his daughters Kristian and Natsha, and his father Mr. Thompson. Wayne picked up his boat, 22 Whaler, a few months ago and has been getting it ready for it's maiden voyage. It performed like a champ. I fished on the "Kool Kat" and really am looking forward to offshore trips this summer! The water was about 57 degrees, we fished an outgoing tide. We fished Shrimp Boat, Boat Cut and the Moon Rock. Between the two boats we caught 1 Bull Red, 2 Slot Reds, 1 Puppy Drum, 2 Big Black Drum and 1 undersized flounder. It really was pretty slow, the Black Drum Run hasn't started in earnest yet, but shouldn't be too long. Here are a couple of pics from Wayne's Boat -- He took them with his Cell Phone. ...

My family and I were fortunate to take a 5-day Cruise on Carnival Ecstasy out of Galveston January 7th-12th. On this cruise we had stops at Progreso and Cozumel. While the fishing is better in Cozumel, as a family we made reservation at Chakanaub Park to swim with the dolphins - see video below. That left fishing for Progreso. I asked many questions, did alot of searching to find Oscar Escobedo who arranged a fishing trip for us in Progreso. He picked us up at the end of the Progreso Pier and drove us about 20 minutes to the marina we fished out of. The boat was a 27ft Fiberglass Panga that was about 6ft across. It had a Yamaha 200 on it - plenty boat for us to fish out of. We went out about 20 miles - PaPo (Baltazar) the captain had a hand-held GPS and anchored on over some large structure that held fish. We caught Bee-liners, Strawberry Grouper, Rock Grouper, Spade Fish, Spanish Macs, and a huge String Ray. I also saw a school of Cobia floating along the top ... casted to the...

New Years Eve - 2007 Stunningly beautiful day. Water about 51-53 degrees - not much tidal movement - not a cloud in the sky. Water flat as a fritter. Everything you would want ... but something was missing. Looked at the Moon Rock. They weren't there! Looked at the Sunken Ship. They weren't there! Looked at the Sunken Shrimp Boat. They weren't there! Looked between the Jetty Pole and the Jetty. They weren't there! Looked at the Honey Hole. They weren't there! Went back to the Moon Rock in Deeper Water. They weren't there! Even peered over into Captain Mike's Boat When He wasn't looking ..... They weren't there either! (at least while I was looking) What did we find? Plenty of whiting, croaker, sand trout, puppy drum - But NO BULL REDS! Used Shad, Whiting, Croaker, Dead Shrimp, Live Shrimp, Sand Trout and a Twinkee - but couldn't must one single run! But man was it pretty outside!

We had a blast on the water today. It was a beautiful day to be on the water. Dewey and I had great guests on the boat with us today. Coach Ron is the coach on my son Nathan's Football Team, "The Undefeated - 9-0 - Sophomore LaPorte Texans. I have been trying to get him on the boat for awhile just to show my appreciation for his work with my son and all the boys on the Texans. He is a great Coach - and even a great man. He brought Johnny Lewis with him. Johnny and Coach Ron work together - and they trash talked the whole time! They were talking trash even before the first rod went off! And it just got better and better as the day went. We fished a tepid tide with ENE Winds about 10-15 early. The water was 66 degrees. It has cooled off considerably in the last 2 weeks. Good news for you Flounder Pounders. Anyway, the first Bull Red of the day came quite expectantly. I was fishing with a small rod with shrimp, trying to get some whiting, croaker, or sandtrout for ba...

It was with great pleasure and joy that Dewey and I took out my brother in law, Ronnie Jacoby and his son Dillon. Dillon just graduated from Coast Guard Academy last week and was home for a few days before being stationed in Hickman Kentucky as a Buoy Tender. This was one of the few days we could get them out on the boat. With a strong North Wind at 15-20 blowing early in in the morning, we knew that the ride over to the Jetty would be wet, but the Jetty would offer some protected water. We were right on both accounts. It was a bumpy, wet ride until the water settled down a bit around the Bolivar Ferry Landing. We found some nice water and caught the middle of an outgoing tide. After setting out 4 rods, it wasn't long that the first rod of the day took off. Ronnie grabbed the rod and the fight was on. It was almost 2 years to the day, October 17th, 2005, since we had taken Ronnie and Dillon out. On that day they caught 2 Bull Red's each. It took just a little over an ho...

It was an absolutely beautiful morning. We were able to get out to the jetty right before the sun broke over the horizon. A nice cool morning, a beautiful sunrise, a great cup of coffee ... just what the doctor ordered. After taking in the Father's Masterpiece, we put some cut shad out on the bottom, facing a strong outgoing tide. It wasn't long before the first rod took off. Arthur Benfield, a friend of mine from Panama, began this day of fishing by fighting the first Bull Red of the day. On the day we caught 14 Bull Reds and 1 Black Tip Shark all caught on fresh shad and whiting fished on the bottom. It was a great day to get out on the water.