Fish Fry!

This is another event from Labor Day weekend, but I'm just now getting around to posting it. You may remember our early summer fishing adventures and hopes for a fish fry..eventually. Well, we went through a dry spell. Fish are just hard to find when it gets unbearably hot...until one late August evening... Ryan and his friend, Jonathan, went out for a few hours an brought home 4 fish that they caught in their last 30 minutes on the water!

This left us with a freezer full of fish when we added it to what they had already caught this summer. (Notice I said they...I still have yet to catch a keeper...and no, it's not just my aversion to cleaning them.)

This is the final product! (the darker ones are Cajun seasoned). We had the whole family over to help us eat it and still had leftovers!

Now with cooler temperatures here, we may have better luck catching more!

Evening Sky

We went fishing this evening and caught a couple little ones. Then, Ryan caught a HUGE one! It had to be bigger than the last one you saw from our last adventure. As I was fumbling around to grab the camera, he got it right up to the boat, and as he pulled up on the line to lift it into the boat....

the line broke.

So, all that's left is a sad fish story.

And a few pictures from our outing. There were scattered storms today and this evening. We didn't run into any rain while we were on the water, but we did see a rainbow and some very pretty clouds. These were taken from my old point-and-shoot camera, but you get the idea...a very pretty evening sky.

P.S. We will be investing in a fishing net very soon so we don't keep losing the big ones. :)

Two in the Freezer

We now have two bass in the freezer (inching our way closer to a fish-fry). One was caught Saturday night by Ryan's friend, Jonathan, and one was caught Sunday night by Ryan. I came dangerously close to catching one myself, but the line got hung and my luck ran out just like that (you need the sound of fingers snapping in the background to make that line work...just bear with me).

Now, I say dangerously close because of this:

As Ryan was cleaning his fish Sunday night, he asked me to spray the hose on the fish to get rid of the blood resulting from its recent decapitation. As I'm rinsing blood and Ryan begins scraping scales off the fish's sides, he says, "You know the rule don't you?"

Me: "Rule?"

Ryan: "You catch it, you clean it."

He can't possibly be serious.

Ryan: "So make sure you watch everything I'm doing."

He's serious. "No, I'm not cleaning any fish."

"Why not?"

"Cuz that's a boy's job." It's the best I could come up with at the time.

"Yes you will," he says with a devious grin on his face. "Here honey, I need some water over here so the scales don't fly everywhere."

Oh yeah, I'm holding the hose...almost forgot.

This almost deterred me from wanting to catch a fish, but I'm pretty sure Ryan will feel sorry for me and do it for me anyway...rule or no rule. But it could make for a good story if he doesn't ;).

Now, sit back and relax. You are about to enjoy the second installment of our fish catching extravaganza. This stuff should be on the Outdoor Channel.

Here it is: the biggest fish caught off the SS Minnow (to date). P.S. We really have to rename our boat. Ryan jokingly called it that the first few days we had it and it kind of stuck. But now I know that was the ship that sunk on Gilligan's Island (I had a sheltered childhood with only 2-3 channels until I was 18, so I never saw one episode of the show).

Anyway, without further delay...drum roll please...




Who's ready for a fish-fry?

My First Fish of the Summer!.. and Ryan's Keeper!

Tonight we had a couple firsts on our little fishin' boat. Here's Ryan with his first keeper of the summer...16 inches!

Here's me with my first fish of the summer...a 12 incher! Not quite a keeper. Please ignore my fishing attire...nuff said.

Now sit back, relax, and enjoy the nail-biting video of Ryan reeling in the keeper! You'll hear me say, "Get him in the boat!" about five-hundred times. I was afraid he would wiggle off the hook and we'd lose him for good....so once again, just ignore me.

For the record, we didn't catch any other keepers tonight, so against my burning desire for a fish-fry, Ryan let the keeper go to live another day. Better luck next time...

His Eyes Were Bigger Than His Stomach

This little guy bit off way more than he could chew.

See that slimy thing wrapped around him? That's the worm he attempted to eat. Did he really think it would fit in his teeny tiny stomach?

Here's another angle (sorry it's a bit blurry..but you get the idea...tiny fish, big worm). Maybe he thought he was attacking a sea monster that was taking over his territory. Either way, he's back in the lake. I hope he doesn't pick a fight with a less-merciful worm (or bigger fish) next time.

First Fish

As promised, here is a picture of the first fish caught off the SS Minnow.

It was a pretty good size, not quite a keeper, though.

This is the second fish caught.

Notice how I'm not the one with the fish...I had a lot of nibbles but no bites that night (or last night for that matter). Maybe my luck will turn around soon.

Just in Time

We've been keeping our eyes open all spring for the perfect little used fishin' boat at just the right price. Well, we finally found one!...and just in time for the official-unofficial start of summer. It's just big enough to get us out on the water to do some fishing, swimming, and relaxing.

Here she is in all her glory, the SS Minnow.

Don't let the seat fool you, that's a perfect tanning platform (not that I recommend tanning...but 10 minutes a day is good for Vitamin D :)).

This was just after our maiden voyage...I'm smitten.

Ryan still admiring the back end (that's where all the important stuff is).

We did some fishing last night, but didn't catch anything big enough to keep. I'll post pictures of a couple little bass that Ryan caught and released next time!

And the winner is...

Today, Ryan and Blake (his brother) entered a fishing tournament at the "lake" in our neighborhood (it seems more like a big pond to me, but they claim it's at least a 60-acre lake). This was their first tournament ever and a grand total of 5 boats entered...and Ryan and Blake won! The jackpot was a cool $100 and, of course, a freezer full of fish.



Here are the happy winners with their wad of cash:

...and the fish soon to be in my freezer...

In other news, Ryan has developed a staph infection over the past few days. So, this gives me an opportunity to document his condition and use it as a teaching moment. Before you go asking, "Where/How did he get it??" here's the answer in a nutshell: We all have the staph bacteria on our skin. Yes, even you. All it needs is an opportunity to get into the skin to cause a nasty infection. In Ryan's case, he has atopic dermatitis (eczema) which often leads to dry, itchy skin with teeny tiny cracks that allow bugs to get in. Plus he had a horrible reaction to some pine straw that he was spreading (doing a landscaping job) a week or so ago, which caused a type of contact dermatitis (very itchy, bumpy rash). This created double the opportunity for the bugs to get in. Here is what his arm (right forearm) looks like today:

I'll keep you posted on his treatment/recovery.

-Melissa

Anniversary Trip

As promised, here is a summary of the events from our anniversary trip to Gulf Shores. It was so great to finally get to go after not being there since our wedding! I just got my computer back last night, it is working great, and I didn't have to lose any of my files...thank you Justin (he saved my computer)!

First of all, anyone who knows Shakes Frozen Custard will know how excited I was to find a brand new location within WALKING DISTANCE from the condo!! Okay, so it's about a mile away, but we did walk there and it almost makes you not feel as bad for treating yourself to the famous Bopper (caramel, hot fudge, pecans, and a cherry on top)...thankfully there is a mini- sized version of this sunday, so I didn't go too overboard ;).

On Saturday (May 2nd...the night before our anniversary), we went to check out the house where we got married, and sure enough, there was a wedding in process! So we tried to take some pictures at the entrance to the subdivision, and we were attacked by flies...the biting kind! So this is all we got...

Back at the condo...much better:

I have to say, the cake was just as good as it was a year ago! Delicious! Here is a picture of us with the groom cake top. We ate some of it in Gulf Shores, but we didn't eat the other one until we were back at home on the night of our actual anniversary.

We did some fishing on the peer. The little fish were biting like crazy. Soon enough we noticed someone was on to us...This bird came right up to us wanting our fish!! We finally surrendered one out of fear of being attacked! You can kind of see it in his mouth here as he is turning to fly away.

Ahh..relaxing in the sunset...



What would a trip to Gulf Shores be without a night at LuLu's. Here we are after dinner.

Ryan and Bobby took the Kayaks out to the beach. Here they are crossing over to the lagoon to head back to the condo.

We had a great time and wish we could have stayed longer. Hopefully we'll make it back before another year passes!

-Melissa