Sheephead

Finally some fish! The fishing here has been slow to nonexistent as cold front after cold front has plowed through. Water temps have cooled and no one has been catching any fish. Renita and I canoed out to the Bartel Pass with no results. Our friend George fished Shell Ridge with no bites. The only place anyone has been doing anything is the Jetty, where Pete has been picking up some sheephead.
So I jumped at the chance to fish with Pete and George at the Jetty. The first day we picked, Dave also was along, but the wind was so strong that waves were breaking over the rocks and we went ghost shrimp sucking instead.
The next day, we loaded into my truck and returned to the South Jetty. It was obvious that the fishing had been slow there as there weren't many fishermen.. We got a good parking spot and George and I slowly made our way over the wet rocks, while Pete practically jogged to his fishing spot,(Pete has special boots with metal spikes, enabling him to walk places that I wouldn't tread).
When we arrived at the spot, Pete was already fishing. George was able to get his spot, and I just started fishing a little ways away. I noticed right away that Pete was not casting very far out. Soon he had a small redfish and then another! I moved to the other side of him and tried a new spot, nothing. Pete next caught a legal size sheephead and put it on his stringer, hmmmmmmm. George was haven't any better luck but I switched to his side and fished without any bites.
Picking up my gear I watched Pete and noticed he was fishing a small cut in the rocks, and so I headed out looking for a similar place. Finding one I threw out my cut mullet pole, for redfish, and putting a ghost shrimp on my other I cast out, a little farther than Pete, nothing. Reeling in I was surprised that the shrimp was still on my hook, thanks to the stretchy string that a friend Mike had advised me to use,(The fishermen here also use it to tie on oysters).
Casting out again, but this time close to the rock edge, I let my line sink. After a little while I started to retrieve, sure that I would be snagged. Fish On! After a short but hard fight I managed to get the fish out of a snag and basically man handled it over the rock edge,(Did i mention that I am using 30 pound braided line, as Pete had suggested). Yeah, a nice 18 inch sheephead! Thoughts of a fresh fish dinner ran though my head as I rebaited and cast out again. Another short wait and another shephead, this one smaller but still legal. Oh my, dinner is served!
Less than hour into fishing and two keepers! Thoughts of limiting and having some bragging rights at happy hour passed through my head. Another cast, another fish, but this time a weird fish with spikes protruding from its body. A blowfish perhaps?
More casts, but now I was getting snagged. Another fish hit and I pulled in a small fish that kind of looked like a lion fish. Cutting the line I carefully threw it back.
As noon arrived I ate my lunch, interrupted by another lion fish(?), and a weird spiked crab, that was feeding on my mullet. More time passed and Pete walked past me catching a legal sheephead in the next pocket.
Fishing went to nonexistent, or at least the catching did, so after a while we decided to call it a day. One man did pass by with a legal redfish. Another told of seeing a couple catch two redfish keepers. As we walked back to the truck, we passed people with a few redfish but most told the story of lots of undersized fish.
Returning to Watersedge, we cleaned the fish and that night I coated them in Zatarans Southern style fish coating and fried them with a little Cajun seasoning.
Oh my, life is good! Clear skies.