Chum

We had our monthly picnic at the Padre Island National Seashore on Sunday. It was a gorgeous, sunny day. The waves were larger than usual, supposedly normal for this time of year. As we made our way down the beach we passed a massive caravan of anglers heading in the opposite direction. Huge pickups, SUVs, jacked-up old school suburbans, all loaded with kayaks, the grills strapped with countless giant fishing poles. We soon realized that it was the end of a weekend long fishing tournament. At the time we were thankful that the tournament was over as the beach was fairly quiet by the time we reached our chosen spot to spend the next few hours frolicking in the surf with the boys. There were a few straggler fisherman but for the most part it was rather quiet, for such a lovely Sunday afternoon.

As usual, we all piled out of the car, loobed up with the SPF and headed straight into the surf. As I mentioned, the waves were larger than we were used to, and the water was a bit tumultuous. I asked the boys to stay closer than I normally would have and they had a ball diving into the big waves crashing over their heads. Clark made a point of noting that the water was a bit strange with a lot of extra debris. I thought it odd too, but chalked it up to the bigger waves.

It was not until this afternoon that Clark started looking into the fishing contest. Little did we know that we had just missed Sharkathon 2009. Hundreds of anglers had been out to catch the largest shark, with the biggest shark winning a lucky contestant a nice sized purse. The water was full of, what I can now only describe as, chum, and the Harshbargers were out in the middle of it. Splashing around and frolicking like baby seals.

It took us about 9 months to get over the jellyfish stings, before we finally returned to the water. Not sure how long it will take this one, but the monthly picnic on the beach is sure to be postponed indefinitely...