Dinner is served...

What difference a day makes here at the beach. Yesterday the winds from the SW were making huge waves and even though it was quite warm, the winds made it difficult even to ride our bicycle to the usual daily errands (post office, supermarket, etc.). Today, we wake up to a very peaceful scene. The ocean looked more like a lake than the choppy seas that we experienced the last few days.









This is more like it! Nice and peaceful.









It's been the first really cold day here at the beach. This morning the air temperature was around the high 30s and it felt like in the teens with the wind. However mid-day it was already in the high 50s so it wasn't that bad after all. Our house neighbor, Mike from West Virginia, has been more faithful fisherman than I have, and he was already there at high noon. The tide was low and it was the middle of the day. Supposedly the worst conditions to catch a puppy drum, but after a few minutes visiting him at the beach, he starts pulling this 24 inches puppy drum, his second in the last three days. Mike got his measuring tape and quickly declared it "legal size". He was a very happy camper.
When I saw that, I felt the urge to get out there and catch myself one of those, or at least something that I could bring home to show the wife. I had just one finger mullet left in my cooler and decided to split it into two pieces and use it to try to catch something. After a few casts, I felt this jolt of a bite and started reeling. The beast (sounds more dramatic this way), gave me quite a battle. It was spinning my reel on and on until we finally got a glimpse of it (the beast). Mike saw the dorsal fin and thought it was a small shark. I was disappointed thinking that I was going to have to deal with a shark. However was pleasantly surprised a few seconds later when we got another view of it. This time it was clear that it was some sort of bony fish. I managed to bring it to the shore and after tossing around some, he was kind enough to pose for this picture:

Well, maybe not a beast, but my current prize winner at around 17 inches. Not a puppy drum, but with a high potential of becoming dinner.