Months
I got my fishing license like I always do now online and in December. However my work has been the most intense of my life since the beginning of this year. I couldn't take the time to go out and I would have felt guilty going out anyway cuz my little family deserves my attention when I am home from work right now. It's been a long time (thank goodness for YouTube ).

Family
This weekend my wife says to me that Memorial Day morning we are going to the beach for a couple hours to hang out as a family and ... they want to me to fish. Of course, I don't expect them to get up real early nor do I expect them to make the drive to the good spots. I'm just grateful that they want to give Dad a cool Memorial Day.

Back to Beginnings
Since the girls (wifey too) are going I decide that the best thing to do is dust off three light line Carolina Rig rods, throw the little live bait net in the mix and put 4 beach chairs in the back of the car. We are gunna hit the closet beach to the house, catch some sand crabs and maybe all of us can get a little BSP action - sure would make Dad happy to fish with his girls again. Haven't been on perch patrol let alone a "piggy hunt" with my daughters for maybe three years at least.

Burritos and bluster
I set the alarm to wake up and make it to the beach by 8AM (a little over an hour before high-tide - the perch catchin' window). But everyone was fast asleep when the alarm went off this morning. I didn't have the heart to wake them up. Finally they get up and jump into the car. We snag some breakfast burritos on the way and hit the sand after 9AM.

As we are walking into the beach we see a few fisher doods walking out (not a good sign). Turns out that at this point the beach was nearly blown out by the sea breeze. Whatever, we set up, eat our breakfast and then I go down to make us some bait - I found some nice nickel sized egg laden crabs.

Hard to cast against the wind of course and we likely missed out on the bite cuz we got there kind of late. But we manage and believe or not we scrape out a few.

Happy
Since the action wasn't well... action. The family watched me for a bit and then before I know it they're standing behind me on the sand. I knew it was time. We packed up and made the walk back to the car. Then we talked about Memorial Day and the sacrifices of those fallen and living that we especially honor today.

It was a short session (less than 2 hours) but honestly everyone including Dad totally enjoyed being together and experiencing the beauty of the sea. I would not trade anything for moments like this.

Here's a couple of pics:








Tight lines and twenty-two inch critters!!!

Nick