Oct 27 - A good day to fish or shrimp.

It was an amazingly calm sunny day and the fishermen were everywhere.  This is truly a great place to be if you want dozens of piers and miles of shoreline to fish.

Ruddy Turnstone

Least Sandpiper

Wader and shore fishing

We saw a guy with a string full of flounder, of various colors, he had just caught off a public dock.  I might just pay the exorbitant price for a non-resident fishing license.  Instead, I went to a Vietnamese fish market and bought a pound of fantastically fresh jumbo shrimp for supper.  There is a Fall (Aug 15 to Nov 30) open season for shrimping in the bays 15 pounds/person/day if you want to do it yourself.  The oyster season starts Nov 1 to April 30.  Hmm, Rockport is also pretty warm all winter.

(There were problems with internet last night so couldn't publish)

East Tule trail

I walked the very short East Tule trail today.  There was a small herd of deer in this little haven in town.  Two does, 2 fawns and a young buck.  Lots of willows, palms and bamboo in this wetland.

Lush vegetation

Gotta love these palms

  

Spot the doe

Young buck

 I also spent some time talking to some fishermen along the shore.  They said they were fishing for Black drum, a few varieties of ocean trout, ocean perch, redfish, and sheepshead.  They are from Oklahoma and winter in Rockport in an RV park.  They had caught some Black drum and a sand trout but you will have to look at photos on the internet because I didn't want to be a geek and ask to take photos.  They were using shrimp for bait.

Maritime

As you drive around Rockport you realize there are 2 main sources of income, tourism and commercial fishing.  Both involve lots of boats.

Aransas Pass bridge

Harbour Point Park in Aransas

Shrimp boats

Small restaurant (centre) we like at this marina

Lots of bait shacks around

Rockport Harbour

Very windy day

Trying to mooch in the car window

 We've had sun and rain intermittently all day but Kirk and I managed some time in the dog park where he had a good time ripping around.

Hibiscus

Tule trail

Yesterday was spent relaxing, laundry, pool time and grocery shopping.  Today, we did a little sightseeing.  Kirk and I started to hike the Tule trail but a short intense down pour sent us retreating for the car.

There are a lot of shore fishermen everywhere you go here.  In kayaks, in waders and straight off the piers or shore.  We drove out to Goose Island State Park hoping the Whooping Cranes would be there.  There was a bit of excitement when we heard cranes but it was just Sandhill Cranes.

Black-necked Stilt

Water hyacinth

Boardwalk on trail

Catfish

There have been short intense rain showers all day as a couple of storms come in off the coast.

Of course, this brought out the toads tonight!  Kirk managed to get a lick on one while I wasn't't looking and spent 5 minutes spitting and snorting.

Couch's Spadefoot Toad