Pier Fishing

While at the beach house, Derek's obsession was fishing.  Surprise, Surprise.  He talked about fishing off the pier for 3 months before the trip.  This year we lucked out a bit in that he is 11 1/2 years old.  Armed with his cell phone we let him fish on the pier for hours, with a call and a visit every now and again.

I hate to admit that I never even made it out there.  Sydney and Nana took charge of that responsibility and I really appreciated it.  I am not a fan of the smells on the pier.  They took the other kids out for a visit as well and let them each have a turn trying to catch the "BIG ONE".

Derek also met a friend out there named Raymond.  He was an older Phillipino man that came out to the pier each day.  He gave him pointers and helped him pull up and down his new crab net so that it didn't get caught on the barnacles.  Derek gave him all our extra fish for bait. 

Derek earned his new crab net and it paid off with this beautiful and delicious crab.  He also caught another crab and a lobster.  The lobster had to go back in the water because it wasn't lobster season and keeping it would have resulted in a $2,000.00 fine.  He made a good choice to obey the law, even though there was a lot of peer pressure from other fishermen to shuck the tail and hide it in his ice chest.

Once back at the house, Nana helped Derek cook the creature.  Sydney ran out of the house screaming and crying about hurting the animal.  We laughed, especially as we dipped the finished product in hot butter!  YUM!