Day 123: Delacroix, LA to Mobile, AL

Today we fished the Gulf of Mexico for spotted sea trout, black drum, and red fish. What fun!

We started the day bright and early at 5:45 am by meeting Capital Jack at Sweetwater Marina. It was still dark out but we peeked over the dock to see the green water teeming with minuscule baby crabs. There were hundreds of millions of them swirling around together just under the surface.

We headed out into the Gulf guided by the scarlet red sunrise to fish around the oil rigs and sunken tankers which provide structures under the water that fish love to hang out around. Pretty quickly we were catching spotted sea trout, which are much larger than fresh water trout. Liam caught the first fish of the day and we were off to a great start.

Ian in his happy place.

Next we moved closer to shore to try our hands at catching a few red fish. We caught a bunch of catfish (these kind are not good to eat so they went back) and a few small black drum (that look like a zebra fish with cool black and white stripes). Then Alistair caught a big one! Our first grown red fish. It was a hard fight and the fish was MUCH bigger than we expected. Wow!

Zebra fish!

We saw shrimpers in action. The boats look like giant mayflies swooping through the water with their draping nets.

Once Alistair got us rolling, Liam, Seamus and finally Ian caught their own red fish. Seamus got the largest of the bunch - an absolute elephant of a fish.

Captain Alistair drove the boat.

Check out Ali’s wind blown hairdo.

We also saw loads of seabirds and even a few alligators. We worked hard for our catch but had a wonderful time doing so. It was a great adventure.

Once our fish were cleaned and refrigerated, we said our goodbyes to Capitan Jack and headed for the state line. We crossed in to Mississippi driving past Biloxi. We were only in Mississippi for an hour before we crossed over into Alabama headed for Mobile.

Ali slept soundly through Mississippi.

Mobile here we come!

We pulled in to Meaher State Park just before dark. We all worked together to prepare dinner which was pan fried fresh fish from today and the shrimp we picked up at the seafood market yesterday on top of salad. It was delicious. Our best meal of far. 

We are sun kissed and completely wiped. Bed time for all after appreciating the gorgeous pink sunset.