Written by CCA STAR
Hempstead resident Scott Hajovsky set up a fishing trip, Thursday, May 28 with some friends.
They met up at Eagle Point, Galveston Bay around daybreak. The weather was fair with moderate winds. After a week of rainstorms, the water was so fresh the bait camp was adding salt to the tanks. The group managed to get some live shrimp and croaker, then launched the boat, headed to their first fishing spot, dropped anchor and began fishing.
Fishing was slow. Hajovsky only managed to catch and release an undersized trout and lose an undersized flounder at the boat, so the friends decided to head across East Bay in search of clearer water. The next fishing spot looked more like chocolate milk and yielded no fish, so they decided to head southeast to a more attractive spot where the water condition was better. The sun started to encroach on high noon as they dropped anchor to give it another try.
Hajovsky managed to catch rocks and snap lines, while his friend continued to pull in the fish and talk smack. Hajovsky finally hooked up and got a fish to the boat, but it turned out to be a rat red. Meanwhile, the other friend caught a black drum, a slot redfish, and a stingray while Hajovsky spent his time getting hung on rocks — now listening to both fishing buddies talk smack. Hajovsky figured his undersized “Texas Slam” wasn’t going to win the smack talking war, so he dug out the last live shrimp and threw it out.
He got a bump and the rod bent over.
As Hajovsky reeled in, he had high hopes of redeeming himself with this catch. As the fish surfaced tugging along the side of the boat, he noticed something sticking out of the back of the fish. Hajovsky never would have dreamed of such a fine redemption! He then realized what it was and exclaimed, “It has a tag!!!”
Panic ensued, there was a scramble for the net, but teamwork helped safely land the fish in the boat. The celebration commenced and the friends expressed their congratulations. Hajovsky remained humble until he figured out what had just happened.
“What a redemption made possible by CCA Texas and the STAR Tournament — let the smack talking begin!” said Hajovsky.
Second tagged fish
On Saturday morning, Hemphill resident Michael Gibbs was hanging out at a beach house he and his wife rented for the weekend on the West side of Galveston.
Gibbs was waiting for his cousin to pick him up in his boat to go fishing. While he waited on the cousin, who was sleeping in recovering from the long drive down the night before, Gibbs decided to do a little casting off the pier behind the beach house. To his delight, he managed to pick up two nice flounder right off the pier. A few casts later, he hooked into another fish. After a good fight, Gibbs flipped the fish onto the pier. He gained control of the fish flopping along the dock, and low and behold, he noticed it was redfish with a tag in it.
Being over forty, Gibbs couldn’t quite make out the fine print so he carried the redfish up to the beach house to see if his wife could read the tag for him. Gibbs first told his wife not to get excited just yet, because he had caught fish before with tags that were for research.
Gibbs’ wife responded, “Whatever” and proceeded to examine the tag. After close inspection all Gibbs’ wife could say was “STAR!”
Still a bit skeptical, Gibbs told his wife, “Don’t mess with me.”
His wife said, “Mike, I promise!”
“OMG!” said Gibbs, “If I had only known this fish was worth a truck and boat package, I think I might have used a net!”
The excited couple called Gibbs’ cousin to tell him, “Forget the boat, we are headed to West End Marina to weigh in my tagged redfish!”
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