Hello, neighbors. Hope everyone is staying warm during our cold patch.

I have one report of a local fellow fishing out of Halfmoon Marina — wants to keep his name out of the paper, but was willing to share his catch two weeks ago. He started out fishing with live shrimp with no luck. He decided to switch to artificial using a grub on a redhead. Well, he limited out on trout and bass. That’s 15 trout and five bass, and they all hit the artificial bait. That’s not a bad day. He also added that he was back at the dock by 10:30.

So since the fishing is slow right now, I thought I would throw out a little gumbo recipe to warm things up.

This is what you will need. I always serve over rice.
1 cup Italian-style stewed tomatoes
1 cup water
About 6 or 7 chopped okra
½ teaspoon dried oregano
¼ teaspoon crushed red peppers
1 pound whiting or your favorite fish
½ pound raw Georgia shrimp, peeled and deveined

Directions:
Heat some oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Cook some green onions, pepper and celery, until softened, then stir in some chopped garlic, and two chopped raw jalapeños. Add tomatoes, chicken broth, water, okra, oregano and red-pepper flakes. Cook on low for about five to 10 minutes for flavors to blend.

Add fish and shrimp to saucepan. Cook three to four minutes until seafood is opaque and just cooked through. Serve up with some Tabasco on the side. I would pair this up with a Newcastle dark ale. Hot gumbo and some chilled ale.
Well, folks, remember what Old Tight-Line always said: “Get out there and go fishing and always keep a tight line.”
That’s it for this week.

Living the Tight-Line life on the coast,
Tight-Line Jr.