Howdy, friends and neighbors. Hope everyone had a pleasant week.
I know we have had some rain recently, but remember that that’s good for all the sea life.  Those big old spot tail bass don`t care if it’s muddy water or clear.  If you can find them, they will bite.  
The dock tour is back in motion.  Boo Hall, Capt. Hippie and I hit the docks recently in the Half-Moon River, using dead shrimp and live minnows.  The fish were interested in only the dead bait. Trout are known for having a taste for live shrimp and minnows, but that was not the case that day. We fished for about an hour with no luck.  
There was talk of throwing it in after about two hours, but we persevered and stayed and it was the right move.  First catch was from Boo Hall with a nice trout on dead shrimp. Boo is a rock fisher, which means he likes it close in.  
Then the Captain landed a nice black drum, and I rounded it off with a black sea bass.  At the end of the tour we had three trout, three black drum and two black sea bass.  Not too bad for the first tour of the summer season.
My friend at Sunbury caught some nice trout off the dock there and had luck with trout and spot tail the next day when she went out in boat.  She is quite the angler, Mrs. Lu Smith. She does a lot of her fishing from kayaks, which I am not yet sold on.  I love to catch and eat fish, but I just don’t think I want to be that close to them when I’m fishing for them.
That’s just me — more power to all the kayakers out there. As long as you are wetting a hook, that’s all that matters.
Rayburn Goodman at Yellow Bluff recently sold out of all the live shrimp he had. Looks like people are getting out there and fishing.
Sheriff Steve Sikes and crew Capt. Shawn and Rusty Rogers recently did a little off shore fishing.  They landed 22 dolphin, the sheriff caught a nice wahoo, and they also hit on some tuna.  Sikes said he was impressed by the specialty work of the net and gaff.  I guess we all know what that means.  
 I remember growing up at the Branch’s Fishing Camp, and my father, Old Tight Line, would be up early every morning.  Sometimes, he would get himself about a dozen live shrimp and get down on one of the logs we had along the bluff out front.  I would stand there on the hill and watch as he would throw down behind the floating dock and catch enough trout for us to eat for breakfast.
I came to love fishing because of my father and still do until this day. So let me take this time to wish an early Happy Father’s Day to the fathers out there. You don’t realize how much you will miss them until they are gone.
So remember what Old Tight Line always said:  “Get out there and go fishing, and if you do remember to always keep a tight line.”  

Living the tight-line life on the coast,
Tight Line Jr.
PS:  God bless all the troops serving our country all around the world.  As for all the veterans out there, I salute you and God bless America.