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Good times rolling on area waters
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In the words of the great Ray Charles, let the good times roll. That’s what will happen if you get out on the water and wet a hook.  
You can’t help but have a good time. Take some friends or some young people out fishing, and watch what happens when they hook up with that first fish. To me, my friends, those are the good times.
Well, last week on the dock tour, Walt Anderson, Boo Hall and I had a fun day of fishing. Almost everything we caught was catch-and-release, but it was nice to see the croakers were plentiful.  We did catch quite a few croakers and some black sea bass.  Walt and Boo landed a whole entire family of toad fish from the baby to the grandpa. A fun time was had by all.  
Boo and I hit the docks again recently.  In the two dock tours we caught some more croaker, but to my surprise the Mangrove snapper are back.  That’s right we landed three on Friday and two Sat. After all was said and done, we caught eight croaker, five snapper, four black sea bass and two sheepsheed.  Almost sounds like we were fishing off the beach, but we were on the dock of the Half Moon River.  I almost forgot: Capt. Hippie was aboard for the afternoon excursion, and he caught a few himself.
I have some reports from Glynn County from Capt. E. Moody on big reds (catch-and-release). Also, some nice trout have been caught.  
For bait, Rayburn at Yellow Bluff has live shrimp and minnows, Half Moon Marina has live shrimp, and The Sunbury Crab Company has live shrimp.
To all the active military and retired veterans there is plenty of fishing to be done on Fort Stewart, so get out to pass and permit and get hooked on fishing.  The large-mouth bass and brim are biting and if you don’t go for that, throw one out on the bottom and hang into a big catfish.
Well folks, since the croaker are running I thought you might like to give this pan-fried croaker recipe a try. This is what you will need:
• Oil
• A large skillet.  
• Croaker, whole
• Sea salt
•Freshly cracked black pepper.
I like to mix flour and corn meal together and crushed saltines for dredging. Dip the fish in whipped buttermilk and egg and a splash of Tabasco to taste. Roll in the flour mix. With your skillet hot and ready with oil, drop those babies in. Cook about three to five minutes until nicely browned. This would go good with a nice green salad with vinaigrette dressing. How can you go wrong with some crispy fried Vidalia onions?  I would cook them in the fish oil.  
Now you are ready for some friends or family to sit down at the table and enjoy the tight-line life. Serve with an ice-cold pale ale of your choice and it’s hello, Sunday afternoon.
Well, that’s it for this week on the coast. 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.

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