Matagorda in our Memory 2006

We might have different opinions about definition. But, that's OK. I can live with that. Thanksgiving is an old fashion of the Pilgrims to express their thanks to the Native Americans. There is always a story behind it. That's what my daughter (7-yrs old) and my son (10-yrs old) told me last year.

Nowadays, we have twisted the way celebrating thanksgiving. Since our family moved in Houston from College Station, Texas in 2003, Thanksgiving Days means driving away from our crowded city. As a matter of fact, this is how we save our budget from Black Friday shopping (sshhhh..keep quite. Do not tell your wife about this trick. Just imagine on Friday early morning, you were standing in front of Wal-Mart or Best Buy and waiting on the long line, not to mention the cold weather. I had that kind of fun experiences before :-)

This year 2006, we decided to go to Matagorda for fishing. At least 8 families were joining us on this occasion. To accommodate our plan, we rented two vacation houses near the beach for three days. The trip took about 2 hours from Houston going Southwest via Texas Highway 6 South, 59 South and 60 South.

What happened in Galveston back on October 28, 2006 has set a new milestone for our new fisherman "community". Two days before we went to Matagorda, we have prepared our fishing gears following a special instruction from our Guru who resides in Woodlands. As most Indonesian's belief, in order to be Guru (baca: NOT dukun), one should live either in a cave or in a jungle/forest/wood to concentrate and enhance his knowledge :-) The Woodlands is good enough representing a forest, isn't it? The chosen one, Mister Zulkarnain Saleh a.k.a. Bang Zul (see http://pancurbatu.blogspot.com) took the lead on our fishing journey and photo documentation. We all have agreed to raise "our standard" one step above for not catching a small fish anymore :-) Our main goal is to catch The Bull Reds. What a Confidence !

Do we meet our goal? I am not the judge, but you can tell me after reading this story and seeing the following photos.

Take a bow to our Guru !
(This photo was taken by Linna)

Too bad, this was the biggest fish we caught on Thursday, November 23, 2006.
(This photo was taken by Bang Zul)

These Grilled Flounders were Yummy, that counts the aluminum foils :-)
(This photo was taken by Helmi)

Erwinsyah Putra have fought with the assumed Bulls for about 10 minutes but no luck on him this time. Someday Bro...
(This photo was taken by Bang Zul)

Our team's celebrating the caught, from left to right: Rafi and Ady Rendusara, Arcandra Tahar, Prahoro Nurtjahyo, Erwinsyah Putra, Dudi Rendusara, Bisma Pradana and Helmi Pratikno. We finally caught the Bull Reds on Friday, November 24, 2006. Helmi (the person on the far right who is wearing Sunglasses) took the credit after fighting with the Bull for almost 25 minutes. Good Job, Buddy! The length was about 40 inches and believe me, it was heavy. I could not lift the line with it for more than 20 seconds.
(This photo was taken by Bang Zul)

See how rude these people are? They kept smiling while the poor fish was crying.
(This photo was taken by Bang Zul)

You do not need to go to Hongkong Supermarket at Bellaire to clean the fish, ask anything: Fillet? Rib? T-Bone Fish Steak? Ning Linna could do it all. She easily chop the Bull's head. Ggrhh !
(This photo was taken by Bang Zul)