A Good Dad's Day: Make Hay While the Sun's Out
Dad’s lunch with a view
It's a beautiful weekend on the Lower Alabama coast, and next Sunday is Father's Day. You know the old line — make hay while the sun shines. On the water, that means you get on the boat when the chance shows up, because weather like we've got right now doesn't sit around and wait on you. So here's my pitch to the families reading this: find a way to turn Dad loose this weekend, or during the week, or anytime before next Sunday. Give him a morning to himself out on the water, then circle back and make the rest of the day a family thing. That's the whole trick to a good Father's Day down here.
My favorite days start early — before most of the house is awake, when the sun's still low and the water's laid out slick and flat. I'll stay inshore to a reef that's not far from the house and fish that first soft light, which is the best part of the day anyway. I'm after specks, reds, maybe some white trout. By eight or nine I'm idling back to the dock — not worn out, not sunburned, the weather still beautiful, and the whole day still in front of me. By the time I tie up, my wife and daughters are up and moving around the house. We grab a late breakfast and figure out the afternoon.
Most days, the afternoon means back on the boat. We'll run over to Johnson's Beach, or out to the islands, or one of those quiet spots where you can nose up to the sand and just let the kids be kids — hunting hermit crabs, throwing a cast net for minnows, and if you're lucky, turning up a sand dollar or a seahorse. There's no agenda to it.
When everybody's had their fill of sun, we pick a place to pull in for a cold drink and an appetizer, depending on which way we're pointed. Coming back from Johnson's Beach, we've tied up at Sunset Grille at Holiday Harbor Marina, Bushwacker's Landing, or — if it's early enough — the Flora-Bama. Tacky Jacks is always good in the afternoon, and Zeke's when we want something a little nicer. If we're running from the other direction, Oso's at Bear Point and Pirates Cove are right there. Any one of them makes a fine place to sit, watch the water, and let the day wind down a notch.
Then we head home and clean the morning's catch. If it's a redfish, my favorite is redfish on the half shell — fillet it, leave the skin on, get the grill hot, and hit it with a little garlic, butter, and lemon until the meat goes white and flaky. You pick it right off the skin. We'll serve it up with broccoli, or this time of year, Baldwin County Silver Queen sweet corn boiled on the cob, alongside some sautéed speckled trout. That's about my favorite meal there is. After supper I'll carry a PBR out to the pier, get the Turtlebox going, and watch the girls swim until the light's gone. I'm tired by then. And that — right there — is a good dad's day. If you've got a perfect day of your own, I want to hear it. And if you're wondering what I throw on those slick-calm mornings, I broke down my go-to rod-and-reel combo for fishing inshore here on the Gulf Coast in a separate piece this week — see if you'd rig it the same way.