“When I head out to the water, I usually catch something,” says Garza, a parishioner at Our Lady of Good Counsel in Kingsville, Texas. “Redfish are my favorite, but I’ll take a large drum or trophy trout any day.”
After retiring, Garza picked up fishing as a hobby. He frequently fishes the waters of Baffin Bay in Riviera. “It’s only 30 minutes away, and the fishing is great,” says Garza, as he loads up his old dingy aluminum boat. He checks for his cast net which he uses to catch mullet and piggy perch for bait, then recites the daily prayer before heading out to Drum Point.
It was Drum Point, a popular fishing spot in Riviera known for catching black drum, redfish, and trout, where Garza’s life took an unexpected turn. On a cool, sunny day in January 2004, Garza was fishing alone when he began to reflect on his life. “I wasn’t happy, I was losing control of my family, and my drinking and cursing was getting worse. It wasn’t the life that I wanted.”