That Sinking Feeling

Today I made a cast net throw, to end all cast net throws!! At least for that cast net anyway. Yep, another one of those damn lessons, I forgot to loop the end of the throw rope around my wrist. I threw it and couldn't get it back, what a sinking feeling that is. :) Andrea said the look on my face was priceless. I was honestly more concerned about any wild life that might be harmed by the net. We're always so cautions about fishing line and here I just tossed about 10 pounds of it, with weights no less, over the side of the boat.

Other than that we had a GRRREEEEAAAAAAT day. The weather was soooo beautiful and I caught a big ol' trout. I caught a lady fish and another little trout too. Andrea didn't catch anything but she worked her fanny off rigging the poles and manning the snacks. Just joking.

The highlight of the day though was that we docked at a local waterside restaurant and ate lunch. We hadn't ever done that before and we got quite a kick out of it. Our boat looked so tiny next to all the boats that were docked there but we were so proud!!

A big thank you goes out to my dad!! He came to our rescue at the dock with a screw driver when we needed to do some minor repairs. Note to self, get a tool kit for the boat. Actually, I'm sure that Andrea stopped on her way home and picked one up. She's such an Eagle Scout!!

Our Fishing Trip with Jason

Andrea and I went out on Jason's boat one Friday morning in early November. We left at 4:30am. It was early, it was chilly, but it was fun. Jason really knows what he is doing. We caught a snook, OH YEAH!! We also went about 7 miles off shore and trolled for Spanish Mackerel. We caught 3 really good sized ones. Andrea gutted two of them on the boat and also cleaned a couple when we got back to Jason's. We had a blast.

Lessons, Lessons, and more Lessons

Ahhhhh fisherman, we live for the ultimate bend in that fishing rod. There is nothing better than that screeching sound of the line being pulled off of your reel and watching the rod double over under the strain of a really big catch. What a rush!!

But what a buzz kill it is when you realize that what you've caught is your own boat. Yup about 10 feet of line wrapped around the prop like a spool of thread. Lesson number 342, don't put the boat in reverse while someone's fishin' outta the back.

Have you ever wondered what would happen if you ran over one of those crab trap things with your boat? Lesson number 343, the rope that attaches the buoy to the trap is pretty long so the trap isn't necessarily directly under the warning buoy. Now I've heard rumors that some of you guys feel that my fishing buddy is being wrongfully picked on, so I would like to personally take the fall for this little catastrophe.

Now I'm supposed to be the lookout and I usually do a pretty good job. But lately I've been avidly watching fishing shows and I have become particularly interested in a fish called the Triple Tail. They are elusive and hang out right beside bouys. Those damn fishing shows make everything look so damn easy. Every damn buoy they went to, low and behold, there was a freakin' Triple Tail. I'm sure you can probably see where this is going without my belaboring the point. Lesson number 344 when you're the lookout, YOU NEED TO LOOK OUT!!

Well, we finally got some toilet paper for the boat. No, we don't have a toilet, but since Andrea averages about three bowel and bladder attacks on each trip out she's mastered what some might call, "hangin' it over the side." She absolutely refuses to wear Depends.

Lesson number 345, don't try to remove a wind knot from your line while driving into the wind. Last week while riding from point A to point B I noticed a little wind knot on my spool. I'm thinking, "I'll just pull a little bit off, ok, just a bit more, oh almost got it, a little more, a little more, I have this under control." My thoughts are interrupted by Andrea saying, "Kim, is there a problem?" "What? Huh? No, no problem", I say as I look down at my feet that are tangled up in about 5 feet of fishing line.

Finally and quite possibly most important is lesson 346. When you add a 3 ounce weight to your line you most certainly do not have to heave it with all your might. Especially when you are very close to a bridge that has a fishing catwalk and multiple pedestrians. Can you say involuntary manslaughter?

We haven't been catching a lot of fish but we have laughed a lot. Owning a boat has truly been a character building experience. I'm sure many onlookers have thought, "Look at those two characters!!"

Pictures are coming very soon, I promise!!

Competition, what Competition?

I know, I know, I haven't blogged in forever. Well, here it is and I'm afraid it's not pretty. We have been fishing in our new boat pretty much every weekend at least one day, sometimes both and our boat is AWESOME!!! We absolutely love it. We've caught a little bit of this and a little bit of that but nothing to get excited about that's for sure. I've been doing some soul searching here recently and I have come to realize that I might be a wee bit competitive about fishing. Andrea refers to it as OCD. For those of you who don't know what that is, it's Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. I think that might be a little bit harsh coming from the chick that has gotten up twice in the past month at 2:30 am, on a work morning, to fish from 4:30 am til' dawn with our dear friend Jason. Now I'm not sayin' that I wouldn't like to go, but let's just say that getting up at 2:30 am, for Kim, does a crabby girl make. My attitude by 9:00 am would not be conducive to me keeping my job, fish or no fish.

Anyway, I've decided to straighten up my OCD ass, excuse my French, and just enjoy being on the water in our brand new boat. We're going King fishing with our friend Jason this weekend so hopefully we'll have some good pictures to post. Not that I care if we catch fish or anything. I mean really, I could care less if we even get a nibble. All I care about is being on the water, in our boat with good friends. Fish........ Who needs em'?

Here are some highlights from our most recent fishing trips.

On one of Andrea's pre-dawn fishing excursions she was trying to set up a super long cast and she launched herself right off the front of Jason's flats boat. Yep, she landed right up to her chin in 3 feet of water!!! Fortunately, the only casualty was her cell phone!!

One evening after work we decided to take the boat to one of our favorite little fishing spots (we caught one fish there about a month ago). We turned on the fish finder and it looked like Macy's Thanksgiving day parade. There were thousands of fish, big ones, little ones, groups of them riding on floats waving as they passed under the boat. Alright, I'm exaggerating, but there were a steady stream of fish and do you think we even caught one of them? Noooooooooooo. Andrea was tired and I kept saying, "just one more cast!!" Oh yeah, I got an OCD lecture that night. So we headed for the ramp. As if things weren't already bad enough, there's this little Chinese man waiting at the dock when we pull up. "Dee you catcha de feesh?" What? "Dee you cathca any feesh?" Come again. "Feesh, feesh, de you catcha any feesh, I neeto buy de feesh?" OHHHHHH!!!
No, we don't have any fish!!! Well, Mr. Miagi just wouldn't take no for an answer he kept on and on. I was exhausted, Andrea was in a less than pleasant mood and he talked her ear off the entire time I was gone getting the trailer. When we left he was in the dumpster getting aluminum cans. It was very odd to see a Chinese man collecting aluminum cans. Poor guy.

A couple weekends ago we learned the true meaning of "small craft advisory!!" Our new boat seems like a yacht compared to our Gheenoe. Well, lets just say that Mother Nature knocked us down a rung or two. We definitely have a small craft and it gets considerably smaller in 5 foot swells. All we did was cross the bay to fish the flats on the other side. The ride over was no problem man!! The ride back was like a scene out of, "The Perfect Storm." It was freezing, waves were crashing over the side of the boat, we were soaked to the bone, holding on for dear life and Andrea yells to me. "Kim, why don't you start emptying out the bait well!!" I couldn't move or speak I was frozen solid and paralyzed by fear. After we finally got to the ramp she said she was just trying to take my mind off of things, but honestly, I think she was trying to kill me. I'm going to have to keep an eye on her. I think she's had enough of my OCD.

Some recent catches (while enjoying the boat, water and good friends)

Andrea:
1 Catfish
1 Stingray
1 Nice Red (picture coming soon)
1 lizard Fish
1 Mangrove Snapper

Kim:
2 Lady Fish
1 Huge Catfish
2 Pinfish
2 Mangrove Snapper
1 lizard Fish (Here lizard, lizard, lizard)

Disclaimer: This is in no way an attempt at keeping score as this is NOT a competition. It is quite simply a listing of what's biting in Tampa Bay!!

Fiiiiiiiiishingggggggg

I have come to realize that there are two types of fishing. There is fishing and then there is fiiiiiishinggggggg. Andrea falls into the second category. I, on the other hand, take fishing very seriously. When I feel a nibble, I wait, give it a second to commit, set the hook and start to land the fish. That's fishing!!

Andrea feels a nibble, lets the fish clean it's pallet, swirl the bait around in it's mouth a bit, then she lets it swim around because she likes to watch it move her line back and forth. She says, "Look Keeum it's swimmin' round on the end of my line." That prompts me to yell, "Andrea will you set that damn hook and bring that fish into the boat!!!" Her reply, "well ok, I'm just having some fun with it!!" Then she starts reeling like a bat out of hell, gets the fish to the surface of the water and then it flops off the hook and hits the water. For cryin' out loud, I just can't take it!!! That girl could test the patience of Mother Theresa herself.

Sweet she is, a world class fisherwoman she is most certainly not!! I just can't wait to enter our first fishing tournament!!

Fishical Therapy

WE GOT A NEW BOAT!!!! After years and years....well, ok it was only months, but it seemed like years. We finally found our boat!!! Affectionately named "Fishical Therapy." We drove down to Palm Beach yesterday to take a look at it and we're going to go back out and pick it up on Saturday!!!

A few of the highlights:

It's 15 feet long with a bimini top to keep us sheltered from the blazing Florida sun.

It has a 50 horsepower Johnson Motor. Wow, can you imagine, 50 horses, now that's some power.

An aerated live bait well - we'll save tons of money not having to buy "D" sized batteries for our little portable air pump.

It has a marine stereo and two speakers installed - we didn't have a stereo in the Gheenoe, but I do hope that Andrea will continue to do her moving rendition of "Go Tell It On the Mountain".

A color fish finder/GPS system - Andrea and I were the fish finders on the Gheenoe, we stayed in three feet of water most of the time so we could find the fish pretty easily and we never needed a GPS cause we could always see the car from where we were fishin'.

It really is awesome and we really are excited to go and get it this weekend. You all know what this means? A bigger boat, so bigger fish stories!!! So we hope.

Oh my goodness!!! I would be remiss if I didn't mention that Andrea caught the biggest Mangrove Snapper to date on our last fishing trip with my dad. It was over 12 inches!!! I went to take a picture of it and the batteries in my camera were dead. She was thrilled beyond words about that, let me tell you. But I found this picture of one that looks exactly like it on the internet so I thought I'd post it for you all to see.

The Accidental Flounder

Holla!! We really haven't been doing a lot of fishing these past few weekends. It's been rainy AND we're looking for a new boat. OH YEAH!! Our fishing skills have improved in such vast proportions that we feel it's time to invest in something that's a little more than three inches above the water. No disrespect to our little Gheenoe but we're fish n' chicks now. We're even considering entering a few tournaments.

We did take the boat out last weekend for a bit of Snook fishing. We put the boat in the water at 5am it was still pitch, black, dark. Let me tell you that fishing in the bay, in the dark adds a whole new dimension to things. We pulled up to the mangroves and threw out the anchor. The only sound for miles were fish feeding, BIG fish feeding. The only light we had was the light of the moon shining on the water. As beautiful as it was, it really wasn't enough light. Trying to put a pin fish on a hook, in the dark, on a Gheenoe, at 5am, when you're scared shitless, is not an easy task. I was literally scared stiff and my fine motor skills suffered greatly. Oh.......And did I mention that we were trying not to make a sound because Snook get spooked very easily, well so do I by the way.

After about five minutes of trying to quietly chase this slimy, flopping Pin Fish around the boat, I had this overwhelming urge to stomp on it, but that would have made way too much noise. I would tell you what Andrea was doing during all of this, but I couldn't see her, so I really don't know. She could have taken a dip for all I knew. All in all it was an ok time but I don't think we'll be doing that again any time soon. I had a decent bite that felt like it might have been a Snook, but I lost it so I can only speculate. Frankly, after the struggle with the 2 inch Pin Fish, I think it was a blessing that I didn't have to pull it into the boat.

After the sun came up we changed locations which proved to be not such a great idea because the tide was going out. We ended up in pretty shallow water and we had to do a lot of paddling (again) and after being up since 4am, neither one of us was really excited to do that. So, Andrea started to belly ache a bit. First she hollers at me to paddle, then she hollers at me to paddle on the other side, then she says stop paddling, and then she yells, "I could use some help here!!!" So I start paddling and after about five minutes she yells at me because I'm over paddling her. WHATEVER THAT MEANS. At this point I'm thinkin' it's about time to go home.

Now Andrea's hook and shrimp had been just draggin' along in the water during this whole paddle scenario and so she decides to reel it in. Upon meeting some resistance she starts to gripe, "Oh geeze now I'm stick on some grass or something." Yada yada yada. Well as it turns out she's got a good size Flouder on the end of her line. She was so excited!! I was too, because at that moment, I was reminded once again, that there truly is a God, and I promptly thanked him. Up until that point, things were getting pretty ugly in the confined quarters of our 13 foot boat. But we got a picture, threw it back and headed for the shore with no casualties to report.

No matter how much you love your best friend, being hot, tired, hungry and crabby, in a confined space, with oars, is a recipe for disaster in any fishing manual.

All Hail the Puffer King

The saloon style doors clacked loudly against the walls as she slung them open. "Gimme 8 dozen" she says, threading a $20 bill through her fingers. The shifty eyes behind the counter dart quickly from the money in her hand to the dusty tumbleweed rolling by, just outside the window. "I said, gimme 8 dozen," she says again, this time with a hint of annoyance in her voice.

Quietly whistling the theme song from Bonanza, he gets busy loading the bucket. He turns on his spurs, sets the bucket of shrimp on the counter and says in a low, raspy voice, "Yer fishin' for em, ain't ya?"

Yup!! We were fishing for em alright. Fishing for the always elusive and highly coveted SNOOK!! The season opened at 12am on Friday morning. Fishing for snook is like mining for gold in these parts. So much so that the legal limit is a mere one fish per person on any given fishing trip. They're big, they're bad and they are the masters at bait stealing, line slicing, and general hocus pocus. So, as you might guess, to catch one, is the ULTIMATE fisherman's prize.

There were no prizes for us this weekend but we sure did have fun trying. Andrea caught her first "keeper," it was a mangrove snapper. She was so excited, reeling like a bat out of hell. I yelled, hurry up and get it in the.......Boat. No sooner did the word boat leave my lips and that fish wiggled right off her hook and belly flopped right back into the water. The face, spoke novels. There were no words, no pleasantries to fill the God forsaken silence. Only mourning, for the one that got away.

A few other quick notes about our trip. My dad, God bless him, went out last week and caught a boat load of bait fish and froze them to try to save us some money. We had a few issues. One, the bait would disappear and you never even felt a bite or anything. I think it just floated off actually. Two, they seemed to attract a lot of puffer fish. I used to catch those like crazy.........When I was five. My dad caught 3 or 4 puffer fish on Sunday, so we crowned him the Puffer King. A title I'm sure he'd rather trade in for the Snook King. I'm after that title though. It will be a fight to the finish to see who catches the first Snook of the season!!! Stay tuned.

Little Boat, Big Boat

Last Friday, before we left for our weekend concert tour, sponsored in part by our good friend and favorite big brother Hal Harless (thanks Hal), we hit the bay in our Gheenoe!! We left early and put in at the Courtney Campbell Boat Ramp. Eager for some good fishin' action, the chicks were rigged and ready. Now, let me just preface this story by saying that Andrea and I have caught a whopping 3 fish, to date, in the bay, where we fish in our little boat. So, coming straight off of two spectacular fishing days on my dad's big boat with an average haul of 50 to 100 fish, I think our little Andrea might have been just a bit jaded. Her comment to me during the drive to the ramp was, "we can put all the fish we catch in the cooler or on a stringer ok?" Again, we have caught 3 fish in the 5 times we have taken our boat out, you do the math. Never wanting to be the one to burst a bubble, I just smiled and nodded my head, thinking to myself, "she must be on crack."

Things started out a little bit rough because this was the first time that I had actually backed the boat onto a ramp, a ramp that slopes down into the water. Everything was going fine and then, the boat disappeared......down the ramp. Andrea's yelling "No, no, straighten it out, your going sideways!!!" I'm turning the wheel every which way, yelling back to her that I can't see the boat!!! Totally ignoring me, she continues to yell, "Why do you always go sideways??!!!" In another one of my more dramatic moments I slammed the car into park, got out and yelled, "You do it then!!!" And she did. She's such an ass.

So, I pulled myself together, parked the car and we loaded into the boat. The motor started right up, which took both of us by surprise and Andrea headed for the channel. I saw a big boat speeding toward us so I calmly let Andrea know, and for one split second she got this "deer in headlights" look on her face and I was sure that I had felt that exact same look on my own face right before I crashed a Jon Boat into the seawall in Crystal River (we'll save that story for another day). Always cool headed, she gained control of the boat and her expression, while I tried hard to erase the Jon Boat incident from my mind. Off we went.

The day's haul totaled a whopping 2, a Jack and a chubby Mangrove Snapper that would have been a keeper if it hadn't wiggled itself off of my hook before I got it into the boat. It was just as well though, I haven't really gotten up the nerve to actually kill a fish, even if I do plan to eat it. All in all, it was a good day though, not too hot, very relaxing with good friends and good fun.

Are any of you starting to notice a pattern here? Little boat, a little fish. Big boat, a lot of fish. Hmmmmmm.

The Meaning of Life

You know, for as long as I can remember
I have been trying to figure out
the meaning of life.

I've been quite a complex soul
since I was just a little girl.

In my search for what the meaning of life is,
I only seem to come up with what
the meaning of life isn't.

It isn't hatred, bitterness, or strife
It isn't condemnation, judgment, or prejudice
It isn't separation, segregation, or alienation
It can't be fighting, killing innocent people and terror

The more I ponder it, the more overwhelming it gets.
I might never know the true meaning of life,
at least not during "this" life.

But for now, I choose a more quiet and peaceful meaning,
filled with loving family and friends, that don't harbor
hidden agendas, impure motives, and deception.

Living my life to make these people happy
and not worrying about the ones that
only serve to make others miserable.

Although this may not be the meaning of life,
it gives mine an abundance of happiness
and a lot less stress!!

Andrea's Big Day!!

This was one of the greatest fishing days ever!!! Andrea and I started researching and planning the trip, the day before, so that it would be a perfect day and our pre-planning paid off!! We went and checked out the boat ramp and talked with a local bait shop owner to find out where to find the Mangrove Snapper. Now I've never really been the pre-planning type, but I do believe that my dear, organized friend Andrea is starting to rub off on me. We marked the map, made our plan, and we were ready to go.

I was so excited to show my dad all the fishing tricks that I had learned. We have been going fishing for as long as I can remember and he is REALLY good. When we got our boat, and starting fishing I realized just how much I had learned from watching him. So, it was very important to me that the trip turned out to be a good one, and it did.

We headed out with our map upside down, despite multiple warnings from Andrea that, "you never turn a map upside down." We turned it around and we were at our first fishing spot in no time. It was a little bridge on a residential canal. He'll probably kill me for saying this but my dad cast his line up onto some guys boat and it got stuck. I was just so glad to know that even the most seasoned of fishermen still do that on occasion. Sorry dad.

My dad and I caught the teeniest tiny Grouper and Mangrove Snapper, that we had ever seen. We started to feel like we were in a twilight zone version of "honey I shrunk the fish." But still no fish for Andrea. Jovial as ever, she was just happy to be there!!

Searching for some bait, we headed for the flats. My dad threw the cast net and Andrea manned the pole that kept us out of the bushes. My dad, Mr. Thrifty, made her fish a life jacket out of the mangroves. All the while she was yelling, "there better not be a body in it!!!" Thank God there wasn't. It would take years of counseling to get me over something like that!!! Well, we got a nice life jacket but no bait at all, so we decided to head over to the bridge in search of some bigger Mangrove Snapper!!

WE FOUND THEM!!! Oh boy, we were pulling up Mangrove Snapper as fast as we could get our bait down, it was awesome. My dad was having a blast. I was so proud that the day we had planned was turning out so great. Andrea kept getting bites and having her bait stolen (Mangrove Snapper are the master at bait stealing) but no luck. My dad had caught a couple of keepers (over 10 inches) and I had caught a few that were just under size and then it happened. Andrea hooked a fish. From the time that fish hit her line she was yelling, "it's a keeper, it's a keeper!!!" Always the optimist, that Andrea. It could have been a Sting Ray for God's sake and she was going to keep it!! While she was yelling, she quit reeling it in and we were yelling at her to keep reeling or she was going to lose it. It was quite a scene, I'm sure that every boater within a 2 mile radius was aware that Andrea had caught her first fish!!! It was a little Mangrove Snapper, probably about 6 inches or so. Her face lit up like a jack-o-lantern. My dad took it off of her hook, we took a picture and my dad proceeded to flip the fish back in the water. Well........Andrea's face looked like someone had just punched her in the stomach. My father made the grave mistake of only estimating the size of her fish and didn't go through the ritual of measuring it. Doh!!!

She rebounded quickly and hauled in a record 5 fish for the day. None were keepers but the excitement eased the sting. All together we must have caught 25 or 30 fish and 5 of them were keepers. We almost have enough for a fish fry, so we're heading back out this Sunday. Hopefully we'll have another great day!! Honestly though, any day that I can spend out on the water, with two of my favorite people in the whole world, is a great day. Fish or no fish!!

Early Morning Antics

There really isn't any way to sugar coat this so let me just cut to the chase. We got up at 5:00am to avoid the heat, put the boat in the water and the motor wouldn't start. Whew. It seems that our motor, which is a senior citizen (1965), is a tad temperamental. Andrea is too, but don't tell her I told you!! ; ) We went out and bought a new light to put on the bow of the boat in case it was still dark when we put the boat in. Andrea was so cute, it was broad daylight and she insisted on firing up the new light.

Looking back on all the supplies that we have purchased for the boat over the past couple of months nothing has proven to be more valuable than those oars. We did a lot of paddling on Saturday, but it was ok, we were determined to fish. We started off walking the dog. That's fishing lingo for pulling a lure across the top of the water in a zig zag motion. It obviously doesn't include walking or a dog. It was probably named by a bunch of drunks who were just dragging their lines across the water and accidentally caught a fish, maybe a dog fish. Whatever. We didn't catch anything and we probably looked like idiots. It's probably the fisherman's version of going on a snipe hunt.

Andrea tried several times to get the motor started but no luck. Both of us were surprisingly calm about the whole thing. Of course, things might have been different if we were in the middle of nowhere with no land in sight. But since we were only about 6 feet from shore, it was all good.

There were lots of Mangroves around, those are bushes that grow in the water and fish love to hide in their roots. So we paddled over and dropped our new anchor, the one that replaced the brick-on-a-rope. Not to be confused with soap-on-a-rope, commonly found in prisons. I know, I know, but what's a fish story without a good prison joke.

Anyway, the fishing was fair. We tried using some Pin Fish as bait, we had been using only shrimp. But now that I have my gloves I was ready to kick it up a notch. Hence, the Pin Fish. Now, I am here to tell you that Pin Fish are feisty little fish. I felt like I was like trying to catch a greased pig. Every time I got one out of the bucket it would wiggle out of my hand and "hit the deck." One even jumped back in the water. Smart, those Pin Fish. Fishing with Pin Fish was especially fun for Andrea who hasn't caught a fish yet. She finally got to see what it feels like to actually have a fish on her hook!!!

I caught two Mangrove Snapper and the side of Andrea's head. Well I actually hooked the Mangrove Snapper, thank God I didn't actually hook Andrea's head. She was just sitting in the back of the boat rigging her line and WHAP!!!! I smacked her right in the side of the head with the shrimp that was on the end of my line. She said something like, "Kim, would you please watch your line." Ok, that's not what she said. You guys know her, I'm sure you can draw your own conclusions.

Overall it was a fun day. We were in by 11:00am and the boat was clean before it got too hot!! I hope you all enjoy the pictures.

Two Minnows and a Barf Bag

Ok, now I've heard the saying, "A bad day fishing is better than a good day at work." Well, I'm here to tell you THAT was NOT the case on Sunday. We ended up getting the boat in the water at around 9:30am or so and everything seemed to be ok. Except that, the minute Andrea cranked up the motor she started complaining that she had to pee. We only passed about 27 gas stations and stopped at a bait store on the way to the ramp but nooooooooooooo. She just has to wait until we're on the water. I just smiled and tried to ignore her, hoping it would pass, but she kept saying over and over, "I really need to pee, we really need to find somewhere to pee." As far as I could see it her choices were a bit limited, but I didn't want to be the bearer of that bad news.

As we came to a stop in a shallow area I got out my cast net. Now I had been waiting all week long to throw this net for two reasons. First, my father told me that I would NEVER be able to throw a cast net out of a Gheenoe and second, our dear friend Jason said I would NEVER catch anything with only a 4 foot net. Being a red head and all, the very last thing that you want to tell me is that I can't do something, because come hell or high water (and they both did) I WILL do it. And I did, but it wasn't pretty. Andrea just sat in the back of the boat quietly chanting, "I know something bad's gonna happen, I just know something bad's gonna happen." And it really didn't, unless you count that fact that I threw the cast net about fifty times in the blazing heat and only caught two minnows. What can I say? Sometimes you're the wind shield, sometimes you're the bug.

At some point during my cast net catastrophe Andrea started to get a little bit miffed. Partially because once I get something in my head I'm a bit compulsive and partially because she REALLY had to pee now. So my little Daffodil decides to drop trow and hang it over the side of the boat, a Gheenoe no less. It was a Kodak moment if I ever saw one, but I didn't dare move one inch toward that camera. It was really hard though.

Things started to look up for a couple of minutes until we realized that we were in REALLY shallow water and we had to start paddling and paddling and paddling, all the water was really shallow and it was getting scorching hot out. We saw a lot of sea grass, sting rays, a jelly fish, and a bunch of minnows on steroids.

Once we got into some deeper water we decided to head back over to the inlet where we fished the first day. We got over there and baited our hooks and right about the same time we both got huge tangles in our lines. After fighting with the tangles, in the blazing heat, for about a half hour we decided to just cut the line and re-rig the poles. Geeeeeze, what else could go wrong!!??

We fished at that location for a little while and didn't even get one bite. Hot and sweaty, we decided to move. Cruisin' along I notice that Andrea slows the boat. I turned around to look at her and she says, "I have the motor turned up full blast but we're not going very fast." THAT CAN'T BE GOOD. It wasn't, there was sea grass wrapped all around the prop on the motor. Paddling once again while Andrea cleans the crap off the prop. Damn it was hot!!!

We paddled out of the sea grass and decided to try our hand at fishing one last time. Still no luck. To quote Andrea at about noon, "This is f#@*ing miserable!!" I agreed but wasn't able to say much due to the heat exhaustion, I was starting to feel really sick. Ironic enough, 2 hours earlier Andrea's ass was hanging off the boat and now my head was hanging off the boat. Ain't life grand!! But, yet again, we were too shallow for the motor so we had to paddle ourselves the rest of the way in. I managed to get the car and help put the boat on the trailer but Andrea had to drive us home because I was not in very good shape!!!

She got us home safe and sound and even cleaned up the boat. She's a trooper, my little Daffodil. Here's to better fishing days ahead!!

Big Red

Woooooooo Hooooooooo!!! Day number 2!!! Today we went out earlier in the day and it was hot but not nearly as hot as yesterday. We are getting more organized with our boating gear, the trailering gets better each day, and the motor is starting up on the first or second try. We're boat owners, oh yeah!! We started out the day heading to the Wheeden Island Preserve where we practiced going over really big speed bumps with the trailer. There were walk-in canoe launches but no where to put a trailer in. Oh well, the speed bump practice was invaluable.

We ended up putting the boat in at Gandy Beach, which as it turns out is a pretty good place to put in. We headed out to the high seas, ok fine, the shore line. Anyway, my big idea was to get some small hooks and catch some bait fish instead of paying $4 for 12 Pin Fish. Instead I opted to buy a pack of small hooks for $8 that were waaaaaay too big. My bad. We did have live shrimp though.

Andrea spent most of her day re-rigging our poles, she's getting to be quite the little rigger, that one. She can tie some really mean knots. Wicked mean.

We tried a few different spots before we settled on a spot that we like to call Pelican Pointe. It was right behind a power plant and there was a huge pine tree with Pelicans on almost every limb. It was amazing because they are such big birds and they were sitting on the thinnest of branches.

Things started out a little slow at our new found fishing spot but they soon heated up!!! I reeled in the biggest Pin fish I had ever seen in my life, I doubt it was a world record or anything but it was big. That thing must have been a good 5 inches and what a fighter. Wow, I almost threw out my shoulder. Oh alright, I'm kidding. But it was fun to FINALLY catch something.

After we recovered from the Pin Fish excitement I re-baited my hook and OH, by the way, I decided to wear gloves today!!! What a world of difference. Those shrimp didn't have a snow ball's chance in hell today. Anyway, on my Pin Fish high, I re-baited my hook and took a few casts. Andrea complimented me on my improved casting so I decided to show off a bit and landed a perfect cast right next to the rocky shore line. Then it happened....

WHAM!!! Before I knew it, my pole was doubled over to the water and I was reeling like crazy. This was no 5 inch Pin Fish I tell ya. It put up a fight but I was able to land a 19 inch Red Fish. Move over Captain Nick there's a new chick in town!!! Oh Yeah!!!

I did almost fall out of the boat, a little over excited, I forgot we were in a Gheenoe. Andrea promptly screamed at me, I think I scared her to death. My bad. But what an awesome fish!!! My biggest fish ever! Best of all, we were able to release it unharmed.

While we were both still on our Red Fish high, this REALLY LOUD VOICE comes out of nowhere, sending us both about 4 inches straight up in the air. "ATTENTION BOATERS, YOU ARE IN A RESTRICTED AREA, YOU MUST STAY BEHIND THE BUOYS!!!!" Geeze, what a buzz kill. Ironically enough, we had been discussing why those buoys were there for the entire hour and a half that we were fishing there. Doh!!

Andrea had that motor fired up and we were on our way before that guy had time to take the bull horn down from his mouth. We not lookin' for no trouble mista!!! Andrea is getting really, really good at starting the motor and steering the boat. Thank goodness.

Nothing really exciting happened after that. We moved to a new spot, didn't really get any bites. I did catch a couple pieces of an oyster bed. I almost fell out of the boat again, trying to cast really far. I was able to right myself though, just in time to hear a few choice expletives from Andrea. That girl's out of control.

Two Mangroves and Root

Well, day 1!!! Our first real day of fishing in the Florida sun. It was hot, hot, hot, caliente!! We ventured out to a little inlet just south of the Howard Franklin Bridge. We worked out our bait bugs by getting a 5 gallon bucket and an air pump!!! Voila, no more dead shrimp. Now, I must confess, I hate actually touching the shrimp. Not because I'm scared but because I have this little "thing" about getting cuts on my hands. I managed though. It wasn't quick and it wasn't pretty but damn it, I baited my own hooks.

We had a lot of action. Andrea caught a bunch of stuff!!! Yeah, 2 mangroves (bushes) and a root. We spent more time paddling over to get her jig un-stuck from things than we did actually fishing but it was all good. Something under the water taunted us all afternoon. If I didn't know better I would swear there were scuba divers down there taking the bait off of our hooks. We took turns yanking our hooks out of the water and dodging half baited hooks coming straight for our faces. Still on a learning curve, that's us.

The highlight of our day was when a HUGE manatee swam right by our boat. Andrea screamed because she thought it was an alligator. She must not have paid attention in Marine Biology class. Psssst, alligators don't live in salt water.

My trailering skills are beginning to improve but I will have to try to control my temper a bit. Andrea was a bit surprised when I slammed the car in park, smack dab in the middle of the street and walked off. But like a trooper she stepped in and backed the boat in like a pro!!! NOT!!!