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!!!