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!!!