Random Kindness, You Gotta Love It!
What a beautiful day on the water today. There weren't a ton of boats out, I guess all the HE-MEN were watching the Bucs attempt a playoff game. Yes, I'm a Bucs fan and don't eeeeeeven get me started.
Anyway, once again we made it to the reef on our first try.......Oh Yeah!!! I have even learned how to name our Waypoints on the GPS system now. We no longer have to head out to Waypoint number 009. We can now head on out to the Port Tampa Reef. Hi-Tech fishing chicks, that's us!!
As we approached the reef we noticed that there was a boat sitting smack dab on top of it. Damn it!! Being sure to adhere to the 100 yard rule we pulled up and found ourselves a spot. We fished for 30 minutes or so and didn't even really have a bite. Again, we weren't sure where the reef actually was because we always drift by it after we throw out the anchor.
So, we pulled up anchor and tried another spot nearby. A few minutes after we re-anchored, I noticed that the other boat on the reef was coming toward us. It was an older gentleman fishing by himself. I mumbled under my breath, "well obviously this jerk doesn't adhere to the 100 yard rule, that inconsiderate blah blah bleep bleep bleep!"
"Any luck!?" He hollers. Andrea answers back, "no, not much!!" He then proceeds to tell us that the reef is best fished on a slack tide (which we didn't know) and he said he was headed over to a trout hole that he found and we could follow along if we wanted to. He said he had non-stop action there the day before.
Feeling a little guilty that I had been so quick to judge, I didn't say much, but Andrea said that we were going to try the reef for a bit longer. He told her exactly were to go to find the hole and he said we could look for his boat. What a nice man.
After about 10 more minutes we decided to head for the spot he had told us about and low and behold, there he was flagging us down and shouting exactly how far past him to go and exactly how much anchor rope to let out. What a really nice man. He was pulling in Silver Trout and Whiting hand over fist. Andrea caught a couple small Silver Trout and most of the fish that Mr. Really Nice Man was catching were also very small. We were just fishing away and he was yelling over recipes for how to fix the Trout, how to get the most dead bait for your money, and even what the Fish and Wildlife regulations were for Silver Trout and Whiting. He was just as helpful as helpful could be. It does my heart good to know that there are still people in the world who look out for their fellow man or woman, which ever the case may be.
We thanked Mr. RNM and headed over to another one of our fishing spots, closer to shore. Now I need to interject here that while we were at the trout hole I got a couple text messages from a couple of friends. I don't want to mention any names here but their initials are Tammy and Jacqueline. Anyway, it was not a big deal at all, Andrea was pulling in the anchor and tidying up the boat....She does that a lot, and I was texting. No problem man.
After pulling up to our next fishing destination and deciding which direction the wind was blowing, Andrea tells me to throw out the anchor. Being the first mate, I give it a good hurl. It didn't catch. I pull it in and give it another good hurl. Still doesn't catch. Just after I hurl the anchor for the third time Andrea turns around and barks at me, "if you would pay attention to what your doing instead of texting on your phone then maybe this wouldn't be such a big problem!!!"
Ummmmmmm, first of all, the last time I sent a text was when we were anchored next to Mr. RNM and second of all, "WHAT IN THE HELL DID THAT HAVE TO DO WITH THE FACT THAT THE ANCHOR WOULDN'T CATCH HOLD OF THE BOTTOM?" That girl just ain't right. I would, however, like to commend her on her impeccable sense of timing. You notice how she waited until the anchor left my hands before she started her belly aching!!
Honestly though, we had a great time. We caught a couple of Sheepshead, a Mangrove Snapper and a Snook!!! We threw them all back to grow a little so we can catch them when their REALLY big.
It's always a good day when your faith in human kindness is restored. Even if the Bucs did lose the playoff game.
