omega2
Well-Known Member
Friday 23rd January, out of bed 7-30am, quick wash and shave, and out to the car for a short drive to a small Marina for breakfast, again a very varied menu and then the University Challenge set of questions before the waitress committed anything to paper, but it was quickly served when the decision had been reached, “Eggs easy over, bacon, toast, sausage gravy, and the inevitable cheese over the lot, coffee that just keeps coming, at a reasonable price. Then out into the Marina to look at the Tarpon, “None in today, you can go see if you like, I will not charge you” the attendant was right no Tarpon the water is too cold.
Back at John’s place we get our bits and pieces together cameras, sunscreen, hats, shorts, and go down to the dock, from my bedroom a distance of 20 yards
John is preparing his boat for the days fishing, 3 heavy set ups, 3 medium, and 3 light, hold on a minute there are four of us we will be short of gear. Then Jeff a local skipper arrives on his boat and we are embarked with him, there is another party of three staying with John along with us so we are alternating between the two “Captains”. Jeff and John go into conference and then we are told the score, there has been a cold front come through and the fishing has taken a dive we should get something but it will be hard work “you should have been here yesterday” we had been wondering why the locals were wearing hats scarves and fleeces, the thermometer on the dock was reading 75f which to them is cold!!
Friday 23rd January 2009
THE FISHING
As you can see John’s boat is not big 22feet to be precise but being a “BACK COUNTRY” model powered by a Yamaha 150 four stroke, it draws hardly any water and is very stable even with five bodies all on the same side, however today we are with Jeff and his boat is a 24 feet BACK COUNTRY MACHINE powered by a Yamaha 250 four stroke, again stable and very very quick, we exit the canal and then both of them hit throttles, and cruise at 30 knots out into the Florida Marine Park, which is all of 8 feet at it’s deepest and less than 3 in a lot of places, apparently it is better to go fast “keeps the boat on the plane” should we ground we will blast over it. We run for about 35 minutes and then slow down, looking at the sounder I can see we are in 4 feet of water, but a sounder is not needed, as the water is gin clear and patches of sand and grass plainly visible, Jeff drops the anchor
and we are handed the 12lb gear, a rod about 6ft long with a small “coffee grinder” attached 12lb line straight through to a short wire leader with a small jig on the end, onto this is hooked a shrimp, cast it out the back and draw back sink and draw style, meanwhile Jeff deploys the chum bag. The fishing is not so good due to the water temperature and clarity but we managed a few Blue runners, Blue fish, and Mackerel
Jeff is not a happy bunny but a phone call to John reveals the same performance is going on in his choice of venue, we curtail the day, so that the “hours” can be added to another day, a nice gesture on the part of our Captain.
Back at John’s place we get our bits and pieces together cameras, sunscreen, hats, shorts, and go down to the dock, from my bedroom a distance of 20 yards
John is preparing his boat for the days fishing, 3 heavy set ups, 3 medium, and 3 light, hold on a minute there are four of us we will be short of gear. Then Jeff a local skipper arrives on his boat and we are embarked with him, there is another party of three staying with John along with us so we are alternating between the two “Captains”. Jeff and John go into conference and then we are told the score, there has been a cold front come through and the fishing has taken a dive we should get something but it will be hard work “you should have been here yesterday” we had been wondering why the locals were wearing hats scarves and fleeces, the thermometer on the dock was reading 75f which to them is cold!!
Friday 23rd January 2009
THE FISHING
As you can see John’s boat is not big 22feet to be precise but being a “BACK COUNTRY” model powered by a Yamaha 150 four stroke, it draws hardly any water and is very stable even with five bodies all on the same side, however today we are with Jeff and his boat is a 24 feet BACK COUNTRY MACHINE powered by a Yamaha 250 four stroke, again stable and very very quick, we exit the canal and then both of them hit throttles, and cruise at 30 knots out into the Florida Marine Park, which is all of 8 feet at it’s deepest and less than 3 in a lot of places, apparently it is better to go fast “keeps the boat on the plane” should we ground we will blast over it. We run for about 35 minutes and then slow down, looking at the sounder I can see we are in 4 feet of water, but a sounder is not needed, as the water is gin clear and patches of sand and grass plainly visible, Jeff drops the anchor
and we are handed the 12lb gear, a rod about 6ft long with a small “coffee grinder” attached 12lb line straight through to a short wire leader with a small jig on the end, onto this is hooked a shrimp, cast it out the back and draw back sink and draw style, meanwhile Jeff deploys the chum bag. The fishing is not so good due to the water temperature and clarity but we managed a few Blue runners, Blue fish, and Mackerel
Jeff is not a happy bunny but a phone call to John reveals the same performance is going on in his choice of venue, we curtail the day, so that the “hours” can be added to another day, a nice gesture on the part of our Captain.
