Counting down

All the mature vitamins are gone, and there's only a few coffee packs left in the can.  Not too long before we get to enjoy rain, sleet, and snow up in the cloud belt.

Pam wanted to go to the beach yesterday, so we packed lunch and took the dinghy over to Don Pedro.  It was windy, and the waves were crashing in to the beach.  All that surf stirred up the red tide, and we immediately started coughing as soon as we hit the sand.  We couldn't stay on the beach very long, but Pam found a few sharks teeth before we had to leave.

We walked the nature trail at Don Pedro, and saw several piles of "scat."  I thought they were probably from panthers, but Pam said they were most likely from racoons.

The weather here today is cloudy, windy, and there are tornado warnings.  I guess I'll need to use a heavier lure while casting into a tornado.

Our floating camper hasn't left the dock since we arrived.  As usual, the dinghy has seen a lot of use.  And we've put over 1500 miles on our truck AFTER we arrived in Cape Haze.  (Naples and Tampa twice) The charges on our credit cards for gasoline will be quite high for this trip.

Already starting to think about where we might go next year.

electric chicken

Friday, we were going to have dinner with Frank & Pat, our pals from Venice.  Before they got here, I went out to fish for a short while.  I hooked what I thought was the biggest red fish I'd caught this year.  The fish was stripping line like mad, and while I was raising my anchor with one hand, and starting  the video camera with the other hand and fighting the fish with my third hand, the fish got off.  I cried.

We had a very pleasant dinner and visit with Frank and Pat, and that helped me get over the disappointment of loosing a big red fish.  However, when I told my fishing friends down here about loosing the big red, they weren't very kind.  They said  "Must have been a sting ray."  "Maybe a manatee." And my favorite....."Probably a scuba diving interior decorator."
 
So, the next day, I went back to the same spot, and using the same bait, I caught this biggest red ever.

Saturday evening, we were invited over to Argay's house for dinner.  We had a great time with them, and dinner was superb.   On the way to their house, I stopped in Port Charlotte at Fishin Frank's to buy some soft plastic baits that Shelly had recommended.  I asked Frank if he sold Z-Man baits, and he looked me over, and said "Sure do--the best color is electric chicken."  And he put a package in my hand.  Electric chicken is bright pink and green.  It doesn't look like anything I've ever seen in the water.

I tied on an electric chicken this morning and went out to try my luck.  I kept looking at that thing, and thinking about that pink colored bait.  It really shows up in the water, and it practically glows when you cast it.  So I'm thinking..................did Frank peg me as a tourist, and get me to buy this pink bait so I won't catch any fish, and the locals can see me casting that pink thing from a long distance, and know I'm a rookie?

It didn't take long to set aside those concerns.  The biggest red ever from yesterday is no longer the biggest red ever.   And electric chicken is now my favorite color bait.

A dolphin tale

Wednesday was departure day for the girls.  Their plane left the Tampa airport about 3:30.  Kiera had watched the "Dolphin Tale" movie back home, and wanted to go see "Winter" at the Clearwater Marine Aquarium.  So we got up early and went to Clearwater before the airport.

If you haven't seen the movie, it's a true story about a dolphin that's fitted with a prosthetic tail.  It was filmed at the Clearwater Aquarium, and the actual dolphin "Winter" is still there.

Here's the trainers putting Winter's tail on.

And Winter exercising with her tail attached.

 

 

We had a great time over the short time the girls were here.  The weather was a little cool, but that didn't slow us down. 

The fourth day at the beach

On Tuesday, we went to a fourth different beach with the girls.

 

We picked up lots of shells and sharks teeth.  

There was a blooming cactus on Don Pedro St Park Beach.

I love this photo of a kid who's having so much fun at the beach that she's not even touching the ground.

I wanted to take Kindra and Kiera fishing, so we drove down to Eldred's marina to get some shrimp.  While we were there, the bait guy took Kiera to the end of the dock and let her throw some shrimp in the water.  Some giant snook came out from under the dock to grab the shrimp as they hit the water.  The snook were so big that at first I thought they were tarpon--until I saw the line on their sides. 

Then as the guy dipped our shrimp, he pulled out a live seahorse for Kiera to pet.

Using her little pink pole, Kiera finaly hooked into some sheepshead.

All Kindra caught were rocks. (But they were big ones.)

Who?

Cold 39 degrees this morning.  But it warmed up to the mid 70's.
Another day at the beach.
We went to Stump Pass State Park Beach.

On the way out to the beach, we found a spot we might want to check out for bingo later in the month.

The beach has a nature trail, and along the way, we found this nest.

For those of you up NOrth in the cloud belt who haven't seen it in a long time, that blue stuff behind the owl is sky.

Out on the beach, bodies were washed up everywhere.  Must be the red tide again.

Kiera found a shell tree

I asked her to find me a dollar tree, and on the way home, she found one near Walmart.

Back in the sailboat racing days, we had several inanimate objects for crew. (Not including Dawg)
For a while, we had an alien on board, and later, we enjoyed the company of Lucy the Love Doll.  After one race in Kentucky, she just disappeared.  We never knew what happened to her.
Now, it looks like she's retired and moved to Florida.  I'm happy to know she's doing well.  I know Dawg misses her.

Here's the original Lucy on the back of my boat and the alien on the bow.

And here's a couple of guys who will probably show up for the bingo game out on the beach

Cold Weather

We went out in the dinghy to explore the area.  Kiera found a star fish.

It was cold and windy here yesterday.  What can you do in cold weather on a crowded small boat?  Roll up the carpet for a game of jacks of course.

The girls decided to go over to Boca Grande to "shop."  They also went down to the lighthouse and out on the beach at the pass.

 

Banyan tree

 

I thought I might be able to fish for a little while, so I donned two of my sweatshirts and a jacket to give it a try.  Didn't last long.  We had an extreme low tide, so the area I usually fish was only about 4" deep.  I drifted over the shallow water, and found a spot that had water that was 12" deep in an area that was a 20' circle.  I hooked a redfish in that small space, but didn't get him to the boat.  I only lasted an hour in the cold wind before I gave up.

Earlier, I mentioned the ferries just outside our marina that haul cars across to an island.  On the way out to fish, I saw something unusual.  I heard sirens coming down the street to the ferry ramp.  An ambulance, two police cars and two fire trucks, were stopped, waiting on the ferry with flashing lights and sirens going.  When the ferry got to their side, they loaded on--with their lights and sirens still going.  They couldn't all fit for one trip, so the fire trucks sat and waited while the others went across.  Again, with all lights and sirens going.  I hope there was not a life-threatening event on the island, because it was a somewhat funny sight. 

Visitors from the NOrth

Someone's been sleeping in my bed, and she's still here.

On Thursday, we drove up to the Tampa airport to pick up Kindra and Kiera, our daughter and grand daughter.  We stopped on the way to have lunch with Beth and Tracy.  (Pam's sister and brother-in-law.)

We have six days to do all the Florida stuff.  We started with the beach.

Then, Kiera had to get into the pool.  I tried to convince her the hot tub was the 'Kiddie pool" but she's a too smart for that.

Kiera made a new friend on one of the Ranger Tugs left here in the marina.  Char goes to McDonald's occasionally, and brought Kiera two toys from happy meals.  She also gave Kiera a piece of left over Valentines Day cake, which she shared with the other girls on the boat. 

sailboat racing and redfish

Back when I raced sailboats, there was a saying that I thought accurately described the races..................."Endless hours of boredom interspersed with moments of stark terror."  That pretty much sums it up--especially when you consider some of the people I had crewing with me.  For instance, we raced in the 100 mile race on Kentucky Lake several times.  Go down the lake 50 miles, make one turn and sail back up the lake.  Sounds simple.  I remember one particular race when my crew waited until the very last minute at the turning mark to get the headsail set up for the return leg.  As we rounded the mark and they hoisted the headsail, it was upside down.  They had hanked it on the headstay pointy end down.  The breeze had picked up, and we were quickly overpowered and knocked down.  It took forever to get things secured, and we lost a lot of positions in the race.  Afterwards, I suggested that we might as well go over in a cove, drop the hook and have lunch.

So, what does this have to do with fishing for redfish? Today, I made a thousand casts.  I caught red fish on casts number 697, 698, and 699.  Three consecutive casts.  Nothing before and nothing after.  All the excitement happened in a short period of time.

 

I used to like watching dolphins.  But this was the third time a dolphin has come into the area where I'm fishing, and scared the fish away.

One guy who reads my blog said he actually watches my videos.  So here's another.

Twizzlers

I may someday grow tired of catching redfish, but probably not before my limited days on this planet are over.  I wore my "Big Red" shirt out fishing again.  It worked much better today.  I guess it just needed to be worn a second day in 80 degrees to get that perfect smell.  My Big Red shirt may be rank, but at least it's ranked #1 again this week.

 

I caught 12 redfish today, and had another 2 on the line, but Dawg says if they don't get in the boat, I can't log them in.

Dawg had an interesting trip home.  I got this email from him today. 

 

Thanks Pam and Tom for your hospitality. I had a great time visiting and going fishing.  Good to be with you both. I enjoyed fishing, catching was rare, but fun also. I tried to post this on the blog but was unable.  operator problems I'm sure.

 

I had an interesting trip home.  We flew into Charlotte and was fogged in for an hour or so, so I went to get some lunch.  Of course there was a bar and alcohol involved.  They told me it would be at least a half an hour before there would be an update on departure, so why not have just one more.  I checked my phone to see the status and was surprised to see that the plane was taxiing.  Quite a shock.  The airline put me on a nonstop to Indy and I beat my bags by two hours.  They went by way of Newark NJ., as I was supposed to go.  So, after a bit of a wait my bags and I got together, and all is well.  Just another If I hadn't been drinking kind of thing.

 

That's my story.

Thanks again, enjoy the sun.

dawg

New bait.  Twizzler Teaser.

It works

 If you're not tired of the fish cam, here's another video.

 

Good Deeds

Yesterday, while Dawg and I were fishing, we came upon a boat anchored not far from Don Pedro beach.  It was a new, large center console with a 250 hp Yamaha, and I thought since the beach docks were full, he had dropped his family off at the beach, and was waiting in the boat for them to call for a pick up.  So as we passed him, I said "Wouldn't they let you go to the beach?" 
His reply was..........."Do you have an extra battery on board?  Or maybe a jump box?" 
Of course we were in my dinghy, so I told him sorry, but we don't have (or need) a battery. 
He went on to explain that he had three batteries on the boat, but since he kept it in dry storage, there wasn't a way to charge them while in the rack, and all three were dead.  (A problem I've heard before.)
The boat owner happened to have a mechanic friend on the boat with him, and he said when the mechanic wiped his hands off, and closed his tool box, the owner knew they were in trouble.  They had been there over 4 hours.
I asked which way they were going, and when he told me he kept his boat in Palm Island marina, I offered to tow him back.  The idea of us in my little dinghy towing his new expensive boat back into the marina didn't seem to appeal to him.  I said we were going to fish in the general area for a while, and we would check back with him before we left in case he changed his mind.
So as I promised, we went back by his boat, and asked again if we could tow him in. 
He had been on the phone with the service department at the marina, and found that they had a jump box, but no one was free to run it out to him.  (There are companies that provide this kind of service SeaTow, and TowBoatUS but I guess he didn't join up.)  I thought it was asking a lot of a stranger to go pick up a jump box for him and bring it back.  But we were in too deep, and I wouldn't refuse helping anyone stranded in a boat.  So off we went on a rescue mission.  All this was started by a simple friendly comment I made to him about the beach.
By the time we got back to him with the jumper box, his attitude about getting towed in had changed.  He asked us to please wait around to see if the engine was going to start, and if it didn't would we please tow him home.  It started.  We figured we save two souls from certain demise. 

Today, Pam went out in the dinghy with me while I was fishing.  On the way to my secret spot, we saw this.

I may be from Indiana, but I'm pretty sure that's now how that thing should be.  I didn't really want to do it, but Pam convinced me to call the Coast Guard and report it.  So I dug my little hand held VHF out of the water-tight box in the dinghy, and called................"Coast Guard, Coast Guard,  this is Tonic."  I got an immediate response............."Tonic, this is US Coast Guard, St. Petersburg district."
I reported that mark number 13 at the South end of Lemon Bay had been hit, and was not only missing, but also floating, and a hazard to navigation.They said they would issue a notice to mariners and send a crew out to fix it.


Two good deeds in two days.  Not like me at all.  Surely something bad will happen to me soon.  "No good deed goes unpunished."

As for fishing...............I can find the redfish--I just can't make them bite.  I saw about 50 reds today, but only caught 2 small ones.  (Even with my "Big Red" shirt on.)  Here's a good shot of the fish cam in position.

Dawg Gone

We had a great time with the Dawg here on our floating camper. He said he wanted to go fishing everyday, and that suited my schedule just fine.  It was 80 degrees and sunny while he was visiting, so we sent him home with a sunburn and a smile.

Coincidence ??

I knew it was only a matter of time.
I mentioned earlier that the marina has "free beer" on Saturdays.
Guess who showed up this afternoon.  (Friday)
My beer drinking pal, Dawg. 
Coincidence?  I think not...


So I took Dawg out to my secret fishing spot this afternoon, and when we returned to the boat, brown-O bOb was waiting.  He left his sailboat anchored down the way, and drove his dinghy up to our marina.

Dawg will be be staying with us on our boat for a couple of days.

bOb

If you've read my blog for a while, you have seen my stories about "Brown-O bOb."
I met bOb at Kentucky Lake long ago while racing sailboats.

Look what I found today.

 

The man himself.  The living legend.  bOb

bOb now lives in Cape Coral, Florida. Today, he was on his sailboat, anchored about 2 miles from our marina. 

So bOb and I went out fishing this afternoon.  It was pretty windy, and we didn't catch much.  But we caught up on old times.

They're back

Fishing has been pretty slow the past few days.  On Monday, I went out to my secret spot, and even though I saw about 50 redfish, I couldn't catch any. Then on Tuesday, we drove over to Pine Island to visit with Shelly and Cherryl.  They have a beautiful home on the NOrth end of Pine Island.  Shelly also has a nice little flats boat that we went out on to his secret spot.  Again, we saw hunderts of redfish, but we each caught only one.

It was a great time on the water.  I really enjoyed blasting across the flats in Shelly's boat, and it was fun learning some fishing and knot tying tips from Shelly.  He's a retired heart surgeon.  I'm not sure if he uses fishing knots for surgery, or surgery knots for fishing.  Later, we enjoyed dinner at the Lazy Flamingo--one of Pam's favorites.

Today, I went back out fishing, and after at least five hundert casts with that gold spoon, I switched back to a soft plastic bait.  I suppose every fish on the flats where I go had seen my gold spoon, because as soon as I started throwing the soft plastic, it was fish on. 

 

The score was 5 redfish, 2 snook, a trout, and a lot of jacks.  If you're not tired of the fishcam videos, here's another one

Most of the Ranger Tugs left the marina Monday.

While we were gone yesterday, the marina filled up with another boat club.