Sea Slugs

There's only two locations when you're talking to someone in Florida.  There's "here."  And there's "up NOrth."  Doesn't matter which state.  If it's not "here," then it's "up NOrth."


It's still cold here.  I realize that no one up NOrth cares, but when you go to the trouble and expense to come to Florida, you expect it to be warm.  My pal Shelly flew off to Arizona yesterday.  Today, the people on the boat next to us rented a car, drove to Miami, and got on a plane to the Caribbean, and chartered a sailboat.


The water taxi driver, Dave, is from somewhere up NOrth where they talk with an accent.  (Maine)
This morning, he told Pam there were some "ink fish" stranded on the shallow area next to where the water taxi docks.  She took a photo of one.

There were five or six of the unusual animals there, and he thought he should net them and move them to deeper water.  I had my underwater camera for the last two.  While he was moving them, they did squirt out ink.  However, a search on the internet proved them to be Brown Sea Slugs.  They are in the same family as squids, cuttlefish, and octopi.

Here's a short video

Cold Jacks

 

Too cold to fish?

Not for me and Jack

 

I've been catching some decent Jacks.  Every time one hits, I'm sure I have a redfish.

I really hope they stick around while my 6 year old granddaughter is here.  And also later when my pal Dawg is here.  I would say that that both their fishing abilities are about the same, but I wouldn't want to offend my granddaughter.

spot

Finally had a nice day.  Got out to my favorite redfish spot.  Caught a really nice 24" trout.

And connected with a couple of redfish. 
 This one was about 3" longer than my 24" measuring device.

If you want to see a video with a happier ending than yesterday's, click here.

Snookered

If we had a little more space, I might say we've got cabin fever.  After several days cooped up in our little boat, a cabin would seem spacious.  So even though it was raining today, I went fishing.

As usual, I was fishing for redfish.  Early on, I caught a nice trout.

Before I became a redfish snob, I thought snook were my favorite fish to catch.  I had a snook sticker on my old truck bumper.  I have a plastic snook on the wall in my den.  Redfish might have more brute strength, but redfish don't jump.  Snook are acrobatic and terrific fighters.  So today, when I hooked the largest snook I've ever had on the end of my line, I knew what it was after the first jump.  Actually, the fact that this snook only jumped high enough to show it's giant head was an indication that it was huge.  Small snooks jump clear out of the water, but as they get bigger, they can no longer clear the surface. 

Like most things, fishing is full of compromises.  Fishing line is one.  I use braided line.  It's smaller diameter than comparable test monofilament. However, braid shows up in the water, so I use a leader made of fluorocarbon.  Up NOrth, I use small flourocarbon--either 10 or 15 pound.  For redfish down here, I use 20 pound or sometimes 25 pound. The trade off is that you will catch more fish with a smaller diameter leader.  But smaller a diameter leader will wear through quicker if it rubs against a piling with barnacles. Or if it rubs against the gill plate of a huge snook.   That's why people who fish for large snook use heavy leader.  Maybe 50 pound fluorocarbon. 

So when I saw the size of the snook I had on my line today, I knew it would not end well.  The snook took off, and I was trying to hold my hand on the reel spool to slow it down.  I kept tightening the drag, but the line was zipping off my reel.  I was into the backing, and thinking I would get "spooled" but just about the time it reached the end of the line, the snook turned around, and swam towards my boat.  I frantically reeled in line to keep up.  When the snook got within about 10 feet of the dinghy, it took off again.  This time, it was shaking it's head, and rubbing my 20 pound fluorocarbon against it's razor sharp gill plates.  You can guess what happened next. 

When this all started, I turned on my video camera.  The video shows a bent rod, a lot of splashing, and an old man crying at the end.  I couldn't bear to watch it again so I didn't process it to post here.

Arctic Blast

Pumped up the dinghy yesterday, and went out to fish for a while.  While fishing, I kept hearing a hissing noise, and occasionally saw bubbles coming out from under the blow-up boat. Might have been an alligator, but unfortunately, it was worse.  Soon, I got that sinking feeling.  Literally.

I made it back to the marina, and tied up to the mother ship for repairs.

We went out again this morning to do some more fishing.  Around 11am, it was about 75 degrees and pleasant.

 

The weather forecast called for a cold front to come through Florida later in the day.   Sure enough, just after noon, we could see it coming from the NOrth.

 

The temperature is dropping from the 75 degree high this morning to a low tonight of 35 degrees.  At least our 35 degrees is above zero. 

 

Just in the nick of time

We got out of the frozen NOrth just in the nick of time.  We had originally planned to depart on January 2nd.  After checking the forecast, we moved it up by one day, and left on the 1st.  Looking at photos from home, we barely escaped.  Very cold temps and lots of sNOw.

We're back in Palm Island Marina--same place as last year.  Pam likes the facility, and I like the fishing.  We've had some cool temps since we arrived, but can't seem to get much sympathy from people up NOrth for 40 degrees overnight here when the wind chill at home is -40 degrees.

IU and the Colts are on TV today.  It's cool and overcast, so we plan to stay inside and watch both games.

On the drive down, Pam saw a sign along the interstate for an "adult" superstore.  She said she wondered if they'd take a trade-in.  I couldn't imagine what she might have or want that would come from an "adult" superstore.  I've mentioned before that she makes me take "mature" vitamins, but she's disappointed that the "mature" part hasn't worked on me.  So she was hoping that she might trade me in for an adult.