Low tide was a 3am this morning, winds out of the South at 5 mph when I first wet the line at 5:30am at Dania Beach. I'm always alone at dawn on Dania, nost of the other snook fisherman arrive after sunrise...missing the best part of the bite. I got two schoolie's this morning, one a bit over 22''-24'' and the other at 16'' or so, and a couple of small jacks fell to the white bucktail...it never fails, was home at 7am and went back to bed till 9, good start to the day.

First week of June and Flamingo 06/04/09

Monday Morning

Tuesday Morning Dania Beach Snookin'

Wednesday with a buddy @ the pier, Dania that is

Flamingo Florida - Paradise, with bugs

I've been moving at very high speeds for the last few days, moving really took it out of me and since then I've been cramming as much cleaning and upkeep as possible into my days.

So with all the work/fishing last week I wasn't expecting to make it out to Flamingo on Thursday but last minute I called my buddy Matt and we met at Flamingo at 5:15am.

The mosquitos were pretty intense in the marina, they followed us around for an hour or so before slowly disapating, we weren't catching anything but ladyfish until then anyway. When we made it to Christian point we were greeted by snook roving the shorelines, my skitterwalk was hit by a small snook, Matt's topwater was engulfed by a much larger snook that broke him off on the first jump. There were Tarpon about as well and Matt jumped one, I jumped two, landing one for a few pics.

We caught nothing but lady's for the next hour and at slack low tide we started drifting over the grassflats on the way back to the marina...they were loaded with reds, friggin reds everywhere! The were incredibly spooky in that thick grass, I got a shot at 4 tailers and Matt had a few attempts as well...no takers. We were just staked out with reds all around us, talk about frustration. I was off the water by 9:45, Tom was a litte late getting to work so I fished from shore where I could, landed a little snook and a small goliath, pretty cool way to kill some time.

Working on the trail today was particularly tough, the bug suits were a must as the mosquitos are back in full form...they are our constant company and so were the sankes! I counted 10 pygmy rattlers on the way out from Bear Lake, I also shoo'ed a large cottonmouth off the road after almost running over the thing. Another great day in the park, all 17 hours of it, got home at 10:15pm after leaving my wife sleeping that morning at 3am.

Indian River Gheenoe Trip 05/27/09

Took The Gina out with my buddy Rigo near Ft Pierce, launching at about 7am after a stop at the Snook Nook for live shrimp, they have the best livies, stayed frisky till we got off the water at 2pm!

We started out fishing the causeway and almost immediately Rigo hooks up with something substantial that I backed away from the pilings, unfortunately Rigo got a little overzealous and palmed the drag too hard so the fish broke off...we were wondering what the hell it was the rest of the day.

We fished the flats for a bit with a few dinky trout to show for it before moving on to the real quarry: Tripletail. Managed to put Rigo on his first of two different fish, its always cool to wittness those events unfold and recall your own experiences at the same time.

We did pretty well, managed to catch a mixed bag of sheepshead, 3 nice sized tripletail (including a double hook-up!), and various short muttons, grays, and lane snapper. All in all a great day on the water and I only burned $8 in gas while covering nearly 20 miles, pretty friggin sweet, off the water by 2pm right before the rain came down in true SoFla fashion.

Key Largo/Butternut Key 05/09/09

A "complication" in scheduling at work resulted in me getting a paid day off...so I went fishing, my mother celebrates mothers day earlier in the month so I had no obligations!

Decided to head to the keys, Key Largo on the bayside from the Carribean Club. Hit the water at 7am with a bucketful of shrimp and my wife in tow. We headed out towards butternut key and fished Little Buttonwood Sound on the way out. There were fish biting all day but everything was small: 8'' Mangroves, 13'' trout, and even short grouper (red and gags).

We relaxed on Butternut Key before heading back, The engine ran great all day, we ran about 25 miles without a problem when a 1/4 mile from the ramp the engine cut-out. It would restart but only run for a second before stalling out again. There was pressure in the fuel hose, fuel, oil mix was good, it didn't seem overly hot.

When I first got the engine it stalling out but I found that it was a air leak from one of the fuel hoses, I clamped them with cable clamps and didn't have a problem again...till now. When I got home I figured it should be okay but I couldn't get it running to flush the engine. I finally did by gunning the motor everytime it sounded like it was dying, I did it long enough to flush and noticed that the water coming out of the motor was much warmer than usual...could this have been a simple over-heating? This was the longest I continually ran the motor as previously I was making short runs and stopping for a bit as opposed to running 5-7 miles at a time and idling at fishing spots instead of shutting her down. I'm clueless at this point and I haven't had a chance to mess with since, hopefully tomorrow I can get a break and troubleshoot a little more.

despite the frustration I felt at the end of the trip it was another great day on the water...I just hope it isn't my last for a while.

Chokoloskee with Gina and Gina 05/07/09

My wife took the day off and came down with me to chokoloskee to finally see the 10K Islands...she refused to come paddling with me for years so now with the Gheenoe she had no excuse!

We left ODR at 8am, later than I'd liked but the Alley was closed and I had to take Tamiami. We hit the oyster bars in the bay at nearly dead low tide, nothing but catfish. I ran into a dozen or so Trout in Rabbit Key Pass with a few decent ones thrown in, nothing huge though.

We fished the flats near Rabbit Key with nothing but catfish to show for it, oh yes, and one tiny gag.

I brought the grill in the boat so we landed on Rabbit Key and cooked lunch, met some paddlers who had been out for a few days, gave them a couple of beers and few smokes and they told me I was sent from heaven...I just know the feeling: 7-day paddling trip, beer runs out on the first night, smokes soon to follow...those beers sure tasted sweet I'm sure.

Before taking off I saw that skinny lone shadow of a snook off the beach but didn't have anything with me to throw at it, so I threw a plain chartuese jighead, ripped it fast past his head and sure enough he smacked it, only snook of the day.

We headed back on the last part of the incoming, fished the same spots and caught more trout and catfish. Not the best day fishing on the water but a great since my wife could finally come out and enjoy the day with me.

all fish, besides the snook, were caught on jigs tipped with live shrimp.