Thursday, March 30, 2006

back from annual Fla Keys fishing trip

We arrived home safe but not sound from our annual Florida Keys fishing trip. I came down with the flu or something damned sure like it two days before we left to come home, and drove 19 hours with chills and a fever. I was never so glad to climb in my own bed in my life.
The trip was great. We caught Black Tip, and Nurse sharks. Spanish, King and Cero Mackerel, Cobia, all kinds of Snappers for the table, and had our lines broken many, many times by big fish that we never saw. We also caught one Dolphin. We did get caught in one tent slammin' thunderstorm too. I was inside my tent trying to hold the sides up for about 20 minutes. The best action that we had was with Jack Cravelles. They have more fight and stamina than any other fish that I have ever caught. I fought a 14 pounder on light tackle for over a half hour, and the fish wasn't done even then. I just happened to turn his head up enough to stop him from making another run while Glenn slipped the net under him. The most fun with Cravelles is to watch for a marauding school to pass within casting distance and then land a lure right in the middle of them. Every fish in the school explodes for the bait. The water boils until one of them gets it and then the battle starts. We kept nothing except what we wanted for the table. We don't like to kill stuff that we aren't going to use.
The Ol' Curmudgeon