Sitting in the mancave on a Sunday night isn't unusual. Hell, it's the rule. Nevermind that it's 3o degrees or more colder in here than it was in Florida. It was the same temperature outside when we got home late Saturday as it was inside when we left. The trip was great. It''s been a few years since I've been able to have a full vacation. The wife was kind enough to find us a place with fishing opportunities nearby. I've had several beach trips with peripheral fishing opportunity, but never one like this. I finished the fishing portion of vacation on Friday morning with four more snook on top water.

Five days in the books and the end of this trip is close. I took today off from daybreak fishing (due to a late night dinner party an hour from our stay). I woke up even before the 5am alarm, but basically opted to sleep in until 8am and take the morning easy. Day four was good, and a direct result of the day three intell. I went straight to the place where I'd had some luck with the reds before daylight and started working it hard and heavy. It took some adjusting on the fly, but the bites started coming right at the official sunrise mark. After a few misses a solid hookup on a small fish was solid enough to get him in the boat. A little 15" snook was not happy to see me, but I sure was happy to see him. He was the first of 6 snook, one mystery fish and a small redfish for the day. Add a comment Read more...

Well three days into our vacation a few things are rock solid. The place we chose was perfect for us and it's hot as hell outside. I rented a fishing kayak for the entire week as soon as we rolled into town and that has proven to be an excellent idea as we're staying in a place flanked on the front by the Gulf of Mexico and to the rear by the inter-coastal and it's endless canals and bays (including a marine preserve). On day one I didn't try to get up early without advanced scouting, I paddled out at about 9am to cast around and see what was up. Caught a few small toothy critters and hung it up about lunch and switched back into normal vacation mode.

I'm heading to Florida soon for a much needed vacation. Sand sun and fun after a three year hiatus from a full week's vacation. We're excited enough, but the real bummer is that I'm sick as a dog right now. I mean full-on flu sick. That's rare for me, as allergies are usually the extent of what I have to contend with. That's all under control after a visit to the doctor(at least I have drugs now) but the interesting part is the prep staging.