Fishing Report!

First Fishing report in 2011!  We took the boat out yesterday down at Cockroach Bay and headed out to a "tower"  what they really are I have no clue.  Very large water fowl perches is what they look like to me.  We tried a Sabiki rig with cut up frozen shrimp (leftover from a previous fishing trip), size 1 snelled circular hook with 1 oz leader weight with a 3 oz weight added with live shrimp to no avail.  Nada  Nothing Zilch

we then moved to a channel marker buoy, something with the number 5 on it.  it was a green buoy.  we anchored a couple of times to try and figure out where the anchor needed to go in in order to accomplish my ultimate distance from the buoy.   I managed to get two mystery fish and Neal got one large blowfish, which did not disappoint and blew itself up so we could giggle and laugh at how silly they look as they scoot around upside down floating on top of the water as they deflate for returning to the depths.  speaking of depths it was about 44 feet there but the fish did not seem to know we were there :(  Neal put my first small mystery fish on a size 6 hook and dropped it on down to see what we might see... which was nothing from that.

We then realized we had only another hour left to fish so we headed to an area about 8 foot in depth as there is where the trout were suppose to be.  "If it is in the paper it must be true", a favorite quote of our family's stolen from Rocky and Bullwinkle show.  ;)  nada

Then with only 30 minutes left to go we headed in to the interior areas of Cockroach Bay and finally Caelum got himself a fish!  Not just any fish but the actual sought after fish ... a TROUT!  too small to keep but he was happy and we were envious that he got a real species for eating.  He managed to catch two more of those and one ladyfish.  I got at least 4 ladyfish all from about a foot to maybe 14-15" in length.  They treated us to displays of leaping and twisting and brought smiles to our face.

the weather did not cooperate with our timing. it was to clear by noon with sunshine but the sun did not get the memo until around 3 pm apparently just when we were going in so we could clean up the gear and boat before dark.

As we passed S & S Tacos in Ruskin we decided THAT is what we want for dinner and made a quick stop for three wet burritos.  Yummy!

Unfortunately, there was some sort of accident or train track event preventing our returning home in the most direct manner taking us home even later.  The best laid plans of men, eh?

So I have but the one picture of the mystery fish I caught two of this trip to show you.  Not a bad first fishing trip of 2011 and promises of more trips this year to come!

 And because I'm such a BRAT I'm posting a picture of someone who is brilliant but was not very awake before we left and also not too aware of weather conditions and just how cold it does get out on the boat on a gray, overcast, 20% chance of rain day in January on the open water of Tampa Bay.  Why he managed to grab the long johns I don't know but he did and he quickly put them on over his shorts along with the flannel hoodie on loan from dh over his t-shirt.  Me?  I had on my fishing pants, a spaghetti strap top, a t-shirt, a sweatshirt and my fishing overshirt.  Overkill? NO I had to tuck a clean, yet used fishing towel around my neck and into the collar of the shirt for extra warmth.  I was still rather cold when we were moving on the boat.  I need to invest in about 3 pairs of those cheap gardening gloves with black dots on them for fishing on the boat.  I used them from the pier in Mexico Beach and they help with getting heavy fish up with a hand over hand motion when the reel is just not up to the size fish you caught.  And they are great for keeping your hands warm.  Plus as I never handle the fish or bait with the gloves I just toss them into the wash with my fishing clothes and they are ready for next time. :)

If you have the ability to go fishing... DO!  and don't forget to take a kid fishing and grow up the next generation of fishermen (and women) in a manner that benefits our environment, fisheries and their total enjoyment of the hobby, sport, livelihood.

'Til next time
denise/deBRAT