Go Fly A Kite - Literally!

As you may have noticed by my lack of posting, commenting, etc... I'm on vacation.  Now I'm not in some remote corner of the world without internet access, but not having access to my computer and sketchy cell service in these bombproof South Florida hurricane shelters houses hasn't made my typical routine all that typical.  But then again, I'm on vacation, so normal blogging and whatnot can probably wait for a few days, right?

Yesterday was the first full day of the getaway (nobody really counts the wasted travel day, do they?) and we spent the morning at the beach.  It was beautiful, albeit a bit windy, but when given wind...one must make the most of it.

After that, we headed home and took some showers and naps.  Or at least I did.  Napping is probably my favorite thing to do on vacation.  Reminds me of when I was in college...mid afternoon naps and no cares in the world.

Come late afternoon, I broke out my travel rod and tossed some bugs in the canal behind the house to try and catch some nuisance fish.  Most were on the small side, but very eager.

There's also some largemouth bass in this canal, but I'm not equipped to do combat with the flies and fly rod I have handy.  I'll switch over to the spinning rod & senkos later this week and see what I can dig up.

To end the first day, K.C. & I left Lilly with the in-laws and went to the movies to see The Hangover Part II.  No, it wasn't the Godfather Part II, or even Empire Strikes Back (a BDW appearance would have been epic), but it was really funny...who cares if it was a raunchier carbon copy of the first one?!?  Want to try to get out to the movies one more time while we're down here.  Anyone see Super 8 yet?

That's it for now.  Not sure what today has in store...probably more napping.  See you round...either here, on Facebook, or on Twitter.

Tastes Like Chicken?

My inlaws live in Boca Raton. I've occasionally posted pictures of our family vacations to Florida to go visit them.

We all enjoy our trips south - Lilly especially loves visiting Mom Mom & G-Daddy...they have a pool at their house and live right along a canal, which has all kinds of fish, ducks, geese, even the occasional otters pop their heads up from the depths every now and then. It's like a petting zoo 24-7.

Heck, Lilly caught her first fish in their backyard, almost 2 years ago.

Well, we got word that they have a new neighbor in their backyard that they're probably going to need to do something about:

Perhaps we can arrange for the gang from "Swamp People" to pay a visit.
Something in me really likes the idea of that...

No Browns, Rainbows, or Brookies in Florida...

...so bluegill had to do.  Found this photo digging through vacation pics.

Used my 3-weight and tossed out some topwater poppers, foam hoppers, and small jigs to haul in some gills to get my fishing fix last week.  K.C. got in the action too with a spincast and bit o' bagel.

This guy was pretty typical of the haul.  We caught (& released) a bunch.  They were really eager "eaters."  Had a largemouth bass engulf a bluegill I had on the line and put up a good fight for about 5 minutes.  Unfortunately, he spit out the gill before I could get him out of the weeds.

Gills are fun, but hope to get back to my coldwater pursuits this weekend.

Down in the Florida Keys

Blogging has been a bit slow - no new posts from me lately, plus, haven't really been able to keep up on all of my BlogBuddies' posts.  Why?  I'm down in Florida with K.C. & Lilly enjoying some fun & sun.

At the moment, I'm writing this in my hotel room in Key West thanks to the magic of free hotel Wi-fi..  Lilly is back up in Boca Raton at "Camp Mom-Mom &  G-Daddy," and K.C....well...is in bed, passed out from a few too many strawberry margaritas at Salsa Loca tonight.

I'm certain I'll have tons of pictures and some better reports later in the week.  That said, here's a few posts of K.C. & I at a lunch stop at Keys Fisheries in Marathon on the drive down to Key West.

Lilly's First Fish

Today was going to be the day I've (not so) secretly been anticipating for quite some time. Lilly received a Lightning McQueen Cars fishing rod for her birthday from Mom Mom & G-Daddy, and she insisted on going fishing...IMMEDIATELY!

We rigged up the line with a bobber, some split shot, and a hook baited with a piece of bagel (of course - Mommy's secret bait). On Lilly's first cast, we waited...waited....waited...and then WHAM!!!! The bobber went under violently and Lilly started reeling like crazy! The drag on that little Shakespeare reel was screaming - no joke.



After about 5 minutes of working the fish - and with some help from Daddy pulling in some line by hand - Lilly landed her first fish. It was a bit of a pig too. The Mayan Cichlid was about 8 inches long and was quite thick - a real slab. Unfortunately, Lilly was a little afraid of the fish once we got it out of the water and wouldn't pose with her catch. Instead, she hid behind Grandmom while Mommy snapped this shot of the fish and her rod & reel.


Lilly was so excited she wanted to go fishing again..."again, again," I believe were her exact words. Well...the second time wasn't as fruitful. Oh, Lilly hooked another fish, but she also let go of the rod at the same time. SPLASH, into the water it went, and before we could attempt to grab it - the fish, rod & all - swam away into the depths of the pond. :(

Needless to say, Lilly was hysterical about losing her rod. But after some hugs and kisses, and everybody telling her how proud we were of her, she quickly calmed down and a trip to Target was immediately scheduled. Fish beware, Lilly has rearmed, Disney Princess rod locked & loaded.

Back to Boca

K.C., Lilly, & I made a brief stop in Boca again at the end of June for K.C.'s brother's wedding. While we were down there it rained almost every day, so didn't get to do too much outside. Took Lilly to the beach one day, and then went swimming in the pool a few others. K.C. & I did get to see that Indiana Jones movie with mixed reviews I'm sorry to say. Anyway, didn't spend much time fishing in the canal either - K.C. was killing the fish (with her patented "bit-o-bagel") that were hitting though. We didn't know what they were until we got home, but I found out they are Mayan Cichlids. We had caught some before on previous trips, but none were ever this big. Let me tell you these suckers put up a fight on light tackle! I thought a few were going to snap K.C.'s Zebco in half. Here's a few pics, as well as an link with a good explanation of what a Mayan Cichlid is.

Pretty Peacocks

So, just got back from Florida again. Did a little canal fishing, this time with some 4" Yamamoto Senkos & a Heddon Zara Puppy I picked up at Bass Pro. (By the way, had a Scottie Pippen sighting at the Ft. Lauderdale store).

Anyway...I usually only have luck catching Bream in the canals behind Gary & Lorraine's, which I caught plenty of again, but this time scored 2 Largemouth Bass, and 2 Peacock Bass. Now let's get something straight, these aren't Amazon Peacocks, but they put up a nice fight regardless.

The Peacocks were really blowing up Zara Puppy - topwater fishing is so enjoyable. Unfortunately, as with most fishing outings, I'm most dismayed by the "one that got away." Towards the end of my second afternoon, something really took my bait hard, and snapped my line outright. Took the entire rig. Was only using 8-lb mono, so probably had a small fray in it and it just gave way.
Oh well...next time.

Boca Canal Fishing

It's mid-June and unfortunately I've only got on/in/next to the water three times with a rod & reel so far. Ouch!

Darby Creek - Opening day of PA Trout Season (with Mutt J. Mutt III, star of the 6AM land grab). Somewhat fun, but quite chilly. Caught a few trout on Panther Martin spinners, but nothing to brag about. Wished more of my D-Squad brethren could have made it, but between warmth/sleep and family responsibilities, I guess it was not in the cards this year

Norristown Farm Park - nothing, nada, no luck whatsoever - more of a farewell trip than a fishing trip anyway. I used to be able to roll out of bed and go fishing in N'Town, I lived across the street. But now I live in Limerick, and my beloved Stony Creek is now a bit of a hike.

Boca Raton - K.C., Lilly, & I visited Gary & Lorraine towards the end of May. Whenever I go, I do a little fishing in the canal to kill some time. I caught a nice amount of Bream on a trusty Mepps Agila and even K.C. got into the act with her Zebco and some bread crumbs as bait.