Pictures Or It Didn't Happen...

That's what one of my friends likes to say.

For better or for worse, that summed up my day yesterday.

Taking the opportunity to do a little fishing, I decided I wanted to walk some flats in the morning while K.C. & Lilly were sleeping and see what I might be able to turn up...despite the fact that the weather was considerably overcast, the tides weren't right, and it's not the optimal time of year.  Not to mention that this was a total non-guided DIY endeavor which had no chance to succeed from the beginning...  But since I have very low expectations when I go fishing, what did I have to lose?

I started the morning at Anne's Beach.  Disclaimer, I don't feel bad about disclosing the two spots where I fished, because quite honestly, they're not secrets.  I found them searching the internet in like all of two seconds.

Anyway, the flats extending out from Anne's Beach are of fair size (as if this Philly boy is some sort of expert or something), although as you move to the right (South), they come up along a larger channel and the water gets significantly deeper very quickly.  The sand is also quite firm, which provides solid footing, something not to be unappreciated while wading (note the foreshadowing).

It actually wasn't long, maybe 20 minutes, before I got into my first (& only fish) at Anne's Beach.

No, it wasn't a bonefish, permit, or tarpon...but rather some random chunky, brownish fish with some stripes and spots that was maybe a foot or a foot and a half long.  I need to see if I can look up to identify what the heck it was, (looked "kind of" like this picture of a tiger grouper?).  The fight was actually rather underwhelming on my 8 weight.  It gave a nice tug when it took the fly, took a little line, but then pretty much rolled over and let me reel it in.  Whatever.  I tried to take a picture when it got to my feet but it fell off the hook right as I was lifting the line to pick it out of the water.  I know, I know, "pictures or it didn't happen..."

I did get a picture of a jellyfish...

After that I headed a bit further south and went fishing off the beach in Long Key State Park.  Unlike Anne's Beach, the sand immediately at the waterline is like freakin' quicksand.  You sink down to your calves upon contact.  WTF kind of death trap is that?  You have to go almost 20 yards to where the flats get grassy before wading gets at least tolerable.

These flats are pretty expansive (again, like I'm some expert).  I had to have walked almost two football fields in length straight out and the water was still only knee deep.  I did a lot of flailing, but caught nothing.  Didn't see much either other than some rays gliding past my feet every now and then....well...until...

Walk on this and you won't get eaten by quicksand

Okay, this part really kills me on the inside.  A lot.  So I'm standing out in the  water maybe 120 yards from the beach...and out of absolutely nowhere, 3 or 4 large fins start barreling straight at me.  Like really...right at me.  Fast.  I'm thinking shark?  Do I need to run?  Would it matter?

However once they got no further than 6 feet from me and the bodies started breaching the water, I could clearly tell these were tarpon.  Probably four 4 or 5 foot tarpon just playing in the shallow water, rolling all on top of each other...kind of like puppies do when they play with each other...as they approached me, circled for a few short moments, and passed...

Once the feeling of panic passed...my first thought was to try and cast to them, so I started peeling off some line to make a cast, but then I opted to try and grab the camera instead...  But in the matter of seconds it took to get it out of my pack, they were a good 40 yards away and not coming back.  Again, I know, "pictures or it didn't happen..."

Here's a picture of my rod pointing at the tarpon you can no longer see.
Cheeky reels are cool to look at, but that's a bad tradeoff

So honestly, that more or less concluded my day of fishing.  About 5 hours were spent wandering around two different flats.  Hopefully some successful recon for many visits to come.  One fish (non-photographed) was caught and released, one tarpon fly-by (non-photographed) scared the crap out of me, but really nothing to show for either except some memories.  However, maybe it's better that way...at least I can embellish my memories in future story telling.

Oh, once I met back up with K.C. & Lilly, we did do some family stuff the rest of the day...

Like feed the tarpon at Robbie's...which Lilly thought was awesome, but preferred to keep her distance...

And Lilly wanted to try casting my fly rod... and by the use of two hands, looks like I need to get her spey casting ASAP...

And I know you're not going to doubt any of those events took place...because I got pictures...

Kayaks, Tarpon, & Giant Lobsters

Day two in Islamorada was a lot like day one.  Except the pool was open.

We spent the morning kayaking which was pretty fun.  It was Lilly's first ride in a kayak.  She wanted to know why I wasn't paddling faster...

Oh, hey K.C.!

Relaxing in a shady spot beneath the mangroves

She gave it a go at "paddling" too

After that we went out to lunch at the Islamorada Fish Company (aka Bass Pro Shops).  We had just missed the daily tarpon feeding (may need to take her down to Robbie's before we go to see the real deal), but she got to look at some tarpon for the first time.

Fiberglass fish  #glassisnotdead

Lilly was pretty tuckered out at this point...but like most kids, once refueled, she was good to go!

Snook & Redfish...oh my!

The afternoon was spent driving around looking for a hermit crab cage...you know for Mr. Krabs.  Yeah, he is coming home...  Unlike the Jersey shore that has hermit crabs in every freaking store, we had to drive up to Key Largo to find what we were looking for.  Actually the Rain Barrel had them (home of the ginormous lobster pictured below) but they were really ghetto.  Only the best for Mr. Krabs.

When we got back to the hotel, I fished off the pier for maybe an hour while KC & Lilly rested in the hotel room.  Had some follows from some small barracuda but no takes.  Not a big deal...I was just killing time before dinner...which ended up being pizza...back in the room.  I think everyone was just too tired to go back out again.

That's pretty much it.  Nothing crazy...other than an episode with an overflowing toilet...but that's perhaps a story for another time...

Crap, Do We Really Have to Bring That Hermit Crab Home?

Yeah, we finally departed from Jacksonville, made it through that sh*t show that is Miami, and are safe & sound in Islamorada for a little end of summer vacation - right before school starts for Lilly and my work schedule just gets insane.

What's in store for the next few days?  Beats me...we really don't have much of an agenda other than taking the hotel's kayaks out for a paddle and a visit to Theater of the Sea...but this is a family vacation so even though I'm in a fisherman's paradise, there's not going to be any extended days of guided fishing for me.  Might try a little DIY (which means I'll catch nothing) on Thursday morning while K.C. & Lilly are sleeping in.  Who knows.  Maybe it's specific to the Bahamas & Bonefish, but had no idea there was a DIY debate...

Anyway, yesterday was just a day of checking into the hotel, getting a bite to eat for dinner, and then Lilly hoping to go swimming in the pool...but it was unfortunately shut down for the night...I guess some little kid made like Caddyshack, but left more than a Baby Ruth in there.  Whatever... I'm actually surprised by how many damn kids are here...but I brought mine so I have no room to complain...

Here are a few pictures if you're so inclined to look at really absolutely nothing from day 1/2 of my family vacation.  Hold on tight, really exciting stuff...

Oh hey, we're here...

The pelican is none too impressed

Lilly being mad that I want her to put down her tablet and stop playing Minecraft

I tried jigging for some fish with a tenkara rod for like 15 minutes just to say I did it...
(Don't worry, the 8-weight is along too)  I hope it was a first for this fishing pier.

K.C. wanted Greek food for dinner - the Overseas Kitchen makes a good gyro
While I demand fish the rest of the week, if the wife wants one night of Greek, I'm not going to fight it

Lilly got an "appetizer" of chicken strips.  They gave us like 5 entire chicken's worth...
Soooo much food.

Fish evidently like ice cream

Lilly does too

Oh yeah, this is Mr. Krabs
He is a refugee from the beach and is now living in the ice bucket in our hotel room
I'm sure there's a health code issue somewhere in there...

Random Fishing Picture From Last Year

In lieu of a real post, here's a random Islamorada fishing picture from 2012.

And in tribute to The Holga Master, a the same image with a Holga-inspired filter...

That is all...

Kayaking And Fishing In Islamorada

Since I know all of you are dying to see more vacation pictures....here's a few more, from day two (the one full day spent) in Islamorada.

It started with an 8:30 wake up call for some ocean kayaking.  We kayaked around some flats for about 3 hours.  We didn't see a ton of fish, but saw a lot of wildlife otherwise.  The only casualty was K.C.'s legs (which got sunburned despite sunblock), but it didn't damper the activity.

We just chilled here for a bit, enjoying the shade of some mangroves

Later we did some pier fishing.  Our resort had it's own fishing pier so that was pretty convenient.  Nothing crazy to catch...but it was an easy way to kill the downtime between lunch & dinner.  Spinning rod rental was included in the resort fee, so we both used them (and shrimp) to get into some fish.  

Donkeyfish on!

K.C. was a pro at catching what we were calling "donkeyfish," while I was sight casting to pickerel-sized barracuda.  Some sharks and rays hung out too (although we didn't even try to catch those).  I eventually ditched the spinning rod (because those toothy buggers broke too many lines and stole too many hooks) to a fly rod that I brought along to catch the last 'cuda of the day.  I'm no saltwater fly fisherman, but it felt nice to see it take the fly. 

Nice grip n' grin doofus

For the nightcap we headed over to Robbie's for a nighttime booze & fish cruise aboard the "Capt. Michael."  The boat was to leave at 7:30 PM and return after Midnight.  I'm usually not one for deep sea fishing, but K.C. was all about it...and the bargain of it being only $40 per person...so if my wife wants to go fishing, I'm not going to fight her!  

The Capt. Michael awaits...

...but first a quick dinner at The Hungry Tarpon

Fish sandwich

Glad my wife picked out this little adventure as we had a blast.  Captain Tony and his crew made everything easy and enjoyable, couldn't have asked for a better time.

The ride out

Sun going down

A crappy picture of K.C. with a fish.  My point & shoot was not on the best action setting

A better picture taken with K.C.'s DSLR

And I would be remiss if I didn't mention that K.C. totally schooled me deep sea fishing.  She probably caught two to my one the whole night.  She's without a doubt the reason we had a solid pile of fish at the end of the night...

Bound for the fryer

Sharing Some Vacation Pictures

While everyone is still chatting up "Sacred Cows"...I'm in Florida enjoying a week of vacation.  (Thanks to everyone who has commented on that post to date).  Clearly, with that post in the rear-view mirror, Troutrageous! has peaked and there's no way to stop the decline.  So rather than try, I figured I'd just put up some vacation pictures...

The first batch are from the in-laws' in Boca Raton.  Backyard canal fishing and goofing around with Lilly were pretty much what was in the cards.

One of a few Mayan Cichlids...little buggers fight really hard.

Detail of tail

Gill

Test driving the Tenkara USA Ito...yeah it was overkill

Lilly intently reading the latest Windknots & Tangled Lines post

Tiny frogs in a beer glass

The last batch are from our arrival in Islamorada.  No tarpon fishing (like fishingpoet), just hanging out at a resort for a few days, and the eating and drinking that goes with it.

Lilly saying goodbye...as she's staying at "Camp Mom-Mom"

Fishing pier behind the hotel

Dinner spot...was good.

Pie.  Enough said.