- Joined
- Apr 5, 2012
- Location
- Pembroke Pines, FL, USA
So today I wake up early to go fishing...and promptly pass back out.
Take 2.
So today I wake up to my phone ringing and my friend yelling at me that he was at my boat and I wasn't. Five minutes later I'm running out the door and flooring it down the road.
Take 3.
Except I forgot to bring the rods. So I go back, get them, and floor it back to where I store my boat. My friend had the cover off already so I chuck the gear in, and head over to Everglades Holiday Park with him following me. As I come down the hill to the launch ramps, I realize that they aren't normally submerged in a foot of water...nor is it normal for there to be fish swimming in the parking lot.
Take 4
I hook up with a hard fighting 2LB Peacock Bass by bouncing a firetiger jerkbait off of the concrete parking lot stop bars. That was my first Peacock Bass...ever.
Take 5.
10 minutes of fishing in the parking lot I decided that I might as well run up to Okeechobee. We throw a little extra gas in, and take off. An hour later I'm locking into the lake via the Roland Martin Marina. I have a manatee in the lock with me which was cool until I realized that there is now a very real possibility that I could hit a large, 2 ton, aquatic cow at 60 mph with my new boat. I glare menicingly at the Manatee while it eats some grass.
Headed out onto the lake at 11AM, which is when virtually everyone else gives up and heads back in because A: The lake now has 1 to 2 foot chop/rollers on it. And B: The bite really dies after 10AM. The Phoenix cuts through the chop without much fuss while still doing 40 to 50 MPH, and I head over to the West Wall (of weeds). We pick one up in the middle of the weeds, and then head out to the reef where we both hook up with 3LBers at the same time. I land mine, while my friend has his get shaken off. My friend looses his but sets the hook on another which spits the lure as he does...
INTO MY FACE! My cheek goes numb almost instantly, and I figure it would be great moment to pull that ultra sharp Gamagatsu hook out before the pain sets in. I taste pennies... I pop the hook out, go to the first aid kit I painstankingly put together and dig out my wounder cleaner, bactine, gauze, and neo sporen. My shirt has a wicked blood stain on it. This is the second trip in a row I've had hook jammed into me. Except that this time it was MY FACE!
Tired of being burned by the son for relatively poor fishing, we head back into get lunch at the marina. As I head for the channel, I remark to my friend that the water is really high, and last time we fished the islands by the channel.
He says back... "What islands?"
I say "The ones right by the channel...OH SHI
I come off plane so fast I back wash the deck up to my seat and stop just barely short of beaching onto a rock island that was under about foot of water. Turns out Okeechobee is just as dangerous in high water as it is in low water because it likes to hide things...like islands.
Managing to not require a salvage crane and insurance claim, I make it into the channel, and back to the marina. Lunch at the Tiki bar was great.
Still beats a day at work!
Take 2.
So today I wake up to my phone ringing and my friend yelling at me that he was at my boat and I wasn't. Five minutes later I'm running out the door and flooring it down the road.
Take 3.
Except I forgot to bring the rods. So I go back, get them, and floor it back to where I store my boat. My friend had the cover off already so I chuck the gear in, and head over to Everglades Holiday Park with him following me. As I come down the hill to the launch ramps, I realize that they aren't normally submerged in a foot of water...nor is it normal for there to be fish swimming in the parking lot.
Take 4
I hook up with a hard fighting 2LB Peacock Bass by bouncing a firetiger jerkbait off of the concrete parking lot stop bars. That was my first Peacock Bass...ever.
Take 5.
10 minutes of fishing in the parking lot I decided that I might as well run up to Okeechobee. We throw a little extra gas in, and take off. An hour later I'm locking into the lake via the Roland Martin Marina. I have a manatee in the lock with me which was cool until I realized that there is now a very real possibility that I could hit a large, 2 ton, aquatic cow at 60 mph with my new boat. I glare menicingly at the Manatee while it eats some grass.
Headed out onto the lake at 11AM, which is when virtually everyone else gives up and heads back in because A: The lake now has 1 to 2 foot chop/rollers on it. And B: The bite really dies after 10AM. The Phoenix cuts through the chop without much fuss while still doing 40 to 50 MPH, and I head over to the West Wall (of weeds). We pick one up in the middle of the weeds, and then head out to the reef where we both hook up with 3LBers at the same time. I land mine, while my friend has his get shaken off. My friend looses his but sets the hook on another which spits the lure as he does...
INTO MY FACE! My cheek goes numb almost instantly, and I figure it would be great moment to pull that ultra sharp Gamagatsu hook out before the pain sets in. I taste pennies... I pop the hook out, go to the first aid kit I painstankingly put together and dig out my wounder cleaner, bactine, gauze, and neo sporen. My shirt has a wicked blood stain on it. This is the second trip in a row I've had hook jammed into me. Except that this time it was MY FACE!
Tired of being burned by the son for relatively poor fishing, we head back into get lunch at the marina. As I head for the channel, I remark to my friend that the water is really high, and last time we fished the islands by the channel.
He says back... "What islands?"
I say "The ones right by the channel...OH SHI
I come off plane so fast I back wash the deck up to my seat and stop just barely short of beaching onto a rock island that was under about foot of water. Turns out Okeechobee is just as dangerous in high water as it is in low water because it likes to hide things...like islands.
Managing to not require a salvage crane and insurance claim, I make it into the channel, and back to the marina. Lunch at the Tiki bar was great.
Still beats a day at work!