I love fishing! My Papa and Mimi used to take us fishing as kids, usually on "girl trips" and "boy trips"...imagine 4 kids at one time with one or two adults trying to fish?? Yeah right! And my Papa being the super intelligent man that he was, made sure we went catfishing! If you know anything about fishing, catfish, although delicious to eat, are dumb as rocks! You could fish with soap on the line and the fish would come in swarms! As a kid, you want to catch as many fish as possible, so catfishing seems like a win/win situation. The fish are yummy, and as a kid you catch a lot and think you rock as a fisherman!
Fast forward many years later, and besides an ex-boyfriend trying to teach me how to fish for bass (which is super hard to do, by the way ) , I haven't gone fishing. So, when my friend Jim texted me about going fishing with him, I nearly jumped through the roof! I was so excited and could not wait to figure out what I was wearing (yes a girl has to look cute for fishing) and prepare myself for a trip down to Steinhatchee where his buddy has a fish camp that he has access to.
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| I looked super cute before the hat and the life jacket...oh the joys of safety. |
Well I showed up, and we had the best bonfire with some beers. Nothing like a fish camp, a fire and a beer (well for me it was girlie beers, but you get the picture). We stared at the stars and just talked about life.
The next morning, we got dressed and headed to Casey's Cove. Now this is one of those restaurant's inside a convenience store. I was a bit skeptical, but after that breakfast, oh my gosh, it was amazing! The staff was friendly, the food was amazing and the locals sitting in the booth next to you just chatted with you as you sat with your morning coffee and omelets. Now that's what I call down home! We headed back to the camp and grabbed the kayak's and fishing equipment and set out.
Jim gave me some lessons (which I definitely needed a brush up on) and set out for the Gulf of Mexico. It was slow at first, but very relaxing.
We would stop occasionally to try and fish with no luck. We even got to a point where we had to walk the kayaks over the low tide waters to even get out to the gulf.
When we finally did, I snagged two little fishies. Now they weren't big by any means, but the first one was a trout! I thought I'd never be skilled enough to catch a Trout. The second one we're still unclear of. Possibly a Croaker? Either way, I caught 2 and Jim caught 0! I was pretty thrilled with myself and couldn't wait to go back. Unfortunately the water is getting too cold, so I'll have to wait till it gets warm, but I told Jim I want to go back with him!
Oh and I forgot to mention, besides a million blue crabs, and a stingray that flew so fast by me I couldn't photograph him, I saw a starfish burying himself in the sand
(insert Sister Hazel music here). It was awesome!
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