FINALLY!  I guess I needed a break from writing and truthfully, my Iceland trip was such a success in my book, nothing at the moment compares and seems blog-worthy.

 

Unless I’m fishing…………………………..

Boat taken in for yearly maintenance – √

Boat cleaned and polished – √

Good weather here and along the Gulf coast – √

 

Time to go fish!

Pete’s Pier in Crystal River was this day’s destination.

Sights seen are fairly typical of a marina on the water.

Two important things are needed when fishing:  bait and ice.

Today’s bait of choice was live shrimp.

One last check of the weather and radar…………

………………we’re ready to head down the river and explore the Gulf.  Let’s get the boat into the water!

While the weather looks good, it is chilly when the sun goes behind clouds.  It has been a looooong time since we had to get this wrapped up to fish.  Eric was awful glad he brought along this jacket – he never has in the recent past.

First catch was not a desired species – puffer fish, its obvious where the name comes from.  Not a keeper and after deflating, he was thrown back in the water.

His next two catches drug up the bottom.  Again, nothing to keep.

Our usual ‘honey hole’ was not productive.  We motored to another spot, near the bird racks.  Eric got two mackerel fairly quickly and I was starting to feel shut out.  Not a good feeling (for me or for Eric – just saying).  But then I got a bite.

Picture it:  the line was zinging off the reel, sometimes coming straight at me, with too much slack in the line.  I followed the fish as it circled the boat, keeping the rod tip up (barely).  My ‘coach’ giving me direction and tips as he got the net ready.  We were anticipating another run from the fish, but, the net dipped into the water, the fish (practically) swam into it and eureka(!) the fish was on the boat.  Photo wasn’t taken until we got home.  Man – it was a beauty!

All in all, we got 4 keeper macks.  Yep, the one on top was the biggest one and was mine.  🙂

Swimming in the morning and sushi at night!  You can’t get much fresher than that.

Sliced avocado, poached shrimp and pickled carrots topped the sushi rice for our poke’ bowl dinner.

Great (first) 2020 day on the water.

Ginny