Each time I re-enter the great state of Indiana (if I have been gone longer than a week or so) I feel duty bound to sing the song "BACK HOME AGAIN IN INDIANA"...Granted when Jim Nabors finally gives up the job of singing it at the 500, they won't come looking for me, I know that and sweet pea knows that too...But never the less, I do it, I sing like no one is listening, well almost...well anyway back to todays story, that happened a couple days ago when we were in the middle of the bridge over the Ohio coming from Lou a vall, as the tucky people say it....Since I had been gone almost 6 weeks I laid the whole two verses I know on her...she was kind, saying "not bad", I knew she was lying....
Going to do a wrap on Naples today, pictures to the right show scenes from the Mullet Festival at Stans Bar in Goodland...the home of the Contest where brave women wear costumes that makes them appear to look slightly like Buzzards...and they do a dance called the Buzzard Lope...making motions much as maybe a buzzard would do having found a nice jucy rode kill along the roadside...they choose a queen each year and it is all in good fun...thousands of people come to this goofy event each year, half of them maybe on Harley's but who's counting...it is a hoot and everyone needs to see it at least once...I guess I personally am tiring of this event and may not bother ever again, thus I better give it some mention here and maybe put it to rest, well unless SP finds some feathers and wants to try her luck at the dance....
More fun than Stans Idle Hour Bar and the Buzzard Lope is Back water fishing just south of Marco Island...Now that is a lot of fun...Just being out there on that gorgeous water is worth the effort...the water just smells good...the blueish green fast moving water as the tide moves in and out is just something to behold...I do love it...Would love to own a place that would afford a boat dock and ocean access to and from this paradise fishing area also known as the 10,000 islands....But I know I am dreaming here, but it is fun to dream of such things...Maybe more practical would be just a small fishing boat to be stored somewhere when not in use...that is just not as much fun dreaming about as the house with gulf water access...it does not hurt to dream now and then as long as one realizes it for what it is, just that...
The fishing holes are many and the fish in them like the sheep head the lady to the right is happy about just make ones day...Being out there is great, if you are lucky enough to catch a few fish it is wonderful...and if you catch enough for a fish fry it is, well marvelous....we usually buy about 4 dozen live shrimp and breaking them in half then gives you 96 chances to land a fish legal for keeping...Sheephead need to be 12 inches long minumum and 16 to 22 gets your excitement level to a peak...the bigger the better but that size you need a net to get them into the boat without chancing them breaking the line lifting them out..
I know from cleaning them that a 16 inch will yeild the same amount of fish as two 12 inch fish. Already I have about maybe 10 months to wait but feel the excitement of casting the line into that perfect spot where they will be...and feeling the tug of a "sheephead bite"...I usually wait till maybe the second or third tug hoping they will get stronger as he falls in love with the taste of the live shrimp before giving a quick jerk on the pole to hopefully "set" the hook in his mouth somewhere to keep him hooked until you work him over to the boat...some times it works, maybe a third of the time, the other two thirds, your just looking at a bare hook to be rebaited for another try...all part of the amazing fun of back water fishing in the salt water...
Once in a while spotted trout are caught, or mangrove snapper, or redfish, or snook or even sand trout...but for the most part the catch is Sheephead and that is fine with me...occasionally a trash fish like the catfish is caught and if I am close enough and the little coons are waiting for a handout I have been known to toss that type fish to them...they love a good day in the backwater too...
Cussy Darn is part of my title here tonight, cause I seem to have lost my new camera I got as a gift for Christmas...don't have a clue where or how but it is missing so pictures for the blog for awhile may be scarce...may have to go back and use the many I already have instead of new ones...someday though I will get another one, as I do like taking pictures and working with them with my photoshop program...and sometimes I even enter photo contest while in Naples, never winning but learning from the process the better ways to focus on subjects, with proper backgrounds, lighting and all the rest that goes into good shots...if it comes down to fishing or photography well you will see me headed out with "poles", not a camera anyway...but a small camera is good to have along with you as those really nice fish always want their pictures taken for some reason...
T'was the coldest dam winter in Florida I have seen in the 17 years I have been there....this global warming is just not working out at all...poor AL Gore if he escapes a good tar and feathering he will be lucky.....but some still think its for real so they will be happy when summer comes and maybe we can hit 100 a couple days in July or August...I did have about 10 days in late January that we hit 80 down there...and one day about a week ago we hit 80 again...other than that it has been in the 60's to 75 most of the time...OK if you had on the blue jeans and not the usual shorts...and you better have a sweater handy cause you usually needed it...
So in closing it's not too bad being "back home again in Indiana" for the most part. It's a little colder but hey cold is cold so I am now here in position to await the first signs of spring...my favorite season of the year...I love the first flowers, the greening up of the grass, the smell of fresh mowed grass, the buds coming out, fish spauning, water lillies first blooms...its all good and just around the corner....
Editor's note....funny thing below I see the Key West Shuttle is advertising on my blog....ha go figure after the story I did about how not to see Key West...maybe google is not as smart as I give them credit..
1 comment:
Last night the weatherman said it was the coldest winter since 1981. That's pretty close to 30 years but all I know is that I have spent the winter in sweats and sweatshirts...and the furnace has been running every night.
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