Reporting in from Florida...

Ken & I arrived on the Gulf Coast late Sunday night after a 12.5 hour run from VA. Spent Sunday night at Cedar Key hoping to kayak some backwater; but, was totally blown out by wind and waves.

So, we moved a little further south to Homossas for today. The wind was predicted at a manageable 5-10 knots; but, the flags say 15-20...again! So, we fished the backwaters of Hall's River where we could get a little tree cover. This was our first paddle of 2009. We jumped a couple of redfish; but, we didn't hook-up.

So far, the food has been great! I think Ken's been eating grouper at nearly every meal and we had alligator for lunch. We'll spend one more night in Homosassa before heading south to Venice.

Pix when we get some...

Dianne

Aaaaaahhhhhhhh...now we're talking, lol. I just talked to my friend, Dan, and he's going to be leaving Michigan tomorrow, looking to get in sometime on Thursday and head straight to Casey Key to do some fly tying with Keving and Capt. Tony, so if anyone can meet up with him there that would be great.

I sooooooo wish I was going to be down there with you guys, you have no idea. Don't feel too sorry for me though, I just spent the day fishing a beautiful little mountain stream here in Montana, catching brookies until my arms ached...hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!! !!!

Have fun, and I'll be looking forward to seeing ALL of those pictures,
TT.

Dianne, Lets hope an alligator doesn't have you or Ken for lunch tomorrow ...... a kayak ain't no Jones Brothers or Parker. ;)

I'll keep the stripers busy on the flats while your gone!

On the news last night there were some 25,000 homes in foreclosure in Lee county; not sure if there's that many in Charlotte County, but there are a number of houses in the neighborhood for sale. Hoping there's that many fish to be caught at the Fish-In since the weathers warming up:cool:

Hi All,

It was a blow-out week, literally! We tried to fly fish...really we did! After leaving Homosossa we drove down to Manasota Key and stayed at Weston's (last minute registration gets 3 nights instead of a week). This put us directly on the Gulf and Lemon Bay at Stump Pass. It also meant that since we couldn't paddle or wade (breakers as tall as me) at least we could fish the docks!

The first night there were 4 of us out on the dock and one of the guys caught a 29" snook (carefully measured) on a rubber shrimp. Hmmm...Ken and I caught a couple of Ladyfish and Ken caught some sort of snapper...maybe a small mangrove snapper...had teeth...haven't had time to look it up.

The next night...nothing. The last night...a few more Ladyfish. Then we were talking about going in and I said, "Just one more cast." And, then another...hook-up! Nice snook on a pink & green sparkle forked tail... Yes, I admit it. We had gone to the dark side and were using spinning gear. It was the only thing that would work...unless you jig with your fly rod :)

Earlier in the week we called and talked with Capt. Tony and let him off the hook for the 'cue on Wednesday night. Met with Kevin in the shop on Friday and confirmed that it wasn't just us, the wind was making it tough! Sorry we missed Dave, Gil and Les; but, we knew this trip was going to be a long shot. Maybe next year will be better:)

We left for home a day early because it wasn't getting any better. We still had a great time and explored some new areas. We didn't like Cedar Key; but, loved Homosassa. We'll be back again.

I'll post a few pics when Ken gets them off the camera.

I hope things get better for y'all down there because between the wind, the drought and the economy it's not easy in FL right now!

Di

Thanks for trying to make those of us who couldn't make it feel better...but it didn't really work, at least not for me, lol. It's a bummer that you got blown out, if in fact that's true, lol. We got lucky and just barely missed the foot of snow that most of Montana got smeared with, we still got some snow, but it wasn't too bad. Still, it isn't Florida in the spring, lol.

TT

The 30 mph gusts still haven't quit for the past couple of weeks ! Westons' is right beside Stump Pass Beach Park, which is now a great place for summer snookin. Used to be only 4 dirt parking places south of the Weston parking lot before they bulldozed the tree canopy; which were in high demand for summer activities. About 10 years ago it took days of getting up successively earlier each day just to get a parking spot there. 5:30 am with a 25 minute drive got a great day with the fly rod on the beach ! Baked whiting & sun simmered snook. Across the street they also have their own boat ramp on Lemon Bay. Guess we could almost title this: suppose we almost had a Fish-In & almost no one came, but still there was a fish caught !:lol::cool: