Let's start with last Wednesday, February 28th.
The five of us began our "vacation" by eating breakfast at my restaurant, Boatwrights.
'Twas quite good as always.
We then all travelled to Mickey's Retreat for a leisurely afternoon by the lake fishing and sun bathing.
Kyle's tiny Nemo pole actually did pretty good with the little fish. Basically all of the fish we caught were once again black crappie, which are fun to catch, but it does get a bit boring. Kyle managed to find this thing down there somewhere though:
I've tried to identify it (the fish, not the confused Kyle) using the online Florida freshwater fish guide I used before, but to no avail. Anyone out there in internet-land have any clue??
But you know the strange part? As I was pulling in a crappie, with it swimming along at the surface, I saw another fish swim by it. A much, MUCH larger fish. We continued to fish and have fun though. But, then more of these big fish came up as we would be reeling in crappie. So, we'd let the crappie stay in the water at the surface. And the big fish started attacking and chasing them! It was very lively and violent at times, such as this:
So, of course, the next logical step is to try to catch the big fish! Harder than expected, to say the least. Finally though, I had a crappie on the line and felt a BIG pull, taking the line under the pier. We scrambled to try to get it back, but the line went slack, and I pulled nothing but clear plastic back up, the lure and fish apparently slipping off.
We tried a little longer, but to no avail. We left Mickey's Retreat vowing to return with new armaments to capture the elusive big fish.
All this staring at the water and sand all afternoon without really getting to play in it just wasn't enough though. So, Thomas and Becca decided to seek out more adventure by going to Disney's Caribbean Beach resort, which is a lot closer than any "real" beach.
There was no swimming allowed in the man-made "river," but they didn't say anything about wading....
We played along the beaches there and relaxed in a hammock while we watched the sunset. It was a very relaxing end of the day.
The next day, however, it was time for battle. We equipped ourselves at Wal-Mart with all manner of fish finagling accoutrements including a new pole, all sorts of lures, and even some cheap hot dogs to try. Nikki, Becca, and Thomas headed back to Mickey's Retreat as it opened to lay seige to the aquatic kingdom of the giant fish.
No, that's not a caught fish. That's a lure....
We still managed to catch crappie, but very little action concerning anything bigger.
Some of us took it more seriously than others....
Apparently both.
Hey, can't a guy bait a hot dog hook in peace?
"And the fish went like this........"
Not a single bite.....
Then, something happened. The crappie Nikki had on the line was attacked and pulled under. I grabbed the net as she fought to reel it in. It came near the surface, and I scooped under the water, pulling up a net full of fish!! But then, Becca's line was pulled under too!! We scrambled to help her get the line in without the use of the already full net.
Yes, that coming out of its mouth in the last pic is a WHOLE, live crappie that it tried to swallow. They are Florida Largemouth Bass. From the size of them, they are apparently female, as the males only grow to about 16 inches, and these are definitely bigger than that. We didn't have a scale or ruler though, so we can't give a specific size. Needless to say, they're quite big compared to what we have been used to catching.
The five of us have been back to the lake again trying to get more (Kyle bought a fish scale for instance), but we seemed to have over-fished the area too quickly. The last few days have not been very eventful, with us pulling in only a handful of crappie and seeing very little of the bass. We'll have to let the lake rest for a while and get the fish hungry for our lures once again.
That's about it for now, my blog beauties. Stay tuned for more updates soon. It's my birthday tomorrow, and four of us are going to the last Pirate and Princess Party tomorrow night. Our fifth Disney Monkey hates us and would rather work than enjoy the last possible PPP of the season with us. She will remain nameless, but not faceless:
Take care now. ByeBye then.
T.
