Goin on Vacation!

[YellowJacket!]

I'll be heading down to Florida in the morning with the family for a week of fun in the sun.  ;D  ;D  I'll have my laptop with me for school and ROV, so I'll be in touch...maybe just a little less.  Got airline tickets for $39.00 each.  ;D  I'll be staying in Naples.  Any ROV'r from there that wants to try to get together?  I'll be V-less though.

David

[h2olawyer]

You mean the V isn't a carry-on?

Have fun - we'll be thinking of you sweltering while we ride the cool air of the Rockies.   ;D

H₂O

[YellowJacket!]

Arrived in Naples late yesterday after a nice flight into St. Petersburg and then a ride to Tampa to pick up a friend who took a different flight.
When we were leaving Knoxville, the ticket agent told me "I'll appologise in advance to you but you have been selected at random for a 'more in-depth' security scan."  I asked him what it menat and he told me that they pick people at random and take them to a special security area for more detailed searches. :o :o :o  I said "No cavity scans though...."  He just laughed.  I left with a very uneasy feeling.
I got to the security gate and was escorted past about 500 other people and my family had to stay at the back of the line.  They took me to a partitioned area and asked me to remove everything but my clothes. I was wearing shorts and a t-shirt.  I got patted down and wanded and they pulled the inserts out of my shoes and put a sniffing probe in them (heh heh heh....I have really bad foot odor) to scan for explosives.  They emptied my backpack of its contents and individually xrayed each item and checked to see if it operated correctly.  Once done, they thanked me and took me to a waiting area where I had to wait for my family.

We went fishing this afternoon in the Naples bay which was absolutely gorgeous.  We were out for a couple hours and a bad looking thunder storm started rolling in.  We decided to fish a little while longer and I drew first hit.  It was a rather hard fighting 2 or 3 pound Yellow Jack.  I "Christened" my cousins new fishing boat.  He had not cought anything on it yet.  We fished for a couple hours and the storm got closer so we decided to pack it up and head home.  We were watching some water activity while we were skirting a marker bouy and POW!  My arm almost got yanked off.  I instinctively held my grip and tried to keep my balance as I spun around to see a large Tarpin jump out of the water with my plug in its mouth!  Yeeeehhhhaaaa! The fight was on.  I fought it for a good 10 minutes before it tited out enough to pull it close to the boat and grab it. It was a good 20, maybe 25 lbs and fought like a much bigger fish.  Diamond, my cousin told me that there are some that are much much bigger and would be out later but since the storm was coming in, we needed to pack it up.  We'll try again tomorrow.  I think my step-son was a bit disappointed that I caught both fish.  He was really hoping to break my tradition of being the first to catch the fish on our vacation and I actually thought it was going to happen this year.  ;D

Heres a pic of my big catch:




;D

David

[YellowJacket!]

Oh,

And heres me after a bad reaction to mosquito bites....them things are bigger than the darn pellicans!



:o  :o   :o

David

[Night Vision]

nice Tarpon, those 90 pounders must be huge! big mouth on her.

the first time I caught a bucket mouth bass big enough to put my fist in its face... what did I do?

....I put my fist in it's face just like on the fishing shows right?

bad choice... those little tiny teeth/ hooks /velcro must have been full of dead minnow poo because my knuckles got infected... stupid fisherman   

[kiawrench]

lol,, every time i go fishing lately i get skunked. my wife says it is my own fault, too many magazines, too much information,too many "tips and tricks" . what she doesnt know is, i dont ever take any bait, i mainly go out on the boat to get away from the honey-do list!!

last time i really fished with the intent of catching something, was a good day, several bass and one gator that wasnt happy to have my boat in his hunting area .
  guy from work wet his pants when ol wally bumped the hull, glad he wasnt hungry for short bikers that day .

[YellowJacket!]

Went to Naples (FL) beach today.  It was beautiful.  The water was a crystal clear turquois hue and about 85 degrees.  The sand was white and the weather was great. I was surprised that there were not many people on the beach today.
We actually had two big surprises.  First, a pod of three manatees - two adults and one juvenile- swam right up to us.  It really freaked out a lot of people.  My step son waded up to one and actually got to touch it.  He said it was slimy.  I was a bit surprised because they were in the gulf.  I thought they stayed mostly inland in the rivers and tributaries.
Second, and just a short while after the manatees, and in exactly the same place, I saw some doplhins surface.  They too, came right up to us...not close enough to touch but just within a few feet. 

David

[YellowJacket!]

I was reading the local paper yesterday before coming home and there was a picture on the front page about a guy that set a new state record by catching a 267lb Tarpon not too far from where I was fishing when I caught mine.  The picture showed it hanging up from a weigh hook next to him and it was taller than him!!

David