Some of the laws in Florida are a little strange. When I worked for the Florida Marine Patrol I wrote up a guy operating a boat pulling a skier on a 75 ft. line through a bridge span. The span was 35ft. wide. The law read " It is illegal to pull a skier, aqua-plane or similar device in a manor as to cause the skier, aqua-plane or similar device to strike a fixed object." Bridge span 35ft. ski rope 75ft. That means 150ft. It was determined that it was a after the fact law. The guy had to smack his brains out on the bridge pilings before you could write the operator up. I changed it to reckless operation of a motor boat. All good

Yup! It happened to me. I pulled my 10hp motor out of the shed to do my Spring maintenance and get it ready for a new season. But when I pulled off the hood, there it was staring me in the face --- a mouse nest filling every nook and crany around the engine. I expected the worst and found it. They had chewed many of the electrical wires; some of them all the way through. I have neither the know-how or the patience so I am taking it in for repair by a professional. At this time in the season I expect it to be "laid up" for a couple of weeks! Bah! Any ideas as to how to keep this from happening again? And yes, I have cats, but they cannot get into the shed during the winter.

My favorite area is between the mouth of Suwannee river and the islands at Cedar Key. Easiest access to good fishing is along the outside of line cabbage reef; however it is shallow at low tide and you can only cross the reef at three places that are marked with red & green channel markers. Also plenty of tidal creeks and small bays in that area and north of deer island. I do advise caution if you get out of your boat on any of the islands because many of them have rattlers & Cotton mouth moccasins on them particularly the ones out from Cedar Key.

The concern might be invasive species of plant matter . Some rivers around us contain an algae called didymo or “Rock Snot” which is a really slippery slimy algae that thickly coats the the bottom of rivers. It is really slippery and has a serious effect on the food chain ecology of the river. It can survive for some time out of the water. Drying the waders for a week will kill it or you need to wash the contaminated items in 1% bleach solution or 5% percent detergent solution. I just do it outside with a bucket and sponge , hose the off and hang to dry. Last year I bought a second pair of waders reserved for fishing in these affected areas so I don’t need to clean them all the time.

All I want to do is catch a red. I live in Sarasota, FL and red fish are one of the best and most exciting fish to catch in the gulf here. Or that’s what they tell me. Took me ten years of living here to finally be able to buy an old used boat. I spent weeks working on it and learning about motors to get it water ready. I saved and saved and finally got a nice minnkota for it. I’ve been slowly upping my gear and I fish probably 5-6 hrs a week which as a full time working father of two is all I can manage.

I go hunting for reds every time. I hear about where someone caught one, what they used, what the tide was doing and so on. I make a plan and I bust ass to get me one.

Today I found the sweetest little nook behind some mangroves. Lo and behold as I round the corner I see a charter captain with a bunch of tourists chumming up the waters and having them throw live bait out. This teenage girl that looks like she’s never held a rod in her life reeled in the biggest red fish I’ve ever seen. Had to have been 36” or more. Monster.

I know I shouldn’t be this upset and should be happy for her but goddamn. I don’t want to use live bait, I fished with shrimp for years here and there’s really not much challenge or sport to it. I’ve been catching tons of trout and jacks and a few snook on spoons, jigs, DOAs and so on but cannot find a Red.

I used to fly fish when I lived in the mountains so I’ve started doing that here too. Haven’t caught anything with it yet, been too windy lately to use it much.

Doesn’t help my father in law lives an hour south of me and constantly texts me pictures of the reds he’s getting.

Anyway, needed to get that off my chest and this place felt like a good spot.


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by DrLeoMarvin