I was in the USAF in '62 and stationed in Greenville, South Carolina at Donaldson AFB. My section supervisor was a civilian employee who always drank a small jar of 'shine with his lunch. His brother was the sheriff of the neighboring county and was also the biggest moonshiner in the area. He also confiscated any 'shine he found being made in his county. Anyway, I told the supervisor I'd never had any 'shine so he gave me a mason jar about half full. That night several of us were in our cars at the Clock drive-in in town and the talk got around to drinking and carousing. I told the guys I could hold my liquor and was going to have a Dixie cup full of 'shine to prove it. I should have known something was up when the wax on the cup started melting but I raised it to my lips anyway and started chugging. That's the last thing I remember until the next morning when I woke up sprawled across the front seat of my car with the door open and a little black boy who was sweeping the parking lot and poking me with his broom handle saying "Mister is you alive, mister is you alive?" It was after 9am and I was over an hour late for work. I tore back to the base, quick changed into my fatigues and went to work. When I got there the supervisor was laughing as the guys told him how I'd gone down cup still to my lips. That was my first and LAST time I ever had any 'shine.

A little ove 10 years ago a friend and i were going to drive the length of the Pan American highway in an RV all the way down to Patagonia. The beauty and remoteness of the very southern part of western South America was to be a true adventure. Unfortunately we never did make the trip. Life got in the way.

Sure looks like a croaker to me. The head, eye placement and mouth don't look like a channel bass (also called red drum). I've caught plenty during my lifetime of fishing east coast Florida, mostly from Daytona Beach down to Haulover Canal.

Thanks. This Ocean Yachts 48 Super Sport is probably the last big boat I'll have and it's a honey. I brought it over 800 miles from Cape May, NJ to my home port in Daytona Beach, Fl and it never missed a beat. The Johnson & Towers 6-71s 450hp only used less than 3/4ths of a quart each in about 50 hrs of run time. Considering the boat is 36 years old it's in pretty good condition overall.

I've seen that lighthouse more than once: Bahamas bound and return. The final trip was headed to the Dominican Republic via the Bahamas after spending the night there at the state park marina.

This happened to a friend of mine. He was going out fishing with a friend in his small inboard cruiser and when he stopped to get gas he told his friend to put the fuel in while he went to the boatdock's office to get something. When he got back he smelled fuel and asked his friend about this. His friend showed him where he put the nozzle, right in a rod holder. If he hadn't smelled the gas in the bilge the boat would have exploded when he hit the starter!

And another instance: pulling into a fuel dock in Ft. Luderdale with a friend in his sailboat, we were out about 100' approaching the dock when a big (50' or so) Chris-Craft that had just fueled up exploded. Flaming bits and pieces of the boat rained down around us and I kicked a few off the foredeck. This was just another example of not running the blower and giving the boat the absolute test for fumes - opening the hatch and taking a good sniff.

Some years later I had a 28' Owens Sultana flybridge-convertible with a single Chevy 283 for power. My wife, her son and her Aunt were up on the flybridge with me while coming up river from a day at Ponce Inlet when I asked my wife to go below and get me a beer. She came back up and told me she smelled gas. I immediately shut down and even before the boat had stopped was down the ladder and opened the deck hatch with the motor below. There was about 5 gallons or more gas in the bilge and I immediately saw the reason,...the fuel line from the gas pump to the carb had cracked open. Anyway, I put everybody on the bow while pouring buckets of water in the bilge that flowed forward to the bilge pump. After patching the broken gas line and when I could no longer smell gas with everybody still on the bow, I stood on the cap rail outside the cabin's lower helm and reached in and with a quick prayer hit the starter. I figured if it blew it would blow them off the bow and me off the side into the water. Anyway it started with no issues and we proceeded up the river to home.

I'd been leery of owning a gas powered inboard and ever since then all my big boats have had diesels.And even with diesels I still run the blower to evacuate any fume build up in the engine compartment while I take a good sniff.

Thanks for your thoughts and prayers. It runs in my family as my father and one of his aunts died from it. God has been good to me so far.

I've had two cancers in the past; 2/3rds of my left lung removed and radiation to my left vocal cord with 7 proceedures afterward removing a persistant growth on that cord. And now just yesterday I was told that a small skin growth that was removed from my left arm just above the wrist is cancerous so surgery is now necessary.

Yes it is but then don't all us fishermen suffer from a fine madness? LOL!!

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A guest caught a sailfish off Palm Beach from my first sportfisherman in '96 and released it boatside. Through the years I've had several break off as did a big marlin in the Dominican Republic in '98. And my step-father held two IGFA world records: Pacific sailfish on 6 lb test line and Atlantic sailfish on 4 lb test line. He also held the IGFA record for Wahoo on 20 lb test line. He caught 57 marlin during his life with the largest being a 915 lb monster he caught off Kona, Hawaii. I have the beak (pictured below) off an 882 lb, 15' 3" long Black Marlin he caught while fishing in Panama out of the famed Tropic Star Lodge. It was a lodge record, March 3, 1981.

I've done no fishing yet this year as I've been working on my big boat. As with many older boats (this one's 35yrs old and has Florida Antique status) it has a few problems of which the final ones to get repaired are an inoperative air conditioner for the forward part of the boat and a leak in the fresh water tank. It took a while and cutting up part of the forward section's lower deck to access the tank but we've finally found the leak's source so it should be repaired soon; same with the ac unit: soon.

I've got some work to do on the Slickcraft but it's mostly cosmetic. I'd like to have both boats ready come April when the dolphin and other offshore striking fish start biting then. And if I get the big boat finished soon, I'll jump on the Slickcraft right away so I can fish it inshore then too.

It's interesting that you're from Flagler Beach. And although I posted this earlier I'll add to the story: I was going with a girl in Palm Coast and while driving up US1 from Daytona Beach I saw the boat for sale in front of Hansen's furniture store in Bunnell. Drove past it for about 1 year when curosity got the best of me so I stopped to look at it and made the owner an offer on the spot. I got it even cheaper when the Mercury 150hp OB's fuel pump failed on the sea trial a few days later. It was a simple fix: the pump's rubber diaphram was stuck from the motor sitting for so long.

Both piers were heavily damaged (as was the Flagler Beach pier) during the last two hurricanes, Ian and Nicole, and they are all closed to fishing. Try fishing on the fishing pier under the west end of the Port Orange bridge. A lot of people fish there with plrnty of fish caught.

Going to my other home in Palm Coast for the weekend. Be back to the boat Monday pm. We'll get together when I get back.