Florida Trip Part Two: Fishing

I have always loved fishing since I was wee one. I live close to Twin Lakes and used to go there all of the time. There were catfish, carp, bass, perch, and sunfish. But it is mostly only sunfish and carp. Our secret to catching carp was to throw bread crumbs onto the water to attract them. Then you tie a small hook and put on a piece of bread and allow it to float along with the rest of the bread crumbs. And then bam! You got one. The biggest fish I ever caught there was this massive catfish.

The problem now is there are too many damn geese and ducks that they will go for your bread now. I actually caught a seagull by accident once. It was flying around and freaking out. My neighbor came by and was like what the fuck are you doing Greg! Don’t worry the hook came out. Good thing because I love animals and would feel so sorry if I hurt one. Except gooses.

Anyway back to fishing in Florida. There was a small pond and a large pond at our retirement community. I asked others how the fishing was and there are bass and huge carps out there. Fellow fishermen were using worms, rubbers, lures and corn. I didn’t have any bait so I tried bacon.

So I cast out and reel it in to make sure is stayed on. I cast it again and I already have hooked this massive fish. Or so I thought. Another fisherman came by to help me out. This went on for like ten minutes and it was giving me the fight of lifetime. It was like me fighting the Mike Tyson of fish. My arm was killing me.

People started gathering around and nobody knew what it was. Finally I land it and it was this massive turtle. This thing had to be like forty pounds. So I’m feeling so sad for it and we had to cut the line. But no worries they guy assured me it will rust and fall out on its own. I hope. So I thought this was a freak accident. And twenty minutes later I see the same damn turtle’s head popping out right by my bobber and I was like fuck you turtle and reeled in as quick as possible with it following it. I should have made turtle soup. Wait what am I thinking. I don’t like soup.

So I tried the other pond and nothing. I kept getting my two dollar lures snagged and shit. So this maintenance guy suggested using corn. He said to buy a particular can of corn. You throw some in so they can smell it and you use a small hook. Well I forgot which kind of corn to get because I was tangling it right in front of some big carps and nothing.

Anyway I was wearing a new pair of crocs I got at the flea market for five bucks. And all of the sudden I feel these bites on my feet. I look down and I’m standing on this fucking massive fire ant hill. There were like thirty ants crawling on my feet and ankles. I freak out and run away. The next day there were all of these bite marks on my right foot.

So one day we went to the coast to do some salt water fishing. So I don’t catch anything at all in the ponds but after only five minutes I catch this small fish. They were going wild over my bacon. However I don’t know how to properly tie a hook and I lost a few.  Or I would get my line snagged and was losing my bobbers fast. Funny thing is that I found the small fishing stores’ merchandise was way cheaper than at Wal-Mart.

Anyway I caught a fair amount of fish. At one point I cast out my line but it was tangled and I almost whipped it right in the face. Later another fisherman was leaving and gave me some large shrimp. Remember this tidbit for later.

But the best fishing was deep sea fishing. You can potentially catch anything. The past two times I got sick half way through so I took three gravel pills just to be safe. I felt great. So we went an hour out in the ocean and saw some dolphins jumping around. They were putting on a quite of show for us. Too bad my dad left the camera back in the community living residence. Or trailer. We also saw this huge orange sea turtle.

So we were using squid and small fish that we already caught. I let my line down and bam! I caught the first fish on the boat. Everybody was catching fish like crazy, especially sea bass. The problem was that the boat was over crowded and people kept getting their lines tangled. I thought I had this massive fish that was bending my rod like crazy. So I ask for help and it turns out I snagged someone else’s line underneath the boat on the opposite side. It happened a lot.

People were catching all kinds of fish including sharks. There were four people having their lines crossed around one big shark. I was jealous; I wanted a shark bad. So we were about to leave and then bam! I caught me a blue eyed shark. One guy took a picture and emailed it to us. At the angle it doesn’t look like much but it was really wide. But who cares I got me a shark!

Anyway I left corn, bacon and those large shrimp in my tackle box for three days. Wow did it reek. There were bugs and this rancid smell. My dad insisted to clean it out or we’re not bringing it back in the new SUV smelling it up and shit. So I took every lure and item out and used heavy heavy duty cleaners to wash them. And I threw the rest of the shit in the community dumpster and now it’s their problem now.