Wednesday, January 14, 2015

Steve’s Almost Success

December 15-January 14, 2015

SIT landed back in Marathon Florida for a month. We had planned to be here over the holidays to enjoy warm weather and just maybe some fishing.
Our View
Just Watching
 
Hurry Up and Throw It

 
Do I have to go?

We hadn’t been here but a day or two and we met John and Teresa. John was out walking Buddy and noticed our license plate and it turns out they had recently moved here from Twin Falls. Izzy and Buddy get along well and enjoy playing together. So Izzy has to split her fun time now between playing with her floppy, finding coconuts, and playing with her new pal.

Izzy's New Toy
 Buddy Chilling
John and Teresa

Buddy and Izzy

We started out with a round of golf. I wasn’t sure how well we would do since we hadn’t played for a while. Steve started the round with quite the game including almost making a hole-in-one. We had to celebrate even though it was just a few inches short. My game improved from this point on, I guess I wanted to see if I could get closer!

Almost

We played another time and I was able to beat Steve this round, except I didn’t quite get a hole-in-one. That’s okay since we had a wonderful round and found our iguana friend fast asleep on this tree.
Tree Hugger
 
We enjoyed spending Christmas with John and Teresa. We first went to check out the water to see if boating in the afternoon was a possibility. They have a nice boat that is great for fishing or just getting out on the water. We headed to a restaurant for an early Christmas meal with aspirations of spending time on the water. It was a wonderful day, especially since we woke up to 75 degree temperatures!
 
Christmas Eve

Christmas at Sombrero Beach

Waiting for Santa
 
We have been enjoying John, Teresa, and Buddy’s company and have had a few opportunities to get out on the water, both Gulf and Ocean sides. John has wanted to learn about fishing in the area so Steve has become a teacher of two. First it was me and now it is John.

My success on the boat has been captured with a few pictures, although most of the time Steve or John are holding the fish I caught. I am not sure how that happened, but that’s okay since I can keep on fishing while they take pictures!
John's First Yellowtail Snapper
Steve's Mangrove Snapper

Grouper Catcher!

Tory's Angel Fish

Blue Tang - Way to Go Big Fish Tory
 
On another trip I had success in catching both an Atlantic Shark and a Hammerhead shark. Now it was fun catching them since they put up a good challenge, but not what we wanted for our dinner table. They were kind enough to let us take their picture and then they headed back to their homes.

 
The last opportunity to get out onto the water Teresa and I decided to stay on land and enjoy our time having a nice lunch and do a little shopping. John and Steve headed to the water even though the conditions may not be that great. They had a blast and almost felt like they were in the movie “Jaws” when they had a fish hooked and two good sized Bull sharks were chasing it. At one point they said the fish turned and swam toward the boat wanting to get on-board and away from the shark! Needless to say they had a great laugh and were somewhat relieved the shark didn’t have the same idea.

They were quite successful in landing a variety of fish and had plenty to keep for a fresh fish dinner. I think the student, John, is ready to handle fishing without Steve. I am sure though Steve would rather stay here for a few more months and keep fishing. I kind of like it too!
John's Success - Jack Crevalle on a hand-line

John also caught this Remora

Steve's Chub 
Red Porgy - no not Steve the Fish Silly!
 
We did spend some time at the water’s edge to watch the sunset and see what fish were hanging out close by. We got to feed the fish one evening and then the Pelicans came around to enjoy a bit of food as well. They are pretty aggressive when they have an opportunity for food they didn’t have to catch themselves. Although in watching them as much as we have they seem to be that way even when they are the ones fishing!
 


 
 

Our time is up here in the Florida Keys for this time around but we have more Florida sun and water to come!

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