Fun with son, godsons, and friends fishing in Florida

Just got back from a great week of fishing with family and friends.  Shu, Charlie, Jake and I drove Shu's Penn State RV 22 hours straight to Vero Beach where we landed it for a week on a lot owned by Jake's godfather.  Being immediately adjacent to Rob's house was extra special as I got to spend quality time with Rob's son, my godson, Dan.

Sons~Godsons~Fathers

Jake with a Sheepshead

Shu and I drove the daylight hours and the boys drove all night.  I experimented with the social app Waze and found it to be excellent on this trip.  The boys drove at night and learned early on that sharp turns in an RV can quickly empty the kitchen cupboards, and being that big Shu was napping on the couch immediately below said cupboards, it was never a quality experience having him abruptly being awaken by falling china :-) .

Osprey Nest~Blue Cypress Lake

Beautiful Blue Cypress Lake

Rob hooked and Charlie landed an 8-9
ft hammerhead

Monday and Wednesday we rented a pontoon fishing boat that was specifically designed for fishing.  Both days had us out in the Fort Pierce inlet.  Dan was a great guide as he new which channel markers had structure below them that allowed the fish to congregate.  Both days we enjoyed the company of porpoises and manatees.  The actual inlet was obstructed by the Coast Guard and heavy barges carrying cranes as a large ocean barge had sunk there the previous week.

Jake putting on bug lotion
leaving Middleton Camp

Shu~Dog at Sea

Charlie on Blue Cypress
watching for gators 

On Tuesday we went on an adventure to Blue Cypress Lake, located 23 miles from Rob's house.  This huge body of water has only a handful of structures on it.  We met Jeanne Middleton of the infamous\s Middleton Fish  Camp.  She was a gracious hostess who took good care of us.  Blue Cypress is where the largest largemouth bass was caught at over 18 pounds.  Jeanne had some absolutely behemoth bass mounted in her camp.  This was a beautiful lake with lots of ospreys nesting atop of the cypress trees which lined the lake.  The water was very high and we were able to navigate the lagoons and tributaries to the lake.  It was interesting to me the tannish color of the water which was strikingly similar to the waters of northern Ontario.

Dan caught a moray eel

Dan 16~Jake 19

Thursday we chartered an offshore boat to catch some snapper as I wanted to bring high quality eating fish back home with me.  The mate on this trip was exceptional, the very best I have ever encountered, named Brian.  We went 14 miles offshore to a reef where we bottomed fished with a lot of success.   A challenging, but fun, aspect of this fishing was getting the fish up from the bottom to the boat with the hammerhead or Atlantic sharks getting them.  Rob hooked a 9 foot hammerhead and let Charlie pull him in which took about 45 minutes.

Red snapper galore

Lots of Atlantic sharks

After fishing each day we would sit around Shu's special Penn State fire pit to work on our fish stories of the day.  One night I called Jessica and put her on speaker phone so she could hear the bantering.  One of the boys made a wisecrack about such trips being only for men to which she promptly replied , "Ok, boys, how many 8 point bucks have and of you ever shot?" (At 16 she already has an 8 point and a 9 point to her credit)...completely shutting the boys down much to their fathers delight.

At one point in the trip we encountered the king mackerel commercial fishing fleet,  These guys literally fish in a constant circle hand trolling for mackerel.  When they catch one they pull the line in by hand and are somehow able to flip the fish out of the water into a fish box with one simple motion.  I would not have believed it if I had not seen it.

Pic of a triggerfish.  We caught 7 and
are called "Poor Man's Lobster"

The week was a big success as we came home with a large cooler of fresh fish I unplugged from the world to enjoy close time with family and special friends.  Last night the girls and I enjoyed fresh trigger fish dipped in hot garlic butter..."poor man's lobster" :-)