Its the weekend of the 4th and our plans include fishing with Rick & Annie on the Sea Legs. Last weekend TPOS was reserved by my daughters for a girls only weekend so are anticipating our return. We grill burgers on the deck and get ready for Saturday.
Rick and Annie have purchased on home on a canal and have moved their boat there. How convenient it is to walk out the door and hop on the boat. No crowded parking lot, no long walk down the pier, no searching for a cart, and best of all no slip rental fees! We are loaded and ready to go by 8am.
Our crew today is Rick, Annie, K, Lauda, your faithful writer and 2 of Rick's friends, Timothy & Big Money. Rick sets a course for a new spot about 20 miles south. We huddle into the air conditioned helm and off we go. The seas are flat, the winds are calm and it is HOT. One of Rick's Charter buddies, Randy Boggs, has given up the #'s for this spot. It is a good one. We quickly load 9 of our 14 fish limit. Seems that one of Randy's other boats is also headed for the same spot. Rick graciously moves on to another spot to finish our limit.
As a side note, Randy Boggs is thought to be the hottest charter in town right now. For him to share one of his "money" spots speaks highly of him & Rick.
It was steamy and hot with no breeze at the first stop. As we head north the sea breeze picks up and makes our next stop bearable. Big Money landed a cobia. As usual when you try to put one on the deck it is a cluster #@*! but we got it done. We had to stretch him but he made 33" with 1/16" to spare. We had to work hard to get our last 5 snappers but eventually left 1 fish short. It was hot and we were ready to head in. Good call by Capt. Rick.
One of my most embarrassing moments came yesterday. Lauda hooked a big Snapper and I was on the gaff. I got distracted, the fish flopped and gaff went overboard. According to the AFTCO website they float, this one went straight to the bottom. I will replace the gaff but my ego took a big blow...
One of the nicer things about having the boat at your home is when you return to dock.. No long trek to the fish cleaning station or lugging gear back to the truck. Tie her up, clean the fish, clean the boat & head to the air conditioning.
When we got home we got the fryer out breaded some snapper filets and ate like royalty. Much to Karen's chagrin there is a race on TV and we settle in for the night.
It was a great day fishing with great friends. We are looking forward to the next one.
Happy 4th of July!!!
