TROLLING SKUNKINGS - 8/14 and 8/23
by Robin

(Sounds like a grammatical nightmare)

FYI - When we go out to fish but come home empty-handed, we call that 'getting skunked' or 'skunking'.

So, last week was a beautiful full moon and many boats went out to see if they could get the mangrove snapper to bite. We were not so ambitious with Jack having come off a tough week at work. We knew that it would be hard to buy a bite in the morning, but we figured eventually the fish would start biting.

In short, here is the report.... churched Sat night, so God did not find it offensive for us to fish on Sunday. In hindsight, maybe God still found that offensive. I can never come home w/ fish on a Sunday. Hmmmm......

Here is our sunrise as we headed over the causeway to the marina. Everything seemed in order.



We had a slight wind-wave in the morning, which smoothed out early afternoon. We started trolling. I had put together this bucket of trolling goodies for Jack to have fast access as he was rigging up the poles.




We went up & down, up & down 8A reef with nothing. We did see one other person land a kingfish, but we were empty-handed. Saw others diving and some bottom fishing. Jack decides to get the other poles out for a little bottom fishing and we came up with only black sea bass. Nothing else was biting and the current was ripping.

We ran over to Democles & Lead wrecks and dropped some live bait down there, too, and NOTHING. I'm telling ya, it was lock-jaw city!! I check the weights and they were warm, so it wasn't like the thermocline was still here.

We came back in because we promised the kids that we'd only be out for a half-day of fishing and then spend time with them the rest of the day. (They had a new birthday toy.)

Yesterday, Jack took a day off of work for a couple of reasons. One of them was that he wanted to run the boat prior to Hurricane Irene coming up the coast and dirtying (sp?) up the waters. We bought a pack of frozen ballyhoo, only using one of them the entire day.

Just out of the inlet, I noticed lots of bait right off the beaches. I suggested to Jack that we troll in that location because where there is bait, there should be predators. He set out 2 silver spoons w/ big hooks.


While I'm driving & photographing bait pods or bait balls, Jack is rigging the ballyhoo and putting some special skirt on it. I'm sure he added a little lipstick & mascara to attract the biggest & best kingfish in the area. At one point, I saw a tarpon roll, barely out of the water. It gave me a lot of hope for a good day, inspite getting out there at 10am (late).



We went past Cocoa Beach and back up to the pier. Bait fish were EVERYWHERE, splashing the top of the water. The birds are having a great feast. Where are the predators?


Our next option was to troll to the buoys. Did that. Then, we pulled in lines and headed out for slightly deeper water. We stopped at 47 ft, approx 8 miles out. Jack put the lines in.



That is his new orange pirate 'rag' to protect his head from sunburn & prevent sweat dripping into his eyes. Love my pirate! As you can see from the photo, the water was blue, clean and FLAT. Can you see the clouds building up, early!!

I became bored with waiting on a knockdown so I went to the front of the boat & took pictures. There were BIG pink jellyfish with big bells and very little stingers. I could see some of them 20 ft down. I took 3 pictures of jellyfish and this one I had to share. The sun reflected perfectly in the glass ocean surface, looking like it was right next to the jelly, deep in the ocean column.



As we puttered around, we came across flying fish and a school of some other baitfish. We circled around a couple times waiting for a hit. Saw a pod of dolphin playing & feeding. I have to blog one day about offshore dolphin behaviors. I've been noticing a pattern.

Anyhow, here are two of them coming by to look at me.



Then, one of them decides he is going to ride the bow for a second. Literally. There was no time to take 2 pictures. He was gone in a flash.



I also took a picture of the school of bait but it is hard to visualize the baitfish. Let me work on the contrast there.

At some point, we decided to troll back westward as the clouds were building. We did call into the marina and they said there was only 1 storm to our south. That's funny........ within 15 minutes, there was this big storm to our north.



Jack felt so awful for me, not catching a fish the past couple trips out. He set what he thought was a sure-fire hit. We ran 2 trolling baits right next to a buoy that had barracuda on it. I watched the lines go right past the buoy and anticipated the zing of the reel, but I got nothing. NOTHING.

We pulled in the lines, put up the side-eisenglas windows and secure all our poles & lures. It was going to be a wet entry at 12:45.



I don't mind rain and that's all this was coming down the buoy line. However, we had a long ride from the rocks to the marina in a no-wake zone. A t-storm was building just west of the marina. Worry from calculating if we would beat lightening to the marina first, burned a good 1,000 calories. Jack nailed the landing at the dock. The brave guys were waiting with a forklift and we all sought shelter.

Jack and I enjoyed a nice lunch at Rusty's - shrimp & flounder baskets. The boys were home, schooling & enjoying their peanut butter & jelly sandwiches. We went back later to the marina to flush the engine with fresh water & secure her down with straps. Hurricane Irene was going to be heading up the coast in less than 48 hrs.

Well, no fish, but the boat ran well. Our engine repair has nearly a 100 hrs on it since the overhaul in January. The new waterpump & throttle/shift cables work beautifully.

I'm sure fishing will get better as these temps decrease & the hurricanes stir the water. It can only get better, right?

God bless,
Robin

Stay safe on shore this week everyone!! Happy Hurricane parties!
Robin

WORDLESS SATURDAY -
(pictures from Wednesday's trip to the locks at sunset)

by Robin

Just a reminder........

Love that theme song, "Show me your teeth!"

Oldie, but goodie. Picture of my eldest from 2004. My baby is holding a baby bonnet-hammerhead.

SHARK WEEK
by Robin

Thank you Kurt Jones for the original photo. I played with it to captivate my love for Shark Week on Discovery Channel.

Jack bought me a big flat screen to satisfy my need to see sharks larger than life!

Happy Fishing,
Robin

HOOK, LINE and DINNER - Review
by Robin

First off, I am very glad there is a show that shows the process of going from the ocean to the dinner plate. Last night's show was on sea urchin and sardines. These items have definitely never been on our dinner menu, for which I am glad. I have tried smoked mullet and that's the last time I care to eat bait fish for my dinner.

My only disappointment was that the show was only 30 minutes and that the man takes somebody else's catch to another restaurant. I was hoping he's be more like us and take his own catch to his own kitchen for a meal. It's still good, don't get me wrong. I would have enjoyed seeing more of the "how-to-cook" recipes and not skimp on the ocean part.

I guess we are in no danger of being copied by a major network show.... at least, not yet. ha ha.

God bless,
Robin

HOOK, LINE and DINNER

by Robin

The new Cooking Channel has a new show called Hook, Line and Dinner.

I just want to say, for the record, that we are the original ones who brought you from the Hook, to the Line,

(Jack and Chuck w/ their 30 lb mahi caught in May.)

to the Dinner plate.

(Mahi tacos - right)

And we will continue to bring you more pictures of our adventures from the ocean to our catches, cooked in kitchen.

Stay tuned, I have to go watch the show and then give it some sort of review.

I'm sure it will be wonderful.

Happy Fishing everyone!!!

P.S. We finally got our throttle/shift cables fixed this past weekend, so we're back in business to fish again off our own boat.

My NEXT VACATION
by Robin

Would be ....

In the Indian Ocean

LIVING WATER
by Robin


Another picture remake from the day we took the kids fishing at the Jetty Rocks at Port Canaveral. I tell ya, I got a lot of really nice photos as the sun was setting.




Jack's sister will be here in two days and then I'll have more material to photograph & play with. She wants to do some fishing when she gets here. We have so many great fish, even in the summer months. Tarpon, kingfish, some mahi & wahoo.... The full moon is almost here and Mangrove fishing would be awesome!!

Happy Fishing,
Robin

Mola (Sunfish)
by Robin

I took this shot back in June when we caught the mahi and wahoo. I don't think I ever took the time to share it with you.



The ocean is so cool!!!!

Happy Fishing!
Robin

MAINTENANCE
by Robin

You can't fish every weekend. Some weekends, you have to fix all the things that salt air corrodes & breaks. You have to give your boat a good look under the hatches & cowling.

Three of the six lights on the boat were needing new fuses, bulbs or some sanding on the corrosion spots. I'm happy to report that all are in good working order for the next time that we want to go out for an evening cruise. We have begun doing some research on LED lights to replace all these other lights in the near future. I would love some colorful running lights for moonlight mangrove snapper fishing during the summer.

Jack repaired a broken door latch. I tightened down some screws that had worked their way back out with the vibrations of the engine.

Maintenance day is also good for discovering issues before you get out onto the water. While we were running the engine to flush out the saltwater (after being dunked in the water to fill with fuel), we saw that our water pump was giving out. Sure enough, it died right before our eyes. Jack will have to go back tomorrow to fix that before his sister gets here this weekend.

In the back hatch, I noticed some cables were looking very bad. Jack said that it was a very serious issue that would have to be addressed quickly. It is always better to find these things now and not have something go wrong when you're offshore.

God is good and I am thankful for His provision over our family hobby.
Happy Fishing,
Robin
PS: Be sure to return next week to see what fish we catch with Aunt Sandi.

SHUTTLE REPORT
by Robin


What a bittersweet moment. My neighbors and I stood together and watched the launch, talking about how sad we were to see the program ending, what it would do to our local economy and what the future may hold for Space Exploration. It was very hard to not cry while taking these photos.

After the shuttle was long gone from our eyes, we could hear and feel the rumble. Instead of rushing the moment, I closed my eyes and just took in the last rumble that I will ever feel like that. I thank God for the 30 years of wonderful service to our country & to scientific advancements that NASA, USA, Boeing and many other contractors have made to our lives.








Happy Fishing!

EXPLORING NEW TOYS
by Robin

I took some ridiculously amazing sunset photos on July 3rd. (Excuse my self-praise)



We rarely get the opportunity to stay on the boat past dark.



The lighting just changes everything for the photographer in me.



Combine great photos with inspiration from my nieces' creativity & suggestions & lessons, I was able to create these visual treats for you.




I can't decide which version of this one I like more..... The top is more realistic, but the bottom is more of a tribute to our Space Coast's last shuttle mission going off tomorrow.



God bless & God bless the shuttle Atlantis & crew for a safe journey to the ISS and back home.

JULY 3, 2011 NORTH JETTY ROCKS
by Robin

Details:
We started at low tide, so it was incoming while we were out there. The moon was just a sliver past New Moon. Fished from 3:30pm until 7:45 pm on 6 dozen live shrimp.

We're always greeted by one of these...



They make into awesome patties served with mashed potatoes. LOL. Just kidding.

Here is first fish of the day - an undersized Red Fish (1 spot, covered), released to grow up.

Then, same kid - keeper Mangrove Snapper, 2nd fish.




See the cruise ship in the background. I nearly sucked all the water out and pulled our boat into the rocks in a split second. Talk about SCRAMBLING!! I have a whole blog I can write up on that.

Anyhow, I think Jack brought in several small Mangroves that were released. I brought in the next keeper Mangrove that was slightly larger than my eldest's.

I also caught & released these two interesting fish.

Skate, which is a first for our boat.




Jack Crevelle, not to be confused with my Jack. Nice fight, but terrible table food.



At some point, I had a revelation....I figured out that I had too much drag on my line and the bigger fish were rocking up before I could get them coming to the boat. Once I changed that.... it was game on. Below is a Black Drum, but I also had a similar size Sheepshead. As Jack said, I was pissing off the guys in the two boats around us. I outfished them. I never got a picture of my large Sheepshead.



Little man, here, didn't participate for much the day until we convinced him that these were fish he could handle. He no sooner put the shrimp in the water and this came up. It is a Sheepshead, which had to be released due to regulations. Sheepshead are very soft bait-biters, so when our son pulled him in, it was joyous for us. They can be tricky to catch and he did very well. (I love their convict stripes. Mine had that too.)



Jack had his share of fish to catch. Most of them were released except for two black margates. He even got a baby barracuda. The colors on him were very cool.




I took this photo as the sun was setting and glowing on his face. He was so proud of me for catching all those fish. On the 19th, it will have been 19 yrs since our first date. This photo captures his personality very well.



Company is coming in for the last shuttle launch. Must run & clean house.

Happy Fishing!! The seas have been wonderful here. Lots of mahi, sailfish, wahoo, grouper have been caught this holiday weekend.

HAPPY 4th of JULY EVERYONE!!!!

Here is a picture that I took last night with a little Piknik overlay of the fireworks. We did see fireworks, but just not over this boat like it looks. BUT, the moon slice is real (but hard to see to the left of the left outrigger).

By the way, we fished July 3rd, and pictures forthcoming this week. Be patient with me, company is coming, so I'm prepping for that as well.

Happy Fishing,

Robin

SEXISM in FISHING ADVERTISING, SHOWS & MAGAZINES
by Robin


Let me preface my comments by saying that I am not some left-wing, feminist woman sitting behind a desk in NYC on a daily rant about sexism right after turning in my N.O.W. dues for the year. I am a conservative, country girl who loves the outdoors. All my life, I've been around horses, dogs, livestock, agricultural colleges, fishing, hunting and even survived a course in meat packaging. I am not squeamish about much, including blood, guts, castration or cauterization burning. About the only thing that makes me weak is broken bones.

On the other hand, I clean up pretty good. I love wearing dresses to church, buying nice shoes, purses & jewelry and painting my toenails. I am not against bikinis, tankinis or one-piece suits, if tastefully worn. I'm all for being sexy to the one you love. But what I want to do is have a full rant on the crap I see when trying to enjoy fishing & immerse myself in the sport. Enough is enough!!!

First, I have bought different fishing magazines for my husband at various holidays. I tolerated the string bikini-clad women in the back who stood next to various pieces of equipment in order to sell a product. I tolerated it because it was in the back of the magazine and sometimes I got away with using a Sharpie to draw on some shorts and a tank. (Jack didn't appreciate this as much as I found it humorous.) However, it seems that more and more companies are headed in this direction as they seem more desperate in this economy to sell their product. If your product is so junky that you have to put a half-naked woman on the ad to sell it, maybe you should make your product better.


Secondly, for years, Florida's SUN Channel (Ch 422 on satellite) has kept a Thursday night line-up of fishing shows to spark the interest in every fishermen for the upcoming weekend. Florida Insider Fishing Reports is wonderful for having area-specific fishing tips & information given by guides. Love that. Love the special themes they give each week for what's hot & migrating through Florida. What I don't love is that I noticed that some of the hot spots have been sponsored by various alcoholic beverage companies. Was there nobody else they could call to get to sponsor each region?? I tolerated that the first time I noticed it.

Tonight, I watched their programming and the theme for the week was "Kids & Fishing". Awesome. I have kids. We fish. Great theme. Yep, and then I got to the end of the show and I guess they have a tradition of taking a Jaegermeister shot. Toni, the female co-host, said that she didn't feel right about chugging the shot on a kids' show, but the guys talked her into it. Nice fellas. So, you've got kids all in the pictures, video and live at the IGFA museum, who have DVR'd this show to see themselves and we're subtly pushing alcohol endorsements AND drinking?? Why Florida Insider have you stooped so low?? Were your ratings so low that you had to add a female co-host, put her in 4" spiked heels, painted on jeans and then have her take shots at the end? Could you not find a serious fishing woman in the entire state who could represent the fast-growing part of the fishing community - WOMEN???? I don't know Toni. She seems nice enough, but what you've done is painted her up as a bar bimbo. Toni, if you're reading this, I would suggest you renegotiate your contract & job requirements. You look like an ornament and not a fisherwoman.


Here's the thing.... I can look totally hot, spiked heels & painted jeans, too. BUT, when I fish, the hair is pinned up, I put on my Columbia shirt, khaki shorts and essentially, I look like Dave & Rick, but better. I know when to use each type of look. Florida Insider, you're catering to men and not to all fishing people, including kids, which your show was suppose to be all about. I'm so disappointed that I may just skip your show entirely from here on out.


Last, but not least, the magazines. Like I mentioned earlier, I have ordered fishing magazines for years. In the summer, there are always plenty of girls holding fish while wearing bathing suits. Some are more tasteful than others. I'm a tolerant person, really. I recognize that sometimes we fish in Heat Index of 100+ degrees and so a bathing suit is appropriate attire. However, we've received some free copies of Salt Water Sportsman and was disappointed, shocked and even out-raged that they were to blatently sexist to have a Babe of the Month contest. I know that women get to win fishing gear and sometimes a trip but at what cost? We do a lot to raise self-awareness & self-esteem in young girls so they don't get caught in the traps of using their body to get attention. Salt Water editors, you're just reverting women back in time when they had to use their bodies to get ahead in life and you're doing it for your own selfish gratification (i.e. sexual, monetary, pride). Shame on you. Would you be proud of your daughters if they advertised their bodies like this? What century are we living in?? You will never have my $$ to purchase a copy of your magazine. NEVER.

I am very thankful to my husband who helps protect me & our marriage by encouraging me NOT to show off my body to strangers and post up photos to win contests (or get blog hits, for that matter). I have been very proud at keeping this blog G-rated for photos. Of course, this particular blog may be PG-13 for content reasons. LOL.

If any of the people that work for these companies, tv shows or magazines read this, please let me know. I would love to give you a serious dialogue about the direction you are taking the sport of fishing. I'll tell you all about my 2 boys and how we're trying to keep them away from your products and teach them to respect women. Heaven knows, I don't want them to end up like some of your clientele. Maybe I'm disillusioned to think I can raise a man better than that, but I'm certainly going to try.

Thanks and have a blessed 4th of July. Stay safe on the water & wear life vests. Don't drink & drive your boat, either.

Robin

One-eyed (Cycloptic) Bull Shark fetus
by Robin

You won't believe it.....


http://www.petethomasoutdoors.com/2011/06/bizarre-looking-shark-caught-in-sea-of-cortez-baffles-scientists.html

WAHOO STEAKS
by Robin

I haven't tried googling this but I wonder how many folks out there will tell you about how delicious Wahoo steaks are. For the most part, it is commonly understood that wahoo is a dry meat. It needs a sauce. It may be gamey or oily. Not so....

I'm going to take you step by step through our process & how to cook it. This is definitely not the be all, end all story; however, it was a beautiful beginning to a new relationship with eating wahoo.

First off, catch you any decent size wahoo. Ours was 18 lbs. I suppose one could cheat and buy wahoo steaks at a fish market if you don't want to invest thousands in boats & fishing gear.



He is shown here without ice, but right after I took this photo, Jack and I made a slushy ice/water bath to cool down the meat. (It was mid to upper 90's this day, off Port Canaveral.)

Jack took off the head, tail and gutted the body of the fish from the entrails. Make sure you rinse this area out well before moving onto the fileting part.



Most fish are fileted along the length of the body, taking entire side off and then removing the skin, like this..




Not Wahoo.... they are made into steaks at our house. And sometimes it takes a small hacksaw to cut through the vertebrae bone.



Jack fileted the wahoo into steaks approximately 1" thick. You can do more or less, but this seems to be a full portion for an adult. I ate one and it was PLENTY! (almost too much, really) We vacuum-packed two steaks to a bag until we got down to the back-end and then did a few small ones together.



Fast-forward a couple weeks, Jack quick-thawed the steaks in a pot of room temperature water. Not long afterwards, they were thawed enough to begin seasoning. I used 1 steak for me and 1 went into the frig for later this week. I'm guessing that Jack has used the usual & customary seasoning suspects (i.e. salt, pepper, garlic powder, old bay after rubbing EVOO on the steak).



While my dinner was absorbing the spices, Jack was preparing a grill for his ribs, as well. My guys love babyback ribs.



Last night, Jack used a gas grill, but he would have preferred a charcoal one if he didn't need a bigger space for all the food. I do believe he threw in some mesquite chips for a slight smoke flavoring.



He grilled the wahoo a couple/few minutes for each side of the steak. You'll have to be the judge of how long your steaks need cooking. You want it white, flaky but not raw inside. Save the raw for tuna. With that said, do NOT overcook your wahoo steaks either or else you will be eating dry fish.



Then, I like to put some great side dishes together. Squash is a grilling favorite here, along with red potatoes. I used Smart Balance to complete my dairy-free meal.

I should also tell you that Jack suggested I make a nice sauce for the wahoo. I went to the garden and all my dill was gone (I make a mean dill-tartar sauce), so I came up with a fantastic substitute. I used plenty of thyme, 2 sage leaves - chopped them up. Add them to a couple tablespoons of Smart Balance, 1 small onion from my garden, 3 garlic cloves, a couple dashes of lemon juice and warm on the stove.

Pour over your steak liberally, and if you have extra, pour over your potatoes. You will not regret it. I felt guilty for eating so well while the guys were having ribs. I had died and gone to a 4-star restaurant in my own kitchen.




Mmmm, mmmm, good.

(Oh, I may need to add a warning: do NOT eat the outer skin, be careful of the upper spines that may be leading from the spinal column to the dorsal fin area, AND don't eat that skin in the belly area. )

If you try this dish, please come back and comment to let me know how you liked it (or not, ....but you will).

Happy fishing everybody and enjoy a good fish meal if you can't get out.
Robin