Today, Jack took the kicker (nickname for the stand that holds the 2nd emergency engine) off the hull of the boat. We do not have a 2nd "backup" engine, so that was not an issue. I have no idea what he'll do tomorrow while the boys and I school. Life is fun for us this way. Jack is spontaneous and I am not. However, we have learned the past 15 years to meet somewhere in the middle. So, I may have a lot of news on the makeover progress...... and then maybe I won't.
Our CFOA anglers club is having a ladies and junior's tournament Sept 15th. I'm interested but it's not likely w/o a boat.The cobia are migrating back through the Atlantic Ocean, heading south to the Keys for the winter. I sure would love to be out there looking for them.
Also, Sept 1st starts the beginning of snook season for Florida. I suppose it is a wonderful month for men who love football and fishing. LOL. Keeping snook is illegal during the summer months. For many fish, summer is a time for spawning and so this makes sense to allow a healthy population of fish. I wish there would be more restrictions like this for some species. Mangrove snapper also have more activity during their spawn and are much easier to catch during the full moon. Unfortunately, it is also the time that so many end up in the fish cooler. And while I'm on the subject, I'd like to see an upper-size limit on the Grandaddy Size Grouper.
Grouper are special in the fact that the 30+lb fish of the group is the only male in the area. He will keep a "herd" of females to himself. When that male is taken by fishermen, that leaves the females without their 'guy'. At that point, the next largest female will spontaneously change into a male and take over the "herd" of females. It's strange, I know. But during that time of change, there will be no little baby groupers, which is bad for the grouper population.Warsaw grouper in the picture to the right. This is a large teenager - fyi. However, I picked this picture because it is the size of the large ones of other species.
In the meanwhile, since fishing from a boat is out of the question, I have decided to put in a winter garden. At this point, it is half the size I want it. I threw in mostly herbs and then some seeds of brussel sprouts and carrots. Goodness, this picture makes it look so pitiful. I haven't had a chance yet to build up the wooden boxed sides. The black tubing on the edges is my hose with the holes running every foot. The plant on the right is Green Bell Pepper. For another 5 ft to the right, I will have 3 large tomato plants and 3 cherry tomato plants. That should entertain me for a little while.
Last but not least, we saw this exquisitely huge spider in our front yard this morning. We still haven't identified it yet, but we will soon. It is over 2" long.We had a lot of fun schooling today while we finally got some much needed rain; however, this spider takes the cake of the most interesting part of our day.
Happy Fishing,
Robin
Edited to Add: http://home.att.net/~larvalbugrex/argiope.html
Black & Yellow Argiope, AKA Banana Spider - non-poisonous, most likely a female. They are in the Orb Weaver Spider family.
1 comment:
Interesting post. I had no idea that female Groupers were capable of spontaneous gender change. But I especially love the picture of the yellow garden spider. We have them here in NC too. I think they're beautiful.
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