X-files....

[twoshooter]

I guess this answers the age old question "is there anyone out there", guess the answer is "NO". I have been getting stuff ready, re-spooling all my reels, checking rods, making sinkers, changing hooks on plugs. My wife is counting down the days (less than 60 now) until we head south for a few weeks for the first time in 3 years really. Florida here we come! I guess I will have to hope that the fishing is so good that you guys are too busy to fool with computers.

[twoshooter]

guess I will have tokeep it going by myself for the time being.

[twoshooter]

This is a little like running a trapline. I am beginning to feel like Charlton Heston in "Omega Man". The last man..........

[52bagman]

Where too in Florida, I fish there every chance I get which hasn't been lately. Fish at Sebastain Inlet pier and Jetty park In Coccoa Beach. Also Friend of friends has boats for blue water. Try to shrimp on Indian and Banana Rivers in the winter. Some BIG shrimp around there.

[twoshooter]

AAHHHHH!!!! Proof of life! My sister lived on Merritt Island there by Coco Beach all throughout the space years, my B-N-L was a " ground astronaut" did preflight checks through both Gemini and Apollo, from about 63 until 74 or so. I never got to see them, we were too poor to afford the time and tickets to go down then. I went 25 years w/o a vacation, then in 2001 my wife and I went to FL,  to Tampa, and then a couple weeks up near Pensacola. I had not fished in all that time, but started again because of the grandkids. I went down to the Pier at Navarre and caught over 150 Blues in 3 days. I was hooked. I hurt so bad I could not get my hands above my shoulders. I determined right then I would get back every time I can. I have made 4 trips back since then. I retire at the end of next year so I should be able to go every year for a little while. I live in Missouri so it is a 750 mile trip to Pensacola. This year we are going to Panama City for 3 weeks, after spring breakers are gone. I have 8 rods and reels to pack, I made a bunch of surf sinkers, reading my how-to books , practicing knots, the whole 9 yards. I have to get my little beach / pier buggy rebuilt to haul my stuff around. I am getting excited I am afraid.

[52bagman]

Here's a tip to have really good tasting fillets, bleed the fish, especially the Blues and Mackerel while they are alive. Turn them upside down and cut behind the pec fins in a diagonal towards the head, break the spine at the head, cut the belly towards the anus, then remove head and entrails at one time. You end up with just the body and fillet  them when you get home.


Something else if you freeze them, don't freeze them in water. Take the fillets and place in freezer bag, set the bag down in a large sized drink cup with the bag open. Now pour in water on the outside of the bag and when the water gets close to the top of the bag seal it. Place the cup,water and bag in the freezer and freeze as a unit. After it freezes then pour some water over the cup until the cup releases then put fish back in the freezer.


I have froze fish and shrimp this way and they can last around two years and are as good as the day they were caught. When you freeze them IN water they get really strong while thawing out and with shrimp they will get soft, some of the fish will also.


  Good fishing and good luck, Sam

  ps, I have a similar Stache as your avatar HeHe

[twoshooter]

Thanks, I will try that. Hopefully I will have some to bring home. 

[52bagman]

Here's a recipe for the Blue and Mackerel fillets. Put two eggs in a bowl, add some pepper and beat evenly. Wet  the fillets in the egg. Put an appropriate amount of corn meal, yellow or white, in a gallon bag. Add garlic salt to the meal. Now place fillets in the bag a shake vigorusly. If you don't get a good coating, which sometimes happens, redo the egg and meal again. Now pan fry in your favorite oil on a medium high heat turning often, doesn't take too long either.


This has turned out well enough for me that I would make a cold sandwich and take to work for lunch. I'm not nuts about cold fish either.


ps. I try to make enough trips that I keep my rods and reels in the new town of Veara right above Melbourne. I also have a four cubic foot freezer that I take wild game down in for my buddies and bring my fish scores home.


If your lucky you will catch a legal Snook or Redfish and they are amazingly good to eat.

[twoshooter]

I have never caught a Snook YET , last time down I caught a 26" Redfish and it was really good, my wife and I ate on it for about 3 days. I have thought about finding some place to maybe store stuff there, and UPS now has a service that you can ship stuff to where you are going. My daughter is working on a possible move to the south, she is looking at New Orleans or Savanah, and I keep trying to sneak Mobile into her list of possibilities. That would give me a forward base of operations. I will be retiring sometime next year, and while my retirement is not enough to fully stop working, it will let me go to part time at anything I want to piddle at and I will have time to do whatever and whenever I want, as long as I stay inexpensive. I have an old SUV that I must have to get our of here to town in the winter, and that is my main vehicle now, but I think I will be buying one of them small 40 mpg cars so I can afford to go someplace then, but it wont be hauling much stuff. Thanks, talk to you later.Timothy.

[twoshooter]

The continuing saga of talking to myself. More of a journal or diary I guess.............Went to Lowe's today and got some PVC cement to repair my little beach hut that got broken in the wind last weekend. I was going to bulid myself a pier cart, but found a little lawn wagon on sale, display model. The new ones are 119$, this one is identical, the display from last year, $69. Could not pass that up, so I now have a beach/ pier buggy. Now I just need to do some modification, make some rod racks, and a way to attach it on the SUV to travel. Things are looking up.  Still have to find my cast net, make a few light sinkers, and replace some hooks on my saltwater plugs, and I will be ready to pack!

[52bagman]

X-C-LENT      

[twoshooter]

This has to be like playing chess by mail, Kings Rook to Kings Bishop 4.......   Now down to finding cast net and getting vehicle ready--- oil change, lube job, check belts etc, starting to get antsy, I am not a good traveler. I have to stop too much, get hyper, worry about the car, traffic etc, until we get where we are going. Once there I am generally OK. My wife is a great traveler, you just have trouble when you have to leave and come home, it is like getting Mr T on the airplane..............

[52bagman]

If you have a cast net you are going to need a good bait bucket. The ones you buy (the little ones around a gallon size are not near big enough) just don't cut the mustard. I made one from a 5 gallon bucket and the spring lid from one the little ones. Cut and fit a piece of 3/4" plywood to fit in top of the bucket with a hole in the middle that the spring lid will cover from underneath. Drill some holes starting around 8" from the bottom and work your way to the top. This way there is always some water left in the bucket. Two holes small enough to put 3/8" braided cord through for handle and more of the same cord to use as tie off from the pier.
These bait buckets are tuff (will stand up to wave crashes against a pier and can be replaced easily.) and give your bait enough room to move around, good bait is pretty fragile, especially mullet.


Shoot man give me a call and we'll talk, I can talk better than I can type. I'm hardcore when I go fishing and usually do pretty good because I don't give up.




cell 304-674-5461  Weekdays 7 till 4      Home 304-675-6837


   Thanks, Sam