Winter Fishing is HOT!

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I hope everyone had a great Turkey Day. I fried my first Turkey this past Thanksgiving and it was delicious. Not only did I have a great Thanksgiving, but the fishing has been good, too. The surf fishing has started to slow down for me, but the ICW has been good to me. I've been catching nice flounder (up to 17"), specks (20"), and drum(20") consistently. Below are some pics. However, yesterday I went deep sea fishing for the first time off of Jax. My friend Liz and Shawn took my dad and in their 26' boat. It was rough riding in the beginning, but the weather turned around by the time we came back in. Shawn and Liz caught 3 red snappers (Shawn caught 2 monster red snappers)! I caught the lone grouper a 24 incher. We all caught our share of beeliners, grunts, and sea bass. 3 sharks, too! Liz was nice enough to give us her red snapper for mom to cook up (don't forget Shawn and Liz keep those snapper heads for my mom!). Had a great day deep sea fishing. Many thanks to Liz and Shawn for taking us out. My dad wants to go back because he's mad he didn't catch any legal size red snapper or grouper. Oh yeah, I was sure to take my Dramamine because it was rough and cold in the morning. I didn't want to take a chance and get sea sick!

Guardian Angel

Yesterday was a very sad day for my family; however, it was also a very happy day. Our family dog of 14 1/2 years was put to sleep. She was a stray and I remember the day I went to school she followed me and was almost hit by a car. I thought she was going to bite me. Then, when I get back from school my mom is hugging the same dog and saying, "say hello to Angel!" She was the family dog that lasted her lifetime and filled our lives with much love and joy. I know that she lived a long and happy life. She has seen the many transitions of my own family as children left for college, came back, and left to get married. Many of you that knew her for a while knew that she was a vibrant and happy dog. And once you petted her she wouldn't let you stop, as she nudged your hand to continue pet her. Here last 3 days were very painful and my dad took her to the vet who told him that she had no diseases, but that she is very old. There was nothing else he could do and suggested we put her pain at ease and let her find peace. Peace she has found and love my family will not forget. So, it was sad because we lost a family member, but it was happy because she was no longer in pain and she left us with great memories that will last a lifetime. I know that she is up in Heaven as our GUARDIAN ANGEL. After all, all dogs go to heaven! Angel we love you, miss you, and you will always be in our memories!

Making Nanay's Lumpia!

Here I am trying for the first time to make my mom's famous Lumpia or as my non-pinoy friends know it as "Egg Rolls"!

Nov 1st Pic from Surf!

Here's the 24" Red right after it was caught from the surf!

Hear that DRUM!

I have been losing a lot of big fish in the inter coastal waterway and have been thinking of buying a bigger reel and heavier tackle. Today, my friend Ry and I went surf fishing for about an hour and 45 minutes w/ 2 small spinning reel combos. We caught 1 whiting, 1 bluefish, 2 Reds, and 3 Black Drums. 24" and 23.5" Red drums and 18", 16", and 15" black drum came beating in the surf. I did not expect this! We didn't expect to catch this much or these big of fish. The light tackle 10lb and 14lb test held up in the surf w/ 2 oz pyramid sinkers using live shrimp. What a great way to start November!

The day before Ry and I gave candy to Trick or Treaters and managed to only scare a few kids! Here is the video:

Speckle Trout Time!

Went fishing w/ my neighbor this past Saturday morning and caught one 17" speckle trout. I helped a guy right next to us land a 30" RED. Today, I went fishing w/ my uncle and my dad. I caught a 13" sheepshead, 15" bluefish, and a fat 22" Speckle Trout (Gator Trout what they call the bigguns).

My uncle went crabbing for blue crabs and my dad caught a 16" Flounder. I nice variety of fish today. The gator trout I caught had a 10" mullet in his stomach! See my video.

Floundering Around

Caught more flounder at the end of July and beginning of August. This summer has been the best flounder fishing I have ever had. Caught the 2 biggest flounder this summer including the one I just caught 2 weeks ago. Nice 20" Flounder! The fillets from this fish were huge!
I went night fishing w/ 2 of my friends last Friday. I caught one 13" flounder, a couple of sharks, too many little catfish. We fried up the flounder right on the spot and tried shark for the first time. The shark had a funny taste to it, so I don't think I'll be eating anymore shark. Still fishing the intra coastal and salt marsh, hopefully I can get a boat since my wife got a job as a teacher! We'll see hopefully before next summer! Till then fish or die!

Oh yeah, Tropical Storm Fay just passed thru St. Augustine and we're ok (see clip below). Very windy and wet! And today there was a report of a large Tornado that hit north of me. Hope everyone in FL is safe.