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.

Golf in Coeur d'Alene, ID

Played the Coeur d'Alene Golf Resort in Idaho (6-12-08). Beautiful course! The only true Island Green in the US (I bogeyed it, but I stayed dry). I used the rental clubs (Calloway). Shot 94, but hey I'm glad I shot under 100 since this is the 2nd time I've played this year!

FISHING

I started to get depressed the last 2 times I went fishing because I came home empty handed! However, I went fishing yesterday in St. Augustine inlet caught 2 flounders in 1 1/2 hours! I had some time to kill, so I grabbed my spinning rod and bought a dozen live shrimp. 2nd cast I felt a bump and my line wasn't moving. I knew it had to be a flounder, so I set the hook (13-inch flounder). Five minutes later something hits my line and I know its not a flounder because it took off. I didn't have my net w/ me and my line was only 10 lb. test! I got it closer and saw that it was a Jack. I'd estimate it at around 18", but it popped my line and it was gone. Went back to my car to get my net because I didn't want that happening again! 45 minutes pass when I feel another bump, set the hook, and time to fish on! This was a big one, I could tell because he was staying down refusing to come up. I had my net ready and thought it was a stingray when it came to the top. Nope it was a big flippin flounder! I guided him towards my net and he was in (20-inch flounder!). The flounder are back in NE Florida. Flounder is my favorite fish to catch and eat. So, go out there and start FLOUNDERING around!

F2GT (Finance-Fish-Golf-Tennis)

Have you seen the new F2GT? Of course not! I just created it F2GT (Finance-Fish-Golf-Tennis). This is my little space that I decided to create to talk about 4 things that I enjoy. I am not a professional just an average JOE(L). I love to FISH, play GOLF, TENNIS, and handle my personal FINANCES to pay for these hobbies! All 4 share similar traits:

• Challenging
• Takes practice
• Sometimes you WIN
• Sometimes you LOSE
  
• Most importantly you have to have FUN doing it!

I hope to take you through my journey of all 4 subjects from previous experiences. I promise to try not to bore you by including some comic relief.

MAY 16, 2008

FISHING:

My dad got me started at very young age (4 yrs old) and ever since I've been addicted! Shrimping, crabbing, fishing w/ a pole, net, on a boat, from the surf and shore. Mostly, I fish from the shore. One day I hope to own a boat, but with gas prices where they are at right now, I'm not so sure. I fish St. Augustine, FL area and parts of Jacksonville. Almost all saltwater. I've caught Redfish, Flounder, Sea Trout, Bluefish, Jacks, Snapper, Grouper, Mullet, Spanish Mackerel, Pompano, Sheepshead, Black Drum, and of course catfish. I like catching flounder and trout the best because they taste good. Went fishing last week and didn't catch anything worth mentioning. Oh yeah, one whiting! Where are the fish right now? Main reason I like fishing - LOW COST.

GOLF:

I started playing golf late around 18 yrs old. C'mon back then golf was not something a teenager was supposed to do. It was left for the "older" folks. However, now golf is cool. I would have never believed you if you told me that back when I was 16. When I used to play often I was pretty decent, about a 10 handicap at one point. Those were the days! Cutting class in college and playing golf on the military base! Haven't played this year, yet. Golf can be pricey! However, I am playing at a resort for work next month in Coeur d'Alene, IDAHO. Can't wait because it has one par 3 that is a true "island green". You have to take a boat to get to the green. I need to get the driving range to practice. By the way, have 2 hole in ones! No lie. Tell you more about those next time.

TENNIS:

I played tennis in high school only because a friend told me they needed another player. I never played before that, but once I got through "try-outs" I did pretty good. I quoted "try-outs" because it was more like the coach ran us to death to weed out the quitters. Never in my life did I feel pain in my legs and buttocks like I did back then! Now, I play w/ co-workers on Mondays (doubles). Good group of guys and its competitive. I like doubles because less running around is involved, but I still get a good workout.

FINANCE:

I have BA in Corporate Finance, but I'm not going to talk about that. I want to talk more about personal finance. I know there are tons of personal finance blogs and websites, but it doesn't hurt to have one more. Some of the topics I'll talk about may be overlap, but hopefully I can explain it to you better. Right now, managing your personal finances is tough. Everything is down..the market, the US dollar, housing, and spirits. The only thing I can say for now is to save as much as you can. No, I can do better than that. I'll say save more than you are now, but leave some money around for entertainment. We have to have our hobbies to keep us sane! So, I will not tell you to save all your money till the market turns around because that may be a long time. I do believe that only you are capable of knowing when to be frugal and when you need a break to have fun. It does take self discipline to say no to some of the small wants out there. But you can do it!

Till next time...keep your head down, follow through, and have FUN!