Oscar Scherer SP (Dec 15-28)

Tuesday - We had a good trip here, but the traffic is getting worse every year. The folks on our site evidently wanted to get their money's worth, so they didn't leave until the last minute at 1PM. Skip & Shirl will also be here until Saturday. We met our neighbors Lee and Sharon, and they graciously asked us all over to share there campfire. It is nice to be away from the no-see-ums. They killed us this morning packing up. Even our old standby Skin-so-soft didn't help.

Wednesday - The four of us drove about 85 miles south to Estero to meet Joan's cousin Dave and his wife Marty for lunch at Stir Crazy. We had a nice lunch and an even nicer visit with them. When we got back we checked out a couple of parks here in Osprey, on Blackburn Point, that have been very nicely improved. They will provide very nice places to launch the kayaks. Next we drove to North Jetty Park to watch the sunset and let John fish. A nice young man was catching Jack Crevalle and wanted to see John catch one on a fly rod, so he invited him to use his spot. It didn't take long before John hooked a five pounder, which gave him all the fight he could handle. 

Thursday - After the pancake breakfast, the four of us launched the kayaks at Blackburn Park where the skulling boats are. It was too windy at the new park on the other side of the road. John got some action with a small mangrove snapper and had a nice blue fish on for a little while before it spit the hook. Shirl had better luck with hers landing a 22 incher that gave her a great fight. We ended the day with a campfire including our neighbors, Lee and Sharon. 

Friday - Since it was windy and cool, we went thrift store shopping. We each found treasures we couldn't do without. For lunch we stopped at Wendy's. 

Saturday - It was much cooler today., and windy. We said goodbye to Skip and Shirl and mostly hung around camp. 

Sunday - We hiked over to the observation area for the eagles nest. There was one on the nest and we could see just its head. We watched some football in the afternoon and joined our neighbors in the evening for a campfire. Camp hosts Pat and Tony joined us for a really fun time. 

Monday - Joan did a load of laundry super early, then we went to Wally to pick up groceries. In the afternoon, John tried to figure out why the new lights Conibear put in the rear light housing are so dim. He replaced them with Sylvanias that are supposed to be much brighter. We'll see. 

After dinner we walked over to Lake Osprey and John fished while Joan relaxed. On the way there we saw a bobcat. John caught four fish, all small, a tilapia, a bluegill, and two bass. 

Tuesday - We went to the coffee at the nature center and had a great time meeting other campers. After lunch we wheeled the kayaks to the picnic area launch and fished for awhile. John caught a big ladyfish and Joan caught a Jack Crevalle that gave her a good fight. We enjoyed watching an Osprey in a tree eating a mullet. 

Wednesday - We got up early, had breakfast, and wheeled the kayaks to the picnic area to launch. We caught three mangrove snapper, but only one of John's was big enough to keep. We had it for dinner along with chicken. It was delicious. John used his new (thrift store purchase) electric knife, which worked quite well. Joan lost a nice fish while not paying attention. 

Thursday - We went to the pancake breakfast and met a lady and her two sons from Blairsville. She's a realtor there. In the afternoon we had lunch at Casey Key Fish House. Joan had grouper salad and John had Cod and chips. Both were excellent. After we fished from piers close by, but didn't catch anything. Joan had something big take a couple of swipes at her fly, but couldn't hook up. 

Christmas Day - We hope your day was awesome. We drove the 90 miles to Zephyrhills to be with Skip, Shirl, Bruce, Cheryl, and Hayward. We had some laughs, video called family, and enjoyed steak on the grill. It was a great day. 

Saturday - We drove to Deer Prairie Creek Preserve and fished from shore. We first tried the Kiyose rods for bass, but no success, so we switched to 4wt fly rods and small squirmy flies, but the result was the same. It is a really nice park though. 

Monday - After breakfast, we made a Wally run, then came back to camp and put the outside things away. It was time for us to have pizza, so we drove to our favorite spot here, Frankie's. We then took our very full tummies to the jetty to enjoy it one last time for the year. We opted to not fish due to the large crowd of people enjoying their Christmas break.

View Pictures: Click Here

.