Colt Creek SP (Nov 23)

This park is one of Florida's newest, and is only a few miles from us. It was a cool, bright day, with a moderate wind. Instead of waiting in lines today, we chose to cast our lines. We began fishing at the pier, but after 15 minutes of not seeing any action by ourselves or the others, we decided to move on. There is little on this lake where there is access to the water due to heavy weed cover, so we headed to the other lake. Joan used a foam hopper and John used a small plastic worm. Finally, John hooked a nice bass just off the weeds, but it got itself wrapped up in them and broke off. That was the total extent of our action. This was actually more than anyone else we saw.
We were blessed to see many water birds, a buck deer, two alligators, many horses (with riders), and two huge hornets nests.

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E. G. Simmons County Park - Reprise (Nov 15)

It was overcast and spitting rain a little, but the tides were predicted to be so good we went anyway. It didn't rain at all after we got here, but the fishing was rather slow. We caught four trout between us, but they were all undersized. John had a nice snook on, but it jumped and spit the hook. It was a pleasant day and nice to see our friend Mike from Trackrock who stopped by to say hi. We stopped at Pizza Hut on the way home. It was quite good.

View Pictures: https://picasaweb.google.com/114754015214438395393/EGSimmonsCountyParkRepriseNov15

Honeymoon Island (Nov 13)

We went with Skip & Shirley today and launched the kayaks on the causeway leading to the island. We paddled quite a distance towards the island and began fishing when we saw fish rolling. The first fish caught was a ladyfish that John got, followed quickly by a Spanish mackerel that Joan brought to the boat. Joan caught another mackerel and John caught a keeper trout and too many ladyfish to count. It was a beautiful day to fish and good action. The traffic getting to this area is heavy, with many traffic lights.

View Pictures: https://picasaweb.google.com/114754015214438395393/HoneymoonIslandNov13

E. G. Simmons County Park - Ruskin (Nov 5)

We got to the park about 10:30 and launched the kayaks from shore at the end of the road past the boat ramp and playground. We went out into the flats and fished around the channel. John had the hot hand today with three keeper sized trout, one small and one keeper sizes flounder. John measured the fish according to the small paddle we use to position the kayak while fishing and the trout were about 15". We like them to be about 16" or larger, because they are easier to fillet. taking pictures of trout is quite difficult, because they never stop fighting, and are very hard to hold onto. Both of us caught numerous ladyfish, which are a lot of fun on a fly rod. the first thing they do when hooked is to jump way out of the water. We became interested in a group of manatees that were very active at the far end of a bay we were fishing. There was a lot of churning waters and flailing flippers. We thought it was most likely mating activity and confirmed that by looking it up when we got home. It was a gorgeous day, with temp in the upper 70s, with hazy skies. This is a beautiful park, with many bays and channels to fish. We stopped for Chinese on the way home.

View Pictures: https://picasaweb.google.com/114754015214438395393/EGSimmonsParkRuskinNov5

Jenkins Creek (Nov 2)

We launched our kayaks and headed out to the grass flats. The tide was low and just beginning to come in. We saw some action and John caught a needlefish, followed by a pinfish, and eventually a pufferfish, to complete the "junkfish slam". Later he caught a small (9 inch) sea trout, then just before returning to the launch, an 11 inch mangrove snapper that put up a good fight. It was a perfect day for kayaking, with a nice breeze to keep us cool.

View Pictures: https://picasaweb.google.com/114754015214438395393/JenkinsCreekNov2

Faver-Dykes SP (Oct 24-Nov 1)

It was a much easier trip this morning with only 90 miles to travel. We have noticed an increase in humidity and temp. We've gotten set up in this new to us campground. It is very typical Florida, with packed sand sites. We will be here for eight nites.
Thursday - We launched the kayaks at the boat ramp here in the park. It was high tide, so we didn't want to go towards the flats and have to paddle back against the current, so we went upstream and started fishing about 1/2 mile up. We could see some schools of bait, which was encouraging. John caught the only fish, which was a fairly nice channel catfish. It put up a good fight. We are watching the storm and have gotten a few bands, but should only be a rain/wind event here.
Friday - We had a great time visiting Trackrock friends, Chris & Sara, over in Walaka, which is on the other side of the St. John's River from Palaka. They stay in a park their in their 5th wheel. They were unable to come to Trackrock this summer because of health issues. It is about 35 miles to their place from Faver-Dykes. It was a little windy and there were a few branches down when we returned, but we were not too concerned about Hurricane Sandy. However, when we were almost ready for bed, the park ranger came to our campsite and told us that we needed to evacuate. We decided to head inland back to Palaka and stay at the Wal-mart there. The weather was quieter there than the people. Camp Wal-mart will not be at the top of our list for a return.
Saturday - We decided to return to Zephyrhills, and drove the 125 miles back.

Country Oaks RV Park - Kingsland, Ga (Oct 22-23)

Today was the longest part of our return, with 269 miles before we stopped here at 3:30pm. The trip was uneventful and not too tiring. The weather is perfect and promising for our trip to Cumberland Island tomorrow.
Tuesday - Cumberland Island - We took the 9AM shuttle over and were surprised with how warm it was. We joined the park ranger for a tour of the Dungeness Ruins. The estate was created by the Carnagees at the beginning of the last century. We brought our fly-rods and hoped to fish, but opportunities were limited. John did manage to catch an 8 inch butterfish near the boat dock. This is a wonderful area to visit, but way too big to see in one day. We saw some of the horses, turkeys, a huge flock of swallows, pleated woodpecker, and a dolphin one the way out. When we got back to St. Mary's, we enjoyed Gyros at the Riverside Cafe. We are tired.