Cottonhill COE (March 27-28)

Friday - This was a longer trip today, about 225 miles and at times quite windy. It was cloudy with some rain, but it was sunny and cool when we arrived and got set up on site 29. We are up on a hill overlooking the lake, which this time is much less weedy. In the early evening we took our 4 wts. with small Clousers down to the lake to see if there were any willing fish. We ended up with a nice bass, three yellow perch, and a yellow-bellied bream. Not bad for an hour of fishing. 

Saturday - We took a nice hike in the morning, had breakfast, then hiked again so John could pick up firewood and Joan could collect huge pine cones for a fire later. Joan took her 4 wt. while John took the Tenkara and tried a couple coves. Sadly, not a bite. There is much more boating and fishing activity than we have ever seen here 

O'Leno SP (March 25-26)

Wednesday - We arrived about 1:20 and got set up on site 14. Nice site! The trip was uneventful and pleasant despite some road construction on I-75 making lanes uneven.

Thursday - We took advantage of a break in the rain to take a bike ride over to the other loop here and check out the sites there. We found several that would meet our needs if we find that we cannot get into this loop. In the evening we drove into High Springs to meet our Trackrock friends, the Mast family, for dinner at Alice's Restaurant. We had a very nice visit and got caught up with everyone. There were eleven of us there. It looks like the rain will continue during the night, but most of our things are put up and ready to leave tomorrow.

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Busch Garden (March 23)

We woke up this morning to rain and encountered more rain on the way to the hotel to meet the John's daughter, son-in-law, and the grandkids. We hung out at the hotel for awhile then took a shuttle over to the park. We armed ourselves with umbrellas and walked around the zoo part and enjoyed the wonderful exhibits. They are better than any zoo we have been to. The rain finally ended and turned out to be an awesome day. Even better, the rain kept a lot of people away, allowing the boys to get on rides without the usual wait. We enjoyed the sky ride that gives a view of the park from above. We got the package that includes unlimited food, which worked out great. The meals were quite good. We were quite tired at the end of the day, but it was super to be able to have a day with them.

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Lake Louisa SP (March 20)

We drove up to visit Jane and Tom with Skip and Shirl and fish one of the lakes there. We brought roasted chicken and enjoyed a nice lunch In their campsite. We launched the kayaks on the side of the fishing pier, which was a little muddy, but doable. This is a gorgeous lake and not too big. There are no bigger boats allowed. Joan led the day with two keeper bass and one keeper crappie, although we were not keeping today. John and Skip both caught undersized bass, while Tom lost a couple. We were using white/chartreuse mini-Clousers. This is a very nice campground with excellent fishing opportunities. We have plans to stay here for a week next year.

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Lake Griffin State Park (Mar 5-12)

Thursday - It was only about an hour to get here, but not an easy drive due to heavy cross winds. Site 17 is much smaller than the one we had at Rainbow Springs, but should accommodate us nicely. After getting set up, we biked down to the river and John fished with the Tenkara rod for a while. He did not even get a single bite. One thing we have noticed here that we don't care for much is significant road noise from Highway 441/27/25. We have heard sirens all afternoon and are hearing them at this moment.

Friday - We met our kayaking friends near Silver Springs State Park at Ray's Landing and paddled the Oklawaha River ten miles to Gore's Landing. We all got soaked as it rained for the last third of the trip. This is a gorgeous section of the river, with all nature and no houses. Thankfully, we each had a dry pair of sweats to put on. On the way back we stopped at Stavo's Restaurant for the best pizza we have had in a long time. 

Saturday - It started off rather cool (about 50 deg), so we took our time getting going. After pancakes for breakfast, we took a walk down to the water and sat for awhile. We then hiked the nature trails here and saw the largest live oak tree we have ever seen. It was hundreds of years old and huge. We then returned to camp and got our wet stuff hung out to dry. 

Sunday - Perry and Julie came over today to kayak/canoe the Black River into Lake Griffin with us. We paddled about a mile and John stayed back to fish. He usd his 4 wt. with a small chartreuse Clouser, but after fishing several places shallow and deep, didn't get a single hit. The four of us then drove over to Red Oaks RV Park to have pizza with Judy and Laurel. We had a great visit and walk around the park.

Monday - Skip and Shirl joined us here for the day and even brought baked spaghetti for dinner. We took a walk, but mostly just visited and enjoyed the perfect weather. 

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Rainbow Springs SP (Feb 19-Mar 4)

Thursday - It was a good trip here, despite some very windy conditions on the way. We got in and set up on site 22 then went to the Front Porch Restsurant for dinner. We both had fried chicken which was excellent. We then stopped by Mike and Christina's to visit them and also met friends of theirs Susan and Charlie. They also enjoy fishing, so we had fun talking about our experiences with them. We are bracing for temperatures that are expected to get down into the 20s tonight. We are hoping there will not be anything frozen in the morning. We haven't seen temperatures that low for a very long time.

Friday - We have wanted to check out Crystal River Archaeologica State Park and Wildlife Refuge for a long time but just never got around to it. What a great area. There are places to launch kayaks, hike, and fish from shore.on the way back we stopped at Swampy's restaurant for dinner.

Saturday - We attended an open house at Three Sisters Springs for the new Boardwalk, and were treated to hundreds of manatees. We got there very early to avoid crowds.

Sunday - It was a nice service at Dunnellon UMC, with an outstanding message. 

Monday - We drove to Crystal River and launched at Hunter Park. Fishing started slow, and all we were able to get into were ladyfish and small mangrove snapper. It was beautiful out on the water and we saw a lot of birds, including osprey and brown pelican. On the way back we stopped for dinner at Swampys.

Tuesday - It rained off and on all day, so we made a Walmart run and got some things done here.

Wednesday - It rained some more off and on today, but we went out to Yankeetown anyway and fished a little from the bank. There were only a few people there and no one was catching anything. We quit after several minutes with no hits. We then checked out below the spillway and John used a flyrod then a Tenkara from the bank with no success. Next, we went over to the bypass park and again John tried the Tenkara, but this time caught several bream and tilapia. Finally, we stopped at Lombardo's for pizza, which was very good. 

Thursday - We drove to Crystal River and visited new friends Ed and Priscilla at their vacation home on a channel that feeds into the river. We had wanted to do a fishing trip, but the weather wouldn't cooperate. Instead, they drove us around to some of their favorite places to fish and then took us out for dinner at Charlie's Seafood. We had a great time with them and got to know them better. 

Friday - We met several of our northern kayak friends at Inglis Spillway and after setting up a shuttle to the Isaac Walton Lodge where we would end up for lunch, we put in and paddled down river. It was quite cool, but comfortable, and a very beautiful paddle. John saw many tilapia splashing on the way, but he was not fishing today. We had a very nice lunch at the lodge. 

Saturday - Today was the annual reunion in the Villages with folks from the area in Vermont where Joan grew up. We have been going to this for the last ten years. It is always great to see everyone. This year we met at Golden Corral in a private room. There were also several there who graduated H.S. With Joan. Afterwards, we went over to Julie's and Barry's home along with Judy and Laurel and visited in the afternoon. John usually fishes their pond but got rained out today. In the evening Mike and Christina brought his mother and her sister over to see the campground and our motorhome. We had a nice visit. 

Sunday - After attending another really nice service at Dunnellon UMC, we drove over to Rockcrusher Canyon RV park in Crystal River. We have always wanted to check that one out. The place is huge with over 900 campsites, but is well shaded, with a lot of trees around, and the sites are not on top of one another like so many RV parks we see. We drove together in Joe's truck to The Freezer Tiki Bar on the water in Homassasa. The place was really packed, and we had to wait in long line, but the food was great and you got a lot for the price. It was great to visit with Joe and Debbie, a fun, very active couple, we met at Trackrock several years ago.

Monday - We (mostly Joan) got some laundry done, then put in on the Rainbow River at the park by the 484 bridge. We paddled up river, then into a back area and fished with Tenkara and cane pole. The Tenkara had a chartreuse nymph and a small chunk of Gulp worm and the cane pole had a watermelon colored small plastic worm. The Tenkara proved to be the most effective, catching three small bream and stumpknockers (spotted sunfish). The cane pole struck out. We had a beautiful paddle and followed it with the fish we didn't catch sandwiches at Swampy's. It got into the low 80s, which felt great. 

Tuesday - We had great plans to head out early and put in at Ft. Island Trail Park, but when we got up it was very foggy. We waited to see if the fog would lift, but it looked like we would be socked in for awhile. We decided to inact plan B and put the wheels under our kayaks and walk them down to the launch here. We only got to fish a short while here before the fog lifted and the sun came out. We have come to the conclusion that we need to fish the first and last hours on this super clear river in order to be successful. We managed to catch a few stumpknockers (spotted sunfish) and one small bass.  

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Little Manatee River State Park (Feb 5-18)

IThursday - It rained hard in the night and into the AM, but we had put up most everything outside so we wouldn't have to put it up wet. We got out late AM and went to Walmart and gassed up both vehicles. We had not filled the MH since December 2 and it took only $78 to fill it. Nice!  We restocked and were in site 23, had lunch, and set up by about 3:30. We noticed the washers and dryers were not in use so we did a couple loads.

Friday - More laundry early followed by a walk down to the river. We decided we needed to check out a few areas to see if anyone was fishing and catching, so we drove to Ft. Hamer, Emerson Point, Terra Ceia Bay, and a bay in downtown Ruskin. The result was not encouraging. Looks like the water will need to warm up before there is any significant action. In between we had lunch.dinner at The Crab Shack on Terra Ceia Bay. We were disappointed in our meals, John expected a tuna fillet on a salad, but instead got tuna salad. Maybe he misread the menu. 

Saturday - We went on a hike with Ranger Kim this afternoon. It was great and we got to see a pair of bald eagles soaring overhead as well as learning about sand pine communities. Afterwards, John fished by the old kayak launch and caught a nice sized bream on the Tenkara. It warmed up a lot today. Hopefully it will continue to warm up the bay and activate the fish. 

Sunday - We went back to Sun City Center UMC and were blessed again. We feel right at home there. We had plans to have hamburger dinner with Skipand Shirl at our site, but were pleasantly surprised that our friends Dave and Pat and Bill and Joanna would be able to join us. After dinner we all headed over to S&S's for a nice fire. 

Monday - We knew rain was going to rain around noon, but we hoped we could get some kayaking and fishing in before it came. We put in and began fishing around Hunters Pass and began catching trout right away. They were all around 13", which is a little short to keep. It was fun anyway to get into trout again. The rain came, but we were able to get kayaks put back up before it got too heavy. We had lunch in the shelter there then headed over to Goodson's Farm in Balm for strawberry shortcakes. Yummy! The rain pretty much washed out the rest of the day. 

Tuesday - We bid farewell to our friends D&P and B&J this morning. It has been quite windy and cool today, but regardless we accompanied Skip over to Lake Manatee SP to see if we could catch some hybrid stripers from the dock. Joan landed one on her third cast, but after that it was all John with two stripers and a really nice crappie. Skip took on job to be the filleter and cooker. 

Wednesday - The four of us went down to Ft. Hamer and put the kayaks in. We headed to our back bay and hole and quickly caught a couple small snook and ladyfish and Joan caught a larger ladyfish. We tries some other back areas, but nothing. We caught a couple more, but nothing to bring home. We went over to S&S's for venison stroganoff. Delicious!!!!

Thursday - We said goodbye to S&S, then headed back to E.G. Simmons Park. We caught some small trout and a few ladyfish, but no keepers. We saw a bald eagle soaring overhead. On the way home we had dinner at Beanies. It was excellent and filling too. In the evening we met up with our friends Mary and Dave and enjoyed a fire with them. Sadly, Dave has to get back to work, so they are returning to Canada tomorrow. 

Friday - We went back to EG Simmons Park and saw folks (Rosie and Don) who we have met here, who also kayak. We fished from shore, but the cold front has shut them down. We found a protected spot and had a picnic lunch, then took a nice walk. It was a beautiful, but cool and windy day. 

Saturday - Happy Valentines Day. We mostly stayed around camp today. We walked to the lake where John fished, but only caught one little bream. We enjoyed a fire and conversation with Rosie and Don. 

Sunday - After another very nice worship service, we headed over to O'Brien's Farm for our usual BLT and strawberry shortcake. Yum! We returned to Lake Manatee State Park to see if the hybrid stripers would still be around dock, But sadly, they have found another place to be. We enjoyed visit while we were there with our friends Dave and Pat at their campsite. We hope to be able to visit them when we get back to Georgia since they live close by near Gatlinburg, Tennessee.

Monday - Windy, but warm today, so we checked out a boat ramp on the Little Manatee River near Sun City to see if that might be a good place to launch. Not so much! We also checked out Hideaway RV park to see if that might be a place we would like to stay for a while while we are here in the winter. It is one of the nicer parks we have been to, but I don't think we're quite ready for this yet. State Parks are just too nice. We went over to EG Simmons County Park one more time, had a picnic lunch and casted from shore. No fish this time.

Tuesday - It was very warm today, but a front and rain will take care of that. We got the rest of the outdoor stuff taken care of and plan to hunker down tomorrow. 

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