Whitetail Ridge COE (March 29-31)

DSunday - We got mostly packed up and attended a worship service in the pavilion put on by two men from a local congregation. They have been doing this for several years. Our 125 mile trip here was good, with pretty scenery along the way. We were in and set up by 2 PM. It is a cool, beautiful day with temps in the low 60s. The lake looks to be in mid pool.  After spaghetti dinner, we took the 4 wts and fished in several places from shore. Joan had a small bass on, but lost it and John caught a nice yellow-bellied bream. Perhaps the water needs to warm some.

Monday - Rain came through in the morning, so we took that as an opportunity to make a Walmart run. The sun came out in the afternoon and it turned out to be a beautiful day. John split some logs that wee left in a near pile from s tree that was cut down and although it was quite wet we managed to have a nice campfire. We took the cane poles down to the boat launch, but caught nothing. 

Tuesday - We tried the same place this time armed with the Tenkara rods. We had the best success with small hoppers, but nymphs worked too with the nice sizd bream. We got some things ready for our last stretch tomorrow to Trackrock. 

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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