Lake Manatee SP ( Dec 29-Jan 11)

Tuesday - We had a good trip here, which took a little over an hour. This is a very nice, large site (42). We got mostly set up, then went to O'Briens Farm for our traditional BLT and a strawberry shortcake. Wonderful!

Wednesday - We had to return to Conibear RV to have them put the correct break-away switch on the Canyon. They ordered and installed the wrong one. We visited Skip and Shirl, then had lunch with Sheryl and Hayward. He is looking better. John fished alone in the evening because it was too hot for Joan, but only hooked one shell cracker.

Thursday - We took our coffee down to the fishing pier, but we only managed one small bass. We stopped and talked to our friends Dave and Pat at their site and got caught up. It was another hot one today, but the first one in a long time we didn't have to run the air. 

Saturday - We got rain in the AM and welcome cooling. We had lunch then went down to the piers to fish again. John caught a nice 15" bass on a minnow that a nice young fisherman loaned him. In return John gave him the fish. When we got read to quit a fisherman came in that we got talking to and getting tips from. He was going to let two nice crappie go, so he asked us if we wanted them so we accepted. They were delicious. 

Sunday - We returned to our Sun City Center church and were richly blessed with a great worship service and message about "resolving" to be about our Father's business. Afterwards we had a nice breakfast at Sun City Center Cafe. We had a chilly/rainy afternoon to enjoy football.

Monday - It was sunny and warmer today, but the wind still had a bite. We drove to Bennet Park on the other side of I-75 near Walmart and fished a couple of the several lakes there. The first lake did not produce, but the second one gave us each a small bass plus a few smaller fish. 

Tuesday - We visited our friends Dave and Pat and took a walk with them. We then drove into Parrish to mail RX forms, then went to one of our favorite places, Ft. Hamer Park. We were disappointed to see a new bridge under construction a stones throw from the park, that will sadly increase traffic near the park. We fished from the piers, but no hits. 

Wednesday - Skip had heard about an area where the fishing was supposed to be excellent, called the Kitchen, so we drove to north of Apollo Beach to see if there was a place to launch the kayaks there. We checked every road that looked like it could go to water, but never found any place to launch. We decided to go to Apollo Beach to fish from shore. It was very windy, so only John finished near a few other folks who were fishing from a small peninsula. After several casts, he hooked into a really nice snook and managed to land it. It turned out to be about 23 inches long. Next we went to Circle's Restaurant for dinner and had shrimp and grouper. It was a little pricier than we are used to, but good. 

Thursday - We had some errands to do towards town so we decided to go back to Bennet Park and fish a couple of the other lakes. We only managed a few rather small bream. We also checked out the kayak launch there, which was very nice. You have to call ahead to have them open the gate for you. There is a channel that goes out to the Manatee River. Take it to the right. 

Friday - we fished the dock in the morning and only caught two small bream. Skip & Shirl showed up in the afternoon, and after they got set up, we headed to O'Briens for strawberry short-cake. We shared spaghetti using their spiralizer and zucchini to make the noodles. It was very good. 

Saturday - We launch the kayaks about 7:30 and fished the cove here for a couple of hours, but never got a hit. Skip fished twice as long and managed one crappie. 

Sunday - It rained all evening and into the night. We got up early again and went back to UM Church of Sun City Center and were blessed. Skip & Shirl fished by the fish camp, but never got a bite. We all went back to O'Briens and we had our usual BLT and strawberry shortcake. Yum! In the evening, Dave and Pat joined us at S&S's for a nice campfire and fun.

Monday - No one is catching anything on the lake. John tried one last time at the docks, but never got a hit. The four of us went thrift store shopping. Joan found some nice yarn and a pair of pants and Shirl found a nice three speed fan for their camper. We ended the day with another campfire.   

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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.

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EG Simmons County Park ( Dec 13-14)

Sunday - The truck did great following behind and we got into the same site (90) we had last year, with Skip and Shirl next to us. We also met our friends Joanne and Bill who have been here for awhile. We (mostly Joan) had more to do than normal, but typical for the first day getting things put it their proper places. We enjoyed a fire at S&S's.

We got up early, ate a breakfast bar, drank a slug of coffee and walked down to the point hoping to fish. The tide was out making it impossible to cast beyond the rocks so we walked back and drove over to the other side by a sand bar. The fishing was slow with only a small Jack Crevalle that John managed, but we had a nice outing anyway. We saw white pelicans, an osprey gathering nesting material, manatee, great blue heron, and cormorants working. We also talked to a young man named Mark, who showed us how to catch mangrove crabs to use to catch sheepshead. We had a minor disaster when a nearly full bottle of car washing soap fell over and leaked most of its contents onto the back seat carpeting it the truck. We got most of it up, but there was still some that remained. We went to a local car wash and detailer and their awesome manager took car of it for us and wouldn't accept any money from us. Thank you, thank you!

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