Lake Manatee SP (Jan 23-Feb 5)

Thursday - After A nice pancake breakfast at the nature center, and getting the last few things put away, we headed over here and got set up on site 48. We are on the outside loop which makes it more open and sunny. I don't think we will mind having plenty of sunshine to keep us warm. We headed over to O'Brian's Farm and had strawberry shortcake for before dinner dessert. We can do that because we are old. We also picked up some veggies so I guess that makes up for it. Two other couples saw us eating our shortcakes and decided they needed to be naughty as well. We thought maybe we should get ours free since we drummed up so much business for them.

Friday - We checked out a few launch sites today including one where we have been before called Jiggs Landing. We had our lunch and then fished from shore shortly for a while. We came up with a few bream, which were fun using our Tenkara rod (to see what they are, check out www.tenkarausa.com). We talked to a guy there named Doc Lee, who is a well known local figure here. He gave John some flies he ties and a lot of information about fishing this lake. We figure he enjoyed meeting others who love fly fishing. 

Saturday - We attended the coffee this morning that was at the hosts site and enjoyed seeing some old friends and meeting new ones. We also got a chance to talk to two of the rangers here.

Sunday - We attended another very nice contemporary worship service at Sun City UM Church. Skip and Shirley came in this afternoon to camp here until Friday. We enjoyed a fire on Skip's new fireplace this evening. 

Monday - The temperature in the afternoon was supposed to be in the 70s, so we were not going to let intermittent rain in the morning and forecasts of the same in the afternoon keep us from getting out on the water. Our only concern was with all the cold weather we've had, the water would be very cold and the fish would not be too active. S & S  peddled their Hobie kayak one direction and we paddled ours another and said we would meet up in a little while. We did not see very much activity and the fishing was pretty slow, however, J & J managed to catch two ladyfish and one Jack Crevalle, while S & S did about the same catching two ladyfish and one pompano. We drift and cast while they troll.

Tuesday - The four of us went over and launched at Robinson preserve. It is located on the other side of Bradenton. This is a beautiful park with excellent facilities including a way to clean the kayaks when we are done. John started things off today, on his first cast, catching a keeper sized sea trout. He prefers them to be a little larger, so he let this one go figuring there would be larger ones to come. Unfortunately, this was the only fish caught for the day. The water is still very cold, and two more days like today with the sun shining would be needed to warm it up. Unfortunately another cold front is coming in tomorrow so we will be starting over again.

Wednesday - Lousy weather. The four of us went to several thrift stores in Bradenton. We found a bunch of nice beeny babies to put in Operation Christmas Child boxes at good prices. 

Thursday - It rained all day today, so we watch recorded shows and took short walks when the rain let up a little.

Friday - It was supposed to clear today, but we woke up to more rain. 

Sarurday - Today we kayaked with 8 others through the Mangrove Tunnels at Lido Beach; led by Brad from Mote Marine who is with the Sarasota Bay Estuary Program. A great trip and the weather was just right with cloud  cover and warmer weather. 

Sunday - Great worship again. We will be able to return two more times when we are at Little Manatee River SP. We put the yaks in here on the lake and fished. Still slow with one bream and one small bass. What a gorgeous day. Thankfully the nice weather has returned. 

Monday - Back to Ft. Hamer Park. We went back into our secret spot, but nothing was happening there. Next we hit some areas where we have had some success in the past and hooked into hey bunch of ladyfish. They were fun, but not really what we were looking for. Our friends Dawn and Jeff arrived and are in a site a few down from us.

Tuesday - Today we tried down at a launch site on the Braden River off of Highway 64. There was no one there fishing, which should have been a sign for us. Nothing!
Wednesday - We have been looking forward to going to Palmetto to the Convention Center and attending the Bill Bailey Gospel Festival. They have afternoon free will offering concerts. We listened to a quartet that have been singing for 50 years. They were very good. Afterwards we stopped for Mexican at El Sombrero. We are ready to pull out in the morning and head to our next stay at Little Manatee River SP.


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Oscar Scherer SP (Jan 9-22)

Thursday - All set up. This site (65) is very long and narrow. Our canopy is behind the M.H. We went to Ilias Greek Restaurant and had the best gyros ever. Next, we got gas and made a Walmart run. It is good to be back here.

Friday - We took the bikes on the Green Trail and checked on the eaglets. There are two and they are being well taken care of by both parents. One was on the nest and the other nearby. We did some errands and ended up at Scramblers Cafe for a Reuben and BLT. Excellent!  Our friends Mary and Dave just got in today, so it was good to check in with them. It was warm & humid today.
Saturday - We launched our kayaks here in the park with Mary and Dave to do some fishing. We fished spots where we caught fish two weeks ago, but never found them. John caught the only fish, a decent sized ladyfish. It was breezy, but nice. Later in the day the wind really came up, so we lowered the canopy and awning just to be safe. The four of us went out for very good pizza at Frankie's, then to the Jetty where we enjoyed watching a dolphin and John threw a fly without success. It got quite cool while we were there and really poured during the night. 

Sunday - Down day. 

Monday - We returned with our friends to Lemon Bay Park. It was a little breezy, but otherwise the weather was perfect. Be headed over to the other side of the bay towards Blind Pass and found it extremely nice there. There is a kayak launch there in a park, but no washrooms. We saw lots of fish activity with pelicans crashing into the water, but not much catching. John caught the only fish, a small trout. John has a theory that  the heavier tippet we began using is limiting the action of the flies. We will return to 10 pound tippet the next time we go out and see if that makes a difference.

Tuesday - We Had to get the blower motor replaced in the envoy so we took it to Sunset GMC in Sarasota. They also found a couple of other things like the throttle body and the evaporator that needed work so we had that done as well. All together it cost us $600, but not complaining the car has done very well for us. It is also running much better. 

Wednesday - We went to the Tampa RV super show today just to see what's new. We committed on not buying anything this year. We did see a Big Horn fifth wheel with a front living room that we really liked and also a Southwind class A motorhome that was nice as well. We also picked up a lots of good campground information, especially helpful will be the north east for our trip this summer.

Thursday - We finally got our lazy selves out of bed and went over to the nature center and enjoyed a pancake breakfast that the hosts prepare every week. Later in the day, we returned and enjoyed listening to a weekly music jam of mountain music. It is non-professional, but very good. It has cooled down a little more. 

Friday - Another cool day. Laundry, Walmart, fill the Envoy. John wanted to see if there are any tilapia here in South Creek. We tried the same tactic we used on the Myakka. Negative.
Saturday - Still cool and it has become windy, so no kayaking again. Instead, we decided to explore and find another place to launch. After some study of maps we have collected, we decided to check out the Nokomis County Park kayak launch. First, Joan was able to get her hair cut at a place recommended by our host here, Pat. Looks good. We drove to the park and found out that until some work is completed, we would have to wheel the kayaks about 100 yards to the launch. No problem. The area was quite shallow and covered with oyster beds, so we will have to watch tides. The area is beautiful and looks very fishy. We have decided to try it out on Monday if the weather permits. We also took a walk over at Casperson Park which is a great area with a kayak launch, hiking and biking trails.

Sunday - We attended the early contemporary service at Nokomis-Venice UM Church and had a great experience. The music was good and the people very welcoming. 

Monday - We launched the kayaks at Nokomis Park and dodged oyster beds until we got to Curry Creek. This is a beautiful area and according to a guy who was in his yard, told us that dozens of snook come around his dock every evening. John got a real surprise by catching an 18 inch juvenile tarpon on a chartreuse Clouser. This was a first for us. He also caught a small mangrove snapper. After, we stopped at Frankie's for excellent pizza. 

Tuesday - We checked out a park that is at the end of Laurel Road called Laurel Park. The park is situated on the Myakka River. There are some good areas to fish, but kayak access would be tricky, plus there are some very large alligators. We fished for awhile hoping for tilapia, and managed a few bream, one of which was decent size. Some small boys who were hiking with their parents, enjoyed holding and throwing them back.

The temperature is dropping again, so we went to Walmart and got some things put away around the campsite in preparation for moving tomorrow. In the evening, we went up to the nature center and listened to Carl Ross do a program of mountain music. 

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Koreshan SP (Dec 26-Jan 8)

Thursday - We had a good trip down with no problems. We are in and set up at 2 PM in site 14. It is warm and rather humid and feels like it could rain, although there is a nice breeze.

Friday - We put our kayaks in on the Estero River here in the park with our friends Mary and Dave from Canada. We decided to target tilapia with the same set up we were successful using on the Myakka River. John caught two fish that resembled tilapia except for coloration. They had black and white stripes running laterally along their bodies. He also caught two tilapia one small and one somewhat larger, while Joan caught one that was about the same size as John's larger one. Dave unfortunately did not catch anything. There were many Kamakazi kayakers out on the river today plus bigger boats that don't seem to understand what idle  speed no wake means.

Saturday - Since there is forecast that storms are headed this way, we decided to put the kayaks in again while we can. We tried fishing for saltwater species with bigger flies, but never got a hit. It was also harder with even more canoes and kayaks out and more wind. 

Sunday - Raining here. It was a very nice service this morning at the Estero United Methodist church, not far from here. After the service, it was still raining a little, so we went to Bass Pro Shop so John could get some needed fly tying materials and we could just do some looking around. Before heading back, we stopped for veggies at a roadside stand and then went to Publix for some needed items. John had to follow the Bears game on his iPhone app, because by being in the Tampa area we were forced to watch Tampa Bay get killed by New Orleans. Sadly the Bears were able to make a game of it but not quite pull it off. 

Monday - We put in on the river again, and hoped that by going out earlier, fewer people would be on the water. However, this was not going to prove to be the case. There were still way too many kayakers for good fishing, but we enjoyed the paddling anyway. A family passed us and one of them had a Downers Grove North t-shirt on, so John enjoyed meeting a family from his home town. We also enjoyed watching some manatees on the river. John managed to catch two tilapia, but  were too small to make them worth while filleting. John tied four Clouser minnow flies with new craft fur and dumbbell eyes he got from Bass Pro Shop.

New Years Day - Happy New Year friends. This morning we drove over to Ding Darling wildlife refuge, which is on Sanibel Island with our friends Mary and Dave. We launched our kayaks at mile three on the nature drive. Dave is beginning fly fishing and John fixed him up with one of his Clouser minnows. He managed to catch several fish including a couple of trout, but they were too small to keep. John also caught several fish with the trout coming up two small as well. This is a beautiful area with no buildings anywhere to be seen, just hundreds of birds. On the way back, we stopped at Bowman beach to check it out and get our feet wet. It was way too crowded.

Thursday - Again, since we have a cold front coming in tomorrow, we have adjusted our kayaking schedule around that. We put in at Lovers Key State Park Kayak launch with our friends Mary and Dave. We paddled and fished for two hours in this beautiful place, but never got a hit. Nevertheless, we enjoyed the scenery and especially seeing a dolphin swimming around. On the way back, we decided to go through Ft. Myers Beach, which was a huge mistake. Traffic was bumper to bumper and it took us an extra hour to get to Skip 1 seafood restaurant where we met for a delicious grouper dinner.

Friday - We got rain and wind in the night, which was quite noisy since we are camped under a monkey tree that has huge pods that dropped on our roof during the night. Thankfully there was no damage and we awoke to sunshine and a very cool breeze, with temps in the low 50s. Chicken and rice on the Dutch oven today. Yum!

Saturday - Thankful for playoff games as it is cold and rainy. 

Sunday - We got a reprieve in the weather today, so after a wonderful worship service, we decided to go back to Lovers Key and launch the kayaks again. The first thing that we noticed when we got there was that wind had stirred up the water and made it very murky. This did not exactly increase our confidence for catching fish. We finished for two and a half hours without a single bite. To console ourselves, we stopped for pizza at Enzos on the way back.

Monday - Cold here by Florida standards. We did some needed cleaning and light maintenance and watched the BCS Championship Game. Yeah Noles! 

Tuesday - Sunny, but still cold. B&N trip to use wi-fi. 

Wednesday - It sprinkled in the AM with wind and warmer in the PM. We got things ready to leave here in the morning. 

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Oscar Scherer SP (Dec 16-25)

Monday - We got here in about an hour, got set up, had dinner, then went over to North Jetty to enjoy the sunset and full moon rise. They are doing a lot of construction in the park and we're not quite sure what it will look like when they are done. John fished from the jetty, but without any success.

Tuesday - We took a long hike this morning on the Green Trail and around the campground. It was quite cool, but nice. We then went to the coffee social and saw some old friends and met some new ones. Late morning we launched the kayaks in on South Creek here and fished going out and along the residential canals. Joan caught a nice jack crevalle and a ladyfish while John caught a ladyfish, several small snook, and a couple of small mangrove snapper. It was good action, but nothing for the table. The temperature was perfect while we were out there. For dinner we went to our favorite pizza place here in the area Fratelli's, but it was no longer by that name, but is now now El Panificio. However it was still quite good.

Wednesday - This morning we went on a hike with the ranger on the Green Trail. We hoped we would see scrub jays, but they didn't cooperate. Instead we did see a bald eagle on the nest and another in a dead tree. In the afternoon we launched the kayaks in the park again. John did all the catching today with a 20"+ snook to the boat, another that broke off, and still another that came unhooked. John caught a good fighting fish that we have not yet identified. It was a beautiful evening. Snook must be 27" to keep.

Friday - We hiked our normal 2 miles on the green trail, had breakfast, then drove south of here to the Englewood area and put in at Lemon Bay Park. When we got there we discovered that it was very windy. We decided to put in anyway and let the wind blow us south and fish along the way. John managed to catch a small Jack Crevalle and a very large ladyfish that gave him quite a fight. It turned out to be about 20 inches long, but unfortunately they are still not to eat. We talked to a man who kayak fished and did quite well. He paddled across the bay to an area that he says has harder bottom. We will remember that the next time we go there.
Saturday - We enjoyed the kayak trip we did last year about this time with the Sarasota Bay Estuary Program, so we decided to do it again this year. We launched very near the entrance to Neil preserve at the bridge that goes to Amelia Island. We headed north and paddled couple of miles very close to where it enters into Robinson Preserve. It was very windy, so we didn't miss not being able to fish, although the area look very promising for trout due to the nice seagrass. We met and talk to some very nice people on the trip. Brad who is a teacher at Sarasota Mote Marine Aquarium led the trip and was very informative. On the way back we stopped at the Seafood Shack for lunch. We both had the grouper sandwiches which were excellent.

Sunday - We attended a very nice contemporary service at Vamo United Methodist Church. The music was excellent and message very appropriate for the season. We were very impressed with the food distribution that they have for folks in the area that are in need. It was very windy today so we stayed close to the campground.

Christmas Eve - Is there room in your inn for Him? 

Christmas Day - Merry Christmas friends. We hope you are enjoying this blessed day. We drive over to Myakka State Park to enjoy dinner with our friends Tom and Jane, who are camping there and Skip and Shirley who drove down from Zephyrhills. We shared a wonderful meal with perfect weather outside at their campsite, then went down to the river and caught a whole bunch of tilapia. Four were quite large, so they went home with Skip. Tom says he has caught some there that are huge. Maybe next time. John was using a green weenie tipped with a small piece of Gulp worm. Joan quit fishing when some really big gators came around. 

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E. G. Simmons County Park (Dec 9-15)

Tuesday - After watching the Chicago Bears beat the Dallas Cowboys that we had recorded from last night, we put the wheels under the kayaks and walked them up to a place to put in. It was an absolutely gorgeous morning, but the fishing was rather slow. We saw quite a bit of action and some manatees that were in the area. John was the only one to catch anything, but they were not eaters. He caught one ladyfish and two Jack Crevalle.

After dinner we drove over to an area we have fished many times. Joan had the hot hand landing six ladyfish. John hooked a few but either got cut off or spit out. We enjoyed watching several manatees in the area and a gorgeous evening. 

Wednesday - What a gorgeous day today. The humidity has dropped and the temperatures have fallen a little. We drove over to Apollo Beach to see if there is a good place to launch the kayaks. We would have to put the wheels under them and pull them a little ways, but there is a nice beach area to launch. Most important, there is a restroom. While we were there we joined watching a group of people who were fishing from shore and threw in for a while. No one including us caught anything. On the way back we stopped at the grocery store, the veggie stand, and for Chinese. The Chinese was okay except Joan found a bug in hers. We probably won't return. Even worse, we went to McDonald's for an ice cream sundae and to use their Wi-Fi, but their ice cream machine was broken and the Wi-Fi was slow. In the evening we went back to our spot and fished for a little while before it got dark. John caught four ladyfish and Joan caught one. They were bigger than others we have been catching and gave us a very good fight.

Thursday - Our friends Mike and Christina that we met at Little Manatee River State Park last year, came and joined us. They are camping in the site next to us now. We fished for a while at the same place by the sandy beach and caught several ladyfish. Later we came into our motorhome and shared crackers, sandwiches, wine, veggies, strawberries, etc. The temperature has dropped here considerably.

Friday - Skip and Shirl came down in the afternoon to check out this place and kayak a bit. We put in at the far end of the main road near where the water faucets are for rinsing boats. Skip and Shirl trolled up and down the channels while we casted under the mangroves and around points and channels. The fishing was very slow today but the scenery was beautiful. S and S do not like Mexican food, so we went with just our friends Christina and Mike. Siri told us that the best one around was Los Amigos in Ruskin. She was absolutely correct, as it was outstanding.

Saturday - Today was the day to set out wreaths on all of the graves at Saratoga Natuonal Cemetery. We had no idea what to expect, but it's far surpassed our highest expectations. 1500 people, including at least 1000 motorcyclists helped in setting out the 6500 wreaths. This activity was followed by a very moving service to honor veterans and their service. On the way home we stopped at O'Brian's Farm and had our lunch at their picnic tables followed by one of their wonderful strawberry shortcakes for dessert. Next we stopped at Hamer Park near Parrish, Florida and fished from their dock. John caught a hard fighting Jack Crevalle while unfortunately Joan lost whatever she had on.

Sunday - We attended the contemporary service at Sun City United Methodist church where we went when we were staying at Little Manatee River State Park last year. The music was great and the folks here very friendly. We fished at our spot again, but very little action. John caught a lizard fish and had one bigger big fish on, but it got away.

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E. G. Simmons County Park (Nov 21)

We returned to the park and began fishing before we launched the kayaks in the channel.  We very quickly got hit by quite large ladyfish. They are not good eating, but do they fight. The first thing they do is jump right out of the water. We were mostly looking for some trout to bring home for dinner, so we headed out into the grass flats around the channel. However, all we came up with were more ladyfish. It got to windy and we got tired of fighting that, so we headed into some of the back channels. Joan landed a flounder, but it was too small to keep. We got into an area where there were hundreds of mullet. They are vegetarian, so they will not take a fly, but we were hoping that there would be some redfish mixed in with them, but it was not to be. Nothing would bite. Our bottoms were getting sore after about three hours in the kayaks, so we stopped and had lunch where we launched. After lunch we fished from shore for a little while more and caught a few more ladyfish and a saltwater catfish, which also is not good eating. When we were loading the kayaks on the truck, a couple of guys offered us a trout that they had caught at Fort Desoto but didn't want to take home. We gladly accepted and enjoyed it for dinner.

E. G. Simmons County Park (Nov 14)

Even though it was supposed to be windy today and a cold front has just gone through, because it is supposed to be rainy the next couple of days, we decided to go ahead and get out and fish. We began by launching at their very nice kayak launch. It started out very slow for us, and no one was catching any fish, when John caught a sheepshead. It fought  real hard even though it was one inch short of the 12 inch requirement for being a keeper. In A little while he caught two flounder that had the same problem of being one inch too short. It was very tricky fighting the wind and trying to fish,  so we cut the day a little short, washed the kayaks, had lunch, then headed home.

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