A couple of years ago, I put some 90 or so pictures in Chapter 28 of my travel log when I returned from 8 glorious days of fishing in the Atlantic off the Florida coast at Jupiter Inlet. Well, in September 2002, we went again. Stayed in the same Jonathan Dickinson State Park and followed the same "path" out of the inlet. Differences were that : 1) Steve was replaced this time by one of Buckner's friends named Bruce who, as luck would have it, is a GREAT cook! 2) We only stayed 4 days, 3) we didn't have quite as good fishing luck as we did the previous trip, and 4) we were in the Pace Arrow instead of the old 5th wheel. We caught some nice fish, drank a bunch of beer, ate too many good fried fish, hush puppies, onion rings, and french fries, and generally had a wonderful time. We cut the trip short in honor of Tropical Storm Isodore (or was it Lily?), who was mucking around in the Atlantic and threatening to produce some small craft warnings. Since the fish weren't biting much, we decided that it wasn't worth the trouble to weather the weather, so headed home earlier than planned.
As it was, we still caught a goodly number of fish -- enough to eat for 4 days and still have enough to split 3 ways and carry home with us. The first day, Sunday, we got a late (noon or so) start because there were rods to assemble, some boat things to fix, etc. We didn't have any bites trolling for a few hours, so finally settled down to bottom fish in about 80' of water. Soon, we were bringing in Silky Sharks from 2 to 4 feet long, two and three at a time. No sooner would we drop a line than we'd get a bite. We kept two and threw the rest back. Probably hooked a dozen or so altogether. Below are some shark pictures. Click on any of the pictures below for a close-up view. On the left, hauling in a little one; center, fighting a larger one; right, the hero (me) holding his catch. If you want to see one being filleted (not sure if anyone wants to, but I've got the picture, so ...), click here - DON'T GO HERE IF YOU DON'T LIKE BLOOD, ETC.
Sunday evening, I tasted my first shark meat. It's really good, a little chewier than Mahi-Mahi, but quite tasty. We feasted on shark, Bruce's own special recipe hush puppies, and french fries. Went to bed fat and happy.
On Monday, we went out for about 6 hours and caught ZERO! Got some nice tans, drank some beer, told alot of war stories, but no fish. Thanks to Buckner for having brought along some shrimp from a recent South Carolina excursion. Bruce fried the shrimp, onion rings, etc. and we still had a great feast.
Tuesday was our best day. Much like Sunday, nothing for a few hours. Then, bottom-fishing and we started to haul in the sharks again. Kept two out of about 20 or so, and threw the rest back -- we had learned that two per boat per day is the legal limit. The neat thing about sharks, in case you haven't experienced them, is that they really put up a battle. When you first hook on, it's like you hooked a log. Your bait is 80' down, so you haul and haul until you finally get the shark up near the boat. HOWEVER, as soon as he sees the boat, he takes off like a shot! Usually drags the line back out another 50' or so. You haul him back and he takes off again! Takes 3 or 4 times before he's finally tired enough to quit. Even getting the hook out is a challenge, because they don't hold still very well and you really don't want to get caught by those sharp teeth.
Besides the sharks, we also caught some "real" fish Tuesday. We managed to bring in two really nice sized Mahi-Mahi and a couple of King Mackerels. Ended up Tuesday night with a nice collection of sharks fillets, Mahi-Mahi fillets, some Mackerel steaks, and Mackerel fillets. Enough to make another fantastic meal and put a bunch in the freezer.
Monday night, the weather man had been predicting all kinds of disturbing things for Wednesday (thunderstorms, small craft warnings, etc.), so we decided to wrap up Tuesday night. Dismantled all the rods and reels and stored everything away for next trip. Got up Wednesday and headed back home before the storm hit.
Below are a few more fishy pictures. Left are Bruce and Buckner, neither of which is visible; center is me with my Mahi-Mahi; right is me with Bruce's Mahi-Mahi. Below them is a kind of nice sunset I shot on one of those fishing days.
45. Another Fine Fishing Trip
My Travel Log
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