Disappointment on the High Seas

My sister came to town on Friday. We had made plans to go deep sea fishing on Saturday with a friend who owns a boat. We were going to get up at 2 am, leave the house by 2:45 am, be at Brian's by 3:30 am, be at the ramp by 4 am and out to the area where we get bait fish by 4:30 am. The head out about 9 miles and troll for King Fish and Spanish Mackerel. The boat was ready, the lines rigged, the sandwiches made and the soda and water iced down.

My alarm was set for 2 am. At 1:30 am I was awakened by a loud rumble. I rolled over in bed and thought "oh NO!" As I glanced out the window, I saw the flash of lightning. A few explicative words escaped my lips. We had just bought my sister a 3 day fishing license and this was the only day that Brian would be able to take the boat out.

I got up, and checked the weather...50% chance of thunderstorms! BUMMER! Brian called, we talked and we decided he would call at daybreak and we would make our decision at that time.

At 6 am, he called and we decided that it would be OK to go out. Even if we didn't get any fishing in, at least we would take a boat ride.

The sky was a little menacing, but as we got nearer the bay, the sky started to clear up. We headed to the boat ramp, put the boat in the water and headed to the "bait area."

The bait area is near the Sunshine Skyway. We got about 30 bait fish and headed out to the gulf. We were not going to be able to head out the 9 miles that we really needed to be because the water was a little rough. Nor did we want to get too far out just in case the weather decided to quickly change.

We had music, food, drink and good friends to pass the time.

We set the lines out with the down riggers and waited.

And waited.

 And waited.

My sister, Sheryl landed the first fish. A red grouper. Nice catch, but way below the regulation size. So off the hook and back to sea.

I had the second hook. Fought a bit more and I was hoping that I had something that was a keeper. Got it to the boat and realized that I had a small shark. Got my picture, unhooked him and sent him back to grow up.

We headed back in after about 4 hours and nothing biting. The ride was fun and the sea air was nice and cool.

We brought the boat back to the ramp, loaded it up on the trailer and headed back to Brian's.

Fishing is fun but there is always work to do afterward. Clean out the hull, wash and rinse the salt water off the boat and put it away for another day at sea.

Oh and BTW, the next picture is "THE ONE THAT GOT AWAY!"