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The faces of Florida


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#1 troutddicted

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Posted 23 March 2015 - 07:09 PM

What started off as an idea turned into quite an amazing journey into one North Americas most diverse hot spots this last week.  With the important things packed such as bail money, road beverages, passports and gear we embarked on a 25 hour drive south to where the pirates are.

 

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It was Florida spring break - luckily we were at a motel where the average age of folks was somewhere up in the retiree cohort and the REAL wild ones stayed up until 10 pm - peace, calm and a bridge to fish off not even 100 meters away - paradise.  The trips itinerary was heavily focused on exploration, fishing and experiencing what Florida has to offer from the more natural side of things.  Being the biodiversity hot spot it is, there was something to look at and poke literally around every corner.  And that something typically had spines, thorns, razor sharp teeth, poison, venom, spikes and various combinations of the above that can will damage you in one way or another. 

 

The first three days we spent relaxin' around the motel - walks on the beach, nursing hang overs, tending to tomato red burned skin, following the tides and fishing by the bridge.  We've been here before, as youngsters, however now the focus has shifted and we're a little more die hard in terms of fishin'.  Countless hours were spent fishing the bridge - when you're so close what reason do you have to leave?  The bridge always put out.  Each day it gave us a reason to stay another 3 hours because of something we saw or hooked into.  We caught lots of small fish - the big ones were just too big and strong and one of two things would happen - your line would snap or the bugger would go into the bridge support pillars.... either way you lost it.  I must say though, it was refreshing to have my knuckles busted from the pin on the hot and heavy hits the big ones gave us.

 

Salt trout - sharp needle like teeth.

 

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Salty bass.

 

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Mother Nature has some beautiful curves.

 

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#2 troutddicted

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Posted 23 March 2015 - 07:09 PM

Blood thirsty, take chunks outta your flesh teeth.

 

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Bone ( and crab shell ) crushing teeth.

 

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Red fish blue fish.

 

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We caught many other fish such as puffers, rays and poop we didn't want to touch... as I'm sitting here typing I wish I had snapped more photos or had the others snap more...


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#3 troutddicted

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Posted 23 March 2015 - 07:10 PM

One night when all the stars aligned, I witnessed quite the frenzy.  The bait fish run was on and the fish that eat bait fish were on the bait fish.  When I looked down into the water, all I saw was thousands upon thousands of bait, with dark shadows swooping up from the bottom sending the bait out of the water.  Dolphins chasing the larger bait fish, tarpon smashing the bait near the pillars, snook poppin' shrimp right from under the surface, sharks cruising the shallows, 2 manta rays almost motionless riding the current. - I was starring into Gods saltwater tank just after it was restocked.  It was alive - I spent a good 4 hours watching what was unfolding in front of me.  Fishing was tough that night... 2 fish...

 

There is a fin, a worm and half a gill plate in this photo.

 

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Brother had the opportunity to spot a manatee cruising by to feed at the grassy shallows near by - we spent more time at this bridge than the motel room.  These Florida chickens were a welcome sight at first however quickly became annoying pests.

 

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Fished the beach casting to dive bombing pelicans and others however nothing came out of it except for sea shells and $and dollar$.

 

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The beach was great 'cause it had the worlds greatest bar on it - gettin' freaky at Tommy's Tiki - Blur-O-Vision provided.

 

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#4 troutddicted

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Posted 23 March 2015 - 07:10 PM

Being the nature nut I am we hit up numerous nature parks/preserves.  Wanting to experience as much as possible I often went in deep and got myself into a couple hair raising experiences - my life perfectly summed up in one sentence - be creative and throw the word beer into there somewhere.

 

Community parks everywhere, with all sorts of cool stuff walking, crawling, swimming and flying by.

 

These are LOUD.

 

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Mother Nature was trippin' on some cacti when this was created.

 

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Community park.

 

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Community park dwellers eating bread floating on the surface.

 

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Community park river.

 

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#5 troutddicted

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Posted 23 March 2015 - 07:11 PM

Epiphyte madness.

 

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Spanish pubic hair mossin'.

 

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#6 troutddicted

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Posted 23 March 2015 - 07:11 PM

I spent a half day on a canoe flowing down a river into places named Natures Classroom and Ancient Forest.  The deeper I went, the more primordial and primitive it got - Sasquatch could live here alongside the million turtles, crocs, snakes, spiders and birds that occupy every quarter inch of this unmolested habitat.

 

Launch.

 

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Sasquatches neighbours.

 

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...and their friend.

 

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...and its friend living in a 'pneumatophoric' setting.

 

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Three friends.

 

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#7 troutddicted

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Posted 23 March 2015 - 07:12 PM

Avian friends - white ibis group in the top left in the tree... hard to see.

 

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It started to get dark and gloomy as the river narrowed.... all thats missing here is Tarzan swingin' between the trees.

 

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Black vultures.

 

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Then it widen and I felt safer - crocs cruised out from these areas between the cypress.

 

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#8 troutddicted

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Posted 23 March 2015 - 07:12 PM

We booked a private charter out into the Gulf - 2 people got sea sick and spent the day starring at the bottom of the bait pale and the 4 others worked out their arms.  Nothing overly big was caught, a few grouper in the 8 lb range that pull like 30 lb chinnies and a king mackerel were the highlights but the story of a 250 lb mako caught earlier last week by our captain kept us focused on trying to catch something large.  We also caught all sorts of colorful stuff.

 

One of the most blue porgies the guys have seen.

 

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Red grouper - a couple were caught in the 24 inch range everything on this fish cuts and slices.

 

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Gag grouper - a few bigger ones were landed however they lose lots of the neat patterning the young ones have.

 

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King mackerel - check out the dentistry on this sucker.

 

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Lousy day.

 

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So thats the adventure. Some final thoughts... Florida is extremely affordable.  We drove and total gas cost us around 350 ( we paid a little over 50 cents / liter a few times ).  There is no shortage of free things to do - a one week license runs 30 bucks for fishing and there is tonnes of shoreline to fish.  Don't mess with Mother Nature - she is the definition of beauty and beast.  She is colossal and demands to be respected... someone had jumped into a school of mullet at night and a shark got to the person... ended up dying from major blood loss... big gator took out a dog earlier in the week... the stories told sent shivers down my spine and were a constant reminder to tread lightly.

 

-Fin


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#9 Swing4Steel

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Posted 23 March 2015 - 07:41 PM

Sounds like an amazing trip my man!
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#10 FrequentFlyer

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Posted 23 March 2015 - 07:45 PM

great stuff there!


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#11 NADO

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Posted 23 March 2015 - 08:55 PM

En epic trip as always.  Is that a hammerhead??


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#12 despotiko

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Posted 23 March 2015 - 08:55 PM

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I know Florida was built on the stuff but god dam son! Gulls be partying hard! Brrraaapp!! 

Awesome pics btw, but when are you gunna start drinking real beer? 


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#13 AKnook

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Posted 23 March 2015 - 08:57 PM

Great report.  Thanks for the share.  Love the trees growing out of the water.  Better not rock the canoe when you have those gators around.  Its crazy to see.  I was there years ago and the pond just behind our friends condo was laden with gators.  No fence or anything.  It was cool but unerving as well. 


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#14 NiagaraSteel

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Posted 23 March 2015 - 09:14 PM

Wow now that's a report! Also love your photography. Assuming that's what you mean by open water report?
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#15 flandogg

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Posted 23 March 2015 - 10:10 PM

Woaaah amazing trip TD! Those trees growing out of the river though... my favorite. I remember going out for a charter in Dominican and pretty much everyone was looking down at a bucket, I was spared, probably too giddy to catch Mahi Mahi lol. Amazing pictures and stories as usual. Thanks for sharing.
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#16 fenwickfisher

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Posted 23 March 2015 - 10:49 PM

Sweet! Cool fish porn, sounds like to you had a great time!!
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#17 staffman

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Posted 24 March 2015 - 09:15 AM

Excellent report ! Really enjoyed your pictures.


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#18 floss_boss

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Posted 24 March 2015 - 10:03 AM

Nice shots and fish!!

What camera are you using? Lens?


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#19 MadocFlyGuy

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Posted 24 March 2015 - 10:04 AM

Amazing report brother! I was considering a trip to Florida before starting my MBA in September. I think I'm going to bum around Ontario instead, but I'm still not 100% certain. Your photos and story are definitely persuading me to reconsider....


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#20 BnK

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Posted 24 March 2015 - 10:17 AM

Awesome! Great pictures buddy


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