Fishing Tampa Bay

Fishing in Tampa Bay

There was no real reason for us to stop in Tampa other than MacDill Air Force Base, where we had heard a lot of RVers spend the winter.  You have to make reservations a year in advance to get a site with full hookups, but sites with electric only are available on a first-come basis.  So we decided to give it a shot and spend a few days there if we could get in.

We did get a spot and it turned out to be the best fishing spot Sid has had on the whole trip so far.  The base sits on a small penninsula jutting out into Tampa Bay, midway between Tampa and St. Petersburg.  There's a small beach, but it's really nothing much to write home about.

The best fishing was in the evening, right before sunset, and Sid took advantage of that nearly every day.  He'd either bank fish or take his kayak out into the bay.  Despite being a worse photographer than me, he did manage to get pictures of some of the fish he caught.

Jack Crevalle

Snook

Speckled Trout

He also caught redfish, amberjack, croaker, snapper and some other unknown fish.  Right before sunset, I enjoyed watching the mullet that continually jumped out of the water, some of which were 3 or 4 pounds! Bait fish that big!  Sid's bucket list got a lot shorter during our stay in Tampa.

Sunset over the bay, with the skyline of St. Petersburg to the left

And, while not technically shore birds, the campground was always full of beautiful birds for me to watch.  I got to see my first of many pink spoonbills, too!

Pink Spoonbill

Tampa held another big surprise for us which I'll detail in the next post, so stay tuned!

Until next time...

Charter Fishing in Key West

Yes, I went fishing!  Those of you that know me well know that I DO NOT FISH!  Even though Sid lives for fishing, I have little to no interest in the activity.  But, as they say, when in Rome...  We decided to take a half day charter, on which I figured I'd watch, take pictures and try not to freak out too much about not being able to see land while in a boat (another thing I do NOT like to do!).

Tortuga Charters

This is our boat.  The interior cabin was air conditioned, so I figured "how bad could it get?"

And here's me, with no land in sight!

Well, I have to say, I had the BEST time!  We fished alongside two guys from Myrtle Beach,  Kevin and Dwayne.  Next thing I know, Kevin is calling me over and saying "Here!  Reel it in!"  Since Sid had told them I'd never fished before, he wanted to be sure that I "caught" something.  Then Dwayne hooked on and it was the same - he let me reel it in.  I don't know what happened, but from that point on, I was hooked! At first, Sid would bail my hook and I'd toss it out, feel the fish eat the bait, then reel it in.  After I landed my first fish (not even big enough to keep!), it was apparent that it took too long to wait for someone to bait my hook each time and I actually started picking up pieces of fish and squid and prepared my own.

It was terribly hot out in the middle of the ocean, but I wasn't willing to give up the chance to catch a fish to go into the air conditioned cabin.  I fished for the entire 4 hours and was not ready to come in when the trip was over.  Obviously, it wasn't a great fishing day, because neither Sid nor I caught anything worth keeping, but some of the others did a little better.  

The catch being divvied up

Tarpon at the dock

These huge fish must have heard the boat coming in as they were waiting to feed on the guts of the cleaned fish that were filleted on site.

A bird waiting for his reward

You know me, I'm fascinated by the birds.  This guy was waiting for his portion of the guts, too.

This little outing was the biggest surprise to me of the entire trip so far.  That I could actually bait my own hook and fish and have fun was something I couldn't have anticipated in a million years!  My one regret is that I gave the camera to Sid and he didn't take a single picture of any of my catches!  I don't think I'll be assembling my own fishing gear any time in the future or wading into a stream, but I'd be more than willing to go on another charter fishing trip.

Until next time...