Tampa Bay Grouper ~ Off Topic

Skiffin16

I know this is a bit off topic, but it's something I like to do. Since I share most everything else with you guys and gals, I thought I'd share something on the positive side.

I like to fish in my spare time and being sick last year, I didn't get to do it much.

April 1st in Tampa Bay (and the Gulf) opens the grouper season after being closed for a few months.

I got to take my boat out this week-end with a close friend and wanted to share a few photos with you. In my expressions folder you'll find a few of the grouper photos from yesterday on the water under the Skyway Bridge at the mouth of Tampa Bay.

John

Hondo

Grouper

Save room for me next time, great looking pictures John of both you Josh & the FISH

delnative

Hondo said:

Grouper

Save room for me next time, great looking pictures John of both you Josh & the FISH

Excellent
I'm only an occasional fisherman -- for me it's an excuse to go to the Outer Banks, drink some beer, cast in the surf and maybe, just maybe catch a fish -- but I know how important hobbies can be.
Me, I'm a hunter, and it meant a great deal to me when, after I'd just completed treatment, some friends in my hunt club took me on a duck hunt. I was whacked out from chemo and rads, really weak, throat full of mucus, the whole bit. They set the decoys up, brought their retrievers and had one of the best duck callers on the East Coast in the blind with me. It was a very special day, one that I won't soon forget.
Hang in there. There's a whole school of grouper out there with your name on it.

--Jim in Delaware

thegirlfriend

delnative said:

Excellent
I'm only an occasional fisherman -- for me it's an excuse to go to the Outer Banks, drink some beer, cast in the surf and maybe, just maybe catch a fish -- but I know how important hobbies can be.
Me, I'm a hunter, and it meant a great deal to me when, after I'd just completed treatment, some friends in my hunt club took me on a duck hunt. I was whacked out from chemo and rads, really weak, throat full of mucus, the whole bit. They set the decoys up, brought their retrievers and had one of the best duck callers on the East Coast in the blind with me. It was a very special day, one that I won't soon forget.
Hang in there. There's a whole school of grouper out there with your name on it.

--Jim in Delaware

wow Jim, my boyfriend is
wow Jim, my boyfriend is dying to go hunting again. while he has been in treatment and recovery, most of the people with large pieces of property, that allowed him to hunt on it, have sold much of their land due to the economy. He is most discouraged by this as one of the things that he has been wanting to do is hunt for that 10 or 12 pointer!! the big one!!
Sadly, he is still not up to staying in the blind that he did use anyway, maybe an hour if that. He actually got this city girl up in a blind. Laughed my butt off once up there, when he asked what was so funny.
told him that I was SOOOOOOOO not in my element, which made him laugh, so I endured just because it made him laugh.

K

Skiffin16

delnative said:

Excellent
I'm only an occasional fisherman -- for me it's an excuse to go to the Outer Banks, drink some beer, cast in the surf and maybe, just maybe catch a fish -- but I know how important hobbies can be.
Me, I'm a hunter, and it meant a great deal to me when, after I'd just completed treatment, some friends in my hunt club took me on a duck hunt. I was whacked out from chemo and rads, really weak, throat full of mucus, the whole bit. They set the decoys up, brought their retrievers and had one of the best duck callers on the East Coast in the blind with me. It was a very special day, one that I won't soon forget.
Hang in there. There's a whole school of grouper out there with your name on it.

--Jim in Delaware

Hunting & Fishing
Glad you got out also Jim....

When I was growing up in Ohio, I did a lot more hunting than fishing. Now living in Florida I only hunt fish...LOL.

Even during the worst of times last year, I did manage to get out a few times. My wife likes speck fishing (crappies) using the cane poles. So she would get out with me for company and to make sure I was OK....it was fun.

She is awesome...she's pretty much a cit girl also. Once when I just needed to get the boat out and run it a little, she went with me. When putting the boat in she wanted to help, so I handed her the rope (which I normally loop over the trailer). Anyways I handed her the wrong in, bcaked the boat off and watched it slowly floating away.

Long story short, she had to jump in, swim to the boat, loop her arm over the side and swim it back to the dock for me...

I owed her a lot for that, and she collected frequently, LOL....

John

delnative

Skiffin16 said:

Hunting & Fishing
Glad you got out also Jim....

When I was growing up in Ohio, I did a lot more hunting than fishing. Now living in Florida I only hunt fish...LOL.

Even during the worst of times last year, I did manage to get out a few times. My wife likes speck fishing (crappies) using the cane poles. So she would get out with me for company and to make sure I was OK....it was fun.

She is awesome...she's pretty much a cit girl also. Once when I just needed to get the boat out and run it a little, she went with me. When putting the boat in she wanted to help, so I handed her the rope (which I normally loop over the trailer). Anyways I handed her the wrong in, bcaked the boat off and watched it slowly floating away.

Long story short, she had to jump in, swim to the boat, loop her arm over the side and swim it back to the dock for me...

I owed her a lot for that, and she collected frequently, LOL....

John

It's so important ...
... for us to try to regain some sense of normalcy after going through a decidedly abnormal and otherworldly experience.
Honestly, spending a day in a deer stand or a morning in a duck blind did as much or more for me as a session beneath that blasted rad machine or a day in the chemo suite.
This summer, who knows? I just might do some fishing. I know a place close to my home where the fresh and salt water mix with the tides. On one cast you might catch a freshwater perch and the next cast you might get a rockfish.
Anyway, life is good. Real good.

--Jim in Delaware

Skiffin16

delnative said:

It's so important ...
... for us to try to regain some sense of normalcy after going through a decidedly abnormal and otherworldly experience.
Honestly, spending a day in a deer stand or a morning in a duck blind did as much or more for me as a session beneath that blasted rad machine or a day in the chemo suite.
This summer, who knows? I just might do some fishing. I know a place close to my home where the fresh and salt water mix with the tides. On one cast you might catch a freshwater perch and the next cast you might get a rockfish.
Anyway, life is good. Real good.

--Jim in Delaware

you know it....
You have the right brother, LIFE is good....cheers to us both and hopefully we'll both have long ones filled with many more days of hunting, fishing and just enjoying the ride.