A day in the up-river woods , with a side dish of fishing

            Hello to you all,

So far this year, compared to the rest of the country anyway, we are not doing to bad.
A couple of frosty nights, But it is a warm balmy 78 degrees with a breeze blowing, Just about as perfect as Florida can get.
 I do not know to many places I could go in February in a t-shirt and shorts. Although if you know me you might argue that point.
My dress code does not really change much until the thermometer hits about 30 degrees then it is time to look for a jacket.

             Friends I have talked to up north, however,
have gotten quite agitated,    while I am walking in the woods
in my sandals & they have mukluks on in the house .

Cindy my ever faithful companion & trusty sidekick,
"Note" Cindy Should have been referenced as the "First mate"
& she takes exception to the Tonto reference previously made
decided to take advantage of the balmy weather, And
Check in on some of the woodland locals....

Squirrels, gators, Frogs lizards the whole gang from
the ole neighborhood, These are a few recent photos
 taken while checking in on our pals.
                                   

If you know me aside from my constancy of attire, I just can not go to the woods without a Fishing pole.
So after making sure all was good with the locals,  It was time to fish.

   The goal today was Snook anything would do but I had a goal.
  Looking into my arsenal I figured my best bet would be to choose a lure
          with the same stained appearance of the bait fish in the area.

  The bomber long A 16 xacho seemed to me to match the bait.

  Engage the engine trolling speed. off we went dragging our Bomber

  as close to the shore line as possible. It really did not take long

  maybe 15 minutes, and tap, something tagged to lure.

  a swing and a miss, then wham this Snook was trying to

 rip the rod from my hand,
 He gave a good account of himself,
 some nice jumps and a run for the roots of a tree,
 which would have done credit to the squirrels we saw earlier.
To no avail I WIN ! He is in the boat for a couple of quick pictures. 

Have you noticed that a Snook will swipe at a bait to stun it
 before trying to eat it, here is a perfect example of this.

Not one hook inside of his mouth. this was a "stunning hit".
if I was not trolling, I would have stopped the bait so he could
have had time to bite the plug. but I guess he was just hungry
enough to hit it twice. it doesn't pay to be greedy,
 even if your a fish.

                             To give you a size perspective this is a 6 inch lure this is almost a 30 inch Snook
                                        It always blows me away by how blue the tongue of a Snook is.

                  Have you ever taken a picture of a really big fish and had it come out looking malnourished
                 or just really a lot smaller than it was. 
                 We took two photos of the same fish. Looks smaller in my photo, than in Cindy's.
                                 If you are taking photos. Try taking a couple of each way.
                 You'll always find one you like better than the other, 

                                               Same fish different angles make it appear larger For Cindy,
                          once again this is a 6 inch lure, looks really small in this photo, against the fish.

     My first Snook of the new year caught & released up the river,
 The right Color and size lure can make all the difference check your water colors
        and as they  say Match the hatch
                And a thank you to my little bomber buddy for enticing m First Snook of 2011.

              So call a friend, and go fishing.

                                    Jeff