Today Kaylee got to experience the pleasure of John and Bridgette's pontoon boat. We went back to the Tampa Bay boat ramp and headed out into the bay.
Bridgette and Andrew took over the captaining of the boat.
It was fairly windy this morning, hard to keep the boat from drifting away from where we wanted to fish. The first place we stopped, I got a hit right away but failed to land it. John decided to try a different spot, maybe with a little less wind. We ended up on the back side of a small island at a rock bank, and there we had some luck.
John got the first big hit, and once he saw what it was -- a bonnethead shark, we all got busy trying to help. At the same time, Kaylee decided to catch a fish too. We really are not good at landing two fish at the same time. But we did it. Bridgette declared that they definitely need a longer handled net! She had to get on the outside of the rail to get close enough to the water to net John 's shark.
SUCCESS! The first bonnethead shark we had ever seen.
Kaylee also brought in a new breed -- a burr fish. Ugly, with teeth. And I learned another life lesson -- do not put your finger in the mouth of ocean fish. They bite.
I thought I would help Bridgette get the hook out by trying to open the fish's mouth wider. But once I put my finger in its mouth, it clamped down on my finger and would not let go. Somehow, once she got the hook out, it released my now-bloody finger. The Doctors Froeschke dug out the first aid kit and peroxided and bandaged me up, but my finger was numb the rest of the day.
Kaylee said if she caught a fish like John's, she was just going to hand her pole off to somebody else. No sooner were the words out of her mouth, and her line started zinging off. She too caught a bonnethead shark, an even bigger one that John's. And she and John got it in the boat.
That was all very exciting. We could see other bonnethead sharks swimming around the boat, and I had one chase my bait but my line brought when he took it so I didn't get him landed. We fished here just a little longer but it was getting pretty hot and Andrew was getting restless, so we headed upriver to the splash park. But the splash park was shut down because there was a marguerita festival going on there, so we just had lunch in the boat there and fished a little tied up there. John had another interesting catch here, with Andrew's help, a stingray. Andrew was actually messing with his fishing pole when it hit.
And I finally reeled in something -- a catfish.
I had to have John's assistance since I now have a sore finger. A manatee swam right by the boat when we were tied up here at this dock. That was pretty cool.
Kaylee wasn't too thrilled with our shrimp bait -- she's ok with our Arizona minnows but fishing with shrimp was a new experience for her. Andrew had to show her how to hold them.
We eventually untied and started heading in, with one more fishing venture at our catfish hole from last weekend. John caught another gaftop catfish here, and Joe finally got one into the boat. He had changed to a heavier fishing line and wasn't having much luck so we were glad he finally caught one. Of course, it was another catfish, but this was a pretty nice one.
By now Andrew really needed a nap, and it was really hot in the boat, so we called it a day and headed back into the dock. They got the boat loaded in short order, and Kaylee helped John get things straightened out and the bilimini put down to travel.
We got back to the house and rested a bit, Andrew slept on the way home and finished his nap at home, then John fixed us a nice grilled chicken dinner. It was another full day, and we were all ready for an early night.
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