Tag Archives: fishing camp

Summer 2009: June 6 - 19

Summer 2009 Week 3: Summertime Fun!

June 19, 2009 Mike Leave a comment

Hi Everyone, Welcome Back!!! We’ve just finished up the first three days of week 3 and let me tell you it has been absolutely perfect the whole week!!! The weather, the water, the group, just perfect!!! Things just seem to get better and better and better as the days go on! Everyone in this group can swim like fish and has so much energy and enthusiasm I can barely keep up with them! Non stop laughter and smiles from start to finish! Just the way I love it!!!

This week I was joined by AdventureJoseph, Robert and Acadia who have been with me before and 5 new Adventurers, AdventureKelsey, Ella, Zara, Hannah and Beth. And let me tell you when this group is having fun they sure let you know it! And boy, were they having FUN this week!! My ears are still ringing!!! Had to purposely stick my head underwater a few times and hold my breathe as long as I could just to get a few minutes of “peace and quiet”, and even that didn’t work. In seconds, I’d have 8 kids with masks staring at me and even asking me questions while I was underwater. Oh well, When your having fun, your having fun…

We spent most of the first day at the Big Sandbar finding just about everything you could imagine. The tide was so low we had acres of exposed bar to explore. And Explore we DID!!! Everywhere we looked were short-spined sea urchins, fighting conchs, crabs, starfish, horse conchs, etc. You name it, I think we found it. We hadn’t been on the bar more than a few seconds before this group of adventurers had found Cushion Starfish, Beaded Starfish and even Nine-armed Starfish. And you know this gave us that perfect opportunity to take those now infamous “starfish head” photos that the kids seem to love. I’m beginning to like nine armed starfish head photos even better than cushion Starfish head photos. And of course, the kids love them both!

We found every color combination of short spined sea urchins I think possible around here. My favorite color combination is the pure white body with bright purple spines, but the bright pink ones and the green with pink spines were a big hit for the group too. I think Acadia, Beth, Ella, Zara, Kelsey and Hannah loved every one they found. They had hands full of them the whole time and when ever they found a new color combination we hadn’t seen before, they would make sure to let me know! Just love that enthusiasm!!! I guarantee you we tried to find every color combination that existed before we left here! While they were finding urchins, Joseph and Robert were busy finding starfish and releasing them into deeper water so they wouldn’t dry out or be pecked on by the sea gulls. It was just great and FUN for all!

We spent some time swimming in the shallows and caught some nice checkerboard pufferfish, sharp nose pufferfish, blue legged hermit crabs and some nice big swimming crabs too! Everyone had a ball trying to catch them themselves and I could see feet flying and nets swishing in all directions. It was just great to see someone catch one then let every one take turns holding it and checking it out before letting it go. Really Cool… We had a another great encounter too when a large Eagle Ray jumped out of the water numerous times right in front of us with a big remora stuck on it. After a few times it was able to dislodge the remora and swim off. Shortly after that we saw a big ray foraging in the shallows over the sandbar and we were lucky to have it swim right under the boat in 18 inches of water and give us a good look. We all loved that! The kids were screaming with excitement the whole time. I never wanted it to end.

On Wednesday we had a chance to do some island and tidal flat exploration around Munyon Island and found some really large sea grass hermits in a variety of different shells that we hadn’t found before. Really nice! Had a chance to take some photos of the group surrounded by weathered stumps of australian pines and mangroves that I thought were great! We’ll see…

And of course, today was our fishing day and lucky for me, AdventureNicholas came along to give me a hand!! And let me tell you, I really needed it!!! We didn’t boat record numbers of fish today, but the action was non stop and as usual, we couldn’t bait hooks fast enough for three kids, much less eight!!! It was nice to see that everyone was having a GREAT time!!! We boated some nice big (and small) yellowtail snapper, Porkfish, sailor’s choice, tomtates, caesars grunts and had quite a few big ones on that got away. The highlight of the fishing day came when AdventureElla hooked a really BIG fish and after about 5 minutes of trying hard to get it in, she finally turned it towards the boat and was making real headway. Just as it got near, there was a tremendous swirl and a huge splash and you can guess what happened next. That’s right, a great BIG Barracuda decided to have it for lunch, and after a second or two more of thrashing, Ella reeled in the what was left of a nice Mutton Snapper. It would have been a nice keeper too. Needless to say we took a few photos and then sadly tossed the head back to the waiting barracuda who was wanting the rest of his meal. And with another mighty swoosh, that was gone too!! It was a great thrill for all of us though I am sure the snapper thought otherwise!!!

Whats left of Ellas Big Fish — What's left of Ella's "Big Fish"

From here we took a quick run back to the Big Sandbar and everybody had a ball playing in the hot tub and chasing after Nicholas who was doing his best to play “keep away” from 8 kids with a lot of energy. I think that wore about everybody out and was an absolutely great way to end the day!!! We had such a great week so far, and I know one thing for sure… I can’t wait till tomorrow to do it all over again!!! The Ocean is flat calm, the water crystal clear and shells on the beach as far as the eyes can see. Am thinking about pulling right up on the beach, hopping out and going beach combing and snorkeling, and hopefully if we are lucky like last week, have another wonderful manatee encounter. I know one thing for sure, whatever we decide, we are going to have FUN!!! Wish you could join us, It’s going to be GREAT!!! And after the day is over, I’m off to the Bahamas to swim with some wild spotted dolphin for the weekend! Does it get any better than this? I Don’t Think So!!!

Stay tuned, We’re going to have some Fun!!! See you soon,

AdventureMike

Summer 2009: June 9 - June 12

Summer 2009: Week 2 Morning Session (Last week of double duty!)

June 16, 2009 Mike Leave a comment

Hi Everyone, Welcome Back!!! Finished up the second weekly Adventure session and finally getting a few free minutes to write about the wonderful week we had!!! Just don’t seem to have enough hours in the day to get everything I need to get done, done, when running double sessions per week. At this time I don’t have any other afternoon sessions scheduled but may later . Will keep you up to date on that. Wish I had room for everyone who wanted to go!!! Will have to come up with something! Now on to the Second Weeks Adventure!!!

Left my dad’s dock early Tuesday morning and stopped to pick up AdventureZach, Matthew, Hanna and Max on the way to Phil Foster Park. They live just down the lake a bit and this made it easier for all to just grab them and then run for the rest. When we arrived at Phil Foster Park we were greeted by AdventureKatie, Lauren and Andrew from last year. Seems that everybody arrives early and with smiles for my camp and I just love it! We had perfect weather for this week too, calm winds, sunny skies and nice clear water along the beach! Doesn’t get any better than that! We spent the week boating and exploring, island hopping, going to the Big Sandbar, the Rock Garden, Munyon Island, Starfish Prairie, the Beach and of course Fishing!!!! And did we Ever Have FUN!!! And Lots of it!!!

We spent about an hour or so each morning going to the Rock Garden and just having a ball snorkeling along the rocks and finding hundreds of crabs of all kinds. From hermit crabs, arrow crabs, swimming crabs, rock crabs and stone crabs, etc. You name it, we probably found it! And as usual there were the hundreds of different species of reef fish to enjoy and admire along the way!!! Had a lovely stingray glide past us foraging for food and saw quite a few small barracudas and loads of Bermuda Chubs, Parrotfish and Doctorfish every where we looked. AdventureZach was able to catch a nice sharpnosed pufferfish which we nick-named “Puff Daddy” and as if just on cue, it puffed up perfectly. We absolutely loved that!!! Everybody had a chance to take an up close and personal look at “Puff Daddy” then we let him go happily on his way. Always love coming to this spot, never know what we might see.

AdventureZach with Puff Daddy — AdventureZach with "Puff Daddy"

We stopped by the Big sandbar every time it was out of water for a quick romp around and to check out the fighting conchs, starfish, box crabs and anything else we could find. One afternoon we found a nice big Horse Conch trying to chase down a fighting conch for a quick meal. I was going to say “easy” meal except that every time he got close to a fighting conch and was almost able to get his foot around to hold it, that fighting conch would literally start jumping away as fast as it could go! Was fascinating to watch this interaction between a large predatory mollusk trying to chase down a meal. Never saw it get one but was cool to see!!! Horse Conchs are the largest species of Mollusk found along the east coast of North America, can get up to 38 inches in length and eat other shells by wrapping their large “foot” around the other shell then literally “sucking” it out of its shell and swallowing it whole. First time I saw one here. Nice Find!!! Its always exciting when we find something new we haven’t seen before…

And of course, its had to match the fun and excitement of our FISHING DAY!!!. Always non-stop action from start to finish and everyone caught a mixed bag of snappers, tomtates, caesars grunts, sailor’s choice, margates, spot-tail pinfish, porkfish and even a Butter Hamlet. First time for one of those. We had a bet to see who could catch the most fish and AdventureAndrew took the win! Nice Job!!! Most of the time the girls win this bet. The guys are busy talking and the girls are busy fishing!!!! And as usual, I can’t tell you how many times I heard, “I NEED MORE BAIT!!!” over and over and OVER!!! Good thing AdventureNicholas from last week came to give me a hand helping to bait lines, unhook fish and clean up, and even still, we were running deep in the hole behind this gang trying to keep up with all the fish they were catching too!!!

One morning we stopped by Starfish Prairie on the way to Little Munyon Island to check out some of the large starfish that are found here. Always love finding the large Cushion Sea Stars that inhabit this hard rock, sea urchin covered bottom. Have to be really careful when walking around here or you will find yourself with a nice short-spined sea urchin stuck to the bottom of your foot. Been there, done that on numerous occasions, hence those water shoes I always wear now a days…. Spent an hour or so seine netting the shallows behind Munyon Island and came up with some nice juvenile grunts, tomtates, permit and snappers. After this we took a romp around the island and then headed out towards the beach south of the Lake Worth jetty.

Every day we were lucky to get a chance to go out the Inlet and along the beach to do some snorkeling, beach combing and shell collecting, etc. The Ocean was flat calm all week and the water beautifully clear along the beach. We were so lucky! Wish it was always like this!!! Just love it!!! It was so much Fun being here!!! We never wanted to head back in and call it a day!!! One day the group dug such a large hole by hand the whole gang could fit in it. Couldn’t imagine if they had shovels! Another day we were saddened to discover a large dead Green Sea Turtle washed up along the beach. It had been run over by a boat and you could see that the propeller gashes had penetrated deep into the carapace. It was a good lesson for us all to keep a sharp eye out for sea turtles resting on the surface while boating, and especially now during sea turtle nesting season when they are much more likely to be encountered. As we walked further down the beach, our spirits quickly lifted when we observed a large manatee swimming slowly in the shallows along the south jetty. We hurriedly donned our masks and got in. The manatee swam over as if to take a closer look and for a few seconds we stared eye to eye, each checking the other out. We watched as she slowly swam away into the distance…

It was just GREAT and a fitting way to end the weeks adventure!!! We had such a BLAST and not one of us wanted to call it a day!!! Such a great week with such a great group!!! Just doesn’t get any better than this!!! And for me, I just couldn’t wait for the afternoon session to begin and to get back out, and… HAVE SOME FUN!!!

Let’s Go Have Some Fun!!!

AdventureMike

Summer 2009: June 2 - June 5

Summer 2009 Begins!!!

June 7, 2009 Mike Leave a comment

Hi Everyone, Welcome back!!! We just finished our first weekly Adventure and as usual we had a BLAST!!!!! We’ve been so busy adventuring this week I haven’t even had a chance, nor the energy to write about it! As some of you may know, I’ve had such a wonderful response to my camp that I decided to do double sessions to try and get some more of you in, and even then I couldn’t accommodate all the requests I’ve had. Thanks to you all! For those of you who couldn’t get your child in, I’m sorry…. Would love to be able take everyone who wanted to go, just not able to. Please register early next year when I open up registration and get ALL the paper work to me IMMEDIATELY to hold your space when that time comes! I already know I won’t be able to take everyone for sure then! Now on to this past weeks ADVENTURE!!!

When I arrived at the dock bright and early for the Tuesday morning session I could already tell we were going to have another great group! The kids were there, excited and raring to go, and with smiles from ear to ear. Just the way I love it!!! Soon afterwards, AdventureMatthew, Casey, Jaime, Miriam, Katie, Thomas, Nicholas and Neil boarded my Adventure boat, “DREAM CHASER” to begin the weeks adventure. And were they ever ready to go!!! We stowed the gear, off we went and the FUN began…

We spent the week boating and exploring, isaland hopping, going to the Big Sandbar, the Rock Garden, Munyon Island, Starfish Prairie, the Beach and of course Fishing!!!! And did we Ever Have FUN!!! From start to finish it was a blast and each session seemed to end way to soon!

On the Big Sandbar we found hundreds of Florida and West Indian fighting Conchs and loads of short-spined sea urchins in a variety of colors. We checked them all to see what new color combinations we could find. My favorite being the bright white with the deep purple short spines. Just beautiful!!! Along the way we discovered Mantis Shrimp burrows and watched as Tube Worms slowly filtered sand to digest the algae off each grain. We came upon the broken carapace of a very large Rooster Crab, in the family of box or shame-faced crabs known for holding their claws in front of their faces, that had been freshly eaten by a ray and found quite a few Baby’s Ear Mollusks burrowing in the sand. Always love finding those!

We found a variety of starfish every time we went, from Beaded Sea Stars, Cushion Sea Stars and the unusual Nine-Armed Starfish that’s mainly nocturnal. Always a treat!!! That gave me a great opportunity to take some cool photos of AdventureNeil and a few others with “Nine-Armed Starfish Head” a first for the trip!!! On one day we found a very rare and unusual fish resting in a shallow hole with only an inch or two of water remaining, maybe a hundred feet from the waters edge. I was excited to see it was a Flying Gurnard, distinguished by having fan like pectoral fins that often have brilliant iridescent blue lines and markings!!! It was a fabulous discovery!!! These fish have modified ventral fins that allow them to “walk” about and turn over rocks and shells while foraging. A very unusual fish and one that I rarely see. Boy were we Lucky!!! We released it unharmed into deeper water. I know it was glad about that. Every now and then when we would get cold swimming, we would come back to the Big Sandbar and sit in a deep hole filled with hot water that we nicknamed “The Hot Tub” to warm up. It was just great!!! Our very own hot tub…

At the Rock Garden we saw the usual…. Hundreds of fish in every size, shape and color imaginable! From small barracudas to snook, porkfish, parrotfish, sheepsheads, grunts, snappers, angelfish, damselfish, butterflyfish, blennies, etc. Every where you looked there was something else to be seen… We spent hours searching under the shallow rocks and found all types of hermit crabs, box crabs, rock crabs, porcelain crabs, swimming crabs, stone crabs, pistol shrimp, popping shrimp, blennies and more. A plethora of discoveries with every turn. Just love it that way!!!

This week we were lucky to have calm enough seas to run out the inlet and around the South Jetty to park right near the beach and do some beach combing for shells and worn sea glass. All of us came home with a few treasures of our own. We had hours of fun “hill jumping” and body surfing the small waves in crystal clear water. Never wanted to leave here, and in between body surfing and snorkeling, the group played a few games of “chicken” where Casey and Jaime would team up against Thomas and Nicholas and try and wrestle each other over into the water. It was fun for all!!

We spent one day going to Little Munyon Island to do some seine netting in the shallows and had a ball. We caught numerous mojarra, pinfish, juvenile grunts and snappers, pistol shrimp, popping shrimp, seagrass shrimp, smooth trunkfish and even a checkerboard pufferfish which delighted the group by puffing up with air for a quick photo op! On the way home that day we stopped by Starfish Prairie and hurriedly picked up a few large Cushion Starfish for another quick photo opportunity then released them unharmed exactly where we found them. They were everywhere to be found! Really nice to have nearby…

And of course, its had to match the fun and excitement of our FISHING DAY!!!. Always non-stop action from start to finish and everyone caught a mixed bag of snappers, tomtates, caesars grunts, sailor’s choice, margates, spot-tail pinfish, porkfish and AdventureNeil caught one scorpionfish which I was happy to get back in the water as quickly as possible. You definitely want to stay away from the venomous spines on those!!! I learned that the hard way many a year ago and don’t want to repeat that EVER again! OUCH!!! All in all, I can’t tell you how many times I heard, “I NEED MORE BAIT!!!” over and over and OVER!!! Good thing AdventureNicholas from last summer came to give me a hand helping to bait lines, unhook fish and clean up, and even still, we were running deep in the hole behind this gang trying to keep up with all the fish they were catching!!!

All in all, it was a fabulous first week!!! When it was time to head back, no-one was ready to call it a day!!! We were just too busy having fun!!! And Just the way I love it!!! And lucky for me, I got to do it all over again with the second group of Adventurers for the afternoon session!!! Doesn’t get any better than that!!! Wish you could have joined us!!!! We had a BLAST!!! I just couldn’t wait for the second adventure session to begin!!!

All you guys will be missed, and I can’t wait to see you again!, but it was time to…

Go Have Some More Fun!!!

AdventureMike

Summer 2009: June 2 - June 5

Summer 2009 Begins – The Afternoon Adventure!

June 7, 2009 Mike Leave a comment

Hi All,

I had no sooner finished up the first adventure session and readied the boat when I was joined by my second group of eager and excited Adventurers that in turn were ready for the Fun to begin!!! And so was I!!!

AdventureSheri came along to help me with this weeks afternoon Adventure and she and I were joined by AdventureAnnie and Jonah from last Summer and three new Adventurers, Michael, Brooke and Leah. This group was just as full of energy as the last, and great swimmers to too, another fabulous bunch!!! Love it like this!

For the weeks afternoon session we followed much like the first group, but in a different order. The days adventure for the most part is determined by the tides. At high tide we go snorkeling, island hopping and beach combing and at low tide we go seine netting in the shallows and exploring at the Big Sandbar, etc. All subject to change at a whim of course… whatever the group or I may want to do. Sometimes we are having so much fun doing one thing that its hard to quit and go do another. Just doesn’t get any better than that!!!

Everytime we visited the Big Sandbar we had as much fun as the first group. This was really a great week for low tide exploration since we had lower mean low tides than normal and we found so many different starfish, shells and sea urchins that we couldn’t keep count. Everybody had fun collecting their own and sharing their finds with the rest. And of course, I had to take a few photos of “starfish head” with this group too. Always put a smile on their faces and mine and that’s what counts! AdventureAnnie, Leah and Brooke would be busy finding starfish, conchs and sea urchins while AdventureJonah and Michael would be busy finding crabs, mantis shrimp, baby ear mollusks, sundial shells, bristleworms and netted olives, etc. I was careful to gently pick up a bristleworm and point out the mildly venomous spines and to make sure they knew not to play with them unless they wanted to learn a painful lesson of their own. They don’t call them fireworms for nothing. Yes, I learned that too? Over and over and over, still learning I guess?…

AdventureSheri would over see the gang, bring us drinks and snacks, entertain the kids, keep things running smoothly and occasionally find some cool treasures of her own to share with us. Very Nice to have her along!!! 🙂 We had such a great time!!! We would stop and jump into the “hot tub” every time we came just for the fun and to warm up of course. We even practiced to see who could hold their breathes the longest. It was close for all…and left us breathless…

We visited the beach and found some cool shells and treasures of our own, checked out some fresh turtle tracks leading up to their nests, found numerous ghost crabs that we couldn’t catch and did some body surfing too. Its nice when the water is crystal clear along the beach and we hoped we might see a few manatees like last year as an extra bonus. No luck, but maybe next week. I hope! We had as much fun here as the first group and none of us wanted to leave!

We spent one day at Little Munyon Island finding more large sea grass hermits than you could count and short-spined sea urchins in every color you could imagine by the thousands. Almost every urchin was covered and camouflaged by little shells held tightly to them by their tiny little tube feet so they looked more like the bottom than urchins themselves. Neat to see them this way. We had a contest to see who could find the smallest one and for a while I had the winner. Later I was usurped by Michael who was later dethroned by Brooke and Leah who some how found one about a quarter inch in diameter. It was a really fun way to spend that afternoon. We even did a little seine netting and came up with a beautiful blue, scrawled cowfish, complete with two tiny “horns”. One over each eye. Everybody had a chance to hold the fish and check out its small mouth, rubbery lips and wiggly tail. They subsist mainly on a diet of small invertebrates and sponges. Very Cool!!! As usual, we stopped at Starfish Prairie along the way to check out the Cushion Sea Stars and found some really nice big red ones to everyone’s delight. Nice Finds…

Our fishing day was just as exciting with the same fast paced action, maybe even faster than the first groups. AdventureBrooke and Leah were neck and neck till the very end, both catching almost 40 fish each!!! AdventureJonah, Annie and Michael were following close behind! We had double, triple, qraduple and quintuple hook-ups all at once! Numerous times! Was too busy to take all the photos I wanted. Yes. I lost count of how many times I heard, “AdventureMike, I NEED MORE BAIT!!!”. Oh well… AdventureJonah caught a big mutton snapper and Michael caught some nice sailors choice and a big black margate. Just another great day of fishing by a great group of “fishermen”! Right on!!! You guys ROCK!!!

On the last day we had to cut the adventure session a half hour short and head back to the dock because of a big rain storm to the north of us. Luckily the rain held off till after we arrived and we spent the last minutes glad we were inside out of the wind. We had so much fun this week! Non-stop from beginning to end! None of us wanted this session to end either! It was such a great week and a real adventure for all of us. One I won’t forget anytime soon! And I’m sure neither will they… That’s what I love about running this camp!!! Sharing the things I love and appreciate with a great group of Adventurers, each one having as much FUN as I…. I can’t wait till next weeks double sessions begin too! Let the Adventure begin!

Will miss you all. It was a Blast!!! Hope to see you soon… 🙂 Until then…

Let’s Go Have Some Fun!!!

AdventureMike

Spring Break 2009: April 7 - April 10

Fishing Adventure among Lake Worth’s Artificial Reefs

April 8, 2009 Mike Leave a comment

Hi Everyone. Welcome Back!!!

We just finished up the days Fishing Camp Adventure Session and let me tell you WE HAD FUN TODAY!!! Just ask AdventureMickey, Maggie, McKenzie, Matthew, Rachel and Joe! They will tell you what fun we had! Non stop action from start to finish, 4 solid hours of “FISH ON!!!!” and smiles from ear to ear. No “fish story” here!!! Just non stop FUN!!! Double, triple, quadruple and even quintuple headers of fish on. I needed 3 of me to bait the hooks, take off the fish and try and take photos of everyone having the time of their life all at the same time! And with that same constant “ringing in my ears”, all in unison too from 6 happy fishermen ” I NEED MORE BAIT!!!” And you know I’ve heard that before…. Oh boy… 🙂

Today was a bit windy and cool so I decided to have our fishing day a day sooner than normal instead of getting wet on the coldest day of the session. We loaded up and arrived at my secret GPS #’s and dropped anchor. We didn’t hang exactly perfect over the ledge like I wanted but we gave it a shot anyway. Only caught 2 fish in the first couple of minutes so I decided to pull up anchor and move a few feet further to the north, and I mean just a few feet! Didn’t want to waist any time with slow action when I know how good things can be. From that moment on, once the baits went down, the rest was just a blurr! Didn’t even have time to look at my watch, eat, drink or catch my breath, and just the way I love it! GO go go go go….. 🙂

AdventureMcKenzie was the first to catch a fish, and a nice big lane snapper at that! AdventureMickey, who had never been boating or fishing before in his life, caught the next. A big fat Sailor’s Choice! Right on Mickey!!! You should have heard him yell, “I CAUGHT A FISH, I CAUGHT MY FIRST FISH!!!! and seen that great big smile of his! I will never forget it! Makes me feel extra special to know he caught his very first fish with me and I was smiling from ear to ear too! Love it when things come together like this! I know he won’t forget it either, including the flounder, lane snapper, mangrove snapper, mutton snapper, blue runner, tomtates, Cesar grunts, spot-tails and margates, etc he also caught non stop after this. Talk about your first and only day of fishing…. WOW!!! He’s going to be spoiled now!

Along with Mickey, AdventureJoe and Matthew were doing the same and having the same non stop action! Just like AdventureRachel, Maggie and McKenzie! Everybody was catching fish as fast as I could bait a hook. If I would have had help today, we might even have beat the all time record set for AdventureMike’s July 10th, 2008 of over 350 fish boated and released in under 4 hours! I have never seen so many nice snapper being brought in non stop like this! I couldn’t keep track of who caught what, and how many each as I released them, but I think AdventureMckenzie may have boated the most fish over all. That girl knows how to FISH! And don’t let her small size fool you either. My moneys on her!!! I think she caught the largest assortment of species too. Even a nice big yellow porkfish! Just a beauty! What a great day!!!

I am not sure if the cooler water temperature, at 67.3 degrees Fahrenheit made any difference, but like I said, I have never seen so many snapper and flounder being caught non stop. AdventureMaggie and McKenzie were working together taking turns bringing in a very large hard fighting fish of some kind and just as it got to the side of the boat, there was a big swoosh, and something even bigger ate it! Hook, line and sinker! And then the same thing happened to AdventureRachel and Mickey too in short order. I think all the action chummed up a big Goliath grouper right under the boat, and he was having fun and an easy meal eating our big snapper like jellybeans. After one big particular splash that just about soaked us, and with everyone screaming with excitement, I heard those famous words I’ve heard before,”WE NEED A BIGGER BOAT!!!” And at time likes this, I just can’t tell you how much I love my job!!! It was the perfect way to call it a day, or at least for us it was…

I can’t even begin to make guess as to how many fish we had on that we didn’t hook or lost just at the boat. And like I said, I have no idea what made the action so extra special, or what made the fish bite like they did, but I know one thing for sure, not one of these adventurers will ever forget this day, and neither will I!
We had fun!!! We had a blast!! ! We had another once in a lifetime day!!! And, best of all, we had a story to tell!!! It may sound like a “fish story” to some, but we all know differently! WE LIVED THE ADVENTURE AND WE SHARED THE SMILES, THE LAUGHTER, THE EXCITEMENT!!! If you saw the smiles on the faces like I did today, you would never forget it either!!! Thank you !!! And Mickey, Congratulations on catching your first fish, and the next 30 or more after that too. You did GREAT!!!

I just can’t wait till my Summer Camps begin on June 2nd!!! I don’t want this much fun to stop!!! I don’t think I can wait that long!!! How about you? God, I love my job!!!! How can we have this much fun!!!

I must still be dreaming…

AdventureMike

Week 9

Fishing in the Lake Worth Lagoon

July 29, 2008 Mike Leave a comment

Hi Everyone welcome back!

We finished up the weekly adventure session with another wonderful day of fishing. We had a great group, great weather and great fishing! It doesn’t get any better than this!!! This summer has been the very best that I can ever remember! Every group has been just great! We’ve had so much fun and learned so much I never want it to end. And I can tell you, my adventurers don’t either!!! Just a few weeks left, and they’re all filled, still taking reservations for a waiting list just in case of a cancellation but I haven’t had one yet. Wish I had a bigger boat, and two more of me. Maybe next year…

I arrived at the dock about 20 minutes early, and you guessed it , everyone was already waiting for me and wondering what took me so long. They were ready to go and full of enthusiasm. Just the way I love it! We loaded up and went to the sandbar by the Deep Hole to look for some menhaden. The tide was very low and the menhaden weren’t in yet so we motored over to the Rock Garden to take a few casts with the net. It only took one! We had about 200 baits with the first cast. We put them in the live-well and off we went.

We motored a few times around the artificial reef till I marked some large schools of fish. I anchored up current a few feet, baited the hooks and AdventureJason, Jordyn, Michael, Christopher, Trevor, Gunner and Jagger dropped down. If you’ve been following my posts lately, you know what happened next! The second they touched bottom we had fish on!!! All kinds of fish! It took almost 15 seconds before I heard those familiar words, “I need more Bait!” From then on out, it was non-stop as usual!

AdventureTrevor took the lead right at first, with AdventureJordyn a close second. These two were neck and neck till about 40 fish each, and truthfully, I can’t remember who caught the most in the end! We were all too busy having fun!, and I was too busy baiting and taking off fish to keep count! This is when I really need 3 of me! Oh well…

AdventureMichael, Jason, Christopher, Gunner and Jagger were catching fish almost non stop too, but not quite as fast as AdventureJordyn and Trevor. Once the action started it was pretty much a blur for me after that for the next 3 hours! No time for snacks or drinks, just baiting hooks, taking off fish, occasionally re-rigging and every now and then stopping to take a picture of one of their fish when they wanted. Like I said, “It doesn’t get any better than this!” I just love it.

I baited up one of the bigger rods with one of their fish and gave it a short toss behind the boat. BOOM!!! The water exploded, and a second later a nice barracuda launched skyward! I think AdventureChristopher, Jason, Gunner, Jordyn and Michael took turns reeling it in. When it got right up to the boat, I took over and reached down with a short gaff, lifted it into the boat and put it in the live well out of the way so no-one could get near those wonderfully awful, nice large and very sharp teeth! I wanted to keep this one so I would have some nice bait for the crab traps over the next few weeks. Almost nothing smells “stinkier” or “fishier” to me than a nice barracuda! Well, short of a large flying fish hitting me square in the face and splattering at 40 mph on the way over to the Bahamas once. Nice shot too, bull’s-eye, square on the bridge of the nose. Ouch!, and a nice splatter job too, had fish parts from ear to ear, up my nose and even in my “pearly whites”. Everybody aboard loved it, well short of me of course, and maybe the flying fish! But barracuda does works great for bait, shark fishing and even deep dropping.

We fished non stop for about three and a half hours and caught all kinds of fish! Grunts, snappers, yellowtails, tomtates and sailor’s choice were the most common catches, but we had a few really nice fish on that I think were groupers or large mutton snappers. Just couldn’t get them up to see what they were. Maybe next time, but either way we had fun, and all of us loved it! We decided to spend the last half hour swimming in the Deep Hole, so we pulled anchor and motored over.

I took a couple of quick photos of the barracuda with all the adventurers then off into the Deep Hole we went. It was beautiful! Crystal clear and full of fish! We had a ball swimming and talking about the weeks adventures! On the way back, everybody said they had never had so much fun and learned so much at any summer camp before! And they didn’t want to leave. And you know something, I didn’t want them to leave either! Oh well… I really love it when things end like that!! Makes me feel proud inside. Thanks guys!!! I’m sure going to miss you and everyone when summer is over. We have had so much fun, so many wonderful adventures and discoveries, and so many great kids!!! Thank you! I never want it to end! Never…

I’ll be out of town for the next week. Going to do some adventuring of my own! I can’t wait!!! I’ll keep you posted. In the mean time, Get outdoors, enjoy life, live the adventure, laugh alot and remember my motto:

LET’S GO HAVE SOME FUN!!!

AdventureMike

Week 7

Fishing Near Peanut Island

July 10, 2008 Mike Leave a comment

Hi All,

I just finished up the days fishing camp adventure session and let me tell you WE HAD FUN TODAY!!! Today was our weekly fishing day and we set an all time record that may never be beaten!!! We started the day going to the Deep Hole to cast net bait. Two throws later our livewell was filled to the brim with hundreds of menhaden. These would help augment the 3 lbs of fresh cut up squid that I had gotten ready earlier. Little did I know then what an unbelievable day we were going to have!!!! As I sit here and write about it I know nobody is going to believe me but it is all true!

I knew I was going to be busy today so I was joined by two great friends to help give me a hand, AdventureMatt, who I love like my own son, and his girlfriend Michelle who I love dearly too. Matt was going to help me bait the hooks and take off the fish and Michelle was going to help wash the boat down as things got fishy. All this seemed simple enough to me on the way to my secret spot along the artificial reef. Just how confusing could things get anyway?

Well we arrived at my GPS numbers and AdventureMatt dropped anchor. When the anchor came taught we were about 15 feet from where I really wanted to be, didn’t seem like much so we baited the hooks and sent them down. After about 1 minute I knew things were wrong. We only had 2 bites, not the non stop action I expected and had in the past. We motored up and pulled anchor and moved 15 feet further to the north, right over the 12 foot drop off where my fish finder was marking fish by the hundreds. We re-baited the hooks and let them down and from that second on, my day was only a blur!!! Instantly, and I mean INSTANTLY everyone had a fish on. AdventureJason, Jordyn, Brian, Carolyn, and Dakota caught fish faster than I have ever seen, and I mean EVER SEEN!!! Like in my whole life of fishing!

I could not count 3 seconds between the time their bait hit bottom and a fish eating it! All AdventureMatt, Michelle and I heard for 4 non stop hours was, “I NEED MORE BAIT!!!, I NEED MORE BAIT!!!” That was coming from 5 different directions all at once and it never stopped! We couldn’t even think about wiping up anything. Even AdventureMichelle was taking fish off the line non stop and re-baiting hooks! With all the bait previously cut up and in buckets in 3 different spots on the boat, we could never catch up!! Three seasoned adults could not keep up with my 5 adventurers today!!! We could not keep bait on the hooks or take fish of them fast enough. I have never see
action like this in my life! I may never again!

AdventureCarolyn, Brian , Dakota, Jason and Jordyn caught everything from mangrove snappers, mutton snappers, yellowtail snappers, lane snappers, schoolmaster snappers, red groupers, black groupers, caesar’s grunts, french grunts, striped grunts, white grunts, smallmouth grunts, tomtates, cottonwicks, spottail pinfish and one lonely scorpionfish! We had one truly monsterous Barracuda on that ate a large yellowtail snapper, that not only ate the snapper, but the 20 inches of wire leader that was attached to it also, right up past the swivel to cut us off. A mighty impressive fish! Looked much bigger around then my leg, kinda like a swimming telephone pole with some razor sharp and snaggled toothed dentures!!! That one line from “JAWS” came to mind. “WE NEED A BIGGER BOAT!”. I’ll never forget that!

AdventureCarolyn was going to quit fishing after she caught, (and we all counted) 50 fish because her arm was tired and her hand hurt, but I talked her into trying to make 61 instead. I said, “when are you ever going to catch fish like this again?” keep fishing, and she did! And she made it to 61, and when she got there I said now go for 70!!!, just thinking that can’t be possible! She said if she got to 70, “THAT”, was definitely going to be IT! Well you guessed it, she made it to 70 and I was only able to talk her into catching one more. So, she stopped at 71 fish caught all by herself and took her first break of the day! AdventureDakota and Jason had to catch over 50 fish each themselves, some of those nice groupers and yellowtail snappers, and AdventureBrian caught close to that many himself! AdventureJordyn stopped at around 30 and spent the rest of the day handing bait out of the bucket to help Matt, Michelle and I to try and catch up. What a day it was!!! I will never hear the words, “I need more bait” without thinking of this day.

I know well over 200 fish were brought in the boat. I can’t even begin to guess how many we had on besides that. It was amazing how moving the boat only 15 feet made this difference. I have no idea what made the action so extra special, or what made the fish bite like they did, but I know one thing for sure, not one of these adventurers will ever forget this day, and neither will Matt, Michelle or I!!!

We had fun!!! We had a blast!! ! We had a once in a lifetime day!!! And we all had a story to tell!!! It may sound like a “fish story” to some, but we all know differently! WE LIVED THE ADVENTURE!!! And if you saw the smiles on the faces that I did today, you will never forget it!!! Thank you !!!

God, I love my job!!!! How can we have this much fun!!! I must still be dreaming…

AdventureMike

Week 6

Fishing Near Peanut Island

July 2, 2008 Mike 1 Comment

Hi Everyone,

I just got back in from the third day of our Adventure session and let me tell you we had fun today, and boy was I busy!!! AdventureDavid, Dina, Corey, Hannah, Parker, Maxwell and I were joined by two new adventurers, Adventurers Ryan and Chris, who just returned from white water rafting the Green River in Utah. Talk about adventurers, I don’t think they know when to call it quits, my kind of guys, and great kids too!

Today was our weekly fishing day adventure and I had a full load! I knew I was going to be busy today trying to keep up with this crew. We started off heading to the “Deep Hole” by the sandbar to cast net some Menhaden to augment our bait supply of fresh squid. AdventureCorey and I threw the nets a few times and filled the live-well with a couple hundred and off we went to the artificial reef to drop anchor.

From the very first second I couldn’t bait hooks fast enough! Some wanted live bait and some wanted fresh squid and every one wanted to fish at once. Luckily I had 10 rods on the boat, 8 to use for bottom fishing and 2 to put out larger baits for Barracuda. We decided to fish them all at once, and amazingly enough I don’t remember having to untangle one line. Now that’s a fine group of adventurers! What I do remember is having to bait hooks faster than I have ever done in my life before. We had lots of nonstop action, but the fish were a little more difficult to hook today. Maybe they remembered from the last time we were here and were a bit more careful.

Adventurers Ryan, David, Corey and Hannah were quick to hook up and bring fish to the boat while Dinah, Parker, Maxwell and Chris spent a bit of time feeding those on the bottom. AdventureRyan caught a nice big Caesar’s Grunt while AdventureHannah was quick to boat a big Black Grouper! AdventureDavid boated a beautiful yellowtail snapper and AdventureCorey boated a large Lane Snapper! Now that’s fishing!!! It didn’t make a difference where you fished from the boat, everyone was having bites! It just was a lot harder to hook them today. The current was ripping out over the top of the reef and it was definitely harder keeping your bait on the bottom, and that can make all the difference in the world.

All of a sudden I heard AdventureDavid yell he had another big one on and I looked over to see his fishing rod bent double. A second later the line slackened and I watched as David reeled in a 6 inch long Butter Hamlet wrapped around a nice red sponge. Someone said he caught the ‘pants” off of Sponge Bob Square Pants and I almost fell out of the boat laughing. Of course, I had to take a picture of that!

AdventureDina and Parker caught some nice Caesar’s Grunts while Ryan boated a big Porgy. AdventureHannah wasn’t saying too much but I watched her catch fish non-stop! I don’t think she wanted anybody else to notice how many fish she was catching and crowd her spot!
I always have to admire when the girls out fish the boys, kinda like AdventureAllison last week who caught fish non-stop and didn’t say a word either. Maybe there is an important lesson to be learned there. I wonder…

We caught all kinds of fish non stop but surprisingly enough the big barracudas didn’t show up. A little bit later Ryan caught a scorpionfish, a nice ugly bottom dwelling poisonous fish full of spines and loaded to the hilt with a very painful toxin. Yep, you guessed it, as a very inquisitive, (some would say careless) child, it didn’t take me long to find the business end of one of those either! And that left a lasting impression that I never wanted to repeat, ever again! From that moment on, I have been very careful taking these off the hook. Sometimes I think it’s best to cut the hook off and leave the fish well enough alone! At this point we decided to call it a day fishing and spend the last hour left snorkeling the Rock Garden or going back to swim in the Deep hole. Just as we were leaving I think AdventureDavid spotted a dead Loggerhead turtle floating on the surface and the current swept it right by the boat. When it came by, you could tell what caused its demise! Missing out of the right side was a large ragged circular bite, right thru both sides of the carapace, and only one very large toothy critter does that! I decided not to hum the tune of, ” When the shark bites” at that moment, but I thought about it. I just knew that my humming was no better than my singing or dancing and I didn’t want to embarrass myself… Stick to what I can do and avoid what I can’t do kind of thing!

Shortly after this we arrived at the Rock Garden and everyone spent a half hour snorkeling, catching fish and crabs in the nets and just having a blast! AdventureRyan found a nice Jawfish in his tunnel and we all checked it out then boarded the “Dream Chaser” and headed to the Deep Hole for a quick snorkel with the thousands Menhaden swimming here before having to call it a day. AdventureCorey took a few throws with the cast net and caught a bunch of menhaden and the terns and seagulls were quick to make a meal of a few. almost off our finger tips. It was great for us, maybe not so much for the menhaden though, but the terns and sea gulls loved it too!

From here we hurried back, each one of us with smiles on our faces, and looking forward to tomorrow! Not all of us actually boated fish today, but we had fun trying!!!! We knew there was always another day and another adventure to be lived and we were going to make the most of it!!!

Come join us, and Let’s go have some Fun!!!!

AdventureMike

Adventure Mike

Tag Archives: fishing camp

Summer 2009 Week 3: Summertime Fun!

Summer 2009: Week 2 Morning Session (Last week of double duty!)

Summer 2009 Begins!!!

Summer 2009 Begins – The Afternoon Adventure!

Fishing Adventure among Lake Worth’s Artificial Reefs

Fishing in the Lake Worth Lagoon

Fishing Near Peanut Island

Fishing Near Peanut Island

Palm Beach Summer Day Camp Blog