Tag Archives: sailors choice

Holiday Session 1: December 2009

Holiday Adventure! Session 1

January 1, 2010 Mike Leave a comment

Hi Everyone, Welcome back!!!

We’ve just finished up the first Holiday Adventure and let me tell you, We had a blast!!! It started off a bit cold on Sunday morning, temperature in the mid 40’s, but that didn’t stop us from having FUN! Not this group of Adventurers! Not for one second! And lucky for us it warmed up into the mid 70’s by the end of the week, and we loved that. I knew we were not going to be doing any snorkeling this week as the water temp. was in the low 60′ but this gave us an opportunity to have 2 full fishing days instead of one, a chance to do some island hikes, scope out manatees in the shallows and visit the HMS Bounty docked at Peanut Island. And that was cool too!

When I arrived at the dock Sunday morning I was greeted by a great group of Adventurers all bundled up to stay warm and ready to go have some FUN!!! As soon as AdventureMegan, McKenzie, Brendan, Brian, John, Leah, Reese, Matthew, Jackie and Lucia boarded the DREAMCHASER, we were off and going. First stop was a visit and tour on board the HMS Bounty moored at Peanut Island. This was the exact boat built in Nova Scotia for the 1962 movie Mutiny on the Bounty starring Marlin Brando and later used in Pirates of the Caribbean – Dead Man’s Chest. We had a ball walking the decks, exploring below and learning the ropes so to speak. It was Great!

After we were done we took a hike all around Peanut Island, stopping occasionally to collect some shells and knickerbeans and look for fish and eagle rays in the shallows. Before we knew it, the day had come to an end and on the way back to the boat I could tell nobody was ready to call it a day! All I heard was, “Is it time to go back already?” I can’t tell you how many times I have heard that before! One thing was certain though, we were all looking forward to tomorrow! It was going to be the first “Fishing Day” and we just couldn’t wait!

When I arrived Monday morning everybody was ready and raring to go! We loaded up in a hurry and off we went. The minute we were anchored over my secret fishing hole, ten lines went down and simultaneously ten kids had Fish On!!! From that second on, the rest of the day was just a blur! I didn’t even get a chance to look at my watch once until someone said we only had fifteen minutes left. Where had the day gone? How could time fly by so quickly? Man were we ever having FUN!!!

I don’t know how many fish everyone caught, but I know one thing for sure! I could have used 3 of me to bait hooks, take fish off and re-rig lines as quite a few big fish swam back into the reef taking hooks, lines and sinkers!!! I know we caught flounders, blue runners, yellowtail snappers, lane snappers, mangrove snappers, ceasars grunts, tomtates, filefish, sailor’s choice, margates, butter hamlets, spot-tail pinfishand others I can’t even remember! As fast as you could get your line down, something was eating your bait! It was just GREAT and everyone was having FUN!!! Just the way I love it!!!

When I arrived at the dock I was greeted by one new Adventurer, AdventureNick, that decided to take the place of McKenzie for the day. We spent Tuesday morning scouting out for manatees and had one nice up close and personal encounter that lasted about 30 minutes over by the Florida Power and Light plant. Everybody loved that!!! From here we took a quick run down to Munyon Island and to take an island hike and explore the trails and all around the shallow estuary looking for horseshoe crabs and what ever else we could find. We talked about the mangrove trees and sea grasses and the critical role they play in providing habitat for the juvenile fish, invertebrates and crustaceans that call them home. As we hiked the island, I pointed out the wild grape and coffee plants, the zebra and swallowtail butterflies and the crab spiders and banana spiders that were everywhere. And I mean everywhere!!! The group decided to nickname the island, “Spider Island”. On at least a dozen occasions as we hiked the trails I walked face first into a nice sturdy web with an impressive banana spider hanging right in the middle just about dangling off my nose. Let me tell you the kids loved that as I danced around wiping webs off my face. They couldn’t stop laughing and I have to say it was fun for all!!! From here we took a quick run by little Munyon Island then hurried back to make it in time. Each one of us was looking forward to tomorrow and another wonderful day of fishing Adventure!!!

I expected the action on this fishing day was going to be similar to the first and lucky for me one of my very best friends, AdventureBill, decided to come along and give me a hand. Let me tell you I couldn’t have done it without him! Baiting hooks, releasing fish, rigging lines, one after another, after another, all day long!!! Just like before, as soon as the baits hit the bottom, the fish were biting! The action was so unbelievable that AdventureJackie was able to catch 2 fish on one hook at the same time!!! A feat that I have never seen done before in all my years of fishing!!! What a way to start the day!!! It was just GREAT! And just like before, I couldn’t keep track of how many fish we boated and released that day, but it was non-stop from start to finish! Were we ever having FUN!!! The last hour of the day we moved away from the reef to try and catch a few different species of fish. The kids caught some nice flounders, some huge blue runners and one very Big sail catfish that in no way wanted to come to the boat on light tackle. By the time Jackie got that fish in her arm was ready to fall off! Nice Job!!! All in all, everyone did great and caught a ton of fish and I just couldn’t have been happier! You guys ROCK!!!

Needless to say, the week flew by faster than we wanted and none of us was ready to call it quits! We had so much FUN, we never wanted it to end!!! Somehow it always seems to be this way, and I just LOVE IT!!! Lucky for me I have another group coming December 28th and I know one thing for sure, it’s going to be great! Holiday Adventure, Session 2, Here we come!!! I just can’t wait!!! Hope you’ll join us and live the Adventure!!!

Let’s Go Have Some Fun!!!

AdventureMike

Summer 2009: July 13 - July 16

Summer 2009 Week 7: Time Flies When You’re Having FUN!!!

July 18, 2009 Mike 3 Comments

Hi Everyone, Welcome Back!!!

It seems like these weeks are just flying by!!! The old adage about “Time flies when you’re having fun” sure seems to be true about this week, actually, every week we’ve had so far!!! This Summer has been absolutely perfect from the very beginning!!! It just doesn’t get any better than this!!! Perfect weather, crystal clear warm water, tons of fish and an unbelievably GREAT group of kids!!! And all of us having non-stop FUN no matter which direction we seem to go!!! Laughing and smiling from start to finish and none of us ever wanting to come back home!!! Just the way I LOVE IT!!!

I arrived at the dock bright and early Tuesday morning and was greeted by another GREAT group of Adventurers!!! Matter of fact they were waiting for me and raring to go like there was no tomorrow!!! I always love it when everybody is a little bit early, full of energy and smiles from ear to ear!!! That’s the same way I feel on the way to get everybody! I just can’t wait for the day to begin!!! I just love this “job”!!! As soon as AdventureDahlia, Davina, Julia, Megan, Maria, Dakota, Dylan, Breeann and Vincent boarded the boat we headed off the Big Sandbar to do some exploring and a little bit of snorkeling. The tide was out and the bar was exposed from end to end. We could already see shells and sea urchins popping out of the sand and even a few starfish were visible from the boat. I could already tell it was going to be another fabulous start for the weeks adventure!!!

We ran around the bar finding baby ears mollusks, beaded and banded starfish, west Indian and Florida fighting conchs, mantis shrimp, blue crabs, box crabs, hermit crabs, etc. You name it, I think we found it. It was just GREAT!!! Everybody was finding something no matter which direction we went! After we searched the whole bar for hidden treasures we raced over to the “Hot Tub” and took a plunge into the warm water. Everybody wanted to be the first in! We raced back and forth from one deep hole to another until the tide came in and covered the bar. The water was coming in crystal clear and we decided to head over to the Rock Garden to do some snorkeling.

The minute we arrived we could see fish in every direction. Before we even got in we were seeing snook, houndfish, needlefish, blue runners and small barracudas chasing menhaden from end to end. The shoreline was covered with herons and egrets trying to catch their fill too. We donned our snorkel gear, grabbed some nets and jumped in to try our luck at catching fish too. It wasn’t long before we were catching large swimming crabs and stone crabs around the rocks. AdventureDakota, Dylan and Vincent caught some nice big ones while the rest of us tried our luck at catching pufferfish. AdventureDahlia, Davina, Julia, Maria and Breeann found some cool hawk-wing conchs, juvenile queen conchs and tons of blue legged hermit crabs. It was just GREAT!!! Finally I was able to catch a pufferfish and we all had a ball watching it balloon up just for our entertainment. We took turns passing it around then let it go to swim on its merry way. When the day came to an end, none of us was ready to call it quits. We were having too much FUN!!!

Yesterday morning we stopped by the Big Sandbar to spend a few minutes exploring the bar while it was high and dry and AdventureJulia, Dahlia, Davina and Vincent found some more beaded starfish and baby ears mollusks just creeping out from under the sand. Always love when that happens!!! The rest of us romped around and swam in the hot tub enjoying the water!

From here we decided to head down to Little Munyon Island to search for short spined sea urchins and green legged hermit crabs. The south end of the bar was high and dry and we could see hundreds before we even got in! The minute the anchor hit bottom we were out of the boat and on our way!!! In seconds we all had handfuls of urchins in every size and color combination you could think of. We all loved having them suck onto our hands with their tiny tube feet and hold on for dear life as we swam and swam and swam. We didn’t have any luck beating the “smallest sea urchin contest” from a week ago but we had fun trying!!! We were finding sea urchins from head to toe, but no small ones around. We didn’t care though cause we were having fun like no tomorrow!!!

On the way back to the boat we found a horseshoe crab crawling around in the shallows and boy did we all love that!!! We had a chance to check out its compound eyes, book lungs, clawed feet and spiny tail up close and personal. A type of blood thinner used in medicine is actually derived from the blue blood of horseshoe crabs and given to stroke and heart attack victims to help in their recovery.We were lucky to find one as they are not too common around here anymore. This was the first one we found this summer. Lucky for Us!!!

We spent the last hour of the day going out to the beach, playing in the shallows, looking for sea glass, shells and of course trying to catch fish and sand fleas with our bare hands. We caught a few sand fleas but no fish this time. We saw some huge tarpon swimming back and forth just a few feet from the beach chasing mullet and we all loved that too! And let me tell you, we weren’t ready to call it a day either when our time was up! None of us wanted to go back!!!

And as you all know if you follow our blog, today was our fishing day!!! And as usual it was non stop action from start to finish!!! With just one of me and 9 kids hooking fish as fast as they could get lines down, I didn’t have a chance to even look at my watch for 3 hours!!! And YES, I heard those infamous words that will for-ever be etched into my brain, “I NEED MORE BAIT!!!” more than a thousand times I’m sure!!! It was just GREAT!!! JUST LOVE IT LIKE THAT!!!

Dahlia With a Sailors Choice! — Dahlia With a Sailor's Choice!

Everybody was having action the very second their lines hit bottom, and I mean sometimes even faster than that!!! I couldn’t count one second between bites at times!!!! Luckily for me everybody was taking off their own fish, baiting their hooks and dropping down on their own or I wouldn’t have been able to take a single photo!! The action was that hot!!! This group caught some really big Caesar’s Grunts, Sailors Choice, Yellowtail Snapper, Tomtates and Porkfish!!! AdventureDylan caught even caught a tiny Butter Hamlet which tied with the win for smallest fish along with a tiny Tomtate and Lane Snapper. Only one small Scorpionfish was caught the whole day. YEAH!!! Everybody caught some really nice fish and I was extra glad about that!!! Love it when things like that come together!!! If I might have had help this day, we might even have beaten last weeks record of 419 fish boated in 3 hours. At times I need 3 of me to catch up with all the lines full of fish!!! Non-stop action from start to finish!!!

The last hour of the day we went back out to the beach to swim in the crystal clear water and wash off all the fish juice that seemed to find its way into every fiber of my clothes!!! And again, we saw the Big Tarpon swimming in the shallows right up next to the beach just where we had seen them yesterday. As if inviting us in for a swim and a cool encounter!!! I think by now we are starting to know each other. It was just GREAT and a wonderful way to end the day!!!! From start to finish, this week has been just perfect, absolutely PERFECT!!!! And the very best thing about it all, WE STILL HAVE ONE MORE DAY LEFT!!! Who knows what we may find or discover… but one thing’s certain… We’re going to have FUN!!! Wish you could join us!!! It’s going to be great!!!!

LET’S GO HAVE SOME FUN!!!

AdventureMike

Summer 2009: July 6 - July 9

Summer 2009 Week 6: Snorkeling and A New Fishing Record!!!

July 10, 2009 Mike 3 Comments

Hi Everyone, Welcome Back!!!

We just finished up the third day of our weekly Adventure and let me tell you it has been absolutely FABULOUS!!! This week has been just perfect!!! I’m not even sure where to begin! We’ve had so much FUN since the very first second we left the dock!!! It seems like this adventure has been going on for weeks, not just 3 days! Just love it like this!!! On Tuesday AdventureGeorge, Peyton and I were joined by 6 New Adventurers, Adventurer’sLeah, Nicholas, Emily, Daniel and Joseph. And the best thing, this group not only swims like fish, they know how to make the most of an Adventure!!! It doesn’t get any better than this!!!

We started the first day going to the Rock Garden. The tide was high, the water crystal clear and fish everywhere by the thousands! As soon as we got in the water we saw big snook chasing menhaden, small barracudas on the prowl, parrotfish, surgeonfish and sergeant majors by the hundreds! Everywhere you looked there were fish in every size, shape and color. So many different species of fish just too numerous to mention! It was just GREAT!!! The first wonderful highlight of the morning occurred when we caught a small sharpnosed pufferfish and watched as it puffed itself up as if on cue with water to almost double its size. Always love catching these!!! Had a chance to take some nice photos as everyone had a chance to hold it and check it out. Everybody had smiles from ear to ear as this was going on! Everyone was on the hunt with nets and catching swimming crabs, blennies, rock crabs, hermit crabs, pistol shrimp, etc. You name it, we just about caught it!!!

The second fabulous highlight of the morning occurred when we discovered a nice yellow ray swimming along the bottom without a barb. We quickly surrounded it and were able to catch it in a net. This gave everyone a wonderful chance to check it out up close and personal since it was totally harmless. It was just great!!! We brought it back to the boat to take some photos and give everyone the opportunity to check out the mouth underneath and the sphericals on the top behind the eyes. It would lay in our hands like it belonged there without even wriggling! Did we all love this!!! Just GREAT!!! After a few minutes we let it go and watched as it swam back to the bottom and continued on its way. We spent the whole day snorkeling here. We never wanted to leave we were having so much FUN!

The second day we went back to the Rock Garden since we had so much FUN the previous day and found a baby octopus peaking out of his hole at us as we swam by. It seemed he was as curious about us as we were about him. We would stare eye to eye for minutes and boy did we all love this! We also found some cool jawfish and a baby flying gurnard crawling across the sand with its modified ventral fins that act more like legs than fins. Such a cool find! From here we went to the beach and spent the rest of the day snorkeling, collecting sea glass, shells and body surfing in the waves. We were having so much fun nobody wanted to call it a day when it was time to leave! On the way back to the boat we saw some big tarpon in the shallows! Really cool seeing that! And on the way home we saw 2 big eagle rays swimming slowly side by side and we were able to motor right up next to them just a few feet away. They didn’t seem to mind that we were there and we loved that too!!!
And of course you all know that Thursday is our fishing day. And let me tell you, DID WE HAVE FUN TODAY!!! We set all kinds of records that may never be beaten! And I mean NEVER!!! Unfortunatel 2 adventurers couldn’t make it this morning so AdventureGeorge and Joseph missed the boat since their moms called and let me know they weren’t going to make it. They won’t believe what they missed! We had so much FUN today!!! Sorry guys…

I arrived at the dock at 9AM, and AdventureReese, Leah, Peyton, Nicholas, Emily and Daniel were quick to load up and as excited as you could be about fishing! Man were they raring to go!!! Luckily I had 5 pounds of squid already cut up into bite size morsels and 20 extra rigs already made! I wasn’t going to be having any help today so I had prepared everything as best as I could! Little did I know then how unbelievable our day of fishing was going to be!!! I quickly motored out to one of my “secret spots” and when I drove over it with the fathometer on, we marked thousands of fish from top to bottom! The bottom was litterally “swimming” with fish!!! I anchored right above the rocky ledge, got the rods ready and handed them out. From the very minute we baited the hooks and dropped them down the rest was just a blur!!!
Instantly, and I mean INSTANTLY everyone had a fish on. AdventureReese, Leah, Peyton, Nicholas, Emily and Daniel caught fish faster than I have ever seen, and I mean EVER SEEN!!! Like in my whole life of fishing! You didn’t have 3 seconds from the moment you dropped down till you had a fish on, most times I couldn’t count to 1 second! EVERYONE had fish on ALL THE TIME!!! The action was so unbelievable that everyone was baiting and taking off their own fish!! I couldn’t even keep up with just one adventurer by myself today, the action was so hot!!!
The kids caught all kinds of fish in every size shape and color you could imagine. They caught fish I have never seen caught on rods before. From Parrotfish, snapper, grunts, cottonwicks, sailors choice, tomtates, scorpionfish, banded pufferfish, threadfin herring, porkfish, butter hamlets, etc. You name it, I think they caught it!! We had groupers eating our bait and fish left and right and cutting us off in the rocks!!! Just Unbelievable. We had one very exciting moment occurr while AdventurePeyton was waiting for me to take his big Caesars Grunt off a big shark came up and ate it right at the side of the boat; hook, line and sinker!!! Just about splashed us in the frenzy. And while that was going on, a huge barracuda came up and ate Reeses fish off too!!! Man was that exciting too!!! Talk about having FUN, we were having it NOW!!! I know none of us will ever forget this day of fishing!!! I didn’t get a chance to look at my watch for 3 hours. It was just that crazy!!!
By the time 3 hours were over and done with, we had boated 419 fish!!! That’s right, you read that number correctly!!! 419 FISH!!! BROUGHT IN THE BOAT!!! And that does not include what we lost, had on or got eaten by something else!!! As fast as we could catch them and release them, we had 6 more on!!! I have NEVER seen anything LIKE THIS!!! I may never again!!! It set an all new fishing record for AdventureMike’s that may NEVER be beat!!! And I mean NEVER!!! It never let up!!! From BIG FISH TO SMALL FISH, WE CAUGHT THEM all!!! God I love this job!!!!!
Somehow or other AdventureDaniel caught this tiny pufferfish on a hook that I had never seen done before and I bet him he would never catch another one like that again. Well just to prove me wrong, not only did he catch another one, he caught another two!!! Talk about losing a bet, Oh Boy…. I loved every minute of it!!!!!!!!! Just GREAT!!! 🙂

In the end, the final tally was: AdventurePeyton with 43 fish, Reese with 54, maybe even more? Lost count, oops.., Leah with 67, Nicholas with 71, Emily with 73, and the new all time winner, AdventureDaniel with 111 fish!!! I can’t tell you just how good I feel right now!! Today was one of those “ONCE IN A LIFETIME DAYS!!! Is it possible to get any better than this or have more FUN? I don’t think so… What a day it was!!! I will never hear, “I NEED MORE BAIT!!!” without thinking about this day! never!!!
We caught so many fish! I can’t even begin to guess how many we had on besides that. It was amazing!!! I would have given anything to have it all on video!!! 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 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 would never forget it either!!! Thank you !!!

God, I love my job!!!! How can we have this much fun!!! I must still be dreaming… YOU GUYS ROCK!! I can’t wait till tomorrow!!!

LET’S GO HAVE SOME FUN!!!!!

AdventureMike

Week 8

A Weiss School Student Adventure – Part III

July 18, 2008 Mike Leave a comment

Hi everyone,

I just finished up the third day of our adventure session and as usual, we had a wonderful day!, and boy was I busy! Today was our weekly fishing adventure and I knew things could get hectic so I had AdventureChaz from a couple weeks back come along to give me a hand running the boat, keeping the hooks baited and helping me take the fish off the lines that everyone caught. AdventureAndrew, Lauren, Darby, Michael, Seth and JC were at the dock waiting when I arrived. It seems no matter how early I get there, this group is ready to go! I love it that way!!! Kinda makes me feel special, thank you! What a great group!

We started the day heading over to the Deep Hole to cast net some menhaden in case anyone wanted to use live bait. Fresh squid seems to give us the most non-stop action, but live bait gives us the bigger fish. Three throws with the net and our live-well was filled to the brim and off we went to the artificial reef to drop anchor. I motored around the best spots I had fished before but did not mark the same quantity of fish I did the week earlier. The tide was much lower than before and the water quite a bit dirtier with all the rain we have had the past week. I was still hoping for the best and hoping everyone would still have the time of their life even if we didn’t catch 200+ fish like the week before. We dropped anchor to give it a shot.

It wasn’t long before AdventureAndrew, Lauren, Darby and JC had fish on! A few seconds later AdventureMichael and Seth began to catch up! The action was not as fast and furious as before but we were catching fish and having a great time! And that’s what makes the day special! AdventureLauren caught a really nice Porkfish, the first one all summer, and I was really happy with that! I love their coloring of bright yellow with two dark black bands covering the eye and gill. Nice catch! Just after that AdventureAndrew caught a really nice Sheepshead Porgy, and big enough to keep too! Nice Job! AdventureSeth, Michael, JC and Darby caught quite a pile of Sailor’s Choice but only a few were big enough to keep.

We tried moving to a few different spots just to see if the action would increase or have better luck but things stayed about the same. We had lots of bites but today they were harder to hook. I could still here that familiar sound, “Mike, Chaz, I need more bait!!!! I need more bait!!!” coming from all different directions at once and it was still difficult to ever catch up. No taking breaks or breathers for us, didn’t even have time to take a drink! AdventureAndrew caught another nice Sheepshead Porgy and a large Sailor’s Choice which we kept too. AdventureLauren caught another nice Sailor’s Choice, so nice matter of fact that a hungry barracuda decided to eat the middle out of it on the way up so we decided to throw that one back so he could finish his meal. All in all, everyone caught fish, but most were difficult to hook and maybe that why they call it “fishing” instead of “catching”. I guess every week can’t set a new record, but I always hope it will and I’m going to keep trying to make that happen!!! We still had a great day!!! We boated Yellowtails, Porgies, Sailor’s Choice, Flounder, French Grunts, Lane Snappers, Spottail pinfish, Caesars Grunts and even a couple of Adventurers caught a few sponges! Or as someone mentioned a few weeks ago, “the pants off Sponge Bob Square Pants”. I still laugh when I think of that! Some day, I’ll have to write a book…

With one hour left we went to the Sand Bar to swim and play around in the shallows. AdventureChaz kept everyone entertained while I filleted the fish and cleaned up the boat. When it was time to head back no one was ready to call it a day. We were still having fun, still smiling and laughing, and its times like this, that I love best!!! Even though we didn’t boat the “Big Ones” today, we had a blast!, and one things certain, We’re going to have Fun tomorrow!!!

See you on the return,

AdventureMike

Adventure Mike

Tag Archives: sailors choice

Holiday Adventure! Session 1

Summer 2009 Week 7: Time Flies When You’re Having FUN!!!

Summer 2009 Week 6: Snorkeling and A New Fishing Record!!!

A Weiss School Student Adventure – Part III

Palm Beach Summer Day Camp Blog