Pacemaker Fishing Forum

We drove down to see my dad, who turns 95 this year, in Vero Beach, Florida.  It was a 2 day trip each way, so a longer vacation was needed.  I have to warn that I have no fish pictures, although lots of smaller fish were caught.

My daughter took this picture from the parking lot of the hotel we stopped at in Savannah, GA going down.



2 stories about the trip.  First, we saw pretty good adherence to social distancing and mask wearing until Savannah.  We picked up some food from a Mexican restaurant that was packed with not a mask in site, except for the bartender.  Next, there was a COVID checkpoint going into Florida.  We had to merge over from 4 lanes to 2.  Cars were supposed to be in the right lane and semi trucks in the next lane over.  There was a pickup truck in front of us and no one would let either of us merge.  Suddenly, there were poles dividing the lanes and we were unable to get over.  We kept going and passed some police cars, but were not stopped and just kept going.  That unintentionally saved us at least 20-30 minutes.  We had rented a mini-van with NC tags, so maybe that helped us.

We went on an Airboat ride on Lake Garcia.  My oldest brother (who lives with my dad) always likes to go.  He always falls asleep and almost dropped his new Samsung folding phone in the lake.  Weather was perfect.  Here are a couple pics.









I fished every day.  Mostly for a little in the morning and then after dinner.  I caught mostly Mangrove Snapper (6-12 inches) a couple small Jacks, catfish and a couple pretty grunt fish.  I fished artificials (topwater, jigs with grubs or swim baits and a couple cranking baits).  If I caught any, it was usually only 1 or 2 before they caught on.  Nothing on top this time.  I caught better numbers with bait (live shrimp or frozen silverside minnows). 

I brought a heavy pole and reel for bigger fish based on a report from my brother-in-law when he a my sister visited in June.  I had gut hooked a Snapper about 7 or 8 inches and hooked it on a large circle hook with a wire leader, swivel and small weight.  I had maybe 25 pound mono on the main line and set the pole on a rod holder we affixed to the dock post.  I set the drag loose and kept fishing.  After a few minutes, something picked up the bait and was running downstream.  I tightened the drag and felt a heavy fish giving good head shakes.  The fish had the line up against a pole and I did not want to break off.  I opened the bail a couple times and it finally went more toward the middle of the river.  I reeled it back up (reel was slipping due to possible stripped gear) and got it in front of the dock.  It started to go up river and I was horsing it and saw color when it broke me off on another pole.  Not sure what it was, but it looked to be 15-20 pounds at least.

My wife took a video, but only less than a minute shows me fighting the fish.  She was looking for the net and filming the water...

Here are a few highlights.  Sunsets and Manatees.  My daughter took the split pictures.







We watched the Space X flight one day.





My brother took us to a restaurant at the small airport that has a picture of my dad and other WWII vets.



Us with my dad at his "office".



Great trip!  Sorry to see my dad starting to slip, but he is still amazing for his age.  Glad we were able to go.