The sun going down made for a pretty picture last night.
We had our morning coffee on the rear deck and watched at least 30 fishing boats go past us before the sun was up.
Jim had plans to meet his brother, Carl, at the Buzzard Beach launch ramp, to go to breakfast and then pick up our truck and trailer, so we got an early start.
We stopped to top off our tanks on the Dead River. It’s just a small gas stop and restaurant but kind of unique since it was built around the existing Cyprus trees.
These guys were hanging out on the dock.
This is a Snowy Egret….. and this a White Heron
at first glance the look the same….but note the yellow feet on the Egret , while the Heron has black feet. The beaks are also different colors.
We met Carl and they headed off. I walked Raisin and watched boats coming and going. I asked one man if he had already caught the big one, as he nosed up to the dock, but he said they couldn’t get their trolling motor working, so came back in.
When Jim and Carl got back I mentioned it to Jim. They needed more extension cord to get to the electric so they could charge the battery so he loaned them ours. They were planning on being back for the weigh in at 3pm, we’d meet them at the dock.
This is the weigh in trailer with all it’s sponsors.
Carl hadn’t been thru the Dora Canal in some time so we took him for a ride. It is probably the best spot on the Harris Chain of Lakes.
I couldn’t resist a picture of this Heron…such a funny pose.
After our canal trip we headed back to the dock. It was around 1:30 and we wanted to get a spot before everyone came in to weigh their fish. It’s a good thing we got there early….
Boats tied up, or they just nosed in and dropped off a person to go for the truck and trailer then backed out and waited. It all went pretty smoothly for so many boats in such a small place. We had fun watching them weigh. They are allowed to have 5 live fish. Total weight and biggest fish is what they look for…..then all are released back into the lake.
The guys returned our cord. They hadn’t gotten the trolling motor working so didn’t go back out. They had already caught 3 large ones before 0830 so they just hung around for the weigh in……… but they should have gotten 2 more. Their 3 placed them in 7th place…just 2 spots out of the money. Can’t imagine why you couldn’t fish without a trolling motor…..oh well….I guess when you are used to having all the bells and whistles…and something goes wrong…you forget how to “make do”. Jim and I were raised by “make do” parents and have spent most of our lives doing just that……and you can bet ….that if we had one of those high dollar bass boats and paid $60 to enter……we’d be out there fishing if the motor didn’t run and we had to paddle.
We waited until all the fishing boats had loaded up and the ramp was free, then loaded Meander. It takes us a few more minutes than the fishing boats and we try not to tie up the ramp for those on a schedule. We are retired and don’t have to be in a hurry.
Jim has a few more modifications he wants to do on the trailer….needs to fix the spot for the bow running lights and I want a couple of solar spot lights on the rear corners of the hardtop for watching the water at night.
We’ll head for the St Johns River in a week or two. See you then….
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