Fishing with Mark & Kenny

Steve with a small ladyfish

As usual, we were up early, so we did our language lessons and had morning beverages before going downstairs after Mark, Cindy and the dogs were up and moving around. We had a cold cereal breakfast working toward finishing the Chex and Great Grains boxes that we brought from Kentucky.

Kenny came over before 8 am, and we loaded Mark’s boat with fishing gear to try to catch some snook. We fished hard for over six hours catching and releasing 10 undersized snook, several redfish under the keeping limit, and many ladyfish. We had no keepers.

While retrieving a lure from the mangrove snags in two feet deep mud, I took a spill landing on my rear. Watching me trying to stand up provided great amusement for Mark and Kenny.

Steve in the mud retrieving a snagged lure

By the time we returned to around 2 pm, the temperature was in the upper 80s. We were all pretty hot and had been in the sun enough for the day. We washed salt from fishing gear and scrubbed the boat to remove the mud that I brought on board after my fall.

We planned to meet Jodie and Grant at Marguerita Grill. When we drove up Hall’s River Road, we saw that they were closed on Wednesday. After talking with Grant and Jody, we went to Crumps Landing a little over a mile west of Marguerita Grill. We had never been to Crump’s Landing before, but there was plenty of parking, despite being very busy. We were seated at an outside table by the dock across the water from MacRae’s.

Jodie & Grant at Crump's Landing

Mary had a Cuban sandwich; I had the clam basket with chips.  Several of us had margaritas, and Cindy had a mojito. The meal and service were good. We really like the atmosphere at Marguerita Grill, but Crumps’s Landing is a good alternative.

Before we drove back, we made a side trip to Monkey Island near MacRae’s. Monkey Island is built on a rock outcropping near Homosassa that was a frequent hazard to boaters. In the 1960s a developer had a crew add material to the rocky structure, forming a small island. The developer had a lighthouse and other structures built on the small island and planted trees and other plants. He also obtained a few spider monkeys and squirrel monkeys, placing them on the island. Today the island is inhabited by five spider monkeys living in very nice accommodations providing great amusement to Homosassa’s visitors.

Monkey Island

Back at the house, Grant and Jodie played Phase 10 with Mary, Mark and Cindy. I fell asleep upstairs for a short nap.

I awoke when Grant and Jodie were preparing to leave. Mark and I went out to his garage workshop to disassemble a fishing reel that wasn’t working. After cleaning, greasing and reassembly the reel seemed to work well.

We strained the peanut oil from the fish fry on Tuesday evening. We returned the used oil to the original plastic jugs. Mark keeps the oil in the chest freezer above the garage for the next fish fry.

While we were working on the fishing gear and straining the oil, Cindy came out and told us that the air conditioning in the house wasn’t working. After testing connections and attempting to locate the problem, we heard a snapping sound coming from the connection box on the side of the house. Mark worked with HVAC a good deal in their 40+ years of owning and operating McDonald’s Restaurants, so he knew that the connection box was the source of the problem. We found that the disconnect box was arcing and that made the air conditioning unit stop operating. The box had been immersed in saltwater several time during hurricanes and other tropical storms, so it was not surprising that the box needed replacing. We temporarily wired around the disconnect, and the unit worked well until we could replace the box.

By the time we finished it was getting dark, so we came in and watched the final episode of season 1 of Clarkson’s Farm on Prime TV. We all turned in by 10 pm.

Fishing with Capt. Mike

Mark fishing for sea trout with Capt. Mike

We woke around 6 and had cold cereal for breakfast. Not knowing what weather conditions would be like today, we opted for something light to be out on the water. Mark had made arrangements with one of his neighbors, Mike Baize, for a private fishing charter in the area around Homosassa. The primary focus of the trip was to familiarize Mark with the area and the techniques for fishing this body of water. Captain Mike was originally from Henderson, Kentucky in the western part of the state but has operated a fishing charter in the Gulf for many years. We met Mike at the Homosassa Public Boat Ramp next to McRae’s. We were out on the water by 8 am. We had used scopolamine ear patches for motion sickness, but the water was very calm so it was doubtful that we would need it.

Mark with a nice redfish

Capt. Mike took us to several rocky points on the many islands of Mason Creek, the Homosassa River and out into the Gulf where sea trout tend to feed. He had us using jerk baits that were soft plastic fish that we cast out and allowed to begin to sink. We would jerk suddenly then allow them to sink. Mark and I caught three sea trout each between 15 and 19 inches and were happy to learn how to fish for them. Later in the morning we moved further out to areas around islands where there is more mud mixed in with the rocky bottom and fished for redfish. The technique for these fish is to cast a shrimp on a lead jig very near the shore. We would feel small pinfish nibbling at the shrimp, but a redfish would come by grabbing the shrimp and, hopefully, getting on the hook. We were allowed one redfish over 20 inches, so when we got our fish we headed back to the dock. Mike filleted our fish as we regained our land legs and watched the pelicans grabbing the heads and bones from the fish. Mike offered to take Mark out to show him some good fishing locations once he got his boat. It was a fun day on the water.

The day's catch of sea trout and redfish

We boated past “Monkey Island,” where a population of monkeys can be seen each year from spring through fall. The monkeys are moved from the island in the winter for their safety.

It was after 2 pm by the time we got back to the house and froze most of the fish.

Mark made some excellent fish chowder with some of the sea trout that we caught. We enjoyed the asparagus on the side as well. We were both very tired from our day on the water, so we had a more relaxed evening and watched a little television before turning in for the night.