# Out of the snow to Florida....



## DocEsox (May 12, 2008)

Only halfway through the winter and it's "road trip" to Florida. The wife managed to wangle a "business" trip to Orlando and, naturally, being such a devoted husband I offered her my company&#8230;..especially since it would be over Valentine's Day. My subterfuge worked perfectly and the other (= fishing) part of the trip was planned. My wife wasn't quite sure why I needed to be out in Miami five days before she arrived&#8230;..told her I really needed to make sure about the hotel arrangements and get a rental car so I could just whisk her away at the airport. She acts like she bought it but she thinks I may have ulterior motives&#8230;&#8230;.noooooooooo.

The flight out was like some bad horror film. From Anchorage I flew to Phoenix&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;then to Charlotte, N.C. (in which flight US Airways MADE me check my carry on and promptly broke my camera for which, as any of you in a similar situation, they claim no responsibility whatever). From there it was finally down to Miami where some extracurricular fun was waiting for us. After nearly an hour everyone was still waiting for luggage when they told us to go to anther carosel&#8230;&#8230;then five minutes later back to the original carosel&#8230;&#8230;then five minutes later back to the other carosel&#8230;&#8230;then they announced our luggage was mixed up with another flight and it could be at either carosel&#8230;&#8230;these people could easily get federal government jobs&#8230;..sheesh. By the time I got my rental car (another mini-fiasco) and headed to my hotel I remembered I hadn't bought a fishing license and would be meeting the guide at 6:30am. This began another 2 hour drama as I attempted to obtain a fishing license. Stopped into a Walmart, and after finally getting the "right" salesperson was informed that their "license machine" was currently non-functional&#8230;..ahhhhhhhh. But he gave me directions&#8230;..what turned out to be very poor ones&#8230;&#8230;to another Walmart. Turns out their person for doing licenses had already gone home. After wandering fruitlessly through town I finally headed to my hotel&#8230;..and luckily came across another Walmart. Third time's a charm&#8230;&#8230;NOT. Turns out they had closed down their machine 10 minutes earlier and they couldn't help me. Thank goodness their were no weapons handy. Finally got to my hotel about midnight&#8230;..nothing like a 20 hour travel day to just make things so perfect. As I checked in I turned around to see a computer in the lobby&#8230;.maybe my luck was turning. Low and behold they also had a printer&#8230;..got online, bought my license and hit the print option&#8230;&#8230;..turns out when my license printed none of the stuff that mattered printed with it as the black ink catridge was empty&#8230;..and, as you would expect, they didn't know where any replacements were. So I copied the needed numbers onto a sheet of paper and decided that would be enough. Got into the room and bed at about 1 am&#8230;.who needs sleep anyway.

First morning I stealthily met my guide, Roger, in a Home Depot and we furtively headed towards "the pits". Secret spot&#8230;..would have to kill you if I told you where they were (heck&#8230;I don't know where they were). Morning was pretty foggy and it made working Zara Spooks up against the weeds kind of errie. Caught a little pea**** on about the third cast&#8230;..but it took awhile before the first nice largemouth was brought in&#8230;










The water was in the low 60's which didn't have the pea****s very active&#8230;.they like it much warmer. Managed a nice one on the spook&#8230;.










We kind of hit a dead zone for nearly an hour. But after casting right up to a bunch of shore weeds with the Zara, the weeds started moving and about the second twitch of walking the dog a huge largemouth engulfed the lure&#8230;&#8230;she put up a pretty good fight before she was landed&#8230;.










Fishing was slow but steady. After 3 or 4 hours I went to my pea**** "confidence" lure&#8230;&#8230;a jerkbait. This seemed to get the pea****s much more excited&#8230;.










Saw several large pea****s but they just didn't seem to want to bite&#8230;.I watched time after time as they ran up and hit the lure with their mouths closed. Water just wasn't warm enough for them to be appropriately aggressive. Probably caught around 15 bass split a little more in the largemouth's favor than pea****s.










I think this is me realizing just how sunburned I got through the day&#8230;.










Pic of my last good pea**** with the big largemouth caught earlier&#8230;before release&#8230;.










Second day fishing the pits was better numbers&#8230;..caught 32 bass evenly split between largemouth and pea****s&#8230;.no woppers but some nice pea****s&#8230;










Didn't take too many pictures&#8230;..here are the best two pea****s at the end of the day&#8230;










While driving to my hotel I came across a sight probably only available in Florida&#8230;..a gator crossing the highway&#8230;.










Got a good nights rest and headed to north Miami to fish in the salt offshore&#8230;.a trip I was really looking forward too&#8230;.but was a complete bomb. We trolled for wahoo, then used a kite for sailfish&#8230;










But caught nothing except a 5 lbs mahi mahi. Waves were nasty and all I got was bruises from bouncing off the side of the boat. Learned one lesson&#8230;.no shallow water reefs off Miami&#8230;.you have to be down off the keys.

After that debacle I set out the next morning to fish Lake Okeechobee with Brett Izackson. Got a late start after the hotel neglected to give me my ordered wake up call&#8230;..sheesh. Got there and the sun was hotter than hades (at least for this Alaska boy) and we set off to fish shiners in the weeds. What is it with bass guys they have to drive the boat throttle wide open???? Nearly took off my shirt.

Never fished in that heavy off cover before&#8230;.where you just have to reef the rod as hard as you can to drag the fish out of the thick stuff. It was a lot of fun though and I caught several largemouth in the 5-8+ category&#8230;














































All told caught nearly 20 bass and lost many more in the weeds&#8230;.was a great day and I was enhancing my chance for skin cancer greatly. Had such a good time that I wanted to fish again in a couple of days (while my wife was doing her business thing) so the guide called from the boat and set me up with someone to fish Lake Toho. From Okeechobee I kept heading north to Orlando to meet my wife the next day.

The day after that was shopping day&#8230;..fortunately for me my wife let me go to the nearby Bass Pro Shops while she ransacked the outlet mall. Next day it was off to Lake Toho to drag some shiners around again for bass.

Started really slow&#8230;&#8230;we got one small bass the first nearly 3 hours. Finally we move into some back water and started fishing right up against the weeds&#8230;..bingo we started catching some fish&#8230;..










After having gar maul several baits another nice bass found my hook&#8230;..










Very picturesque back in this cove&#8230;..lots of other "fishermen"&#8230;.










We moved to another spot cause the gar were really getting pesty&#8230;&#8230;.dropped in a 5 inch shinernand certainly didn't expect this on such a large bait&#8230;..










We were slow trolling to another spot when there was a giant boil on my shiner which turned up the largest bass of the day&#8230;.










Spotted this big guy giving us the eye&#8230;&#8230;gator right in the middle of the picture&#8230;..










We made one last stop where I got this cute little pickerel&#8230;.










Popped one last bass after the nano pike&#8230;.










Then it was time to hang up the rods after another good fishing excursion. By this time the skin had already peeled off my nose once and it was beginning to flake off my arms&#8230;&#8230;just told people back home in Alaska I had leprosy.

Brian


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## Grandpa D (Sep 7, 2007)

Wow!
Nice trip.
I need to have my wife line up a road trip like that.
Looks like a lot of fun. Thanks for sharing.
I'm a little warmer this morning now.


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## Al Hansen (Sep 7, 2007)

My daughter just moved to Florida. Her boyfriend just bought a boat. Looks like I need to go on a road trip. Great post Doc. 8)


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## kstorrs (Oct 29, 2012)

Very cool! Pea**** bass fishing is in my bucket list! No gator gar huh? Looks like an awesome trip!


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## scott_rn (Sep 11, 2007)

Brian,

I figured this was in the works. We got home from steelhead fishing the same night and I saw you and your wife waiting at the airport as we drove away. Nice report, you caught a lot more than we did steelhead fishing.


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## LOAH (Sep 29, 2007)

Man, those big bucketmouths and pea****s would be a serious thrill ride. Glad you had fun.


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## BridgerM (Jul 20, 2012)

Very nice reports Doc. I look forward to reading/looking at them. Thanks!!


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## Briar Patch (Feb 1, 2010)

Another excellent report! Thank you Doc. - I always enjoy the ones you do.


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