08/18/2026
I am back and we had a short but awesome time this past weekend in Florida with our really good friends McKenzie, Marshall and Edwinn (finally meeting his wife Kalya too).
The drive down was a ton of traffic and piles of heavy rainstorms that made for a 15ish hour drive instead of 14. Even with all the mess we made it there about 8pm after leaving at 5am from home.
DAY ONE... August 15th:
We were on the water at 5am Saturday morning and stayed till 2:30pm with 112Β° heat index. We managed to hook a 5.5-6-foot gator early on, for what we joked was "funzzies" practicing the whole process of throwing the weighted hook on a fishing pole, getting a hand line in with buoy after to help if the fishing line brakes and then getting it to the boat.
Since it wasn't near "BIG ENOUGH " we taped it's mouth shut, brought it in the boat for petting and pictures then practiced catch-and-release.
It was what the locals call a little swamp puppy...lol! ππ
Later, I hooked a solid 10 foot or slightly better but after a 15β20-minute fight we lost it trying to get a hand line in.
After the bear hook came up our buddy/guide/experienced person Marshall, casted out the fishing line trying to snag as it went away under water and somehow managed to hook a different 8 foot plus we didn't know was there.
We fought it for another 20ish minutes to have the line pop/break right as we were trying to get a hand line it. Dang... failed attempt number two to land a bigger one!
Truthfully thought, we would have released it too, having planned to go for a 10 foot plus day one.
With all the fun, excitement, mornings new experiences and the heat blazing, we decided to call it a day to return again early Sunday morning for a second/last outing.
P.S- I'll hit you'll with day two next, stayed tuned as they say, it only gets better!! Hahaha