Charters and Riviera Boating Program 1st week of April

This past Saturday we had a full schedule.  Capt Rich and I started the morning off with a fishing charter.  The seas were not nearly as bad as were predicted, but they were still not extremely comfortable.  We started off with a short troll as we cleared the inlet, but sadly had no bites, so we headed to Capt Rich's secret bottom fishing spot.  We started off catching a ton of triggerfish and grunts on the first drift.  The second and final drift was the one were the fishing picked up.  On the second drift we once again started catching triggers, but after  a few minutes we caught a 23" triggerfish and soon after a nice mutton snapper on a flat line.  With about 20 minutes to go, one of the flatlines took off and we saw a nice dolphin sky out of the water.  While we were fighting the dolphin, a kingfish hit another flatline and we spent the next few minutes trying to keep the lines from crossing and the fish breaking off.  Both fish were land within 15 seconds of each other.


In the afternoon, I met the Riviera students at the park and we spent the next 3 hours searching for critters and fishing on the beach.  THe students were snorkeling around the beach and found a big starfish.  They spent a few minutes examining the critters and then placed it back in the water where they found it.


Yesterday, Capt Rich and I had another fishing charter, and this time we headed right for the area we fished on Saturday.  We caught more triggers than we could count, yellowtail snapper, and a 30lb kingfish (which I now wish I had a picture of).  All in all we have had an extremely busy, but exciting, for days.

Village Academy - Lake Ida 4/6/2012

                                            Fishing in the rain

                                     Taking a break, but still fishing!


This morning, around 8:30pm, the students from Village Academy met me at the boat ramp at Lake Ida Park.  Following a lesson on kayak safety, we packed up our kayaks and hit the lake in search of fish.  We paddled across the lake to the little bay by the Playhouse, and after about 20 minutes of catching nothing from the kayaks we decided to paddle to behind the Playhouse and fish from land.  Blake was the first to get his line in the water, and within 15 seconds I heard him yell "FISH ON!!!".  He landed it quickly, and it was a bass.  We fished around the back of the Playhouse for the next few hours, and caught plenty of fish, all while trying to take cover during all the rain and lightening storms.  The students caught 5 largemouth bass, and more bluegills and sunfish than we could count.  We caught all the bluegills and sunfish on earthworm, except for one bluegill who decided it was hungry enough to eat a small piece of a purple plastic worm under a bobber.  The bass were caught using fat earthworms, white Bass Assassins, and dark green plastic worms.


Once the wind started picking up, we all decided to make the long hard paddle back to the boat ramp, and hopefully miss the next storm which was on the horizon.  Despite all the rain and wind, the students had a blast paddling around on the kayaks and catching fish.  Two of the students even caught the first fish of their life.  One of those students fished for 2 hours before he caught his first fish, all while he watched fish being caught all around him; but he did not give up, and it paid off as he caught his first fish and many more after that!

Riviera CRA Boating Program 3/31/2012

After a gorgeous Saturday morning, the wind decided to start blowing about 30 minutes before our students arrived at the marina for our Saturday Boating Program in Riviera Beach.  Once all the students arrived, we unloaded the kayaks, packed up all our equipment and paddled out for Peanut Island.  By the time we arrived at the Island it was packed with people, but we were able to find a nice area which was sheltered from the wind.  The students grabbed their snorkel gear and ran for the water.  They found all sorts of interesting fish, sea urchins, and shells.  The students had a ball searching and collecting shells to take home, and they even started a competition to see who could find the most shells underwater while holding their breath.  I believe the record was 7!!! Despite the wind and the loads of people, everyone had a blat on the Island, and once they all started shivering we headed back for the main land.