For about the last three weeks I’ve been a little stressed out putting a tournament together. Even though it was a charity tournament I wanted things to run as smooth as it can. The 70 man tournament on October 13th for the most part went as well as I could possibly hope. After it was said and done and I made the thank you call to all my sponsors I just wanted to relax a bit.
If you’re a Florida fisherman and wanted to relax and get away from it all for a couple of days, there sure are plenty of places to go fish. To me, the Florida Keys however has to be near the top of the list for many of us. I know for me it the destination to strive for. There’s nothing to do there but fish, drink and fish and drink and fish. A low stress slow pace environment, surely a fisherman’s Tibet. Bonefish and permit on the flats was the target
I only had 2 days before other commitments needed attention, so driving 6-7 hours was not in the cards. Not to mention the added stress of having to trailer a boat long distances. To optimize my fishing and travel time I needed to fly.
With the wonders of the internet I had my flight and hotel room booked in 15minutes. 11am the next day I was on a small Continental plane Key West bound. Noon I was at the Key West airport saving 6 hours of drive time. 1pm I was on the water with Captain Mark Phillip heading to the Marquesas Keys.
The Keys has always been windy for me in the past. However on this day, the fishing gods were kind and we were blessed with low winds. Mark and I fished until the sun set. On the way in, we passed a few sunset sale boats filled with partiers having a good time. We drive by the famed Mallory square on the way to Conch Republic for happy hour and dinner. We missed happy hour but the food was good, the company was great and the Fosters went down smooth this day.
We ended the day in similar fashion. I had plans of hitting some of the local pubs but after 2 days of hard fishing by the time I shower I was out of steam for the day. Being exhausted from fishing is a good thing. I flew back Friday, refreshed. Florida fisherman’s Tibet, the Florida Keys.
I could go on and on about the fishing and the beauty of Key West and the Marquesas Keys but it would just be redundant. There has to be endless books, novels, articles and blogs about it. I will let the photos speak for themselves. Enjoy.
Couldn’t resist a New Gadget Test:
As most of you that knows me now, I’m a sucker for new fishing gadgets. I will try almost anything that’s new and or that I think will improve my fishing. I was eager the next day to test a fishing shirt one of tournament sponsor (Get Smoked T-Shirt) gave me to try. Craig told me it was made of new material called Dri-release (never heard of it until now). All the quick dry stuff I’ve tried like the Cool max, as a shirt, didn’t feel good on the skin. And most importantly, they never clean my sun glasses very well, so I was a bit skeptical.
Our 1st stop the 2nd day, we got a permit to the boat then schools of bone fish showed up. After a couple of bonefish, we stopped to take some pictures. I jump in the water to take a few photos. The shirt earlier had passed the cleaning glasses test and it felt comfortable. I must admit I’m pleasantly surprised. If this shirt is not expensive and has a good SPF factor I’ll be getting a few more for sure.
YOUR TITLE CERTAINLY BROUGHT ME TO THIS THREAD APOLLO
VERY TRICKY WITH THE TIBETIAN-FLORIDA BACK COUNTRY DISCOMPARISON YOU VERBED IN YOUR STORY
THE PHOTOS ARE NOTHING SHORT OF BEING PHENOMENOL.....MY SPELLING MUST BE WAY OFF ON THAT ONE...
GLAD YOU FOUIND A DAY OF RELAXING AND CONGRATS ON YOUR CHARITY TOURNAMENT
ON ANOTHER NOTE.......I WISH SOMEONE WOULD ENLIGHTEN ME ON THE LONE RANGER MASK THING THAT IS SWEEPING THE BACK COUNTRY INDUSTRY....I HAVEN'T SEEN CAPT GOTTAFLY WEAR ONE ....HECK HE WAS IN MY HOME YESTERDAY AND THERE CERTAINLY WAS NO BANANA....I MEAN BANDANA....SO WHAT IS IT ABOUT THE FACE MASK?
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....HECK HE WAS IN MY HOME YESTERDAY AND THERE CERTAINLY WAS NO BANANA....I MEAN BANDANA....SO WHAT IS IT ABOUT THE FACE MASK?
