Monday 3-19-18 to Sunday 3-25-18

Okay…Time for a message from our sponsor…Sipe’s Outdoors; Featuring Sipe’s Spinners, Poppers, Flies and other handcrafted fishing lures.  Sipe’s Outdoors is a part time business of our son Terry Jr.  He has quite a following of loyal customers, attends area fishing shows and has a display at local bait and tackle store. Linda is his silent (?) partner and we are kind of the unofficial Sipe’s Spinners Fishing Research Team.  Wouldn’t that look great on a T shirt?  The mention of each fish caught on the blog, using one his products, gives him an idea of how successful they are on different species and in different waters as he follows our adventures.  (It also gives us free fishing lures).  Thanks Terry!

Official Fishing Report:

Water Conditions: Freshwater. Typical FL black-water lake; Clarity: is less than 1 ½ ft.; Water temps: 64-68˚; Waves: Calm to 6”; Species Harvested: Blue Gill and Crappy.

Monday 3-19-18

When I woke up I heard a rumbling.  At first I thought I was hungry and my tummy was growling.  Then there was a flash.  So the rumble was thunder.  I covered the seats in the boat with trash bags and made sure everything was secure.

I hate waking a biker up at 7 AM but his canopy and awning were up and I didn’t want to see them or the bikes damaged.  So I knocked on the door and helped put the canopy down. 

We went to Bunnell to the library to update the blog then for groceries.

It rained off and on most of the day.  Great weather for a nap.

Tuesday 3-20-18

Woke up to overcast skies and the rumbling of thunder. The new neighbors across the canal took their boats out.  My understanding of thunder is; it is a result of lightning.  I ain’t going out in a metal boat during lightning.  We’ll find something else to do.

I guess we should have gone fishn’… The neighbors just came back with about a half dozen nice ones.

Wednesday 3-21-18

Clear skies.  Wind is still blowing above 25 MPH.  Today is a good day to drive to Daytona Beach.  Lunch on the Main Street pier at Joe’s Crab Shack is always a treat.  Huge portions of tasty seafood

We wanted to go the Tomoka Farms Flee Market so, we headed across town to see what it’s all about.  Before we got there I jokingly said to Linda, “Watch them be closed on Wednesdays”.  I got that one right.  Open on Thursday, Friday and Saturday. 

We took the road that goes behind the speedway and circles the airport and the campus of my Alma Mater, Embry Riddle Aeronautical University.  My how thing have changed in 44 years.  We spent some time driving on roads that didn’t exist back then to see where we would come out.  We ended up back on FL-40 to FL-11 to Bunnell.  Around here it seems all roads lead to Bunnell.

5:30 PM and the wind is still buffeting the trailer.  At least we are not getting the snow they are getting back home.  We have the door open with the screen door closed.

Thursday 3-22-18

HURRAY HURRAY IT’S LAUNDRY DAY!

Not one of our favorite chores when on the road.  You always feel you could be doing something fun instead of waiting for the dryers to finish.

Last week the laundromat in Bunnell was a disaster.  At least a dollar more per load than anywhere we’ve ever been.  Today we drove the thirty miles to Crescent City to the laundromat we used last year.  While it’s an old converted gas station there was not one machine out of service and the manager is constantly cleaning the store and the machines.

After we arrived back at camp and had some lunch we made the trip to the hardware store for crickets and minnows. 

In the late afternoon we caught one Crappy.  I’m too tired to clean just one fish.  Let ‘em go.   Happy Crappy!

We have never fished with crickets so we asked a few questions.  The lady said “the main thing is keep them warm” and her son said “feed them lettuce or carrots”.   (Remember the movie Gremlins?  “Don’t feed them after midnight and never get them wet.”)  What happens if crickets get cold and/or hungry??  Do they turn in to annoying little creatures that run you out of your house?  We kept their cage inside the camper with a piece of lettuce.  No surprises.

Friday 3-23-18

The idea was…Up at the crack of dawn…Have a good breakfast…Hit the lake…Catch lots of fish!

Things started out pretty good.  I did the up at dawn part.  Went outside to check on the minnows.  Burrrrr.  That did it for the crack of dawn idea.  Linda did fix a great breakfast and by 10 AM it was comfortable enough to go fishing wearing a sweatshirt with a vest.

We found a little cove that was sheltered from the wind.  We started fishing while Mr. Egret watched the two clowns in a boat.  Fooled him…we caught some fish. Linda caught a Speck that was 12 ¾ inches.  She was a happy camper fisherwoman.

Linda's Crappy

In total for the day we caught 12 Slab Sides (another nickname for Crappy or Specks).  The last one of the day was a 13 incher I reeled in.  I couldn’t let Linda show me up.  But she did well today.

Terry's catch of the day.

As we arrived back to the campgrounds the pelicans started heading for the fish cleaning station.  They seem to have an instinct about who caught fish today.   They gather around and patiently waited their turn for the portion of fish each was to get in order.  Believe that and I want to talk to you about some ocean front property I have available just east of Phoenix.

Patiently waiting 

My turn...My turn

Hey! Wait for me.

I got it...I got it.

Wow! that's a beak full

Down the hatch!

What a free for all.  No holds barred.  Beak bashing, wing flapping, move it or lose it...Though not particularly violent it is quite entertaining to watch them go after the scraps left over from filleting.

 

Hey! You forgot me!

I find this behavior quite indignant.  

You missed one.

Linda loves taking pictures of pelicans.  Bet you would have never guessed. 

When we were finished cleaning fish we saw a strange wake coming up Bull Creek.  As it drew closer we realized it was manatees.  It appeared to be a cow and her calf.  It’s hard to get pictures of manatees since only a part of them surfaces for a second to take a breath. All you see is a circle on the water.  It’s kind of like trying to watch submarine races.  Two fishermen we talked to said they had a manatee and calf follow them for hours.  The cow was a long as a small car.  Yes, they are huge. Thankfully they are gentile.

Just a little bit of the back breaks the water

Heading north into Bull Creek

Needless to say, supper for the Sipe’s was what was left that the pelicans didn’t get plus a can of Bush’s Beans.  Cleanup finished a long day and bedtime came none too soon.

ZZZ ZZZ ZZZ zzz.

Sunday 3-25-18

Linda didn’t sleep well last night so I set out solo on the lake today.  It was rather breezy and I only caught one.  It was barely a keeper.  I was interviewed by a Fish Commission volunteer on where I was from, how long I was fishing today and asked a question about the new Largemouth Bass regulation.  Then he was on his way.  I headed back to camp around 2PM.

Very effective camouflage.

While entering the canal next to the restaurant I heard a very faint “Hi”.  I looked around and didn’t see anyone.  Then another “Hi”’.  I looked up on the pier and a lady was holding a little girl about 1 year old , all dressed in pink with two pony tails, and she was waving as hard as she could.  I stopped the boat and showed her the fish I had caught.  I asked her if I should let it go; she watched as I put it back in the water.  Then she asked “Where did the fish go?”

Later in the day Linda and I decided to explore Bull Creek for the first time.  The entrance looks a bit intimidating.  It has old pilings sticking out of the water everywhere.  Many more are submerged just under the surface.

Let me bore you with a little local history.  Back in the early 1900s Bull Creek was home to a huge hotel that was quite stylish for its day.  Steamboats, such as the City of Augusta, the Euphemia, the McNeil, and the Crescent, full of passengers, cargo and the mail, would arrive from Jacksonville some 90 miles to the north.   It was a bit of a sportsman’s paradise.  Dead Lake got its name from the fact that it was the “dead end” of the trip. 

We were told that there were also banana plantations in the area and shipments of bananas would be loaded for the markets down river. (On the St Johns River the water flows south to north so Jacksonville may be up north, but is down river.)

All that is left of the grand premises is the pilings from the wharf for the steamship landing.  Many of these pilings have rotted away to just below the waterline. This is where you put the boat in gear just enough to get it moving then go to neutral until it’s about stopped then in gear for another second or two.   I was told to keep all the pilings (that you can see) on my right going into the creek.  I hung up on one for a few seconds and backed off.  In eight feet of water and we never did see it.  Back on course and we missed hitting anything else. 

Bull Creek widens out just past the pilings and has depths that range from 4 to 10 feet in the main channel of the creek.  Even with a good breeze it was calm.  We passed two boats that were fishing.

Wild life is plentiful around here.  Blue Herons are perfectly camouflaged among the down trees.  Cormorants can be seen sitting on pilings; sometimes with their wings spread to dry.  Egrets walk on islands of floating greenery waiting to peck a meal out of the water. Buzzards act as the local sanitation department disposing of anything that doesn’t move. Fish dart after minnows making a run for their lives in the black water.

Then there are alligators…alligators… and more alligators.  We never seem to tire of finding them cruising the waters or sunbathing on a log.  They are fascinating creatures.

This guy didn't flinch.  Our presents didn't bother him (or her) a bit.

While fishing this morning I had the feeling I was being watched.  I looked over at a dead limb and brush that I had just looked at a minute before but, this time it was looking back at me. I reached for the camera and it was gone.

While in bull Creek we came upon more manatee.

Manatee wake

The manatee (left) is headed for the boat. 

They don't appear to fear boats.

Maybe because of their massive size .

On the way back out of the creek we made it back without incident.  This is a place to revisit with all the fishing gear at the ready.   

I understand the draw that the beautiful tropical beaches have for the masses but, I really feel that those who don’t venture into the “Old Florida” (as I remember as a kid) are missing out on one of nature’s treasures. Ther’s sumpin’ purdy ‘bout them ther swamps!