Inadequate
So, have you ever gotten that degrading feeling that your rod is too small and the girls are just teasing you? Well that's how I felt on my recent trip to Florida.
I was actually on a trip to Orlando to do the theme park tour with my wife and two year old son. I brought my son's little two foot kid's fishing rod since there was going to be a lake at our hotel and figured I can catch him some bluegill. It's one of those rods that have the reel that lights up when you turn the handle. It comes with some fairly crappy 8lb test and a drag that goes from too lose to too tight in one click. I packed a fanny bag with some hooks, small split shots, bobbers and a couple crappie jigs. I figured that's all I need right?
The trip started out with a couple decent weather days followed by Tropical Storm Debby. She fortunately didnt grow to a full scale hurricane, but hung around for three days making it pretty wet and windy. We had eight days over there so we got our Disney days in. On day five, I decided to go get the bluegill. This when I get ABSOLUTELY humbled!
Fishing Day 1:
There's dock where the hotel lends paddleboats, kayaks and canoes. I look into the water and see tons of REALLY fat bluegill. We start whacking on these fatsos on every drop. My son even gets the biggest one on a bare hook (I had bought some worms since I didn't know if the jigs would works) when I cast it out for him cuz he wants to reel it in himself and I didn't want a fish to pull the rod outta his hands.
Me and Ethan fishing the fatties and him with his first bluegill.
Me bringing a bluegill as my son got more interested in feeding the birds. Notice the weapon of choice for this trip!
Well, while my son and I are bringing in another good sized bluegill, a 4-5 lb bass shoots out from under the dock we're sitting on and attacks it. The damned thing scared the [crap] outta me cuz all I saw at first was a big shadow dart out and there are signs all over saying "Absolutely no swimming! Be aware of alligators!"...so first instinct is "Gator!" I don't have anything bigger than a crappie jig so I can't get her to take it. Then I remember that I had gone to Bass Pro Shops the day before and bought some pearl white 5" flukes for dropshotting halibut in the surf back home along with hooks. I run up to my room and grab them, tie one on and, first cast, hook up to a 3lber. She jumps and spits it. I don't get any takers on the next couple casts and theres a heron standing there wanting us to feed him. The guy working there says if I catch a small fish, feed it to him. I tie back on the crappie jig and catch a bg to feed him. My wife and son are all excited and want me to do it again.
Harrison the heron. Followed me everywhere for 3 days after I fed him once.
Meanwhile I'm still seeing the big girl cruising around. I proceed to catch a smaller bg, around 4", and wonder if she'd go for it. I drop it next to the dock and sure enough she grabs it. I'm getting worked and wondering how the hell I'm going to land this thing. Twice I get her close enough to see the bluegill come out of her mouth, and think its over, but she's so aggressive that she grabs it back instantly. Remember, I only have a crappie jig on, so there's not much hook exposed. She appears to be hooked this time and shoots under the docked boats. I'm holding the rod under the water to clear the parked boats and these people start coming toward us in their paddleboat on the other side. They say they can see the fish next to them and it's HUGE! Right then she jumps and pops me off. I go back to the fluke and start hooking fish left and right...but CAN'T get them to stick!!!! I lost 6 in a row at one point...all spit hooks. I can't get any leverage on these things with this rod. I lost 12 fish in the matter of an hour. I feel so dejected that my wife takes me to Hooters for lunch.My son charms the cutest damned waitress in the place, looks at me like, "I'll show you how it's done pops!"
My future daughter-in-law
Day 2, A Little Payback
The next morning I go back to get back my mojo! My wife wanted me to go buy a better rod but now this is a full blown mission! I'm gonna land one of those suckers on this mickey mouse rod! I go for the dawn patrol since the workers told me that I wasn't technically supposed to be fishing from the dock with other guests around. First cast, BENDO! I start putting pressure on this girl and sure enough, she jumps and...POP! Line breaks. I'm thinking awe [crap], here we go again. She looked to be around 3 lbs. I tie on another rig and two casts later, BENDO! This time it sticks and I get my first Florida bass, a pound and a half fish. Not huge, but a start. The bite isn't as fast and furious as the day before partially cuz there was zero wind, bluebird skies and these fish are probably wising up to my fluke, I suspect. I still end up landing six fish missing two in the matter of two hours. The fish size ranged from a pound to my biggest, which was about 2-2 1/2lbs. Not quite the size as the day before but monsters considering the size rod I'm using. I have one more morning before I have to fly home so I plan on another morning assault.
First fish brought to the dock
Biggest of the day
Day 3, Redemption and Heartache
At this point my crap line is getting brittle. I have to strip off quite a few yards till I feel like it still has some stretch and I don't feel anymore frays. I get out at first light and notice things changed. The bites are getting slimmer, sorta like on Bassmasters when on day 3 of the tourney, guys noticed they've hit an area too hard. Even the first three takes I get are quick and they drop the bait. I finally land one and it's only about a pound. After an hour, the workers start getting the dock ready and one guy that I had been talkin to over the previous two days comes over to see how it's goin. While I'm talking to him I notice a couple fish hugging the bank of the adjacient beach. They look to be about a 3 and a 2. So I cast at em and sure enough the bigger of the two darts after the lure. I'm fighting the girl and she goes ape-sh*t! She starts going under the dock and boats and starts rubbing the line against any and all structure around. I'm back on the dock at this point and I've got my hands in the water tryin to clear the line. After what seems like an eternity, she pops out from under the dock and I get my hands on her! She's about a 3 -3 1/2 lber. and I'm in seventh heaven!I look back to the spot she came from and the other, smaller fish is still there. I throw at him(her?) and sure enough he attacks! I fight it for a short bit but it jumps and pops the line. I feel my line and its pretty beat up from the battle under the dock, but thats okay cuz I finally get the one I've been looking for...or so I thought. I start working down the beach figuring I need to work fresh grounds. In that 30 yard stretch of beach, I land 5 more fish ranging from 8" to 2lbs. At the end of the beach is some juicy looking vegetation. Right when I get up to it, a beast boils in the middle exposing herself. First cast, BOOM! But it's not the beast...only a one pounder. I get it off and start throwing back. Sure enough, I throw next to some weeds and as soon as it hits the water, the fluke vanishes and the line starts swimming. I set the hook and I feel brute strength on the end. She heads for open water but I see weeds and a branch on my line. Then she shows herself...all 5-6lbs of her. All I'm thinking is PLEASE stay on! The branch comes free and I'm 'thinking' I'm in good shape.
She starts to get close, then...disaster! She takes a final leap and I see the fluke fly outta the water and the line go limp.
All the dock rubbing musta been too much for the crap line and it broke. I cast a few more times but my time had run out.
Biggest of the trip. Sorry, bad angle makes it look not much bigger than the others but it was...trust me.
All in all, it was a GREAT adventure and an awesome trip. My son had the time of his life and I got a lot of unexpected fishing time in.
Hope you enjoyed the read!
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Originally Posted by Ifishtoolittle
