My Trip to Florida.

[DeerHunter01]

My trip to Florida. This may take awhile but I hope most of you enjoy this. Please sit back and relax and laugh with me over my trip.

On Sunday afternoon on the 2nd of Oct. Schoe showed up at my house in the evening and we got everything ready and packed to leave for Florida in the morning.

6:00 AM arrived fast, as we got onto the road about 7:30 Am we took off heading for the big State. as we got to Route 24 in Kentucky near Fort Campbell, we stopped at the Flying J to get some breakfast, I called Bryan Shrum who works at the base and him and Bob came up and had coffee with us while we ate. The first thing Bryan tells me as he came in and sat down with a $&!^ eating grin, **I didn't do it** I should of knew what I was in store for on this trip.

So we got on the road and headed to Florida, after a few stops on the way down we got into Panama City Florida around 5:30 Pm, so Schoe wanted Ryan and I to eat at Dirty Dicks Crab House in Panama City. So we stopped by for a nice dinner of crab legs. Ryan got a shirt and got his picture taken with one of the waitress and was all smiles on our way to WeWa. about 30 Minutes away.

So we arrived at Wewa at the Cabin we had reserved for the week, just as we pulled in Catbird walked up to the window and introduced himself, so as we unpacked and moved our belongings into the cabin , I sat out side and BS'ed with Catbird and Fatkat, after a little bit I went into the cabin and when I walked in I went into the bathroom to see how big it was just as stepped in here a fire ant colony had moved into our cabin too. and the floor in the bathroom was covered in them. so picked up the toilet seat to find about 20 spiders in it. (lol) Now just so you know I don't mind spiders or ants but as now I am looking into the shower the floor started bowing down and as I stepped back here our Cabin had been flooded earlier in the year and they had not fixed it up at all.

Mold spoors were unreal in this thing, as I opened each door to cabinets there was nothing in them but Mold everywhere. so I went and got raid and we sprayed almost the entire cabin and then cleaned up.

Now after cleaning the cabin and spraying we went outside and BS'ed for about two hours to Catbird and Fatkat sitting in the chairs, we start to enter the cabin to find over hundreds of fire ants in a dooms day march to the cabin on the porch. It was unreal. I walked in to find the bathroom floor and shower covered again in ant's so we started spraying again and if any of you have ever sprays that raid crap you will know what we had to smell all night.

So I retired to my bed to find the sheets and pillows were so dirty that it looked as it had not been changed in months. lol
Oh well we got up at 7Am and here to find my legs looked like a thousand mountains over both legs here the sand fleas outside had attacked several of us on our legs and man that was a mess, now off to the store for Benadryl and cortazone10 cream, To try and stop the itching.

So after a little while we got our refunds on our rooms and headed out to find somewhere else to stay we stopped in at WeWa and seen Don at work and he invited us over to stay at his house but we felt as busy as he was he didn't need anymore people there to get into the way. So we knew another person from that area and he was supposed to have a cabin along the River so we gave him a call. And told him of our miss adventure so far, so he invited us to stay at his cabin but could not meet us until 5PM that day at Howard's creek about 15 miles away from WeWa. so we headed down to Howard's Creek to look around and wait for him to show up.

We ran into a couple of people there that was out fishing for sunfish and war-mouths and they stated they were going back out and would try and get us some for fishing for the tournament. So about two hours later they pulled back in with 12 gills for us to use.

So around 4:30 PM Schoe and Ryan went out to check the boat and it would not start, so as we checked around we found a wire going to the motor that was bear and it was causing a short, so Schoe and Ryan took off for a Marina to try and get this fixed.

At 6:PM the guy we had been waiting on showed up and told me he had to go home for a problem but he had two other guys coming to help us out locate the Cabin, I ask how far it was and he said well you got to go by boat, its a house boat on the brothers river.

So about 30 Minutes later Schoe and Ryan pulled in with the other two guys and we took the boat our on Howard's creek about 1 1/2 miles to the Brothers river to the cabin. once we arrived we set up cleaning up the cabin some of the spiders that were living there (lol) got the water working and shower going we settled right into home, Catbird and FatKat stayed with Don Minchew and Schoe and Ryan and Tee and myself stayed at the cabin.

Part 2 will cont- tomorrow (lol)

[Bobpaul]

Hey, it's Florida, everybody knows ya got bugs in Florida.

[BIG-G]

YIKES! Spiders! I hate spiders! LOL! Sounds to me like ya stayed pretty calm about the whole thing. I would have been takein prisoners. LOL!

[cook]

Sounds like a heck of a trip.Straight ammonia dabbed on sand flea bites stop the itching for me.
Speaking of sand fleas,one night my wife and I went to the beach after work.....well...lets just say its not like in the movies...and the sand gets everywhere :eek: :eek:

[quadman]

Amen to that cook! Romantic my butt! :eek:

[DeerHunter01]

Part # 2 My Trip to Florida


Well that night Ryan did some fishing off the back of the House boat and had a couple of fish on for a second or two but lost them. The next morning we got up. And took off in the boats back to Howard's creek to go try and get some bait to use for the tournament.

**(We will post what was hitting Ryan and Tee's line later)**

We went back to Wewa and met up with Stump Bumper and Lib at the IGA store to get some food. then we headed over to boat launch where the fishing Tournament would be held.

So we put out on the river and headed out and went to the Florida river to catch some bait. We got set up and started catching some nice WarMouth and Shell crackers after a few hours we headed back to Don Minchews house for dinner that him and his wife made for the BOC members.

We ended up having a great dinner and enjoyed meeting everyone , Don and his wife are great people to welcome the BOC members into there home and put on a great dinner. At the end of the evening we took off to Howard's creek to head back to the house boat. Once we got back Tee , Ryan and Schoe all fished for the fish that kept hitting Ryan's line. *( well no fish caught so we headed for bed)

Thursday Morning we got up and took off to do laundry and pick up some drinks, and to get some more bait. Well after the long day we ended up back at Don Minchews home with Schoe cooking Steaks out on the grill, several people showed up and Don had a friend get him a snapping turtle, This turtle was the biggest darn turtle I think I have ever seen, so the outdoor film crew was there and filmed the entire skinning of the turtle, as we ended the night Schoe had himself a full cooler of turtle meat, and we headed back to the house boat.

Friday morning the day of the tournament:
We got up and cleaned all of our stuff up and we moved out of the house boat due to we would not be back until Saturday , due to the Catfish tournament being 24 hours long so we decided when the tournament was over we would head North to get a motel somewhere to cut off the trip going back Sunday.

We went down to Don's house and picked up our bait and filled the live wells Don had a nice system to hold gills for us while we all stayed there.
Then we headed out to the Tournament location .
We arrived and Don and Schoe put up the BOC banner at the entrance of the fishing tournament. and we launched our boat and tied it up to the dock, so now we have three hours to BS before the start.

Ryan and Tee got there boat launched and we were all set, at the start of the tournament they did a shot gun blast off. boats went every direction so we waited till it cleared and headed down river to a few locations that we thought would be good.

Our first set up we sat there for over a hour and a half with one small bite on my pole I was using 8oz lead no roll to get to the bottom, so we decided to move upstream to another location. we got there in between two log jams and sat up at the current break. I had one hit but as I reach for the pole he quit. So after about a hour we went to move up river, thats when things started going wrong. the motor would not run right and our spot light would not work so we were blind on the river with no moon out, Pitch black so I called Ryan and Tee to come assist us, so we followed them up the river at 5-8 MPH the whole way back with our motor stalling out if we tried to give it gas.

Once back to the launch ramp we pulled the boat and started looking at it the fuel filter and spark plugs looked good to us. so we ended up not fishing from 8PM Friday night until Saturday morning at 11Am when we got the boat to run half power. so we got into our boat and all the gills and war mouths were dead ( *&^$# ) :eek:

So now with less then 5 hours left in the tournament we had to get Bait so off we go with catbird following us. so it took us about 2 hours to get some bait so we went back to a spot we seen coming down river and fished until 2:30 PM with not bites. so all in all we fished maybe 3 1/2 to 4 hours . but I did have a very good time meeting everyone and BS'ing so when we got back we watched a few fish come in and get weighed and then they shot the cannon off to end the fishing tournament. So as they did they gave out several door prizes, Ryan won a Ugly Stick catfishing rod and I won a Okuma Reel and rod, and FatKat won the 50/50 drawing. so not too bad we stayed until everything was over and then started on the trip back north.

Schoe was driving and we was coming thru a small city in Alabama about two hours from the fishing tournament when all of a sudden there was a person in front of the car on a four lane pushing a shopping cart, (Now we were traveling 65 MPH ) and 10-20 yards in front of us is this man with a shopping cart standing the the middle of the road. (Dead middle of it) Schoe slammed the breaks and swerved and the boat started to jack knife, we thought we had the guy , but God must of been watching him and us, I was afraid the anchor would of flew off the boat and caught him but it never moved. :eek:

We pulled off two blocks from there into a parking lot to check the boat and clean a few parts off of us. (lol) just in time to see a hooker walking up behind us, WOW now what, so we jumped into the vehicle and took off, I never had so much back luck in a few days, lol

So we got back on the road and stopped a couple of hours away from there at a best western hotel to rest up and take a shower, so at 6 am off we go again, on the road we stopped and got ice and started down the road, I looked back and the cooler door was wide open on the cooler so we pulled off and hear all the ice was gone (lol) so we stopped and got some more ice for the turtle and drinks. We got to my house here at 2Pm in the afternoon and was beat, so we decided about 4PM to take Schoe out on the Ohio River to do some fishing, we got out and caught a few shad and schoe got himself two Flatheads that evening , we spent about four hours out on the river and came home , the Next morning Schoe got up and headed back to his house.

Now I am trying to re-coup from the trip for my heart Cath set for Wednesday morning at 9AM , I just hope that black cloud that was with us is gone. Thanks for sticking around and reading my story to Florida.

Oh and if you ever get the chance to see a wolf spider , there neat and about as big as a baseball (lol) and if you get down to Florida in the Panama city area stop in at WeWa and see Don and his wife, there great people just tell them your from the BOC and you will be at home.

[Bobpaul]

Other than the fact that you have a very nice family, your luck sucks. :p

P.S.
I didn't know there were hookers in Alabama.

[Catbird]

Very good accounts of our trip DH but you left out a few tidbits. Oh well, some things are better left unsaid. What happens in Florida, stays in Florida...lol

[RamRod]

Wonder if them hookers were wearing pink? :p

[Schoe]

Ramrod, not any more. I better keep my mouth shut cause there might be some other s#@# come out. Please forget what I said. Schoe

[Phil Washburn]

sounds like quite a trip, DH. what was hitting ryan and tees line?

[DeerHunter01]

Well here is some of the photos of them two hanging into there fish and both fish did not make it to the boat house. LMAO

Ok is the suspense killing you yet ??

[Big Country01]

yeah you gotta watch those wolf spiders,now i normally take showers but it seems that every time i take a bath theres one in the middle of the bathroom watching ,so here i am throwing shampoo bottles and anything else i can grab so i can get the heck out of dodge cause they don't mind given' chase..lol.. you know they're big when you rear crawl up the wall....john

[quadman]

Soooo, it was basically a normal fishing trip for YOU then?! :p

[davesoutfishing]

wow thanks for the info on the trip and nice pics of the killer big ones lol

[DeerHunter01]

Well about three to four years ago Tee's sister in law was named Gar girl at a gathering, but now we have a Gar Boy !! Yes ole Tee made Gar Boy !! Check it out. LMAO

The second picture shows Schoe throwing the Gar to a young boy that was at another camp below us for him to use as cut bait for the fish.

:p

[Netmanjack]

No black clouds for you brother.I think you used all of your bad luck up in Florida! Ain't that the way it goes, just when things seem the worse, up pops one with a silver lining!

[rodpod]

Sorry about all the bad luck, but im glad you had a good time meeting with everyone. I am sure you learned alot from the whole experience anyways. I hope all goes well with the heart cath.

[canepole]

Thanks Dh for sharing the stories and picture's with us, fishing isn't just about catching fish anyway, Just getting out with friends and having a good time Makes for a great trip, And if you happen to catch fish, Thats just a bonus..........I know you guy's can hardly wait for next years fun to start, with all this talk about all the fun you all had, YOU MAY HAVE A BUNCH OF COMPANY..lol :)

[wewasr]

Canepole
We will be looking foward to next year and meeting more of the BOC members.
I am sure there will be a number of new members to the BOC because I have not had a day that some of the fishermen that were here have called to make sure they had the BOC website correct. They were impressed with the BOC members that made the trip this year to Florida.

Don

[DeerHunter01]

Tom:

We had a very good time there except for my bad luck that seems to follow me around. (lol) Next year will be different from what I learned there will help for next year. I think we need to have several BOC Members show for next year.

With Stump Bumper going to run the gathering, I am sure it will be a big hit for all of us that goes.

Tom you need to make plans for your vacation next year for you and your wife to go down.

[stoney]

well sounds like you had a blast,sorry you did,nt break the state record.better luck next year buddy.....

[canepole]

I hope I can make it, I just talked to the hen and she said it sounded good,
DH I would like to say I'll be there, But I can't ever plan nothing, If I do something will de rail it.
I guess we will have to wait and see what next year brings......

[Stump Bumper]

canepole, sure do hope ya'll can make it down next year. Maybe you can talk Whistler into coming down with you. We need some heavy hitters representing Tenn! I've also put out the invite to Jim Helring to come down from North Carolina. He said his son might wind up getting stationed in the Tampa Bay area. That would sure give him an excuse for a road trip....Ray

[canepole]

I am going to give it a try,But I hate to say I'm going to be there, Because if I say that then I assure you something will happen, and you know the rest of the story,"lol" I'm going to give it a good try and see what happens. I know there will be a good time to be had.

[Fatkat]

The second picture shows Schoe throwing the Gar to a young boy that was at another camp below us for him to use as cut bait for the fish.

:p

Schoe throws like a champion, maybe next year we can have a Gar throwing contest. LOL

[Stump Bumper]

Fatkat, maybe we could pace off the same distance as in a horseshoe pit and put a net on the other end....hee....hee....Ray

[wewasr]

Ray
Next time you come you will have to try fryed gar (fresh water lobster).
Don

[Schoe]

Don, there are some people in my area I have heard about eating the Gar and claim they have a very mild tasting white flesh. I could never bring myself to clean one. Are they as bad as the giant turtles? Schoe

[wewasr]

Schoe
All you need to clean a gar is axe,sheet metal cutters, gloves and a good knife.

1. cut behind head with axe
2. with sheet metal cutters cut down top of back
3. use your fillet knife to cut back stap from skin both sides
4. then cut the back stap loose on each sides of the center

I will only clean a gar that is over 4" in diameter

I will try to get you a set of photos you can use

Some people flour and fry
Some broil in butter and garlic

Don

[wewasr]

Schoe
When you come down I will show how we rig to catch them and I will show you how we dress them.

Don

[rodpod]

Last edited by DeerHunter01 : Today at 01:39 PM.