Fishing in Florida

There was not enough room on the last blog to do the fishing in Florida pictures.  Mike, Patrick and Timothy went fishing with a guide in the Everglades area south of Marco Island.  The guides name was Houston Brown  and he was a native of Florida, a 4th generation fishing guide and he had lots of great stories to tell.  The fish to the left was the star of the day...yes it is a blow fish and they do blow up when stressed...then it deflated when thrown into the water with a sound like burping frog.  Way weird!!

 Patrick caught so many fish that Mike, Timothy and the guide threatened to throw him out of the boat.
 The fish above is a red fish.  They have to be 20 inches to keep and a boat can only keep one fish per person.

 Here is Michael with his red fish.  They also caught some sharks, ocean trout, pompano and several Jack Kravels, ocean catfish, the blow fish.  They fished in the brackish water between the gulf and Everglades...its a shallow area (about 4 feet) with many species of fish.

The weather was beautiful...sunny and in the 80's.  The boys peppered the guide with questions about the ecosystem they were observing and he gave them great answers and information.  It is so stimulating to go someplace new and learn new information.

  What a haul on the dock before cleaning the fish.  We ate red fish that night that Patrick cooked...delicious!!!

 Timothy celebrated his 31st Birthday while in Florida and  we took a hike to a bird refuge, saw lots of birds and as you see below some alligators!!!  Creepy!

We traveled to Placida which is north of Fort Myers and stayed with Meg and Gary, friends from Traverse City.  Mike and Gary fished and caught many many fish.  For some reason there were no pictures taken so I am not sure what to think about the many fish stories!!  No really they did catch fish and Mike is always happy when he is catching fish.  It was a great visit and we thank them for their hospitality.  We are now on our way towards New Orleans to visit friends and then head back to TC.
Love to you all....Kathy and Michael