Gone Fishin’

The schooling is done.  A productive day of work is at an end.  A perfect time to head out to the pier to do some fishing.  In Florida the sun is on its way down so the temperatures are not too hot.  The boys and I are not sure there is a better way to get out of the house and spend some time relaxing.

And we couldn’t do it without our good friend Matt Avery.  He doesn’t need much of an excuse to get out fishing.  Matt has all the rods and gear we need.  With the truck loaded up we head out to the Skyway Pier for an evening of trying to land the big fish.  This time around it was Elijah who landed the only real fish.  The Spanish Mackerel was a little small to keep but gave a good fight.  We threw him back to grow for another day.  Who knows!

There were storms all around us but all we got was a tiny drizzle.  The wind picked up a bit but that served to cool things down nicely.  So we got the rods out, pulled in some bait fish and put the lines in to catch something big.  No luck this time around.  The sunset was beautiful though.

Everyone did get some action.  I love fishing with Ethan and Elijah because all it takes is a fish on the line.  They don’t need to catch a big game fish.  Put the shrimp on as bait and up come the pinfish.  The boys are getting braver in terms of touching the fish and bait too.  They will be old hands soon.  And when they bring in the fish there is always a nice big smile on their faces.  We had a good time even though we wouldn’t survive on the fish we caught.

By 8:30PM it is getting dark but the lights come on along the pier.  It is a great place to fish.  The Bridge from Saint Petersburg to Bradenton was destroyed in an accident in 1980 when a ship collided with it, collapsing part of the span and sadly killing 35 people.  You read about the history of the bridge here.  They rebuilt a high cable-stayed bridge but made the two ends of the old bridge into fishing piers.  You can pay a small fee, drive out and fish the bridge even without a fishing license.  It is a lot of fun and makes for great stories.