2016 Oct - Bone Fishing in Bermuda

Daniels Head Beach

The next day in Bermuda we went to Daniel's Head Beach Park in Bermuda to try and catch some Bonefish. We had a beautiful day and we had the beach completely to ourselves.










 Frank waded in and immediately started seeing schools of Bonefish.

Frank fishing for Bonefish

The Bonefish swim in circles at the surface of the water in attempts to catch the baitfish. At times we saw schools of baitfish jumping out of the water in "waves" as the Bonefish swam into the schools to eat them.
It was frustrating to see them all day long and not able to catch even one.

Bonefish

I waded in as well and was amazed at the schools of fish that would swim all around me,

School of small bait fish

School of larger fish

I saw other sea life as well. First I saw a Sea Turtle, but it would not come in close enough for me to get a good photo.

Sea Turtle

The next sea life gave me quite a start  -- I thought it was a snake! Then I heard there are no snakes in Bermuda, so I researched it when I got home and found pictures of eels that are in the Caribbean.  I believe this was an eel, the markings are different on sea snakes. I still don't like the idea of coming across an eel either, so I will definitely keep my eyes open whenever I am in the water.

2016 Oct - Fishing in Bermuda

Frank getting ready to catch some fish!

Whenever we go on vacation Frank brings his travel rod. No matter where we are in the world he brings it hoping he will find some peace and quiet and some good fishing. It doesn't usually work out if we are on a tour or in a foreign country but his persistence paid off this time! We took a cruise to Bermuda and Frank had some good luck fishing right off the pier where the cruise boat docks.

Frank with a Yellow Tailed Jack fish

I went to the beach but came back to snap a photo of one of his catch, a Yellow Tailed Jack fish.



















While on his own he caught some other fish and took these photos himself.

Frank's Pin fish

But the prize of the day and a new record (in our on-going competition) was won when he caught his first Tuna! This species of tuna is called Little Tunny.  He said it gave him quite the fight on his light tackle. I wish I had been there with him fishing instead of swimming.

Frank's Little Tunny fish

2014 Nov 16 - Florida Pier Fishing

We spent a few days fishing different piers in Florida.  Frank was catching everything --nothing too big, but at least he was catching a variety of fish.  I was only catching glimpses of wildlife, until our last day when I landed my biggest sea trout ever.

Dolphins

Frank with a Jack Crevalle

Close-up of Jack Crevalle

Pin fish

Esther with a Sea Trout

Close up of Sea Trout

Frank with a Puffer fish

White Ibis

2014 March - Florida Pier Fishing

Esther with her first Snook!

Frank with a "cow fish"



Pelican with his lunch

We spent some time in Florida at the end of March and went fishing on our favorite pier.  We were there only a few minutes when I got a subtle take on my bait.  I was surprised when I started to reel in to feel the fight and saw it was a snook!  I got really excited especially when the fish got wrapped on one of the pier supports, but Frank helped me figure out what to do and another fisherman had a net to help me land it.
We also got to see a "cow fish" that was caught in a net by another fisherman.  The little fish is very strange - it has 2 little horns and a flat bottom.
We also saw several pelicans and I took a photo of one that was guarding a fish head.
Another beautiful day fishing in Charlotte harbor.

2013 Nov - Florida Inshore Fishing

We hired a guide, Erick Joseph, of Tails and Scales Charters in Florida to take us on an Inshore fishing trip.  http://www.tailsandscalescharters.com/
We had a beautiful day with calm waters and we spent 6-1/2 hours trying various spots and techniques to catch some Redfish and Snook.  Frank did hook into one Snook at the end of the day, but unfortunately the line broke!  We had a good time anyway and caught several other fish through out the day:  Sheepshead, sea trout, horn pout, Jack Crevalles, and a Lady fish. 

Frank with a nice Sheepshead.  I love Frank's hat:-)

My first Jack Crevalle of the day.  I caught a lot of these and many were larger than this, but I didn't get any other pictures, I was too busy catching.

Esther with her largest Sea Trout of the day.

2012 Nov 29 - Dominican Republic Mahi Mahi

Frank and I went on vacation to the Dominican Republic with my niece Caitlin and her husband Steve. We decided to go on a 1/2 day deep sea fishing trip. None of us had ever done this before so we didn't know what to expect as we watched the crew troll the bait across the top of  the water.  It was slow and an hour and a half had passed before the first mate Eli jumped up and grabbed one of the poles. He quickly turned to us and said "One of the ladies, please get into the chair!".  I didn't expect ladies to go first, so when my niece turned to me and said "You Go!", I  jumped at the chance and got into the chair for the hardest fight of my life.  The fight must have lasted 15 minutes and my arms were ready to fall off, but I couldn't give up.  At one point the fish jumped and that was when I saw how large it was.  Frank cheered me on and I finally got the fish close enough for Eli to gaff it. This is the biggest fish I have ever caught and I can't imagine I will ever do this again - it was so hard and I was just lucky the crew let "ladies go first" and my niece gave me the first shot.
Unfortunately, the crew didn't find any other fish that day except for 1 Red Snapper on the way in. The crew gave that strike to another person on the boat - so it was very disappointing for the rest of my family :-(

Esther with 50 lb Mahi Mahi

2012 April - Florida Ladyfish

There is a fishing pier not too far from where we stay in Florida.  We decided to fish from the pier using the same bait we used in the kayaks.  We had some luck and we both caught some Ladyfish. Frank also caught a sea trout.


Esther with a small ladyfish

Frank with a bigger ladyfish

Frank with a sea trout

2012 April - Kayak Fishing in Florida

We decided to try kayak fishing on this trip to Florida.  We hired a guide  and set out to catch sea trout and snook.

 

Frank and the guide



The guide taking a picture of Esther with her sea trout

We paddled 45 minutes down the river to get to the Gasparilla Sound and then began casting to a sunken barge that attracted schools of fish.  I almost immediately got stuck on the barge and Frank very quickly got a bite.  Unfortunately when he set the hook, he went right over backward into the water!  Thank goodness he had a life jacket on, because the water was quite deep.  As he hung onto the kayak, he couldn't believe his eyes when he saw a large dark fin pass through the water right in front of him!  To his relief, it was a dolphin, not a shark.
The guide paddled over to him and said he could not get into the kayak in this deep water and would have to be towed to shore. Luckily there was an island close by so he got back to fishing pretty quickly.

Frank being towed to shore

We got back to fishing and had a good day catching some new fish for us.  I caught a black sea bass, a sea horn pout and a sea trout. Frank caught several sea trout, a lizard fish and a snook.  Unfortunately I was too far away to get any photos of his fish.

Esther with a sea horn pout

Esther with a sea trout

A lizard fish

 

A snook

Black sea bass

2007 - Florida

Frank with a yellow tailed snapper

We are back in Florida visiting with Frank's family.  We spent sometime fishing from the beach and Frank was catching these silver fish with yellow tails.  We think they are snappers, but not sure.  It was a nice way to spend the day.

2002 Sept - Provincetown, Ma

Esther with her first bluefish

Frank with one of the bluefish he caught

On our vacation in P-town we spent pretty much every day surfcasting for bluefish or stripers. On several occasions, we could see the bluefish just far enough off shore out of our reach. We could see where the fish were by the seagulls flying over the water to pick up the bits of baitfish left behind by the vicious bluefish. 
But we did get lucky on one of our last days when a bluefish blitz came in very close to shore.  We cast as fast as we could and found ourselves running down the beach so we could keep casting into the school of fish.  I only landed one, but Frank caught a couple and a striper as well.  At one point, Frank landed a bluefish and when he turned around he had an audience clapping for him!

1994 Sept - Assateague Island, Maryland



Frank strikes again!

 We went on vacation to Ocean City Maryland and tried surfcast fishing again. 

Our fishing was interrupted when a herd of wild ponies came strolling down the beach!

Assateague ponies

There are several local legends about the origins of the ponies on Assateague. The most popular is that the ponies swam ashore from a Spanish ship that had run aground, while another story has it that they came from a wrecked ship that had been on its way to the English colonies. A third claims that pirates brought the ponies to the island.
In any event, the ponies have been on Assateague for about 300 years. While the early ponies had solid coloring, a good number now have brown and white patches due to interbreeding with new ponies brought to the island in the last hundred years.

1994 March - Red Snapper and Grunt, Florida

Stringer of our catch for the day

We went out on a fishing charter while we were in Florida.  We had a good day and caught several red snappers and some Grunts.  The grunts get their name because they make a grunting sound while you are trying to get the hook out!  We kept this batch and Frank's mom cooked them and they were really good.

1993 October - Red Drum, Outer Banks, No Carolina

Frank has hooked into something!




After fishing the Point, we decided to find an easier spot for fishing and there are miles of beaches to choose from on the Outer Banks.  We picked a spot and we both caught our first Red Drum fish!



Esther's first Red Drum



Frank's first Red Drum

We also had the opportunity to see some of the wild ponies that roam on the outer banks!

Wild pony on the Outer Banks

1993 October - Hatteras Point, North Carolina

Esther fishing at Hatteras Point

Hatteras Point

Frank had read about the legendary Harreras Point in North Carolina.  This is where the gulf stream current meets the current from the north. The sea is really turbulent and great for fishing. So we had to go there to fish.  Most people that fish there have a 4-wheel drive vehicle and simply drive down the long stretch of beach. All we had was a rental car, so we had to walk carrying all of our fishing gear.  The beach was lined with SUVs and trucks all the way down the beach.  We could see people catching some bluefish every now and then but overall it seemed pretty slow. We walked all the way to the point and fished for hours but did not catch anything.  Now we had to make the long journey back to our car. Frank walked ahead of me and we tried to walk close to the water where the sand is packed and easy to walk in.  The problem we ran into was that every few feet we encountered a fishing line from a pole that was planted in the sand.  Frank decided to yell a warning to me  so I wouldn't walk into one.  After awhile, we were exhausted and Frank decided it was too hard to keep turning around to give me the warning.  So at one point, as he looked straight ahead he yelled to me "Watch the line!".  A  fisherman who was sitting on the tailgate of his truck thought Frank was yelling at him and he jumped up and held his fishing pole high up in the air so both Frank and I could walk under the line! We still laugh about this to this day.