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all right, here are the photos and some video from Boca Grande where John, Stephen, Tim, and Tim’s friend Eric went on our tarpon fishing trip. the weather was sunny (except when it was freakin storming – more on that later) and we had a great time. our days consisted of get up, eat breakfast, fish all day, eat dinner, go to sleep. that was about it.

anyway, before we headed out the first day, john and stephen got slathered up with sunscreen.

i just couldn’t leave that picture out.

john brought in the first fish (and only) fish of the day. this tarpon was probably about 120 lbs.

that was about it for fish that first day. it was a SLOW day, but that didn’t stop us from feeling like we deserved to enjoy a beer or two at the end of the first day

the next day the weather was gorgeous. we set out under blue skies and on green seas looking to have “captain rodney” lead us to the big fish.

john looked hard, but didn’t see any tarpon

so, instead captain rodney showed us some dolphins and manatee.

they were cute, but didn’t exactly sate my desire to catch some fish. we saw a few tarpon and john got one of them on the line, but that was before he had bought into the concept of bowing to the fish(more on that later). eventually the tarpon convinced him of the value of respecting the fish. we were all pretty down by mid-afternoon and captain rodney’s angry music didn’t help. i eventually got captain rodney to agree to switch us over to some U2 and that seemed to help a little, but no fish in the boat…….until the storm came.

it started to get darker and darker, and the temperature dropped considerably. we knew it was going to get ugly, but weren’t really bothered until we noticed that all but two of the fifty boats that had been out had gone in (our two). here the storm starts to really roll in.

as the storm approached a funnel cloud appeared overhead. this is where it got a little frightening. the rain started coming down in huge heavy drops and the wind started to absolutely wail. it was blowing so hard that it was blowing the tops off of the waves and creating a heavy fog that extended 5 feet off the top of the water. it was at around this time that captain rodney grabbed me by my rain jacket (boy doesn’t john wish he had a rain jacket?) and yelled at me while waving his homing device in my face. “IF WE GO DOWN, I WILL NOT LET GO OF THIS, SO YOU DO NOT LET GO OF ME. THE COAST GUARD WILL FIND US!!” that was actually one of the scarier moments of my life, and the only time in my life (that i can remember) when i actually prayed something like, “Lord, please don’t let me die here, and if i do die, i hope emily and my family know i love them.” i think it may have actually impacted my thinking a little. i’m not sure.

anyway, once the storm subsided, (and yes that is video of the storm as it was subsiding. for the 30 minutes prior to then it had been much much worse.)

then the fish began to hit. it was amazing. the moment that we could see in front of us there were fish everywhere. it was one hit after another until dark began to fall on us. huge fish that often took as long as 20 or 30 minutes to reel.

here’s my first catch of the weekend.

here john reels in the last fish of the day as the sun sets over the ocean.

there was a rainbow on the east horizon,

as john and i took one last photo.

boy, doesn’t john look cold? it’s too bad about that rain jacket!

here’s the view of the sunset as we went through the pass on the way back into the dock.

and here are some of the rainbow and the coloration of the sky on the ride back in.

and here’s a little video of the ride back in.

the next morning stephen was not in the mood to get out of bed

once we got him moving, we headed out for our last day of fishing. this time we were with captain pete. he tried to start a fight with several other captains, but did get us on some nice fish….something captain rodney had not been quite as good at. here some tarpon almost attack tim and eric while they fiddle with their rods.

here stephen reels one in.

weeeeellll, he almost reeled it in, until this guy came along.

and he absolutely LOVED stephen’s fish.

here’s what’s left of stephen’s fish after the attack.

we sat next to the carcass for about 10 minutes waiting for something else to eat it, but we had to go catch some more fish. we did take a break to take a look at this guy on the way in. apparently it was hungry time for the hammerheads in the area.

stephen can’t believe he lost another fish to the monsters of the deep.

as you may notice from the photo of the hammerhead above, it was starting to get dark again out on the water.

before that storm hit, i got this fish on the line.

and then stephen interviewed me about my technique as i sit down, completely exhausted from fighting with fish all day.

luckily this storm was no where near as bad as the previous day’s storm, and while our boats were still the only ones that stayed out, we were actually able to fish our way through it. it must have been the excitement from all the lightning, but i got my second wind when i got one last tarpon on the line. i managed to reel him in without getting electrocuted right as the storm was wrapping up.

here’re tim and eric with captain rodney after the storm

and a few final shots on our way back to the dock and after docking the boat. the sky looked just like the sky in a painting salvador dali did on the ceiling of his museum in Figueres.

oh, btw, back to the subject of john bowing to the fish, here are a couple of his “greatest hits.” the super-bow and the not-quite-bow.

anyway, it was a great time, and thx to stephen for setting this one up.