As another year comes to an end, it is always a good time to reflect on the events, both good and bad, for the year. So bear with me while I stroll down memory lane.

The economy tanked, corporate bailouts, a new president, wars on multiple fronts and too other bad things to itemize captured the headlines day in and day out, but in my world, one of the most important events was the completion of my little fishing boat (finally).

For those of you that don’t know, the boat was going to be 6 month project at most—5 years later it actually hit the water on it’s maiden voyage. I built it from the hull up, learning as I went. It’s not pretty, it’s not fancy, but it’s mine and I love it.

This is what it looked like when I started

What it looks like now.

The family and I spent many hours on the water fishing, cruising, photographing, filming and generally bonding. Here are a couple of videos we made of our time together:

My son has caught  redfish, trout, flounder…just about everything, but he had never caught a “large” snook. Well we solved that problem within a week of the boat hitting the water.

33" snook

I may have perfected my slow-cooker pulled pork and sauce…….I like it at least, lol

Pulled pork sandwich with slaw and sauce

I started a new website project. We still aren’t sure exactly what we are going to do with it, but it is a great URL.

FLORIDAFLATSANGLER.COM working logo

The family and I went on our first spoil island camping trip. We will be repeating this very soon.

This didn't suck!!

I got the time to do my Halloween thing. It really is my favorite holiday. We made this video of our yard.

Thanksgiving and Christmas were marred by a health scare on my part. Happily, I think we have the issue solved and I am looking forward to my annual New Year’s Fishing Trip with my kids.

Well, there you have a brief rundown of 2009 in my world. Hope you enjoyed.