Posts Tagged ‘bear point’

It’s that time of year again–SHARK WEEK!!

So far, I have to say I’m a little disappointed. In years past, shark week was about education and conservation. It seams that the majority of the shows this year are basically about people that have been attacked. I’m not sure how that helps people understand the importance of sharks and protecting them.

Oh well, anything for ratings I guess.

I am going to rehash my most compelling shark story. Enjoy!

My story for Shark Week

I got off work early today and decided to do a little fishing. I opted to go to one of my favorite spots. It had been a few years since I fished it and I was looking forward to getting reacquainted. Once I got in the water, it dawned on me why I hadn’t been there in so long. I had been telling myself that it was because it is too far to drive, the walk is too long, etc. The truth is much more complicated.

One of my best friend’s and I used to fish this spot religiously, sometimes as much as two or three times a week. We would stand side by side and talk about girls, work, family and sometimes, just say nothing at all. Well, my friend passed away unexpectedly a few years ago. I don’t think I had been to the spot since. Today, as I stood with my feet planted in the mud, same as hundreds of times before, the memories came rushing back.

I thought about the morning that the stingray tried to mate with Davey’s shoe (with his foot in it), the afternoon that I stepped in a hole and fell face first in the muck, all the times laughing, the times cussing over lost fish, the time swatting mosquitos and the countless hours just hanging out. The during the couple of hours I spent today, sometimes I wanted to laugh and sometimes I wanted to cry.

I was so lost in my thoughts that when I finally got a bite, it startled me and I almost missed the fish. The snook wasn’t impressive, but it was just enough to finish off a good afternoon.

Indian River Lagoon Snook

Snook

I decided to leave when the skeeters and no-see-ums started draining me. I can say this, slow fishing and bugs aside,  I know my friend was standing beside me today just as he had been hundreds of  other times. As I left, I closed my eyes and gave a silent nod-”see you soon!”

My family and I spend a lot of time in the local nature preserves and wildlife areas taking photos, hiking, fishing or just seeing the sites. Recently, my wife introduced me to geocaching.

For those of you that are not familiar with it, geocaching is kind of like a treasure hunt for grown ups. It sounded like fun and something the whole family would enjoy. We decided to try to find our first cache during our trip to Bear Point Sanctuary on Sunday. Armed with GPS, water and excitement we started down the path. Unfortunately, the one thing we did not arm ourselves with is mosquito repellent. They were fierce to say the least.

Anyway, we spent about 30 minutes searching and swatting at the designated coordinates to no avail. Oh well, we will try at that location or others soon, perhaps next week while I am on vacation. Until our next adventure, good hunting.

If anyone is interested, try this link for information:

Geocaching information

We used the long holiday weekend to visit one of my favorite spots for wading.  I have spent countless hours wading the soft bottom chasing snook, trout and redfish.

Also, Bear Point is a great place to take in some scenery and see some wildlife like ospreys and an occassional otter.

For more information on Bear Point Sanctuary take a look at our new video.