SKA Nationals 10-9-8 blah blah blah and LIFT OFF

Go Fishing!


Go Fishing!

So Nationals 2006,
Ft Pierce Florida,
I love this place,
I hate this place,
ARG!
You would think a pirate themed weekend would set the stage for a tale of many offshore adventures,
not to get me wrong, there was our bounty's share of rum drinking,
and pirating,
and prankstering,
lots of photo's none of fish,
let me assure you,
no fish were actually killed, harmed, or caught
and the characters names have been changed to protect their identity....
well, maybe a few (like 10) small sharks got a bit of a sore mouth,
but we had fun,
good music,
photo's will show me landing off the ocean at the airport in west palm beach,
which I was totally mesmerized by,
cool watching the engines ignite as the landing gear came out,
and it got noisy, and it was cool,
who knew a day later, I would see the space shuttle launch into the air,
high above the ocean,
with a trail of smoke that disappeared as quickly as
the tiny spaceship did at sound defying speeds.
cape canaveral space center is just miles up the ocean from where we fished,

jan and chris chase waited and picked me up at the airport thursday,
my crazy michigan partners in giggles and crimes,
jan wore her lucky green bandana all weekend,
from her 'boo bag' from hatteras...
and it garnered her the lucky 5th place finish in the tournament,
cudo's my friends,
and thanks for assisting me in the prank on forrest and pam taylor


hard to get too upset about not catching fish,
when you see a sun rise over the bahama's like that,
awesome,
cannot put into words the feeling you get when you see that
happening over the ocean,
the colors melt into each other as the heat of the sun transforms
orange to pink, pink ,to lavender, then lavender to gold-amazing !

it was awesome,
and this weekend,
though not the finish I expected,
was filled with moments I would not trade for anything,

great friends,
lots of love and laughs,
and always,smiles-
happy holidays to all,
safe travels,
and sweet dreams......

key west less than 8 weeks aways,
hey captain tony,
I am on my way......
(sshhhhh to the local police:)


sk

Hatteras-tuna time

Go Fishing!

Well, here we are in hatteras, north carolina,
the outer banks.
Had to drive the EXTRA 6 hours around and down to get here,
wind was blowing 35-55 mph, so the car ferry from cedar point was closed,
that was fun after a night of mechanical bullriding!
Got a few days of great fishing in though,
caught and lost and released a couple dozen yellowfin tuna,
chilled it and ate sashimi right there on the boat with some homemade WASABI!
So good, so fresh!
Had a bunch of hammerhead sharks, big ones, like 600-800 pounds,
chasing our baits, I got some unbelievable video of one of the sharks
coming right up to our engines, it was cool!
Had a great time with the lucys folks, we had a hippie pool party,
a hot tub extravaganza, some awesome fishing, a super fun costume party on
halloween, and most excellent food, each couple took a night to cook,
good friends, great times!
House is on the beach with 8 bedrooms, a sports bar, a theatre, a workout room, an outside fireplace, and a swim up bar in the pool, but water was cold!
Spending a few more days of quality time with the friends, kids, babies, and stuff, getting ready for nationals in beautiful Ft Pierce Florida week after next.

Stay Tuned for more fishing!!!!

smiles-
susan and crew
missy and britt, chris and jan, stephanie,jason, and baby z (4 weeks today),
phil, kelly, and dylan, jen and don, erica and chris robinson-
what a fun group of friends!
thank you all for being a part of our vacation!

Suprise Surprise Surprise

Let me first just say, I wrote the blog the night before and after day one of the Little River (myrtle beach) tournament, and somehow on crazy hotel dial up, they not only did not post but deleted also, maybe its the computer, mayber the server, maybe, just maybe the amstel lights,
no, but really, i got one email out and all the rest of the work I did disappeared in a galaxy far away of dial up modems that require a 9 first!

How much more happy could I have been,
Thurday, I get to myrtle beach to meet my super friend Jan Chase all the way from
Michigan to fish with me on day one of tournament,
and missy, one of the four best friends I have,
well, we meet for margarita's at Margaritiville,
had a great time,
photo one,

fished day one,
had camera crew on the boat,
see photo two,
rough seas, caught some fish,
weighed in a mediocre fish,
but lots of boats had nothin'
jan and chris and I drank alot of beer
though, so great to have them on the team again,
see photo three,
Jan and I fished south florida division last year to win east coast
lady angler award
and also fished lots of gulf coast tournaments for fun,
they are great fun,
and had more jokes to add to mine,
and better yet,
had not heard most of my new, much cornier jokes,
watch OLN Fishing the Trail to hear these jokes!

So Day Two
rough again,
need like a 50 punder to seal the win,
went back home to fish charleston waters,
caught alot of fish as in day one,
but nothing bigger than 28 pounds,
had a really good day though,
as it was my birthday, I was trying to focus on
fishing and not aging,
but it was fun,
we went to run home and had a engine
going into guardian for over rev's,
which means it would shut down every time
the props came out of the water,
so mike was turning it off then turning it back on to re start it
while we were moving, becuase we were losing time stopping and
starting again,
anyway,
to make a long story longer............
i kept texting my sis that we had a fish but probably would miss
the scales due to problems,
we made it back to check in with less than 2 minutes to spare,
we were flying in,
and very happy to weigh in this mediocre fish!

SSSSSSooooooooooooooooooo
we get there and I am doing the photo thing and I walk up to the
scales with my fish and jimmyjam,
and I look up to see not only my sis Karen,
who I knew would show up,
but my sis Jeanne fromOhio
and ,
and,
tom and casey Cheffo from sunny long island new york,
tom is one of my best friends,
and casey, his daughter,
well, she and I are soul sisters,
and I love them both dearly!

So,
the story continues,
after the weigh in and interviews and fun,
I am told to go back shower and be at a local
bar in 30 minutes
I get there after my cab goes the wrong way,
to walk in and hear my favorite song,
being played by my favorite band,
the zen tricksters
who came in also from New York,

the craziness continued with all the lucy folks from
charleston, and all the shoe people,
and a bunch of fishing people,

we danced and sang all night,
finally at 4 am
I realized I had been up for more than 24 hours,

just too excited to sleep!

the weekend ended with me driving back to charleston
in my new VW Beetle Convertible,
grey and black,
perfect!

!
My good friends and family that I love
made it the most special weekend of my life!

oh,
this is a fishing blog,
placed in both tournaments, pro and local,
finished 8th overall in pro division,
far from that win,
but ounces from a higher place,
but right on the good fun and fishing,
and the best team on the planet!

smiles-nationals in november, ft pierce florida
coming soon,

hatteras north carolina for fun fishing next week
on the annual loose lucy vacation!

stay tuned for more fun,
luv y'all so much!

susanK

Savannah Pro Event

Ok, here's the skinny!
day one, 23 lb fish, smaller than we needed,
lost two good fish, just didn't get hooks in'em!
still in the game for day two
day two, rougher, colder, rainier,
left dock at 4 am to meet bait man,
waiting for bait man at tybee island boat ramp,
tied to dock with 3 other boats tied to us,
hear a scream, a boat broke free from a truck and came
flying down the ramp, no driver, trailer attached still,
missed crashing our engines by inches-
whew !!!!
missed a good fish first bait in the water,
gotta quit using those darn rubber hooks!
couldn't find fish all day,
finally found a pod of fish, but area loaded up with
barracuda, caught a few cudas,
then got about a 20 lb king, got it almost to the boat,
and cudas chased it, and caught it.
no fish day two!
our streak continues!
hardly any fish weighed in,
again, any one decent fish in this tournament
would have propelled us to a commanding lead
in the Pro Tour,
suffice to say,
we are bound and determined to hero or zero in myrtle beach
oct 13 and oct 14,
the last pro event.
we did not lose much ground in the standings,
but we did not gain any either-rats!!!
enjoyed the amenties of savannah though,
one of the nicer places we fish,
westin hotel with marina,
water taxi pictured with my name on it,
to take you back and forth no chare to river street,
where the tournament weigh in was right there in
front of wet willies,
jimmyjam and I went to go buy his wife her favorite candy
the night before day one,
and somehow we ended up at wet willies
in a thunderstorm, we were wet,
the ferry stopped running till the storm let up,
so we got some tropical beverages,
i did not know till about noon the following day on the boat,
feeling like I had been dragged, drugged, beaten, and dehydrated,
but only then did I find out the drink and a half I drank
at 10:30 pm the previous night,
was 180 proof grain alcohol camoflauged by fruit juices and ice!
wow I felt bad, and it kept getting worse!
but it was fun,
lots of fun,
and karen came to the tournament as ground crew on day two,
and did stats, public relations, and beer and burger runs for us
after fishing.
bad news after though, as Bunny, mike's mom,
also showed up at weigh in, and they said she stayed away from wet willies, but she turned her ankle on the uneven historic cobblestone street and got a spiral fracture broken leg,
argh!!!!!!!
myrtle beach baby,
here we come,
do or die!!!!!

Day Two Miracles

Well, to make a long story short, (right),
day two, we start out to make a long run way south,
to catch that winning fish, not alot of big fish caught day one,
we were ready,
we ran about 30 miles south in the dark, then stopped as the sun came up to catch live bait, as we went to continue,
we lost power in the center engine,
we decided to stay there in the inlet with the bait and fish,
2 hours later, gary got the engine started, so I insisted we finish the plan and go the other 36 miles south,
(not smart) but I just knew we would get a big fish there,
what I did not know was that we would catchup to the day one bad weather, thunderstorms and rough seas,
so the corbins got the mr toads wild ride for hours,
needless to say, we did not catch a big fish,
we came home, fished back in the same spot we were earlier in the am, hooked a fish last minute,
got it to the boat,
and lost the engine again,
it was a tiny fish, so at least we were not going to miss getting in with a big fish,
we had great company with Team Corbins on the boat,
and would not trade the two days on the boat with those crazy guys for anything!
one of the guys even did a backflip off the boat when we got back into the harbor!
Great People-Great Times!
next stop,
savannah georgia pro event number 4

v for victory

Go Fishing!
What a Rough Day!
took our good buddies from Corbins Trailer with us today, and this was what we saw upon arriving first at the hot spot (which wasn't so hot!)
Steve has taken excellent care of us and our trailer for years!
needless to say, it was northeast about 20-30, with seas of like 6 ft, with an occasional 8 foot swell, just plain sloppy! But we had fun, and caught a beer buzz in lieu of hooking any fish!
Very few fish weighed in,
we were coming in and decided we had enough pounding our brains out, so we snuck in an inlet and ran the 40 miles back in the intracoastal waterway,
we saw some great houses and beautiful trees, and it topped off the a.m. clouds and sun extravaganza-my buddy said 'these houses are beautiful but all i want is a nice one story house with a wrap around porch'
my sentiments exactly,
isn't happiness just a wrap around porch?
to me, it is.
off for a few hours of sleep,
tomorrow we ride, and win!
sk

Watch Out for Lucy!

Go Fishing!
Ok, so fish not only tremble, they RUN, THE OTHER WAY!
we started day one with a beautiful mother nature display of lightening
and hard rain,
followed by somewhat rough seas,
we fished all day in a fave spot close to charleston,
watched everyone around us catch good fish, we caught dinky doo's!
We did not weigh in day one,
too small to matter,
we'll get them day two
Had some awesome margharitias and giggles with steph and jason at my fave mexican restaurant,
jason ordered a 'strip and fries'
but I was so tired,
I heard,
stripper and flies,
steph and I laughed till we cried, and baby z kicked!
day two, after another 3 hour sleep event,
we got on the boat for another bout of thunderstorms,
I have never been so freakin cold in august when it is 98 degrees,
but the cold breeze from the outflow of the storms and the wind,
and the extremely rough seas on day made it all much worse!
we caught fish all day,
but nothing big enough, we weighed in with a 21 lb fish to take an amazing 52nd place, then battled another lightening storm on the way in,
after 12 hours of fishing time in brutal condidtions,
we got to dodge bolts,
if the thunder don't get ya than the lightening will,
got the boat cleaned and out of the water by 9 pm to hurry and meet
steph and baby z and jason again for margarhitas,
steph of course just lemondade,
and were joined by our old lucy girl Kat,
who is beyond funny,
laughed again, till I fell in my bed and fell aslppe for just short of 11 hours!
anyway,
photo's include my nephew evan, in town to visit,
he hung at the boat with us after,
and of course, steph and karen and kat-
next week,
fishing for miracles,
local charity tournament with special guests,
the corbin family, they service our trailer,
and are great people,
more on them next week!
smiles-susanK

saturday august 5 charleston flw tournament

Go Fishing!

Now that is a little skinny kingfish!
But that was the small one, we weighed in a 24 lb fish, not great, but we caught a gazillion,
a very hot muggy day, with lots of fish, just no big ones.
We were in 14th last I knew, so not so great.
Even my lucky blue bandana did not help, but it did keep the sun off me a bit!
Got in about 11:30 pm from the shoe show in vegas,
slept from 12:30 am to 3:30 am, ARGH!!!!
BUT
the NEW BOAT IS SO FREAKIN BEATIFUL ! ! ! !
SOLID BLACK HULL, MAJORLY HUGE INSIDE, WITH A STEP UP PLATFORM FRONT AREA TO FISH OFF OF,
KICKIN' STEREO SYSTEM EQUIPPED WITH SIRIUS SATELITTE,
IT'S THE BOMB,
the ride is a little off right now, its so fast it jumps more,
but the 4 stroke engines are so quiet you cannot even hear them!
Will put photo's on site soon, but need to take them from another boat in the water,
too big for the camera in the driveway!
Next stop,
FLW Pro Event Hilton Head Island, SC
wednesday, thursday, friday,
catch a good fish, be in top ten and fish for winning on saturday!
Watch live updates on www.flwoutdoors.com
click on kingfish pro series,
updates on thursday and friday,
name of our boat in this tour (we doubled up with another team)
is FISH FEVER

Bad Luck !

Go Fishing!

“Gloom, despair and agony on me
-wwwwhhhhhhooooooaaaaaa-
Deep, dark depression
Excessive misery
-wwwwwwhhhhhhoooooaaaaa-
If it weren't for bad luck
I'd have no luck at all
Gloom, despair and agony on me”
famous Hee Haw song.......

That about sums it up y'all!

dropped to 4th place,
with heat behind me and a tall hill in front!

next post,
what's happening in new orleans!!!!

smiles (and frowns)
susan

Day Two Fourchon LA

Go Fishing!

8 am
Got pounded for an hour and a half as we ran straight into a sloppy 5 foot chop,
In the gulf, it gets like a washing machine! But we got there, about 60 miles out
And west, I think I could see texas! Rough seas, 1st bait hits the water and
SMACK
Huge fish grabbed the bait,
Then spit it out in the air!
We could not believe it!
But it meant we were in a good spot, we’d get another chance.

9 am
Caught a mid 30’s fish,
Caught a cobia,
Caught some fresh bait,
Only boat on the rig,

10 am
SMACKAnother huge fish grabs the long bait on the surface,
As the fish flew through the air,
He cut the line mid air in front of us

11 am
Another big fish skies on our bait, and missed the hooks,
Crushed the bait, missed every single hook!

11:30 am
Caught another small fish,

High Noon
We are trying to stay positive but how could our luck be so bad,
To see and miss three fish that could lock up winning the whole year!

1 pm
Day is almost over, we have to be at the scales by 4 and its and hour and a half in,
We start hopping rigs tring to find a fish, a stupid fish that is fat and lazy,
We had enough smart acrobatic fish!

Would have lost a million dollar bet that we would go to Fourchon and not catch at least one fish over 40 lbs, it was too easy-right!

Some might say we 'stubbed our toes', others that we fell flat on our faces,
and some, 'well you used up all your luck', but no matter how you slice it,
we need a miracle now to win the season,
but we certainly did not expect this poor weeekend,
we did have other friends that are definately out for good due to boat mechanical problems and missed weigh in completely, or just got skunked and caught '0's.

But hey,
TV show aired today,
and pick up a copy of Saltwater Sportsman or Sport Fishing for our team on the inside cover, I have not scene it yet, but heard about it.

Thanks for all the support,
we'll keep trying as hard as always!

Next Pro stop Savannah GA late august,
last tournament mid october in n myrtle beach SC,

lots of little local stuff twix here and there!

smiles-
susan

Fourchon LA

Well this is it!!!!
Weather forecast is hot, light winds, possible ground swell,
but word around the dock is another depression formed up and is
easing its way towards us, and the offshore wind and seas had picked up
drastically overnight,
guess we will see soon!
It is 4:30 am,
I tossed and turned all night with excitement,
we get to weigh an extra fish to make up the second day of
the Ft Pierce,
so we could really get ahead!

FISH ON !


DAY One!

SUCKS!

we ran out about 35 miles straight out, caught some small fish,
but then had a huge fish, face at us, sky on a bait,
missed it,
then cut back and freakin torpeado'd it, right at us,
big,
real big kingfish,
as it blistered the line off the reel,
i grabbed the wheel,
the rod was already in another hand and to pass it would be
dangerous,
and being a very experienced driver, i felt confident in catching this fish,
sometimes, much more confident on the wheel esp. on borrowed boat,
i aggressively threw the three motors into forward and spun the boat,
as we headed to the fish line,
it slacked as the fish cut the line with his tail, and ran away forever,
it was an six foot leader,
that's six feet long of cable wire before the monofiliment line,
that means this fish was about that long,
yep
we never use that long of leader,
but we lengthened for the bigger fish here,
apparently not long enough
we finished the day with alot of 30 lb fish,
weighed in a 33.and change,

no good,

we could conveibaley crash and burn tomorrow for the year without 2 big fish

we will see

weather not so bad,
but not perfect

hope your day was perfect!!!!

more later with sleep!

sk and crew

Number One ! AHHHHHHH!

wow, still fielding questions,
were y'all really not there,
but we were there, in spirit, in hope,
but we are riding the big Number One wave right now,
next Pro Stop,
aaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhh,
Fourchon Lousiana,
my favorite middle of no-where place on earth,
2 1/2 hours south of civilization as we know it,
under new orleans by 175 miles, where hurricane katrina
made landfall, nothing but fishin' and cajun cookin'
nicest folks you will find,
cold beer and hot gumbo,
and an occossional fish gaff through the foot,
but also complimented by the biggest fish of our career,

I will gladly take another hole through my foot,
lets go left this time,
for a few 60 pounders,

team is strong and practicing this week in south florida,
without me,
too busy too leave so often,
short staffed, need anyone that has sales ability or a
foot fetish so I can fish more!!!!!!!!!!!!

anyway, that's jimmyjam on the wheel,
goofin' with me like always,
you can't hear the audio of us both getting yelled at!!!!!!!!1
gosh darnit sue and where the hell are you going jimmy-
we are quite a team!

lol-more wins on the way!

YEAH-Great Job Team! Number One in Pro Event Two!

You Guys Rock!
more on that later,
cannot believe I missed our big win of the season,
WAIT
I mean our FIRST big win of the season,
but I was there in spirit, and thinking of
y'all every second, sending good fish vibrations!

Could not be HAPPIER!

Great Job,

THANKS!
smiles-
susan

and now, the rest of the story!

Day Two-Ft Pierce, Florida
Nationals-in 10th place, but need another fish
to match one per day!
Wind was howlin'
made the call to do exactly the same format at day one,
run 30 miles south where majority of big fish were caught,
figured we would get one, maybe even a big one,
and then spend the afternoon trolling the beach for a real big one on the afternoon tide.
Well, we had to go south via the intracoastal waterway,
as the was a 4-6 foot chop right in our face in the ocean,
so we burned it through the canals,
at 63 mph and only had about 8 miles of a hard core boat ride and saltwater shower,
very rough, windy, and cold fishing,
but we managed to hook a king despite the 100 other boats in the same area,
I got it to the boat fairly quickly considering the amount of rough seas and current,
but it held under the water just out of reach as the boat kept getting pulled away in the strong current and seas,
i saw it as did Gary, not huge, but looked decent down in the water,
then it just took off,
blistered back down and out!
I spent 30 minutes getting about half the line back,
and it was like it hit a wall-Damn (ha ha get it, fish hitting a wall, damn)
I spend another 3o minutes muscling this fish,
without any avail,
I could not move it, no matter how much pressure or strength I put on it, so I passed the rod to Mike,
mostly becuase I did not want to be the one to blame when the hooks pulled,
well, he could hardly move it either,
strong current, big waves, stubborn fish,
this went on for more than an hour, we drive in close,
get some line, and then it would take off again,
we finally realized, our kingfish had been eaten by a giant
bull shark, who was now hooked to us, and dragging us around the ocean with no intention of letting go.

Phase Two of the Day Two:
head inshore, and outside of the inlet where we caught day one fish, looked good, calmer seas, big fish, real big, being caught by a few other boats around us,
sit and wait,
and wait,
while we waited the sun was being shadowed by dark clouds,
and followed by crackling thunder, and streaks of lightening
made a solid zig zag from sky to water. I begged for 15 more minutes to fish, I knew we were about to catch the fish we needed, I had my lucky blue bandana with me again, as the rain drops pelted the water, 2 kings skied up in the air, right close to the boat, one of them over 50 lbs, but we could not get a strike, except for the balls of fire from the lightening strikes popping around the boat like popcorn. I still thought we would get a fish, and I started thinking I would be up on the bow of the boat, holding a lightening rod, I mean, a fishing rod high in the air, I thought all this as I 'safely grasped the metal t top' real smart, huh!

Its all over now baby blue:
so we call it a day, but now the big storms were so bad we could hardly see anything in front of us, it was a white out,
the waves white capping and the tops blowing right off in the wind gusts, it was dark as night except for the electrical display getting closer and closer, the windshield was a wall of water, and we all tried to see, but the rain drops were hitting so hard they knocked my contact lense out of my eye.
Of course, I forgot my rain suit, never done that before,
so my clothes were soaked all the way through, we finally found the marina, and soaked, teeth chattering, I was glad to have a dry bag with my fave blue board shorts to change into.

People at the dock said that it was insult to injury,
getting caught in the storm after 'catching' a zero today,
but I still wouldn't trade a minute of it!
If the worst thing in my life is I didn't catch a fish today,
well,
that's pretty okay with me!
ain't life grand!

Hero to Zero

Well, I love to Hate this Place,

ft pierce florida,

since 1998 I have had more 'hero to zero' moments here than any other event ever!
more on that later,
weighed in to 10th place out of the almost 300 boat field yesterday,
to Jack saying on the stage that I am the best lady fisherman in the country,
quickly followed by
maybe in the world,
i was expecting planet next, but we quickly found out today,
my luck was a one day deal.
i was lucky in that I did not get struck by lightening in the one of three storms that railed us all afternoon,
but alas,
tonight I sleep,
again for 4 hours to get up and drive back for work,

tomorrow,

the rest of the story...............................
sk

Day One Ft Pierce Nationals

Well, guess who accidentally deleted last nights post,
AND forgot the power cord for my camera,

okay,
so check back for pictures,
here's the snapshot editorial of the last 24 hours:

hung out with the Smothers Brothers yesterday afternoon at the pool

slept two hours then had to meet the bait guy at 2:30 am,
he actually showed up at 5 am

had the camera crew ESPN on the boat today

caught a 35.54 fish, late in the day,
will have to bleep out more than not on the audio,
in 10th place going into day two,

back with more tomorrow,

MARCH MADNESS! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !

have you ever actually scene the saying
'deer in headlights'
well now you have,
i don't know what it is about photos, but my crew does the dumb freeze every time,
they smile, then the flashy flashy thing
(men in black) zaps them, and they look like THIS!
Gotta love 'em though!
They support the team motto,
WORK HARD * PLAY HARD
off for a few weeks,
then its crazy april and florida tournaments!
gotta wonder how those Dukies will do now that captain wafer is wearing it as team uniform,
only time will tell,
but check the line before you wager it! ! ! !
till next time.........

10th-just one digit off of #1

No photo today, forgot the chord to my camera/computer, BUT HEY,
came in 10th place overall, out of 115, caught a 42 lb fish,
one of four, all identical. Went away from the pack based on water temp
and movement over the last 24 hours, saw the water on the computer last night
moving, so left the pack that all went to where all the big fish were on day one,
and went further west and south, way further! Just kept catching fish all morning,
bigger fish, lots of current, and way rougher seas, it really becomes more of a
muscle match in these conditions, and I found myself having a hard time,
my shoulders were already sore I quickly found out from yesterday, and today,
with more current and rougher seas, those big fish just went deep in the water
and hung-at home in shallow water and fish of much smaller proprotions, it is more finesse,
but it was a strength battle over and over today, but our team was ready for the challenge
and we lost not a fish, nor killed anyone!
Were surprised to come in 10th place overall - that's our first Pro paycheck in a long time-
but everyone, from the president of another boat manufacturer to other teams, to spectators,
to event coordinators, want to buy a tye dye team shirt-they do look good, especially in a group,
lucy people know that well-hatteras! so if you were wearing your shirt today, many thanks,
the force was with us-on the drive tomorrow, after the giant sunday wydham beach brunch sunday-
yeah team, next stop, who knows

66

Well, I wish that was my official fish weight today, but alas, that is my pro boat number for the year,
my fish weighed 32.43, puney for these waters, we are sitting in an ugly 43rd place out of 115 after day one,
caught alot of fish, all the same size, good practicing for the team, we did not lose any and we got to work through some
issues of working together without killing each other,
long day though, didn't get fueled up for day two till almost 6:30 pm, then off to a team photo thing and meeting,
but then went to the Hogfish Grill, outdoor dive with awesome grouper sandwiches, and a kickin live band, just a bunch
of older guys jammin, hit some marshall tucker and some stevie ray vaughn,
coulda stayed there and jammed all night in the warm evening air!
team member rat pak in third place with a 55 lb,
he was with us,did not catch a fish all day, on the way in, dropped lines 40 miles closer to home and caught a very nice day one pro tour fish,
this will set his season!
and old gary lineberry, cindy's buns, is fishing with him,
still as funny as ever,
had to tell the gay dinasour jokes today!
thanks cheffo for the material!
more news tomorrow, better i hope,
i awoke at 1:30 this am, too excited to sleep, so i am really tired,
sat in my bed listening to captain wafer snoring,
kept walking over to his bed and rolling him, but it didn't make any dif,
we might have to move to seperate rooms instead of just seperate beds!
more information than y'all needed i am sure,
but i am very sleepy
susanK

ARGGHH-This is My Crew-gotta love it!

FLIGHT:
Awesome, no other words to describe the site when you see miles of crystal clear water, see to the bottom green and blue water, so spectacular in the sea of seas, there are speckles of land, of sandy beaches, no buildings, dotting the landscape, i could only pray that the pilot knew which plot of land on which to land,
but he successfully found it, though a 'small landing strip' we arrived on what i now call 'croc island'
Everyone is wearing Crocs!
BILLY BLUE EYES:
hanging out at the marina, quickly met a cool cat named billy blue eyes, a retired old pirate in a sailboat bound for wherever the wind takes him, had a very cute old dog who smiled like an angel
MANATEE ALERT:
sitting talking with BBE (billy blue eyes) and all of a sudden this giant grey matter comes wallowing up from the bottom of the marina, it was a giant manatee,so freakin cute, we put the hose out with fresh water, and he rolled on his back and put the hose in his mouth, just gulping down that fresh H2O for like 15 minutes, I reached down to pat his little fuzzy nose, with the little whiskers, and he exhaled,
nothing cute about a manatee breath-OY
nasty for a vegetable eating mammal-smelled like he just ate a trashcan! I guess he has never been to Pepe's!
SHIRTS:
weather looks perfect for day one, maybe a little sporty for day two,
wear your team shirts if you have'em,
if not and you want one, let me know, kinda too hot here to wear those long sleeves, freakin 83 degrees in the shade, sorry you snowbunnies!
PEPE'S:
sat at Pepe's for b fast, and had a sleuw of locals come in, ratty shorts covered in paint, long grey hair, and beards, ended up being people who have been here forever and are artists and own local galleries-heard the most authentic 70's key west history stories-awesome stuff man-hemingway has nothing on these guys for storytelling!
TIGHT LINES TOMORROW
P.S.
guess who is playing on key largo tonight,
willie nelson in a small theatre,
do I skip curfew and go???????????????
out at 4 am, ???????????????????????
lol
sk

a Pirate looks at 40

well, we can only hope we are looking at two fish better than 40 this weekend!
Mike just celebrated his 40th b day in LARGE fashion in Las Vegas, and was surprised by more than 28 of his friends, who knew he had that many friends, one or two must have been on the susan side!
all that said, we had all the lucy crews, owners, employees, etc, both coasts of family members, old friends, new friends, and solid entertainment!
Anyway, ready to gamble double or nothin' this weekend with a forecast of flat calm seas and warm temps-sounds too good to be true.
1st Pro SKA event of the Year, check out the action on
www.fishska.com
some sweet little fish action currently on the front page, gotta improve on that!
team is ready to go, in rare form after a wild crazy weekend in vegas, watch out fish-we are on!

Support Live Music......

Well, here's to the last night of key west, yep, ole Gary Hempsey kept the two phil's, travis (daddee stayed in bed), kelly and dylan for a good part of the night, and mike and I, oh, and capt tony! With that crowd, and some sorrows to drown, you can't help but stay out until 2 hours before your plane takes off! Phil and Kelly and Dylan were sitting outside leaning against the building next door, listening to the terrific singing and guitar magic from our Yagersmesistered entertainer, and people kept coming up to them asking if they needed a place to stay, or if they were okay, and trying to help them, yep, they all thought they were homeless, phil couldn't believe it, i mean how many homeless people have a visor and a vodka tonic, and a baby, but he did tell them they could shell out a little for his oceanfront room at the casa marina resort-homeless phil, call him anytime! Funny, the other phil, just as cool, from Reno, fishes with Hook em Dano in key west every year, gave me his biz card and wrote his cell phone on it and said to mike and i, 'hey call me anytime' we laughed so hard, it must be a 'philly thing to say'
Back in the swing of work in Charleston SC now though, mike is completing the house to sell, I am slinging shoes, and well, its weird not waking up or falling down with capt mike, capt tony, or capt morgan-those guys were my life for 10 days!
Anyway, we take a short hiatus from the tournament trail now, next stop,
oh no Key West again, March 1-4, SKA Pro Tournament, every year key west hogs breath has been our 'groundhog' if we did well in that tournament, we sucked all year long, but when we came back disappointed from it, we rallied for the overall season,
so we will keep that positive spin going!
more pirates and pillaging a'comin' folks, stay tuned,
and thanks for playing!

Karma is King

you would think with seeing a day like this, our luck was gonna be good! All time high on positive vibes on the boat as we ran 83 miles to fish, calmer seas, knew we were gonna win. First bait in the water, SMACK, the fish ran three times, strong and forward, but we did not get turned around quick enough as the line melting off the reel,
he had 400 yards of line, and circled back putting a bow in the line underwater in 100 feet deep, the light line broke from the increased pressure!
Rats! but then our good buddy Darren on Rat Pak hooked on, 52 pounds to take third place for the weekend, Hey, that used to be OUR slot! If it can't be us we are happy one of our teams took our spot, 1st place fish 66 lbs also caught next to us. Only casuality except for our feelings being hurt was a floor hatch slammed shut on my left arm as I was getting out a bait and a rogue swell came through. It was, and is, very broken, looks like an egg hatched on my arm, and as many colors as that rainbow, very deep bruise atop that fracture.
My contraband Keene's were very comfy, but I suppose karma was the queen, or king as it was, this weekend.
we did weigh a 39 pounder and got a nice photo of the team in their new shirts!
Oh, and ended up back at capt tony's all night with capt tony and gary the singer, travis, both phils, kelly and dylan,
will tell that story tomorrow when the fog clears!

WHAT A LONG, ROUGH DAY ITS BEEN.....

no pictures of big fish today, or even of fishing, so improvised with the cop and fake arrest shot,
we checked out and went to fish, ran about 16 miles, totally sloppy, we drop lines in and I am holding on just shivering, the wind is houwling, 29 miles an hour northeast sustained, and gusting to 34 mph, a cold wind, blowing the 8 foot waves right up against each other, and then into the boat,
first lines in, we hook a fish, and it takes alot of line, I am at the front of the boat with the rod, jimmyjam is driving at a pretty good clip becuase we were losing alot of line, and the rest of the crew was clearing the other lines in the back,
as jimmy went forward fast towards the fish, the buckets of saltwater just kept crashing into me, and the waves were incredible, it was like being on a surfboard or snowboard, as I kept shifting my weight to balance myself as the boat sloshed from side to side, finally got the fish up and to the boat and it was a small fish, so we re-rigged and did it again,
after three medium fish in the first hour, I was sweating and exhausted!
needless to say, it slowed up some, and we caught fish sporadically throughout the day,
nothing of size, we let everything go
64 and 61 lead the tournament, though they have a bit bigger boat and it was truely not safe for us to attempt to run 80 milels each way in seas and within the 9 hours we had.
Caught a great dinner at el sibonoey, called yesterday for the seafood paella,
it rocked,
another day tomorrow, we will head out minus one member, due to, well, we broke him, it was a brutal day and he has chosen not to go tomorrow as the wind is still howling at the moon!

rough work ahead!

guaranteed to be 'sporty' on day one,
winds out of the east at 20-30 mph,
no where to hide here on east wind,
comes right down the reef, seas should be coming every which way at about 8 - 10 feet every 8 seconds,
would be cancelled prob in any other town!
but here, we are pirates, we go, in any conditions!
up and out at 4:30 am,had the extreme pleasure of phil and kelly and mister dylan on the boat for a short ride from the slip to the fuel dock,
dylan has perfected the southern drawl of
'hhhhheyyyyyyy' or
hiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii,
to people, it is so cute!
good lucks' a comin'

Capt Tony was Here!

Yep,
we arrived at captain tony's to find our good buddy Gary Hempsey playing music, (finally, he no showed half the week!)
then we realized, capt tony was in the house, i went up to the stool they had him propped up on and said, 'do you remember me?' and he said, Yeah, you are the girl I wanted to marry! I laughed and whispered to Kelly that he is quite the dirty old man and bear with it, and at that point, as we went to take a photo, he said, well, I cannot type what he said, but needless to say
the man is 89 now, with an oxygen tank and tubes he connects, and disconnects for a photo or a hug, and only shows up on special occasions, and only stays for less than an hour,
it was an honor to be with such a legend,
'we are what legends are made of' came to mind,
I can only hope if I make it to 89,
I am half as surly and happy to be in this world!
Gary says hey to everyone,
he will be at the golden nugget in vegas during shoe show,
any takers?
wind is blowing a gale,
friday will be an off day of pepe's breakfast and maybe lunch
before the butt kicking begins,
btw,
gary played almost exclusively grateful dead for me,
threw in a few dylan and buffet's to round it out,
tried to play my fave, the easiest song in the world,
'you ain't going now where' but the three chords were too
much, and he went no where with it,
he said maybe by next year he can master it
phil, kelly, and dylan are better than great, and say
'HI' to all
I miss my buds though, missy (britt) steph (jason) on this ritual week on crazy abandonment of rational thinking and horrible singing, lots of dancing, and of course, laughter 24/7 that makes you cry!

whiskey for my men, and beer for my horses

the wind started blowing today, and its only gonna get worse!
went to sloppy joe's and ran into and hung with the director, the FOUNDERS of the SKA (southern kingfish association) and had a blast, they are the most fun, nice people, and Jack is an absolute genius in marketing, I love him, and he has always been a big chip in our game in the fishing world, and he and his wife have been more than kind to us as we started our fishing career.
But then the shit hit the fan!
my crew shows up tonight, with police as my cab dropped me off at the restuarant, and I step out with an open container of beer,
they had a cop show me a wanted sign, with my photo,
and he said , is this you, and I said, yeah, and as I started to shake, I figured out I was being messed with, they put up fliers all over key west tonight,
so I really now am WANTED
I will post the arrest, yes, my hands were behind my back, and the poster and the damage soon. I can only post one picture each post and despite my crews little goofiness,
I have the priveledge of hanging out with some of the toughest, coolest, and most fun guys out there, I know the photo does not do them justice, but I would not do this if I did not have such a great group of solid friends with me,
8-10 foot seas for 12 hours a day-
right-
where's the good part?
it's the friendship,
the commmardary,
the love of life,that keeps us all getting our butts handed to us my mother nature and luck every weekend!
Onward to a win!

What a difference a day makes!

WOW, what a gorgeous day we had on the water~
flat seas and warm temps~
running down the marquesa islands in the crystal clear green water~
didn't catch a big enough king on light tackle, but had a great time~
did manage to spend about 45 minutes battling a giant thresher shark,
was glad I have lifted some weights this winter, and
had worked my arm out the night before at captain tony's with
some amstel light curls,
by the end of the battle, it felt like someone was taking a sledgehammer
to my lower back!
Wind is picking up and it promises to be a challenging remainder of the week.
But I am blending in with the locals pretty well now,
got some sun,and hair is blond and dreading~
looking forward to be joined by phil, kelly, and dylan, as well as the rest of the guys tonight!

island of criminal behavior

well, they call key west the place for criminals and people hiding out, and after not even a few hours here, I could be charged with 3 counts of 'stuff'
my day started at boaters world, picking up supplies to fish tuesday, trying to break a line class record for IGFA, I saw these COOL sandals, flipflops with a toe cover made by Keene, and they were pink and in a size 36 and on sale! So I took them to the counter, with a bunch of other things, needless to say, the checkout girl had trouble ringing stuff up, finally figured it out (new computer system right stef!) and the guy bagging the merch did not bag my cute little tiny shoe box, so I put it under my arm and left.
I realized later in the day that the bill was a little 'light'
yep, susan stole a pair of shoes, GRREATTTT!
As I a feeling like a schmuk, I go back the boat up at the ramp, and also assist some of the guys that were having difficulties, I can back up a big truck and trailer better than most guys,
going forward is another story. Apparently when I took the truck and trailer back to the marina, could not get it in the tiny space perfectly, so to avoid problems, I decided the best thing to do would be a donut and just slide it in next to the fencing.
Didn't realize how big a donut a Ford F350 Dually with a 40 foot trailer would be, and I clipped the fence, and pulled it all down. I quickly looked around, unsure if I had really done it, then looked to ask, no one was around, the few people that were said they saw nothing, so okay, maybe i was not the one that pulled the fence down, maybe it just fell on its own. I went back to the hotel and found remnants of the fence on my bent up wheel wells of my trailer and figured it out.
I had now shoplifted, done damage to private property, and left the scene of an accident, and the thought of Key West jail was very frightening. I went back to the marina, with my head hung low, and told the owner that i knocked down the fence with my trailer, he has known me for ten years and just laughed, and said, its not my fence, no body saw nothing, this is key west, it never happened. Okay great! So we will see, but I start this season with my old nickname I had Finally gotten rid of KRASH KAMINSKY.
had an awesome cuban sandwich at my fave restaurant
'el sibonney' laughed a bunch, i swear a john candy re-incarnate was sitting behind me!

southbound...........

heading south later today, 15 hours of driving, pulling the boat down the super slab I 95
always an interesting trip!

Go Fishing!

Welcome To Loose Lucy Fishing Team Site!

Key West Florida 

Hogs Breath Tournament Key West Florida

Tournament begins January 28-30
Can't wait for warm weather, calm seas, and big fish!