Nationals 2007 - 16th Place Overall and FUN !

So we show up to a few days of super good weather and fun fishing! First day we took Reno Phil and Hook M Dano, our regular pre fish crew from Myrtle Beach/Reno and annual Key West groupies! Had a blast, boat ran great! Day Two had our monkeys, our camera guy Bob, W B O B , he would be shadowing us almost 24/7 for the next five days, filming the Reel-ality Fishing TV pilot, and Jerry, the tech rep from Sebago Shoes. Fun was had by all, caught some fish, caught a bunch of bait, and then saw some amazing sunrise, sunsets! Followed the days of pre fishing with a day of cold and wind, the only brought on a crazy night at the Beau Rivage casino and disco! Sold shoes at the tournament site next day, and began spoofing the other teams, in the way of changing Reno 911 Lieutenant Dangle, into Sarasota 911 Sargeant Mark Maus,
and posted posters all over hotels, elevators, room doors, and handed out at captains meeting. Then Jimmy dressed up in his gorilla suit for the check out day two, and oddly enough, some folks, 'nameless', though bad influence sister Karen showed up, had decorated Mark Maus 'aka monkey man's boat with monkey pinata's, leighs, beach towels, balloons, and more Sarasota 911 posters! All the fun led to a decent fish day one, lots of stories and jokes, and an even better fish on day two for a 34 lb and a 41 lb aggregate to finish in 16th place..Not bad out of 350 boats.
Fun week, all on film, 100 hours of live craziness to be cut into one hour of Reel-ality Fishing TV! Day One also got us a trip to the local ER after fishing, as Capt Mike, now Capt Hook, buried a pair of needlenose rusty pliers into his hand, puncturing it to the point of danger, first thing in the am, so he is on the antibiotic train, and got a tetnus shot and a giant waterproof glove, and of course, lots of sympathy from his loyal crew!

Thanks for the luck, my sister Karen showed up to support and be 'land crew' and we always have fun together, and thanks to Erika in New York for the lucky fish pendant, which I have yet to take off! And thanks to all who ran around the country with us this year, either on the boat, or from your computer, either way, you were with us 100% - THANKS CREW !

Peace Love and Fishing Folks,
off till Key West in January,

Holiday Happiness to all!

smiles-susan

WOW la la land!

Gosh, I am so sorry to be such writing slacker, but there's has been so much happening, I could not stop to focus on any one or two items! So lets just Go:

1. Little River, Myrtle Beach, Final leg of Pro Fishing Tour
arrived a day late due to work issues, had a super crazy week, and just could not
go when I wanted, but I got there, to find a brand new boat, running like a champ,
fast as lightneng (I can't pronounce it, why should I be able to spell it!)
Tournament was hosted by Hook M Dano and got to see him, his lovely wife
Mrs. Hook'M, and newly wed, Travis and Mrs. Travis and that sweet beautiful baby!
Day one went all the way north, till the water almost ran out, boat ran like a
dream, cold though, forgot my boots and socks, so flip flopped my way through the
cool breeze, caught a decent fish, mid 30's for a solid 2nd place going into day 2

2. Day Two, went back kinda sorta, and could not find a decent fish, moved back in
late in the day, and then caught fish, but technical difficulties prevailed,
and I have to say, I, yes Me, threw a temper tantrum. Needless to say,
disapppointment was key, and I could not believe we could not turn this into a win
But I tried to rally, and break a few rods, and then break open the capt morgans.
Gloom Despair and Agony on Me, Whoooooaaaaaa
Deep Dark Depression, Excessive Agony, If it weren't for bad luck I'd have no luck
at all, Gloom Despair and Agony on me.
That's a famous Hee Haw song for you newbies, all and all though, we still ended
up third, and got top this and that in a gazillion other categories, met my sis
and Tiga at the dock, and watched the gloom disappear in the weigh in line.
Good for us, fishing sucked that day, so we remained in 3rd, and won a bunch of
little stuff. Course, I went from sad to happy in the same amount of time it
takes the new boat to go from 40 - 65 mph, and celebrated with my girls, and missy
and britt at the docks. Not a great idea after no food on a boat all day.
Apparently, got a bit wobbly, and went to get my checks, and told Jack from SKA I
would not leave the stage till I was the winner, fortunately, crowd thought that
was funny. Went to bed early and woke up to another year older-ARG! Karen
decorated the condo,and had presents from all, and it was big fun, headed to
Prossers Diner for the day after meal.
3. Hatterass NC
Family Friend Vaca Roster:
family zerwheiss, steph jason and jackson, who was table top baby last year, now crawling and moving!,
Missy and Allison, they love each other! Wi-iiiiiii!
Erica and Chris Robinson, future fishermen of the world tour
Chris and Jan Chase, from Michigan, first time back on the water since the
pavement and he had a serious talk about motorcycles, he did great!
Blue Sky Clan, Phil, the fugitive, Kelly the margarita master, dylan, the clown,
and Jono, the giggle pot!
Eric-farm/business/personal/kayaker/box packer/order taker/suit wearing/non eater/
dark beer guzzlin/friend to us all, and the reason we all work so well together,
the blue glue, in blue sky. NOT the diaper changer though!
Mikey, that's the fun one, and Susan, she's kinda boring, ya know.
Gift bags were upon each door, and presents, and food, and costumes were the talk
of each day, though we rarely got out of the jammies!
Turned the sports bar into an Elvis Shrine,
Thank you very much!

Had more fun then should be legal, spent a few days in ocacroake island first,
hung with the locals, and then headed to hatterass, to find big sharks, and big
winds, only fished a few days,
enjoyed the heck out of the company with though, did a holiday theme each night
for dinner, we picked mardis gras, and had masks and beads, and a seafood buffet
mixed with red beans and rice, and some live neville brothers. Had a halloween
party one night, and all the girls dressed up as 'susan's', hippie susan,
fishing susan, serious susan, they all drank amstel lite and had bad jokes!
A real bonding week of friends and new little ones to our group. Not much fishing,
but lots of relaxing and playing games! and losing money to Jason Z in blackjack,
oddly enough, they were reluctant to let me deal after last year, apparently,
they all said I am an obnoxious dealer who wins too much!

4. Ratdog House Of Blues Myrtle Beach, clan will re-conveine for a little shakey
aiko aiko all day, some cumberland blues, and some black throated wind, loser!
Will be substituting Josh Taylor for the Chase's, they just have too much rhythm
for us hippie dancers! and Erica Buffalo version, that's upstate ny, muskee
fishin', she is the cool relative of Mikey, and an ole friend from Hilton Head!

4. Nationals in Biloxi MS next week, will be posting live, daily, from the super
bowl of fishing event.



Keep in touch,
Keep smiling,
and by all means,
Keep those lines tight!

smiles and tight lines!
sk

Labor Day Anniversaries

Star Log:
Thursday, August 29
Columbia, SC Five Points, oddly enough 'group therapy' my old college stomping grounds,
scene: 15 year anniversary of Loose Lucys Columbia, SC
moved indoors due to weather, a block party city inspired, was moved in to local hangout. Hundreds of folks arrived, to see all Lucy girls adorning new T's, and hippie dancin' to Jen Mac's awesome bluegrassy jam band, outside, with a room,
a terrium of sweaty giggly lucy folks, local business people, old and new customers, friends and family from as far as one of the origninal Lucy employee/hippie/lawyer now, Andrew Kaminsky from L.A., that's california you fishing folks, not Venice!
Crazy lucy inductee, Jan Chase's flight from Michigan got cancelled in Newark NY,
so she will hook up with us via raleigh nc to fish this weekend.
Music was awesome, family and friends and laughter prevailed.
Quite an accomplishment for my crew and customers.
My 'family' of Lucy people is as close to me as my blood relatives,
they have been there in thick and thin, happy and sad.
It was a good happy day.

Friday, August 30
scene: 7 am came too early, as we rallied at the hotel sports bar, till, well, late, or very early, depending on your particular view. Red Bull and Vodka has a tendancy to keep you awake till late, but I bounced out of bed at 6:15 am, ready for some breakfast and a day adventure.
When I finally got to myrtle beach to get my borrowed boat, and the three diet mountains dews and 4 excedrin were still not keeping me up, I hit Prossers Diner for some of the best chicken I have ever eatin! The bbq chicken melted off the bone, filling my vodka filled stomach with some greasy protein, don't get no better than that, till you tried the southern fried chicken, the green beans, and the peach cobbler, load that up with a vat of homemade southern sweet t-I was ready now!
C'mon fish!
Loaded the boat in the heat, sweating out the beer and booze from the night before in the stagnant hot air, drove north to carolina beach and found young nicholas chase, Jan Chase from michigan, and Senor Chase, from now on referred to as 'Pops'
we loaded the boat with chris chase water (that miller lite folks!) and we headed on a yellowfin adventure up the water way to morehead city nc. It was an unbeleivably beautiful ride, amazing houses, yard giraffe's the size of Texas, and sun, cold beer, and friends. We arrived, tried to catch some live bluefish as the sun faded in the north carolina skies, the smell of fall and fun and fishing dominating the crisp humid free air. We then quickly checked in our abode, as morehead city rolls up the sidewalks at dusk, we hurry to our rooms, drop our gear and head on foot, to the closest yummy steakhouse. We hurry down the street, and oddly enough, a big black cat crosses our path as we are walking down the middle of the desolate road, of cute little history homes admiring their likeness to old key west, and huh, there's a cat, and he's black, young nicholas pointed it out, as I tried to hush him as capt mike is very supersticious, but too late, we all saw it, and gloom covered us. Gloom was quickly covered by laughter as we met with Forest Taylor and his super cool young'in Josh, and as we drank beer and capt morgan and mike the margarita man enjoyed not running car or boat for a few hours, THEY drank Royal Flushes, a mean drink even I would not attempt, but young'in Josh is just out of college and has those belushi animal house ways still, poor Forest did not stand a chance. RUN FOREST - - RUN ! !
We ate some sushi sashimi and steaks and burgers, and told every knock knock joke i know, too many that's for sure, and then We sent them an order of banana bread for luck (ha ha ha ha ah )KNOCK KNOCK? who's there? SUE ! sue-who? SUE-PRISE ITS ME!
and we watched them stumble to the Cab for the 2 block walk that forest could not walk, and Jan, Nicholas, and I set forth to catch some live bait, we sat at the dock and rigged little hooks with finger mullet and put on the portable ipod and sat with Josh, as Forest had passed out in the room, and told stories and dirty jokes, and laughed and drank beer till the night became the next day.

Saturday, Sept 1
Scene:
2 hours after we laid down our heads, the alarm went off to get up and go fishing-how can that be, it was only 4:20 am ! We were all wicked tired, but excited, we knew the fishing would be nothing short of excellent today, so we were going to go out before sunrise and catch some live bluefish, live bluefish + determination = big fish! We were ready, effort equals results would be our motto of the day!
Less than an hour into the run through the nc outer banks creeks in the dark, we ran aground, following other boats,
we quickly dumped fresh water on our live bait, and ran the engines out till we came out of the mud, and got back in good water, the many hurricanes have messed up the waterways, silted them up to the point, even GPS, the most accurate navigational equipment, (global positioning satellite) could not pick the perfect 10 yard path through these cuts, whhheeeewwwww, we were nervous, but we got out of it quickly, and as we ran of of the last of the many bends through the back creeks, we followed too closely to the boat ahead, and when he yelled on the radio, don't follow me, go right, we did not hear, and we hit, we hit hard, as the engines all stopped at 40 mph, to the sound of sand and mud and skeges, we went sailing into a sand bar just below the sea floor, and buried the giant 36' deep hull yellowfin, tim chase jumped out to see how deep it was (or wasn't!) and when he landed in the murky water,
he was only ankle deep!
We were high and dry with an incoming tide, we would have to sit:
12,000 pounds of boat plus fuel, livewells, and passengers, adding up to a mountain of weight on the sand, we would sit till at least noon when the tide hopefully comes up enough to break us free.
The crew, though, was of course, disappointed but knowing this stuff happens, laughed and joked about it, and we all conjured up ideas of how to get out sooner.
Our buddy Big Bird came to rescue, it was still only 6 am and we had not left the inlet, so we could acquire outside help without being disqualified, so he attached ropes to the boat and Tim swam them over to his boat, and we tried to yank us off the sand bar,
it sounded like stretching metal but the cleets heldfast and the ropes extended to the yank of 900 horsepower, and then like a rifle shooting as the ropes exploded in the stress and came flying back in pieces to both boats. The boat itself tipped up so far in the spin as he pulled up, we all had to run, and fall, to one side, as we were nearly sideways with the small seas, up on one side. It was Mr Toads wild ride at Disney, but reality style, and Nicholas just kept laughing sayiing, wow, that was so scary and so cool!!!!! and it was both~!
Finally, the clock rang 6:30 am and we sent the Big Bird flying, and we decided to wait it out for the good water.
We are not patient people.
We waited, and then figured, its only 12,000 pounds plus,
and everything is lighter in water,
we could maybe rock it and push it the 30 yards we needed to get to deep water,
captain skeptical was all that, but still willing to try, and oddly,
not killing any of us yet.
we all stripped to swimmies and jumped in the water,
and started rocking in a pirate yelling 'arg' theme,
back and forth, left rock arg, right rock arg,
and rocked again, then 1/2/3/ PUSH !
and we moved it about an inch,
so we continued this for 30 minutes, moving the giant ride inches at a time,
then when the water got deep enough that I and Jan could not push anymore without sinking,
we climbed back up to the boat, and powered the Big Beast out of the sand.
WOW-we felt strong !
we then caught bait right away, and went out to sea to fish,
but in reality,
really all we did was 'sea a fish'we were trolling around lots of bait,
and then, from the steering of the boat, I saw a shadow,
and then Mike did the same,
we started yelling, there's a big fish,
he fed back the short bait,
the same bait Tim had just commented that was acting 'nervous'
we could all SEA the Fish,
he just layed there, looking at the beautiful north carolina double
giant pogey rig,
and not eating it.
WHY ?
WHY ?
WHY ?
we tried everything, this fish just treaded water for many minutes,
licking the bait, but not eating it.
How does that happen, this was the most lazy, slackest predatory fish
any of us had ever seen! They are supposed to ATTACK !
But certainly, it was only about 8 am by now, we had all day to get a fish,
any weight,
YEP.
all day.
we weighted.
we ran everywhere, trying, looking, fishing, hoping.........
rough seas prevailed, with positive attitudes aboard,
and the boat ran like a champion,
but no win,
no fish.
we did tell more jokes, and laugh, and talk seriously about life and such.
and then we ran the waterway home.
disappointed is an understatement.
we needed any fish to proceed, to continue our lead in this small division,
but it was not meant to be.
I think I wanted it too much, for Nicholas junior angler,
for Pops, senior angler, dad to Tim, and gramps to Nicholas,
and of course for Tim, Captain Chase,
the other Chase, but just as lovable, and a true family man.
I felt so at home with this family,
and on a weekend where I was remembering my own dad,
as I watched Nicholas and Tim, and Tim and Pops,
interact,
they really enjoy each others company, and fishing together.
It was heartwarming and real, and though we did not catch the fish we
needed,
family bonds were created that will last a lifetime,
and beyond.
I remember my dad loved coming to tournaments,
and always of course, smiling,
no matter how I did, he smiled and said,
'Runt, you did great'
and he meant it,
great meant living life, enjoying life, and trying your best,
but still smiling when things did not work out to your
expectations.
I love and miss my dad, and every Labor Day weekend,
I remember him, no one labored more than he to take care of his family,
it is ironic that he would die on the same day,
and no one smiled more, no matter what, and stayed positive.

I see him in many of my family members,
as well as my Lucy family of friends,
and many other close friends in my life,
in every smile, he is here.


peace, love, and family.
susanK
P.S. Stay away from black cats!

Divide and Conquer!

Well, this weekend we had to 'divide and conquer' in the fishing world,
unfortunately, no one advised the stupid fish of that!
Mike had to go to Beaufort to fish the FLW Pro Event on Fish Fever, the team he has fished this entire season on FLW tour with,
and I was going to fish 'Fishing for Miracles' with my good buddy,
the one, the only,
monkey man. He flew from sarasota, fl, wednesday, and we enjoyed a fun day pre-fishing thursday, just mike, mark, and myself,
I mean, the bear, the monkey, and boo boo. After a late night of sushi and saki, we left the dock by 6 am, and had a great day, though a little rough, we hooked a giant beautiful sailfish, my first sail catch ever,
and not an easy one, he was not hooked in the mouth, but the hooks were in his bill,(Duck walks into a bar and says, bartender gimme me a cold beer, just put it on my bill!)
he must have danced across the water 50 times, and was more than squirrely when I finally got him to the boat on the little #4 hooks, which did not seem so little when as Mark Monkey tried to safely release the hooks from the bill and let the beautiful creature return to the safety of the water, one of the trailing hooks came around and buried itself in his thumb, as the sailfish thrashed, the hook buried deeper to the knuckle, and as the monkey thrashed in OW's! he yanked in back out, but THAT's gonna hurt later. We caught some mediocre kings, and then came upon a pod of spanish mackerel on the run in, so we started casting and running planors to catch them to keep as big baits for the tournament. We finally got enough to split between both teams fishing, and as we were fixing to get ready to leave, one of the spanish as also being unhooked, turned and bit Mikey Bear, his razor sharp teeth quickly carved up filet of finger. Don't Poke the Bear, and certainly, don't try and Eat Him! But these animal captains are tougher than most, so they both just gritted their jowls and decided to grin and bear it.
Day One, rough, windy, and windy and rough. Crew of myself and capt monkey, one of my staff rachel P, never been on the boat before, and a regular fly in buddy for many tournaments. We took a beating where ever we went, and finally stayed in one spot after not finding fish at the first few, and two boats hooked up good fish, but we only had one good run, a reel good run, but somehow the fish let go of the bait, all we retrieved was a very large bait, with a very large, BIG bite mark of a kingfish. Mike and his team weighed in a mid 20's, not great but at least a weighable fish, our 11 ish we will be eating later this week! But no one got sick, and desite a few minor probs in the learning curve with the new folks, we had alot of fun, and spent the evening at the tiki bar laughing with other teams till we cried, and then went to bed by 10 pm.
Day Two-much better seas, and thankfully, the monkey and boo boo were already moving slower and cuts, bruises, etc were beginning to arise. New crew day two, of my siser Karen, that's it. We ran to where mike and his team were fishing, as alot of good fish were weighed in from there the first day. Well, no luck, we moved all over, but we just could not catch that break. We had perfect bait, good music, lots of jokes, super foods, and were in the right place, but we just did not have our fish catching mojo working. We had fun though, and got back, washed up the ride, and ate a big meal and had mojito's at the hot tub to ease the now, really aching pains, muscles, and vertibre we re-arranged on day one.
But we did not fail from lack of trying, we did all we could do, but it just was not meant to be.
Taking a week or so off, new boat will be ready soon, if not, still have the Monkey ride as long as we need it. A very nice gesture, to not only let us borrow it, but to come up and help.
More soon!
Peace, love, and fishing!
hey hey boo boo signing out.........

Bear-ly a Big Fish!

Well, we caught a 25.91 in the Charleston Tournament,
might go over $5000 in donations directly to Hospice of Charleston,
it will be a few weeks before we get all the monies in and tally it up,
but it was,
well,
UNBELIEVABLE!
You all added up to alot,
and more than you know for so many people.
went from that tournament to Vegas Shoe Show,
yada yada,
it was a big week, lots happening,
but I only wanted to get back to the fish.
Unfortunately, my flights were late, and I got in,
just in time to hit the water,
and the rain,
and the wind,
and the seas.
ARG!
Rough and nasty and fishless were the adjetives of the weekend,
and then when it was dry, it was hot,
hot as hot could be,
the bright light was my sis, Karen,
bringing Sampson, my VW convertilbe home to St Simons,
we met my mom on the super slab of I95 as we headed home,
after a night of incredible live local bluegrass and homegrown sunsets,
to a cracker barrel breakfast as we crossed paths as she headed to Disney
with the grandkids, and we went north and home.
FYI
that Bear in costume is crazy Scott,
some of y'all know him,
Hary Dary is his name,
bear costumes at shoe show is his game,
FYI-I
also the 'i am here for your massage guy'
inside joke, las vegas sin city,
if you get it, hee hee,if you don't,
please,
please,
do not ask.........
Back to back weekends of fishing,
will keep the posts up,
and as always, fun stuff in between.
More on all that as it goes.........
keep listening,
keep the faith,

peace love and fishing to all!
sk

Charleston Kingfish Classic-FISH WITH US !

A big challenge to all you blogger folks,
join us this weekend to fish a one day, local event,
here in Charleston SC.

Proceeds from the tournament will benefit Hospice of Charleston,
but we can do better than that.

Please join Loose Lucys and Footloose who will donate $10 per pound of
the weight of our weigh in kingfish,

We only ask that you meet us with $1 per pound,

together, those one dollars can add up to alot.

We will be doing a live radio remote, and hopefully other local
businesses will join us.

Thanks as always for your support!

smiles-
susan and Loose Lucy Fish Team

Crawfish 'n Crawgators-PHOTO IN the fish we DIDN'T weigh

Fourchon, Louisiana

Crawfish to Crawgators----
Don’t’ get no better than that……


This will not be short, but keep in mind, I am leaving out A LOT of stuff,
Lets just concentrate on the fishing aspect first, and sea where it goes.

Pro Event,
we are in the back of the pack in the pro’s,
so just plan on winning it,
points will prob not do us that much good, but cash will.
Day one awoke at 2 am with a high fever,
apparently loads of folks showed up there earlier in the week with a virus, and I somehow ran myself down enough to catch it,
re:new Orleans a few days before????,
I tossed and turned with fever and naseau till 4 am, then fell asleep on the bear, literally, on the bear.
But it helped me sleep, for the remaining hour,
yeah, I was delirous, for the remaining hour,
but I got on the boat, quietly and tried to will it out of me.
I rallied at check out, as we had 5 foot blow up big bird balloons for our good buddy Big Bird, (CK Blanton, chris, buddy, electronical genious! man of many names!)
crancked up the sesame street live cd, and tossed big bird t shirts, and swim rings
(for safety of course)
to them, and we all danced around the boat to the sesame street theme with our giant big bird balloons-very funny,
very, very funny!
as we all put up our stuff to go check out, we bumped up towards another boat and it was Team Donzi,
our friends
Dan Upton,
master of the boat building business,
Jack Woods,
the master of winning kingfishing,
and
Cammo,
the master of having a good time.
They laughed at our antics, and Cammo walked up to the bow of the boat, and blew me a kiss and did the ceremonial king fish wave to our team, the
‘catch a good one, and have fun’
wave,
and I bowed my head to him, as he smiled his big ‘ole smile.

We ran a long way, and stopped to catch bait, I participated for a dozen or so blue runners, then as I struggled with them I struggled with the fever,
Fever attacking the extreme heat and humidity,
I tried to shake it off, but then the beautiful shiney sun turned black with sparkles and broke into a million swirling pieces,
as I started to faint, my boys set me down, got me water and told me to take a time out.


I flushed water, Gatorade,aand Tylenol all morning, and fought fish when I could,
but nothing like some big fish to make you feel better. Finally about 1 pm my fever broke, tnd the heat chills subsided,
though still weak I was feeling so much better,
and gladly,
we then got into some really big kings and monster wahoo.
We found a spot where kings were diving out of the water like Jiffy Pop-it was way cool.
We had caught a 40ish fish, and were just still trying for one a little bigger, and enjoying the effort, it was a pretty scene.

With 30 minutes left in our day, we suddenly
saw and heard the water explode,
as a super big king skied up out of the water, missed the bait, but as he flew sideways we saw every inch of him,
wow,
he looked big,
but its hard to tell, they all look pretty big when they surprisingly sail through the air,
so Mike perfectly and calmly fed back the bait to him again, and then
WHAM,
he came up again, this time in the opposite horizontal direction,
this time getting the second hook perfectly lodged in his mouth,
but not to his knowledge, he retreated back in the water,
and
CA BOOM
came out for a third time, this time, heading straight at us,
blistering out of the water like a bullet,
bait flying in the air inches from his mouth, as he swallowed it,
but he was so big and long, and so high up in the air,
and so determined to eat that bait fish,
that he was heading airborne straight for our transom,
as we watched, his tail wagged twice, back and forth,
like he was propelling himself through
the wind like he would in the water,
super duper cool,
and he was even cooler as he hit the deck and slid into the fish bag, and

THEN,

he did not fit,

how pretty is that!

his entire tail had to be zipped around,
He was skinny, but the longest fish we have ever boated,
We high fived and made the long run home,
But not without incident,
We ran into oil pressure problems,
as the seas had gotton big, and we were more than a little bouncy
and almost 900 horsepower powered though the 5 foot gulf slop,

By the time we go to the weigh in line, we were down two flippers (engines) with 10 minutes to spare, we made it but-ARG!

Yes,
51.81 pounds,
2nd place after day one,
Right on.
Only boat ahead-crawgator, local cagun oil fishin’ guru
-the dali lama of loiusiania-this guy is GOOD!

But we can, and will, take him out.
Rule number 74-never take second place!

But also weighed in, between the euphoria and the sadness,
Great fish-bad day,
but a bunch worse for a lot.
As we found out a dear friend, and a friend to many dear friends,
A person who has just smiled and waved,
That would be Cammo on Team Donzi boat,
Left the rest of us and took a journey,

And we will see him, and feel him,
In fishing infinity.

Long story short, not really……

Scottie B worked on boat till after midnight,,
He and we,

Crossed our fingers and set out first thing in the am.
Could feel the win,
Felt 1000 % better,
Had slept for 4 hours,
Felt refreshed and flu-relieved.
The only remaining fever,
was the fever of the win!
It was Time,
To Finish what We Started.

As we diverted our competition,
We lost another flipper,
ARG,
We could not travel such a way, in such a remote area,
With anything less than 100%,
We had to get home safely,
And Captain Safety,
Said,
No go,
If we lose the other weak engine,
We won’t get home till next week,
We were gonna play it safe,
Limp around,
And find and fish or chalk up another to bad luck.
Not that it had been good so far, ‘cept for one big fish.

Still determined,
We kept on strong,
Discouraged, but determined.
We caught little fish,
And kept moving and jumping rigs,
And trying to find that ONE fish we needed.

By the time we got to the end of the day, we were back at 1 ½ flippers,
Blew one engine out completely,
And showed up at another somber weigh in.
We scored a 36 ish,
Not the 48 we needed to take the prize hone,
But based on our handicapps, and the bite was slower day two (thank fish gods!)
We were not hurt as much as we could have been.

Won 5th and a bunch of others.
Chelsea, thanks for the monkey bank that I said I would
fill with winnings this week.
Did I forget to mention at weigh in day two,
The boys decided to tell Captain Happy that they wrecked the truck last night,
His truck,

Not the best timing, but it had to be done.

Not that HE had not done the same thing earlier in the week on the way to the tournament,

‘I’ve a very good driver, I get to drive in the driveway on Sundays’

Well,
It took the heat off ME for a minute or a day.

But, as always,
I missed my friends,
Especially the Chases’ who had planned on fishing this event with us,
And my other friends,
But as I hugged, laughed, and cheered,
With many of my other friends,
And made a few more,
go figure,

I remembered one of my favorite songs,

Don’t worry,not gonna sing it,
love y’all too much for that!
But read it, and feel it.

‘TAKE A LITTLE TIME,
FOR SUNSHINE,
TAKE A WHOLE LOTTA TIME FOR LOVE,

TAKE TIME TO THANK,
HEAVEN UP ABOVE,

TAKE YOUR LIFE,
AS IT WILL COME,
CUZ BOY IT WILL BE GONE SOON,

TAKE A LITTLE TIME
FOR HOWLIN’ AT THE MOON! “

Sam Bush

So probably the longest,
and most boring post,
but know how much you all mean to me-

Peace, love, and fishing.
susanK

a pirates life for me........

'going where the climate suits me clothes'
I know I have used that before, but it just fits.
So I hopped in a truck with a buddy, and trekked out of west palm, heading to key west, yes not really planned, but here's to living in the moment.
He had to film a possibly 7 species fishing show for Cabella's and needed a driver,
I felt like the chick in Forest Gump, when the guy pulled up in the VW microbus, and said, anyone wanna go to san francisco? Yeah!
I got in the car and went. Mike carried the boat home and hopped a flight to come meet us, while a super unusual substropical storm was churning around the nc and sc coasts, we got blown out on tuesday, and mike and I enjoyed a key west afternoon, with a late waking up, a nice lunch, and happy hour at the pool bar and a sunset (can never see too many of those in key west!) We stumbled to the condo to meet the rest of the additional crew of cameraman, AlaBama ! could not understand a word he said, and I had just come from a week in wilkesboro nc at a bluegrass festival in the mountains where it was ALL redneck-speak, talk slow and add 4 syllables to every one-it was pure country prairie jibberish! I decided to join him in some dark rum, maybe it would make more sense that way,
the second member of the add-crew, was a fellow fisherman, a legend in south florida and tortuga fishing, a man above water, able to leap waves in a single bound, it was, it is, a man I had rarely met before, but his reputation proceeded him,
he is, da da da dummmmmmm INVINCIBLE MAN Rob Hammer!
It was officially Hammer Time.........
As we drank rum and formulated a plan of attach to wind and water creatures,
the three of us who were drinking the rum talked to two sober boys into just going to the tortugas and staying the night,
we would save 80 miles of running per day, more fishing time,
blah blah blah.......
our boy scouts in charge were nervous, they had not prepared for this,
we need supplies they said, so we all wrote down three necessary things,
mine were rum, beer, and flashlights,
our fearless capt monkey uncomfortably agreed to the boisterous wishes of rum drinkers, we each headed out with out lists.......
I forgot the flashlights, so I doulbed up on the rum, and headed to duval street to hang with friends at Capt Tony's, (no Capt Tony that night or we might have added oxygen tank to the list and brought him along!)
Although I was one of the three rum drinkers, mike had become mikeey that night, as about a dozen margarita's were entertaining him, we stumbled up and down duval street to get our supplies, and found our way back to the westin for some ice cream and some sleep. The ice cream was awesome and I could not sleep, I was way too excited to go-I would be 80 miles south of key west, check that out on a globe,
in the middle of nowhere, a dream with a million stars above my head,
to be one with the fish of the day and the stars of the night.
As I packed my heavenly bed from the westin to sleep on the boat
(a princess has to be comfy....)
we took two boats, for safety and better video, its fairly rough and nasty but cleared up great by mid day, once we stopped the boat, I recorded in my mind,the begining of one of the most amazing day in my life.

chapter whatever....
we pulled up to a shrimp boat, anchored, and asked to barter beer for by catch, as we pulled up to these 'pirates' we passed buckets of buds, in exchange for fresh 'trash' of chum, it was very exciting to me, these guys looked just like the dudes from Pirates of the Caribean, you know the guy with the wooden eye,
just like them, and we were cautius and ready to get out in a second, but it set the mood for the day that would be more like an ernest hemingway story, than an actual day in my life. I wanted to take photo's of them, closer up, but I dare not, for safety sake, not the best place for a girl and didn't want to know what barter that would bring. We took the chum and went on, then pulled up to another shrimp boat that Hammer knew, and we chunked chum out the back of it and the boys jigged up the most amazing school of black fin tuna, they were diving out of the water, and giant, I mean GIANT porpoise protecting them, I drove as the boys created some awesome footage, Mike was about 1/2 a mile away, driving the da da da dum INVINCIBLE boat, and enough film was shot, Mark let me hook up two or three tuna's in a row, and wow, that's a fight! It was awesome! I put a hurtin' on them, as they did me, but it was way cool and they were way cool as they hung on ice-fisherman 10 tuna 0. So then we did the same thing a bit away with kingfish, we got a few mediocre ones, then it got flat, seas and bites, so we waited it out with telling stories, and telling jokes, ya know, captain monkey loves the jokes! All the while we were just goofing, we kept looking over to Capt Mikeey, about 1/4 miles away in the da da da dum INVINCIBLE, and he was fighting fish after fish, right and left, with no crew, no live bait, and only two hooks, and no drinks-we kept calling him on the radio asking what's up, he would only answer with 'nothing to see here folks, just catching some stripers!' It was too funny, his mojo was on, hmmmm.
We finally caught some monster kings and got to use the underwater camera, should be some awesome footage!

Yes, it continues.........take a break, use the restroom......
an incredible day of fishing, and then we start to head in as the sun slowly starts to fade in the west, we pull up to fort jefferson. Its a former prison, an Alcatraz in the east, federal regulations keep you from pulling right up to the docks, so we stop just short and swim our gear and tents and coolers in, wading with supplies above our heads. Hammer, da da da dum, mr INVINCIBLE, quickly hurries us to the rum and a quick tour, although the park is closed, and gladly,
he knew every detail, like a trained historian, we snuck in and learned a history lesson in the crimes and criminals of the bunks, including john wilkes booth, horrible crimes of history, put off to rot in a most sacred beautiful place,
to rot in the sunshine and die-what's up with that? Hardly punishment to fit the crime, it was more than amazing, in less than a week I had traveled and learned stuff in two different points of reference, the mel fisher pirate museum on my off day in key west, and now ft jefferson, WOW i felt smart!

I then enojoyed a steak dinner, and more rum and stories, and the most amazing sinking sun I have ever seen, it hit in a cloud, lighting up each protruding beam of light, it looked like angels reaching from the sky to the water, then when it came out of clouds for its final descent into the ocean, it looked like maybe two balls of fire, sinking into the waters of the night.

Then it all started to come together,
the fish,
the seas,
the feeling of just doing what you please,
it all came together in a million maybe more, stars,
planets, meteors, jokes, and laughter,
all surrounded byt the roar of the ocean and the surreal
sound of the migrating birds on a dying island.
I felt like I was surrounded in a sea of music, though our ipods did not work,
is was us, and naturally the sea, the sand, the friends and of course the sailboat, adrift maybe 1/4 away, rockin' . When I awoke at 3 am, all was still,
'cept that sailboat, still rockin,
two stones throw away, I went and got a Fiji Water, and sat on the front of the boat, serenaded by the ocean, the birds, and the intermittent sounds of the bear growling in his sleep, and the sound of the boat softly hitting the pylon it was tied to, it was erractic, but smooth, as I sat with my head at a 45 degree angle to the seat, staring at what must have been a dozen shooting stars, not unusual when there are a gazillion (or a brazillion) fo them, I have honestly never seen that many stars, I tried to count them but after two or three times on the fingers and toes, I got lost,
so I just stared, and wondered.

If every person could be this content and happy,
for one day, for one night,
and could see the world, the people and animals in this world
for the beauty they possess,
I think random acts of violence would be as distant a memory as the former inmates at fort jefferson,

the next day, my alarm clock of rolling tarpon by the boat,
and giant, I mean GIANT Jewfish under the boat (see photo)
made me jump up, and again we did the shrimp boat thing, more pirates, more chum, and then we went site casting to permits,
wow, that's a strong fish, my aches and pains from those tuna's on the previous day were surfacing, as the small yet forceful and powerful permit, took us all to school, we finally landed some and wrapped up the day.

I expect all who read this to pledge,
come away with me,the this newest, and oldest place,
and most fantastic place.

PS
I did get a new nickname
Bobo, as in Mike the Bear is Yogi,
his sidekick apparently is Bobo,
got to check THAT out....

PSS
I cannot even put into words, though i tried,
the experiences and memories I captured in the last few days,
I do not know where to begin the thank you's to the people
that made it happen, made it real, and made it so special
my eyes were opened to how considerate and real people and nature can be.
And how strangers can become a part of your life through a common bond.

zig or zag ? ? ? ? ? ?

So West Palm, we zigged where we should have zagged.....
end of story. Weighed a pair of 23's, not so good boss ! ! ! !
Second day we went north, then got called to go east, then got called
to go south so we ran back down now like 100's of miles round trip,
we were acting like true 'fish hunters'
but we caught our 'biggest' fish on day two with less than 15 minutes to spare,
so we did the death defying run back to the scales, made it in time, and
then got ambushed by the retalliating troops on other boats armed with
water balloons gallore! We were hit, hit hard, so as we were unprepared,
we had to resort to gorilla warfare of hose and buckets,
it was on time and very funny!
Amenities were flowing though,
in the form of nice hotel with marina right by checkout,
rocking pool bar with an incredibly good spin on a Mojito,
don't try this at home folks, deadly,
after two I was done, asleep by 8 pm.
Then Karen, ground crew, showed up for second day of fishing and fun,
at least this year now, we have no pressure,
all we can do is improve.....
so off to more interesting adventures......

Moons Over Mi-Hammie

SOOOOOOOOOOOOO..........
SORRY I HAVE BEEN SLACK, BUT C'MON.....
THE WIND BLEW SO HARD IN MIAMI IT ABOUT KNOCKED MY SHOES OFF MY FEET AT THE HOTEL!
Could really not believe they had the tournament,
it was rough folks,
had a great capt's meeting though,
big fun,
then we had an awesome dance party at the dock,
and well,
fishing wise,
we got sh*&t on again,
and Jimmyjam can vouch for that with his escapades at the dock
before we went, dookie down with no bathrooms-arg!
moons over miami tells it all,
rough as snot, ran everywhere,
lost a fish,
yada yada yada.....
drove home, went to allmans in nyc the next day,
had a great time at the Bear, preparty fun,
met some outrageously fun people,
knew most of the security, bartenders, and vip's by nights end,
crazy lovable Tom Cheffo showed up mid first song,
and rallied with me and steph and jason and the brothers till late night,

caught a photo of shea stadium on my way to airport next am,
then got on plane with bill murray (caddyshack) next to me,
I said, hey I am a big fan,
he said of Caddyshack right,
I said hell no, riverdogs baseball dude!
i proceeded to listen to my ipod and laugh out loud to my newest
jimmy buffet book,
till he finally said,
why were you in new york,
i said, allmans brothers at the beacon,
he then said,
what are you listening to,
I said, Elvis-duh!
and went back to my book,
saw him laughing to himself as he fell asleep......

got home and went straight into bridge run madness,
see chelsea run,
run chelsea run.......

all is well though,
spring has sprung,
off to jen's bday,
thank god one of my friends FINALLY caught up with me!!!

lol-
sk