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!

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