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Vacation is No Time for a Break
Have you ever taken a vacation thinking you're going to finally rest? But, it ends up turning out to be the opposite. That's exactly how my Christmas vacation went. Here I had the thought of waking up late, having friends over to play X-Box or perhaps going to see a few movies over my two week break. It turned out that my addiction took over and consumed most of my time, especially those early mornings. It's funny how getting up early for school is so hard to do, but when it's time to rise early in the morning for fishing, it doesn't take much persuasion.
We have a saying that a friend of ours started, "Fish till you puke!" It means fishing till exhaustion sets in or darkness comes. I still remember how good fishing was last year during the same time, and this Christmas break was no exception. I spent some of the time chasing oversize redfish that always seemed to be along the same sand bar every time I went looking for them. These reds were a bit on the exaggerated side weighing anywhere from eight to fifteen pounds, and they were hungry for anything you threw at them. My favorite was watching them blow up on my top water. I can say that I fished for these redfish till I wanted no more part of them as my sore arm had a lot to do with it.
The trout fishing was just as good. I caught many trout in the four to six pounds class. Even though the really big ones eluded me, I know where they like to hang out, and they are just going to have to wait till the weekends. It was sure nice to fish during the week days and not having to worry about taking a test or turning in an assignment.
I also got an opportunity to take the kayaks out. Let me tell you, winter is an excellent time to take the kayaks out when the weather permits. Because of the extremely low tides that occur during the winter, the kayaks allow you to venture where boats can not even attempt to enter.
The kayak trip was planned along with some friends. We set out to paddle a vast shallow flat that looked promising to the eye. From the beginning I separated from the group and shortly found myself paddling in the far corners of this calm lagoon that contained all kinds of feeding birds. The action was pretty slow, but my instincts told me to keep an eye on the birds; perhaps they knew something I didn't. While standing on top of the stable kayak, I drifted very slowly along a shallow bank when I was startled by a pack of coyotes looking for their next meal. I was reminded that this was nature at its best; now all I needed was to see tailing reds. Paddling closer to the birds I began to see redfish tails pop up as to wave, "Here I am." After missing a couple of opportunities, I hooked on to an oversize red that dragged me along for a ride. Here I was all alone in the middle of a quiet, still lagoon being raced across a shallow grass flat by a red that wanted no part of me. As I fought the redfish, I happened to look up and saw a beautiful orange sky line that just made the experience even more rewarding. After landing that fish and several others, I paddled back with a wealth of fond memories.
By then the others were also heading back to the boat as the sun was setting over the horizon. We shared our experiences as we secured everything. The most talked about occurrence during our conversation was amazingly how close the kayaks could get to the redfish without them noticing your presence. In the end a few of us caught fish, but the most important part was that everyone had a great time. Its memories like these that last a lifetime. By now my vacation break is over, and now I am sitting in a classroom wishing I could replay it all over again. Back are the days where getting up early for school are hard, and looking forward to the next vacation is constantly on my mind.
We have a saying that a friend of ours started, "Fish till you puke!" It means fishing till exhaustion sets in or darkness comes. I still remember how good fishing was last year during the same time, and this Christmas break was no exception. I spent some of the time chasing oversize redfish that always seemed to be along the same sand bar every time I went looking for them. These reds were a bit on the exaggerated side weighing anywhere from eight to fifteen pounds, and they were hungry for anything you threw at them. My favorite was watching them blow up on my top water. I can say that I fished for these redfish till I wanted no more part of them as my sore arm had a lot to do with it.
The trout fishing was just as good. I caught many trout in the four to six pounds class. Even though the really big ones eluded me, I know where they like to hang out, and they are just going to have to wait till the weekends. It was sure nice to fish during the week days and not having to worry about taking a test or turning in an assignment.
I also got an opportunity to take the kayaks out. Let me tell you, winter is an excellent time to take the kayaks out when the weather permits. Because of the extremely low tides that occur during the winter, the kayaks allow you to venture where boats can not even attempt to enter.
The kayak trip was planned along with some friends. We set out to paddle a vast shallow flat that looked promising to the eye. From the beginning I separated from the group and shortly found myself paddling in the far corners of this calm lagoon that contained all kinds of feeding birds. The action was pretty slow, but my instincts told me to keep an eye on the birds; perhaps they knew something I didn't. While standing on top of the stable kayak, I drifted very slowly along a shallow bank when I was startled by a pack of coyotes looking for their next meal. I was reminded that this was nature at its best; now all I needed was to see tailing reds. Paddling closer to the birds I began to see redfish tails pop up as to wave, "Here I am." After missing a couple of opportunities, I hooked on to an oversize red that dragged me along for a ride. Here I was all alone in the middle of a quiet, still lagoon being raced across a shallow grass flat by a red that wanted no part of me. As I fought the redfish, I happened to look up and saw a beautiful orange sky line that just made the experience even more rewarding. After landing that fish and several others, I paddled back with a wealth of fond memories.
By then the others were also heading back to the boat as the sun was setting over the horizon. We shared our experiences as we secured everything. The most talked about occurrence during our conversation was amazingly how close the kayaks could get to the redfish without them noticing your presence. In the end a few of us caught fish, but the most important part was that everyone had a great time. Its memories like these that last a lifetime. By now my vacation break is over, and now I am sitting in a classroom wishing I could replay it all over again. Back are the days where getting up early for school are hard, and looking forward to the next vacation is constantly on my mind.