Gone Fishin ...

     One ugly stick, a couple of hooks, a box of night crawlers I bought from a vending machine at Wall Mart and off I went.

                

     Actually I was just planning to stop by to see the iguanas first. I did bring a fresh head of Romaine Lettuce and some Red Grapes in hopes of coaxing them over for a bit of lunch and an upclose photoshoot. But when I got there ...

                

     one of the first things I noticed was that someone had dropped off 30 or 40 loafs of bread as well as several melons and other assorted fruit.

     The next thing I noticed was that who ever the well intended stranger was that was feeding the wildlife, left several loafs of the bread inside the plastic wrapper. This can't be good ... actually it could be down right dangerous if some ravenous critter decided to eat the bread, wrapper and all. 

     I took the loafs out of their wrappers and felt like leaving a note (but didn't) asking that the feeders be more careful next time.

                

     There were actually several people fishing where the iguanas live ... several people fishing means very few iguanas around as you might imagine.

            

     Anyway ... I ventured a little farther than I did last time looking for my green friends and I did find a few. I also saw several curly tailed swifts which have also taken up residence there (swifts are also not natives). And then ...

                 

     I saw something that I have not seen in the wild since I was a little girl, it was a manatee. (yes, Mort ... they really do exist)Normally the winter time is when manatees come inland to warm up. They especially tend to congregate near electrical plants where the waters are at there warmest. Was very surprised to see one in July.

     The two photos below are the best I could do because it stayed just under the surface of the water, moving towards the bank a time or two to take a breath.

     Not sure if these guys are territorial, or if they just keep moving but I do intend to ask around and to check back myself from time to time to see if it frequents this place.

                  

     I did not intend to do any fishing in this location but when I saw the manatee and noticed the other people fishing, I thought I could break in my new rod and reel and wait to see if the manatee came back at the same time.

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     It's been years since I've gone fishing, and really had to sike myself up in advance preparing to put the worms on the hook but the one thing I forgot to take into consideration was the chore of taking the fish off the hook once you caught something.

     The steep bank, shallow water and lot's of dead branchy things for the line to get caught up on did not exactly make for the most inviting location but what really caused me to cut the adventure short was all the little brim that would find themselves on the end of my hook the second I threw it into the water.

     Five or six of these guys in a row, needing to be removed from my hook and released back into the water was enough fun for one outing. This is one thing that was much more fun when my x husband was around.

     I'll try it again soon, but next time I plan to fish off the boardwalk at Loxahatchee sitting on a nice clean park bench instead of in the more primitive setting where the iguanas live.

     My one day vacation is over, it's Monday and time to get back to work. Don't forget our journals anniversary coming up soon. Stop by and visit Viviane HERE to find out how to take part.