Anybody read Spring Creek Chronicles and

[Steve Sutton]

Spring Creek Chronicles II by Leo Lovel?.....

I know he was very vocal, (and most likely still is), that the Net Ban in Florida was a travesty of justice and good sense, (understandable since it drastically changed his lifestyle), so before I read them I thought I'd ask if they were "more than" just the rants of a pissed off ex-mullet netter.....not opposed to some of that in the books but hopefully there is more to the books than that....

Thanks in advance for the thoughts....

Steve

[RCS]

Steve, I think you'll enjoy them.

[fishfalcon]

Read all of the books. There are a lot of great stories. He does complain about FWC and the net ban at times, but that is not the focus of the books. Even some of us have been known to complain about seasons and bag limits every once in a while....

[reelhandy]

I read them both. I liked the first book better than the second, but they both have good stories.

[Salty Gator]

There are some good stories, but he isn't the most ethical of game takers. Doing want to spoil anything but there are some stories of poaching and taking deer with birdshot that turn my stomach a little. I enjoyed them, and appreciate the truth even if it's against what I believe. If you want a better read with better hunting, fishing and general conservation told by an r credible writer, check out The Old Man and the Boy by Robert Ruark. It is an absolute home run.

[bman]

They are very enjoyable!

[MudDucker]

I read all of them. Great reads and for an old fart like me, took me back to those times in my childhood on the coast.

[EddieJoe]

There are some good stories, but he isn't the most ethical of game takers. Doing want to spoil anything but there are some stories of poaching and taking deer with birdshot that turn my stomach a little. I enjoyed them, and appreciate the truth even if it's against what I believe. If you want a better read with better hunting, fishing and general conservation told by an r credible writer, check out The Old Man and the Boy by Robert Ruark. It is an absolute home run.

Agree with the above from Gator. Good stories about the early days on this coast, but poaching isn't an admired family tradition in my family. Some folks like the idea of someone giving the finger to "the man", no matter what the outcome may be. In the olden days, you could do a lot more poaching and there would still be some left for next time, until there wasn't. Kind of like hunting for ducks on the Chesapeake Bay with big guns that took hundreds at a time and selling them down at the corner. After a while, the birds are gone. After a while, the buffalo were gone, etc.

EJ

[countrycorners]

I thought they were worth my time

[DEMON]

I've met Leo on several occasions. He's a really nice & interesting guy. I like his restaurant as well. I read the first book years ago and have to say I found it to be too much about making light of poaching and avoiding the law. When it comes to our natural resources, that just isn't humorous to me so I didn't care for the book. I had many other people say they enjoyed it so maybe I'm just too uptight about it.

[Cranfield]

I have read both books and met Mr Lovel at his restaurant and he signed my copy of his first book, he struck me as a very interesting man.
They are a good read and a fascinating reflection on the past.

[CoastalPirate]

I'm actually in the middle of the first one right now and have really enjoyed the stories so far. Someone also mentioned that he owns a restaurant? What is the name of it?
Also, if anyone knows where I can find more Florida fishing stories or panhandle history let me know, Im an avid collector!

[redbelly7]

Spring Creek Restaurant, close to St. Marks. Go west on 98 from St Marks, take a left at next caution light and go a few miles down the road.

[Steve Sutton]

I truly appreciate the responses here.....I'm very interested in the "history" of the area even while feeling the same as many have stated about the "poaching brags"....hopefully the insight and history will over shadow the "old braggadocio" portions of the book....

I'll share a little bit more behind the "reason for asking" since it applies here I think...

I had some knowledge of "who" Leo Lovel was because he was an adversary of my best friend, Mike Wallis from Jacksonville, way back in the "pre net ban" days....Lovel I knew was a major opponent of the ban and Mike a major proponent of it.... Two very vocal and passionate people speaking their minds about what thy thought was the way things should be, who testified publically, and often loudly, including what I remember as an outright IN YOUR FACE personal threat during an open hearing directed at Mike by Lovel, (assuming I remember my stories correctly and I freely admit it might have been someone other than Lovel...after all there were many who saw their way of life being threatened and it, for sure, was not the only "threat" made in that battle).......I had moved to Washington State by that time so what I knew about the fight I got first hand from Mike and second hand from the media so while I am sure that Mike was "threatened", both in hearings and by netters on the water while he was fishing, I could be wrong about who it was that made the actual threat.......

Fast forward to this week and I'm looking at an Upland Hunting website thread about places to go "after the hunt" that are hunter oriented/friendly and an Ohio poster listed Spring Creek Restaurant and Lovel as the owner....the name sounded familiar so I googled it and further search turned up the books.....Mike passed over 10 years ago, taken by the Ocean he loved, and I've long since mellowed and become more tolerant and understanding of "people lifestyles" and wondered if the books would have some cultural significance or be little more than rants about subjects long decided and the flesh turned to bone......figured that if it was the former I'd get ahold of them and risk the spectre of Mike bursting full blown from his watery grave to chastise and punish me for betraying him and if it was the latter then I'd pass and make sure that I told him how noble I had been on my next visit to one of our "spots" where we convene annually for a YooHoo, a whole lot of beer, and to share all that has happened since last we did so.....

Based on the responses here it looks like I'll be taking the risk since the books sound like they have some value beyond the "rant / brag" content that is clearly there....Mike had mellowed a lot in the years between the net ban and his departure so I'm hopeful that if he does "appear" the chastisement will be short and not too unbearable....on the other hand if Dani suddenly reports she has "come into" several boats and a large trove of hunting and fishing equipment you will know that Mike was not pleased and that his chastisement was "not pleasant".....should that happen I'm blaming it on you guys and you should expect "thank you" letters from Dani in the mail....

I'll keep you posted...hopefully...

Steve

[reelhandy]

I read "The Other Florida" written back in 1967 by a woman named Gloria Jahoda. It's a good read and not only shares a lot of history of the Big Bend, but seeing as it was written almost 50 years ago it's a glimpse of the past throughout. Her chapter on Tallahassee is titled " Two Hundred Miles from Anywhere Else". Another chapter is titled " The Riddle of Wakulla County" in which she describes the county as " distinguished even among U.S. poverty pockets", and where "Some newspapers call Wakulla " the coast that time forgot". Others prefer "the county that Florida forgot", and still others, "the place that God forgot". But few of its own people would want to live anywhere else. They are too used to the smell of the pines, the scarcity of the sounds, the blinding heat of the sleepy summers, the gentleness of the rainy winters, and the beating of gulls' and terns' wings over the curve of empty shores."
There are no fishing or hunting stories, but there is a lot of local flavor from a time that was long enough ago to link to times much older, as well as to today.
Leo Lovel would fit in well as a back then to now example, and I'm pretty sure he misses what to him were the good old days, hard as they may have been. People are like that. I like his restaurant and go there most every time when I'm in the area. It's got great food and an "Old Florida" feel that you don't get just anywhere.