It was all such a mess that I didn't get out of town 'til the worst of the tide, at 4 PM I hit the road to the LH [St. Mark's Light House]: High tide was at 3:50 so it was slack tide. But I didn't care. Jerry's was closed, so I had no bait. But I didn't care about that either.
I had to be home by around 8 PM for Birthday Dinner #2 [oldest son coming into town, missed yesterday's #1], so time was limited. But I didn't care about that either. I was all good for this fishin'-deprived fool!!The ride in the preserve, to the LH, was beautiful, with the sun kinda low in the west. The last time down for me had been the heavy fog day, in mid-winter...
And the launch was easy and the 13'er realy ran well, maybe because I had all the blades on the prop! [I had been running the last few times with 2 and a half, 'stead o' 3.] It was up to 30 mph, per my GPS.
The water was murky out to 12 feet.
So I sat out there and rigged, draggin' my artificial eel on my bait runner; and I did NOT catch a cobia! Then I cast one of the formerly SECRET weapons that Chalk invented: a spinner and jig-head combo. It was fun, and a different feel that just a jig. I had picked a place for no reason, to do this.
The I heard a deep sigh. No, it was an exhale, and a manatee had come up, head completely out of the water. I got my camera out, but he didn't come up again until I put my camera down.
Affer a while I realized there weren't any fish there and decided to motor to a true "spot." Not much time remained, but I hauled booty over to a spot just south of Gray Mare. And I threw that spinner dealy and actually got a couple of strikes, one preceded by a nice swirl, but nothing got ahold. I think I didn't give it time or something, that I should stopped reeling for a second. I was using a dark colored tail and was under a CT [Cajun Thunder, for the lingo impaired].
Then I got that little boat up on a plane and, at 7 PM, I headed for the hill. I went south first to avoid rocks, but loadin' was easy and I was home in Tall'ee by 8:30 and not in any trouble at all. My boy got me a nice fishin' shirt.
Oh, the report: No fish.
Had a blast just "gettin' wet!" And the boat cleaned easy: no pesky fish blood or bait guts to clean up!
But boy, do I have a lot to learn!
glad ya at least got the boat wet and some fresh salt air in the lungs 
