Storms! Sunsets! Snook!

Hi everyone!

July is an exciting time to live in Florida. You not only have the scorching heat, you get some really fun evening storms. Here are some pics of some recent cloud formations around our house.

Cue the ominous music.

Uh-oh!

It kinda looks like something out of Ghostbusters

Panorama - Oh good, the storm is centered over our house.

Seriously?!

This is what is known as a shelf cloud.

These storms usually look scarier than they are.

So anyway, as you know, last weekend was our anniversary and we went to a place called Armani's at the top of the Hyatt for dinner. The food was overpriced and underwhelming. Not bad, but not great, but they had a beautiful rooftop patio.

Here we are.

And the views from up here were breathtaking.

The sunset was amazing, so I'm going to apologize now for the million pics. Glenn and I were both taking photos and even though it is pretty much the same location every time, the photos are all very different.

Such colors!

Gorgeous!  We had a blast!

So, in other news, Glenn and I got a canoe! It's very nice. We've named it Gene, Gene, the Fishing Machine (that's a reference to Gene, Gene, the Dancing Machine who used to regularly appear on the Gong Show.)

It has seats with backs and nice compartments and is 14.5 feet long. It is pretty light for its size but its still kinda a pain getting on and off the truck.

It's a little far back in this pic. We centered it better when we last took it out.

We took it out on a maiden voyage on nearby Alligator Lake last Sunday. Unfortunately, soon after we got out on the water, one of those darn storms rolled in and we saw lightning and had to hightail it out of there. The good news is, before we left, Glenn did catch a little sunfish. Also good news - the canoe floats!

I predict lots of fishing and picnics with our new canoe.

So today is Friday, July 22nd, and today Glenn and I took off work for one more anniversary/birthday extravagance. We once again booked a charter fishing trip with Captain Stewart Ames. (Thanks, Mom and Dad!)

We left from the marina in Ozona at 7:30 am.

Because the tides weren't really moving yet, we took a bit of a journey over to Clearwater Beach. Our first fishing spot was off of a rock jetty right off of the beach, near the new Opal Sands beach resort, which looks a lot like a big cruise ship. I think it's rather ugly.

Captain Stewart told us that this is probably the last week we could catch snook. Come August, they pack up and leave town. So he said he was hoping for a grand finale. We started catching some and they fight like hell, so it is very exciting, although they weren't very big.

Decent though.

Glenn's first snook! Yay!

Number 2! Glenn caught a third here too, but it was smaller, so we skipped the photo.

Then it was my turn. Whew! I was starting to worry...

Here's the rock jetty we were fishing near - you can see how close we are to the beach.

So after a while, the fishing there seemed to slow down, so we jetted back across the Gulf and headed over to Honeymoon Island. Once again, we were right off of the beach.

Snook like to hang out in the deep pools near these rocky jetties. By the way, in case you didn't notice, it is a BEAUTIFUL day!

We anchored off here, and I started catching up on the fish tally. You'll note the fish start getting a little bigger too.

Yeah, I know. They look alike, but these are all different fish.

I held this one at an angle so I'd know it was another one.

Things were really heating up. And then Glenn's line just started screaming. I wish I had been able to capture some of the fight, but Glenn's phone was in his pocket and I was trying to stay out his way, since Captain Stewart said he had "a monster" on the line.

An epic battle ensued. At one point the fish went under the boat, and we were pretty sure it was either going to snap the line or drag Glenn out of the boat.  But Glenn persisted and managed to land the new family record, a 38-inch 18 lb snook.

I think Captain Stewart may have gotten a better pic of this that I did, because he had Glenn center the fish. If he sends it to me, I'll share it with you. The Captain was super excited and said that Glenn definitely made the newsletter.

Here's another shot of the same beast. I don't know if you can tell, but she is super fat.

Meanwhile, I neglected to mention that a dolphin took up residence right next to our boat, in the hopes of us doing the fishing for him. Capt. Stewart was not happy about the dolphin, in the fear it would scare off the fish, but it was pretty cool seeing it so close. Also, all the swimmers and people on the beach were watching the dolphin. Consequently, Glenn had a very excited audience when he was reeling in the biggest catch of the day.

Say hello to my little friend.

So frankly, after Glenn caught his giant fish, Glenn and I were wiped out. Lots of adrenaline going. But we were not done. Not yet.

At this point I am really hoping I don't get a big one like Glenn did.

Whew - fortunately, this guy wasn't too huge, but he did put up a good fight.

What a pretty fish!

At this point, our four hours were about up, and my arms were shaking, but Capt. Stewart was hesitant to leave. We'd just throw out a few more grunts and see what would happen.

I was pretty exhausted at this point, so when my line went screaming out of my reel, I think I may have said, "Oh shit."

I let this thing run. And it ran.

At one point it turned around and headed back towards the boat, and of course tried to go under the motor. Capt. Stewart kept it from breaking the line somehow and handed me back the rod.

And finally, after what seemed like a rather long fight, I brought it in.

I love this pic. Capt. Stewart giving me a rare smile as if I did good. (He yells at us a lot!)

Here she is. Not as big as Glenn's fish, nor as big as the one I caught last year, but pretty darn close at 35 inches long.

Once again, we managed to capture the attention of the beach-goers.

Once guy applauded and yelled "Good job!" The girls in the water yelled at us when we threw the fish back. "Keep that thing on the boat!!"

By the way, we weren't allowed to keep any of the snook. We threw them all back. No snook were harmed in the making of this blog.

We caught 10 total - Glenn 4, including the record-breaker, and me 6.

What an exciting, amazing day on the water. I think we're still on a high.

Oh - just receive Capt. Stewart's pics. These might be even better. I'll share them right here.

BOOM! So I think that is more than enough for this blog. Hope you are all having a fabulous week! Love you!