Fishing Frenzy.....

When planning a vacation I have to take into account more than sun, sand, and fun. I have been given strict orders from my husband that we are not allowed to travel anywhere that he is not able to fish. I don't mean charter a boat and go out for a few hours fish, I mean fish off the beach with his own fly rod and hand tied flies fish. Everything about these orders is fine by me until it comes time to pack. Packing for five people for three weeks is alot of luggage, but when you add two suitcases and a gigantic rod tube to hold all of his "fishing gear" it becomes a TON of luggage. You see he does not just take fishing poles and hooks, he takes six fishing poles, reels to fit each fishing pole, fly tying matierial, fly tying vice, stripping basket, (it holds all the line in the surf) and that is just mentioning a few of the items he takes with him. Imagine going through customs with three children, five large suitcases, three backpacks, two large totes, a four foot rod tube, a five foot rod tube, and 500 bustling crazy travelers all around.....FUN!

This year it was all worth it though. The beach we stayed on had a daily fishing frenzy. It was crazy!!!! You would be laying at the pool relaxing, drifting off to sleep and the next minute there were men running to the beach with fishing pole in hand. The key to all of this was to watch for birds, lots and lots of birds. When you saw huge swarms of pelicans and small white birds it was time! Jeremy was in heaven. He made his debut into spey casting with his 15 ft spey rod. When he whipped this thing out it was impressive I must say. Salt water fishing on the beach is WAY different than river or lake fishing. You MUST be in fairly good shape. The fish don't stay in one place for very long so you end up running miles up and down the beach trying to cast your line into the school of fish, if you dont get a bite after four or five casts then it's back out of the water and another run up the beach to catch up with the birds. The day I was designated photographer I think we ended up running about five or six miles. The fish are just off the beach in the surf. When the waves come in before they crest and crash you can see the school of fish in the wave. The guys had a blast and I think they ended the trip with a count of 19 fish, two pelicans, and a dog. (the pelicans and dog were not injured) The dog thought it would be fun to chase the fly while Jeremy ran down the beach, it got stuck in it's paw, and the pelicans.... well there are just so many of them it is inevitable the will get hooked.