Sean's Fishin' Expedition

The first casts off the dock into the beautiful green ocean, were made by Sean.  We used about 1/3 of the fish as bait and he had a couple of nibbles, but nothing but seaweed fish on the line!  Then we decided to use the whole fish, and on his next cast he caught a puffer!!  As soon as it was lifted out of the water it started to swell up - at it's biggest it was about the size of a canteloupe.  We put him back in the water for a moment before we took him off the line and he went back to his regular size.

Some types of puffers have spines on their backs that stick up when they puff up, but this particular species did not. (Some are poisonous as well.)I was quite happy that this fellow had no spikes as it would have made it a whole lot more difficult to take him off the hook.  As it was, he was pretty slimy, but we managed to get him off fairly quickly, and he swam away looking just fine!!

We almost went on a deep sea fishing trip, but there was not enough people booked on the boat to make it worthwhile for the company.  They were quite intrigued with our idea of catch and release for these fish.  We were not interested in keeping anything we caught, we just wanted to experience the catching.  When I 
explained that we were staying in a hotel, and then a trailer, and did not have any place to store them, they explained that any restaurant in the area would cook them up for us.  When I then explained that no one in our family beside myself would eat them, they obviously wondered what the heck we were doing trying to go fishing in the first place!!

Needless to say, all three of us thoroughly enjoyed our fishing experience in the Florida Keys, even if it was just off a dock!!!