Fresh Flounder for Dinner - St. Patty's Day

Well, it wasn't a 16 or 18 inch fish but, it fed the three of us last night -- it measured barely over the 12 inch minimum size but, it tasted the best out of all the fish we have had.  Think the twins appreciated the taste as well as both of them were more affectionate late in the evening and both were curled up on their backs at the foot of the bed when I woke up.

I even managed yesterday to catch my first bait fish with my casting net off the fishing pier -- still don't have the technique for throwing it properly (with the weight line in my teeth and half of the net over my left shoulder as other throwers demonstrated).  My attempts were more like lame "bananas" which netted me nothing -- thanks to the guy and his son next to me on the left who netted 50 or more and gave me plenty to start the day of fishing (along with the 2 dozen shrimp I purchased at the pier's bait store).  Later, I did run out of the little bait fish and made a few ugly, feeble throws and even watched the Spanish guy next to me on the right as he gave a lesson to his younger sister or niece (she failed as I did) but then, I came up with the idea of draping the net over the side of the bridge in the open position and just let it drop with a slight outward push of the top half of the weight line I held in both hands.  Voila!  The bait fish were directly below and mostly under the bridge where the net settle over them and gave me sufficient bait to fish until I tired of the heat (and catching mostly "trash fish").

I forgot to take my camera again and don't have a picture of the one "keeper" Flounder or more spectacular shots of the bridge or the King Mackerel caught by the young Spanish girl next to me.  It had to be nearly 2 feet long as its tail stuck out of their bucket and the older, experienced brother (or uncle) had probably a bigger fish on just minutes after her catch but, it broke his line -- he admitted he had too light-weight of line most likely (bet he switches it out for his next trip to the fishing pier).

I fished from about 9:30 to 4:30 in the afternoon and brought back 4 of the small Spots, Grunts, and Runners (to freeze for bait) with the Flounder -- had a small bag of ice with me from my freezer so they stayed fresh until I arrived back at the RV.  I never had cleaned a Flounder before so, I went online (after a short nap) and checked for instructions (which seemed to be pretty straight forward and actually easier than most fish as the scales of the Flounder were easier to scrape off and once the head and gills were cut off, the entrails and such dropped out nicely along with the head).

Once again, it is time to spend the day getting ready for another move tomorrow and let the twins enjoy the local wildlife for one more day.  It will be about 6-1/2 hours up to Panama City Beach so, I hope to get started before 9:00 a.m. and hope to arrive before 4:00 p.m. at the Emerald Coast RV Beach Resort.  Maybe I can catch a sunset, at least, before enjoying some of the other amenities there.

With 8-1/2 weeks between now and my arrival date in the Denver area, I will be looking for weekly stays along the Gulf Coast and into Texas so, maybe another week in Florida after this coming week -- perhaps somewhere around Pensacola like Navarre Beach.  Will try calling a few places and checking what's available (at not too outrageous of a cost).  For the time being, I pulled all of my money out of the stock market this past Thursday and Friday since these one week stays don't give me enough time to track and correct things and still have time to enjoy the places I visit.  Besides, after making $25,000 since the beginning of the year, it might be time for a market correction -- could have done better too, if I had held onto those 500 shares of Netflix for just 24 more hours, I would have made another $10,000.  Oh well!  It may be time for another market correction and a good time to buy back in then -- maybe when I have a 2 or 3 week stay arranged in the southwest.

Now to clean those fishing reels and get some breakfast afterwards -- twins have had theirs and they're still enjoying the noise from the birds and the teasing little squirrel (their tails are twitching more than the squirrels).