Family before Fishing

I will take a break from my usual whining about overcrowded waters and ignorant boaters, my lack of fishing time (or talent for that matter), and advice for the weekend warrior. This article has been in the making for quite a while and while it may be short, I hope you all can read and take something away from my ramblings.

Sometimes all it takes is the little things to bring family members closer. A barbeque, a trip to the park or one of our beautiful beaches works. Going out to the zoo or aquarium, a movie or even lounging around at the house is productive family time too. Anything where quality time is spent has the possibility to make one appreciate their loved ones and grow with them together, as well as make one stay off the water more often to be together. Life is short; taking advantage of family time is becoming a new priority of mine. All these activities can be valuable in bringing a family closer. Over the years I had taken my family for granted, wasting precious time on not only fishing, but random selfish things I felt I “needed” to do.

Fishing has never really brought me any closer to any family member, with the exception of my brother in law. Friends, sure. Family, not at all. My wife and daughter have no interest in staying out on the boat in the sun, and their patience always runs thin. Heck, most of the time they are not even interested in pleasure cruising-“it’s too hot” or “I’m tired” are the usual excuses. That’s fine, I don’t like to walk around the mall and shop or go to the salon. To each their own. Every once in a blue moon I coerce one of the two into a quick trip on our waters for some scenery and possibly a little fishing. That is enough to keep me happy.

This past weekend I turned thirty. I made sure no big deal was made, but I wanted to do something with all my family members to recognize the event, including my in-laws. Yep, the in laws too, their fun, I’m lucky. A dinner or small party is always a given on my birthday, but my wife wanted to do something new. Why not? I always take a long weekend to do what I want, always fishing, and now realize I am selfish with this yearly occurrence. A camping trip was planned by my wife, daughter, and in laws. At first I was skeptical. I have not been camping in years and was missing three solid days of fishing, but the plans had already been made; there was no weaseling out on my behalf.

Three hours away, just a few miles north of Gainesville, Ginnie Springs was the destination. I will be honest, the drive was not appealing to me; staying closer to home was my choice, but the family outnumbered me four to one. I had never been to any natural springs so I was curious, but not exactly ecstatic. We had a huge amount of supplies but we were still roughing it. That was fine with me, I was just curious to see if the brochure was deceiving or was this place really as good as it looked.

Upon arrival, we checked in and went looking for a nice site to call home for the long weekend. Driving around the grounds we were surprised at the amount of nice places to camp, and it appeared that there were a ton of people there for the same thing we were, a good time. It turns out that the University of Florida’s classes had just ended, as the campground was full of students looking for a little relaxation and a lot of partying. This lightened the mood and the getaway seemed to be getting started off on the right foot. 

So we set up camp, and after the normal “after drive” crankiness wore off, it was time to have some cold beers and wander around the grounds. There looked to be a bunch of stuff to do; kayaking and tubing the river, swimming in the springs, and volleyball just to name a few. We headed out to the main spring and went for a swim to cool off, and then it was back to camp to start the campfire and eat, and have a few more cold ones.

Throughout the weekend everyone got along great and relaxation was the focus. Late night campfires, stories and the normal fire talk took place. Feasting on chicken, burgers, bratwurst, and excellent breakfasts were had. Lazy days swimming, walking around the campground and tubing the river kept us occupied.

The trip was a success. No TV or internet, video games and no fishing. Keeping each other company kept us satisfied, and working as a team to set up camp, cook and keep our site clean brought us closer together. I didn’t think the excursion would be fun, but in the long run I had a great time and learned that there are things more important than spending all day on the bay getting broke off by linesiders. I was appreciative and grateful of the time spent with my family.

Of course, after the trip home it was time to get a little fishing in. Come on, I still wanted to chase after some fish on my birthday; I had two weekdays off and great weather. When arriving back from camping, the boat was prepped for my usual birthday trip with a buddy of mine.

The day started off well, finding bait and fishing the haunts of the South Shore. Fishing was slow but we caught a few snook and lost some nice ones to the trees. I won’t talk much about this trip; nothing special happened and the fishing was again, slow. I got to stay out all day without grief for spending eleven hours on the water, and after cleaning the boat a nice family dinner was had.

I had planned the next day of fishing for a long time. My main objective was to get out with my father and try to get him a snook. He is not getting any younger and had time on his hands to get out and give it a go. As I said previously, I had not always had my priorities straight, and regret not spending as much time with family, especially my dad.

My father has only fished a handful of times in the past ten years. His casting ability is not what it used to be and he had no idea the fight he was in for with the inshore species that are targeted. Sure, I could have taken him out for trout, but we have done that before and he needed to see what keeps me addicted to the water. I knew to put him on a snook or red was going to be tough. Not being the best fisherman myself but being able to hold my own, I knew with the high tides it was going to be difficult to show him how to pull a fish out of the groves. The winds were not supposed to be too bad for the day, but in my smaller boat I had a feeling he would not want to be in the choppy water on the way to find the fish. I needed a way to be able to fish, keep him comfortable, and still get him on a fish or two on his own.

I enlisted the help of Captain Todd, and he was gracious enough to fish with us on this day. Not a charter, just friends fishing. After helping the Captain catch bait and scout around we picked up pops at the boat ramp and were off to find a fish or two. Todd and I both knew fishing would be slow as we had both been out the day before and had pretty rough days. If this trip hadn’t been so important to me he probably would have advised against it. The day did start out slow, but as we made our way to the last stop, snook were finally found.

Fishing in the groves as the tide was high, both Todd and I were helping with showing my father the proper techniques for this style of fishing, giving information on where the fish were hiding, and casting into the strike zone. Soon we hoped to advise him as to how to fight a linesider.

The snook were there, as the fish were hitting the chummers, but most of the time striking the whitebait way out of casting reach. The fish did not seem to be very aggressive as well, finicky even, striking and missing our baits for about an hour. This was frustrating for all of us, or at least me and the good Captain.

After a few different set ups and anchor jobs we finally got the fish to eat. All three of us got to fish and after a couple of well placed casts my father got the best fish of the day. Not a huge fish, but a great fight. I got a prized picture of my dad and I holding a nice snook, with the beautiful mangrove line behind us. That is all I wanted, to fish with my dad, and see the look on his face after fighting and landing what all of us anglers are after out there on the water. The fishing was not great by any means, but my dad thought it was excellent, and that is all that mattered. I will get out another day, and hopefully he will have time to go as well, but at least we have this day.

After our trip on Tampa Bay I knew my father had a great time, was impressed with the boat we were fishing in, saw and experienced some great sights, and had numerous questions answered by Todd and I. That’s all I could ask for.

Don’t take your family for granted and think that there will be other days, as life is short and who knows what the future may bring. As the time has passed over the years I know I have made mistakes and neglected to think about the more important things in life, but now as I am finally getting older, I realize what is most important in our short lives.