I consider it my mission in life to convince people that Florida is
hell on earth and to convince yankees that things really are better
back where they come from. My fantasy is a mushroom cloud over Disney.

I support Skipper for different reasons. I moved my sailboat back to the
Great Lakes, after over 20 years in the Florida Keys. All the reasonably
priced motels are either full up or overpriced. Who wants to pay for a
fancy place with a swimming pool, if you are spending your time getting your
boat in and out of storage. I have also seen prices go up much faster than
in other parts of the country. This includes lodging, restaurants, marinas,
boat yards, etc. I have noticed that fishing in
Florida Bay became a waste of time. I'm glad I did my cruising years ago
down there. It still has many advantages for cruising over say the Great
Lakes, but now I
get more use out of my boat, and it is not taking me to the poor house.

Sherwin D.

Skipper wrote:

Floriduh was once the place you set world land speed records. That honor
has long since passed to western states. Floriduh once had great fishing
and freedoms, not any more. The best fishing is now found on the West
Coast and Pacific waters. Would seem Floriduh has been religated as a
place for retirees and the non adventurous. Those with real
get-up-and-go, with true adventurous spirits, the non whoosies with real
drive, well, they go west and really live. Of course, that just my
personal observation.

--
Skipper

"sherwindu" wrote in message
...
I support Skipper for different reasons. I moved my sailboat back to the
Great Lakes, after over 20 years in the Florida Keys. All the reasonably
priced motels are either full up or overpriced. Who wants to pay for a
fancy place with a swimming pool, if you are spending your time getting
your
boat in and out of storage. I have also seen prices go up much faster
than
in other parts of the country. This includes lodging, restaurants,
marinas,
boat yards, etc. I have noticed that fishing in
Florida Bay became a waste of time. I'm glad I did my cruising years ago
down there. It still has many advantages for cruising over say the Great
Lakes, but now I
get more use out of my boat, and it is not taking me to the poor house.

Sherwin D.



"Nobody goes there anymore. It's too crowded." (Yogi Berra)

BTW--If you can't catch fish in Florida Bay or the rest of the Keys, you
need to hire a guide, because you're just not doing something right. The
first time I ever went there, I caught a 125 lb. tarpon, numerous barracuda
to 6 feet, grouper, snapper, cero mackeral, blackfin tuna, and various reef
fish.

"NOYB" wrote in message
ink.net...

"sherwindu" wrote in message
...
I support Skipper for different reasons. I moved my sailboat back to the
Great Lakes, after over 20 years in the Florida Keys. All the reasonably
priced motels are either full up or overpriced. Who wants to pay for a
fancy place with a swimming pool, if you are spending your time getting
your
boat in and out of storage. I have also seen prices go up much faster
than
in other parts of the country. This includes lodging, restaurants,
marinas,
boat yards, etc. I have noticed that fishing in
Florida Bay became a waste of time. I'm glad I did my cruising years ago
down there. It still has many advantages for cruising over say the Great
Lakes, but now I
get more use out of my boat, and it is not taking me to the poor house.

Sherwin D.



"Nobody goes there anymore. It's too crowded." (Yogi Berra)

BTW--If you can't catch fish in Florida Bay or the rest of the Keys, you
need to hire a guide, because you're just not doing something right. The
first time I ever went there, I caught a 125 lb. tarpon, numerous
barracuda to 6 feet, grouper, snapper, cero mackeral, blackfin tuna, and
various reef fish.


Another thing:

They stopped the freshwater releases down the Caloosahatchee River on
January 16th. The water has cleaned up, the salinity has increased again,
and the pelagics are back on the nearshore reefs.

Just yesterday, we caught a 20 lb. permit and 25 lb. cobia...and hooked up a
125+ lb. tarpon that jumped and threw the hook. Those are three very
peculiar catches for this time of the year. You usually don't see those
fish until April/May/June...but there was a lot of warm water blowing north
from the Keys, and water temps were just a couple of degrees below 70 F.