Fishing in the Gulf

Ecofina River State Park is a great place to launch.

It's about a 2 mile ride down to the Gulf.

Salt marshes opening to the gulf.

The ocean is only 2-4 feet deep all along the coast here.

Terry caught this Pompino in about 4 feet of water using frozen shrimp for bait.


Marc was excited to catch his first shark. It put up a good fight!
Water was about 5 feet deep and he used squid for bait.

It's a Black Tip Shark.

The species averages about 5 lb. and habitats the shallow coastal water.

We also caught lots of Bonnethead Sharks in the shallow water.
The species averages a couple of feet in length.

We caught some good sized catfish using the stinky squid.
They put up almost as good of a fight as the sharks.

Some people eat the cats and the sharks, but not us.

Lake Okeechobee in South FL

Terry caught the biggest Bluegill.

Our guide showed us the good places, but the fishing wasn't as good as we'd expected.

Marilyn caught some nice sunfish in the canal as well as junk fish, gar and bowfish.

Lake Okeechobee is the biggest lake in Florida. It's shallow, about 12 feet on average, but was only 3 or 4 feet in the picture here partly because of the draught this spring.


There are many canals around the borders of the lake dug out for irrigation.
We found the best fishing in the canals. Terry caught Bass, Crappie and Catfish.

Birdlife was abundant. This Great Blue Heron is fishing in the canal.

Another Great Blue Heron is waiting for a handout on the dock

at the Lakeport Lodge where we stayed.

This Great Egret likes the fish Terry threw over to it.

See Terry in the fish cleaning shed on the dock.

The birds are not at all afraid.

These 2 Sandhill cranes spent several hours in the grass looking for bugs.

Marilyn could almost walk up to them, but didn't want to get too close. They are big!

Sandhill cranes are not a common sight.

They are the largest bird in FL standing about 4 feet tall.

This one's looking for food.

He's got something, maybe the crickets that got out of our bait bucket.

He's so tall he can almost look you in the eye.

We also got a shot of the space shuttle launch from Cape Canaveral

about 120 miles up the coast from our lodge.

Here's the booster rocket dropping away.