Lake Jackson June 2010

Lake Jackson is right in Tallahassee. You go under I-10 to use the boat ramp. It's nice to live in a city that still has natural beauty and wildlife to enjoy. Luckily the cutter boat had been by to open up the channel leading out into the lake.

Terry fished from his kayak, but didn't try hard to catch anything.

The birds were very intent on their fishing. Guess I would be too if my life depended on it.
We saw this Little Blue Heron catch his dinner.

Great Blue Heron

Great Egret

This house along the lake, that belongs to Terry's friend Ben, is where we've watched the Bald Eagles fish and return to the live oak tree to eat their catch.

Spring Wildlife in our backyard

Caught this racoon on the trail cam set up by the creek that runs thru our east lot.

This is one of the 3 deer that visit our back meadow every day.

We see lots of small woodland birds, but this Indigo Bunting is a more unusual guest at our feeder.

Fishing in the Gulf out of St Marks April 2010

Marilyn and Captain Chip heading out into the Gulf in his Carolina Skiff

Terry onboard leaving St Marks Marina

Terry's got our catch of Trout ready to filet for dinner

Fishing Lake Woodruff March 2010

We stayed at Highland Park Fish Camp near Deland, FL

It's back there

in the Florida bayous somewhere.

Shoreline of Lake Woodruff
We saw more birds than fish.

This is where Terry fell out of the boat.
The alligator didn't even move, but the splash sure scared off the manatee.

Immature White Ibis

Great Blue Heron

Great Egret and Common Moor Hen

The 4 biggest are Marilyn's, but Terry caught the most Blue Gill & Crappie.

Fishing

Finally we got some nice days so we headed over to Lake Talquin
for the first time in 2010 to see what's biting. All we caught were little ones.

This Limkin was standing in about 2 feet of water trying to catch his dinner too. He's a big shore bird, about 30 inches tall.

Not Too Cold For A Few Hardy Birds

February 2010 was a month of record breaking cold in the FL panhandle.

Luckily there were a few nice days for Fred & Marcia visiting from Denver, Colorado to enjoy.

The Gulf looks calm and bright at St Mark's National Wildlife Preserve.

We spotted a Bald Eagle looking for fish in the salt marshes.

The Wacissa River is a great place to canoe and birdwatch.

Fred & Marcia took advantage of the chance to see many native FL shore birds and some wildlife.

The alligators and turtles were out sunning.

This alligator needed a good meal.

The racoon in his mouth wasn't as lucky as the turtles.

It's dangerous to get too close to alligators.

This Common Moorhen was enjoying the sunny day.

The water was full of coots.

Flocks of Ibis were in the trees.

Only saw a few Great Egrets.

The Greater Yellowlegs were all around making lots of noise.

We also saw a few Little Blue Herons.

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.