Bucket list trip to Florida

[J.A. Veil]

I arrived home a week ago from a marvelous 20-day, 3,330-mile trip in which I drove around Florida and fished for 17 straight days. I fished with kayak guides on 10 days, on Walleye Pete's boat on 1 day, and 6 days using my own kayak. During the trip, I caught 31 different species of fish. I caught four species that were new to me, and had 9 species for which I caught personal best length fish.

This week I prepared a summary of the trip. It is 60 pages long, but has loads of photos and is a easy read. If you are interested in reading the story, go to https://drive.google.com/.../1LeCnti7.../view.... Click the download button.

The most memorable fish of the trip is the 80-lb, 76" sailfish I caught from a kayak on April 14 fishing a mile offshore from the south Florida coast. That fish and a few other large ones are pictured below. The report lists the fish I caught and gives the names of the guides I used.

Feel free to share the link with others who may be interested in this bucket list trip.



sailfish 2a.jpg IMG_7348.jpg IMG_7335.jpg tarpon 2.jpg amberjack 3.jpg bonefish 3.jpg

[Mark]

Very nice John.

Seems like those 20 days merit adding a 3rd year to remember to your My Fishing Life book!

Congratulations on a fantastic trip.

[Big Mike]

Sounds like an outstanding trip and glad you found several PB fish and variety. Truly a bucket list trip.

[tufnik]

Nice trip. When is your next trip, and are you thinking about coordinating a group trip? If so, I just may be interested.

[J.A. Veil]

Nice trip. When is your next trip, and are you thinking about coordinating a group trip? If so, I just may be interested.

It is too early to think about the next trip. I am likely to return to my practice of doing shorter trips (4-7 days) once I feel comfortable with flying again. If I can get spousal approval, I would like to do another long trip next winter to get away from the cold weather -- maybe rent a place in the Keys for 2-4 weeks.

I have organized out-of-town group trips often in the past, but feel that at this point in my life, I prefer to go solo. I am happy to share information about guides, lodgings, etc., so others can plan trips on their own. With most kayak guides, having a second or third person in the group reduces the per-person charter cost, but also reduces the personalized attention/assistance to rigging, finding fish, and fighting fish. Three of the guides I used on this trip towed me over long distances between fishing spots using an electric motor. If there are two client anglers, that becomes more difficult and slower.