Sea World can't match this

Report Date: February 13, 2003

Many of our recent trips have been characterized by unusual, out of the ordinary adventures. On any given day it?s not uncommon to see eagles, ospreys, herons, egrets, pelicans, and raccoons in addition to all the different varieties of fish we catch.

For example, see this manatee. This rascal probably weighs about 1500 lbs. Well, the other day Mark Ward fishing with his dad, Andy, had something grab his line and take off with it, peeling line off the spool with no let up. Just as we were about to pull anchor and give chase, Andy yelled,"There it is, it surfaced about 100 yards out" We looked and lo and behold Mark had hold of a big ol' manatee. It had swam through his line. I told Mark "Hold on Hoss, you've got a world record there: a 1500 lb manatee on 10 lb test!!" All the ther anglers in boats nearby were cheering Mark on. After a good laugh, the line pulled loose, the manatee swam away unharmed and Mark and his dad had a special memory stored away for future stories.

After catching some hard pulling jacks, mangrove snappers, spade fish and more jacks our half day charter was coming to a close. As we idled along, reminising about the bout with the manatee, Mark was sitting on the front deck talking with his dad and Bam!! the water exploded next to the boat and Mark was staring eyeball to eyeball with a huge free jumping leopard ray!! It jumped out of the water next to the bow, came about 5 feet out of the water and landed next to the stern. A beautiful creature as you can see by this picture .

Well, to say it scared the heck out of Mark is an understatement. This ray probably weighted about 200 lbs and if it had been two feet to the right, would have landed in the boat. A thought I would rather not think about. Another memory Mark and his dad have to talk about.
The next day Mark and his family were headed for SeaWorld. He commented, it would be hard to match what he had seen and experienced on the Crystal River flats fishing with Captain Ed.

Give us a call. Your adventure can be just around the bend. We are currently booking Tarpon trip for May, June and July. Scallop trips reservations for July ?Sept need to be made now, also.

Until later?.

Captain Ed

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