I don't spend enough time with my son anymore. Because of the high cost of living on Long Island my son Pete has to work two jobs six days a week to keep his head above water.We used to spend a lot of time together. My wife and daughter didn't like camping so my son and I would go camping every summer for a week. I took him to the Florida Keys for a week of fishing on his 16th birthday and we used to spend every weekend fishing on my boat. I was driving down to my condo in Punta Gorda Florida on Jan. 7th to bring my car down for the winter so I asked my son if he could take some vacation time from his jobs. I was thrilled to find out that he was able to get the time off. We left at 4:00 am on the 7th and made it to South Carolina 53 miles north of Georgia by 5:00 pm. We had some great conversations on the way down. We got a room and had a good nights sleep. We got up at 7:00 am and had a nice breakfast at the Cracker Barrel and finished the last leg of the trip arriving in Punta Gorda at 3:45 pm. Monday morning I installed the Thule kayak racks on my HHR and headed to Grand Tours in Placida to pick up my new Hobie kayaks. We rigged up the kayaks and brought them down to the water and I showed my son how to operate the MirageDrive and the Twist and Stow Rudder. We fished our way down Coral Creek toward Gasparilla Sound.




  I was able to pick up a slot size red in the creek and a half dozen flounder. My son never fished on a kayak before and was having a hard time trying to cast under the mangrove branches. I decided that he would have better luck fishing the potholes on the flats so we headed out to Gasparilla Sound. I went to my favorite flat to find that there was only 4" of water there because there was a negative tide due to the full moon. 
 
Tuesday we headed back to Grand Tours. Because of the wind we decide to fish in Coral Creek. My son finally caught a fish, a small mangrove snapper. He ended up with about a dozen mangrove snappers up to 2 pounds and a bunch of ladyfish. I picked up 5 flounder and about a dozen mangrove snappers. We had a great day. The mangroves blocked the wind and it was 83 degrees.

 Wednesdays forecast called for wind and rain. We decided not to go out on the kayaks. I took my son down to the Peace River to fish under the Rt 41 Bridge. Once again there was a negative tide. The oyster bars were exposed and we went through 3 packages of leadheads. My son Pete ended up catching this nice snook under the bridge pilings. I got skunked.  It didn't  rain that day, it was cloudy and 78 degrees.

  Thursday was sunny and warm but the winds were blowing at 15 to 20 MPH. I didn't want to chance driving to far for fear that the kayaks would blow off the roof racks. We went to nearby Spring Lake. We fished the leeward side of the mangroves which sheltered us from the wind. I caught this slot size red and some ladyfish. Pete caught a lot of ladyfish.  
 Friday was our last day fishing and it was very windy with temps. in the low 60's. It was to cold to kayak fish that day. I don't have any waders in Florida. We headed over to Harborview Park to fish from the piers. It was tough fishing that day because of the wind. I managed to catch a small redfish and a catfish and Pete got skunked. It was one of those days that it would have been better to take my son sight seeing.  

  It's been 12 years since our last camping trip and that's the last time Pete and I have spent a week alone. I am glad we took this road trip together. We were able to reconnect and what better way is there than fishing. I just hope it's not another 12 years before we do this again. 
Tight Lines