Taking a bit of time away from the garage, the Allegheny Eastern and it seems, railroading in general. Apparently, there are no trains here! No, I am not in Mongolia. I'm in the Florida panhandle.
They do have white sand, emerald green water and awesome ocean breezes. I went fishing today and saw more marine life in five minutes than I saw in MANY summers at the Jersey shore. Sea turtles, dolphins, even a remora. The remora was a fair size, maybe 24-30" long. Since these fish spend most of their lives attached to sharks I was VERY grateful I was on a pier and not in the water. I would hate to meet up with the shark a 30" remora would hang with. It would not end well.
While all the other anglers were catching skipjacks and other beautiful silver we never saw off Brigantine I was busy losing tackle on the barnacles and having my bait stolen. Hell, one guy even caught a pelican. He was reelin' in a fish when the bird grabbed it and would not let go. The ensuing tug of war was hysterical. The guy trying to bring in the fish, the pelican trying to fly away with it. The bird finally let go, but promptly landed on the water, probably waiting for another chance.
The dolphins came in at least two pods. They were fishing too and like the pelican weren't above stealing fish. Quite a few times I saw a fish lifted out of the water with a dolphin right on its tail.
Someone hooked a 6' shark but the line broke before the gaff was ready. There was also a sea turtle that kept poppin' up now and then. I did catch what I thought might be a skipjack, never seen a real one before. Aside from that I caught two catfish, looked like channel cats to me. I just had to laugh. A- I Didn't know they lived in the ocean and B- I drove 400 miles to catch a fish I could have caught in my grandson's backyard. Still, it was the most fun I've ever had fishin'
Did I mention the herons? Could have fed them from my hand. They are so acustomed to humans you have to practically step on their toes before they'll fly away.
Regards,
Frank Musick
Chief Cook and Bottle Washer
Allegheny Eastern Railroad
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