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The Hide Report from Tampa, V2.0 (aka The Mikes adopt Bogey)

@MtnCreek , and the other guys trying to figure out how the hell I buried a saw in my leg, my earlier explanation for not having room to clear the longer bar was TOTALLY WRONG. Oneshot and I were talking it out earlier and realized that it 100% came down to cutting left handed:

When I came out of the cut left handed the natural motion put the saw near my torso but with the blade next to me rather than on the other side of the saw from me as normal. It makes perfect sense. There was no kickback, loss of control, dynamic event, etc, I just came out of a cut with the blade on the WRONG SIDE of the damn saw.

@oneshot86 and I did some respectable woodchuckin today and I did a basic reconstruction of yesterday's scenario and it bore out.
 
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Mikes got you working slave labor with that young kid! ?

And I drove 500 miles to do it in my "off" time. But the "kid" went home and Mike and I eliminated that pile.
I'm feeling like this though:

IMG_0546.JPG
 
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@bogeybrown
Thanks for the compliments. I don't think I earned them. A good captain would have thrown a cast net and brought in some greenies or mullet for bait. My back and shoulders wouldn't allow for it anyway.
The way things were going yesterday, I would probably have ended up like that guy that caught his net on the trolling motor. Splash!

After going over everything in my head, I think most of the fish had been gorging on those glass minnows. Some days it shuts a lot of the bite off.

I really wish I had brought my phone out when that snook took you into the mangroves. Woulda been a cool video.

Man, we're old. Throwing a fishing line all day hurts by the end of it, I'm not mad enough at a bunch of fish to go throwing rings of lead at them. You could've pulled in a Redin the cast net itself and I'm sure I still would've lost him.

You showed me a method and passion of fishing I'd never seen, and it was a badass day on the water. Plus: no fish to clean
 
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We went fishing again today with my buddy Jim.
Tarpon were rolling as we pulled up about 20 minutes after sunrise.
The damn catfish wouldn't leave us alone.
Put 4 black drum in the boat.
Hooked a number of tarpon and the biggest (Jim's fish) came off boatside.
No tarpon completely to the boat. Oh well.

Had lunch at Ricks on the river to include some oysters. Nom, nom.

As we approached the ramp there were a ton of PD vehicles and boats.
Found out a family of 6 was fishing open water and had anchored stern side in 4' swells.
They got swamped and capsized. The eldest male drowned.
We had to load up the boat while everyone was there. The mother was crying so hard. I feel so sorry for them.

If anyone is curious, we stayed out of open water and the swells in the channel were four feet.
It must have been much worse in the open.
 
Weather looks nicer than up here atm.. was it you Mr Mike that talked about being caught out in a storm one time and watching the fishing line float above the water from the static in the air? Sccaaaarryyy!
 
We went fishing again today with my buddy Jim.
Tarpon were rolling as we pulled up about 20 minutes after sunrise.
The damn catfish wouldn't leave us alone.
Put 4 black drum in the boat.
Hooked a number of tarpon and the biggest (Jim's fish) came off boatside.
No tarpon completely to the boat. Oh well.

Had lunch at Ricks on the river to include some oysters. Nom, nom.

As we approached the ramp there were a ton of PD vehicles and boats.
Found out a family of 6 was fishing open water and had anchored stern side in 4' swells.
They got swamped and capsized. The eldest male drowned.
We had to load up the boat while everyone was there. The mother was crying so hard. I feel so sorry for them.

If anyone is curious, we stayed out of open water and the swells in the channel were four feet.
It must have been much worse in the open.
When I was active duty there were times that we got there in time and times that we didn’t, body recoveries suck but they don’t suck as bad as seeing the surviving family.
 
When I was active duty there were times that we got there in time and times that we didn’t, body recoveries suck but they don’t suck as bad as seeing the surviving family.


Yep, that made the end of the day miserable.

@Forgetful Coyote
That wasn't me. However, during a few storms the air was so thick with static I could feel my fishing rod buzzing.
 
We went fishing again today with my buddy Jim.
Tarpon were rolling as we pulled up about 20 minutes after sunrise.
The damn catfish wouldn't leave us alone.
Put 4 black drum in the boat.
Hooked a number of tarpon and the biggest (Jim's fish) came off boatside.
No tarpon completely to the boat. Oh well.

Had lunch at Ricks on the river to include some oysters. Nom, nom.

As we approached the ramp there were a ton of PD vehicles and boats.
Found out a family of 6 was fishing open water and had anchored stern side in 4' swells.
They got swamped and capsized. The eldest male drowned.
We had to load up the boat while everyone was there. The mother was crying so hard. I feel so sorry for them.

If anyone is curious, we stayed out of open water and the swells in the channel were four feet.
It must have been much worse in the open.


Damn man, that's rough. I've been on the water several days where folks died and @Dirty D nailed it about the aftermath and the surviving families.

Mike and I ran over to Clearwater to grab his kids today and I loved the view along the Trail, but was happy not to have been out in the chop.
 
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Man that blows. You never feel so bad as seeing or talking to the family.
I was a badass when I did it day in day out.
Now that Im a desk and data nerd I have lost that armor and it hits me like a ton of bricks.