Wellington

Gathering

Pics

Pic

Just getting settled. Great time. Will have more tomorrow
as my laptop is at work.
Thanks to all as always.
GFS

I just wanted to say thank you to all the CSC group for welcoming my brother and i to the gathering special thanks to Terry,Marsha,Ken,Mel for their hospitality.

[QUOTE=McGillicuddy;232339 Did anybody fish? My understanding is that the fishing in Charlotte Harbor is so good that even the fish, fish... Any evidence of that down below? Ken, Terry? ?[/QUOTE]

Gillie, You'll need to ask RickG about fishing at the Cayo Costa dock. I think the Green boys will be back for more next year.

Wish we could have been there. Glad everyone who was able to attend had a good time.
Dave

Good pics Jim and Danny!!!!

One more of the Moose Mansion!!!

More photos...

The grand ballroom

Coffee time.....

Departure back to reality....

Still without laptop. How do you upload pics from I phone 4
???

Fish'in Mission
 

Kenny, Mel and their friend Richard picked my sleepy azz up Thursday morning at the dock at Cayo Costa because we had, by best count, 20 coming for dinner on both Friday and Saturday night. He eased across the bar at Captiva Pass and he mashed down on the loud lever, spooled the Zuke up and pointed the Sceptre WSW. The wind was blowing 10-12 out of the East which put us in 2-3 footers at the first stop 18 miles out. I asked ken where the jugs were to mark the spot and he said "We ain't got time for anchor'in OR buoys, just jump in when I tell you". I said "but which way do I swim?" and he said "I got a 3 degree transducer, jump in when I tell you and swim the oppisite way your bubbles are going!". My mask kept flooding all the way down, but I managed to clear it enough to tag a 12# Gag Grouper right off and then picked up a couple mangrove Snapppers in the 4# range. We ran down several more spots in the general area and then started working north. Most stops were prefaced with some deep jigging but the full moon that week, kept the fish feeding around the clock. A hook up on what was believed to be a big Cuda on the "Spring" offshore in 100' of water was all we managed to entice with fishing gear. Ken dropped on a good show but other than a couple of Scamps he had not contributed too much to the fish box. The wind laid down as it was supposed to in the afternoon and we both jumped in on a good show in 80' and left the "accomplished" Mel to run the boat. 5# Mangrove Snappers met me 20' off the bottom and it was "game on". Kenny tagged another 12# Gag and a couple more Scamps, a Lionfish and I gathered up a few more Mangrove Snappers. We both climbed back over the transom, gutted and iced the fish down. Richard put a bean bag up on the front deck and leaned back agaist the windshield, Kenny set two camping chairs up against the transom well and we plopped in 'em. He lit up a fine cigar. Mel stood watch at the wheel while the Autopilot made minor adjustments to the steering ram to bring us the 20 miles home to Captiva Pass. All in all, runn'in and gunn'in 104 miles on the odometer, a box full of fish for the Gathering, fair winds, calm seas, a smooth runnin' Zuke and setting sun over the Gulf of Mexico. I was daydreaming about how much rich people had to pay for something like this. I'm just glad I have wealthy friends.

Ken be sure and show Melissa the custom made "Corn Hole" boards...:D

Taking orders for Seacraft and Eagles...haha!

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First time I think for 18' footers...these 2 were done up nicely!


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Besides talking shop with all the Ladies...this is what everyone comes for....YUM!

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Big thanks to Terry and Marsha for hosting a great gathering at their highly under-rated Cayo Costa "fishing shack" and to Kmoose for getting all the seafood! Great to see some new boats and folks at this one, but we missed seeing Dave's Seavette and Connors 25 Seafari. Hopefully the outdrive gods will smile on you for the next gathering!

Have attached a couple of pictures that may be of interest. I evidently misread the charts because what I thought was only a 35 mile run from the Franklin Lock launch point turned out to be over 50 miles! Because of that little surprise and a 1 hour delay waiting for park ranger to show up so we could legally register truck & trailer to insure it didn't get towed, I wound the motor up to 4500 to run about 30 kts most of the way to get to Terry's before dark! At least that E-TEC is so quiet that Sandy and I could still converse at 30 kts! Burned almost 15 gallons but made up for it by using less than 12 gallons at a more leisurely pace (in the rain!) on the way back! FYI, those campgrounds at all the locks are run by the Corps of Engineers and have numerous on-site volunteers riding around on bicycles who keep an eye on stuff, so they appear to be a very secure place to leave your rig on a trip like this!

Red And Green Crocs

Well, what fun we had again.
Thanks to daydreamer and 77Sceptre. The windshield looks great and Jim makes pretty teak goodies. Thanks to Mr. Moose for transport.

I think Denny was born to be an explorer. Just naturally in his thought and heart.

We were headed into the bright gulf sun straining for markers. Begging for more taxpayer support. Your markers are far away. Is this something new?

It was a beautiful ride.

We were just about at Ft. Meyers and I got confused. We took a wrong turn. We found our folly quickly and turned right about. We pushed the speed a bit into an orange orb.
The magic hours.

We found our way close to the Marshtackie Hangar. There was low tide and grass 1 foot below. Why don't bugs live there?

A phone call away and off to the channel.
The transport crews deserve special thanks from all of us over the weekend.
Never any substitute for local knowledge.

I didn`t expect the wonderful fresh fish.
Doormat Mangos. Freekin yum.

Big Groupah. Did you guys shoot 50 lbs of fish?

Moose telecom got us hard lined to the Key.
The place is lined with cabbage.

Had a nice night cap with Nicole at the bar.

Pretty cool bar when you are only two.
Lotta history there.

Thanks,
GFS


There are few things better than those you gather from the sea.
Doormat Mangos.

Old shell islands. Old as in pre Columbian. Oh my.
 

Cheers,
Me

Mango Marauders
 

Maybe 50#'s plus - we ended up with two 12.5# Gags, 17 mango's @ 3# average, 6 Scamp @ 3# and one lion fish @ 2#

We had a couple of Mango's like this that were
2.25 X the 9" Bubba Blade

Lurkers
 

And these 4 foot "Line Siders" were lurking under the dock at Cayo Costa -

I`m having impure thoughts.

Got to review some of the gopro video and did some screen captures of the day. The screen captures are a little fuzzy but the videos are crystal. Great day on the water gathering gifts from the sea. Here is one of the crew dropping me on one of Terry's top secret spots.

Target rich environment for sure..... Good thing for the Reef Donkies that they are out of season.

Terry on the hunt in full "Snapper Slapper" mode!

Look out below!!! Especially if you're good to eat!

One that didn't get away....

Another restoration project for Islandtrader........

Friday evening appetizer....

I gotta go to one of these....

You should, I drove from Columbia and it was well worth it. Next one is probably Long Point, Fla in the Spring of 2015.

If we are shooting for Long Point again next Spring I would highly recommend getting together and try to book the sportsmans lodge for that weekend. They have a covered pavillion set up for hosting large parties with a wet bar and grills,dockage and affordable rooms. 5 minute run from long point and the inlet. Mel and I really loved the place but it books year round and if we want a shot at a weekend we need to get on it. Timing it for opening gag season paired well with the spring Mahi run that all would enjoy. I think everyone would be good even if we had some rain.

Great frame there.
Does Mel chip her toenail polish whilst navigating with a foot?

I`m in.

I'm with ya Ken, sorry but the old tent camping days are over for Deb and I! Here I go to check out the Sportsman Lodge on the web. :)

Planning the next one after only 3 days....nice! It was legendary.

It seems to be snowing in many parts of burrrrr now.
We suck.

Not snowing any more - that was this morning and just a skiff - it's too cold to snow much now - heading for something near zero

I'm REALLY looking forward to my next trip back to FL and sorry I missed this gathering.