Yup, that’s right! We surprisingly caught a pretty hefty grouper the other day while sailing in Charlotte Harbor with our friends Jody and Peter from Where the Coconuts Grow. (You might have noticed a similar post on their site ;)).
^^catch of the day!^^
I should preface this by saying that neither Jereme nor I are avid fisherman. Although we love fishing and wish we were pros, we are far from the real deal (yet!). In our sailing career thus far, we have only caught one tiny mackerel while cruising on our sailboat, but we proceeded to destroy the poor fish while trying to reel him in while still under sail (at a decent speed). Luckily, this time we were sailing with Jody and Peter and they’ve got the fishing goods on board…and know how to use ‘em! 😉
Last Sunday, Jereme and I drove up to Burnt Store Marina in Charlotte Harbor to hang with our new cruising friends; get out sailing for the afternoon; and pick their brains on all things sailing related. Like us, they’re getting ready to head south and cruise the Bahamas and Caribbean. We can’t wait to join them shortly after for (hopefully ) many more awesome adventures.
^^love this! …the photo geek in me has to point out the cute sun flare on the wheel.^^
So, back to trolling and snagging a grouper…pretty crazy, huh? Catching grouper is one thing, but catching while trolling is very unusual. We threw a line in while we were casually sailing in the harbor, and about 20 minutes later, boo-ya!, grouper on the line! Although at first, we weren’t really sure what the heck we had caught. But we knew it was substantial. Low and behold we pulled in a big boy 32″ grouper (we quickly pulled up the FWC’s regulations to make sure the fish was legal to keep — and we were in the clear — 20″ is the minimum length for black grouper). Let me just tell ya, that grouper made for some super tasty fish tacos cooked by chef Jody (and blackened fish filets cooked by yours truly on day two)!
^^reeling her in!^^
^^Wowzers! We ALL had to take a photo of course. Note to self, turn pretty side of fish towards camera in the future.^^
^^doing the dirty work.^^
We also got to meet the two furry, four-legged crew members aboard s/v Mary Christine… Betsy and Gunner, who seem to love life aboard, just like our Oliver, and couldn’t be any sweeter furry companions.
^^Betsy licking her chops over that grouper we just snagged.^^
^^such a handsome boy.^^
^^how cute is their little family of 4?!^^
Peter gave us a great fish fileting lesson, along with lots of tips on what sorts of fishing gear we would need aboard s/v LAHO. Jereme and I are definitely planning to try and purchase a few key items before we head south (and have already picked up a spear gun to add to our stash). Fishing, or should I say catching, is high on the priority list once we start cruising.
^^beard model.^^
^^#livingthedream^^
^^hello awesome sunset!^^
After a gorgeous day on the water (and one spectacular sunset), we had to pack up our things and drive back to Naples. Don’t forget, one of us still works full-time! Ugh! 😉
>>Thanks for visiting LAHOWIND sailing blog! We’d love for you to get to know us and follow our story as we attempt to navigate a whole new world of sailing as we cruise the Bahamas + Caribbean.
Looking good! Quite the little catch you guys got!
Sounds like so much fun! Glad you guys get to all hang out together in preparation – and a little wee bit jealous, to boot 😉 Blog looks great – your photos/layouts always inspire.
Thanks so much Jennifer! Wish you guys were a little closer to partake. 🙂 -Kim
[…] a year ago to the day, we spent one fun afternoon trolling for grouper with our cruising pals Jody + Peter from Where the Coconuts Grow. Somehow, one year feels like a […]