Justin (my little brother in law who is not so little any more) made his first trip out with us. Victor committed himself to the South Florida life by purchasing his first Kayak, and we had the pleasure to share it's maiden voyage with him. The rest of the crew consisted of James, myself, and Chris, who came out with us on a rented canoe. We nicknamed it the beer barge, since he couldn't really row it on his own and he attached a trolling motor to it cruising his way out to Rabbit Key.
It is worth mentioning that although we always try to pick Rabbit Key as our camp site, it is so popular that it's always taken, except this year. We were lucky the park rangers (where you buy the camping permits) were warning campers of dangerous high winds in the area around Rabbit Key. Thank God for high winds to scare away tourists!
We put in at the usual place, the Outdoor Resort in Chokoloskee. It was a short 6 mile trip to Rabbit key, fishing along the way.
We arrived in about two hours. We setup camp, fished some more, and gathered wood for a camp fire. The next day fishing was amazing. Redfish were practically jumping into the frying pan. We had so much redfish we couldn't eat it all. We smoked some of it by the camp fire and brought it home on the third day. Victor made an amazing smoked redfish dip I am still eating as I update the blog.
Something worth mentioning about Rabbit key is the ability to catch bait just 15 feet from the camp site during high tide. A small pond fills up in high tide with tons of bate fish. You need an aerator to keep them alive since you can't simply leave then in a bait bucket in the water due to the tide changes.
The next day we woke up early, packed up and headed back to Chokoloskee. A thick fog covered the area making for an interesting view. We did a little more fishing along the way but it wasn't as good as the day before. I only caught a couple of sea trouts before giving up. Chris' trolling motor battery gave out early on the way back so we saddled up James' kayak and my kayak with rope to pull the beer barge back. It was quite a scene.
All in all, it was just another amazing trip. I'm already looking forward to next year.
