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Date: Skydrifting
Title: July 11, 2004
Date: 13 Jul 2004
Time: 11:01:04 -0400
The heat and humidity were oppressing. After six hours of enduring a hot Florida summer day on the water, we finally got to the ‘heat’ of the day and the little wind that was blowing, vanished into the thick wet air surrounding the boat. There wasn’t a breath of air. All was still. The air didn’t move. The water didn’t move. We didn’t move. Quietly we took the solar beating. I looked off the boat to the horizon to find there wasn’t one. There was a seamless blend from water to air. The Gulf was pacific, mirroring cotton ball clouds with such purity of definition that, with eyes wide open, one would easily think they were floating with the clouds. An effortless world with no gravity I called ‘skydrifting’. Physical conditions lined up in such an unusual manner, for a brief time, that I was fortunate enough to pay attention so to take a metaphysical jellyfish ride in the open atmosphere. It’s fun to let the mind wander off course at times. Some people refer to it as heat stroke. Whatever, it was cool being a jellyfish for a moment. Hopefully, that was a humorous end-run around the point I wanted to make. The point is... sometimes it is good to physically or mentally take a step back from where to find yourself, a sweltering hot day on a boat, for example, and take a loose observation or two. I took a few minutes to skydrift, while at the same time, others thought about the heat issue. Sometimes it is healthy to step out to the batters box, take a couple practice swings on personal time before resuming the grind of the moment. Oops, I was, somewhat, coloring outside of the lines of fishing. Scallops don’t seem to be a problem based on chit chat and watching folks shucking out the booty at the dock. I’m looking forward to going out and collecting myself the makings of a scallop pizza! Just try it. My wife, Gina, slid a couple scallop pizzas across the dinning room table late (operative word being too late) in the season last year which were so extraordinarily delicious that I had to excuse my lack of manners, indecent oinks and refrain from poaching to get more scallop pizza. Scallops are so mild in flavor they can be used in a variety of recipes and make any dish special. But you have to shuck them to eat them. One answer: Pay someone to do it for you. Charge: $6/lb. The women in Steinhatchee do a wonderful, professional job to provide you with the sweetest little bay scallop you’ll ever put in your mouth. Answer two: Gang tackle the shucking detail but be aware someone will blurt out “It was fun collecting them but this part ain’t no fun”. Answer to that...’Shutup and shuck!’ Take time to notice what your invited guests are doing during the day. You will notice some ‘guest’ throwing themselves into the collecting (fun), fading away from the cleaning (work), and being heavily evolved in the eating (fun). Cancel the lazy people’s invite ticket to scallop world and enjoy the friends that participated in the whole adventure with you. Wear a T-shirt: “If you don’t shuck you suck” to get the point across. I don’t like to think of the number of times I thought this as someone meandered off: “I could use a shower, too.” Or... “It’s not rocket science to clean a scallop or fish. What better time to teach you than now? Oh, I’m sorry, I took what you said about wanting to know how to do it sincerely, now I realize it was just verbal diarrhea said to make you feel good about shirking your responsibility off on me and others so you can go to comfort yourself while the rest of us apparent grunts are fulfilling the cleaning detail until we can get cleaned up ourselves. I guess you’re special. We’re not. Am I bitter? No. I just realized there is more to shuck off than the scallop. Pick people to go with that will ‘share’ the entire day. Many hands make... less work. Anyway, scalloping can be so much fun. A fantastic day on the water for all that take the time to do it. My goodness, the things you see when you stick your head below water line. You come up with a handful of scallops with a head full of questions. What was that? Plant or animal? I determined a relationship between this and that. Did you see...? I touched... It touch me. You’ll be touched with the handy work of God if you think while you stick your head below water. Our grass flats are a covered canvas displaying a private art work far more vivid and interactive than any museum, global. Grouper fishing in July is great! We’ve caught keeper grouper in 40’ to 102’ this week. The bait... frozen bait is just as good as anything. I’ve had a tank full of live of pinfish and guys were just pinning dead baits to whack grouper as fast as we could handle the up keep. It’s a hard bottom play land for the mobile fishermen. With the sea being calm during the summer, it is a good time to avoid the anchor and do some float time. Why work? Just fish. Float and catch or float and go. Take advantage of the summer Florida high pressure system and don’t bother with the anchor. Trout fishing is best on the deep grass flats popping shiner tails above the blades. Early morning and late evening are fantastic for topwater action toward the banks. Expect to encounter scallopers during your inshore fishing adventure. Be patient and exercise good boat manners even during times you don’t want to. Take care of yourself, family and tackle. Capt. B.