At the pond today looking for frogs, I saw this guy across the cove from me catch a trout.

The Strike
The Fight
Bringing Him Home
Off The Hook
On The Stringer

It all started on Sunday when we went down to Orange Beach.  My oldest daughter Laura wanted to go play on the sand.  While walking down to the beach we came across a
sand dune.  Our next stop would be the rocks.  Laura thought it would be really funny to  climb on the rocks.  As we sat on the rocks the fishing boats started to come in from the Gulf of Mexico into the pass after a hard day of fishing.  Not on one of those boat but on our own darling husband and two of our girls caught this big red snapper.  The end of a perfect couple of days at the beach we decided to go to the Ferris Wheel.  Have you ever wonder what the person in the gondola sees when they are waiting for the ferris wheel to take off and start?  This is what I saw.  And right next to me is my darling  three year old who made me get on this ferris wheel despite my fear of heights.  As we left the view of the ferris wheel came in many inviting colors of lights

This set is from the coast trip. One evening as I was walking back up to the parking area from the beach I meet a man walking down to go fishing. The idea hit me for late evening shots of someone fishing down there. The following evening when I went down he and his family were already down there fishing. I asked permission to take some shots of him, his dad and his daughter fishing. He said no problem. They were from Idaho and I gave him one of my cards and told him if he would email me when he got home I'd send him a CD with copies of the photos.

These are four of the shots.
Man Fishing On Beach
Man and Girl Fishing
Man and Girl Fishing (different lighting)
To Men and Girl Fishing.

I know.. kind of different for me. I don't take many people shots.

Many times there is a story behind a photograph, but we don't always get to photograph enough pictures to tell the story.  On my walk to the pier, I did get a chance to do this and should have been brave enough to share it with the little guy who I was watching.  He was so proud and frustrated because his brother who had been sent for a camera had not arrived back to the pier.  When we first arrived at the end of the pier I noticed this father and son conversing about the fishing conditions.  It was a bit wavy and the waves were splashing up on the pier.  The father was giving the son a few tips and then he turned to his own fishing pole.  The young man worked seriously at his job.  The water calmed down some and the sun came out.  Suddenly the young boy yelled to his father I've got a Big one.   Between the two of them they did pull the fish out, and then the boy said, "I told you it was a big one."  The kid was so proud of it and he held it up so we all could see it and to measure how high on his leg it was.  His dad said that they had to throw it back, but that they could say that it was so big.
The boy decided that they should not wait for his brother to get back with the camera because the fish was bleeding, so his father took the hook out and they threw him back.  They continued fishing and soon father caught a fish also, and another man down the way caught one.  All Sheephead - that is what they called them- and they said that they were not good to eat.  Before we left the end of the pier there was another big splash.
I hope that you enjoyed this story the way I told it.  I had fun photographing it and my only regret is that I didn't ask the young man if he would like me to email it to him.

Fishing

Have A Wonderful Easter!!

These are some of our fishing adventures from last year. The quality is not great. I use my crumby cam so my good one doesn't get nasty.We like to do all kinds of fishing.From cat fishing...cat fishing to shark fishing.shark1 The sharks may not always be big but they sure put up a fight.The kids love it!They are a pain to get off the hook.dehook This day here was one we will never forget.My son says "mom I got something" he catches alot of weeds, I said" nah you got weeds baby"lg mouth bass close up lg mouth We love to take the kids they get so involved.It may not always be a big day, but to see their faces when they pull them out is so worth itdrum flounder And then some days it's just pay dirt!flounder. Remember involve the kids they will thank you later.catchin bait

I have gone looking for reflections and have found these:
Yellow Stairs Boats and Posts Father's Day Card

I have gone looking for My Grandpa's Art and have found these:
 Anne's Canoe Lace Collar Symbols of the Afterlife Details Proud of a Soldier Beloved Sailor Stepping Angel Baby Angel Woman Clutching Flowers and a kinda humorous one  Dead Duck.

My Grandfather, Joseph Bouska was a carver on the Stone Mountain Georgia Monument for several years, but before and after that project, he worked at his everyday job of making/carving headstones. Since the artists did not sign their work, I am not sure if all of these are ones he did, but the time frame is right and they are all located at Bohemian National Cemetary in Chicago, where he sold his wares. Grandpa died before I was born and I only have "heresay" from my family about his which ones are his work. When I was a little girl we'd go to the cemetary and plant flowers on the relative's graves. Once I remember having my picture taken lying on the ground in front of the Stepping Angel, along with my cousin Cindy. This photo is somewhere in the family...don't know where. (Yes this makes me half Bohemian, one quarter Irish and one Quarter German) By the way, the cemetary has several outside tour guides that do seasonal walking tours of the headstones here because it is one of the most unusual places for headstones and funeral symbols in Chicagoland. The cemetary has also been used in the movies!

Thanks for looking.

I was running errands the other day and stopped by a pond hoping to work on the theme.  It was REALLY windy that day....not good for reflections.  I did see this and thought it was funny.GearDown. So, my quest continued...with my new girl, marlena (that's a story for another day).  That didn't work out as well as i would have liked, not bad, but not what i was hoping for (don't ya just love dog snot on windows...yuck! sorry). So, i resigned to staging one. *
And, one of my favorite shots from vacation last year.Fishing

Saturday, Mike and I put the boat in the water.  Unfortunately, it would not start and we drifted so far we had to use the trolling motor to get back to the truck.  Here are my reflection photos from Saturday.

Rearview Mirror
Swim Area

Bonus Picture:  American Fisherman

Well I went down to the Ocean cause the waves were spectacular. 13' Waves, fast sets. Of course in typical Moose luck... solid Fog.

So the only thing I could shoot that didn't look like a Gray Blob was this Surf Fisherman in a 5fps blast.

We've been busy for the past few days; I've got to do some things I've never done before!  It's been fun!  We went....wait...let me just show you...

What I've been doing

I hope you like these.  We have to wait a couple of days before we go back out...Kay hurt her leg, so right now, we're just hanging out at the house.  She says we'll go to Elephant Rocks State Park next....I can't wait!

I thought I'd try what I work on with Rocky...in a different kinda shot...Fishing..almost looks like he's fishing thru a opening...well kind of... :.p

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Fish was caught off Ft Myers Beach by Cape Coral resident Bill

He will be dodging Wilma this weekend

We had a great time at the lake.
pier
reflection
ducks
curious pooch
boat

Mike did some fishing
hands
lure

The drive was scenic.sign

We also spent some time on the porch.  We added a hummingbird feeder and watched them fight over the food.  They are very territorial.  Finally they got tired and started to share.

I'm ready for my next four day weekend!

Well, I'm about to take off for an extended Labor Day Weekend.  KayN, Surferguy, AnyMooseHero, and TTEOLM, I expect you all to behave yourselves while I am gone.  Chef, you are in charge!

I'll be busy hitchin' up the boat for some fishing or cleaning up the mess made by Mike while creating our porch (we will do the roof later...)

Any way, everyone be safe and don't drink and hard drive!!

Jo

This Fishing Boat had run aground, and probably been there a while by the time I snapped this.