After Hurricane Matthew

Before I get into the meat of this post, I wanted to thank all of my friends & family who reached out to see if we were making out okay over the last 48 hours. It's humbling knowing all the people that are thinking of you when real shit's about to go down. Happy to report is K.C., Lilly, & I made it through Matthew unscathed. Our thoughts now turn toward the folks in coastal Georgia and the Carolinas who will have to deal with this nonsense next...

Image: CNN

If you're reading this late on Friday night or on Saturday morning, it looks like the hurricane has finally passed over our palatial suburban estate bringing a lot of wind and rain, but fortunately, no flooding, roof damage, or power loss. We live in a spot that's a bit removed from the beaches and just far away from the St. Johns River to not be in an evacuation/flood zone. At least this time.

As attractive as beachfront or Intercoastal property might seem to an "angler" like me, scenarios like this certainly make me glad I don't own any. St. Augustine got hit really, really hard. Water breached the seawall fairly early on Friday afternoon and Avenida Menendez was quickly under several feet of water, as were all the businesses that run along it. 

Makes me sad, "the Old City" is one of my favorite places in the area, even with all of the crazy tourists running around. I probably shouldn't leave out that Jacksonville Beach & Daytona Beach appear to have been hit pretty hard as well. It's going to take a while before those places are the same again. I hope once the water recedes, there are some (organized) opportunities for normal folks like me to help these areas. We've got a few gallons of bottled water I'm sure somebody could use.

Fortunately, we just need to deal with some light backyard debris, which I'm so thankful for. 

My neighbor looks to be in the same boat, but for whatever the reason, the excessive rains created a small pond alongside his backyard fence. At least it's pretty far away from his house. I guess he just needs to wait for it to drain through the sandy soil...

I don't know, I think I'm ready to move a bit more North and/or West. Almost four years in and I still haven't taken to Florida living. Blizzards may suck, but at least they don't threaten to kill you. You just stay inside and drink all day. Jack Daniels & a snowblower or floods & projectiles thrown at your house at 90 mph? Seems like an easy choice to me.

Buffalo Bill, Einstein, & Rambo Walk Into A Bar...

If you're ever in St. Augustine, Potter's Wax Museum is a must see...

Local Happenings...

Hey, some cool things going on locally. Should keep my mind off brookies the next few weeks, and if you're in the area (maybe getting that last bit of summer vacation time in), you should stop by too!

Grand Opening Celebration
Oyster Creek Outfitters (St. Augustine, FL)
August 20th, 2016

Featuring Drew Chicone, Joe Mahler, & Strip-Strike University

Events begin at 9:00am and continue through the day till 6:00pm. Burgers and Hotdogs from 12:00pm to 2:00pm with drinks all day. Casting and fishing platforms on Oyster Creek pond. Fly tying in the shop times to be announced.

Additional Workshops/Demonstrations:

• Hardy Zephrus
• Scott Meridian
• G. Loomis NRX
• Temple Fork Outfitters
• BOTE fishing stand-up paddle boards
• NuCanoe

3rd Annual Floodtide Festival

Blackfly Outfitters (Jacksonville, FL)

August 27th, 2016

Per Website:

"Join us at the store for a cold beer or two and some excellent BBQ for this years Floodtide Festival! Like years past, we will be setting up in the parking lot "block party style" looking to have a good time.

This year's raffles are even better than the last; you can expect to see some great prizes. We have four fly rods, a Nautilus reel, Hatch pliers, and much more! In addition to great prizes we have some exceptional guest speakers this year! Jon Cave of Sage Fly Rods will be giving a casting clinic, Michael Schmidt will be inside tying some of his signature flies, and Jako Lucas will be representing Thomas & Thomas Fly Rods and Alphonse Island Resort!

All of the proceeds this year are being donated to Bull Sugar's Now or Neverglades Campaign, so come out for a great time and help us raise funds and awareness for the water quality issues in South Florida. We look forward to seeing you!"

Exploring Florida - The St. Augustine Alligator Farm

Haven't written an "Exploring Florida" post in a while, (heck haven't written much at all as this has been one of the least inspiring fishing years I've had in a while), so I figured this would be a good time to revisit the theme since it's 100% independent of any fishing pursuits.

A few weeks ago, Lilly & I took a little trip down to St. Augustine, particularly the St. Augustine Alligator Farm. It's just one of those places we've sort of taken for granted in the almost three years we've lived in Florida. We'd always say, "we should go check that out sometime," yet we never did, at least until recently.

That was a big mistake on our part, and we both left pleasantly surprised. This attraction has far more to offer than alligators (the lemurs were Lilly's stars of the show), so if you're ever in the St. Augustine area, it makes for a really neat 2ish hour diversion. My pictures below probably don't do it justice. Highly recommended!

Pics From A St. Augustine Paddle

Found these pics while cleaning out a SD card.  Forgot I took them as they're almost a month old at this point, but figured why not post them...

I had put in the kayak down in St. Augustine a few weeks ago, just to paddle around some new water and see what was up.  I really need to be more diligent with the tide charts in the future, as I ended up out there pretty much right at low as low tide gets...and the water got so down in places I ran aground more than a few times (as did a party barge full of college kids).  Not much fishing on this outing, more so exploring and enjoying the beautiful weather.