# ENP T-day weekend



## tom_in_orl

Theres a little captain in all of us. ;D










zero gravity










This was a typical sight both days.










No bugs here..........










Running out to the mouth of the river.



















Weedy working on a trash fish.










My only snook of the trip.


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## tom_in_orl

It would be so easy to get lost out here.......



















Met a couple of fellow microskiff owners. This is Gatorguy.



















and Les 



















Sunset....



















Gatorguy was master of the camp stove. How about a little homemade cornbread.










Buck and Dave pulling in jacks and ladyfish all morning long. We just could not get into the snook.










Also ran into John from the Custom Gheenoe forum. You probably know him as the guy with matching key lime Classics and a double trailer. He was at the Long Point Big Gheenoe Rally last year. Here he is taking my LT25 for a test ride.










Parting shots.



















Great trip guys! Need to do it again soon.


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## JRH

Looks like a great trip you guys. 

Lots of mosquito nets. The bugs were bad, I'm assuming?



This is now my new wallpaper: 











;D


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## phishphood

Looks like a great trip, cept for the bugs. Digging that casting platform Tom.


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## Weedy

As always, the trips down there with fellow microskiff types is always great! Tom (tom_in_orl), Ron (captnron), Bill (buck), Eric and Son (Zero Gravity) and Dave (Bills Friend from up north) were a great crew! We all met at the Road House Cafe (used to be called The Oar House) for breakfast. Eric was running a little late but got there just as we finished and were outside. From there we went down to the park HQ to ge the back country camping permit. Well, we tried to be sneaky and the park ranger figured it out and basically told me, "Don't try and decieve me"! I didn't want to stay at Watsons place because I knew the bugs would be pretty bad, and by Toms pics, THEY WERE (at times)! Well, we splashed the boats and were on our way to have a great 3-day weekend! As Tom showed in his pics, we missed the channel and the fun started from there. Once we got up on step, we headed to the camp!
























This was our camp, there were a total of 11 people at the camp and 7 microskiffs and some other kind of bass tracker type! We all had alot of fun and to drink, some more than others ;D! You have to be careful being at a camp with mostly all gheenoe owners an a single ECC Lodgeman.








Tom had some personal problems and couldn't make it to the outhouse:








Well, not really, but the pic is kinda funny.
Sunset on the first night:








We went up a very popular creek to try and get some snookies, it is a cool trip up the creek (yea, we had paddles):
















Rons big catch of the weekend:
















Dave up on the bow throwing a fly:
http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j279/Tac307/GladesTripNov07/IM000732.jpg[/IMG
Les took us way back up the creek and there were fish EVERYWHERE but not on our lines. Ron and I started to sit back bs about life and the weekend, then the fish started to hit all around us. I stood up on and threw a mirrodine and it was one snook after another! I caught a heck of alot(I know, no pics, no fish. Ron has all the pics of me), but nothing to take back to the fry pan. Ron caught a few and I think Bill finally caught a couple. We headed back to camp and grabbed some dinner and relaxed and bs'ed about the all the fish. 
Sunset second night:
[IMG]http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j279/Tac307/GladesTripNov07/IM000739.jpg
Bill at sunset:


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## Weedy

After dinner sat night Tom, Ron, Dave (Gheenoe Guy) and myself headed out to do some night fishing. Full moon, nice incoming tide and a cool breeze. We headed out to the mouth of Chatum River to work the bars and cuts. Caught some more small snook and a nice little goliath, along with the million ladyfish. It was a great ride at night, turned off the running lights and you could see a couple hundred yards with no problem. Got up to try the mouth again but didn't do so hot sunday morning. 
Everyone was looking a little ruff sunday am:
























It was a great time, can't wait to get back down after the first of the year. Everyone needs to spend at least one weekend down there to and it to their list of been there done that. Once you get down there, you will never want to leave. Thanks guys for a great trip.
Walt


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## zero_gravity

had to cut out alittle earlier then the rest of the crew but had a great time 
my son looks like he has the chicken pops from all the skeeter bites but when I asked him if he wanted to do it again he said without hesitation yes 
so I big thanks from my son and myself and cant wait to do it again next year


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## grego

Great report guys! Me and about 10 friends go down every year and camp for a few days.Have you tried camping outside the park boundry?


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## Guest

More pics.


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## Guest

> This is now my new wallpaper: ;D












Well, rum was in the air. ;D ;D
Trust me on this one.


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## gillz

Nice trip and report!!!!!!!!

I sympathize with yall on the fishin. I was on the Flamingo end on Sunday, and I'm not sure if it was the full moon, the wind, or the cold water, but the only fish active were the Jacks and ladyfish as well :-[. I drifted over tons of slot sized reds but not one taker on anything including live shrimp. I feel better now, I thought it was my lack of fishin skill.


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## Gatorguy

Nice to have met you all out there. Fun trip and I'm already planning my next trip this coming Jan 12th weekend. Hope the bugs lay down by that time and the fishing picks up!!

Dan - aka Gatorguy


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## Guest

> Nice to have met you all out there. Fun trip and I'm already planning my next trip this coming Jan 12th weekend. Hope the bugs lay down by that time and the fishing picks up!!
> 
> Dan - aka Gatorguy


Don't make me come back down there again to double your posts. 

Nice to have met you and Les.


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## Weedy

Dan,
Are you doing the loop trip then? Thinking about maybe joining if you do(well, if I can..... ). 
Walt


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## Fuzzy_Bruce

Now will some one tell the story of the skiff  doing donuts around the the pilot who fell out of the boat at the mouth of the river 

I don't say much, just drink-fish and repete


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## Guest

> Now will some one tell the story of the skiff  doing donuts around the the pilot who fell out of the boat at the mouth of the river


Not me.


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## beavis

I heard that was a Capt Morgan tale


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## Weedy

Yea, I wanna hear the story too!


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## buck

Great pics and narration. That weekend was great as usual. Wish I could post some pics but my camera got slightly wet and destroyed. The fishing was fun, but the fellowship is always the best. Thanks again. I think Dave got indoctrinated into the gheenoe army.


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## Ron_W.

Nice trip. About how much fuel did you guy's burn on the average?


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## Weedy

Ron W,
I had logged 106.6 miles(on the gps) and I used 10 gallons! There was alot of WFO, slow speeds in the creeks, but I normally average 10 miles to the gallon whether I am loaded or running light. Hope it helps.
Weedy


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## Guest

Wow, I used almost 9 gallons. Told you I was burning as much as you guys.  Guess WFOT from ramp and back to the ramp isn't the way to conserve. : We'll find out if it's the way to break em or break em in. :-/


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## sageone

Great trip!!! 
Awesome pictures and report!
In all those pictures I don't see one single bug......girly-men.


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## tom_in_orl

11 - 12 gallons. I was the token Yamaha..........


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## skeeter

Nice Trip [smiley=smilie-taz.gif]


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## Gatorguy

We're working out the specifics of the Jan 12th trip.  So far the dates are from Jan 12th - Wed Jan 16.  Not sure if it's going to be a loop trip yet.  PM me with your email and I will make sure you're included on our external email thread.

Even if the group just wants to camp at a central location like Willy Willy and then explore/fish from there as a base camp, I'm thinking of taking a day and heading down to Flamingo from Willy Willy and back.

Dan - aka Gatorguy


Also - I averaged around 10mpg on the trip with my Yamaha 25


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## Weedy

Gatorguy,
pm sent, Thanks
Walt


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## jaxflatsfisherman

Nice looking trip.  One of my friend's brothers goes down that way pretty often.  You can check out their fish trips at www.campclaw.com


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## Apollobeachsam

Cool! very nice report fellas.. looks like boys.. had a blast.

Looks like the skeeeeters were pretty bad from all the netting.

Love Watson's place... next time I'm going, I'm gonna man up and camp!


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## Guest

> Love Watson's place... next time I'm going, I'm gonna man up and camp!


Should be safe now Sam. The bugs were well fed.  I think I lost 3 lbs and my blood pressure (& volume) was lower ;D ;D ;D


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## Weedy

It wasn't the skeeters. It was those [email protected]*M noseems! They would get pretty bad, but, NOTHING like "Broad River" campsite!!!!! [smiley=eek.gif] [smiley=eek.gif] [smiley=eek.gif]
Weedy


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