Hello All, I hope everyone is doing great!!!!

We had a little cold snap down here but not too bad compared to my friend in Chicago who said it was 25 degrees below with the wind chill. I am so glad I live in Florida.

I have had many people write me and say Shane What else do you do down there on the water besides going to restaurants and the beaches. Well here we go, you are gonna love this one. Have you ever fished in a FUN Fishing Tournament. How about a Tournament called Chix-N-Stix Ladies Fishing Tournament. What a great time!!!

It started the week before at a presign up meeting at Bahama Breeze. They hosted the entire event, their food and drinks are outstanding, especially the coconut crusted Shrimp. Remember this is a ladies tournament so I could not touch a fishing rod much less fish. The female team I selected had to be good and know how to fish. I looked around Bahama Breeze and suddenly it hit me, I know who I would select on the team. The next day Called my friend Kristie and said what are you doing next weekend, she said I am supposed to fish a tournament next weekend, I said so am I, but I just need a female team. She said, I have to the team, we are Called, "SNOOKIN CHIX FISHING TEAM" said I have the boats and the rods and tackle. Game on!!!!

Friday December 4 was the Captain meeting at Fish Tale Marina. Again it as all catered by Bahama Breeze and yes there was an open bar. This was all set up in the one of the huge boat barns. What a great job they did the food was great, the auctions and prizes were great everything was super..... accept the weather. It had dropped to the mid 60's and rainy that evening. The weather for the next day, Saturday was supposed to rain all day and the temperature was supposed to drop and the wind was supposed to pick up to 25 to 30 knots. Not good boating weather. I told my female fishing team, Girls its gonna be cold and windy. They said Captain Shane we are on and we are gonna win this tournament. I looked at the radar weather on my phone before we left the captains meeting and it looked real bad, a huge front was rolling down on us. I said girls I have good news and bad news. They said give us the bad news first, the cold front rolling in is gonna be tough boating, tough fishing and real windy. The good news is instead of taking my lake and Bay flats boat we are going to take the big boat. They were elated to know that we would be a little drier and not get beat up too bad from the rough water.

Saturday morning we all met at the boat with fishing rods, tackle, fowl weather gear and plenty of food and drink. We headed out to the first secret spot and actually besides the rain the weather was okay, the wind had not picked up yet. We did okay, got a few hits but no fish in the boat. the wind was beginning to pick up ad the first sqaul line was hitting us.

Note the smiles on the Snookin Chix Fishing Team!!

Note the pink Camo rod held by Kristie, by Mossy Oak provided by HammondOutDoors.com

You do not even want to know how I ended up in 62.3 degree water, but we got the lizard Fish.

We went to another spot and had not luck. We went to another spot and no luck, just some junk fish which we released unharmed. I said Girls this is it. We are going to the Mack Daddy for sure secret spot.

Note Lisa on the bow getting blown over in the wind. Note the top secret pink lure dangling in the wind. Please do not tell anyone about our top secret pink lures, they were the ticket.

We headed towards the secret spot, the pass and found out it was not so secret, cause there were several boats on it fishing. I said ladies, we are gonna follow the birds and when we get up to them, I will tell you when to cast. There were birds and fish every where. Kristie, Lori, Lisa cast, cast out at the breaking water..... Bam Kristie, Fish ON!!!! Got it to the boat, Bam Lori, Fish ON!!! Got it to the boat. Lisa, Bam Fish On!! Lisa got it to the boat.

Ugg!! Fishing line wrapped around the propeller. It happens

These girls fished hard and the they were getting rained on and the wind kicked up to about 15 to 20 knots the water was beginning to get very choppy. By this time all the boats that were around us were gone accept for two other brave boats that kept on fishing. We all had a ball, I maneuvered the boat to stay on the fish and the girls kept the their lines tight with fish on the ends of their rods. We fished another 45 minutes or so with a lot of fish in the cooler. By this time the winds had kicked up to what felt like 25 to 30 knot gust with the rain bands. I said, ladies it is 1 1/2 hours to weigh in, we need to boogie out of here, it is a long run to the marina for weigh in. So we secured all of our gear and headed to the marina. The first part of the ride was not so bad, we were in protected water of Pine Island Sound, do not get me wrong it was still very choppy. Once we crossed under the Sanibel Causeway we had to run out into the Gulf to get to Fish Tail Marina. Was it rough in the Gulf, oh yes. Very 4 and 5 footers, walls of water and spray crashing over the boat. My girls (team) did awesome, no belly aching at all, they were troopers. It only took about 20 minutes in the rough Gulf waters and then we were able to head in to the pass and up the channel to Fish Tale Marina with 15 minutes to spare for the weigh in. There were a ton of people at the Marina watching the weigh in. To give Fish Tale Marina a little plug. They are a full service marina with any thing you could possibly want with regards to boating.

Please check out their website......http://www.thefishtalemarina.com/

After weigh in, everyone had time to go back to the hotels and freshen up for the evening events and awards banquet. We stayed at the Holiday Inn Fort Myers Beach. Yes, it is right on the beach. It is very reasonable and a great place to stay. . The food was good and so were the drinks.
Go check out the website: http://www.fortmyersbeachhi.com/

My Snookin Chix Fishing Team did great I am so proud of these ladies for enduring the nasty weather conditions and never giving up once. These ladies fished hard core to the end. We did okay considering, I was told we placed 34th out of 89 teams.

Hope you enjoyed this weeks boating guide, I know we did. Come on down here to Florida and enjoy our beautiful area and our beachs and boating. It is truly a life style that you too can enjoy.

Until next time, make time for your family and friends. Make time to smell the roses, time goes by so fast.

Make it a great week.