Bear with me as we dwell into a little bit of my childhood. Growing up in Homestead,I was blessed with many areas to fish and many different ecosystems to explore. As a young child I have vivid memories of the smell of chum and the old two stroke Mercury 150 that was on the back of my family’s 22 foot Robalo. Many days were spent waiting for big snapper to take the bait, and I couldn’t wait to bring my mom fresh snapper (one of her favorites) and have a fish fry. Unfortunately my parents split up when I was four and the boat was lost in the process of divorce. So a whole new form of fishing filled my mind: Bass fishing from land.
Following my parents separation unbeknownst to me the problems my parents dealt with was really hard on them -my mom especially, but the one thing that always brought me back to peace was fishing. I can remember walking into Don’s Bait and Tackle and seeing Ashley (now my employer lol) and getting a Reese’s and a cup of night crawlers. Not many days were spent catching fish, but many days were spent learning patience and appreciation for the beauty that God has blessed us with in the form of fishing and nature. Fast forward 12 years and I am now the holder of something every boy dreams of having – a drivers license. Since I wasn’t sponsored by Mom and Dad, I had to find my own places to fish on land and walk for miles just to get away from the drones of people fishing our local lakes and ponds down here. Once again, not many days produced numbers of fish, but my love for the sport grew more and more intense. I noticed every single paycheck diminishing with each package of soft plastics and jerk bait hooks I just “Had” to have. Fast forward again 4 years and I have now gone through two boats and I am addicted to saltwater fishing and saltwater fly fishing. Although my love affair with saltwater fishing is passionate, there is always something that draws me back to bass fishing, whether its the accessibility, the cost effectiveness or just the eats from a bass, It will always have a special place in my heart and a big spot in my gear bag.
Like I said earlier, I work at Don’s Bait, and when Ashley wants a morning shift off (4am-noon) I jump right at the chance, because it leaves me a whole day to fish after work, since I usually get off at 8PM almost every day. I decided to go out and fish in the more north part of the everglades with my good friend Austin, who I grew up with and who re-light the love of bass-fishing in my life. Enjoy our pictures from today.
–Til the next post– Ryan.