Sunset reflecting on distant clouds.

I took a much needed break to see my son in Florida for a few days this week.

I made a vow that this time I would put my camera away and actually just enjoy our time instead of constantly brandishing my phone to get dozens of “must have” pictures, most which I never bother posting or ever looking at again anyway.    I mean, how many more beach pictures do I (or you?) really need?  Yes, the Gulf Coast beaches are stunning (especially at sunset) and I’m a sucker for beach pictures of any type anyway, but I successfully resisted the temptation to snap photos this time.   There are plenty of beach and sunset pictures on this blog already.

However, I did cave when we went fishing on our last day (Friday), because we were in a stunningly beautiful wetland area in an inland town called Inverness.

Yes, you would be correct to assume it was beastly hot and almost unbearably humid, as you might expect such an area in Florida to be in August, but we still had so much fun.    It was surprisingly un-buggy (probably due to all the dragonflies around who catch the mosquitoes), and the fish were definitely biting!

First, we drove to a brackish lake to catch the small bait fish (I caught five but had to throw two back because they were too large to use as bait fish), then on to the wetlands to do the real fishing!    My son (who purchased his fishing license at Walmart that morning), my daughter, and a friend all caught a few rather large freshwater bass (they were thrown back except for two, which will be eaten later, though not by me).    I caught no bass, but had a blast taking pictures of the scenery (we stayed past sunset) and everyone else’s catches.

Enjoy the photos. (The above photos were taken at the lake where we caught the bait; the ones below were taken at the actual fishing site about a mile away, as was the one at the top of this post which was taken near sunset).

I love her slightly disgusted expression.  But she was thrilled about catching her first fish ever.

That’s Spanish moss dripping from the trees, and in the background you can see a makeshift swing hanging from a branch.  I guess people actually swim here.  Yuck.  I sure wouldn’t.

The same view as above just before sunset.

The water was like a mirror.

Here you can actually see a bit of the small bait fish inside the bass’ mouth.