It was a dizzying two days of fishing. It had been a year off the Key, highlighted by nasty hurricanes and a winter of cold fronts that lasted too long. I was returning with Publisher Dan Palmer and writer Lynda Peeler of Community Newspapers. They were interested in the ecological "feel' of this destination.
Courtesy of of a high-pressured filled vacuum created by the northward passage of a tropical storm, we were blessed by cloudless skies in the mornings and rainless days. This is unusual for High Summer in Florida. Little did I know it was pouring back in Miami. I had the pleasure of meeting Steve Thomas , who was handling transfers and maintenance at KIE. We had a high tide and flew across the outside flats..the water was beautiful and clear, an omen for fine fishing.
The rest is a dizzying kaleidoscope of two days of sheer joy, kind of like the old spinning serving dishes called Lazy Susans when I was a kid. Dish 1- hooked up to a dusk- sunlit beachside snook. Dish 2- chef Mark preparing glazed grouper as I peer over my glass of Firesteed Pinot Noir. Dish 3- The sun is down and I'm tight to a thick snook thrashing up the darkness with skybourne foam clumps. Dish 4-Asleep, but how long for? Dish 5 or was it back to Dish 3? Tight to another snook under a crescent moon, and trying to keep count of the fish released-sometimes quantity creates quality-why did you go to Christmas Island? Dish 6- KIE's Earth Mother Stacey Kanzler tells a ghost story. On and on it spun like this until I was back at Pelican Landing offloading my transfer by Jimmy and Stacey from their Carolina Skiff.
I do recollect more after I slept back in Miami. The shells I picked up between beach hunts for the elusive surf snook was a reminder I could actually do something else besides fish! But for a fanatic fisherman, KIE is like this. I do remember that my log- written with sunburnt, charley-horsed hands- scribbled that I released 76 snook, not 75. I'm sure this will be a lifetime record that I will cherish. My log indicated that I released over 20 nice-sized jacks and ladyfish. Dan and Lynda left KIE better than when they came, calmer and more fish and eco-savvy. That's the way it is there.
Interested? try www.keyislandestate.com/
Jan
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