Just would like to wish all my readers a Merry Christmas. Hope everyone gets to spend some time with loved ones and eat some good food. Tight lines and Merry Christmas to all!

Took a trip out to the beautiful Ft. Desoto Park down on Tierra Verde. Pat, one of my friends from school wanted to get out on the water so I picked him up at 6am and we headed down to the park. We arrived around 7am paying the 35 cent toll we entered the fort, parked and launched as the sun was coming up. It was a cooler day as a cold front approached, but with the sun it was very comfortable. The only problem was the wind, clocking at around 15-20 knots it was going to be a pain all day, and it sure was. It was a super low incoming tide so we had to get out and walk across a flat that usually had enough water to paddle. We started throwing topwater lures, and I had a few blow ups but no hook ups. The wind was making us cover the flat way too quick and the chop was giving the lures a hard time so we looked for shelter on the leeward side of an island where it was much calmer, we continued fishing. Pat had something large that was pulling some drag but it spit the hook.No other bites so we moved on and had to paddle against the wind. We eventually decided to anchor up at an edge of a flat, where the depth dropped from 2ft to 4-6ft. There was a mix of sand pot holes and grass. This was an ideal trout area so we gave it a try. Pat had no anchor so he rafted up to me and we began to work the area. I had the first bite while using a weedless 1/8 oz weighted gulp jerk bait in new penny color. I reeled in a small trout.We kept fishing and pat hooked up to a nice trout. A few cast later I hooked up with something, it turned out to be a foul hooked lizardfish, no picture needed for that mistake. Pat continued to fish while I dehooked the ugly lizard fish and he caught another good sized trout. Pat then caught another trout of the same sizeI finally ended up catching a small southern flounder while we were paddling back to the launch against the wind. We called it a day around noon and at the launch three herons awaited our return.Overall it was a good day, nice to be out at one of my favorite spots in the tampa bay area. The fishing could have been much better if the wind was working on our side, but the scenery can't be beat.

Ventured by my local marina and spotted at least fifty snook sunbathing right next to the catwalk in the marina, with out a care in the world. I snapped these photo's some of the snook in the mix are at least 40", now we know where all the big mama's are hiding. Snook season closed on December 1st so please be careful when handling and releasing any snook.