Cabo Trip with Son and Brother

To much to say ... Can not use words. Gota use photos.


by fishwww

We had a wonderful time. Carl got a 155 lb Swordfish.


by fishwww

I was a 2nd Gaffer.

Prior to the Swordie on Sunday I got a Marlin on Sat.

by fishwww

And then Ryan got his first Marlin!

by fishwww

Good three day weekend trip. Results: 5 marlin and a swordfish.

Nice way to commemorate my boys 13th birthday.

Fish Wish Come True!

LA Boat show with Thomas - 1-31-2006

I picked Thomas up from school early. He had a Minimum day on Tuesday. School ended at 1:30 pm. We went downtown and did the Boat show together.

see www.scma.com for info on the boat show...
It was 7 for parking and 7 to get in with AAA discount. Thomas was free.

We looked at info on Lake Powell house boating. We have a family trip planed for September with Aunts and Uncles and 3 or 4 other families. So we sucked that up a little.

But what we really did was walk boats. All the top floor of the show was boats and large hardware. We looked at the new reverse Volvo drive. We walked boats. Thomas took his shoes off so many times it wsa getting tiring for him.

But we found some really sweet boats. I followed him through some of the 50 and 60 footers I had no interest in and he did a great job of helping me look at the boats in the 27 to 32 foot class. Oooh we had fun. There at a few things in the family cruiser size that works for a next boar up. I really liked the ones with the amidships cabin. Makes the Express type boat a good compromise and have the sleeping space needed for the family of 4 and guest kid that is likely to come along with either of the boys. I need sleeping for 5... Wow. It may be possible.

But the prices are way scary. The Rampage 30 Express was the first one to really nock my socks off. All the nice stuff in the cabin with lovely wood. Has Diesel power and Generator and Radar and Fish Finder and GPS Map and Vacuflush head. And is goes 27 knots for maybe 360 miles on a tank that holds 250 gal. Now that is usable range. But what about the $230,000 price tag. Wife is right to not want that heartache.

12 boats later I fell in love. We found the Sea Ray Amberjack 290 a great option. Loaded with stuff and 230 gal fuel capacity and fishable and nice to look at and Nice to be on. Only $139,000. Ok it has s funny thing with Stern Drives. ( I/O ) with an odd thing with a large under with water exhaust that will drag in the water or catch a line when a fish dives under the boat or... but it may help my wife to not smell the engines. It may help the boat to track true? Or to reduce the stern rocking motion. But it sure is new to me. Really stood out when I looked under the boat.

All in all a fun boat show to visit. Thomas did a few knots down at the lower hall at the CG Auxiliary booth. And we got a raffle ticket for the boat they are giving away. This one will be Thomas' if we win. Ryan has a Dinghy and a Sailboat. Thomas is ready for a tender. Would be fun to take to Lake Powell too.

After searching the boats on line I found a Amberjack that works nicely in Salt Lake Utah for 79k in "like New" condition. Now I may be getting closer to our smaller budget.

It is almost like a extra third car or a weekend vacation property. One needs to use it to get the value out of it. An Express cruiser would get used for vacations and my fishing addiction.

Thomas liked the fun of crawling into the small headroom mid cabin bunks to have his own play place. Hmm If only the $ were there.

Ryan gets his Bent Halibut Trophy

At the MDR Anglers Awards Party my son Ryan got his last set of awards for the monster halibut he caught in 2005.

I put the photos up in the Yahoo group for MDRAnglers in a photo album for "2005 Awards Party" for those who at into fishing to see. He did good with the mike and stood in front of the large crowd with confidence. I tried to give him his space and spot in the limelight all on his own.

I stayed in my seat and let him have the front of the room to his self. He is a good confident young man. Full of smiles and good humor and confidence. All of this for a boy who turns 13 next month.

Thomas was eager to share the spotlight a little with his brother. So he got up and helped his big brother with the big "bent" halibut trophy.

I'm emailing that photo to all my friends and family.

I'm a proud fishing Dad. And that was a good MDRA Awards party on Sat Jan 28th 2006.

A good Sat. with kids

I had a really great day with the kids on Sat.
It was early Nov. and a sunny day. After letting them just play and have a pancake breakfast with Moms best breakfast, we managed to get to go out and play catch at the park.

Thomas and two neighbor kids. The four of us got to hang out at the park and play. I do not even mind that I got a work call for a plumbing item in NYC that needed to be handled. (did a major delegate uphill on that one)

Cody was a little older and when the two little ones wanted to play on the playground equipment, Cody and I got to Throw some faster balls. A nice work out.

Then it happened on the way home... Thomas said he wanted to sign up for baseball next season!

Yessss! The next day we went up to the ball field where they were doing the early sigh up and got the forms taken care of. North Venice L. L. is a well run division of this division. They have a snack bar and I as a parent will have to volunteer to work in it. It is fun in the big schema of things.

I am SO relieved that Thomas has not given up on team sports. His brother in 7th grade is into skateboarding and no sports. How can a Dad cheer that on. He wants to do street skating. Thomas is trying to follow the skate thing to. But has not learned to do the tricks yet.

that's the good word for my blog for Nov. 2005