Southern Comfort

This weekend marks another first for our little family.  I guess just about every day we are marking firsts really.  When I asked Jack what he wanted for his birthday, he said that what he really wanted was for me to go fishing with him down in Venice.  I think Jack's vision for our family is that as Jackson grows older we become this traveling family of anglers.   In order for this to happen, I have to learn how to fish.  Up until this weekend, I have gone on many fishing trips with Jack, but while he is fishing, I enjoy a good book and take pictures.  So our ideas of what to accomplish on a fishing trip have been somewhat different.  Jack has this wonderful knack for finding the best places to stay.  We handed Jackson over to the Nana and the Mi-mi of the weekend and headed off to The Woodland Plantation.  If you are familiar with whiskey, you will see the picture of this old Louisiana plantation home on the labels of Southern Comfort whiskey bottles.  It is a beautiful and charming old place full of antiques. Our bath included a super deep claw foot tub that I bathed in four times this weekend!  In addition to the plantation home there are several old buildings including an old church they have turned into a bar and dining room for guests.  The food was amazing! So I highly recommend this place! Here are a few pics....

 

On Sunday morning we enjoyed a fabulous breakfast and then headed out to launch the boat with our guide Mr. Iverson.  This was another one of Jack's really good ideas.  Jack has attempted to teach me to cast many times before.  It isn't that we end up fighting.  I just end up getting frustrated and give up. So Mr. Iverson was given the task of teaching me to cast.  Jack bought me a fishing shirt and I had my fancy new polarized sunglasses, so I was all set.  As soon as we got on the water I was struck by the beautiful scenery. Louisiana is gorgeous.  Mr. Iverson pointed out that we were only 40 miles from the original location of the oil spill.  Everything was beautiful.  No signs of oil that I could see.  I can't even imagine how the people of that area must have felt seeing such a beautiful area covered in oil.  

After my casting lesson, I spent the morning practicing.  Jack always says that it is called "fishing" not "catching", and that statement applied to our morning.  We didn't see much action, but then we happened on several schools of Jack Cravalles.  They were on our bait just moments after casting it out there.  Jack and Mr. Iverson began spotting the schools and we were hooking up on fish instantly.  Mr. Iverson hooked a spinning shark that leapt from waters a good 5 or 6 feet into the air, spinning 7 or 8 times!  It was one of the coolest things I've ever seen.  Over all we had a great trip. I never knew fishing could be so fun!  I realized that getting the fish to bite is only half the battle.  Getting the fish in the boat is a whole other ball game!  I fought 3 Jack Cravalles for over twenty minutes each.  My arms and legs are so sore this morning!  These fish are in the 20 to 25 pound range and they put up a big fight!  After losing 3 of them, I finally got one nice 20 pound red fish!  It was a great weekend!  Maybe Jack's dream for us to be a fishing family will come true after all!