Boy versus dolphin...boy wins!

Pam helps Robby get a hold of the rod before reeling his fish in.

Oh oh, the dolphins are closing in on it!

"Curses to you bi-ped! That was my dinner."

Pam, Robby, Sawyer and blue fish #1

"How many fish was that Sawyer?"

Captain Don, Pam and the Gypsy boys with their fish.

'nuff said.

www.SureLureCharters.com if you're coming to Destin

Beautiful ending to an EXCITING day!

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There we were on the high seas. The 40 foot vessel was bobbing in the waves, the twin 350 horsepower Caterpillar diesel engines rumbling when suddenly the line went taught. The pole dipped towards the turquoise green waters of the Gulf. The reel started to spin and we knew, we knew we had us a fish! Robby grabbed the pole from cousin Pam's hands "I can bring 'er in, lemme have it" he shouted over the roar of the engines. And the fight was on. For 20 or 30 agonizing seconds Robby worked that spindle like there was a fire. Then it happened...

As the fish broke the surface, something else did too. DOLPHINS! Chasing our little boy's fish! "Getta way from that fish, you sea maggots", we shouted. But to no avail. Now there were three of them. Back and forth the little, I mean, monstrous fish swam, desperate to escape the nipping jaws of the dolphin, yet he was tethered to the line of Robby's pole. Back and forth went the boy's arms, up and down went the pole, around and around went the spindle until at last...he was victorious! The fish was safely landed on board the Sure Lure. The dolphin surfaced, grimaced at the young lad and swam away, defiantly flipping the tails as they turned away.

Wow! What an afternoon we had today. We drove up to Destin to visit cousin Pam. Mid-afternoon, she had to run an errand in town and we needed to get to the Post Office (taxes you know). Pam asked if we'd like to follow her and we'd go by her boat afterwards. "Sure" we all said and off we went. She has a partnership in a charter fishing boat in Destin Harbor and we were eager to see it. Check out their website, Sure Lure Charters. We thought we were just going to see the boat but when we got there, she called the captain and asked if he'd take us out! Well that wasn't all they had in store for us. As we were getting out of the harbor, Captain Don told Pam to drop a line in the water. We were going to troll for Spanish Mackerel (do they speak Spanish I asked). Sawyer has been asking for a week to go fishing, ever since I bought the boys their own poles in Texas.

On the way out, we saw pelicans and gulls and then dolphins, right by the boat. As we continued, Capt Don shouted down to us from the spotting tower, "there's a shark off the port side". From the deck, we could make out the shadow in the water gliding along about 10 feet beneath the surface. I wanted to better look so I joined the Captain on the tower. While we were out we saw huge black "clouds" in the turquoise green water with dolphins on the perimeter. The dolphin were herding the schools of fish close to the shore to be eaten. And eating they were! We had one dolphin swim close by the boat with a 15 pound fish in it's mouth and we saw other dolphins splashing in the shallow water as they got their share.

As we were heading back, Captain Don spotted another school of fish and expertly guided the boat near them. These were biting too and before long we had another one on the line! This time the dolphin were busy with the fish they had trapped by the beach so we didn't have to race with one of them to bring our fish in. After getting the second blue fish in the bait tank, Sawyer was jumping around like something had bitten him! He loves to catch fish that boy!

It was getting late (and cold) so we headed back. On the way we saw more sharks, a sting ray and an assortment of fish in the clear waters off the white sand beaches of Destin, Florida.

Wow what a day and what a sunset to cap it off! Thanks Captain Don and Pam!!!!