Not Fishing. No Way!
By Keith Lozott, Contributing Writer
The name of this article has been my experience with fishing for the last several weeks. Hopefully by the time you’re reading this, I will have put a few productive flats trips under my belt. Why haven’t I been fishing you ask! Well, the pandemic has shutdown summer camps and the boat has needed some maintenance, so I figured let’s get it done now. Having a mechanically sound boat is extremely important and paramount to having successful fishing trips. I don’t like worrying about things breaking down on the water, so I try to keep ‘Spydie’ (19’ Spyder Vapor thus the nickname Spydie) in great shape at all times. Finding an honest & good mechanic can be hard to do. If you aren’t a do it yourselfer, definitely find a good company to do your yearly service(s) and your boat will be better for it! I went to Coastal Marine in Stuart and they were very nice and as honest as the day is long. If you’re wondering, I didn’t get a discount for mentioning their name. “What does B.O.A.T. stand for? I broke out another thousand just like the old joke says.” I did have a fair amount repaired and added for the record.
Not fishing doesn’t mean that I’m not actively engaged in fishing or planning the next trip. I love watching shows that give me ideas on where to plan a trip someday. I enjoy reading articles in magazines like Coastal Angler Magazine and Florida Sportsman on what’s biting, how to articles, spots that you may not have known about, new products on the market, and most of all conservation. You can never stop learning is what they say, and I agree with that for sure. Checkout some of the publications out there and learn something new! We can all raise awareness for conservation. Read about what’s happening in the environment and try to help one of the many organizations further its cause in bettering the beautiful waterways and estuaries that we all look forward to enjoying. The water issues in Florida are front and center and some of our elected officials are really pushing to clean up the issues our state faces. I can’t thank them and all of the advocates enough for their hard work and dedication. I can’t fail to mention that the Federal Government passed The Great American Outdoors Act and signed it into law. This legislation allocates $9.5 billion dollars over the next five years to help conserve America’s National Parks. Hopefully, some of these funds find their way to the Everglades and helps it get the freshwater flowing to where it belongs, IN THE PARK! Whether you’re a Democrat, Republican, Green Party, Libertarian, or Kanye West’s Birthday Party you can be proud of this accomplishment especially in today’s political climate.
Keith Lozott The Fishing Realtor