New Year’s No Fishing Photo Essay
Thank you for reading this No Fishing Photo Essay. Last week I wrote, “Next week’s report will probably read like this one, kind of lame, but I hate fishing in crowds. I expect the crowds to be dissipated on January 5.” I did not fish this week, and spent three days cleaning my garage and office, but did float the Econ, got out to the wetlands park twice, and the Tosahatchee WMA briefly. The photos that follow are from those excursions. The weather forecast looks good for the coming week- I hope to take advantage!
OK, the Econ. The gauge was at 3.75. While I like it to be below 2.0, the water looked good and I thought it would fish OK, at least with spin tackle. As I write this the gauge is at 2.75. I might just try it this week.
I brought an old camera with me on the river for a feasibility test. It failed, so I didn’t get many pictures. I did get these, though-



The last two are of the same animal. It’s a solid gator, but half its tail was gone. I don’t want to find whoever took it!
Susan and I went to the wetlands park on Friday, and took the tram. The driver brought us to a ring-necked pheasant. She thought it had escaped from a game farm. It was pretty tame, and was the only one I’ve ever seen in Florida.

She also showed us a bittern. It’s not a great photo, but it is the only bittern photo I have!

After the ride we went to the boardwalk, where gallinules, anhingas, and herons were the attractions.



Saturday I went to Tosahatchee WMA, looking for photos. The light was flat, and I didn’t get much. The mosquitoes convinced me to look elsewhere.



Between Tosahatchee and my house is the wetlands park. The spoonbills were putting on a show! They are getting ready for breeding, too.







That’s the New Year’s No Fishing photo essay. I thought it was a good week! Thanks for reading!
Every day is a blessing. Don’t waste it- Go fishing! Go paddling! Go walking! Stay active!
John Kumiski – https://spottedtail.com
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