Going fishing tomorrow. By myself. The wife and her twin sisters and their mama are all going tubing down the famous Ichetucknee River.

If you have never been, you really need to schedule a trip. The water is cold and crystal clear and about five feet deep or so. You lay back in your tube and drift past the flowers with a girl so incredibly high. No beer, no nothing allowed as they are very protective of the river.

The park rangers limit access once a limit has been attained, so go early as they open. Relax, eat some food, and then go tubing. They will rent you a tube and they have a trolly that takes you to the drop off point, and back to the car. Then relax and eat some more, then go again.

There are three drop off points. A short, midrange and long trip. I like the midrange as the wife is about done when that ends. I would like to do the long trip sometime.

Last time we were drifting along and this four foot alligator swam right past us. I mean close close. I told my wife that he wasn’t interested in us, that with all the kids he would rather have one of them. Just make sure there are lots of kids around you and you should be fine. They keep attacks real quiet so as not to upset future visitors that do not know about all the alligators. People think cold water- no gators. WRONG….CHOMP CHOMP BABY.

This is the time of year that the gators are roaming the land looking for new ponds and lakes and such to inhabit. The little ones get chased off the lakes where they grew up. On the way home Monday I saw a five footer laying in the roadway. He had crawled about a half mile from Lake Orange, and decided he had gone far enough. Just laid there, perfectly still, half expecting me to give him a ride.

A week or so ago the wife and I were out on the lake and heard two big males singing. Grrrrrrrrrrrrrr….they go. First one then the other. I guess this is a way to intimidate their rivals instead of ripping themselves up fighting. Many a gator is missing his leg you know, and they are cannibals. Once the mother is done protecting her babies, she begins eating them. I know, rude huh ? Well the smart ones scatter and escape.

Haven’t decided on which lake I will be floating along on, but probably the one with the most fickle of fish. Hateful creatures that will spot my best lures and scoff. Anyways, gonna show them what lures they ain’t never seen before.