<h3> • #8: Islamorada Journal 2014…09 JAN [The Rains of Castamere—4]</H3>

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It rained all day on Wednesday. It is said that in the Keys one sees only showers that last for a few minutes and then the sun comes out. Well, this was the exception that proves the rule. BTW, "proves," in this aphorism, actually means "tests" as in a military proving grounds where weapons, etc. are tested prior to use in the field. So, when the world gives you lemons, what do you do? Go out to eat! Caryl and I went to Island Grill to see if the food had improved over what we've seen there the last few years...including the year I had a grilled fish filet that, had one enough of them, one could have tiled a roof. The fish was definitely better...very nicely done, in fact. But I also had a dirty vodka martini that was not good; ten, count 'em 10, dollars for a drink that I can make better myself, and I am no professional barkeep. Only one I've had worse than this one was made at the Lorelei restaurant here in Islamorada...best one from Snappers in Key Largo. My all-time favorite DVM came from a little place on Cape Cod, name of which I unfortunately failed to record. Caryl had a lobster roll [robstell lorr in Japanese] which she said was good, but she would not have it again as it rated only a 5 out of 10; the best part was the roll [lorr] rather than the contents of the lorr. So again this year we've given Island Grill it's chance to entrance us, and it has not done so. Grilled fish was good, though...and Caryl says the chocolate cake was a 10/10. On Thursday two yakkers apparently didn't mind the continuing rain. I went over to Smugglers to visit with Mark who's the resident fly-fishing guru. We discussed what was up with fishing before the cold spell hit and speculated about how bad it would probably be after the arctic intrusion. Smugglers is a major purveyor of bait including pinfish, above... ...and these shrimp. Click on any photo to enlarge. Sun attempted to provide a sunset on Thursday evening...with this result.

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• Meanwhile, in other news...

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• Video: Sailfish’s Fishing Technique

“Watch a sailfish try to bludgeon fish bait to death with its spear.” See the video at this link: Gizmodo.com

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• 2013 Not A Good Year for Shore Fishermen in Southern New England

“I would have to use the word "collapse" to describe the bluefish situation. For shore fishermen, there were almost none. Even when there was a lot of bait around, there were few blues close to shore. I landed exactly 5 bluefish from shore all year. I know some fishermen who caught none. ”We fared better from the boat, yet there were no big numbers of them from the boat either. They are just not around. The current regulations of 10 fish a day and no size limit makes no sense.” Thanks to Charlie W. for the tip on this article. Read the full article at this link: RIStripedBass

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