Snook live in the darndest places.

[Master-Baiter]

This happened a long, long time ago.

It had been raining like crazy for several days, and a sinkhole opened on our street. Being a kid and cooped up in the ole ancestral homestead with my parents, sister, and grand parents before, during, and after a tropical storm was just too much boredom, and I finally got permission to wander out, but not too far. I was just barely a teenager visiting my grandparents on vacation.

Long before Disney Orlando, the South Florida attractions were things like Coral Castle, Monkey Jungle, Parrott World, and the Indians with alligator wrestling, airboats, and Indian Villages where they sold stuff like beads. Of course, there were the beaches and fishing piers, much more numerous in those days. People could and would fish from any bridge, seawall, beach, jetty etc. The beaches had jetties every 20-100 yards or so made of wooden pilings, and they often held fish. Walk out a few yards and find sand dollars. Catch Sand fleas to your hearts content on any beach. Big fish could be, and were caught from the beaches. Fisherman's heaven it was, in the old days.

There was no cable TV, only 3 channels to choose from, and the radio was often entertainment enough with the Green Hornet, Lone Ranger, and other quality programs. That or fishing was about all there was to do after the first few days visiting.

"Cool" though I, as I spied the giant sinkhole on our street, and went over to investigate.

And than it happened. I thought I saw something move the water. So I ran home, told my folks where I'd be, grabbed a cane pole, and went back to fish.

I'd been there about 20 minutes, used one of them little lizards we find everywhere in these parts for bait. Hook 'em on small long shank hooks through the lips. If you grab them wrong, they will shed their tails, and you want the tail on when using them for bait.

So I'm fishing with my lizard and about to give up, when Gramps came out and said, " Yer wastein time, there ain't no fish in that thar hole".

All of a sudden, the water swirled, my bobber moved, and I got something hooked. Grandpa was wide eyed with an incredible look on his face, one I'll never, ever forget.

I'd love to say it was a monster fish, near world record size, but that would be a lie. It was a Snook, maybe 12 inches and maybe one pound or so, but for a young kid like me, it was a monster, and my Grand Pa saw me catch it.

My first Snook, the Sewer Variety, Grandpa took me and the fish home. He threw the fish in the garbage saying it was a "Soapfish" and not edible, but he wanted my folks and Granny to see it. No such thing as catch and release in those days, and how could someone release a fish back into a sinkhole anyway?

Never again would he be able to tell me, "Time to go, there's no fish here" when he took me fishing. It was that trip when he bought me my first real fishing pole and reel. I still have, and use that reel today.

And more important, I can never again pass a sinkhole without wondering what may be swimming or lurking beneath the surface.

Fish can be found in the most unexpected places. This really happened years ago. Honest. We're all fisherman here, why would I lie to you?

[bobwired]

a little known fact about sink holes is the water at the bottom is our drinking water aquafer. I saw a documentary on pbs where people were treating a local sinkhole like a trash and toxic waste dump. Divers saw paint cans, aluminum cans, antifreeze bottles and other nast crap just below where the aquafer penetrated the land via sinkhole. crazy

[****MIKE****]

yea kinda like your picture let me guess that was u your grandpa took the picture lol