Long Key, it's like a beautiful resort if there were no buildings.

Sometimes the reality of being spoiled by living in Florida sinks in. Like being able to get out of bed, have breakfast on the comfort of your couch then take a drive in order to make it in time for lunch in the Florida Keys. This is only one example and I really don’t know how I could live in any other state and I’m very fortunate to be born in this beautiful place.

 

                                                                  Long Key Bite Flats

 

On Sunday, June 22^nd my wife and I packed the truck and were joined by the Billings Family as we took that drive south towards the clear waters and sandy beaches of Long Key, Fl. This would be the third year in a row that we have made the trip. It has become a summer thing for us. At the last minute I booked an extra day so we would stay for 6 days total. The balance between fishing and quality time with our loved ones is hard to maintain but we do the best we can.

 

                                              There's an Ocean Kayak in there somewhere.

The first year we stayed at Bahia Honda and the second year we stayed at Long Key. We liked Long Key so much we decided to stay there again. The best part about staying a second time is you’re able to dial in the fishing the first time and know what you’re up against the next time around. While we knew the go-to spots, it still proved to be difficult. One of the hottest tarpon spots around the Key is a mere 100 yards from camp. Mornings and afternoons guides would line the coast and pole the flats in search for these monster silver kings. It’s times like this that I sit and observe the patterns of locals and try to pick up some knowledge. At the end of the day when I see almost zero hook-ups happen by local guides, I don’t feel bad getting the skunk by the giant tarpon. This is exactly what happened the last two years in a row. However, simply seeing these massive fish swim in these clear waters is enough to make you appreciate them.  

While the tarpon fishing was the same as always, there are plenty of other fish in the Keys to target. As much as I don’t care for catching them, sharks are everywhere and take zero effort to catch. After putting a hook in a nurse shark I decided I wasn’t going to catch one the rest of the trip. But while out kayaking with the entire group I couldn’t help but to show Cat Billings and my wife Stephanie a shark up close. So without a hook and line, I set out to catch one with my bare hands (I don’t condone this).

                                                             Hand caught Nurse Shark

After handling that small shark I was able to find a tidal pool reef loaded with mutton and mangrove snapper. It was a very low tide and this reef pool was its own little ecosystem. With a Paul’s Dinkum Unfair Lure Shrimp I was able to catch a few with one mangrove being of size to take back to camp to add to our breakfast. Snapper is not on the top of my list of favorite fish to eat but fresh fish was requested multiple times so I was happy to provide it.

 

The 2013 trip to Long Key was a busy one. It was packed with filming for "Everyday Push" and I even asked my girlfriend to marry me. She said yes and we got married last October. At the wedding we had floating sky lanterns that people could write us a wish on with a black marker. We held on to them until the perfect time and on the fourth night of this trip we let them fly away. We were on the Gulf side of the island and the water was glassy with a calm east wind. It couldn't have been a better night. We lit the fire block of the 100% biodegradable lanterns and let them go. The first lantern took off quickly and the second lantern dove towards the water. It came within four inches of complete catastrophe before it took off following the first one. We watched until the far distant lights went out. I have photos of all the wishes but I never read them and probably never will. They were not for us to read.

 

We all had a great time between relaxing, snorkeling, fishing, kayaking, paddle boarding and eating. I was even able to fly a kite. You’re never too old to fly a kite. By day six we were ready to get out of there. The sand in my wheelchair started to finally get on my nerves and the sargassum was starting to stack on the beach and begin to smell a bit. I have often wanted to live in the Keys and almost moved there years back but I really think the Keys need to be enjoyed in small dosages. They should also be respected and we should leave nothing but footprints.

 

                                                                Long Key in a nutshell.

Father's Day weekend recap.

"Heroes On The Water serves our Nation’s warriors by providing healing and rehabilitating kayak fishing outings that are physically and mentally therapeutic through our nationwide community of volunteers and donors."

The Space Coast Chapter of Heroes On The Water was created about one year ago by Bob Harvey. Shortly after it was created I took over as coordinator and I've been fine tuning it ever since with the intentions on finding someone who is able to take my place. It's a great organization and it changes the lives of Veterans. Kayak fishing also changes the lives of typical civilians with disabilities. I know because it changed my life and I'm not sure where I'd be without my kayak.

On Friday, June 13th five chapters of HOW came together to hold one large camping event, the First Inaugural Florida HOW Summit. This event would spread over a weekend and consist of eating, fishing, eating, making friends, fishing, camaraderie and eating some more. The Summit would be held in my own backyard of Merritt Islands No Motor Zone of the Banana River. The Banana River is 1/3 of what makes up the Indian River Lagoon, Americas most diverse estuary. The other two parts include the Indian River and Mosquito Lagoon.

The event started on Friday and with a new Ocean Kayak Big Game 2 in my possession I was too excited to wait. I wanted to get my new boat wet ASAP so I packed up my truck and heading for the campground on Thursday night at 9:30pm. There were a few leaders from other Chapters already set up and I was happy to have Butch Newell and Charlie Ganoe help me unpack and setup. By the time we were finished I set my alarm and managed to get five hours of sleep before I set off again.

Friend and fellow HOW Team Member, Wade Hollowell met me at the south end of the Mosquito Lagoon and we launched by 6:30am. This was a little pre-event fishing we intended on doing. With the wind and a few storms closing in early it made chasing tails a bit hard. We chased more mini whitecaps than anything and ended the late morning with a few trout. We made a quick stop by Kayaks By Bo on the way back to the camp in order to get some new gear for my BG2. By the time we got to campground there was a significant amount of new faces and tents. Dinner shortly followed and was hosted by the Central Florida Chapter and after that everyone got some shuteye for an early Saturday start on the NMZ.

 It's not often that a photo of me kayak fishing pops up. I tend to be the one behind the camera and I don't often fish with people. The majority of the photos of me were taken by me. With that said, Tammy Wilson was able to snap a nice one while the sun was getting us ready during the event on Saturday.

As you can see from the sunrise above, it was a very welcoming morning. The thoughts in my head were more concentrated on the setting full moon and how productive the day of fishing would be. People travel from all over to fish the Indian River Lagoon for it's wide variety of fish including massive red drum and the last thing I wanted was for people to leave with no good fish stories. It's bad enough the IRL gets a lot of bad publicity due to the media and pollution. The IRL has a reputation to keep up and it needs every bit of positive support it can get.

The morning pressed on as Vets, guests and guides scattered throughout the NMZ. I guided my Vet and guests close to the launch ramp because of the mid-morning storms I knew were coming. I was happy to get his guests on some fish but unfortunately he didn't catch anything. His one guest caught a puffer fish that I gladly inflated for him and another reeled in a catfish I was able to hook up. The word was out that the only thing being caught was puffers, small trout and catfish. I was just fine with my group catching just that because my Vets guests were his son and daughter. They had nothing but smiles all morning.

Lunch was served by the local VFW and I couldn’t help but to watch the clock and count all the people coming to the lunch pavilion with no great fish stories. As much as I was trying to keep hope alive, I was watching the fishless day draft the hour hand. And with the last group of Vets and guests coming in the vibe of the day quickly changed. That last group was late only because guest Jeannie Dickman hooked into a 46” red drum that wore her out. Her Veteran boyfriend Chuck Miller was second on deck to tussle with this beautiful red until it wore him out and HOW Guide Donnie Leeper jumped in to bring the red to the boat. A successful mission was had in the backyard of NASA and the reputation of monster reds in the Indian River Lagoon will carry on.

                     Jeannie in the background with guide Donnie. One healthy released red drum.

The day ended with the North East Florida Chapter cooking dinner and the Sarasota Chapter woke everyone up bright and early with the breakfast bell. With close to 100 people in attendance I’m happy to say the Florida Chapters of HOW conducted a great first event of it’s kind. There was only one problem, I wasn’t able to catch one decent fish in my new boat.

My final stop for the weekend was a Father’s Day picnic at a local park. It just so happen to be a park where I spent a lot of time fishing as a kid. With family members of my wife, brothers wives, our closest friends, family and my parents, we took over the park. It’s great to have so many special people in one place at one time. We dodged the summer storms as they came and went and when they finally left for the day my fishing brother Jon Billings and I pushed off the shore for a bit. My weekend just wasn’t complete without that one fish so we went to find him and close out the end to a fantastic weekend.

Special thanks to Kayaks By Bo, VFW Post 8116, Merri Cakes, Harry Goode’s Outdoor Shop, Ocean Kayaks, Indialantic Seafood Company,  KARS Park, all Florida HOW Chapters, HOW National and Mother Nature for taking it somewhat easy on us.

I hope it was a great Father's Day and my thoughts are with you if your Father is no longer with us.

                                Matt Conneen, Joe Conneen, Mike Conneen, Chris Conneen

I went to camp this weekend and I'm going back next month.

After joining the Board of Directors of Anglers For Conservation earlier last year I got very involved with the Hook Kids On Fishing program. This program is run and maintained by the AFC and funded by grants such at the Fish Florida grant. You might have seen the Fish Florida vehicle license plate before; it’s the one with the sailfish. Not to be confused with the other 23948023 vanity tags our awesome state has. Anyway, the proceeds from this license plate are used to buy rod and reel combos as well as tackle boxes. It’s with these items that organizations such as AFC is able to provide kids from all over the state with fishing gear, at no charge. Truly a great program.

At these events the kids learn about safety, knots, tackle, casting and conservation. What I’ve learned about working these events is that there are a percentage of kids that just want the new gear and want to go fishing. A percentage of kids listen and actually want to learn. The last percentage of them just want to go back home to their video games. It’s sad that we live in an age where everything is based on technology and it sucks up a huge amount of our time. However, let’s focus on the percentage of kids that wanted to learn? Where do they go? Who do they look to? What is the next step after they get their gear from a Hook Kids On Fishing program? These are the questions I asked myself last winter. It’s with answering my own questions that Tammy Wilson and I thought it would be a great idea to offer up just the program for young adults.

With the AFC behind us we put the wheels in motion and after a good amount of planning, Advanced Teen Anglers Camp (ATAC) was born. While most will tell you fishing consist of a fishing pole and some bait, we were going to help these young anglers understand what makes up the rest. With two six hour days we would help these future leaders understand the environment more so they could understand fishing better. From planting red mangroves to picking up trash to tying their first fly, we would cover it all. They would move from station to station learning more and more but we would tread lightly as not to force any one thing. There are many types of fishing and while I don’t want you telling me how to fish, I’m not going to tell you how to. It was with pride that I saw smiles this weekend. We cut some times short in order to go back and work more with individual preferences. While I expected to be one angler short the second day, all eight hung in there during this brutally hot weekend.

As I stayed busy keeping everything on schedule, the outstanding and dedicated volunteers kept the knowledge flowing. Everything went according to planned except for a comment that left me awake the first night. This camp was formed to help teens understand fishing better. There were no plans to actually go fishing, especially with the location at which we were holding the event at. I’m not one to say “No” very often and as I need to start saying it more, I beat around the bush when asked, “Are we going fishing at all?” After taking that question to bed Saturday night I came back Sunday morning by telling these young men that we will set a date before school starts again. It wasn’t a very hard decision to make. I simply took a look back to when I was a young teen and went to Karate school for all of a week and never got to break a board. It’s not going down like that as long as I’m in control. We will go fishing.

 As I look back at the last 48 hours I don’t see how I made much time for my wife or me but I wouldn’t go back and do it any other way. I just spent a weekend with eight great young anglers at a brand new camp and I’m looking forward to fishing with them before the summer is up.

A very special thanks to the following people for helping make this weekend happen.

Tammy Wilson, Rodney Smith, Karen Smith, Dennis Abdelhamid, Capt Gary Brown, Tyler Brown, Richard Goode, Capt Mark Wright, Nick Sanzone, the Brevard Zoo, Cindy Pless, Bill Grady, Marc Krsek, Long Doggers, Da Kines, Harry Goode’s, Banks Lures, D.O.A. Lures, UNFAIR Lures, Shallow Addiction Magazine, Procure Scents, Keep Brevard Beautiful, JJ’s Screen Printing, Anglers For Conservation and ………..

The Marine Resources Council for letting us hold the event at the Ted Moorhead Lagoon House.

 

I wish nothing but the very best for these young guys that I had the opportunity of spending the weekend with. It was especially nice to have two Dads spend it with us.

My un.....somewhat controllable life.

I've been reading a friends blog lately and it has inspired me to write again. I used to write about once a week and it was mostly just random stuff including rants but as I look back I see some of it was very meaningful. I pulled old blogs up to compare myself from what I was then and where I am now. I also pulled them up for a little push. At the time I had thought my punctuation, my spelling, my attitude, my judgment, my goals, my life was all perfect. Today I would like to think the same but I know there will always be room for improvement and I welcome it. I have matured tremendously yet I manage to keep a child like attitude towards the world.

This below blog is from October 26th, 2004. At the time I had no idea I'd be getting married on that same exact day in nine years to someone I hadn't even met yet. Most of all, I had no idea I'd fall off the wagon of sobriety and my life would take a horrible downward spiral, again. My will power was strong then and it's even stronger today. However, I could not predict the future then and I can't predict it now. I'm happy to be closing in on five years of sobriety this go round and below is a simple reminder of how things can always turn bad no matter how much you try to control them.

My Rants- 1Year Sober
10/26/2004 10:04:00 PM
"So a year ago today I was sitting in the hospital wondering what the hell was wrong with me. I knew I was in a wreck of some kind the night before but had no idea what was going on. After gathering my thoughts I came to a conclusion. I had blown a tire while I was drunk on my ATV. The point being, I was in the hospital because I was a severe alcoholic. There was no other reason I was in there except for drinking. People often ask if it was the tire that caused the wreck. Well, yea it was the tire but the alcohol drove me to the scene of the crash. Now I sit here in my apartment one year sober to the day. It would be a lot different if someone had hit me and I was injured. The fact of the matter is I am the one that did it to myself. I bought the coat and it's cold out so I will wear it. The time has past somewhat fast. Yea there have been hard times here and there. Parties by the lake during the day, celebrations, New Year's Eve, my birthday, and the list goes on. A few months back I would tell people I was not allowed to drink because of probation. Very true but deep down inside I was fighting a battle to overcome an addiction I had taken to the edge. I guess you could say I jumped off when I got there. Now as days pass I find myself telling people I don't drink when offered a beverage. Do I miss drinking? Well, I'm not going to lie, yea there are times I do. That's not the main question here though. The question is do I miss the life I used to live. Not a single bit. Drinking took me to places I have never been and never want to go back to. Some of the most severe include five DUI's and disorderly intoxication with aggravated assault. I hurt many feelings of those I loved and still do love. I kicked the front door right out of the jam at my parents new home. Went as far as telling my mother to fuck off. I look back at all these things and don't see the man that I was raised to be. These are the things I never want to see again. Now it's nice to go out at night and know I am going to sleep in my own bed later and not some cot in a cell.

Back around February I told myself I might have a drink after I hit one year of sobriety. All I wanted then was one year. Well, the year is up. I have never felt better in my life. That's not just something I tell myself either. So what is one more year then. The feeling is one of a child when he or she saves up many pennies. When you accumulate a lot you are proud of them and want to get more. You don't think about spending it because you can't grasp the concept of money in general. You just know to yourself five pennies are better then one nickel. More is better in some cases. Just work it like I have been. Days turn into months and into years. I have all these things to be proud of now so why waste them.

Recovered alcoholic I am not. There is no such thing. I'm recovering each day that goes by. Some seek help and others attend meetings. Determination and pure will power is how I achieve my goals and will continue to do so. If it takes me dying a sober man to win my battle, well then I wish the addiction the best of luck. I am not here to tell one that drinking is bad. To each is own. Drinking is a privilege in life. Someone should be able to go out and enjoy themselves after a job is done. I on the other hand enjoyed myself around the clock. Getting drunk is what I did best. I never hit rock bottom, I landed there slowly and built a house. I am driven by myself to do better each day and will continue to reach the unreachable goals in life. My Rants-1 Year Sober. M.W.C."