Friday, November 21, 2008

Fishing Flamingo with "Hitman" Eddy Carmen


I arrived in Florida Saturday night to spend some time with my good friend Ed Carmen of the Biscayne Rod Legacy. I have known Ed for over twenty years, sharing many fishing adventures with him and his brothers and we planned to head off to Flamingo (Florida State Park) first thing Sunday morning. After a great dinner with the family we hit the hay and were up at 5 am ready for the hour drive south. For those of you who have not heard of Flamingo, it is the state park located right across from the keys near Florida City that has a myriad of fish living in its shallow waters. The species include tarpon, bonefish, redfish, seatrout, and the elusive snook. We have had many good trips catching all the species but this trip we are heading down with 40 mph winds and the first cold snap they have seen this year in Florida.
Our day started out with Ed's son Zach pushing for position on the front deck, I knew the competition was on and here used his local knowledge to slam dunk me in the morning with two snook and two redfish to my one lady fish. As the afternoon wore on I finally put a red in the boat myself but was well aware that the conditions had us beat.
I really appreciate the few good friends I have, Ed is truly one of them. Their are a lot of people that move through your life over the years but the ones that linger are usually the true friends.
I had a great time with Ed and his son Zach. I really enjoy staying with him and revisiting the old fishing trips, they live on in our minds which I plan on enjoying for years to come.
I hope you are able to spend time fishing with friends over the Holidays catching some fish that pull drag.
Until next, good fishing to you.

Ben