Sending Thankful Praise Your Way
First and most importantly, let me begin this blog by wishing all of you a happy Thanksgiving. As a lifelong Central Florida angler and career fire fighter my life has been a blessed by great fishing in one of the most diverse fisheries in the world and the excitement of a very rewarding fire service career. In counting my many blessings, I couldn’t have accomplished this glorious life without my amazing wife Sandi, loving family and my circle loyal and loving friends by my side. Through the good and the bad they have always been there for me for which I will be forever grateful.
With that said, I’m using this platform to formally announce my retirement from the fire service. I began my fire service career in 1974 at the age of 18, another blessing, and will end it 43 years later on December 4th. Although I am stepping down from a huge part of my life, I am only shifting gears. I plan to now focus my attention on my fishing charter business and the many charitable organizations I support, and trust me when I say I will still be busy. Again thank you to all of my family, friends and clients for supporting my many endeavors and God bless you and you families during this holiday season.
During this past few weeks my adventures on and off of the water have been many, so I will let the photos in this blog tell the story. On the lagoon, the water levels remain very high and dirty, so sight fishing has been nonexistent. This had made it very challenging to see fish, but we are still catching some respectable fish blind casting lures and chunking bait. We are also still experiencing high water on the freshwater side on the St Johns River as water levels on the river are around five feet above normal stage and some launch facilities are still closed. Although the catching has been challenging on all levels, the adventure remains good, so it is not all dome and gloom. As we transition into winter water levels will continue to fall and fishing conditions will improve likewise.
Windy conditions over the past few weeks have created rough seas land locking many offshore and nearshore anglers, so I’ve been making good use of my off days giving Three Quarter Time (my trusted skiff) some upgrades. First, she has received and new custom Seadeck, improving her appearance and practicality. The Seadek not only improves her appearance, it improves footing, deadens sound and is very comfortable under foot. Her next upgrade was the addition of Minn Kota Riptide Terrrva Trolling Motor, with advanced GPS technology, allowing for a more advanced plot tracking and Spot Lock ability. Lastly, I took her by Ameratrail in St Cloud Florida and the very efficient service staff added new tires and hubs to her trailer. If you live in Central Florida and have a trailer issue, I highly recommend Ameratrail.
As always, if you need information our have any questions, please contact me.
Happy Thanksgiving and good fishing,
Captain Tom Van Horn
- January 2021:Tom Van Horn - December 31, 2020
- December, Tom Van Horn - December 1, 2020
- Tom Van Horn:November - October 30, 2020
