Pete the Pissy Pelican

Smokehouse Bay

The weather has really sucked in Orange Beach recently, so we decided to rent a car and drive down to visit our friends, Jim and Joni, who are wintering in a nice 3 bedroom condo overlooking Smokehouse Bay, Marco Island.

We took long walks around the island, shared great meals at restaurants and at the condo, had a few beverages, relaxed and laughed with our good friends. Jim and Mike also decided they should get Florida fishing licenses and try their luck on the local waters. Mike brought his fishing pole along, but Jim needed to purchase one in town. Since Jim already had a good supply of fishing equipment back in Wisconsin he decided to just buy something cheap. By cheap we mean a rod that looks like a kid's toy that comes with a tiny plastic tackle box attached to it. It wasn't pink with Little Mermaid stickers on it, but it was pretty darn close. Of course we gave Jim lots of grief over his "Spider-Man Rod" all week.

Both couples jumped into Jim's car and headed a few miles away to a park with fishing access. We were just about to the park when Brenda asked Mike where his fishing rod was. Oops! Back we drove to the condo to pick up Mike's rod and tackle box. Guess who got ribbed about having a senior moment the rest of the week?

Jim and Mike rigged up some live shrimp on their poles and found a spot among the local fishermen and several hungry pelicans. Jim and his mighty Spider-Man pole immediately caught a nice sized Sheepshead fish. Show off! The pelicans flew, swam and ran to the action with one actually getting the fish into his beak before Jim even had it up on the pier. We shooed the pelicans away, but they certainly believe people are catching fish for their pleasure. The pelicans stand right next to you just waiting for a free meal.

 

A local fisherman caught a small fish and refused to give it to the most insistent pelican of the bunch. This yellow headed pelican got even by sneaking up behind the fisherman and nipping his calf. Not long afterward the same pelican repeated this behavior with another fisherman who threw his catch back into the water rather than sharing.

Pete the Pissy Pelican then bit Jim in the calf after he threw his third fish back into the water. Just look at Pete's eyes in this picture and tell us he isn't a mean hearted bugger.

Pete the Pissy Pelican

The next time the boys went fishing they went to a different location to hide from Pete. The fishing was pretty good and Jim's legs weren't nipped by the local pelican mafia boss.

Beautiful day to fish

 

 

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