This past weekend I spent 3 days with the Jacksonville Kayak Fishing Club down in the St. Augustine area at a county park known as Princess Place Preserve . The Club has camped down here several times before but of course it was my first time there.  They only allow primitive camping so its a tent only affair but the Preserve is absolutely gorgeous 'Old Florida'.  Makes me wish there wasn't a 'New Florida'.  Here's a pic of the enterance to the place.


And here's my campsite


I got out fishing on Friday afternoon after setting up camp and then again on Sunday morning just before I left.  I played the role of the 'Camp Cook' this weekend as it was discussed on the fishing website about smoking some meat and I volunteered to do it.  One of the other guys, Scott, bought the meat and I prepped it and cooked it up.  One of the other guys brought some Salmon and Swordfish so I smoked those on Friday night and Scott ended up bringing down a Venison loin which I smoked but came out chewy due to the lack of fat in the meat.  Everything turned out tasty.  So I ended up cooking for about 30 people and made 4 pork butts, 3 racks of ribs, venison loin, salmon and swordfish.  So even though I didn't get out to fish on Saturday I had a great time smoking the food.

Here's some happy customers:


I want to thank John (JohnYaksJax), Johnny (The Yak Viking) and Brad (Hoosier Paddler) for helping me out along the way with the fishing tips and cooking tips.  While I ended up with the skunk for the weekend I had a blast and I know I can learn a lot from these guys.  They held a fishing tournament for the weekend and had 6 prizes.  The last prize they gave out was the 'Wildcard' and they gave that to me for the BBQ.  I thought that was nice of them.  Also got a nice round of applause from the group for the food and efforts.  I'm looking forward to the next trip down there which I understand will be most likely in March.

Here's a couple more shots I took down there.