Last Friday I received a call from my good friend Mark Davis, who works for Bomber Saltwater Grade Lures. He was getting ready to head down to Boca Grande, Florida the following Wednesday to meet up with some outdoor writers and fish with Bomber’s new Badonk-A-Donk SS lures and invited me to come along. I was like a little kid on his birthday; it is amazing how after fishing my whole life of over 40 years, that a fishing trip to somewhere I have not been yet is like my first fishing trip all over again. To give a little background, Mark also host a television show called, Big Water Adventures with Mark Davis, which airs on the Outdoor Channel. On his show Mark can get a little crazy, wrestling big sharks out of the water by hand and grabbing hold of wahoo looking to get a hold of someone with their razor sharp teeth. I tell this part because when I came home and told my 9 year old son I was going to Boca Grande to fish for snook, redfish, trout and a shot at a Goliath grouper, he immediately asked if I was going to get in the water with the Goliath and get my picture taken. He had seen Mark do this on his show and I told him I would try to bring back a picture for him, not really sure if I was going to get in the water with one of these huge fish or not.
Mark and I arrived at Buchan’s Landing where we would be staying for the next 2 days and met up with the owner Taylor Meals. Mark had told me on the way that everyone he’d met here treated him just like family and I quickly saw what he meant. Mark introduced me to Taylor. He welcomed me, told us where we would be staying and sent us on our way. We got our stuff loaded into our villa and about 10 minutes later Taylor showed up just to hang out and talk with us. He recommended a place to eat and then came and joined us for dinner that night. The second night we were there, he let us know about a place that was serving all you can eat ribs and he and his wife came and joined us and it seemed just like we were all family eating together. The people we met in th