As nature returns to normal, Collins is in the mood for May

If you were to ask me what month would I choose if that month could replace all the other months of the year it would be a tie between May and October. Why those two you ask? Well, to me at least, May is a month of rebirth while October is more akin to the day your kid goes to college.

Add to that both months share the trait of being incredible spectacles of nature.

So what got me on this subject? Plenty, especially as of late.

As strange a spring as we have had, or rather tried to have, things have finally settled into place. If you remember March and April, one day it would be in the mid 70’s and the next down in the 50’s. The ocean water temperature seemed to take forever to get in the 70’s, delaying many of the fish that usually arrive during this period. But folks, they are all here now!

Nature has always intrigued me, and like migrating fish and birds it rules my moods just as much if not more than it does these creatures. Quite frankly I was in a mini funk there for a while.

Maybe age has something to do with it, but I will gladly admit that I am a creature of habit and when something interrupts that pattern I act like a startled turtle withdrawing back into my shell.

But now that things in nature appear to have taken on a semblance of normality, I am that turtle you see basking in the sun up the bank of some lagoon. I love it.

Besides being a fishing addict, I am also an avid gardener. Instead of heading over to a nursery and buying mature plants I prefer starting most all my plants from seed.

It’s more of a challenge, but watching a frail seedling finally take off, make it to maturity and actually bloom gets me every time. Even though I was late starting this year, my yard is one big bloom right now. The smell of a massive Confederate jasmine vine winding up the broken half of an old tree is intoxicating, while not far away is the mother of all gardenia bushes that has so many white blooms you can barely see any green.

The mixture of scents is incredible. Anyone that has ever been in my foul smelling fishmobile of a car might actually enjoy a ride since the back seat is piled with gardenias. Better catch that ride quickly though because once the bloom is over, it’s back to “what the heck is that fish smell?”

Just so you understand, when I go throw a cast net to catch mullet for bait, one almost always jumps out of the bait bucket and they seem to always land in some crack or crevasse. When I sold my last vehicle, I discovered three petrified mullet when I was cleaning it. Thus is the life of a fisherman.

May also brings feathered friends that come back year after year. Probably the most notable are my Mississippi Kites. Every year they return and this year I have a threesome living in the top of huge pine tree next to my house.

If you are not familiar with these hawk-like high flyers, they are incredible to watch. Actually bug eaters, their call is a whistle that is easily imitated and, even when I don’t see them soaring overhead, all it takes is one whistle and they almost always reply.

Now is also the time when my large mimosa tree blooms and talk about a hummingbird magnet, it is the bomb. Especially early in the morning there are at least a dozen zipping from bloom to bloom. I do have a feeder for them and often these little guys come down for a close encounter with me, hovering six inches from my face.

Boy can they talk, too. I am not up on hummingbird lingo, but if I had to guess it might be “are you looking at me? Huh, are ya?”

I also have a wad of cardinals that go ape when I put my hose on mist. They will line up on an azalea bush and let me bath them, ruffling feathers and obviously in sheer bliss.

The most spectacular visitor has to be the occasional male painted bunting. Its as if they fell onto an artist’s paint palette.

So what about fishing? Quite honestly I haven’t been all that much lately and that is about to kill me.

One day out on the water is the best medicine around. Just knowing that mahi and wahoo are thick as thieves in the Gulf Stream, that bottom fishing is no doubt off the chart, that cobia are around and inshore big roe trout are being caught on top water plugs has me drooling like an old basset hound.

I can’t stand it! Since I always write this column on Thursdays, by the time you read this I guarantee I’ll get my May fishing fix.

As you know, I always seem to throw in a zinger so here goes.

If by chance you do catch those big roe trout, let em go. After the hard winter we had we need every single one of these girls. Keep a 14” trout or two but let the big ones go.

With that all I can say is May has me dancing in the streets. If you have never seen my moves, they don’t call me the “Rubber Band Man” for nothing!

This story was originally published May 24, 2018 at 6:45 PM with the headline "As nature returns to normal, Collins is in the mood for May."