I had just slipped the boat into the water from the ramp and was looking for a spot to park the truck and trailer. I saw a space between two other trucks and empty trailers and started into it real slow. It was such a tight fit that I actually bumped the trailer light of the rig next to me and cracked and broke the lens cover. Oh, no! I shouldn`t have tried to get into that tight space. I backed out and found an easier space to pull into and locked it up. I grabbed a flyer of mine with all contact info printed on it and wrote on the backside how sorry I was and for the owner to call me as soon as he wished and I`d make it good again. Stuck it on the trailer winch handle. I had 30 minutes before my trip shoved off at 9 a.m., and I wanted to check the hardware store and the auto shop to see if either had a lens cover to replace the one I smashed. If I ran, literally, I could check them out and be back to the boat to greet my fishing crew. As I was running through Cedar Key I got a call on my cell phone. The caller said, "Hello Capt. Dan, this is Larry Bird. We just got into town, and I need directions." Did he say Larry Bird? The famous basketball player? That real tall guy? WOW! I was excited. "I`m gonna take Larry Bird out fishing. On my pontoon Boat," I thought to myself. As I spoke with him, the vehicle turned down the street and I waved. The car got up to me, and I inside the back seat I saw a man all scrunched up, his knees up to his chin and arms folded and twisted. That`s gotta be Larry Bird, the famous basketball player. I told them where to park and I`d meet them at the boat. I had the boat all set up, and as my guests were walking toward the boat I could see this one guy was about 7 feet tall. He was about the right age, too. I called my brother and told him I was taking a celebrity out fishing that day. The guys got aboard and started introducing themselves to me and the tall one said,"Hi, I`m Don." Don? Not Larry? Another guy said "Hi I`m Larry Berg." Larry Berg? Oh well........ great guys from the Villages area around Leesburg. We shoved off and rode for 15 minutes past Snake Key and started fishing. I don`t believe I`ve ever seen so many fish and turtles and the water clarity was excellent. We probably caught 20 small trout, and a bunch of baitfish. I should`ve stayed all the way to highest tide to get the trout bite, but I wanted to get on some redfish while we had time. We motored over to Seahorse Key and anchored up alongside a long oyster bar there. I tied on a stout leader and stronger hook to each of my guest`s rods and tossed them onto a strip of sand next to the bed of oysters. It wasn`t a minute later that Larry was up and angling in a large redfish. It came to the surface a few times to swirl the water and show us that beautiful rusty, sundown color. Larry brought it alongside and I snatched it up into the net. 24.5 inches. That`s him holding his redfish. We also caught a 19 in. speckled trout there on the oysters. That`s Mark with the trout. Big tall Don caught a big shark but I didn`t get a picture of it. Back to the dock where I fillet the fish and ice them down and slip them into a ziplock bag and into their cooler. It was the most beautiful day we`ve had in a while out here. Wind was low and sky clear. I got home and the phone came alive and it was a nice young man named Nate, the owner of the trailer I had bumped into that morning. He was surprised I had left a note on his trailer with my name and phone number on it. We had a nice talk and he said, "just forget it, I found a cover for $10 and don`t worry about paying for the light." Boy - what relief. I was going to drive to Crystal River and/or Gainesville to try and find a lens cover. I`m so glad I left a note for him. Our trip wasn`t as productive as most but it sure was beautiful out there. There is absolutely no trace of oil here in the Cedar Key National Wildlife Refuge. Jeannette and I are going tomorrow to catch a trout and a redfish each. Call me and we`ll go fishing in this beautiful environment. 352-221-5463 or go to http://www.inshorefloridafishing.com - thank you, Capt. Dan | 
