I grew up in Southern Florida next to Siesta Key, one of the most incredible beaches in the world with the softest, whitest sand that you’ll ever see. From a very young age my dad and I would go out boating and fish for snook, grouper, snapper and whatever else would float into the Gulf as well as the bay.

When I was little, I caught the biggest fish of my life at the time, a 2 and a half foot snook that I was obligated to release as their population had drastically decline due to the freezes that had been occurring all around the state. For years after this we never went snook fishing as we wanted to let the population replenish, but the snook remained as my favorite fish to catch.

Only recently when I went home after the school year ended did I finally get another opportunity to go snook fishing with my dad, something we had been itching to do for years, even more so now that I had been away and we hadn’t had the chance to go out on the water at all. In the photo shown to the side is of the biggest snook I have ever caught, and of course we released it as even though we are now allowed to keep them it simply didn’t feel right.

Ever time that I now go back home my dad and I make sure that we go out, as well as myself with many of my best friends from home. Fishing has always been a staple of my memories of home and is forever a comforting way for me to get away from reality for a while.