How To Catch Fish In Cedar Key, Florida

(This guy is so fishy, he doesn't even need a rod and reel)

Denny Voyles is a a friend of mine and a fellow teacher who is a fishing guide on the weekends and during the summer. He is, without a doubt, the fishiest person I have ever met. He's also one of the funniest and a day fishing with him is a mix of salt spray, laughter, and fish. Denny has a knack for finding and catching fish that borders on the supernatural. He's originally from Minnesotarctica, but you would think he had been born in Cedar Key the way he knows the surrounding Gulf waters.

I took the picture above a few years ago, before he became a famous fishing guide. We were out fishing off of Seahorse Key and I caught a remora. Remoras (aka "sharksuckers") are commensal symbionts (you're googling, aren't you?) who attach themselves to larger animals like sharks, seaturtles, and manta rays. They hitch rides on their host and detach to feed on the host fish's scraps or small creatures that the host stirs up. The sucker is an adaptation of the remora's dorsal fin and causes no harm to the host fish. It's a bizzarre device and had I been on the ball, I would have photographed it too.

On this particular day,we had caught and released a six foot nurse shark and shortly after that, a remora grabbed a jig I was reeling in. It's probable that it had been attached to the nurse shark and had let go during the shark capture. After a brief fight, I brought the remora aboard for a picture. At this point, Denny attempted to stick it to his cheek, but the remora failed to attach, so he held it to his forearm.

SLURPCH!

The remora attached and hung there for a photograph before being released back into the Gulf, unharmed, but with a heck of a story to share with the other remoras.