We spent two weeks over Christmas and New Years exploring Florida. Fishing for sharks, sheepshead, mangrove snapper, catfish and more. Hunting alligators, crabbing and swimming with manatees. We have a an amazing Florida adventure.
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TravelTranscript
00:00Luke, Tom, Nate, and Jake here with the Outdoor Boys YouTube channel and today we're going
00:10to Florida!
00:11Yeah!
00:12We've got some pretty awesome stuff planned.
00:15We're going alligator hunting, shark fishing, catch crabs, swim with manatees, wrestle pythons.
00:28It's going to be pretty awesome.
00:29Yeah!
00:30But first, we've got to drive 15 hours.
00:33One hour down, 14 to go, and it's been bumper to bumper traffic.
00:38You and me, we're bigger than a dog and we're the scooters.
00:50Jacob!
00:51Jacob!
00:52Why were you screaming all night?
00:55Don't stop lovin' on your noggin' nuggets, so good that you want to hog it, hog it, W's
01:11to work on the dots.
01:18Welcome to Florida!
01:19Yeah!
01:20All right, let's get you guys to bed.
01:30Well, good morning guys.
01:32It's another beautiful day and we're starting off with a beautiful breakfast.
01:36I've got an apple brioche dipped in french toast batter that I'm frying in butter and
01:42of course, we've got bacon.
01:45Oh, Jacob, you want some of this?
01:48Oh, that looks good.
01:50Well, it is a warm, if rainy day, and we are going to go to church.
01:55Well, we got done with church, but it was a mixed bag.
01:59This one right here decided it would be funny to run away from mom and dad and run around
02:03the chapel screaming.
02:04During the church service.
02:05Well, so far today, we slept in, ate a delicious breakfast, went to church, hung out by the
02:15pool, played chess on our phones.
02:17This is everything a Sunday should be, especially when you drove 18 hours the day before.
02:22I don't think you did.
02:24Trickle meatballs!
02:25Other than going to church, we didn't leave the house all day long, but tomorrow is going
02:32to be pretty awesome.
02:33We're going to hit a tackle shop bright and early, do some fishing, and I'll see you guys
02:36tomorrow.
02:39What would you do if there was a child right in front of you?
02:47It's a beautiful Monday morning, and it's not even 9 a.m., and the kids are already
02:51in the pool, which is a perfect 93 degrees.
02:55I need to do some fishing.
02:58Let's go get some tackle.
03:02Then I've got some frozen ladyfish, frozen mullet, I got some chum and some stuff for
03:07sheep's head, including we got some live shrimp here.
03:10Can I touch it?
03:13Bye!
03:14Be careful, don't fall in the water.
03:18You ready, buddy?
03:20Yeah!
03:21Oh, you got a fish!
03:24Oh!
03:25Daddy!
03:26Hey, should we put him back in the water?
03:29Yeah.
03:30Put him back.
03:31Wink.
03:32Oh, there we go.
03:34There we go.
03:36That is a proper sheep's head.
03:38Look at those chompers for eating barnacles and oysters.
03:42Is that my fish?
03:45Yeah, pull it in!
03:47Oh, gosh!
03:48That is a beast!
03:49There you go, buddy.
03:50Nice!
03:51Oh, there you go.
03:52Whoa!
03:53Oh, yeah!
03:54That's a gaff-top sail, buddy.
03:55Oh, fish slime!
03:56Fish slime!
03:57How many fish did we catch?
03:58Like a bajillion, right?
03:59We caught, I caught, we caught 13.
04:00Well, let's go to bed, and tomorrow we're going to do this again, okay?
04:01Yeah.
04:02Nothing says family life like a minivan and a boat.
04:03Oh, yeah.
04:04Oh, yeah.
04:05Oh, yeah.
04:06Oh, yeah.
04:07Oh, yeah.
04:08Oh, yeah.
04:09Oh, yeah.
04:10Oh, yeah.
04:11Oh, yeah.
04:12Oh, yeah.
04:13Oh, yeah.
04:14Oh, yeah.
04:15Oh, yeah.
04:16That's like packing a man in a full bike rack.
04:18Alright, come on.
04:20All right, baby, come on.
04:22Ew!
04:23Why do you—
04:24This is mud!
04:25Look at this.
04:26Look at these.
04:27Wait for a second!
04:30I thought they were, they're kiwis, but they're not.
04:37It smells like the underside of a lawn mower.
04:41Yeah, it does.
04:43This is the Nichols botany tour where we see things we don't know and stomp on them.
05:06I don't feel so good.
05:11Guys you have a good time? Yeah
05:14All right, well, let's go get some food
05:18Oh, merry christmas everybody
05:25Okay, here we come
05:43Oh
05:50This is one of the best christmas eves I could remember you guys having fun
05:54Yeah, we're gonna go to bed here in a little bit and we will see you guys on christmas morning. Hey, Tommy. What day is it?
06:01Uh christmas
06:03Oh
06:11You guys excited for christmas presents
06:33Oh
06:35All right, jake you ready me and jake are gonna go do some fishing
06:47There you go, just pick some oysters off the uh, the seawall here broke one open
06:52Put the guts on a hook just like a big booger. We're gonna fish with that
06:59Oh, there we go, here we go
07:04Oh, yeah, it's a big one. That's a nice one. Look at that
07:18Yeah, here's your sheep's head man
07:22It smells good
07:24Say click subscribe
07:28Well, good morning and you know what day it is
07:30Python hunting day. We're so excited. Unfortunately, little jacob's not coming with us
07:40I'm, sorry, buddy
07:41All right. We're in the swamps of southwest florida near the everglades national park and we are looking
07:49For pythons, we're also looking for tilapia and oscar armored catfish other invasive fish
07:56Big old alligator on the side of the road
07:58I'm driving up and down on these roads and hoping to find a python sunning themselves
08:03On the pavement or on the shoulder of the road
08:08We've driven around the car an awful lot, but we want to get off the beaten trail
08:15All right, tommy you ready to go
08:21It's our first day of fishing
08:24It's our first sighting look at this
08:30The dead
08:32Burmese python that's got me excited. How about you tom?
08:37Just scanning this embankment and the shoulders of the path. There's anything that looks like a snake
08:45Man what a beautiful country
08:48I
08:53Got a little work out there and tommy got a mud bath
08:58Hit me I flew up on me. We're in another spot. We're python hunting here in the dark
09:05Just driving slow
09:07Looking for pythons
09:09Tommy are you tired?
09:11I want that
09:16Yeah, kick those off
09:18Take your boots off. Oh, it's 6 00 a.m
09:20And we had a bit of a rough night's sleep to say my legs are sore is a gross
09:26Understatement me and tommy swung by the gas station picked up some breakfast and advil
09:32It really hurts to walk
09:35I
09:38Just pulled over this little canal on the side of the road just saw an armored catfish swim off
09:45I can see it right there. You ready?
09:52Look I got him
09:56Look at that. I got him
10:00There we go, oh look at this guy
10:04Oh
10:06Look at the noises he's making
10:27All right
10:34Kind of roll him on to his other side there. All right. There you go. Becca. What do you think?
10:46It smells a little funky doesn't
10:50What do you think of that? Yeah
11:00That
11:02Is all of the meat off of that entire catfish
11:08Is that tasty
11:11Yeah, you like that
11:16Not bad
11:19We're gonna meet up with a guide and we're gonna try to catch a massive alligator
11:24Uh tommy here loves to eat alligator, don't you?
11:29It's really tasty
11:33I'm bigger buddy. Oh, I know. What do you think tommy? Is this cool right here? Yeah, we should always drive like this, right?
11:43Oh, man, this is gorgeous look at this country. Oh, yeah, he's
11:49Gator down there here
12:03I'll give you a walk down there. Really really while you walk down there. Don't follow me
12:19Send him up here on this flat ground yet
12:24I kind of want to hold him. Okay, come on. Let's go
12:27He weighed on him and get both hands right here on his neck
12:31You got him, all right, you got it go tell me look at me look at me tommy look out here
12:39Yeah, don't let go he's gonna he's gonna get his there you go now back straight up
12:50Tommy
12:53All right, tommy you want you want to see mama freak out
12:56We're gonna send her a text picture of that
12:59Mom, mom just put texted back. Oh my with some exclamation points. We're being very safe, baby. Don't worry
13:10Oh, we got some ugly weather coming
13:17Oh there he is he popped up
13:26So
13:31We're trying to keep him out of that grass right over there. Yep. Perfect
13:39There we go
13:42Oh
13:54Yeah, we're totally we're keeping them they're all sending them back now
14:02That was right up there with catching those eight foot sturgeon man, that was fun
14:06The magic mike here is gonna show us how to he's gonna show us how to get some gators
14:11All right
14:12Let's go get number two. What do you think tommy? Is this one of the coolest hunting trips you've ever been on?
14:19These alligators are really skittish i'm trying to use my lights
14:22To film but i gotta be really careful because it's scaring them off
14:28You got the walk with him, okay, you got the walk with him, okay, can you help videotape tommy?
14:36Oh going to the right a little bit
14:47Holy mackerel, that was a big gator
14:51It is late and these guys still got a long drive to get home
14:54So they're going to take the gators back to their place put it in the cooler
14:57And then i'm going to come back in the daytime and i'm going to film them skinning it up
15:02And the process in it and we're going to go through all that well, good morning and welcome to another wonderful day
15:07Today is jacob's birthday. Hey, jacob. How old are you? Can you say two?
15:12two
15:13two
15:14We're gonna go to church. We're gonna celebrate jacob's birthday. We're gonna relax a little bit
15:19All right, boys get buckled in
15:23Well, we had a lovely time at church and someone gave us a bag of star fruit
15:28Oh one of my absolute favorite fruits and i'm excited to eat these this reminds me of coaster
15:37Happy birthday to you
15:52It's another early morning and we're getting up to go process that alligator
15:56And unfortunately, there's about to be tears because jacob got his boots on he thinks he's coming
16:18There we go, look at that
16:26So this is what we got left over we got the hide the back strip of hide jaw meat
16:32tail meat
16:33And some little bits that I got off the legs
16:39We're in gasparilla island with my parents while luke and nathan skin gators we got the better deal
16:56So
17:16We are going to cook up some alligator
17:26Our nuggets
17:27I'm, writing a little bit of pork. Oh, you know how pork's a little sweeter than chicken. Yeah. Yeah
17:32Here you guys go. You guys can you guys can eat alligator nuggets
17:36in the pool
17:37You guys enjoying eating alligator nuggets in the pool here in a little bit. I'm gonna start rigging up my gear
17:42I'm going shark fishing tonight
17:44Oh
17:54That is perfect shark bait right there
18:09You ready to go shark fishing? Yeah, I knew we were here. Yeah
18:15Oh
18:38There we go, we got two baits out and the sun is setting
18:42I'm not gonna do this very long and I don't think i'm gonna rebate in the dark
18:46But we'll see what happens
18:50So did you hear it
19:11Oh
19:16That is a big shark
19:20There we go
19:32Oh good job, let's get out of the water
19:35I'm, not 100 sure but if I had to bet that was a sandbar shark. It looked about six to seven feet long
19:41And over 200 pounds. He looked bigger than I was that guy was stocky and angry
19:48We've had a lot of fun. It's been about an hour and a half
19:51But we're wet a little cold a little hungry and it's getting close to bedtime
19:56So we're gonna reel this rod up and call it a day
19:59Oh, it's another beautiful day in our last full day here at the rental house
20:02We're gonna do a little fishing and then we're gonna go on an airboat ride and some swamp buggy stuff
20:07And we're gonna have a great time
20:11So
20:23There you go
20:27Yeah, we are we are real real real
20:30Oh
20:42You got your own mangrove snapper
20:46Hey, all right, we're off for another adventure we're gonna go on a swamp buggy tour and an airboat ride
20:52And i'm pretty excited. I think the boys gonna have a really good time with this. Becca. Are you ready for this?
20:56I saw an airboat. Yeah
21:18Look at the size of those things
21:27Oh, yes, you guys this makes this make good carpet you like that
21:52Hey boys, was that awesome? Yeah
21:56Yeah
22:26So
22:56So
23:26So
23:41That was wonderful, thank you
23:49There you go
23:57There we go
23:58There you guys go. You're holding an alligator guys. Did you have fun?
24:03Yeah
24:04Well, we're back at the house and it's time to make up some alligator tacos
24:08then we are going to play in the pool for a very long time and begin the slow process of
24:14Packing because tomorrow we're leaving to go crabbing up near crystal river florida
24:20And then we're going to do swimming with manatees and some other stuff
24:23But we're getting out of the house in about 24 hours alligator tacos with fried alligator cilantro lettuce on a tortilla
24:30Some macaroni salad and fried hush puppies
24:33Tell me like those alligator bites
24:36Yep. I gotta tell you this pool is nice. It's 93 degrees. It's screened off from the bugs
24:42And the screen and the trees make it shady enough
24:45We haven't had to put sunscreen on the kids at all this trip, which is really really unusual for these little pasty white butterballs
24:52Hey
24:58Well guys we had an excellent day the kids are in bed we are all tuckered out and tomorrow
25:05We are checking out of here
25:09It's our last day here at the house and we are in the checkout process
25:14I've never got this car so full. Let's see if we can shut the door
25:18Oh
25:21Nope
25:24That worked
25:26It's all in the butt. Well, we're just getting ready to leave and the boys just had their first experience with biting ants
25:32Jacob and nathan were playing
25:36with
25:37this
25:39And you can see all those crazy ants came out
25:42I hear nathan start screaming and I run over and he is just covered in biting ants and we stripped him naked
25:49And there were ants in his underwear there were ants up his shirt. He was just covered
25:54And uh, jacob got a bit of it, too
25:56But nathan's full of tears. He got bit all over
26:00You can see they're just ants all over the place and the boys were standing right there
26:05Jacob you put your hand in an ant pile. Look at that
26:09Oh, yeah, they got you good
26:11I had ants in my pants and they took the boogie dance all the way to France. Yeah, you did fire ant attacks aside
26:18We made it
26:20All right, guys. Let's let's go crabbing
26:22We're here in crystal river and the sun's just about to set and we're gonna go on a very unique charter
26:28We're taking the kids out crabbing at night
26:31with nets
26:32You guys ready to go catch some crabs?
26:35Yeah
26:40Are you guys excited to go out at night? Yeah
26:43Jake are you excited? Yeah
26:46All right, guys, we're hunting blue crabs. So
26:49Apparently what we're going to be doing is dip netting though. Here's a short net for somebody that's a little smaller
26:54I'm a little small. Okay, you're a little small you can use that one. Here's a little bit of a longer one
26:59Oh tom, is that you that'll help you reach out a little further
27:03Okay, if you see one out in the distance like floating don't try to you know
27:07Just point them out to me and we'll make a circle and we'll go right back after. Oh, here's one
27:11Yeah, i'm gonna get him
27:14Got him
27:23Let go just shake them
27:26There we go
27:28First crab
27:30Oh, there's one right there see him nate right there right there get him get him. Oh
27:34Oh nate you so close butter in him. Oh, there's one right there. He's coming towards you, babe
27:47What happened I found the water did the crab pull you in? No, I fell in
27:55Yeah, you were reaching for that one that was just a little too far away that's all right buddy
27:59We're gonna learn from this. Why don't you snuggle up with mama? She'll she'll take care of you. Okay
28:04Oh, there's one right there, buddy, babe right there right there. See him
28:08Good right there right there right there. You got him. Come on. I don't know if I got him or not
28:16I got it. You got him. I can't believe that that's a nice one
28:23What do you think you like it nice
28:29Nate can get that one get put it down low over the top of him here. I'll chase him into your net
28:34You got him nated. You got him
28:37Oh right there, that's that's so mommy
28:41Yeah, you can you can you got him you got him
28:48Okay, gotcha we're gonna try
28:51Spook him just slip down in there and stick
28:57No, he went through that he wiggled through oh, no, I do have him. Oh, it's all the way through it's
29:02Bringing it upside down bringing it upside down. So it stays on there. Yeah
29:06Awesome. That's a beautiful fish. Look at that
29:09Look at that
29:12There we go
29:14Guys, we are having so much fun
29:16I'm gonna put all the information about this charter in the video description if you want to check this out
29:20Check out floridacrabbingcharters.com here in crystal river, florida. You having fun tom? Yes
29:32Why don't you hand me a jacob
29:36He's got long arms be careful that guy look at that guy
29:40Oh, yeah, look at look how blue his claws are too. There we go
29:47That was pretty awesome, but it's so late let's go to bed
29:50Well, it's quarter to 11 and we're getting checked in as fast as we can
29:54Because we're going swimming with manatees tomorrow morning. We gotta get up at 6 a.m
29:59To do that. Well, good morning, and apparently I thought it would be a good idea
30:03to book a 7 a.m
30:05manatee trip
30:07The morning after doing a late night crabbing trip
30:11Oh, we're exhausted
30:14Manatees
30:16Well, we're back here at pete's pier and crystal river and we're gonna go swim with manatees got my aquatic full-body spanks on
30:26Yeah, look at that you're looking good there buddy, all right head follow mom follow mom
30:35Crystal river and homosassas are the two big places to swim with manatees here in florida
30:41And crystal river is by far the more popular of the two, that's why you get up so early one
30:45It's easier to find the manatees
30:46But also there's quite a few turbo to do this so you try to get a better spot
30:50But winter time is the best because when it's cold manatees come into the springs and there's more manatees to see
30:57Look how clear that is. Oh, look at all the little fish and everything
31:04Put that underneath your arms there and just wait for dad right in the water
31:09Yep, it is
31:14Let's go
33:38That's the good stuff right there.
33:49We saw about four different manatees, we got to swim next to them.
33:53They're all sleeping and it was really pretty cool.
33:55I touched one.
33:56You and Becky got to touch one.
33:57If you guys want to do this, we're going to put links in the description.
34:00Guys, did you have fun?
34:06Yeah!
34:08826 miles or 12 hours, 14 minutes to home.
34:13Let's go.
34:14Let's do this.
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34:22we have hundreds of videos just like this.
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34:32Thanks for watching.