Didn’t decide to go fishing until the day before when I saw some fishable wind forecasts for Saturday morning. Me and Chris left the creek around 6, and got to the croaker sack once the sun was up.
Pulled the sack back, and there were crickets everywhere. Started bailing crickets until we got a cage full of them, and then we set off for the stump knocker hole.
Got a little beat trying to go that direction, so I turned and rode downstream a little instead of against the current.
Got to an area that was likely to have good stump knockers, and sure enough they were everywhere at that spot.
Caught some big stump knockers (knot head sea bass) pretty quickly at that spot along with one gag that was around 22 inches in length. No surprise. At least she beat out some sea bass to get caught. She swam away easily. Once we had about a dozen stump knockers that were nice size we decided to hit a spot that’d have some different fish on it.
Went to the redbreast hole next, and looked around for a little bit before finding a nice bed of them stacked up. Set up on the bank and threw the bobber out, but they wouldn’t bite just yet. Knew they were there though. You could see them.
Started picking through some stump knockers and shell crackers, etc. but it wasn’t long before a few redbreasts bit. Got a few small mouths too.
Threw all the small mouths back since it’s illegal to keep them for some unknown reason (nevermind all that). Kept what was legal and threw some more back even if they were legal. I just wanted to catch a few gags and say hello to some of my pet red snappers that I will not going to be able to take home and cook until perhaps when I’m an old man or maybe even never.
Even caught a little gag that had an old hook still in his throat. Don’t know how he could still be alive when the govt. says we kill so many just by catching them. He was probably small due to being unable to eat as much as his buddies, but nature finds a way to allow things to survive that are meant to apparently. Anyways
Great going Wes!!
I enjoyed the report and the pics!!
“Miss Amanda”
-KeyWest
-Bluewater 2020CC
-Yammy F-150God is GOOD!! ALL the time!!
The shortest distance between a problem and a solution is the distance between your knees and the floor.
The one who kneels to the Lord can stand up to anything.
</font id=“blue”>
quote:
Heard that ALOT of commercial boats were out there. See any your way?
Nice to see a few are still out there.
</font id=“quote”></blockquote id=“quote”>
…SOOOOOOOOO many commercial boats actually even exist anymore. More charters out there than you can shake a stick at though
</font id=“quote”></blockquote id=“quote”>
No money in either one though… (comm or charter)
The one thing they’ve got in common, besides fishing, is that torpedos are headed for them all. We’ll never see them coming until we’re sunk because sink we’ve only been focused on one another (which we know relatively little about)…
How easy must it be when there’s billions of dollars at your disposal to hire an army of believers to adulterate all the fisheries management and spin and smoke all the facts to give yourself more cred. Meanwhile, the people who statistically spend more $$$ and time with a resource than anyone else all agree that you’re out of your mind. Money can take care of that too. Just buy off some of the more desperate commercial guys and angler organizations. Instant cred. Meanwhile, the fishermen will just keep fighting amongst themselves and stay a step behind what’s happening.
Keep in mind that scamp grouper are on the sustainable seafood list, but they’ve been closed for 4 months along with red snapper and everything else. If we want to have any U.S.A. seafood, then it shouldn’t be a shock to us when we see commercial guys stacked up after being kept off the water for 4 months basically. This is the result of mismanagement of our fisheries- not commercial guys being greedy.
Commercial guys have been vilafied far too long by certain crisis mongers and organizations. The real crisis is your right to go fishing and bring something home to cook for your family.
To those who think I’m just a redneck from Orangeburg County who likes to kill fish and doesn’t know anything about sustainability and ethics, etc. (I know you’re reading this)…
I happen to appreciate the value in working to catch something that can be turned into food. I was taught to not kill stuff you weren’t going to eat. Fish have more value to me than just the sport in catching them, the challenge in catching various types on various gear, etc.
Those are the pictures we rarely post on here. I’ll post pictures of the finished product more on my reports… or maybe pictures of Masonic fundraisers where fish has been fried to raise money to help people who cannot help themselves… you know- the stuff we don’t brag about as much as this-
Somebody’s got to tell the other side of the story…
The story where we teach kids about what God and nature provide for us and how to be good stewards. That stuff isn’t as sexy I don’t guess. A pictorial of me burying fish carcasses in the garden and turning it into very organic soil to make stuff for me to eat grow healthier just isn’t what people want to see. They want to see a picture of a bunch
phin, looks like a nice catch of fish. i would recommend that you do not put your fingers in the gills of fish you plan to release if you would like to do everything possible to promote their survival. sometimes i know this may be unavoidable, but it may be something you want to consider in the future. additionally, i’m not sure that i would post photos of fish with their eyes bugged out if I wanted to advocate high release survival rates. just a few thoughts…
phin, looks like a nice catch of fish. i would recommend that you do not put your fingers in the gills of fish you plan to release if you would like to do everything possible to promote their survival. sometimes i know this may be unavoidable, but it may be something you want to consider in the future. additionally, i’m not sure that i would post photos of fish with their eyes bugged out if I wanted to advocate high release survival rates. just a few thoughts…
You are right. I will have to use a boga grip instead.
I’ll need to start doing more video’ing than fishing it sounds like. There are already many studies that show high release mortality rates for bottom fish when caught out of water shallower than 100ft. That’s mostly where I fish… in my little bote. Studies don’t matter though. It’s all about perception. So you’ve hit the nail on the head when you tell me what you see from the pictures I posted.
EBEdisto- I was poking fun at your overly manly arms, not your fishing skills, get over it.
I jumped to how the guy/gal was responding to you as if you were bringing up lots of commercial boats as if they were a bad thing. I was speaking more towards his response to you than whether it’s what you meant or not because I knew many people reading this would take the comments that way. Didn’t mean to be putting words in your mouth (if this was directed at me).
quote:Originally posted by Carla Dee
i'm not sure that i would post photos of fish with their eyes bugged out if I wanted to advocate high release survival rates. just a few thoughts...
That fish was just surprised when Phin told him the closure was over, that’s all…
Definitly a pretty look gag there.
