Weekend Opener

Anything and everything Dabbling Ducks.

Weekend Opener

Postby Deltaman » Mon Dec 01, 2014 10:34 am

Plenty of ducks here for the opener, and many new hunters, which was the reason we chose to hunt a small, out of the way place. Staying away from the masses limited what we saw, but at least what we saw were able to work to stool. Mottle mania all morning, and could've shot a lot of them, but limited ourselves to our legal 1 ea., and kept an eye out for Mallards in the mix. Was finally rewarded with a hen, but failed to kill the greenhead. While out looking for a cripple, my buddy whiffed 3 shots on another greenhead, and those were the only Mallards we saw all morning, despite the steady rain of Mottles. The tide dropped low enough for us to pick up around 7:30 a.m., and we headed back to the launch to drop off dekes and grab fishing gear. Bought 5 dz live shrimp and headed North, into the delta. Found boats stacked up in the Spanish/Raft river area, catching Speckled trout on grubs. Decided against getting in the crowd, and ran farther North, and fished the creek leading to one of our smaller bays. The bass were finicky, even with live bait, but we managed to cull 15 or so for the pot.
Image

Friday, we decided to head to the causeway after daylight, and scout birds to hunt. Did not see many ducks in most places we checked, and finally set up in the corner of a large bay. Had one group of Gadwalls pitch within the first 30 minutes, and other than the first shot stone, the rest made it out alive. Did not have any other birds work the bay, and by 2:00 p.m., said to heck with it and picked up.

Saturday, I took a break from the ducks, and took my girlfriend fishing. Bought 6 dz live shrimp and headed South, in search of Redfish and Specks. Spent an hour or so, pecking different spots with no luck, so we changed gears and headed North. Back to drop fishing for bass, and with the beginning of a neap tide, the fish were slow to bite. Moved around to several places and culled a nice mess of fish, with Jenny catching her largest bass to date, 4.66 lbs.
Image

While we were bass fishing Saturday, I took the time to scout a few spots for Sunday, and found a few teal stacked up in a hole. Cut a couple bundles of cane on our way home, and was back over there at 4:00 a.m. Sunday. have a good friend and fellow duck hunter that had motor issues just before the opener, so I called and had him meet me over there. The warmer weather brought out our buddy, Mr. Fog, and it made for an interesting run up the river. Made it to our spot without incident, and set up a blind in the buggy whips of the South bank. The teal trickled in, but not in the numbers I had seen the day before, but enough to make it interesting. By 9:00 a.m., we had 6 green wings and 2 blue wings in the boat, and were ready to call it a day, when I heard a goose calling. Looked to the South and saw a lone Blue heading our way, not 35 yds high, and he came right over us...........sorry Mr. Goose!
Image

A full weekend for me, and damn if I'm not a little sore.........but it's a good sore :thumbsup:
"It ain't what you don't know that gets you in trouble. It's what you know for sure, that just ain't so"
Mark Twain
User avatar
Deltaman
 
Posts: 2392
Joined: Wed Nov 06, 2013 8:55 am
Location: Mobile, AL

Re: Weekend Opener

Postby Rick » Mon Dec 01, 2014 12:18 pm

Looks like a fine time to me.
Rick
 
Posts: 11616
Joined: Thu Apr 11, 2013 8:38 pm


Return to Puddle Duck Hunting Forum

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 187 guests