Looking ahead...

[Rick]

It's coming:


Meanwhile, I've only recently gotten up the gumption to tally rough numbers, which were only slightly ahead of last year's (which, if memory serves, were only slightly ahead of the even slower on before) and rereading this past season's log in preparation for putting its wrap-up behind me. Haven't looked at the decoys in need of power-washing, much less the sack of gunshot poule d'eaus needing patched. Haven't even cleaned out the boat.

But while reading the umpteen logged reminders of how badly the majority of my hunters hurt their own hunts, I did, at long last, come up with at least a hopeful notion of how I might improve their odds next season. I'm going to pin laminated notes on the burlap curtain in front of each reading: "Many of our ducks are afraid of hunters. Please help hide yourself."

Sounds silly, but Lord knows verbal initial cautions and oft repeated verbal reminders have failed miserably at getting that message across ("Curses: I politely suggested we try hiding so often that I wondered if they were mooning game to spite me."), so "What the heck?" Worth a shot.

[Ducaholic]

Lol...I'm not sure the visual note will work with text only. Instead you should show illustrations of mooning hunters who have to see their quarry before it's time and that of well concealed hunters in order to aid your cause.

[Darren]

Looking forward to seeing the note!

Hey, what harm can it do?

[SpinnerMan]

Looking forward to seeing the note!

Hey, what harm can it do?

It might just be that little reminder in the excitement that keeps some heads down.

It's a tradeoff. You need to know where the birds are. It's hard to come up and shoot birds that you have to find first. Hopefully, it doesn't go too far, but I doubt that's a problem with too many. Since my wife has started actually hunting with me. I need to get her to keep a better eye on the birds. I also need to get much better at keeping her and others informed on where the birds are when I'm calling the shots

[Deltaman]

Rick, I think your blind sign is a fine idea, and as others have mentioned, it will drive the idea home in a light-hearted way.

[MARSH BEAR]

How about an LED flashing sign in their face, you could get a 12v one and hook it up to a battery

[Rick]

It's a tradeoff. You need to know where the birds are. It's hard to come up and shoot birds that you have to find first...

I'd like to think Dave, Darren and anyone else who's hunted with me and actually paid attention could tell you that I tell my hunters that I want them to watch the birds and know exactly where they are when the shot's called (and wouldn't pay a nickle for a hunt I couldn't watch). But if they're unmasked, I want them to do it from under hat brims with their faces near the front lip of the blind, rather than cocked back mooning the birds - like the last however-many who shot at them. Which, alas, is what the great majority of them wind up doing, anyway, despite my demonstration of both the right and wrong of it.

Of course, you can't always see all of the action that way, just what's beside and in front of us to include where shots should be called if they're doing their part which is why I'd much, much rather everyone wore masks. I'll also do what I can to quietly keep them informed about how birds are coming from behind us. Not that I can always let off the call to do so or that the birds won't slide this way or that to make a liar of me, but most who actually listen or look to see where I'm looking from behind the cover of a mask or camoed off arm will know where to expect their birds to appear from and be locked on them before shots are called.

Unless, of course, something goes haywire, like a craned neck to force our hand awkwardly early - one of the reasons I love to see masks that afford careful folks 360 vision. The other being birds that see us before we see them.

[Rick]

Bud, I don't know that I was nearly so adamant about hiding well back when you were still coming this way, but we usually had a lot more chances to waste back them...

[Ricky Spanish]

Spent some time on the bench at the refuge.
Watched ducks...about a million.
They flare on live ducks.
They're awfully nervous even in protection.
8 years ago was completely different.
5 million ducks.
What's the difference?
Four million ducks.

[SpinnerMan]

It's a tradeoff. You need to know where the birds are. It's hard to come up and shoot birds that you have to find first...

I'd like to think Dave, Darren and anyone else who's hunted with me and actually paid attention could tell you that I tell my hunters that I want them to watch the birds and know exactly where they are when the shot's called (and wouldn't pay a nickle for a hunt I couldn't watch). But if they're unmasked, I want them to do it from under hat brims with their faces near the front lip of the blind, rather than cocked back mooning the birds - like the last however-many who shot at them. Which, alas, is what the great majority of them wind up doing, anyway, despite my demonstration of both the right and wrong of it.

Of course, you can't always see all of the action that way, just what's beside and in front of us to include where shots should be called if they're doing their part which is why I'd much, much rather everyone wore masks. I'll also do what I can to quietly keep them informed about how birds are coming from behind us. Not that I can always let off the call to do so or that the birds won't slide this way or that to make a liar of me, but most who actually listen or look to see where I'm looking from behind the cover of a mask or camoed off arm will know where to expect their birds to appear from and be locked on them before shots are called.

Unless, of course, something goes haywire, like a craned neck to force our hand awkwardly early - one of the reasons I love to see masks that afford careful folks 360 vision. The other being birds that see us before we see them.

I have no doubt you do. It's clear you care very much. It's just figuring out how to get more of your clients to get the most out of their hunts. That's why you are trying this.

It's a lot easier to wear masks when you will freeze your ears and nose off if you don't.

I need to find a good light mask for those September hunts.

I wonder if some people feel they can't have a blade of grass in the way. Our one goose blind. There's a bush on the SE corner. I thin it out so you can see through it. It's perfect to tuck in the shadow behind it when calling. You can see 360 but the brush and shadow keep you hid. A lot of the birds come from the east to northeast and the brush screens you perfect. Once they clear the screen. They are over the decoys. Bang. Inevitably someone comes in and levels it. Making it a lot harder to hide and call circling birds in that blind. Maybe I need to put up a sign

[Rick]

I wonder if some people feel they can't have a blade of grass in the way...

I shame 'em by pointing out that if the Yankees can shoot grouse and woodcock in the woods, they ought to be able to shoot ducks through a few canes. Canes which, by the way, have fuzzy tops roughly the size and shape of the faces I'm hoping to help hide with them.

But it's a safe bet most "hunters" will be breaking our cover down, instead using it to advantage. And God bless the few who'll greet me years after our last venture with "Grass is gold."

[Ricky Spanish]

I wonder if some people feel they can't have a blade of grass in the way...

I shame 'em by pointing out that if the Yankees can shoot grouse and woodcock in the woods, they ought to be able to shoot ducks through a few canes. Canes which, by the way, have fuzzy tops roughly the size and shape of the faces I'm hoping to help hide with them.

But it's a safe bet most "hunters" will be breaking our cover down, instead using it to advantage. And God bless the few who'll greet me years after our last venture with "Grass is gold."

I have gotten good at finding where to hide my blind.
It's usually really obvious where other hunters broke down stuff to hide. Sometimes the only spot has no cover at all.
That's when you have to have faith in your brush job and sit really still.
I think you'd die if you saw some of my "successful hides".
It makes no sense at all.
Kill em right out in open wearing green camo in snow kinda stupidity works? No way.
Move north young man. Ducks are way dumber. Hehe.
Now you lecture on how us Yankees make it hard on you.
It's by design. Our politicians make rules about things theyre clueless about and we end up hiding behind a T-stake with a reflective number on it.
Thats part of the problem.us Yankees are forced to hunt in a way that educates birds. Call the IDNR an tell em Rick.

[Rick]

I have gotten good at finding where to hide my blind.
It's usually really obvious where other hunters broke down stuff to hide. Sometimes the only spot has no cover at all.
That's when you have to have faith in your brush job and sit really still.
I think you'd die if you saw some of my "successful hides".
It makes no sense at all.
Kill em right out in open wearing green camo in snow kinda stupidity works? No way.
Move north young man. Ducks are way dumber. Hehe.
Now you lecture on how us Yankees make it hard on you.
It's by design. Our politicians make rules about things theyre clueless about and we end up hiding behind a T-stake with a reflective number on it.
Thats part of the problem.us Yankees are forced to hunt in a way that educates birds. Call the IDNR an tell em Rick.

Made me think of the late Senior USFWS Agent, Dave Hall's, observation that flying over a Minnesota marsh on opening weekend was "...like flying over a Grumman boat showroom. But they're killing ducks."

It's my feeling that ducks are most apt to be afraid of things that have given them reason to be, and most of those Minnesota opening weekend birds getting themselves killed hadn't been to a boat show, yet. 'Least not enough of them to get the message.

When I lived by and regularly hunted the Ohio, our black ducks very soon came to avoid conventional spreads, regardless of how well hidden we were, at least beyond landing well upstream and drifting down into allll...most range, as if to taunt us, before moving on. But they could still be pretty easily duped over a couple mallard hen decoys while sitting still in relative open well away from said spread all season, albeit masked like the good little turkey hunter I then was.

And even down here, where gun pressure is far greater, I've shot scads of birds after stepping out from behind tractor tires or even the shadows of a cattle shed, neither of which tend to shoot at 'em.

So the "trick," I believe, is to do all I reasonably can to avoid looking like the last however-many places that have shot at our birds. So I keep my boat hide and blind cover as scabby and see-through looking as I hope my parties can get away with. (Only to have some of the same experts breaking down most everything in reach complain that I need more cover. IE: to make us look more like what we are, instead of the benign marsh around us.) And my spread includes about as many poule d'eau/coot as duck decoys, a ratio that would be tilted much more heavily toward the former if not to ward off having that balance blamed for slow mornings by some of the same deep thinkers who've put holes in nearly, if not, all of them shooting ducks deciding to land with my little rafts of poule d'eaus, instead of my apparently more worrisome duck decoys.

[Rick]

[quote="Rick"]...Haven't looked at the decoys in need of power-washing, much less the sack of gunshot poule d'eaus needing patched. Haven't even cleaned out the boat../quote]

All of the above, plus gun cleaning, remains on the "To Do" list, but I'm inordinately proud of having washed my Blind Grass today. Between Marsh's shake muck and roosting limkin crap, much of it was in serious need. Some of it was new last fall and some the fall before, and I'm pleased to say it's all held up well to sun, mud and rough treatment. Not cheap, but good stuff.

[Duck Engr]

Washing blind grass is something I can’t say I’ve done, though I don’t hunt in anything remotely “mudhole-ish” anymore since leaving the coast. I did actually wash my boat out for the first time in a few years last week. Felt good to have a clean rig. Wife chirped about how dirty it was for the kids to play in on our rain-canceled outing week before last, so I suppose that had something, or everything, to do with it. Washed waders as well but still need to condition them. Need to patch a large hole in the backups but that’s been needing done for a couple years and hasn’t been.

[Deltaman]

Didn't use my decoys enough warrant cleaning, but did get them organized, sacked and hung up. Like DE, washed my boat for the first time in a few years, but only because of the mud from our end of the season Snipe hunt. Between two of us and a dog getting in and out all day, it needed it! Gave one of my guns a complete breakdown and cleaning, and still have one to go. Re-tied and re-spooled reels for Spring fishing Saturday morning, and caught a pretty stringer of delta bass Saturday with my bride that afternoon. One of my favorite ways to fish, throwing Snagless Sallies and Speed worms over the grass!

[Rick]

...Snagless Sallies...

There's a blast from the past. I've not fished since my Capt. Rick phase broke me of it in the late '90s, but was mighty serious about it up until then. Fished a lot of the North and some of Florida without ever hearing of, much less using, a Snagless Sally until I moved to Lafayette and started fishing the Atchafalaya Basin. Remember being disappointed upon seeing what that local bass siren turned out to be, but there's probably still a couple in my freshwater box - wherever that is.

[Deltaman]

Rick, they have been my "go to" lure as far back as I can remember, and I'm still in the habit of buying several of my favorite #4 Gold Blade, 3/8 oz. in Bruiser, Crawfish and Yellow/Black whenever i see them in a store. We modify them by cutting off the snagless wires, adding a swivel, a trailer hook, and trailer. Now we use plastic twin or 4 legged trailers, but lament the fact that Uncle Josh quit making natural pork skin trailers (green-spotted and Red were my go to colors).

[Rick]

...lament the fact that Uncle Josh quit making natural pork skin trailers (green-spotted and Red were my go to colors).

I long used plain Uncle Josh pork frogs much as you may fish the Snagless Sally, except often, though not always, slower. On a light wire snagless hook, could rip it or twitch it or both most anywhere.

[DComeaux]

...lament the fact that Uncle Josh quit making natural pork skin trailers (green-spotted and Red were my go to colors).

I long used plain Uncle Josh pork frogs much as you may fish the Snagless Sally, except often, though not always, slower. On a light wire snagless hook, could rip it or twitch it or both most anywhere.

I was told not long ago that they were back. Did a search tonight after reading this and here they are.

https://www.tacklewarehouse.com/Uncle_Josh_Pork_Frog/descpage-UJPF.html

With new suppliers, Uncle Josh Pork is back on the market for all the diehard pork anglers that have been catching boatloads of bass on pork lures since 1922. The original pork trailer - the Uncle Josh #11 Pork Frog has been used for years by the weekend angler, as well as, current top bass fishing pro's. This trailer is ideal for cold water situations or when a slower fall is needed. Uncle Josh #11 Pork Frog is super soft and flexible for a natural flow in the water and a natural feel to bass when they pick it up. Also loaded with salt for the right taste so bass hang on longer, fish the Uncle Josh #11 Pork Frog as is straight out of the bottle, or add a little bit of meat tenderizer to soften it up for added action

[Rick]

...or add a little bit of meat tenderizer to soften it up for added action

A "pro tip" I'd little doubt have tried.

[SpinnerMan]

Spinners! It's the only way to fish

$7 for a snagless sallie

I remember why I started making my own spinners.

I did grow up fishing rocky streams and have more than a few days where I lost more than a dozen.

If you aren't bumping bottom, you aren't catching fish.

If you are bumping bottom, you are getting snagged.

I worked a summer in New Mexico. I went trout fishing with a coworker. He had his favorite Mepps spinner. He said he had it for years. I took that as a sign, he really didn't know how to trout fish. I caught about 10 trout and lost 4 or 5 spinners. I don't think he caught one, but he did lose his Mepps First step to being a better trout fisherman in rocky mountain streams.

[Deltaman]

Spinner,
The Snagless Sallies are now in the $8.49 - $8.99 price range

Dave,
Thanks for letting me know that the Pork Frogs are still available, and I'll have to check out. I've been using the Mr. Twister 4-legged white trailers of late, and do appreciate the fact that they don't dry out like pork, but I think the fish hold on to the pork just a little longer, being more natural. Like the meat tenderizer tip, Thanks!

Rick,
We've also used the red pork frogs on a hook with weight, carolina style, to catch flounders when live bait was unavailable.

[Deltaman]

Also, another pro tip when using the real pork frogs - use your knife, or a razor blade, to split the legs into 4 ea. as opposed to 2 ea. (looks more like a crab, which is what most of our bass here are eating in the spring, based on stomach contents)

[Rick]

Like the idea of using pork frogs as crab imitations. Could have been killer for reds. I was partial to rainbow Silver Spoons. My flounder "go to" was a small gold was a flavored Berkley twister tail on a jig behind a Hildebrant(?) safety-pin spinner, flounder "trick" being to let them work their way up the trailer to the hook before setting it. Just mighty tough to teach folks to get over the impulse to set the hook at fist bite - same-same topwater specks. 'Cept, of course, spinnered jigs didn't come flying back at us like trebble-hooked missiles when someone couldn't hold their water until they actually felt the fish that slapped their Spook.

[Deltaman]

Never tried using a spinner on the flounder, but you could surely cover a lot of area that way. I fish a speed worm almost as fast as a sally, and when I feel that first bump, drop the rod momentarily, then set the hook hard! So weird fishing it fast, but it works. Also hell to remember to hesitate when switching back and forth with sallies

[SpinnerMan]

Like the idea of using pork frogs as crab imitations. Could have been killer for reds. I was partial to rainbow Silver Spoons. My flounder "go to" was a small gold was a flavored Berkley twister tail on a jig behind a Hildebrant(?) safety-pin spinner, flounder "trick" being to let them work their way up the trailer to the hook before setting it. Just mighty tough to teach folks to get over the impulse to set the hook at fist bite - same-same topwater specks. 'Cept, of course, spinnered jigs didn't come flying back at us like trebble-hooked missiles when someone couldn't hold their water until they actually felt the fish that slapped their Spook.

I love fishing buzzbaits. Still every once in a while, I can't fight the impulse.

Especially bad when it's in the dark Duck and cover the eyes.

[Darren]

"It's coming"

IMG_3823.JPG

Yella fella invited back for the 2022 season?

[Rick]

Especially bad when it's in the dark Duck and cover the eyes.

Now you've got me looking fondly back at fishing muskie-sized black Jitterbugs at night. May have, allegedly, bombard myself at the sound of a beaver slap.

[Rick]

Am very slowly learning how to do things with the smarter-than-me-phone that replaced my drown flip, so here are a few not so hot shots of our own Darren and his wife Ella helping out with last Sunday's banding of 500 or so? blue-wings:

Darren getting a banding lesson from "Momma Duck," Liz:

024a.jpg

A dang near missed shot of him releasing a drake:

018a.jpg

Our first 400 were also swabbed fore and aft for the avian flu virus by some gals from Georgia, who also took blood samples for avian flu antibodies of the majority of those with the Ella doing the holding. So here's another not so great shot of Digby learning duck phlebotomy from Ella and a Georgia(?) biologist:

014a.jpg

Was busy being the assistant phlebotomist, myself, Saturday and missed a photo op of two other gals from somewhere out of state who were testing teal for Covid - and masked, just in case???