Johnsfolly

My Betterhalf used my Hilton honors points to score a decent rate for a night and a late checkout for a room with a view of the beach. I didn't suck looking out onto the ocean. Also meant that I could get up at 5:30 to catch the boat and not 3:15 am and drive down to the boat on Monday morning. Water was looking really calm Sunday evening. It was going to be relatively calm in the morning, but the wind would pick up later in the morning. It would be a NW wind so it would likely be choppy when the wind did pick up. Got to the dock about 6:20 am. It was weird seeing all of the offshore boats in dry dock around the marina. It was a nice sunrise. There were ten folks on board. The mate never showed up. So the captain recruited one of the regulars to act as the mate for the trip. That was Ben and he is a dentist. It made for a strange trip. Ben did a great job. Anchoring became a challenge and that extended the trip by an hour. We fished a dual hook rig where the hooks were on both end and attached to the line near the middle between both hooks and an 8 oz sinker. i expected to get hung a bit and was not disappointed. But if you weren't right in the structure you didn't get bites. As with most party boats, there were a few guys that are in the right spots or just that much better fisherman than the others and caught the most fish. Walt must have caught over a dozen tautog on this trip. I'm sure that he caught one or more keepers (>16"), but he would measure them and throw them over the side calling them shorts. Ben when he could fish caught 6 or more. I got hung a bit. One the first set up I was right on top of a steep piece of structure. I could feel the weight slide down the structure. I hung into it a couple of times before we moved the boat slightly. I caught my first fish of the trip, a cunner (a bait stealer), a species of wrasse. Didn't expect to catch a microfish on this trip, but I did and it was my 65th species of the year! Not a tautog, but at least I was on the board with a fish. Then came a strong scraping and a strong bite. I set the hook on my first tautog of the trip and landed my 66th fish species of the year! The captain measured it, 14.5" and quickly over the side before I could get a photo. So when the guy next to me caught one I had to take a photo so people can see a tautog. After our next move, there was a long time for Ben and the captain getting the anchors set. It was after 11:30 am and the wind picked up to a 24 knot blow, which made a bit of chop on the water and we were in a spot with a lot of current. It took three times to get the anchors set for our last stop. On my first cast, I got a solid bite and good hook set. I reeled in my biggest tautog of the trip and the first keeper on the boat ! Now the captain had to measure it as well since I wanted a second opinion before putting it in the cooler. I didn't get another, but I enjoyed the trip. I hope to get out for these guys again. Oh and my Betterhalf and Livie did do some shopping, but mostly spent time in the hotel pool. Still had their own great time.

Ness thanks a bunch!

My daughter and her boyfriend gave me this for Xmas. Achieving my goals will be a little easier this year as well. And will get me some new ones for 2020 as well.

May have to wait. We are negotiating our dinner plans versus how much we had at lunch. Maybe something light and make the ham dinner this weekend.

Merry Christmas Ness. All that sounds great! I wouldn't mind getting that date nut pudding recipe if you are willing to share. I was watching the 1935 version of Scrooge and had to look up what constitutes a pudding in the UK. It seems that any item that needed to be set by heating, e.g., sausage, haggis, Christmas pudding, plum pudding, etc. was considered a pudding. Tell Kathy congratulations oh and to the guy she is going to Marry !

Have not seen a whole lot of birds in the yard. I hope that this shelf feeder will get more visiting the back yard a bit more. Yes those are yard sticks. Cheaper than wood slats and easy to measure !

Christmas eating so far. This morning we made Amish apple maple breakfast sausage and onion and chees omelets. Lunch was yesterday's blackfish filets, chicken of the woods mushrooms and shrimp cocktail I made the Don's Chuckwagon onion ring batter mixture with half a can of beer and an egg. I dredged the mushrooms in the batter and two fish fingers with that batter. The remaining fish got seasoned flour, egg wash, then panko breadcrumbs with parmesan cheese, garlic powder, dried oregano, and dried sweet basil mixture. Made home made tartar sauce with capers, sweet relish, mustard powder, and mayo. Picked up some white shrimp. I deveined the shrimp and boiled them in water, Old bay, and smoked salt. Served with store bought cocktail sauce. Will have to start dinner.

I have been accosted by squirrels only during spring turkey hunts. I always carry a turkey call when hunting squirrels because I often have them come down trees to see what's up when I hen call. Twice I have had squirrels run up my back when turkey hunting 😌.

I have heard stories of deer coming back to life and running off. I read an outdoor life story that the hunter put his gun in the deer rack for a photo when the deer recovered and ran off with his gun in its rack. A friend from grad school had an uncle do something similar. Must have hit it's antler and knocked it unconcious because the deer got up and ran off just as he was going to field dress it. He keft a piece of antler.

I have spatchcocked all of our turkeys for the last three years due to listening to @rps and will never go back. Cooks faster, evenly, and stays juicy! I love turkey, swiss, dill pickle slices, mayo on white toast! No turkey today. Making ham. Chilling large shrimp I just cooked in Old Bay for shrimp cocktail in an hour or two😁. Thawing chicken mushrooms to dredge in Don's chuckwagon batter as well.

TJM thats a great tip to get a bunch at one time. I have the best time employing that strategy when the hickories ripen and they draw squriiels from all over. I have also been lucky enough to stumble onto nest trees as well. Many years ago I was hunting Davisdale CA in Howard co. I was hunting along a creek bottom and heard one cutting a nut. I looked all over and had a difficult time finding it. Then I saw a tree up ahead of me with a hole at eye level and saw the squirrel sitting in that hole. Since it looked like it opened below the squirrel that it could fall through if I shot it. I shot it with my 22 and it did drop through and to the ground below. I was heading to get the squirrel when another popped out of a hole higher up that same tree. I shot that one. Then another popped out and I got that one as well. Then another came out. I shot that one but not in the head. It ran down the tree and up under a rootwad along the creek bank. I gathered the three dead squirrels before going to find that last one. I saw its tail and gave it a tug. Fortunately it was dead!

A long time ago I just fished bass with topwaters then got into plastics. When my oldest (now 22) was about 5 i bought her a bag of bubblegum colored worms as her special baits. I hadn't fished pink for bass and never thought that I would. Was fishing a small private lake and nearly went through "her" bag of worms while catching well over 40 bass. Since then pink was a go to bait for that lake in particular. I have had some success elsewhere. Now I hardly just bass fish since I am usually targetting something new to catch. When I do though something pink (flukes or worms) will be in my tackle bag. I've done well on crappie and urban trout with pink and white trout magnets.

David congrats on finding the fish and finding what they wanted to eat! Great trip report. Love photos. Always like seeing some fish. Congrats and merry Christmas!

That's the Xmas spirit!

Merry Christmas everyone! I wish you all happiness with each of you and your families. My fishing trip got unexpectedly extended due to the mate being a no show and one of the regulars taking on thise tasks. All day in the wind and heavy chop took its toll on me. So we tabled out ribeye and shrimp dinner for after Xmas. Will post when we have something ready to post😌.

Used to be six. Then changed to ten about 6 to 8 years ago. In a single outing I've shot four a lot and five a few times and six just once. Typically three to five would do for a meal. Would cut down my predatory angst when I got that many in the bag. Also it would usually be about 10 or 11 by then and they would be holed up by that time if the morning as well.

Hey buddy the daily limit is 10😌. Nice mess of bushytails!

Looks like a good trip to lake crisco. Congrats on a fine fish fry!

Lots of folks are screaming for higher corporate taxes don't get the idea that corporations where possible raise the price to offset the taxes which affects the consumers. Also raising minimum wage in fast food places are more likely to lead to more automation and staff reductions.

That's a slippery slope my friend 😌.

Seth that is a giant! Congrats! About 6 lbs heavier than my PB rainbow.

Congrats! Getting out and catching fish is success enough. Catching keepers is just a bonus!

Watching Charles Bronson in Death Wish. Saw the Bruce Willis version this summer.

Keeper size is 16 inches. Most are 1 to 3 lbs. Saw one that was over 17 lbs. So they are a solid macro fish species. Hopefully will have some photos to share.

One man's trash fish is another man's life-list fish !