2016 Deer Hunter Survey
Connecticut
Contributors to this thread:
Got the survey by email the other day. Sounds like they are trying to get a Bobcat and Bear season going. The last 5 surveys have been related to Bears, Bobcats (trapping only??) and the poor endangered Ruffed Grouse.
Dear Connecticut deer hunter,
You were selected to complete the 2016 Deer Hunter survey. Your responses are very important and will be considered when making future decisions about deer management in Connecticut. Please click on the Begin Survey link below to complete the survey within the next 7-10 days.
Please note: If you do not wish to receive further emails from us, please click on the "Opt Out" option below, and you will not receive another email pertaining to this survey. Thank you for your time and input.
Sincerely,
Andrew LaBonte CT DEEP 391 Route 32 N. Franklin, CT 06254 860-418-5921 [email protected] Begin Survey
Yup, got mine this week and completed. Told them we need bear and bobcat season in the NW corner and to reduce tags as well by zone. One deer per hunter per year in the NW corner. Or, do an aerial survey so we can 2x or 3x the deer population :)
I told them to let us manage the habitat for deer and cut down a lot of the mature forest on state land. Why bother trying to keep killing all the deer......just make the habitat better and everyone benefits.
BT - great idea!! Charge for permits to harvest the firewood and make some money for Malloy while improving the habitat. Then hunting licenses may increase, especially out of state (increase the fees for NR) and make more money for Malloy.
Dr. Williams's Link
I thought the DEEP was doing that already Bob as they have for many decades. It was just now when I checked to post the link here that I found they stopped doing it. Regional Water Authority does it and there is a year's long waiting list; people pay to manage RWA forests.
I'm familiar with the previous state firewood program as I've taken advantage of it several times in the past. I think what BT was suggesting is a more aggressive program where the state allow clear cuts to open the mature forests and create edge and possibly plant some food plots for the deer.
There was a senator from the nw corner that would push for clear cutting mature forests all the time,and I think he always got it done. (George something or other)he also coincidently owned the tree service that did it..
Dr. Williams's Link
OK. DEEP is also doing that as well. There has been a flush of funding to improve habitat for New England cottontails which entails huge clearcuts to improve stem counts of new growth. They have been doing so for several years around the state. Huge clearcuts stands to improve habitat quality not only for New England cottontails, but also other early successional species such as migratory birds including woodcock and grouse as well, but also many other non-targets, and yes, deer.
Doc. Go away unless you have ideas that you contributed to on your survey.
And Bob, bingo, you nailed it. I'm not looking for the state to do anything. I'm looking for the state to allow us to make state land better. If that means individuals can clear cut, hinge cut, mow, plow, farm etc to make the land more useable for deer....let's do it. :)
Bloodtrail, I filled out my survey same as you. My point was, DEEP is already doing the management you suggested. Pay attention next time. And feel free to go away yourself.
You are offering nothing at all to this post. DEEP is not managing any properties for deer habitat . And they are not allowing hunters to go in and manage state lands to create better habitat for deer. The cottontail study is old news..... and a byproduct of them creating better habitat for rabbits could be better habitat for deer..... but that is not their goal.
Thanks for filling out the form. What were the constructive efforts that you left for the DEEP to make hunting in Connecticut better??
BT - let me guess what Doc put down. "Eliminate hunting and replace with WB since hunters are all uneducated fools who don't realize that all of the deer need to be killed to protect the children and reduce lyme disease."
So let’s see. You are suggesting DEEP just let guys in to “manage state lands to create better habitat for deer.” Bob suggests that the DEEP could “Charge for permits to harvest the firewood and make some money for Malloy while improving the habitat.” I thought DEEP was permitting that practice already, and was shocked to see the program had been suspended and shared that here, after which you told me to “go away” and suggested I am “offering nothing at all to this post”. So you are suggesting that the DEEP allow just any Joe Hunter to go in and “manage” public land for deer for free when the State can’t even support a program to make money from firewood harvest? That was my point, but I guess I need to spell it out. The DEEP would never permit hunters to manage public lands for deer. There are silvicultural prescriptions that need to be directed by forestry professionals to manage taxpayer-owned lands over decades, not just a handful of hunting seasons and, oh yeah, the CT DEEP Division of Forestry (http://www.ct.gov/deep/cwp/view.asp?a=2697&q=322792&deepNav_GID=1631%20) that does that kind of thing. You think DEEP Forestry would permit random individuals to head out to do whatever they wanted with a chainsaw, tractor, and no long-term plan? DEEP Forestry doesn’t have the staff to oversee a money-making program never mind a volunteer program that serves a very, very small segment of the public, all of whom own our state forests. And you are correct that the state does not manage for deer directly as we have plenty of them and the majority of the taxpayers, at least the most vocal, clearly want fewer deer. Are you suggesting that deer will not benefit from 1000s of acres of clear cuts in the name of New England cottontail habitat improvement? What YOU want is to be able to improve the areas YOU hunt, wherever that may be, but you have to think in terms of instituting such a program statewide and seeing hunters as a collective body as the managing agency does. Seeing as the state is 94% privately-owned, seems private landowner incentive programs would be more effective statewide and not restricted by pesky taxpayers with other ideas for how their public lands should be managed. And guess what, those taxpayer-funded programs already exist for the savvy landowner (https://www.nrcs.usda.gov/wps/portal/nrcs/detail/ct/programs/?cid=nrcs142p2_011048). While none deal with deer management directly, most of them benefit deer indirectly, and landowners can get paid to do so. We all know Trump is cutting USDA funds and steering them to Defense, so you better apply soon. And you guys thought Trump was a friend to sportsmen. . . Sure.
My “constructive efforts” to “make hunting better in Connecticut” was to support predator management in state. That is something that can actually be instituted, will benefit deer populations long-term, will provide additional hunting opportunities and license fees, has support from multiple stakeholders state wide, and can actually make a difference over your suggestion which will never, ever happen.
Hallelujah! You finally added something constructive.
Now stop pissing on these good topics/posts and turning every one into a shit show.
I also said they need to kill all the fawn killers. Glad to see coyote is open year round now. Hope everyone takes advantage during turkey season and drops all the coyotes they call in. Very thankful the state does these surveys and allows for input to help.
I started a thread and added relevant content to this one. Feel free to ignore my posts but I know you. Just. Can't. Resist. Posting. Oof...
It must be amazing to be you. What's it like?
I want to see you ruin this post too.
I hunt four of the six New England States and 3 in the Midwest and no other State sends out these questioners to the hunters. I believe its a great way of collecting info from concerned hunters.
I like to read the Doc's posts even if you don't agree or don't have the same opinion with him, he definitely has a passion for the animals in CT.
I like Docs posts as well. As a hard and fast ball breaker it gives me something to do in my free time. Just wait till I retire in a few months. Whew boy!
notme's Link
https://youtu.be/RijB8wnJCN0
Waiting for that special day bbb...lol
Another spot on link into the workings of the human brain effected by liberal exposure with complications of deertickcountosis. Sad case.
Oh the irony Bob. I'm telling you guys what you need to hear, and certainly not what you want to hear. You'd be wise to listen to me instead of chastising me. But whatever, carry on.
Doc - I've been hunting for 48 years without your help and I've managed to stay successful as times changed, so anything you have to say about hunting, which I haven't heard anything from you on this site, is wasted.
I know how to find deer, how to pattern them, how to manage the areas I hunt (don't over hunt, wind direction impact, direction of other hunters, funnels, etc), I only shoot mature bucks to help improve the herd, find the secluded area, etc. I don't need to bait, hunt private land, hunt Sunday, or pay to hunt on ranches. I also don't need to kill a deer every year, so what could you possible add to my hunting experience??
Oh I remember what you've taught us: kill all the deer, deer are more dangerous than coyotes, bobcat or bears, WB is the future of hunting, there are too many deer on GMF, counting deer correctly can only be done by your vendor, lyme disease is caused by deer, not ticks, so we need to kill all the deer and the federal government doesn't get their money from the taxpayers and they know how to manage money very well.
I have to go scratch my head now.
Bloodtrail. Bob is kindly giving me a helping hand on this thread. He’s just like you and can’t help not posting. And it IS amazing to be me. I’m super tall, hairy, about 50 pounds overweight, the son of a writer who too can write guys in circles. I shoot lots of deer, am a wicked wing shot with my over/under straight stock Ruger 20 gauge, I can guarantee I can cast a fly further than any guy on this site, and have probably caught, cleaned, and consumed more yellow perch through the ice than most. I work with great people and have great friends throughout the state who are some of Connecticut’s premier hunters and anglers. I was never in the MLB farm league, but I was a hell of a hockey player in my youth in MA and played with lots of guys who made it to the NHL and represented youth Team USA when I was in 6th grade and played an international tournament in Germany and Holland. Because of my size, I switched over to rowing and in high school was asked to try out for the Junior National Team (but I didn’t make it) and I was the captain of my college team my senior year. I have a master’s degree from Yale University School of Forestry and Environmental Studies and a Ph. D. from UConn. I live in a great old farmhouse and own a big chunk of land in VT’s Northeast Kingdom that is loaded with deer, moose, partridge, and turkeys (believe it or not!) and I got it at a steal from a French-Canadian logger. I have my health and so do my family and I consider myself very fortunate and am very grateful to be me. So to sum it up, it is truly amazing to be me and that is a little bit of what it is like. Thank you for asking.
Bob. You are a classic hunter; selfish, and thinking only of yourself and not thinking of hunters as a collective body to advocate for ourselves and further the hunting tradition beyond us. You are myopic and provincial and that is situation normal. I am proud that you know how to find deer like the rest of us, the rest of us just don’t feel compelled to tell our fellow hunters that we too, can find deer. You are correct that deer are more dangerous to public safety than coyotes, bobcats, and black bears combined. You are incorrect that WB is the future of hunting because that is not hunting at all, that is a professional service that hunters could be doing if they actually knew how and had the discipline to manage deer in certain overabundant situations. But until hunters come to that realization, WB’s services will be needed, and hunters will complain about that service online. You see Bob, hunters can’t get out of their own way to help themselves and trying to educate them is like shoveling sand against the tide. License sales are plummeting, hunters are aging out, kids are staying indoors more, and the writing is on the wall: the hunting tradition is dying a slow and obvious death and the only ones who can save it are hunters, who are reluctant to do so. So as there become fewer and fewer hunters and more and more soccer moms, there will be more demand for professional services to manage deer and $2 million contracts will be the norm. Ah well. Carry on. Cheers to you Bob on your pending retirement.
Oh oh Doc, sounds like I hit nerve. I don't see where asked for your life story but I do find it interesting. Ho hum, sorry. I think I want to be your friend now, you sound like a great guy. Anyway, as your new friend I would suggest you stop shoveling sand against the tide because I hate seeing you get so upset, you're so much better than everyone else on this site and you know it, so just treat yourself well and ignore the stupid hunters on this hunting site and go back to counting bugs (are those the friends you're referring to? I think I met some of them). I'm going to take your sage advice and start working on the future of hunting. Note to self: stop mentoring new and young hunters, stop letting doe and young bucks pass, stop sharing hunting knowledge with those who ask and stop presenting a positive image to non-hunters by telling them I want to kill all of the deer with a high powered rifle over bait at night while shooting from the window of truck. Thanks so much Dr. Williams. I have a new hero in my life. Thank you, thank you, thank you!!
Where are my tums, my stomach is starting to turn :)
Spring thaw? That was a full fledged melt down.
It's like the red headed step child that gets beat and comes back for more. I don't understand if you don't hunt and your clearly not liked on this site why come back for more. I'm not trying to be rude but I just don't understand. It's like asking daddy for the belt again!! I'm just confused why you keep coming back for more. Do you enjoy the arguments?? If I was not wasn't wanted somewhere and it was made very clear to me I wouldn't show myself and especially if it's something I'm not interested in and don't take part in. When is enough enough???
shawnm - now that's an astute observation and a reasonable conclusion. Many of us have asked that same question. I would really miss Doc because he's the clown sitting on the dunking tank and you'll pay to dunk his sorry ass into the cold water. I just keep buying more balls and he keeps getting back on the seat. Also, when someone thinks he knows everything, and the rest of the world is stupid, he can't comprehend that we don't want to listen to him.
notme's Link
Like the song says " I ate more chicken than any man's ever seen" ;)
Shawn,sometimes daddy likes the belt...
I find it odd that family was the last thing mentioned
https://youtu.be/11e8XyUBqRQ
Ace's Link
Great movie!!!!...im Shackin it boss,I'm shackin it...
Bob. Can you not read, or do you just choose not to? I mean, seriously. What should have tipped you off on my last post was that the first part was not directly at you as it starts with “Bloodtrail.” He is another guy on this site; it is not just you out here. And who says I am upset? And it is not nice to imply that someone doesn’t have any friends or that his friends are bugs. And the joke is on you anyway as ticks are not insects/bugs at all. They are arachnids. You guys act as if this is a private chat room and I know there are tons of guys who read this daily who don’t post, ever. Most of my posts are for those guys. ShawnM, who said I don’t hunt? Didn’t you read my life story I just posted? I hunt plenty, far more than you ever have, but I am secure enough with who I am that I don’t feel the need to let everyone know what an awesome hunter I am. I hunt because I enjoy it. And who says I am not wanted here? Look at Bob, Ace, and Bloodtrail. They can’t keep away!
Sorry doc as I did not read your most recent post. I'm really not that interested in numbers. If you hunt why is it all your posts are numbers or arguments. Of course we're all going to get into it at some point but every post?? Cmon.. I'd like to see you post more about you and hunting than numbers and arguments. And to be honest that's all I've heard from you. I m not trying to be mean or argue and I'm not taking sides I'm just calling it as I see it.. I guess if you were at my dinner and you heard bb's first words when he came in and you seen everyone's faces you would understand. It's not just me!!! I'm still picking up jaws off the ground from his statement of who he was..
Doc,
Where in the NE Kingdom is your property if you don't mind me asking. My grandfather had property and house in Sutton. I spent a lot of time there every summer. I think my dad and I caught brookies out of every stream in that county over 20 years or so fishing. I really miss it.
I have been toying with buying land and a cabin up there for a while. I know I would use it over the summer to fish, but as far as I always new the deer hunting wasn't great so that kind of turned me off a bit. Sounds like it may actually be better than advertised.
Doc, Doc, Doc. When asked "What's it like to be you?" Is not the same as asking for one's life story. The first question is satisfied by saying "Great" or "Interesting" or "Boring, pompous, conceited, condescending, egotistical, piece of _ _ _ _" See the difference now? I also never mentioned ticks in my post, just bugs, so I guess you specialize in just ticks based upon your last post. I do know you tick off a lot of people on this site, so you are very good at it. And so the picture I get of you is - a tall, over weight, hairy guy who never excelled at sports but went to the level of high school football (they call that the Al Bundy complex) who lives in an old house. SWEET!! Sounds like you're way ahead of the rest of us. BTW - I just drew a circle and wrote your name in, so considered yourself written in circles. :)
Shawn. My view of hunting is from a statewide and regional perspective, not simply my hunting spot in Groton, CT. I am trying to get others to look beyond themselves and their hunting spots only, but clearly am failing. Who is advocating for hunters and hunting in Hartford now? I am glad for you that you have found hunting and this site has been helpful to you. Now what?
Toonces. My land is immediately to the east of Sutton in the Town of Newark, population 581. Isn’t Willoughby awesome? We have poked around streams up there and caught lots of natives, but mostly work on the cabin and the land and bird hunt and sight in rifles. I got it for $200/acre back in 2001. The number of turkeys up there is impressive for the harsh winters they have to endure. Moose sign was everywhere when I bought the place, then crashed, and past couple years we are seeing more and more sign. We pretty much see deer every time, maybe every other time, we go up. They have probably faired pretty well given the recent decline in moose, but still have some serious snow to deal with for an extended winter, and their numbers are nothing like CT’s. So I grouse hunt VT and deer and bird hunt CT. Bears too clawing up the apples trees and puking all over. But we seldom see them as these are real bears conditioned to avoid human contact. Despite the reputation of locals despising Flatlanders, I have found most people up there to be super nice. Probably helps that my place isn’t posted and I encourage guys to use it. Lots of them are CT transplants. Check this site out: https://beginrealty.com/northeast-vermont-towns/newark-vt/?r=21-40 Laughable prices compared to CT.
I know Newark really well. My grandfather was good friends with the owner of the Bald Hill Fish Hatchery back in the 70's and 80's. Used to take me up there all the time as a kid to see the fish. Bean Brook was also a regular stop for my dad and I fishing. We used to fish it both up stream and down stream from the hatchery.
Willoughby is beautiful, but I always preferred Crystal Lake for some reason, probably just drove by it more going to Barton.
That whole area is really special to me for a lot of reasons.
Awesome. I can hear Bean Brook from my property when it's raging. If you are at the Center Pond access, my property is the little mountain bump over across the pond to the northeast. I can see Bald Mountain from the fire pit.
I Love it up there! We have a place on west side of Lake Memphremagog in Newport Center. We used to hunt the clear cuts on the border for Deer. The biggest Deer we would shoot can't compare to what we have in CT. Great lake to fish, 30 miles which most of it is in Canada.
Shawn, doc is not an advocate for hunters! His agenda is to further reduce the deer herd by saying that Lyme disease can be reduced by killing all the deer when there is no proof that is the case. He pushes work to his good friend Tony D who owns White Buffalo with this agenda. That's why he never talks about hunting on this site, he's not a hunter. He will twist the truth, deflect from tough questions and just plain lie. Read what he posts carefully and you'll get a clear picture, he doesn't fool anyone.
The NEK bucks do get big, but are few and far between. Last year, I ran into a guy hunting my neighbors property (when I was taking a leak at dusk after just arriving) who claimed to have the arrowed the #1 buck in 2015 in VT. I looked him up and he was telling the truth. But boy, dedicated guy. You can't shoot a slug 30 yards through the NEK woods never mind an arrow. You guys think archery hunting in CT is tough... man talk about handicapping yourself. Try bowhunting 3000 acres in the NEK!
VT took more deer than CT in 2015, can't be that tough. Maybe it's just you Doc? Can't be, it's never you, it's us. :)
I noticed you said you hunt in groups. Obviously private land but was wondering what part of town? I'm not asking for your spot.lol. just wondering where the 31 deer in groton were killed.
Looks really nice Doc. I have probably driven by your place dozens of times. Bean Brook can get real loud. That stream always seemed to have a good volume of water even in dry years.
Good hear the grouse numbers are good, another reason to reconsider the area.
My grandfather's property was on the east side of Norris Mountain off Underpass Road in Sutton.
Toonces. I hear a lot of grouse, but only connect with a handful. Shawn. I didn't say I hunted in groups. I don't hunt Groton, just used it as an example because I know you do.
Dr Williams, I enjoy your posts... but you have gone to far. My double haul is better than yours ?? and my single handed spey cast can come close to a full line length. Ha ha ha!
Will. You're on. I don't own a spey rod, actually, I don't think I've even casted one. But each of us with an equal weight rod, I'm gonna beat ya. My arms are like 4 feet long each and as tall as I am, my backcast will never hit the water.
I could kinda agree with doc on the casting thing..when most of my buds are pushing the limits of their chest waiders,I'm only up to my gut hence loading my 9'rod more than their 11' rod with the some 2 1/2 oz plug..
Doc - ever see Joan Wulff cast a 90 foot double haul... she's like 90 years old, barely over 5' tall and can shoot the backing! Bob - I will tee this up for you... Size isn't everything.
I'm going to admit though, I'm talking with internet bravado. I can single hand spey (60-80 feet), but only with my very heavy WF lines - like an "Ambush" or similar. My double haul... Well, in the right conditions I could get most of the line... Takes ideal conditions and me in the right place (skill wise - IE, recent frequent trips involving double hauling) to get 75' plus.
I'd be happy to get beat (there's another for you Bob :)) though.
Naw, you guys talking about fly fishing is something I'm not interested in. I plan on getting a boat for retirement and heading out the sound as many times as I can in the summer and fall. But I will say this - if the fish are that far away from you that you need to cast 90 ft, why not move a bit closer?
Reminds of a story when I went fishing with a buddy and we were killing it out there and he said lets mark this spot for the next trip, so he put an "X" on the side of the boat. I said, what are you stupid, what if we don't use the same boat next time?? I know, that's an old one, but I still like it.
I love watching women fly cast. They do it all with technique as you describe because they can’t over-muscle it like guys tend to want to do. Very fluid motion with grace. Personally, I use a 9’ 6” 9-weight with a WF 10-weight line on false albacore and can chuck that a quarter mile. Actually never measured, but now I guess I will have to try it in the backyard and report the results. I was just fishing for bonefish a couple weeks ago (and still have yet to catch one) but my Bahamian guide did say “Man you can throw a fly Man!” Dude said he’s been guiding 32 years. But I think we both know, there are fly fisherman and fly casters. You can only catch fish when the fly is in the water and they really don’t care much what it looked like when it was on its way.
Ok, my last post on this thread on this subject :), dont like being a hijacker - sorry OP.
Dr Williams - you nailed it. If "we" could cast as "they" do, we'd be better for it. Bob - fully agree. Vast majority of the time fishing freshwater I'm casting flies less than 40 feet (that's including fishing bass and pike - as well as trout and sunfish)... Saltwater, that's when I'm trying to shoot the line as far as I can.
Doc - if a guide, especially one of that experience, is telling you that you shoot a long line... You do! I shoot a 10wt well - intermediate or aggressive WFF, but my sweet spot for distance is a 6 or 8wt with an aggressive WFF line. Ill be getting good practice later this spring chasing snook and baby tarpon and reds (as well as any other hungry fish) in FL :)
Ok, I'm done. I could talk fly fishing more than I can deer hunting - dont want to kill Pat's server :)
PS - Notme - people think it's easy to time up rod loading to bomb plugs/bait with surf gear... It's not. Sounds like you have some serious casting skill!
Will,practice man practice...lol...these young guns now a days with their tica rods,van stall reels loaded with 50# braid have no idea what it's like to cast old heavy lamiglass rods,704greenies loaded with 20#black Andi cable with 3oz goo goo poppers or 5oz jellie worms
Haha! I commandeered 2 of my dad’s 704s back in high school. Reeling those is like doing a forearm workout at the gym compared to the modern reels. He wound up cutting the bails off as he was no good at maintaining and oiling them properly so they would never turn over, so I grew up instinctively manually grabbing the line and putting it on the line roller before the plug hit the water. Took skill to master the timing so you didn’t wind up with a lot of slack and spend half the cast distance trying to get the plug back onto the surface. No stripers back in those days, but watching the blues smash those things was still fun.
Have fun in Florida Will. I probably could have had a bone with spinning gear, but I had a couple turn at the fly and when I presented a second cast, another bone would spook and ruin it. I pricked the lip of one so felt one at least. Next time.....
notme's Link
http://www.fieldandstream.com/articles/fishing/2013/01/25-best-striper-lures
Here ya go bbb,if you plan on fishing the sound you need these...fish at night,slooooooooow retrieve..
Here's a better one. Drift this one at night deeeeep.
Hell ya!!!..3way yo yo rig off the bottom...or grow some balls ,throw on your waiders,mustard circle hook #8 between the eyes....lol....same with the alwife..AND CHUNKING DON'T COUNT!!!!!!!!!
If you can keep them alive till you can get to the reef! (And not get caught by DEEP live lining river herring)
Blue back,black back..even deep admitted they can't tell the difference without pulling a scale or doing dna...so fish on...lol
They're you go doc,a new field for you in the off season..lmao
Yup, hence the generic term, "river herring." Why do we ban ALL firewood transport across state lines when the emerald ash borer is specific to ash (Fraxinus spp.)? Because most of the public can't identify a live tree to the species never mind cut up firewood. Sad.
Head spinning yet bbb...lol
So true Notme - or a really big Danny Plug. I swore about 5-6 years ago, if I go back to chucking plugs in the salt I'm going through all of them and replacing the trebles with a single hook. Taking a ticked off bass or blue off with 10-12" of wood and 3-4 huge trebles ripping around was more than my sensibilities could handle ;)
Swimming eel's - tooooo fun.
The adventure lover in me would consider trying, what's it called, swishing - where you swim out with a wet suit and basically fish floating in the water. The returning seal population and resulting GW shark explosion though has that feeling like I'd rather let others do, and tell me about it.
For now, Ill stick to flies I guess, it's safer, so long as it's not to windy and I have to worry about a 4/0 sticking me in the back of the noggin with a strong rod side cross wind :) (I need to learn to cast lefty - seriously!)
Maybe we should ask Pat to open "Basssite.com" ha ha ha :)
Big daddy,big mamma,great plugs!!.even better with an eel skin.!!!.
It kills me to see what some of these plugs go for now,they're made to fish not put up in a trophy case..cursed yuppies and collectors!!! One night in the 90's I lost 5 beachmaster dannys to damn lobster pots at the tip of watch hill light house..back then they were $25 each..,catching fish over 30lbs all night eased the pain a bit,hell we walked away from fish that night.it was great!!! I still have and fish a handfull of the old wooden plugs..around here my go to plugs are sunrise/set gibbs 2 3/4 pencil popper..bob Hans jointed eel,big atom 40,beachmaster cowboy,gags mombo minnow,tattoo walker...absolute killers!!!!.
That swishing thing,ehhh,leave it to the crazies that wanna look like seals during prime shark movement...lol
Doc you're right about bail less..all the rage the last few years when guys have been doing it forever..i still can't master the timing...lol
In most fields of practice, what's old, becomes new again Notme.
Never thought to put an eelskin and Danny together, that had to fish great. Those gibbs pencils were awesome - need to talk to air traffic control prior to launch though... Maybe the only thing that launches further is a Hopkins or Kastmaster missile, I mean, "spoon"...
Eel skins are easy dude,try it on a jr40....freeze the eel a bit,cut off the eel head,figure the length,break the vertebrae,squeeze out the meat at desired length,pull up on plug up to head..i tie mine off with a strand of para cord and through the through wire of the plug.a single vmc treble in front..deadly!!!!
Cool idea. Off the point at Montauk you see the guys swishing in the fall. I've heard stories of guys getting wiped out to sea and being picked up several miles out by chance. Guys fish in kayaks too among all the boat traffic chasing blitzes. They disappear between the swells. Super scary. Also the surf casting guys have a way of letting you know when your boat is too close to their water. But joke's on them because it is great popper hunting while chasing albies.
Little late for this reply, Doc, but with regard to the public's inability to properly identify firewood, I suppose you could say they don't know their ash from their elbow...
Will, I didn't want to do this to you, but you forced my hand when you threw down casting distance numbers. I just took my 3-piece Sage RPLXi 9' 6" 9 weight with a weight-forward AirFlo 9 weight line to the field across from my house and was consistently throwing it the length of my 100' measuring tape with 2 false casts. The best of which was about 112' which was about 6 wraps shy of the backing. With a 10 weight line, I'd get to the backing. Thanks for the exercise. Never had a number but now I do!
Do you catch many fish in the field? And move closer.
Dr Williams - You win! Dam man - I mean, a minimum of false casts is good, just haul and shoot for criminy sake... But sending 100' consistently is impressive.
I better go practice if we are to have a Bowsite.com fly casting duel :)
Bob - people may think archers, or archery hunters are a little off their rockers (not us, hard to see our own faults :))... But fly fishermen/women... Next level. We make those people who really freak about FOC and tuning to extreme levels look absolutely normal :)
Thanks Will. I figure you were setting me up to throw out a number and you were then gonna inform me you can throw 150! With that line/rod combo, that second false cast is where it felt fully loaded. Be fun to coordinate a casting duel as you suggest.
I respect the fly guys!! You guys do a lot of research into what the hatch is and then spend countless hours making something to imitate it. I tried a fly rod once and I still have scars from the line wrapping around my neck as I flung the rod forward with all my might. Still looking for that rod :(
Hook and worm for me.
B3 - before you go giving me unnecessary respect, I should mention that my first attempt at a dark Hendrickson ended up looking very much like belly button lint. I was determined to catch fish with it though. God bless bluegills, is all I have to say. I have since learned that the best way for me to match the hatch is to stop at Orvis and pay the guys a couple bucks for whatever they claim is hatching.
Bbb,you ain't lived until you're out 2:00am on an out going tide casting teenie cinder worms in a cloud of millions of teenie cinder worms...
N8 - you got me laughing out load on the belly button lint, quite the mental image! But it is true, you guys WORK at fishing while I just want to relax and if a stupid fish get's on my hook all the better. It's more of a day at the beach than a hunting trip for fish, which is what fly fishing feels like to me.
notme - cinder worms are on the right track for me, at least it's a worm. Do I use a teenie weenie hook with those worms?
No Bob, you "man up" and fish a 1/0-#4 rabbit strip cinder worm fly and hold on :)
Am I holding onto my teenie weenie or my rod? I need better instructions guys. I have two hands, any more than that I can't handle.
Actually you're doing both at the same time, stroking your rod and pulling you're teenie weenie...kinda like a circus act it sounds to be...lol
Notme covered it bud. And to think, I was going to stick to fly fishing lingo and suggest you could hold your rod with one hand, but, a lot of other guys like to use two hands, when they spey cast... there is nothing wrong with either. Line management is the trick Bob - you really have to watch your line so you can shoot your cast as far as possible.
Epic. Just epic is the material I'm setting up for you here...
And to think, this thread is supposed to be about the 2016 survey... ;) Sorry OP
I had some good lines when I was younger, but now that I'm married for 42 years I can't remember a one of them.
notme's Link
https://youtu.be/GGKTV0_20s0