merritt island pinners

i got to go hunting with "shotgun ed" and "notaduck" today over at merritt island. we were covered up in pintails all day. at first light we had about 200 land in our decoys. an amazing sight! ive never seen anything like it before. we must have seen 500 total throughout the morning. we didnt see any other ducks but we all shot a pinner each and enjoyed the show. it was great to watch notaducks dog, lucas, retrieve the ducks. it was the first time i had ever duck hunted with a dog. sure makes you want to own a good bird dog.

thanksgiving mallards

went out this morning for my second annual thanksgiving duck hunt. got my first real triple and my first green head. three shots and three dead mallards. one of the hens definitely had some mottled in her back and beak but also had two white stripes on her speculum. doing my part to control the feral duck population. they must of wandered off of a golf course somewhere. well, they wont be returning. picked up the decoys by 8 a.m. and headed home to help the wife with the thanksgiving celebration preparations. so many things to be thankful for.

broadmoor band

old fat slow invited me to share a permit on broadmoor this morning. ive only hunted there twice but it is by far my favorite place to duck hunt. today it became even more special. i shot my first banded duck to complete my limit. a mottled duck that was banded earlier this year in florida. not a huge migration but just as special as if it had come from canada. we finished both of our limits right as the sun was coming up. thanks again scott for another amazing hunt!

quail 08

bob butterfield was kind enough to take dustin and i out for a quail hunt. a good time was had by all. we ended the day with 27 birds between the 3 of us.

united waterfowlers of florida

i did not fully understand what united waterfowlers of florida do for duck hunters. i have met some great members and even hunted with a few. i put joining on my "to do at some point list." after attending the meeting yesterday at the circle b ranch bar and seeing exactly what the organization does i went directly to the UW table and signed up. i want to be able to hunt these marshes but most importantly, i want my kids to be able to hunt these lands when i am long gone. UW is making sure that will happen. i am a long time member of DU and now i will be a long time member of UW. thank you guys for all that you have done for us on the florida waterfowling front! if you are a duck hunter in florida you should seriously consider joining up. its only $25. these are the guys who are responsible for getting goose season opened in florida.

1st and "big bass"

last night we took 1st place and "big bass" due to a large part to this 8 pond pig that vince caught.

fern's 4th

fern had her 4th birthday today. i figured it was time for her first gun. well a bb gun that is. didnt have any glasses today so we kept it at one pump to avoid any major ricochet. she was very excited and shot like a pro. lyla jane even got in on the action.

1st again

last thursday vince and i took 1st place at ron's again due mostly to this little finesse worm made by netbaits. sorry, no pictures too busy catching bass.

brushy mcbrush-brush

went out with vince again on his secret stash the other night. here are a few of the fish

a new blog in town

i am contributing on a new blog tackle review site. big fish outfitters review. you may want to check it out and add it to your favorites. its a bit different than most review blogs that there are three contributers with strong opinions that rarely match up so you get a balanced review of the product and the banter is usually pretty comical.

fishing with kids

took some of the kids fishing this morning. the kids all drove the boat, we caught a few bass but the fun really started after mason copped an attitude and i had to throw him in the lake. from there on out it was all about jumping off the poling platform. connor didnt make it in any of the pics because he fished out of vinces boat. best two fish of the day were caught by father and son (vince and henry), a nice pair of 5 pounders.

3rd at ron's

vince and i placed 3rd at the ron's tourney tonight. this 3.5 pounder was the largest of our fish.