Posts by Nate

Thanks for the kind words guys

This section seems pretty dormant.. thought I'd contribute to it a bit. This is a pretty lengthy write up with maybe a little too much back ground info and/or detail.. but my stoke is still so strong that I just can't help it.

So.. I spent my high school years in Louisiana. All it took was my first opening day of duck hunting to be completely addicted, for life. I probably shot 2 boxes of 20 gauge shells that day, all of which without dropping a single unassisted bird, but it didn't matter. There's some intangible, indescribable aspect about duck hunting that makes waking up at 4 am to freeze your ass off completely worth it. Anyway, for the past 7 years, my dad has had a duck lease in West Monroe, Louisiana. West Monroe is known for being right in the middle of the migration pattern for many of the more popular duck species.. such as mallards, pintails, gadwalls, several species of teal, and the occasional wigeon or two. This year, with the budget a bit tighter than it has been, the lease was not renewed. I arrived home in Brusly (very small, 1 street light town, directly across the Mississippi River from Baton Rouge) on December 3, for Christmas break. In the past, my entire break has been spent somewhere in the swamp, wreaking havoc on any form of waterfowl that dare cross my path. Regardless of having a lease or not.. this year was to be no different.
My parent's house is on what is called a river road. The river roads run along the levees that boarder the Mississippi River. There are small traces of land between the levees and where the Mississippi River banks actually start. In most cases, this land is owned by barge companies for mooring purposes, however our house has been in the same family so long that the trace of land directly opposite the levee from the house was never sold, therefore it is our own private property.. about 40 acres. We've seen wood ducks back there in the past, but with more renowned places to actually hunt, we paid little attention to them. However, this year.. it would be our ace in the hole.
The river has been a bit higher this year than it typically is.. to the point that all 40 acres were completely flooded all the way up to the base of the levee. This was great for ducks, however it also provided another obstacle. We've got boats coming out of our ears. Everything from a world cat to a go devil. The problem was, the woods were too thick to get our typical pop-up blind duck boat through them to the openings that we knew were in the middle. My younger brother, 18, managed to get a 12 ft Gheenoe from one of his buddies.. and a 1982 7.5hp Mercury that wouldn't crank from another buddy. The Gheenoe began with a shiny green outside with a white inside.. a definite no-no for duck hunting. I've got a buddy who owns an auto shop.. so I brought it over and had him spray the entire inside with a dark khaki rhino line. Once that was dry, I brought it back to the house where my bro painted the outside with a very resilient dead grass green and then stenciled on some brown reed patterns. All the while, I was trying to get the motor running. The problem with the motor turned out to be bad wiring going to the powerpack. I rewired it and we were finally starting to get a spark. We put it on a saw horse, in a 50 gal drum of water and cranked her for the first time in God knows how long.. damn thing wouldn't pee. I dropped the lower unit and checked the water pump.. 4 of the rubber wings on the impeller were dry rotted and broken. After a quick trip to my local Merc dealer and about 2 hours of trial and error to get the lower unit gears to line up correctly.. we were in business. It wasn't until I put the motor on the transom for the first time that I noticed another problem, that little did I know would severely bite me in the ass. The threads on one of the tightening screws that attach the motor to the transom, were completely flat.. as if they had been hit by a hammer. I decided to worry about that later, I wanted to get it on the boat and in the water for a test run.. as the opener was approaching pretty quick. I stuck a small piece of 3/4" ply wood on the inside and another on the outside of the transom to take up some dead space so I didn't have to turn the fubar'd screws as far. We dump the Gheenoe in the water on the backside of the levee, and the merc cranks right up. My bro and I were so stoked.. everything was coming together.. and our new rig looked like some several thousand dollar duck rig. After we were content with the way it ran, my bro dropped me off on the levee to back the trailer down (this is right after dark). I get the trailer in.. and my bro is about 50 yds down river up against the levee.. and I can make out that there's no motor on the back of the boat. Shit.. Turns out, he wanted to see how fast it would go without me in it.. in the process, he whacks a log that had enough punch to let one of the plywood shims fall out, and the motor went over the side. It took me all of 30 seconds to make up my mind that I was going after it. I stripped down to my boxers and walked out about 25 yds from the levee to the point where my bro thought he lost the motor. I walked around naked in chest deep, freezing cold water, in the dark for a little over 30 minutes before I finally caught the smell of gasoline and located it shortly after. We get it back to the garage, and while I'm in the shower.. waiting for my balls to descend, my dad is cleaning the carburetor and getting the water out of the engine. It took about an hour of tlc before she was running strong in the 50 gal drum. Season saved.. for the second time.
Now to the actual hunting.. if you made it this far. There are several different ways to duck hunt. The stereotypical way here in the south is a wide open marsh where you can see the ducks coming from a good ways away. However hunting woodies in thick cover is a completely different ballgame. Everything happens so fast.. from the time that you see the duck to the time you shoot can literally be fractions of a second.. and woodies are known for being decisive fliers, they're going where they're going and most of the time no amount of calling or decoys are going to make any difference. This makes them all the more fun to hunt, and definitely more rewarding. There are several bar pits on the property. Bar pits are small clearings that hold water year round, regardless of the river stage. Throughout the season, we tried just about every one of them.. but we found one that was extremely active. The first morning that we hunted this one was actually Christmas morning. As soon as shooting light arrived, the ducks were flying. My brother and I have been hunting together since I was 13, putting him at 9. While we both sucked terribly for the first several years, we've grown together and learned how the other is going to act. Depending on who's sitting on the right or left, we can have a flock of 5 or so birds come in and never shoot at the same bird. I'm not trying to get all mushy, but it really is a beautiful thing.. and words can't express how much I appreciate being able to hunt with somebody who I'm so in sync with. So anyway.. Christmas morning, sun is finally up, ducks are whistling and it's foggy as hell.. I'm on the left, in the front of the boat, my bro is on the right.. naturally I'm watching my side and he's watching his. Then come the whistles.. they're coming but we don't know from where. Suddenly my bro says.. Nate, my side.. and there they were, 6 of them. We pulled up at the same time, I started working from the front of the flock to the back, and my bro from the back to the front. Two seconds and 6 spent shells later, there are 6 woodies floating out in front of our Gheenoe. My bro and I had just both shot simultaneous triples on wood ducks. We were both hollering and highfiving.. 2 triples, at the same time, in these conditions, on wood ducks.. just doesn't happen. We were stoked, completely stoked. Then we realize.. we're limited. The limit on woodies is 3/person/day, sex doesn't matter. We discussed whether we should just go back to bed.. i mean it's like 6:30am, or just chill and hope some other species flies by. We were both so fired up that we chose to stay, even though we'd never seen any other species back there. At about 8am, a blue wing teal lights in our decoys. Teal are small, super fast ducks. We never even saw the damn thing.. he probably came in at 90mph through the trees. Anyway, it's still super foggy.. my bro says, Nate.. we put out 6 deeks, and there's 7 birds out there. I started counting.. and he's right, one of those is a real duck. We both got ready to shoot and I screamed HEY really loud to spook it up.. she jumped and my bro put her down. We decided to call it, picked up the ducks and deeks and headed back to the house. One of the woodies happened to be banded. Shooting a banded duck is like shooting a 12 pt buck, or a 20lb mutton.. it's a trophy. Once back at the house, my bro calls in the number to see where the duck came from. After getting the location, I checked Google Earth.. we killed this duck 1.1miles as the crow flies, or duck in this case, from where it was released.. 5 months ago. :laughing: Anyway, throughout the course of the season, my bro and I hunted every single morning. We ended up with 8 limits, and not a morning where we came back empty handed. I've got 3 ducks wrapped whole in the freezer.. I plan to try my hand at taxidermy this summer. For years, I've shot big, prestigious ducks on high dollar leases.. and called it duck hunting. However, I have never had more fun in my entire life, than I did shooting only woodies, in thick cover, out of a hand me down boat, with a hand me down motor, with my brother.

This past summer, I put an Eagle 350s on my yak. It's a gps/depth finder combined.. I love it so far. I run it off a 12 volt rechargeable batter that I got from cabelas for $28, including charger.

Went off Hollywood this afternoon from 2 to 5. Just yesterday evening I was hunting ducks in Louisiana, hit the road and made it back here in time to catch a day on the water before classes start.:thumbsup2: The vis was great, guessing around 30 ft on the first reef. I managed 4 bugs and a hogfish. The grouper seem to know it's January.. 2 legals were taunting me.:(

It seems to me that the Pursuit ban on spearboard is 100% personal. The pursuit name isn't edited because of the SB rule 11 advertiser code bullshit, it's edited because of his feelings toward Dan. Imagine if he photoshopped Riffe out of people's posts... Half the uploads on that sight would be altered, and from an SB advertising point of view, pursuit and Riffe are in the same boat. I remember Hank saying the word pursuit in the context of "pursuit of a good time" or something similar, and having his post deleted. While it's pretty funny, it's also extremely sad. I keep waiting for a movie thread to pop up on SB so that I can recommend The Pursuit of Happiness and see how long it lasts.

Nice bug man. Nothing like the satisfaction of winning a battle against one of the big boys. I was in need of a lobster fix while I'm high and dry.. Thank you sir, and congrats!

Nice fish man, 30" is a quality yj. If you're dead set on sashimi just freeze it. I've always used a flashlight to shine through the filet, it makes finding the worms super easy. My dad made a plexiglass topped filet table with a few fluorescent lights mounted under the glass for the soul purpose of finding worms in big AJs.

Idk how these guys get their wetsuits on over their cojones.

x100 on hating the recent weather in south Fl.
A short trip to Publix today made me realize that I strongly dislike people who don't understand that you CAN turn right at a red light.

I don't know much by way of youth size 2pc suits, but there's one thing I do know..
You're going to be the coolest mom on the west coast come Christmas morning.

Don't need to drill, the eyebolt seems to replace the bolt that attaches the handle to the barrel.

That shit really can smell like roses

Jc, thanks a ton for the offer but I'll borrow Lunker's so I can let my bro wear socks.. was trying to increase my chances with the smaller size.:thumbsup2:

Judah, you're the man.. I'd love to borrow both the fins and suit if possible. Could you pm me a time and place that I could pick them up this week?
Thanks so much.. this community is the absolute best.

Hey guys, my brother is coming into town late Thursday night, and we'll be spending a week in the keys. Due to unfortunate events this past summer, I'm currently using my back up blades as my primary pair.. I'm looking to borrow a pair of 42-44/44-46 fins for about a week, if anybody has a spare set. I'm also trying my luck on a 3mm medium suit, open or closed 1pc or 2, not too picky. I'd gladly reciprocate with cash, fish, lobster, beer, pics of an ex girlfriend.. joking, I think. You name it.. any help is greatly appreciated.

Awesome! I love that little guy

Put up the motorcycle avatar and you won't need the intro, you're famous.. or infamous.:thumbsup2:
Welcome Bulit

Who says I haven't been out? :laughing:
Was out yesterday evening until almost dark, south of Haulover. Viz ~15ft in 20ft, tons of particulate. 2 bugs and 15in hog.
Different spot but same general area this morning looking for a quick limit of bugs. Viz pretty much the same in 20 ft, then ~25ft in 35+. I had a super strange run in with a boater. This dude pulls up to me in a ~12ft boat and starts telling me he's going to "save me." I was like dude, my kayak is longer than your boat.. I'm out here on purpose. He finally got the point and left. I managed a limit of 6 bugs.. they haven't been shallow these past few weeks, I was in 37ft before I finally found a reef that was holding. Also 1 medium mac, which is in the oven as I type.

Yesterday was the first day I wore my new 3mm Pursuit. I absolutely love it, huge improvement over the shit I was wearing last season. Thanks Dan:thumbsup2:

Bulit, is this the same fish?
Fun and Fear - A Bad Ass Does it Again! Guess Weight & Win Gun! - Spearboard Spearfishing Community
Same shot placement, same water conditions.. If so, it's ironic that he turns a poached fish into a contest.:rolleyes1:

Cool video man. :thumbsup2: The end was a cliffhanger, what was in the hole, grouper?

Marco, the wishbone was made by Salvimar, but it's almost identical to the Beuchat. Dan put me on some abrasive cordage to file down the tabs on an H Dessault shaft so it wouldn't cut my spectra.. it made the edges nice and smooth.:thumbsup2: