We arrived at the Marjorie Rawlings ramp at 0245 hours and we launched the Go-Devil and cleared the canal. Running the narrow canal out was not a problem and I suspect that a small outboard could do the canal too.
The first spot didn’t have any good frogs so we headed south to the next spot. This spot had a few frogs but not like I would have expected this time of year. At bat was John who was enjoying his first frog gigging trip. His first frog was a nice one but he missed. He got a second chance at it (doesn’t happen very often) and he connected. He was all smiles.
Bob & John on the hunt
John with his first frog
Another for the bucket
We motored around a bit not seeing any quality frogs (lots of gators though) gigging one every now & then. Next was Bob and he took a few too. About 0430 hours we decided to run to our DUK spot. Once there we hung out and about 20 minutes later spotlights started getting closer. As two boats approached I could hear the familiar voice of a friend so we hailed them over. Kinda funny to running into friends in the dark in the middle of a big lake.
The boys
About 0515 hours we motored over and put out the dekes. Another boat setup not too far from us and we motored over to tell them we were concerned they might be too close. They stated they thought we were gator hunting but they were nice enough to pick up their dekes and move further off. Dawn arrived without the sound of any one shooting, nor us. Very few woodies were seen, a group of five skirted us but not close enough to take. In all we saw very few but we did enjoy a beautiful morning in the marsh. Prior to picking up the dekes I showed John how to clean frogs and he cleaned the others.
Pulling the pants down….
Mosquitoes weren’t really bad except for about an hour before daylight after which they weren’t a bother. The number of frogs was a bit disconcerting as we should have at least seen a jabillion small frogs. The only thing that comes to mind is all those gators. In all we had a great time and I’m looking forward to doing it all over again.
Hope you guys are getting some good DUK up there.
Hoo Yah!!
Brian
