Welcome to Outdoor Savages! We are a small group of friends that enjoys nothing more than to spend our free time in the outdoors. Here are the first hand accounts of our adventures. Enjoy!

Sunday, June 1, 2014

Exotic Species Day

       Today was one of those days when you see things you didn't expect to see.  The morning started off easy enough with 2 schoolie bass coming in on the fly rod, but it took a turn in the unexpected direction rather fast.  I was cursing along a really nice section of rocky shoreline.  I thought fishing it would be better than blowing right by it, so I rigged up a Rebel swimming plug.  I trolled it behind the boat about 100 ft staying in 8-10 FOW.  In front of my I noticed something in the water.  It looked like a turtle getting some air.  Guess what?  It was a turtle.  I was able to get a look at it as it swam away from the boat and it was a rather large Diamond Back Terrapin.  I have seen these in the western part of the sound but not this early.
      Also, I came into the fortune of a new clam fork.  The fork is a Razor Back fork.  It is very heavy and would be great for digging a trench to mine steamer clams or digging in beds which have a lot of rock.  As I was digging several 3 inch lobsters were struggling in the mud.  On closer inspection they were not lobster, but little Mantis Shrimp.  I have seen these in the stomachs of filleted bass but not in person.  They were all about 3 inches long.

     On the return trip, I stayed on the troll.  The water was very clear and I could easily see the rocky bottom in 12 FOW.  As I was trucking along I saw a fish on the bottom.  It was a really nice Blackfish!  Probably one of the bigger Blackfish I have seen in the last 5 years.   It was good to know some have survived fisheries mismanagement.
   I ended the day loving my new clam fork.  I saw some cool stuff and now have a ton of work a head of me to make some stuffed clams.
Clam Video

2 comments:

  1. I'd rather try those shrimp with the clams instead of bluefish. that schoolie is about the average size of my recent catches too, some smaller, and a few over 20" yet to break 30" this year. you?

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  2. It seems all the bigger fish are running up the middle of the sound on their way east. But we are getting into june so anything is possible now

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