I couldn’t let the last day of the first split of the south zone get past me. I had spent thanksgiving in New Mexico in quail country. Got home Saturday. Hooked up to the little duck boat and loaded what I would need for a quickie cast and blast trip to the coast. The little boat is small. It is a semi-v with an electric start 20. It runs pretty shallow and is pretty fast for what it is. Before any of you say it: the little boat is a 1976. I have it rigged for just what I do and I already know it is a beater.

With just me and a dog and a couple bags of decoys it will do 32mph on the gps. I built a pop up blind that takes about 2 minutes to deploy. For the way way I usually hunt, it is about perfect. In the driveway with the blind deployed. In the marsh it disappears.

Yesterday morning I got up early and filled my thermos and hit the road. Cricket is my old Pudelpointer. At 8 years old he is getting pretty gray but is still an asset in the marsh. The old boy is a pleasure to hunt with.
Sunday morning was a falling tide and I had ran way up in the marsh in skinny water. My plan was to pick up no later than 9am while I still had enough water close by to get on plane. A couple minutes after legal the old dog started quivering. I had a flight of about a dozen birds come whistling in silent over my shoulder. It was just getting light but I saw the blue shoulder patches as they lined up annd wheeled into the wind and cupped up right into the slot. I was thinking blue wing teal and peeled the back bird out. The rest flared straight up. I was fortunate enough to shoot two more. I was feeling pretty good about myself and sent Cricket. It was nice work on his part. He had marked all three and executed the triple without a hitch. Much to my dismay, all three spoonies. Three flights of decoying teal followed.


First green wings, followed by blue wings and I was limited just as the sun was coming up. I picked up and ran out of the skinny water without any issue. Then I motored into a flat with scattered grass and shell where I dropped the trolling motor and picked off a limit of trout and a slot red on lead heads with soft plastics.

An enjoyable morning in the marsh with my old dog!

Very nice!! Congratulations!!

Big Hutch

Awesome!

This is great!

Fantastic! Good Eating surf and air!

Great read and enjoyed the pics too! Thanks for sharing.

Congrats! Great trip!

So awesome!

Thanks y’all. I’ve had the little boat since the early ‘80’s. Replaced the wood in the transom 4 times. Been through multiple dogs and the new 20 Hp 4 stroke is the third motor. At age 64, electric start was a nice upgrade. I can kick off the trailer without a boat ramp. Good electronics and a good light bar. I like the way it hunts enough that I keep it going.

Excellent post and nice work. I like that boat.

That’s a great day !

Man, if someone described the perfect day... This is it!!! Nothing better than a limit with just you and your dog, then turning around and smacking a limit of fish!!

Awesome