Been pretty busy at work so haven't had time to post a trip report. Two weeks ago had the chance to sneak down to the coast with my son and do a father / son trip on the skiff. My passion is sight casting w the fly rod, but suffice it to say that teenage boys lose patience with that hobby pretty quick. He's trying to learn how the throw the fly but the boy of a poling skiff is not really the place to build confidence if you're totally green.
We snuck down to the middle coast Easter Sunday evening and were on the water Monday morning, had the whole place to ourselves. Saw one boat the whole day, it was fantastic. Just did a kids trip, grabbed some live shrimp, posted up at a couple bait spot, threw the popping corks, sat back and watched my son play with the shrimp while we caught a decent number of specks and a couple of small slot reds.
We hit a few spots and since we had been successful I decided to take it up a notch. Set him up on his spin rod with a troutstalker artificial, rigged weedless and poled a short flat that I know well. I had him make shots to spots I knew held fish, oyster bed here, little gut next to a shallow there. Got him his first "sight cast" redfish, he was so proud. I was a lot prouder from the poling platform.
We cleaned a few fish for dinner that night, then cleaned the boat and headed home for the week. That Friday I took a half day off and snuck out to our place in Coleman County where I met up with my dad, uncle and best friend for a guys weekend and turkey hunt. My buddy told me he previously hunt turkeys in Kentucky on private land for years. He said he went turkey hunting a dozen times and never killed a bird. We are fortunate to have some birds back this year so I was pretty sure we could get it done. We set up a ground blind in a high traffic spot and hunted mornings and afternoons.
While I was excited he got his first bird, the best part was hanging out in the evenings with my buddy and dad and uncle. The night after the turkey shoot we cut one breast up into tenders and did chicken fry turkey strips and homemade cream gravy over rice. The next night I cooked them a reverse sear ti-tip. Those dinners are so fun, because you get the old guys going and get to hear some old and new stories. I think next year we're going try to bag a turkey with the bow, so my buddy's going to do a lot of practice with the decapitator arrows before next year. It was sure a great week at work, with a fishing trip and turkey hunt to book end the work week.
We snuck down to the middle coast Easter Sunday evening and were on the water Monday morning, had the whole place to ourselves. Saw one boat the whole day, it was fantastic. Just did a kids trip, grabbed some live shrimp, posted up at a couple bait spot, threw the popping corks, sat back and watched my son play with the shrimp while we caught a decent number of specks and a couple of small slot reds.
We hit a few spots and since we had been successful I decided to take it up a notch. Set him up on his spin rod with a troutstalker artificial, rigged weedless and poled a short flat that I know well. I had him make shots to spots I knew held fish, oyster bed here, little gut next to a shallow there. Got him his first "sight cast" redfish, he was so proud. I was a lot prouder from the poling platform.
We cleaned a few fish for dinner that night, then cleaned the boat and headed home for the week. That Friday I took a half day off and snuck out to our place in Coleman County where I met up with my dad, uncle and best friend for a guys weekend and turkey hunt. My buddy told me he previously hunt turkeys in Kentucky on private land for years. He said he went turkey hunting a dozen times and never killed a bird. We are fortunate to have some birds back this year so I was pretty sure we could get it done. We set up a ground blind in a high traffic spot and hunted mornings and afternoons.
While I was excited he got his first bird, the best part was hanging out in the evenings with my buddy and dad and uncle. The night after the turkey shoot we cut one breast up into tenders and did chicken fry turkey strips and homemade cream gravy over rice. The next night I cooked them a reverse sear ti-tip. Those dinners are so fun, because you get the old guys going and get to hear some old and new stories. I think next year we're going try to bag a turkey with the bow, so my buddy's going to do a lot of practice with the decapitator arrows before next year. It was sure a great week at work, with a fishing trip and turkey hunt to book end the work week.