Wednesday, December 08, 2010

Mullet Fishin' By Airboat


While I was photographing the pair of preening scaup, an airboat appeared across the marsh.
Airboats are loud when powered up, but this one was idling as the two men on board tried to catch mullet.
They were pretty far away from where I stood and the ducks preened. Far enough, that the ducks paid more attention to me than to the noisy machine several hundredyards away.

Below is a short video clip showing the airboat teamwork involved in the pursuit of mullet.


10 comments:

The Florida Blogger said...

Looks like they're doing their best gill net impersonation with a braille net. The mullet have run down around Bokeelia.

Anonymous said...

A net? Why didn't I think of that? Spent 10 hours trying to get one via hook, line, and minnow bait!

threecollie said...

That is just incredibly cool! So neat to see someone use a cast net, as I know you and Hurricane...not a teen anymore...do.

Miz S said...

Helluva nice zoom on that little camera of yours.

R.Powers said...

FLblogger,
I watched these guys for a while and didn't sense great success from their net shucking reactions.


Troll,
Cast net. Best survival tool ever made.
I assume you were not mullet fishing with a minnow bait.
Good to see you out and about again!


3Collie,
Sure do and love tossing it. If only I could do it from my kayak.
Canoe, yes, kayak, not so good.


Miz S,
It really is, isn't it? 5 years old and still a really competitive little device.

roger said...

impressive zoom. not so impressive netting.there is something about casting a net from an airboat that seems wrong. not that i know much about cast nets.

R.Powers said...

roger,
it is a zoomy zoom for sure.
actually, a castnet is pretty selective. you target your prey, toss a net that only covers a tiny portion of water ... a 7 foot net will open to a diameter of 14 feet if you toss it pretty.
then you quickly keep the ones you want and release everybody else.
it's soooo much better for fish populations than the old gill net methods which have been banned by law.
i don't like airboats only because the nation that sent men to the moon can't figure out how to make them quieter. they are a horrendous intrusion for that reason only. otherwise, they are pretty cool for skinny water travelling.

Sandcastle Momma said...

There is definitely an art to casting a net.

I've been torn about eating mullet from around here lately. We didn't have tons of tar come in but we did have some and frankly I'm worried about the dispersant they used.

Being bottom feeders I've been a little leary of eating mullet from around here. But I sure do miss it!

Thunder said...

Interesting technique!
It's back up into the 40's today, so I'm gonna fire mine up and ride for a little while.

Humaun Kabir said...

What a great post. I’m really like it!

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