Gone Fishin' ----I'm Back!

Don't forget the wasabe, soy sauce and rice.
Have fun Rusty.

That Postman's a right Bas*ard Rusty, my postcard still hasn't arrived from last time

Have a great break

Yummy!

Kind of hard to hook because they swim in circles.

Haha! Yeah fast circles.

Wasabe, soy sauce and rice, Bob? Thanks but I think I'll opt for hot oil, corn meal, lemon juice and hushpuppies.

microflitedude wrote:Have fun! Myrtle Beach?

No, man, Pawleys Island, 30 miles south on Highway 17, near Murrels Inlet. But, yeah, the same Grand Strand. 'Course some people call all of that Myrtle Beach. Myrtle is like going to a freakin' carnival, foot long hotdogs, concrete, and roller coasters. Pawleys is more like sand dunes, salt marsh, flounder, blue crabs and surf fishing. No motels/hotels. I'll bring back plenty of pictures.

RknRusty wrote:Haha! Yeah fast circles.

Wasabe, soy sauce and rice, Bob? Thanks but I think I'll opt for hot oil, corn meal, lemon juice and hushpuppies.

You're killin me Rusty, hushpuppies too!

Where's the mouth watering emodicon?
Haven't had a hushpuppy in years. None up here.

dckrsn wrote:

RknRusty wrote:Haha! Yeah fast circles.

Wasabe, soy sauce and rice, Bob? Thanks but I think I'll opt for hot oil, corn meal, lemon juice and hushpuppies.

You're killin me Rusty, hushpuppies too!

Where's the mouth watering emodicon?
Haven't had a hushpuppy in years. None up here.

Hushpuppies and honey butter. We do eat red clam chowder down here. Similar to Manhattan but we call it Low Country Chowder with finer chopped potatoes, onions, etc. Peppery hot.

Hopefully by Thursday we'll catch enough fish and crabs to have a fish fry.

watch out for Jaws, i heard that he shows no mercy lol

I'm heading to the beach in the morning for some fishing and crabbing. We usually catch enough blue crabs in the creek behind the island to eat crab every day. Hopefully, and we usually do, will have enough fish to do a fish fry Thursday night.

My beach buddy usually brings his laptop, so I might check in a couple of times if we have WiFi in the house. Hope y'all have fun without me. See ya later.
Rusty

I would kill to be in your shoes right now. I love me some blue crab and fresh fish!!!

Enjoy yourself Rusty!!!

Ron

I love the crab and fish also. I can't wait fort good salmon fishing to start. I have to get the tabs on the boat tis weekend, and ge things ready.

What I did on my vacation
Rocking on the porch, fishing, sleeping, fishing, rocking, fishing, cooking fish, sleeping, rocking, fishing... did I leave anything out??? Nope, we weren't near a good sandbar in the marsh for crabbing, and were so close to the ocean, I really didn't care this year. We rented a house that we shared with our long time friends, who live at Surfside beach about 10 miles up the coast closer to Myrtle Beach. But no serious old salt wants to be near Myrtle, so they always come down and vacation with us at Pawleys Island every summer. Very relaxing. We're all on the same page about chilling out and soaking up the R&R we deserve once a year. Come and go as we please, not concerned with what each other wants to do at any given time, whether rocking or sitting on the beach drinking a beer, shell collecting, or whatever. Never left the island, other than for my dialysis M,W, and F. That sorta sucks, but much better than being dead.

Finally managed a week at the beach without a Nor'easter blowing. East is least, West is best. Those East winds really put the fish off. Had a moderate Southwesterly wind every day. This is the first time I've fished this particular stretch of Pawleys Island, just south of the pier, and it turned out to be pretty nice. Not many people on the beach, but enough to fulfill my need for eye-candy while I patiently drown my bait.

Here's Pawleys:




A smallThunderhead over the mainland


There was a tide pool that never quite emptied between the beach and the surf. We tromped through it to cast out past the breakers. Fishing with fresh shrimp and hoping to catch some nice sized black drum or Spottail Bass(now popularly known as Red Drum), we weren't getting any action. Gary decided to get his cast net and throw it in the tide pool for some baitfish, and he stepped on a flounder. Scared the crap out of him, but we suddenly realized maybe we should be plunking in there instead of casting deep. We started catching whiting and spot. Nothing big and no fight, but absolutely wonderful pan fish. It was fairly convenient since every day, no matter what the tide was, we could hit the hole. At high tide, the bigger whiting were plentiful and I never went out to fish without catching at least two or three of either fish. Gary caught a stingray, and I told him that must be the flounder he stepped on.  He was not amused. But Friday, our last day fishing, he actually did catch a flounder. It was too small to keep though. They have to be 14" minimum, as do Drum spottails and other sportfish.

Here's Gary throwing the cast net:


Here's a horseshoe crab he caught in the net:




And his stingray he was scared to touch, so I unhooked it for him:


My son and his girlfriend were on vacation this week too, and they came Wednesday and spent the rest of the week with us. By Thursday we had enough fish in the freezer to have a fish fry, so I fried them up with some hushpuppies and we feasted. Man, I love a fish fry. They are sooo good. We all topped it off with shots of tequila for desert and slept good that night. We fished again Friday and Gary caught the three biggest whiting of the week. He sent them home with me, so they are in the freezer here now. He and his wife had another house rented for their family, this week, about a thousand yards down the beach, and they're still there. Lucky suckers.

But when it was over, we were rested and relaxed, completely vacated. It was wonderful. I want to go back.

My instrument of fish destruction. A Daiwa 4000C saltwater reel, bought in 1979 and never missed a summer. All you have to do is blast it hard and long with fresh water and take off the spool to dry. Oil it every year or so and it'll never fail you. The guys at the fishing outfitter are always amazed when I bring it in to respool it. It's on a 9' medium action Ugly Stik that I bought in 1980, which gets the same treatment. Best damn setup I ever fished with.




And there you have it. No planes, but I was dreaming about vertical 8s when I had to set a hook once.

Cool Rusty !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Good stuff Rusty!

Best flounder fishing I ever experienced was in Panama city using cut squid. really...cut squid. I would cast it just over the drop off of the shore and drag it along the bottom. I kept nailing them all afternoon. Flounder is super tasty! Glad you had some time to relax. Now go fly!

Very nice Rusty. Very happy for you.

looks fun

WingingIt74 wrote:looks fun

It was.
I think if the weather forecast is good, we're going down there for the weekend this Friday. And I took the three whiting out of the freezer to thaw in the fridge to fry for supper tomorrow night.

We're going to the beach again, Pawleys Island, SC, same place we went in June. Looks like we're in for a week of nice mild temps in the mid 80s. The winds are forecast to be light, but unfortunately out of the North East, not the best fishing wind. Surf fishing is usually good at this time of the year though, so maybe the fishies don't know which way the wind blows.

See y'all when I get back. I'll check in since I have a smart phone now, but will only make short posts as I'm terrible at text editing on the phone. It's kind of like looking at the Web through a keyhole. And when I get back, my first priority is to figure out how to slow that dang Shoestring down so I can do some better flying.

So, I hope y'all have some big fun without me. See ya later,
Rusty

That's really great Rusty. I hope you have a great time and catch lots of fish. We are going salmon fishing tomorrow.

Color me green.... Good times and good fishing!

Catch ya later

Blue crabs are no way as tasty as Dungeness crabs from here in the Pacific Northwest!

Even hardcore Alaskan's prefer "Dungies" to even King crab which are cherished due to "The Deadliest Catch" on TV.

"Gotta have us some of them expensive King crabs them fellers ketch, Maude."    

SD

I'm bumming. My last night at the beach. Gotta come home tomorrow. Been reading y'all all week, but only short replies with my teeny keyboard. I'm getting the hang of it though.

RknRusty wrote:I'm bumming. My last night at the beach. Gotta come home tomorrow. Been reading y'all all week, but only short replies with my teeny keyboard. I'm getting the hang of it though.

"DRIZZLE, DRAZZLE, DROZZLE, DRONE. TIME FOR THIS ONE TO COME HOME"---Mr Wizzard

Bob