Got Scaup?

Carl

Carl

Well-known member
Staff member
On the way home today there were two rafts of scaup on Hillborough Bay, each one about quarter mile long. Easily 2000+ birds. Might have to put the blind on the boat.
 
I just hope those aren't all the scaup down here!
Hillborough Bay is basically downtowm Tampa, while I could probably hunt there, there are other areas that are a lot less developed that I will check out.
Not sure if I will get out this weekend but maybe next.
 
Hi Carl, I have picked up in your last few posts that you are now in the Tampa area. Is this a permanent move from Mobile?
 
Dwight,

Yes, we moved down in May 2019 after I retired from the State and starting working for a large environmental/engineering services company.
Other than being more crowded and the lack of duck hunting areas (I had it reallllyyyyy good in Mobile) we love the area.
Great fishing, great beaches, fantastic schools, food scene is fantasitc (pre-Covid anyway).
 
John,

I'll ask around but I'm about two hours from Apalachicola Bay so I don't make it there very often. I will say this weekend SUCKED for ducks all over up here. I went out Saturday and was miserable...choppy water due to wind from the south, not usually a bad thing except in my canoe I tend to get sea sick in choppy water...Saturday was no different. I saw one bufflehead hen. What was really weird was that was THE ONLY bird I saw flying...no pelicans or seagulls even. Add to that the apparent air boat wars and a peaceful day out on the Gulf was not had. I gave it an hour, the nausea never abated even though I was on dry land, the airboats never went away so it was like a freaking airport and I only saw the one hen bufflehead. Talking with a friend, he said that based on reports from multiple other friends, all the divers seemed to have disappeared. One very heavily hunted area had about 20 rigs out there and maybe 12 shots were fired all day. I heard essentially the same thing about the freshwater lakes around here. Mediocre hunting would have been stellar hunting this weekend.

I will ask around about Apalachicola Bay for you though.

Dani
 
Thanks Dani, same here with air boats, I didn't hunt Lake O. Wednesday and Thursday there were plenty of ducks, Friday was a zoo and they ran every duck out of the lake. I hunted a private ranch, I won't tease you, you know the story.
 
siiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiigh yeah yeah yeah I know the story.....we'll have to trade hunts someday....

Are you coming up here with your own boat? How long will you be up this way?
 
It will be me and another guy, we will have a boat, just waiting on a duck report, an the stars to align. Your welcome to join in if you want. My Georgia friends normally call me when it's good. Probably be there 2 or 3 days. Hopefully the redfish will be biting to.
 
John Van Houten said:
It will be me and another guy, we will have a boat, just waiting on a duck report, an the stars to align. Your welcome to join in if you want. My Georgia friends normally call me when it's good. Probably be there 2 or 3 days. Hopefully the redfish will be biting to.
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I don't know that I could stand duck hunting in southern warmth with alligators stealing my birds, but redfish in shirt sleeves sounds pretty good as I look at forecast temps in single digits the next few nights.
 
Jeff Reardon said:
I don't know that I could stand duck hunting in southern warmth with alligators stealing my birds, but redfish in shirt sleeves sounds pretty good as I look at forecast temps in single digits the next few nights.
Click to expand...

Well, sharks will take your redfish too.....
 
We've got sharks eating swimmers up here. I'm used to that. Fish don't scare me. Reptiles scare me!

https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2020/07/29/swimmer-killed-by-great-white-maines-first-recorded-fatal-shark-attack/
 
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