Great South Bay Broadbill Hunt

Very nice rendition of the hunt! How did the term trawl come to represent a motherline? Any etiology...?

It looks like you are shooting upwind across the decoys?
 
Great stuff Steve! I had relatives out of Babylon that used to live out near Captree and Oak Island back in the early 1900's. Before the bridge. That pic near my name is one of them and his scooter! Too crowded for me nowadays.....
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Steve,

Thanks for sharing and educating us all on the way it is and was done in your neck of the woods. I can't wait to see the final results of your project!
 
I see Red is as crabby as ever. lol
I still have a scooter rig, but as was said, too much work for too few birds, plus, everybody I know, who knows how, is too darn old to be able to sit up to shoot!
Easier to gun out of a boat blind or floater.
Now that I remember, scooter gunning was a pretty miserable experience most days, LOL . Glad you enjoyed yourselves.
 
That looks like a great time. I pray for a resurgence in scaup populations so that we can return to the glory days of full bluebill limits.

I saw a massive operation last Saturday while crossing the bay bridge. Two tenders, two layouts, lots of decoys. I was very envious, despite have just spend six long days hunting.
 
Steve,
Very cool photo essay. Love it.
Always wondered what Red's boat set up looked like. His broadbill rig are E. Allen Giant Bluebills (Pattern by Keith Mueller). Red has been a friend, customer and pro-staff with us for close to 20 years now.
Tell him I said hi.
Take care,
Lou
 
Good morning, Al~

Glad you enjoyed the post. It was a fine week all around.

I like to think we Atlantic Tidewater guys started shooting ducks, geese brant and swan just as soon as we arrived. I cannot put my hands on my source, but I believe New York passed its fitrst game law in the mid-1600s - to protect waterfowl. And, I have read that it was duck hunters hiding in the cattails who first detected the initial Indian raid of King Phillips War ~ 1675 in Massachusetts.

And, I certainly prefer to believe that my earliest New World ancestors brought their Winchester Model 12s over from Liverpool in the late 1600s....

All the best,

SJS
 
Phil~

That fair maiden of a figurehead was carved by George Ribgy, Jr - of Islip Terrace. He and I went to school together. He is on our "When the Broadbill Was King on Great South Bay" team.

All the best,

SJS
 
Phil~

Regarding the compartments in the stool boat: Red does not use it off-season - but I could envision removable partitions that would free up the vessel during the warmer months.

SJS
 
Brad~

This was my maiden voyage on Red's rig - so I do not know it inside-and-out. Although I have always used a painter-snapped-to-a-float on my bow anchor, it is most useful when I am gunning my Scooter without help from a tender. Since Red and Steve haul their Scooter on deck and then just tow it a short ways, I see no real need of or benefit from a float. Many Scooters have rings below and behind the bow if they will be towed - because many Scooters will nose under if towed from the bow at any appreciable speed.

Regarding shadows: I have gathered that Great Lakes layout boats go to lengths to avoid shadows. I think most of us on Great South Bay do not worry too much. This hunt was somewhat atypical in that we have almost no wind. We usually want some wind - in the 10 to 20 knot range - and so there is almost always a chop on the bay - with its own billions of shadows. Our open bay "Whaleback Scooters" have chines right down at the waterline - but we have also killed plenty of birds out of sharpies that are wall-sided with high coamings (like the Horal Scooter I restored earlier this year: http://www.duckboats.net/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=248084;search_string=horal;#248084 ).

I do not believe Red uses any ballast at the tail of his Scooter.

All the best,

SJS
 
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