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AUTUMNAL EQUINOX 2008
Goode Daye from Strat Donnell, Jr. (Cap’n Troll)!
Knowing that the risk of hurricane landings and steady hot-greasy - Gulf Coast air envelopes are almost history for ’08, and that all wild critters will soon be hustling to prep for winter’s chill, I get real excited thinking about fishing and hunting expeditions to come!
National Hunting and Fishing Day reminds us to share our love for the outdoors with youngsters, family, and friends, and this year I am going to plan to re-connect with some older buddies who just do not seem to get out and about as in times past. We all have trappings of sorts that keep us from doing the things we love to do, yet I sense that it may be more difficult to create the effort if your partners of the past are elsewhere.
My Pilot travels let me see and visit with many ages and types of folks that love the coast, and I have been reminded that once bitten by the love of the sea, age and infirmities cannot quell the fires of water memories. Nor’easters will bring the savage bite of the blues near the suds, off-shore winds let you mark patrolling schools of red fish, slick marshes enable the hoppings of jumping mullet to turn you around, Pelicans sitting and diving mark Spots as they gather about the inlets, and the sprays of finger mullet quicken the casts or reels and nets. We all have our favorites, and as you pound the troughs seeking fat kings closer in shore or watch the diving gulls from a sea oats hide, let the memories urge you to share.
Also, be sure to properly measure and ice down your fresh catches as quickly as possible. I have been specifically reminded of relatively new measuring rules for soft fin fish such as red fish and trout. Fish with soft fins must be measured lying flat, with longest part of the jaw as the beginning. The tail must be “compressed” or pinched at top and bottom to create the longest axis in a straight line from the jaw. This measurement becomes very critical for fish that must fall within a certain range or “slot,” as more than one inch of length is gained using this formula.
As the days shorten and the fingers begin to burn from the outside, let’s all remember to stow our boats, equipment, and gear freshly tuned and oiled, but not out of easy access. A long time super outboard mechanic friend of mind last week reminded: “Don’t put her up and leave her ‘till spring, ‘cause she’s made to be used as often as possible, and that means at least once a month”! Oh so true, and his reminder gives me a bona fide legitimate NEED to get on the water more!
As I write this it’s hard to project a hot fire with the sounds of cedar and oysters popping, but I am assured by shorter days that it will indeed happen. I cannot help but smile at the doctor who said if your gastronomic makeup allowed it, you can eat our delectable bi-valves in any month. I think I’ll go make sure my traveling oyster knife is in the bottom of my possibles bag right now…
For Fellowship and Adventure,
Strat Donnell, Jr.
“Cap’n Troll”
Associate Publisher,
Cape Fear Coast Pilot
PS: Adventures or bees in the bonnet are welcomed here, ‘cause without the story it did not happen…
910-612-3050
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Spotted seatrout are also called speckled trout or by the abbreviated nickname, “specks.” But, whatever you call these beautifully freckled fish, the fishing for trout in colder months is nothing less than spectacular.
Quarry workers, truckers, welders, barge operators, tug boat captains and heavy machine operators--these aren’t the kinds of jobs that usually come to mind when thinking about environmental projects. But they make up the backbone of an oyster-habitat restoration project that began this week in coastal North Carolina. 
