When duck hunting destinations come to mind, the Tampa Bay is very rarely talked about amongst avid wing shooters. Although it is not on the map of top duck hunting havens such as Arkansas, Louisiana and Missouri, the Tampa Bay has a very diverse and healthy waterfowl population. I have been back in the Tampa Bay area for a week after spending a couple of months in the low country of South Carolina chasing Redfish and shooting wood ducks in the mornings and have been itching to get back in my home waters for a little waterfowl action. Finding someone to get up at 4am to duck hunt on a weekday can be tough when most of your friends have kids and work 9-5 jobs, but thanks to social media and eastcapeboats.com, Jp Fatseas and I were able to link up a day before today’s hunt. We started the morning off at the boat ramp with a brief introduction while loading the guns and decoys into my not-so-camouflage East Cape Fury fly fishing skiff. I am used to shooting ducks from skiffs, you just have to conceal the boats a little more, luckily this boat is compact and can easily be tucked away into the mangroves which is exactly what we did before setting out two long lines of decoys. Shooting light was at 6:51 am this morning, but we heard birds flying and the Mallards were being very mouthy. Unfortunately the mallards did not fly over us and we did not see them until our boat was loaded and we were heading out, but JP did connect with a gorgeous Blue Bill that came into the decoys with three other ducks. I did miss my duck in that group but was able to knock down a Drake Blue Bill that was curious enough to check out the decoys and totally ignored the bright white and lime green boat sitting right around the corner. This was a two duck day for us as you can take home one Blue Bill per person, but at this time in my life I am ok with only bringing home a couple of ducks. I look at duck hunting in the same way I look at an oyster roast, its more of a social event. Whilst this was our first time hanging out, we know a lot of the same people, grew up in the same area and share a lot of the similar interests. We spoke about the motorsports scene we are both involved in, talked about our East Cape Skiffs, old school hip hop, fishing in the Tampa Bay and told each other how we really feel about Hells Bay owners. Today was about making new friends rather than shooting ducks, but we did both! Thanks for bringing the decoys and Christmas cakes JP!
