# Johnson Beach Yankees Invade 10/14



## stinkeye (Mar 15, 2010)

My Gramps lives in Lillian and I get down to visit him a few times a year (I'm from Wisconsin), it works out good as over the years I've accumulated an inventory of surf equipment and leave at his house for my visits. Just so happened that I needed to visit a customer up in Birmingham so I shot down for a few days this past weekend with a buddy / employee who likes to fish but never fished the surf. Got to Johnson beach late friday afternoon with a few hours to fish before they close the park for the night.
Scored the first Pomp in about fifteen minutes of fishing, then another about half hour later. Noticed a blue crab flitting about so i nabbed him with my sand flea rake, then another and another! Ended up with about ten of them in a few hours, two pomps, a remora and one pup flounder for a few hours of fishing.
We have all day Saturday to fish so we show up in the morning for round two but have added a crab net to the inventory, we put two more pomps in the cooler and really start cleaning up on the blue crabs, I would say all toll we got a total of three dozen, man those babies are some good eating! Along the way I have a spinning rod set up with a Connor jig and at some point my buddy spots a big fish between the beach and the first bar so he runs down to cast at it and sure enough it eats, and I'm watching him fight this big fish from down the beach, so I start heading down his way with the camera as he restling the beast out of the water but I can't figure out what the heck he's got going on there. I look and hes holding the rod in one hand and pulling on some other line with with a brite blue handle attached to it? As i get closer, I see hes got this big black drum (probably 30"+) on the sand which has a shark rig in it's mouth as well! Damdest thing i ever saw, I took lots of pictures both days, unfortunately my camera has gone awol, i know I packed it in my suitcase for our return home but I think the airlines must have pilfered it, I put it in an outside pocket on the suitcase and couldn't find it this morning when I unpacked, oh well. Here is a picture of the shark rig anyways, if it's yours I can return it. I'm curious to hear how it came to end up in a black drum, as it must have been about 100# power pro line on it so I don't think he could have broke that off. 
Only fished friday afternoon and Saturday morning, couldn't muster up the courage to go back out Saturday evening after eating all the pomps and crabs, we are a couple of white skins after all!
Total for the trip, four pomps (all legal size), two remoras, one whiting, one black drum, two blue fish (off the connor jig also) and half a five gallon bucket of yummy blue crabs (all males or non egg bearing, lots off females with eggs had to go back) and one nice shark rig! 
OH! and this little critter I snagged out of gramps yard Saturday night!


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## stinkeye (Mar 15, 2010)

Forgot to mention, we let the Black Drum go, we figured he had had enough of a go with the shark rig for "who knows how long" so it was his lucky day! Good luck, fresh peeled live shrimp worked best, fresh frozen peeled also worked with double drop pomp rigs with floats added seemed to be the ticket.


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## welldoya (Oct 5, 2007)

Sounds like a good time.
Just a word to the wise - never, ever put any valuables in your checked baggage. It's more likely to be stolen than not.


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## keperry1182 (Oct 6, 2010)

Hey, ummm 50% of those armadillos carry leprosy around here http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/73643/title/Armadillos_may_spread_leprosy

I had no idea till I was telling a guy I caught one at work and he told me about it, now they give me the heebie-jeebies.


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## pompanostradamus (Oct 17, 2007)

Great post, glad somebody is catching the pomps. What makes it so awesome is that I visited my dad in Lillian on Sunday and he was tired from sitting up all night trying to shoot the armadillo that is digging up his flower beds! He lives on County Rd 99 and West Carrier. I hope you bagged his critter!


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## SHO-NUFF (May 30, 2011)

Glad to see ya'll Yankee boys come down and do good!

I spent some time up there North of Green Bay. Excellent hunting and fishing, but I think it is only about 20 more miles to the North Pole! Too Damn Cold!!!! 

I do miss them Cheese Head Gals, they sure know how to party!!


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## devinsdad (Mar 31, 2010)

I went shark fishing Friday night at Chickenbone Gulfside and lost 2 shark rigs that look identical to that one. Not certain if that is one of mine but it does make me curious.

The strange thing is I don't know how I lost them because it wasn't due to getting bitten off. I think maybe it was a bad knot or a fray in the line. As I was checking my bait, (Twice) the leader came unattached. Weird and has never happened before.


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## stinkeye (Mar 15, 2010)

Do you use red power pro line? there was probalby about 30 yards of it still attached to the leader.


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## stinkeye (Mar 15, 2010)

Oh yah, found my camera, my apologies to the airlines, turns out I stuck it in my overnight case. Here are some pics!

http://i975.photobucket.com/albums/ae236/mike_serwa/alabamaoctobertrip017.jpg" 

http://i975.photobucket.com/albums/ae236/mike_serwa/alabamaoctobertrip025.jpg" 

http://i975.photobucket.com/albums/ae236/mike_serwa/alabamaoctobertrip032.jpg"


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## devinsdad (Mar 31, 2010)

I didnt notice the red mono. Nope, not mine. That would have been funny if it were. Would then be easy to determine a travel path that little booger took over the weekend!


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## stinkeye (Mar 15, 2010)

Devinsdad_
Well it was a braided line, looked like Power Pro (identical to what we use up here in Wisconsin on our Musky poles), the thing must have just been lost with in the last few days as it was in "like new" condition. Do you know any of the guys who fish down by Johnson beach? I would think that it must have been a "regular" as you need to have a special pass to get into the state park after hours. We were down at the end of the road where it turns around.


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## devinsdad (Mar 31, 2010)

I don't know anyone who fishes down there. We have a group of PFF Members that regularly go together but we normally stay on Pensacola Beach. Because the past weekend was so ideal for fishing for just about any species, I would bet there were alot of anglers out.

If you don't shark fish and have a use for the leader, or someone doesn't claim it, I would happily pay postage to drop it in the mail to my Pensacola address!!!! ;o) I would already say it is a lucky leader!


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## stinkeye (Mar 15, 2010)

Devinsdad-
I'll trade you the shark rig for a chance to tag along on one of your shark fishing outings. Planning on coming down for a week in late March. Are you fishing shark that time of year?


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## devinsdad (Mar 31, 2010)

That would be great!!! We will shark fish as long as we can get a bait out! Plan on it!


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## nathar (Jun 25, 2009)

I've actually eaten an armadillo. Survival training out at Eglin while I was in flight training (USMC). My two city boys on my team trapped it, and I cut off its head with my K-Bar. Popped it out of its shell, cleaned, cut up, and deep fried it.

Tasted like chicken (no kidding). 

Had I known they carry leprosy, I would have passed on it. :whistling:


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## stinkeye (Mar 15, 2010)

I knew that they were supposed to carry Leprosy like the poster earlier had mentioned. My understanding is that it is pretty difficult to actually contract the disease, thus people like "Mother Theresa" were able to spend everyday in close contact with people affected and not contract it themselves. I did however make sure to wash the heck out of my hands after the fact and other than what is shown in the pic (hand on its back) we only had it in the crab net and then let it go.


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