PaulB's amphipod collection thread

[Aqua Pro Builder]

First, I must thank Boozman for the ride and of course the booz.

Second, its a fun trip.

But it' not for lite hearted person nor a person not man enough.
We were watching thunder storm passing by with even hail dropped on the boat. Captain wants to run around the stormy cloud at a short time slot after the rain. We, first timers, are weary. Captain do not want us to waste the trip for nothing and continue to look for a time slot. Captain Paul is definitely a brave heart and it happens that I am also a moron soul that would follow his lead into the muddy (yuck) water. Once ashore, the reward is great. Density of the pods is high and more amazingly are the grass shrimps. They some what cover 1/3 of the stream's width. I end up taking bags of pods and shrimps in a cooler.

OH, Paul knows his stuff!

 

[Aqua Pro Builder]

You can only put so many of them in a bucket.

Good that I only put them in bags-not buckets!!! LOL
More than 90% survived but most of the fish frys die.

The pods are amazingly large and strong-some pods in my fresh water tank lasted at least 3 hours before I go to bed. Also, unlike most of the pods that comes in the trade or from a friendly reefer's macros, they can switch to other water with no ill effect. They can even last more than one hour stick to the side of the cooler.

I fed my FW fish shelter with the dead frys and some live ones. This is the only time in life, my house-fish is not nagging. LOL

As Paul said the problem with the grass shrimp is that they stick to everything. YES, they do. To the bucket, when we catch them, back wall of the tank, the ground, the bottom of display tank where they jump from the sump and stick up there. These creatures are incredible-they survived out of the acclimation/screening bucket more than 45 minutes on the ground and jump back to live once hit water.

80% of the shrimps will survive direct dumping into FW. I tried 4 runs of 10 shrimps each.

 

[Aqua Pro Builder]

Breaking News

Just pass by the ciclid tank, there's one grass shrimp of the floor. They are better jail breakers than the jawfish.

 

[Paul B]

Wingo, first of all I would like to thank you guys for coming, I had a great time even though I have been going there for many years I like to bring new people. Too bad it rained before and after collecting or we would have taken a ride and I could have shown you the Gold Coast.
I would also like to thank Boozeman who brought me a really nice bottle of Cognac and Italian Champaign, my two most important commodities (next to boat gas)
And last but not least Bob who brought 3 five gallon buckets which he filled in a few minutes. This was the first time I met these guys, they are all very good guys and my boat is still clean so my wife will be happy. It is not a fishing boat so no one got amphipod guts all over the place :lobster:
yes some of them were large enough to fillet. :tongue1:
One of them, I think it was a great white amphipod, bit me. Booze took a picture :type: The grass shrimp are also large, one chased me but his antlers prevented him from climbing my boat ladder :tongue1:
Wingo, I did tell you that those grass shrimp jump out. You are going to be peeling them off the walls for a few months. The LFS around the corner here sells them for 40 cents each, I will sell him a few pounds of them and buy a new boat.

 

[boozeman]

What an amazing trip !!
Wingo is right, this collecting trip is not for the faint of heart :tub:
I picked up Wingo and we headed to the dock enjoying lighthearted conversation and chinese pastries. We made good time and arived early to find Paul busy working on the boat, so we helped getting things ready..

 

[boozeman]

We made the best of the time waiting for Bob1000 to arrive (he was fighting traffic) by chillin out on the boat drinking prosecco :tongue1:
We decided to go gas up the boat while everyone on shore stared at us as if we were crazy because the sky was looking pitch black by now ...

''We're real men, not afraid of a lil rain !!'' PaulB yells back at them .... and then all hell breaks loose, the storm unleashes it fury as we reach the end of the dock. Once the rain and hail (yes, hail) finished, ..Bob1000 gets to the end of the dock, buckets in hand...the sun shinning...I could've sworn there were harps playing in the background !!!

 

[leoskee]

Only 3 pics? What a tease. lol.

 

[boozeman]

PaulB takes us on the trip to hollowed ground... the fabled pod hunting grounds !!!

 

[boozeman]

''We're here!!'' he says ....as I think ''but its still a good 1/4 mile from shore!!''
''jump in, its not that cold !!'' he says .... as I think ''then why are you clenching your teeth?'':lol:

 

[Bob 1000]

What a trip.. Thanks for taking me out Paul... This place is a great place for collection of these small animals... Boozeman good to meet you... Wingo good to see you again... This was a Survivor show( Paulo B Island)... I enjoyed every moment... The rain just made it better.. If the sun had shined the whole time we would have been cooked by the sun and eaten alive by the elusive Grasseovite Shrimp also known for their killer antlers.... But luckily Paul put himself between us and the attacker, just as we made it back to the safety of the boat...
P.S. Would I go again????
Oh yeah:sgrin:
Wow Booze this pic could use a little exposure/flash..lol

 

[boozeman]

We make it to a shore covered in pebble and sharp clam shells... walking further in rewards us with the thick black mud and ripe stench of decomposing muck.
As we progress I look down at the small pools of water left behind by the receading tide and wonder ''why is the surface rippling like that as we walk by?" and then realize that these pools are so full of pods that they litteraly move with them !!

scampering with glee we scoop net fulls of them...hundreds...maybe thousands !!!
and not just tiny pods but these are some sort of ''mutant mother of all pod'' pods.

further up, at a larger pond PaulB and I work the sein net. Sinking up to our ankles in the thick black muck rewards us with an absolutely insane net full of grass shrimp !!!

 

[boozeman]

LMAO Hi BOB... the few pics I took were hastilly taken in fear of getting the camera wet. My big regret was not wanting to risk taking it to shore with us.

 

[Bob 1000]

Yeah that first step into the water was scary/fun...
Definetly Survivor like..lol

 

[Domboski]

Tobin where was your aquaman suit? I'll have to join you all on the next trip.

 

[boozeman]

PaulB takes us further inland...to where a large lake empties over an old flood gate and into the sea. The churning water creating a natural skimming effect...and as Paul reaches in to show us, he falls half way into a hole !!!
We are harshly awoken to the reality of this extreme site as Paul proudly wears the scars of a heavy toll exacted by the Pod godz in exchange for allowing us to remove so many of them.

 

[boozeman]

We make it back to the boat (why did it seem further out and deeper this time back)...tired but satisfied with the haul !!!

 

[boozeman]

...and enjoy a slow ride back to the dock and just as we arrive the rain starts comming down hard again !!

Thanks for the trip guys...it was a wonderful and crazy experience !!!

 

[boozeman]

ALL HAIL PAULB ... THE POD KING !!! :groupflip

 

[Bob 1000]

One more pic since there is none of you Boozeman..lol

 

[Paul B]

I am glad you guys enjoyed it. As a matter of fact I went back there again today (it is like my second home) I diden't go ashore because I still have too many pods but I wanted to take the boat out for a fast spin to check out if my repair job this week worked, I am happy to say it did, the boat gets up to it's normal speed with no misses. Next friday I have 6 girls goming out and they are party animals, I have to throw the Captain's chair into the cabin to make room for their dancing and go far off shore so the noise doesen't get me arrested. Every year we do this on a friday night. They are my wife and our friends wife's.
I will be back there on Saturday and Sunday as it is my hang out place for the weekend as it has always been only I will be tied up with other boats, all of which are larger than mine.
Next week the tide will be low at 10:30 AM. If anyone is interested in collecting I may do it again. It depends mostly on the weather and a little on my jobs. Even though I retired, boating is not cheap and I have to work a little to be able to keep it.
Bob and Wingo took so many shrimp/fish/and pods that I don't know where they put them all. Me and Booze just watched them as they were all excited and running around with nets. Bending over buckets of shrimp it looked like they were naming them or writing down their social security numbers.
Too bad no one took the camera to shore. It was fun to collect with other people as I am there by myself every weekend.
There are also many tiny horseshoe crabs that live in some really scurvy mud that will steal your shoes.

This seemed like such a big hit, I should run collecting chartering runs.:shhh: