Frank Sargeant

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Pig Out

outdoorlife-editor — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 12:26:36 -0400

Hunting wild hogs with a knife does not actually require a low IQ, but having one sure makes the sport more enjoyable.

That was my thought as I prepared to plunge into a cypress head where four pit bulls were noisily confronting a 200-pound boar that definitely did not like dogs or humans. Of course, the dogs are the key to this whole deal.

My hunting partners and I crawled under bay bush and palmetto vines. In a mud hole, the dogs and the hog engaged in an epic battle. There was a dog on each of the boar's ears, one on one hind leg and one on the tail. And they had the hog just the way he had to be for me to jump in.

One dog had a gash up his side and another had a wound in his chest, but they seemed immune to pain. There's nothing that could make these bulldogs happier than latching on to a hog. The hunter's task is to cut the jugular vein without getting gored in the process. The few who practice this old style of hunting say it evolved as a way to avoid accidentally shooting the dogs.

The hog shook loose when it saw us, and for an instant it looked like we were all going to wind up treed. But before the enraged beast could get at us, the dogs piled on again and held him back. Shouting, dust flying, dogs growling, the hog raging, we did a death dance all over the mud hole. Then the knives went in.

The second the dogs felt the life go out of the boar, they released it, gave it a few victory bites and backed away-game over. We had the makings of a hog roast, and one heck of a trophy.

In Florida you can hunt hogs year round on private lands with no bag or size limit. For more info, visit the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation site at myfwc.com

South: Heavy Lifting

outdoorlife-editor — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 12:26:36 -0400

Snook are tenacious on the end of the line. Even a 10-pounder can stretch your biceps to the breaking point. This summer, try taking one on under the lights at night. The action comes naturally to bass anglers because it takes place around piers, docks and bridge pilings and requires pinpoint casting.

The fish average 5 to 7 pounds, but a 20-pounder is always possible. Snook wait for bait in the lights under the cover of a dock or pier; if you make the perfect cast, they eat your lure. Simple enough.

If you don't get snook out of the water quickly, they'll make a half-hitch on the piling and the stout line parts. To counter this threat, many anglers lock down the drag with pliers and hope for the best.

Most anglers use 25-pound-test gear and add a couple feet of 30- to 40-pound-test fluorocarbon leader. Lures include plastic shrimp and mullet, as well as molded jigs such as the 6-inch Tsunami.

Snook fishing is good from Clearwater, Fla., south to Marco on the west coast, and from Vero Beach to Miami on the east coast. It's catch-and-release only-the seasons are closed during the summer spawn-but the action is awesome when a fish strips line while swimming off into dark water.

Boats for All Budgets

outdoorlife-editor — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 12:26:35 -0400

There's a boat for every wallet and fishin' mission in the 2005 fleet. Whether you can afford $40 a month or $400, you can find a way to get on the water this year.

For true boating economy, consider a kayak. Or, for a couple grand, step up to a johnboat rigged with a kicker or electric troller. If your bank account can handle the strain, take home a slick basser. Thanks to four-stroke outboards, they burn less gas than ever and contribute near zero pollution to the environment.

Pungo 120 Angler

The Pungo 120 Angler from Wilderness Systems includes seating with adjustable thigh supports and backrests designed to cut fatigue during long hauls. The 12-foot-long kayak weighs just 49 pounds and is rated to carry 400 pounds, including gear. (About $825; www.wilderness
systems.com)

Waterfowler 15

The Waterfowler 15 from Alumacraft includes an enclosed gun or rod box, all-aluminum floors and decks and space for a swivel seat up front. Priced at $3,295, it's more expensive than many johnboats but made of heavier stock that promises greater durability. (About $5,500 with a 25-hp motor; www
.alumacraft.com)

Lund Pro Angler 17

(pictured above right)

The Lund Pro Angler 17 is a to-the-max tiller-control walleye rig that's broad, deep and super-tough, thanks to a twin-plate hull and I-beam stringers. Seven-foot in-floor rod lockers keep your gear secure, and reversed chines keep spray down. (About $19,700 with a four-stroke Merc 75; www.lundboats.com)

Triton TR-21

Triton's TR-21 is a Mercedes-class bass boat. Powered by the new Mercury four-stroke Verado 250, the first supercharged
outboard, it's a formidable package in both performance and fuel economy. It may be a lot of money to spend to chase around bass, but you'll be going in style. (About $52,000, including matching trailer; www.tritonboats.com)

Capsized

outdoorlife-editor — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 12:26:34 -0400

It had started like any of the hundreds of trips Randy Davis had made on Lake Hatchineha, about 30 miles south of Orlando, Fla. The big lake was rough
early in the day, but the winds calmed in late afternoon, and Davis figured he could safely run out and set a few trotlines to

capture some channel cats. Davis, 58 and semi-retired, made most of his
income from the lake, guiding for crappies, bluegills and shellcrackers when the runs were prime, catfishing when they were not.

The wind was out of the northwest, blowing down the length of the five-mile-long, 6,500-acre lake, part of the Kissimmee Chain, which transports water all the way from the center of the state south to big Lake Okeechobee. The lake is noted for big bass, big catfish...and big alligators. A 600-pounder was among many giants taken there in the past hunting season.

"I got on the water at about four
in the afternoon," says Davis. "The water had a little chop, but really less than a foot. I had been out there in my boat many times in whitecaps, so I knew it could handle the conditions."

Davis's catfish boat was a classic garage-built Southern trotline rig known as a "skipjack"-a high-bowed, 17-foot fiberglass center-console with a narrow beam. The boat was more than 20 years old and had no flotation but was solid as a rock. Davis had
recently upgraded it with a slippery polymer coating on the outer hull that both helped to waterproof it and made it slide more easily over the grass and sandbars around the lake. The coating is popular with airboaters who chase gators and frogs on the chain, but
on this night it would have near-
disastrous consequences.

Davis put out several of his sets without problems. The hooks went over the side in a steady stream as the boat drifted along slowly, stern to the wind. Davis, to his later regret, did not wear his life jacket because he was concerned that a hook might snag it and possibly drag him overboard. He hung the PFD on an aluminum light pole beside the console, where he figured he could reach it in an instant if the need arose. He was wrong.

A Freak Wave

"It was just about dark," says Davis, a compact man given to wearing Dickie bib overalls and taking an occasional chaw of Morgan. "I didn't mind
because I had a pole light, and I often finished my sets in the dark."

On this night, however, things suddenly went bad.

"I was running out my next to last set," says Davis. "All of a sudden this rogue wave came rolling up out of nowhere. It had to be three feet tall, just a wall of black water and real steep." It rolled right over the transom and filled the boat instantly.

Davis tumbled into the black water and came up to see his boat all but gone. The life jacket had disappeared, and the dark shore was at least a quarter mile away. He knew immediately that he was in big trouble.

The boat had sunk straight down at the stern, but fortunately the bow compartment had trapped a bubble of air. About 3 feet of the bow remained just above water.

Luckily for Davis, the water was
relatively warm, probably in the high 60s. This factor would become critical as the night wore on.
Hypothermia
can set in quickly at low water temperatures, but survival time increases
dramatically in higher temperatures-and Davis was going to be in the water a long time.

[pagebreak]
He was wearing his favorite overalls, a T-shirt and a quilted jacket, plus tennis shoes. He decided to keep his clothing on and to stick with the boat, remembering tips he had picked up as he'd trained for his captain's license, a requirement for running guide trips.

"The shore was far enough away that I wasn't confident I could swim to it without a life jacket," he says.
Now the coating Davis had put on his boat's bottom became a problem.

"I tried to climb up on the bow to get out of the water, but e coating was so slick I just kept slipping back off," says Davis. "I tried for maybe two hours and it was just exhausting me. I noticed then that my bow line was trailing loose, so I gave up on getting out of the water and rigged a sort of harness that I could halfway sit in."

In the meantime, Davis's wife, Debbie, had left their home to go to church. Davis had expected to finish his set shortly after dark, return home and then join his wife at the church.

The Search Begins

By 9:30, Debbie, still at the church, was becoming concerned that Randy had not arrived. She called the house and there was no answer. When she got home and found that he hadn't
returned, she felt sure something had gone wrong. She called some of Randy's friends, who quickly decided to call Florida Fish and Wildlife officers and the Sheriff's departments in Polk and Osceola counties.
Around 11 p.m., two helicopters were in the air over the lake. Davis watched them working back and forth, sometimes coming painfully close, but neither of them spotted him.

"One came close enough that I could have hit it with a stone, but it went right on by," Davis says.
Soon, Davis's legs were numb from the rope saddle, so he began to alternate positions, sliding down into the water and putting it around his arms until that began to hurt too much, then going back to sitting.
"I could see airliners going out of Orlando airport. I could see the light in the sky from Disney World. Life was going on and I was out there alone in the dark," says Davis. "It wasn't a good feeling. Then I got to thinking about my grandson, who is just eighteen months old, and how I wanted
to teach him to fish, and I just refused to give up."

[pagebreak]
Davis also knew there were still plenty of big gators cruising the lake because of the warm fall. He kept telling himself that gators leave people alone if people leave them alone, and he tried not to think about them.

Toward morning, he was starting to get cold and weak, and it was getting harder and harder to raise himself back into the rope saddle.

"The helicopters stayed out there going back and forth all night, and then a while before daylight they disappeared. I don't know if maybe they went back to get fuel at the same time or what, but my heart sank when they went away," says Davis.

Davis hung on, so tired now he could barely keep his head above water. To make matters worse, the wind started to pick up. Waves slopped into his face, making it tougher to breathe and causing him to choke occasionally.

Overhead, officers from the Polk County Sheriff's Department were taking advantage of the growing daylight. Pilot and deputy sheriff Craig Hardcastle, a retired Marine with experience flying military rescue missions, flew his Kiowa surplus chopper around the perimeter of the lake, checking to see if perhaps Davis had found his way to shore. When that produced no result, he began flying a grid back and forth across the lake. It was then that he spotted the capsized boat.

"He was so tired that he didn't even wave when he saw me," says Hardcastle. "He just looked up and then dropped his face back into the water."

The pilot quickly called in boats from nearby Camp Mack. An airboat arrived first, but the design of the boat made pulling Davis out of the water tough. Minutes later, a larger boat with a swim platform on the stern
arrived and eased in close.

"They told me to get out of the
saddle and swim to them, but I was so weak from the cold I couldn't have swum a stroke," Davis says.
The rescuers quickly backed down and two of them grabbed Davis by his jacket and snatched him out of the
water. He bounced across the gunwales and cracked a rib, but he was very, very happy to be alive. He had been in the water more than 12 hours.

When emergency medical technicians took his temperature, it hovered at 95.3 degrees.

"They told me another degree or so and I would have been unconscious and that would have been it," he says.

Davis's tough old boat was towed in, turned over and pumped out. Davis is getting a new motor for it-along with several large blocks of foam
flotation that will fit under the seats. He also vows never to leave the docks again without wearing a life preserver.

"The lake taught me a lesson that night," he says. "And it gave me a
second chance. I intend never to put myself in that position again."red at 95.3 degrees.

"They told me another degree or so and I would have been unconscious and that would have been it," he says.

Davis's tough old boat was towed in, turned over and pumped out. Davis is getting a new motor for it-along with several large blocks of foam
flotation that will fit under the seats. He also vows never to leave the docks again without wearing a life preserver.

"The lake taught me a lesson that night," he says. "And it gave me a
second chance. I intend never to put myself in that position again."

Capsized

outdoorlife-editor — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 12:26:33 -0400

A Freak Wave

"It was just about dark," says Davis, a compact man given to wearing Dickie bib overalls and taking an occasional chaw of Morgan. "I didn't mind
because I had a pole light, and I often finished my sets in the dark."

On this night, however, things suddenly went bad.

"I was running out my next to last set," says Davis. "All of a sudden this rogue wave came rolling up out of nowhere. It had to be three feet tall, just a wall of black water and real steep." It rolled right over the transom and filled the boat instantly.

Davis tumbled into the black water and came up to see his boat all but gone. The life jacket had disappeared, and the dark shore was at least a quarter mile away. He knew immediately that he was in big trouble.

The boat had sunk straight down at the stern, but fortunately the bow compartment had trapped a bubble of air. About 3 feet of the bow remained just above water.

Luckily for Davis, the water was
relatively warm, probably in the high 60s. This factor would become critical as the night wore on.
Hypothermia
can set in quickly at low water temperatures, but survival time increases
dramatically in higher temperatures-and Davis was going to be in the water a long time.

[pagebreak]
He was wearing his favorite overalls, a T-shirt and a quilted jacket, plus tennis shoes. He decided to keep his clothing on and to stick with the boat, remembering tips he had picked up as he'd trained for his captain's license, a requirement for running guide trips.

"The shore was far enough away that I wasn't confident I could swim to it without a life jacket," he says.
Now the coating Davis had put on his boat's bottom became a problem.

"I tried to climb up on the bow to get out of the water, buthe coating was so slick I just kept slipping back off," says Davis. "I tried for maybe two hours and it was just exhausting me. I noticed then that my bow line was trailing loose, so I gave up on getting out of the water and rigged a sort of harness that I could halfway sit in."

In the meantime, Davis's wife, Debbie, had left their home to go to church. Davis had expected to finish his set shortly after dark, return home and then join his wife at the church.

The Search Begins

By 9:30, Debbie, still at the church, was becoming concerned that Randy had not arrived. She called the house and there was no answer. When she got home and found that he hadn't
returned, she felt sure something had gone wrong. She called some of Randy's friends, who quickly decided to call Florida Fish and Wildlife officers and the Sheriff's departments in Polk and Osceola counties.
Around 11 p.m., two helicopters were in the air over the lake. Davis watched them working back and forth, sometimes coming painfully close, but neither of them spotted him.

"One came close enough that I could have hit it with a stone, but it went right on by," Davis says.
Soon, Davis's legs were numb from the rope saddle, so he began to alternate positions, sliding down into the water and putting it around his arms until that began to hurt too much, then going back to sitting.
"I could see airliners going out of Orlando airport. I could see the light in the sky from Disney World. Life was going on and I was out there alone in the dark," says Davis. "It wasn't a good feeling. Then I got to thinking about my grandson, who is just eighteen months old, and how I wanted
to teach him to fish, and I just refused to give up."

[pagebreak]
Davis also knew there were still plenty of big gators cruising the lake because of the warm fall. He kept telling himself that gators leave people alone if people leave them alone, and he tried not to think about them.

Toward morning, he was starting to get cold and weak, and it was getting harder and harder to raise himself back into the rope saddle.

"The helicopters stayed out there going back and forth all night, and then a while before daylight they disappeared. I don't know if maybe they went back to get fuel at the same time or what, but my heart sank when they went away," says Davis.

Davis hung on, so tired now he could barely keep his head above water. To make matters worse, the wind started to pick up. Waves slopped into his face, making it tougher to breathe and causing him to choke occasionally.

Overhead, officers from the Polk County Sheriff's Department were taking advantage of the growing daylight. Pilot and deputy sheriff Craig Hardcastle, a retired Marine with experience flying military rescue missions, flew his Kiowa surplus chopper around the perimeter of the lake, checking to see if perhaps Davis had found his way to shore. When that produced no result, he began flying a grid back and forth across the lake. It was then that he spotted the capsized boat.

"He was so tired that he didn't even wave when he saw me," says Hardcastle. "He just looked up and then dropped his face back into the water."

The pilot quickly called in boats from nearby Camp Mack. An airboat arrived first, but the design of the boat made pulling Davis out of the water tough. Minutes later, a larger boat with a swim platform on the stern
arrived and eased in close.

"They told me to get out of the
saddle and swim to them, but I was so weak from the cold I couldn't have swum a stroke," Davis says.
The rescuers quickly backed down and two of them grabbed Davis by his jacket and snatched him out of the
water. He bounced across the gunwales and cracked a rib, but he was very, very happy to be alive. He had been in the water more than 12 hours.

When emergency medical technicians took his temperature, it hovered at 95.3 degrees.

"They told me another degree or so and I would have been unconscious and that would have been it," he says.

Davis's tough old boat was towed in, turned over and pumped out. Davis is getting a new motor for it-along with several large blocks of foam
flotation that will fit under the seats. He also vows never to leave the docks again without wearing a life preserver.

"The lake taught me a lesson that night," he says. "And it gave me a
second chance. I intend never to put myself in that position again."vered at 95.3 degrees.

"They told me another degree or so and I would have been unconscious and that would have been it," he says.

Davis's tough old boat was towed in, turned over and pumped out. Davis is getting a new motor for it-along with several large blocks of foam
flotation that will fit under the seats. He also vows never to leave the docks again without wearing a life preserver.

"The lake taught me a lesson that night," he says. "And it gave me a
second chance. I intend never to put myself in that position again."

New & Noteworthy

outdoorlife-editor — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 12:26:32 -0400

1. Fish Gripper/Scale

The gripNweigh from X-Tools
is a fish gripper with a digital readout scale and watertight electronics. The weights of five fish can be stored in its memory. It'll weigh fish up to 25 pounds, has a two-year battery life and vinyl padding rather than bare metal...and it floats. ($89.99; 941-894-0040; www.xtools.us)

2. World's Tiniest Depth Finder

The Smartcast RF30 is a combination device made up of a tiny LCD depth finder you wear on your wrist and a transducer that ties to fishing line and casts out like a lure. The LCD's readout gives both contour and numeric depth on a screen the size of a sports watch. Mode buttons allow you to change the sensitivity and depth range and to turn on a "fish alarm."

The unit works fine in both fresh and salt water. I checked it out in the brackish depths of the Little Manatee River near Tampa and found it drawing the contours just as accurately as the big color machine on my boat. Be careful, however. The transducer has metal "wet switch" pins that activate it when it hits the water, and these will corrode after saltwater use if not rinsed in fresh water.

Another potential problem: That little green floating transducer looks an awful lot like a frog wobbling across the surface, so don't be surprised if a lunker bass gulps it down. ($99.99; 334-687-0503; www.humminbird.com)

3.Oil-free Lubricant

Imagine a lubricant that can be used on anything on your boat, or, for that matter, on anything that slides, spins or turns, and you'll understand what the Ultra-Pro lubricant can do. The stuff repels moisture, leaves a scentless, invisible film and gets things moving again. Best of all, it doesn't drip.
(From $6.99; 800-255-3505;
www.ultra-pro.us)

4. All-Around Wet Shoes

Hodgman Flats Stalker Wading Shoes (first designed for Southern wade-fishing) worked well for me as
general-purpose wade/boat shoes last summer. They have a tough non-marring sole, side zippers, a one-way valve that purges water as you walk and an enclosed toe. ($59; 800-221-4221; www.llbean.com)

4. Ultra-Packable
Wading Jacket

After a few stormy days on the water wearing the Gore-Tex PacLite Stowaway Wading Jacket from L.L. Bean,
I have five remarks: 1. I loved that it folds up into its own hand-warmer pocket.
2. My arms stayed dry while releasing fish, thanks to the cinch on its cuffs.
3. I had no problem adjusting its low-
profile cordlocks with one hand. 4. The jacket has a big lure-box pocket in front, right where it's needed. 5. It has hand-warmer pockets that zip closed. ($159; 800-221-4221; www.llbean.com)

'Toons are Not Looney

outdoorlife-editor — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 12:26:31 -0400

They're big, slow and ugly, it's true. But when it comes to providing space, stability, comfort and family-friendliness, you can't beat a pontoon boat. You get all the amenities of home: a couch to stretch out on for a late-morning nap, a top for shade and a dinette table for eating lunch. In many cases, there's even a portable head and shower. In addition to all this, you can't beat the price; most pontoons sell for less than half
the cost of a tricked-out,
V-6-powered bass or walleye boat. An 18-footer, complete with a 25-horsepower outboard, can go for as little as $9,000.

Get Ready to Fish

The one drawback is that some pontoons are not designed for fishing. You need swivel seats at the bow for comfortable angling. Make sure there's room for an electric trolling motor on the bow, too; with a railing all the way forward, that space won't be available unless there's a removable door front and center.
An aerated baitwell is also a must, and rod storage under the couches is a
nice extra to maintain an uncluttered deck.

Spend the extra money for a pop-up head enclosure; your family will love it. A Bimini top is a great addition to keep you out of the sun. A motor with a charging system is another nice plus, since you'll be
using battery power to run the radio, television, lights and other things.

Performance

You won't win any boat races in a pontoon. Speeds for most vary from 12 mph with a 15-horsepower outboard to 25-30 mph with a 75. If your family wants to ski a lot, you'll need the 75. Some boats with tri-toons or flattened sponsons get into the low 40s with V-6 power; if you want to go faster than that, you're probably not a pontoon kind of person.

'Toons can be a handful to dock in strong winds or currents. You have to learn to check the drift before you get close to the dock, and try to take
advantage of it rather than fight it. Casting from the back seats is not an option-the couches and the top make it too tough. Trolling is very comfortable, however, as is everything else on these boats. Odds are your whole crew will love a pontoon boat, once they get over how funny-looking it is.