I was up early today, 4am-ish, checked the Forums, then flipped over to the local NOAA station for a wave/wind report...Hit the beach before Sun-up, and the Big Lake was relatively flat! Fired up the Pro and in I went![attachment 312307 goby-2.jpg]
Worked a long stretch, couple miles down and then on back, just smokejumping blowouts and looking for stuff...heres a good shot of what you want to see, the beach blown out up into the dune grass roots, they really trap and hold some good stuff like chains and coins, so I took a pic for y'all![attachment 312308 goby-1.jpg]
Then I started working my way back dragging the coil through the riffle, occasionally going out into the water if the bottom looked right, swinging the slope if it didnt, popping coins and targets and scooping up glass..Then I saw this little Goby! So I went in hot pursuit and pinned him down with the coil and managed to scoop him up, he was pretty spry, but they hug the bottom and dont scoot off to far, sort of like a crawdad, it was a bit of a challenge, but I finally got him![attachment 312309 goby.jpg]
He is one of the 185 known invasive species in Lake Michigan...Gobys came here in 1990 in the ballast water of ships, once here, their numbers exploded! My diver friends tell me the bottom is carpeted with them...everybody hates them, they are a real menace to what is left of the Native fish stock...I was going to kill him, but really didnt feel too murderous this morning to do harm to such a pathetic, worthless and ugly creature...hell, if those are the parameters for the death penalty, I fit that description!
So I let him go...Not 50' away, I was out in the water, and up ahead on the black sand slope, I eyeballed another nice shiny Silver Rosie laying there gleaming in the rising Sun! 
[attachment 312310 goby-3.jpg]
I was hoping to post a 'Golden Goby' theme this morning, but I'll take this day, to be out and moving around, finding things and watching the Sun come up when most people are still asleep is good enough for old Mud..
More than Old Mud deserves...I say I hate beachhunting, and I do, its such a hike and hard duty, but really, I have it pretty good in the scheme of things, so I believe I will adjust my attitude a bit and be thankful I wasnt born a Goby!..
Mud
Worked a long stretch, couple miles down and then on back, just smokejumping blowouts and looking for stuff...heres a good shot of what you want to see, the beach blown out up into the dune grass roots, they really trap and hold some good stuff like chains and coins, so I took a pic for y'all![attachment 312308 goby-1.jpg]
Then I started working my way back dragging the coil through the riffle, occasionally going out into the water if the bottom looked right, swinging the slope if it didnt, popping coins and targets and scooping up glass..Then I saw this little Goby! So I went in hot pursuit and pinned him down with the coil and managed to scoop him up, he was pretty spry, but they hug the bottom and dont scoot off to far, sort of like a crawdad, it was a bit of a challenge, but I finally got him![attachment 312309 goby.jpg]
He is one of the 185 known invasive species in Lake Michigan...Gobys came here in 1990 in the ballast water of ships, once here, their numbers exploded! My diver friends tell me the bottom is carpeted with them...everybody hates them, they are a real menace to what is left of the Native fish stock...I was going to kill him, but really didnt feel too murderous this morning to do harm to such a pathetic, worthless and ugly creature...hell, if those are the parameters for the death penalty, I fit that description!
So I let him go...Not 50' away, I was out in the water, and up ahead on the black sand slope, I eyeballed another nice shiny Silver Rosie laying there gleaming in the rising Sun! [attachment 312310 goby-3.jpg]I was hoping to post a 'Golden Goby' theme this morning, but I'll take this day, to be out and moving around, finding things and watching the Sun come up when most people are still asleep is good enough for old Mud..
More than Old Mud deserves...I say I hate beachhunting, and I do, its such a hike and hard duty, but really, I have it pretty good in the scheme of things, so I believe I will adjust my attitude a bit and be thankful I wasnt born a Goby!..Mud
HH jim tn
) and eaten him for breakfast. Below is a fried Goby for you......