NO Adventure

Sometimes you have to re-evaluate the way you do something by breaking it down to its most primal form. Fishing is cool, but you usually need to have a pole, line, a reel, hooks, bait or a lure – it gets to be a bit complicated.

Think about the way the natives used to fish. They didn’t waste their $12.95 on a Zebco. They speared fish right through the face with a sharp stick. You too can awaken the primal fish hunter inside you. It’s called Floundering(or Flounder Gigging). Here’s how flounder look in the water at night.

Make sure it’s not a stingray like this. They are easy to confuse.

If it is a 198-pound stingray, make sure you have a team of polynesians to help.

The “gig” is your spear. There are all types, but I have been told that the single-prong, non-barbed gig is best because it tears up the meat the least. With a single-pronged non-barbed gig, you must put you hand under the stabbed fish and feel for the prong. Now pull him out of the water with your free hand and the gig at the same time(preventing him from swimming away). Here’s me and a few friends starting our night hunt; you will also need a lantern or spotlight.

We were all ready to stab something. Start your hunt with a “no-stabbing-each-other-in-the-foot” truce. It will pay off in the long run.

The best time to go is during a new moon at low tide with no wind. The best places to go around New Orleans are any shallow, sandy-bottomed place with good visibility. We thought we had something in a tidepool, but the conditions were poor and our skills were lacking.

Quicksand can be common on beaches at low tide. If you encounter quicksand, drink domestic beer and try to get more stuck until you fall over.

Here’s a look at how the pros do it. Notice this dude’s custom de-pronger made of diamond plate.