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Gone Fishing - And All I Caught Was This Wierd Ass Critter

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Waterborn

Got up at 5 am to go fishing this morning. I went out to Boston Harbor with my fishing buddy Sean. Our goal was flounder, but what I got was pretty much a rather damp workout. When we headed out the weather was pretty nice. Sunshine and a brisk, but not overpowering, breeze.


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With Boston in the background, we launched from Deer Island and immediately set to trying to catch us some flatfish for dinner. My friend Sean was stoked to test out his new Hobie kayak outfitted with foot peddles. By the end of the morning, I wished I have invested in a kayak with a supplimental drive system as well.


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Sean was able to snag three fairly nice flounder. Me, all I got was this freaky looking critter.


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A special prize goes to the first person who can correctly ID this animal. I give you one hint, ain't no flounder.


Anyway, after little success on my end, we decided to paddle out to the Deer Island Light in hopes of running into some early season striped bass. They usually don't show up in our area until June, but we had heard rumors thought the monofilament grapevine that the hogs had come in early this year. As soon as we made it out to the light house, the wind picked up to a more than brisk 15 mph. After tooling around in the leeward side of the light for a bit with no further luck, I decided I had had enough and called to Sean that I was going to paddle around the the protected side of Deer Island to get away from the wind and go on in. The wind immediately kicked up to 20 mph coming directy from the direction I was headed. Now if you are not familiar with Deer Island, it really is no longer an island, but a penesula that has been connected to the mainland via a roadway that was laid on top of a bed of boulders. Point is, there is always at least one side of the "island" that is protected from the wind. Unfortunately for me, apparently Poseidon did not get this memo. So as I paddled back, he decided to kick it up a notch with about 5 more mph's on the headwind, which somehow managed to remain in my face the entire way back to the beach. After almost an hour of paddling into what could only be considered a rather "srtong" headwind, I finally made it back to the landing, exhausted and fishless.


Like they say, a bad day on the water . . . . . . .


 

Comments (40)

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FreynApThyr·
Bad day on the water beats a good day at work.\r \r Nice pics Dane.
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waterboy·
It looks like the Flood from Halo. Where's Master Chief!
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Habu06·
Is that a fahken wicked retahded quahog?
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budman24·
^^I lol'd
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wamam87·
i think it's a flounder that's been swimming in that contaminated water for a little to long.\r \r :)
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wamam87·
i can't find anything that even resembles it. \r \r the thing doesn't even have any fins!?!?!
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jcotter13·
It's a rare scrotum fist. Also known as the ball-sac blow-fish.
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Fish66·
Looks like something from inside a very large Fish.\r \r More pictures from different angles would help.\r \r Seriously, it looks cool.
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redeye·
What a great way to spend a day! I'm jealous. No idea what that 'fish' is btw.
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Nunderw00b·
Looks kinda like an Eel
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Nunderw00b·
An Eel that ate a Blowfish\r
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wamam87·
ok...so i've looked on the interwebz for this thing twice now. if you can't find something on the internet in under 30 min, then it doesn't exist. \r \r pics or it didn't happen...oh, wait.
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Rau·
Monk Fish?
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Devonsangel·
horseshoe crab?
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Waterborn·
Hehe, this is an actual animal. It is an Atlantic Skate (http://www.mcaorals.co.uk/Photos/Deep%20Sea%20Fish/Skate.jpg) . When caught, they tend to ball up as a means of protection, similar to a porcupine. So now that you know what it is, if someone can tell me if it is male or female (and explain exactly how you know) you will win the Halo 3 Spartan figure and armor pack. Good luck!
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Jedi_Kez·
I'm going to say female, cause her tail is swollen with the eggs she's carrying.
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Waterborn·
Good (but ultimately wrong) guess on gender or reasoning or both ;)
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Jedi_Kez·
it's male, due to the spines along it's wing
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Waterborn·
wrong again
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Jedi_Kez·
It's male due to the colouring?\r \r I swear my internet search skills have totally failed me on this one.
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Nunderw00b·
Female skate, it only has one dorsal fin on the tail.
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Nunderw00b·
also, it doesn't have large claspers, which males use to anchor themselves to females during reproduction.
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Waterborn·
So far Nunderwood is closest to the mark, but wrong just the same. Come on folks, now that you know the animal, this should be pretty easy. Does no one want the Halo 3 Spartan figure?
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Davicams·
Males have irregular whitish blotches and numerous dark spots while females have reduced or absent blotches, so female?
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Waterborn·
Sigh, you folks are making my inner marine biologist weep.
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Nunderw00b·
Female, The upper surface of the disc – especially in females – is rough with a distinct spine pattern. Specifically, there are 2 to 4 irregular rows of thorn-like spines on either side of midline of the disc extending to the anterior part of tail
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Waterborn·
\r \r \r \r
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Waterborn·
Sigh\r \r Facepalm\r \r Walks away shaking head\r \r (all this was typed in the preceding post, but did not show up for some reason)
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LostPoetB24·
I know i know
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Nunderw00b·
Dane, you suck LOL Ok, here's another shot at it. I'm going to change the gender of my guess and go with Male,=. It has something to do with the dorsal fin, I just haven't pinpointed why yet.
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Nunderw00b·
I'm not a marine biologist, or even close. I'm better with reptiles, amphibians, and some mammals. Fish and their ilk are kinda out of my spectrum.
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Nunderw00b·
And you can't really see anything truly distinctive in the photo, unless you know what you are looking for.
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Jedi_Kez·
It's male because it does have claspers
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Nunderw00b·
It does? I can't see them..
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LostPoetB24·
This skate looks very much like the little skate, but it is larger and has more numerous teeth. The front angle of the disc is much blunter than a right angle, bulging opposite the eyes, and the tip of the snout is rounded. The teeth are in from 72 to 110 series in each jaw instead of 66 series, or fewer as in erinacea, and they are sharper in males than in females. The backs of both sexes are rough with sharp spines on the head, around the eyes, along the anterior margins of the pectorals, over the shoulders, and on the sides of the tail. The midline of the back behind the shoulders is almost always free of spines in adults. But we have one specimen, a female 18 inches long taken near Jeffreys Ledge, November 1, 1927, which bears a row of large spines along the midline of back and tail from the shoulder girdle to the first dorsal fin. Males, like those of other skates, have rows of retractile hooks on the outer parts of the pectorals. The two dorsal fins are close together; the outer corners of the pectorals are bluntly angular; the claspers of adult males reach about halfway back along the tail, which occupies about half the total length of the fish
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LostPoetB24·
So the teeth are sharper in males making this a male lol\r
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Waterborn·
BINGO! - \"It's male because it does have claspers\"\r \r Jedi, thank you for finally figuring this out. I was starting to wonder if anyone was going to get the correct answer. You are the winner of the What the Fuck Was That? Halo 3 contest. PM me your addy and I will ship out the SWAG to you this week.\r \r The rest of you disappoint me. \r \r :)
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Nunderw00b·
Where the heck were the claspers? I couldn't see them at all.. Had I seen them I would have had it long ago. :-( GJ Jedi...
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Fish66·
Cool
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Waterborn·
You can see one of the claspers (white appendage) in the bottom right corner of the picture above. The fact that the skate has is pectoral fins (\"wings\") curled up around its body threw some folks off.