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Thread: Mudminnow, the origin story

  1. #1
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    Default Mudminnow, the origin story

    I figured that the week before duck season would be a good time to tell one of my shining moments in a column I write. After this I earned the nickname mudminnow for a bit which was around the time I found this forum. You know, back around the turn of the century. The link is here: https://www.tryondailybulletin.com/2...ff-mud-misery/

    I’ll paste it below.

  2. #2
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    Pluff Mud Misery
    Philip Hunt

    In high school, my brother introduced me to duck hunting. His college roommate introduced him to the addictive outdoor pursuit. Then, most January weekends were spent chasing ducks and fighting pluff mud on coastal South Carolina waterways.
    Pluff mud, for those that don’t know, was created after Adam and Eve ate the apple. I am sure Eden did not have any pluff mud. Pluff mud steal boots, strands boats, and make you say words that would get your mouth washed out with soap by your mother. Therefore, it has to be created by the devil.
    One time I was walking through the marsh grass retrieving a downed duck, when I sunk waste deep into mud. I tried to climb out by tugging on the grass, but I was only left with cut hands and now stuck up to my belly button.
    As I caught my breath, the crabs scurried around with excitement. The tiny fiddlers had dreams of hitting the food source jackpot. This six foot tall creature in the mud would feed their family for generations.
    I reached for my shotgun, unloaded it, and tried to use the stock for leverage to slide on my belly out of the mire.
    Now, my shotgun was stuck past the action, and the mud had reached my ribs. Knowing that the tide was coming in, I decided it was time to call for help. I had wandered fifty yards from my hunting group.
    My brother and his roommate were still shooting ducks so I had to time my yells between reports. With the constant wind and rustling grass drowning out the noise, I was almost helpless. I didn’t even have my shotgun to fight of the circling hungry crabs.
    Finally, the roommate heard a strong masculine voice calling for help which he described as a “third grader crying.”
    Seeing my predicament, he knew it would take more than a helping hand to get me out.
    Shortly after, I heard the rumble of the two stroke outboard start and head my way. It pulled up to the bank and I heard, “Heads up!”
    A long rope hit me in the head and I tied it under my armpits.
    “Are you ready?”, my buddy yelled. I tightened my grip and told him to start pulling.
    I assumed he was going to pull by hand, but he decided to skip that step and attach me to the boat. The rope went tight as the engine roared.
    The suction of the pluff mud stretched my joints to fight the pull of the 25 horsepower motor. I finally popped free and slid on my belly through the tall grass.
    Thankfully, he stopped pulling before I got to the water or I would have gone from crab bait to crank bait on this low-country river.
    The pluff mud covered every inch of my clothing. I resembled a pig that just finished wallowing in a mud hole as I laid on the shore.
    The bank behind me looked like a giant prehistoric beaver slide that made a path straight back to the hole that contained my pride.

  3. #3
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    That's outstanding MudMinnow! Duck hunt long enough and we'll all get ourselves in a bind in the mud for sure!
    Listen to your elders. Not because they are always right but because they have more experiences of being wrong.

    "We make a living by what we get, we make a life by what we give" Sir Winston Churchill

  4. #4
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    Good story. Some pics would be nice.

  5. #5
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    That’s a good story.

  6. #6
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    Quote Originally Posted by SharkDave View Post
    Good story. Some pics would be nice.
    yeah, i would have had pics but im pretty sure the camera got stuck in the mud also. this happened during the reign of the nokia phone and film cameras

  7. #7
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    Good read as usual! Thanks for sharing.

  8. #8
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    Awesome

  9. #9
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    Great story.
    "Mother Nature and Father Time- still undefeated."

  10. #10
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    Good read...........Lots of us can relate.......cus we've been dar.

  11. #11
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    Crab bait to crank bait.

    I like that.
    "Rivers and the inhabitants of the watery elements are for wise men to contemplate and for fools to pass by without consideration" -Izaak Walton

  12. #12
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    wow. this is awesome. only member on this site who isn't an expert and always has been. honesty and humility....that stuff don't fly around here!
    "Check your premise." Dr. Hugh Akston

  13. #13
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    I enjoyed reading that and can relate to it.
    We enjoy picking our own oysters from time to time and I have
    been swallowed by the mud.
    Last edited by ecu1984; 12-07-2022 at 05:26 PM.

  14. #14
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    Haha good stuff.

    I fell up to my waist in what I thought was a dry creek bed in Summerville a few weeks ago in a golf match. Had to lose the shoes to get out, played the rest of the round barefoot.

  15. #15
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    Quote Originally Posted by drwilly View Post
    wow. this is awesome. only member on this site who isn't an expert and always has been. honesty and humility....that stuff don't fly around here!
    i am an expert at finding ways to screw up. But i think this is why i gravitate to outdoor humorists/nostalgia writers. I was schooled on a mountain stream last weekend by an outdoor humorist. Probably one of the best fly fisherman i know. You won't find a "how to"/"where to" article that he has written in the last 20 years. You will find plenty of stories of odd things that happen to him when he fishes. I think we need more laughs than facts in the outdoor space. Thats why magazines like the Drake, Southern CUlture on the FLy, and Field Ethos are sticking around and gaining traction

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