THE Random Chat Thread - AKA "The RCT" - No shirt or shoes required - Open 24 / 7

Pepper thinking out loud again:
Thinking how long that would last-one look in the early AM of the motley crew scratching, picking off bilge lice, coughing up unmentionables from the previous nights rum sludge.
Oh my dear blossom haven't you figured it out over this past year of being on the ship-no pictures/FaceTime till it's dark outside.
Oh what the heck you asked for it-here you go-the Pepper's first mugshot post.
Your lucky it was taken at night-just saying.
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ha ha…. your such a tease Peps 😂😂 xx
 

Well on that happy note I got out the

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to lube up the aching

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Got a list of things to do, and better get to them right quick as the day is ticking along.
 

And thats an example of all that is wrong in this world… 😒 … a video of The Pepper twerking on the poop deck would be the stuff of legends 😂😂😂😂 xx
Yep...would be a day that would live in infamy! 🤢
 

Pepper thinking out loud again:
Thinking how long that would last-one look in the early AM of the motley crew scratching, picking off bilge lice, coughing up unmentionables from the previous nights rum sludge.
Oh my dear blossom haven't you figured it out over this past year of being on the ship-no pictures/FaceTime till it's dark outside.
Oh what the heck you asked for it-here you go-the Pepper's first mugshot post.
Your lucky it was taken at night-just saying.
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Put your clothes on!!!!
 

It's been areal eye opener to see gold items after only 2 days. When I hit the spot on Friday I left it clean.....2 days later....5 earrings and a ring. This is where careful observation allows me to calculate how many days to let my spots soak !! Most casual hunters will hit the spots once a month....more serious guys will go once a week. Im trying to go every 3 days in the summer. This method is my way of sabotage for the other hunters. The theory is to keep my spots cleaned up, so when these less dedicated hunters go out, they find very little because I keep it clean. This discourages them from going more often, or they move on to other spots. If I get in a war with another hunter.....I will leave all pop tops in situ !! What I've learned.....and its now 100% confirmed for me, is that more jewelry is lost on a weekly basis than anyone ever dreamed. I know this to be true, after a 4 year experiment on frequency of hunting the spots, and documenting just how much is found at each spot, and how much time has elapsed between hunts. It is not uncommon to find 2-5 pieces of jewelry at each spot after only 3 days of letting the spot soak.....when I say soak, I mean leaving the spot unhunted for 3 days at a time before trying it again. This frequency increases to its peak which is right now.....this time before school opens after summer break !! I've broken the will of several hunters with this method, and as is always the case, I'm now solo at several great spots.....the others have left it to me because I'm first one there, and last one to leave !! I love charging up to other hunters when I see them and saying....what have you found....look I got 5 gold rings !! 💍 I watch them deflate, and pack there machines and leave !!🤣😂😅🤣
 

Another thing I've realized is others are getting the gold by eyeball...I just saw a kid pick up a nice man gold ring with his goggles.....I have witnessed 4 nice recoveries by swimmers this summer alone.....im happy for them, but I also know if the 10 year old didn't have his goggles I would have got that gold.....so a percentage of drops are also randomly picked up by alert snorkelers. The number of these finds is alarmingly high, and after 3 days this gold starts to sink and be hidden from these hunters. Yesterday's gold earring was an eyeball find, and sometimes I have to wait an hour or more for swimmers to move out.....as soon as the swimmers moved out yesterday I was able to move into there area.....there in the disturbed sand was the gold earring. They were standing on it in plain sight !!
 

The hollow golds are the hardest to detect....after playing with the eqx, on many settings.....I could barley get that earring to sound off.....coil almost had to be touching it. So....ya....the 700 ain't the best at gold, but the excal also could not read it.....something about light hollow gold that most machines have trouble with !!
 

I have nothing against sharks.
Nothing against the Marine conservation movement.
Nothing against those who pushed for stronger regulations.

I just have something against the lack of common sense and the lack thereof in the thinking.

I stand to gain nothing from any change of current shark laws monetarily for i have never caught shark for money in my life.

I only stand to gain realistic safety for myself and others who love the water.
Sharks are not a big problem in the midwest.
Sturgeon our biggest fish and they don't wreck swimmers , dunkers , or the odd surfer.

We have fish though. Even predatory. And the highly predatory are a good study.
What triggers a strike? Ahhhh. Multiple things can. And individual activity level matters.
Why just a bump this time and an inhalation next time? Why a rejection, spit out after mouthing?
How far away in murky water can a 16 inch bass detect a struggling 4 inch minnow by it's lateral line sense alone?
And the catfish I used to have in a tank and feed minnows at times.

Sight? Maybe. But not required.
Sound? Well sort of. Convert it to vibration to fit it in with movement location.
Smell? Of course.
Taste? Yes , well how else do you get clues to palatability and digestibility?
As a fish you can spit it out. But if you don't mouth something now and then you won't eat.

Human in the water is subject to inspection as much or more as anything else.
One fish will steer clear , another investigate closely.
A human can stimulate a strike response sometimes by racing a lure past a fish. More a reflex than a deliberated strike. Extended murky water period and how else you gonna eat?
But in clear water and limited prey , every activity is potential.
When it is time to feed (food will fit) then only opportunity awaits.
Is that sensory stimulation food or not? It's creating vibrations like prey can ...

All to say I can grasp humans being to sharks what frogs are to bass. Or seals ,or mice.
And while tactics and individuals vary , I don't expect sharks to race in to a beach and attack swimmers. Could they? Certainly.
But if they're being sharks they'll cruise and detect stimulation intensities in the process.
To close and too much stimulation is going to result in a sampling/mouthing or more.

Ariel shots of sharks with swimmers can (I don't view many) show a similar behavior my catfish used too.
They know when something alive and creating vibrations is in thier environment. And where to look to make contact. Look meaning "feel" . And when a minnow was bumped by feel about 98% of the time it was also engulphed. To be spit out if backwards and fins opening instead of closing and re-grabbed . Usually.

Add enough sharks to the equation or crowd them on a limited or concentrated or opportunistic food source and the competition will trigger a more frenetic feeding reaction.
This dear reader is survival. Something sharks have evolved to do very well by eating. And by eating in some interesting ways ranging from straining small delicate prey to tearing out chunks of what can be bitten hold of. We'll define prey better and be more specific , picky, and tidy...Next time. Today , we eat again.
Given the choice of not grabbing potential prey to stay alive and grabbing a struggling something that smells alive ...Don't blame the shark for trying.
It is only doing what a fish does to survive. And there's really only one way to prove if something is worth grabbing.
 

Another thing I've realized is others are getting the gold by eyeball...I just saw a kid pick up a nice man gold ring with his goggles.....I have witnessed 4 nice recoveries by swimmers this summer alone.....im happy for them, but I also know if the 10 year old didn't have his goggles I would have got that gold.....so a percentage of drops are also randomly picked up by alert snorkelers. The number of these finds is alarmingly high, and after 3 days this gold starts to sink and be hidden from these hunters. Yesterday's gold earring was an eyeball find, and sometimes I have to wait an hour or more for swimmers to move out.....as soon as the swimmers moved out yesterday I was able to move into there area.....there in the disturbed sand was the gold earring. They were standing on it in plain sight !!
Well , poke that kid in the eye! No, don't.

Maybe he'll trade the ring for a detector? L.o.l..
But Mom! There has to be more!
 

Well , poke that kid in the eye! No, don't.

Maybe he'll trade the ring for a detector? L.o.l..
But Mom! There has to be more!
Many times people come up to me, and show me jewelry they find. It happens quite often, and those clear days are incredible.....you can see the glint of gold in white sand at 5 yard underwater some times.....yesterday was insane....I could see 40 ft visibility on the bay side of the islands !! I was hanging onto the swim barrier just staring way out into the deep, that borders the swim hole.....sea grass waving in the current, fish, barracuda, and just a gorgeous view underwater!!
 

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