{"id":4069,"date":"2017-12-13T13:23:47","date_gmt":"2017-12-13T18:23:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/photoblog.michaelhalminski.com\/?p=4069"},"modified":"2017-12-14T08:36:57","modified_gmt":"2017-12-14T13:36:57","slug":"catch-of-the-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/photoblog.michaelhalminski.com\/?p=4069","title":{"rendered":"Catch of the Day"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>This time of year, as chilly weather sets in, my mind always wanders to a pastime I\u2019ve enjoyed for decades. That is the craving for and the collection of oysters. In my\u00a0 opinion, the <em><strong>Pamlico Sound<\/strong><\/em> produces the best tasting oysters found just about anywhere.<\/p>\n<p>Commercially they are harvested either by using a dredge or tongs. Since I\u2019m a recreational user, I hand pick mine from the inshore shallows.<\/p>\n<p>At times I\u2019d collect and carry them in a burlap bag. Other times I\u2019d shuck to a container as I collected, leaving the shells where I found them. When I bought a kayak, my method of \u201cfishing\u201d became paddling and collecting. It was much easier and I still return the spent shells back from where they came.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/photoblog.michaelhalminski.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/kayak.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-4070\" src=\"http:\/\/photoblog.michaelhalminski.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/kayak.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"402\" srcset=\"http:\/\/photoblog.michaelhalminski.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/kayak.jpg 600w, http:\/\/photoblog.michaelhalminski.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/kayak-400x268.jpg 400w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>My 12 foot kayak can haul a bushel or so.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/photoblog.michaelhalminski.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/68.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-4071\" src=\"http:\/\/photoblog.michaelhalminski.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/68.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"450\" srcset=\"http:\/\/photoblog.michaelhalminski.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/68.jpg 600w, http:\/\/photoblog.michaelhalminski.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/68-400x300.jpg 400w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>The other day I found a half bushel of nice ones. At\u00a06 and 8 inches long, the two biggest ones on top are genetically strong. My catch and release philosophy is to plant them in my oyster garden for spawning next Summer.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/photoblog.michaelhalminski.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/in-hand.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-4072\" src=\"http:\/\/photoblog.michaelhalminski.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/in-hand.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"800\" srcset=\"http:\/\/photoblog.michaelhalminski.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/in-hand.jpg 600w, http:\/\/photoblog.michaelhalminski.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/in-hand-300x400.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>The 8 inch oyster was impressive and I found it stuck in a muddy creek bottom with the top 2 inches sticking out.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/photoblog.michaelhalminski.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/5-finger.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-4073\" src=\"http:\/\/photoblog.michaelhalminski.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/5-finger.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"450\" srcset=\"http:\/\/photoblog.michaelhalminski.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/5-finger.jpg 600w, http:\/\/photoblog.michaelhalminski.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/5-finger-400x300.jpg 400w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>I shucked this fat one for an old friend.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/photoblog.michaelhalminski.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/pea-crab.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-4074\" src=\"http:\/\/photoblog.michaelhalminski.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/pea-crab.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"401\" srcset=\"http:\/\/photoblog.michaelhalminski.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/pea-crab.jpg 600w, http:\/\/photoblog.michaelhalminski.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/pea-crab-400x267.jpg 400w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Ready to satisfy, these are beauties. The one on the right has a resident pea crab. They live as a parasite in the shell with the oyster yet are considered a local delicacy.\u00a0The colder the water gets, the better the quality and flavor!<\/p>\n<p>Have a Merry Christmas.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This time of year, as chilly weather sets in, my mind always wanders to a pastime I\u2019ve enjoyed for decades. That is the craving for and the collection of oysters. In my\u00a0 opinion, the Pamlico Sound produces the best tasting oysters found just about anywhere. Commercially they are harvested either by using a dredge or [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39,26,23,27],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4069","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fishing","category-outer-banks","category-oysters","category-pamlico-sound"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/photoblog.michaelhalminski.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4069","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/photoblog.michaelhalminski.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/photoblog.michaelhalminski.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/photoblog.michaelhalminski.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/photoblog.michaelhalminski.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4069"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"http:\/\/photoblog.michaelhalminski.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4069\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4088,"href":"http:\/\/photoblog.michaelhalminski.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4069\/revisions\/4088"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/photoblog.michaelhalminski.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4069"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/photoblog.michaelhalminski.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4069"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/photoblog.michaelhalminski.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4069"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}