Rog's Rod & Nimrod

How about something a little different? First the good news. Two of our daughters, three granddaughters, and a son-in-law spent spring break in Cabo San Lucas where they swam side by side with whale sharks. The bad news is that they didn’t invite Betsy or me.

In checking out the whale shark, I learned that it is the largest non-mammalian vertebrate in the world as it can reach 60 feet in length. It is the only shark whose mouth is at the end of its head and not under its nose. These whale sharks posed no danger to my family as they are what I would call plankton feeders like our paddlefish. Technically, they are considered filter-feeding carpet sharks.

Cabo San Lucas, once a small fishing village, lies on the southern tip of Mexico’s Baja Peninsula. Today it is a world class tourist mecca with a population of 95,000. As already mentioned, it is a very popular place during spring break. Personally, I have drug cartel related safety concerns, but I have to believe that the kids know what they are doing. It’s probably like the Twin Cities or Chicago – you have to know where to go and where not to go.

October through March is the height of the whale shark season. My family did their whale shark swim on March 19th. Their swim package cost them $200 apiece, and all of them felt it was well worth the money. The package included a van ride to the harbor area that included a sack lunch, a two hour boat ride in a northeasterly direction to the shark area, all the necessary snorkeling equipment, driver, guide, and an excellent restaurant supper on the return trip.

Once in the area, the guide worked at spotting the sharks. Once located, the boat was positioned in front of the sharks so that the sharks would swim into or toward them. Now the swimmers bailed over the side. They were instructed not to get closer than six feet from the sharks, and certainly not to touch them. Staying with the sharks was relatively easy as swimming in the draft of the swimming sharks literally “pulled” them along. I don’t know that all of them carried cameras, but they certainly took some interesting pictures.

LuAnn and her husband intend to buy a second home at Cabo, and hopefully some future columns will deal with personal fishing experiences at Cabo. I’m looking forward to it.

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I just finished applying for my 2019 South Dakota rifle deer licenses on our computer. I’m not much for computer skills, so I will presume that if I can do it, anyone can do it.

Six different season options were offered on what SDGF&P calls “The First Draw.” I chose East River and West River, and passed on Black Hills, Muzzleloader, Custer State Park, and Refuge. As in the past, I will apply for a Muzzleloader “Antlerless” tag later in the year as there are no number limits on these tags, and I immensely enjoy this particular hunt.

Both East River and West River offered second choices, and I took advantage of the second choice options by choosing ”any deer” and “any whitetail” for my West River, and “any whitetail” in both Charles Mix and Brule East River counties. As I understand it, I can apply in “The Second Draw” if I fail in either or both of my “First Draw” choices. If I am successful in both of my first choices, I wait until “The Third Draw” comes along before I can again apply.

While working through the application process, I learned that I had forgotten about my Black Hills Elk application where I have 17 preference points. I called SDGF&P this morning, May 22nd, and learned that I had until noon to apply by computer. Talk about luck and cutting it close! As we have a freezer full of Wyoming elk meat, I applied for a preference point in the hope that I can still climb around in the fall of 2020.

See you next week.