Rail bird Skiff

[CaptBobKeeney]

With Railbird season a month away let’s see everyone’s skiffs here’s mine it is a 1922 Casper Bass built in Bridgeton NJ this is all original and I am the 3rd owner. The Skiff is 13ft 6 long and 3 1/2 ft wide. It is built out of white cedar. The push pole is original as well and is 13ft long made or cedar and white oak duck feet that are brass riveted

 

[RM Anderson]

No Rail birds in Minnesota but nice boat!

 

[CaptBobKeeney]

No Rail birds in Minnesota but nice boat!

Thank you!

 

[SJ Fairbank]

Beautiful boat Bob. I bet that's a nice light vessel.

 

[SJ Fairbank]

No Rail birds in Minnesota but nice boat!

I've read about rail hunting in MN. If you have wild rice in local marshes, or stands of other emergent aquatic grains, the rail birds are around.

 

[Richard Lathrop]

With Railbird season a month away let’s see everyone’s skiffs here’s mine it is a 1922 Casper Bass built in Bridgeton NJ this is all original and I am the 3rd owner. The Skiff is 13ft 6 long and 3 1/2 ft wide. It is built out of white cedar. The push pole is original as well and is 13ft long made or cedar and white oak duck feet that are brass riveted

Did you get it off of a guy in Vineland? He used to own one similar to yours.

There are some photos of it here.

Traditional Small Craft Railbird Skiff

Traditional Small Craft designs as diverse as the racy and challenging Delaware River Tuckup, the graceful Melonseed, the sleek, double ended Rail Bird Skiff and Delaware Ducker, Garveys and the numerous variations of Sneakboxes and Jersey Beach Skiffs.

traditionalsmallcraft.com

Rick

 

[CaptBobKeeney]

Did you get it off of a guy in Vineland? He used to own one similar to yours.

There are some photos of it here.

Traditional Small Craft Railbird Skiff

Traditional Small Craft designs as diverse as the racy and challenging Delaware River Tuckup, the graceful Melonseed, the sleek, double ended Rail Bird Skiff and Delaware Ducker, Garveys and the numerous variations of Sneakboxes and Jersey Beach Skiffs.

traditionalsmallcraft.com

Rick

Hey Rick, I bought mine from my Gunning club neighbor in Poconos his dad bought it in 1940s from a Corson of Marmora NJ. His dad gunned it on neshamity creek pa the it was in there barn from 1968 to 2021. Then i bought it.

 

[CaptBobKeeney]

I've read about rail hunting in MN. If you have wild rice in local marshes, or stands of other emergent aquatic grains, the rail birds are around.

The boat is very light and pushes like a dream !

 

[Richard Lathrop]

Hey Rick, I bought mine from my Gunning club neighbor in Poconos his dad bought it in 1940s from a Corson of Marmora NJ. His dad gunned it on neshamity creek pa the it was in there barn from 1968 to 2021. Then i bought it.

Thanks just looked very similar and I think the owner had sold it last I heard.

 

[tod osier]

I've read about rail hunting in MN. If you have wild rice in local marshes, or stands of other emergent aquatic grains, the rail birds are around.

Yes, unquestionably there, just maybe not actively hunted.

 

[jode hillman]

With Railbird season a month away let’s see everyone’s skiffs here’s mine it is a 1922 Casper Bass built in Bridgeton NJ this is all original and I am the 3rd owner. The Skiff is 13ft 6 long and 3 1/2 ft wide. It is built out of white cedar. The push pole is original as well and is 13ft long made or cedar and white oak duck feet that are brass riveted

What's cool Bob is I just recently picked up a 16 foot pole. It looks to be made by the same maker. Except -16 feet and has a knob on the end

 

[jode hillman]

Yes, unquestionably there, just maybe not actively hunted.

The big thing about Minnesota is of course they do not have tidal flow.

Sora do not like the flush unless conditions are very disadvantageous for them. Big flood tides. I would imagine in Minnesota you need a pretty big rain storm to get them feeling Squirrley.

 

[CaptBobKeeney]

What's cool Bob is I just recently picked up a 16 foot pole. It looks to be made by the same maker. Except -16 feet and has a knob on the end

Jode that is very cool where did you pick that pole up at? My builder was from Bridgeton area

 

[SJ Fairbank]

The big thing about Minnesota is of course they do not have tidal flow.

Sora do not like the flush unless conditions are very disadvantageous for them. Big flood tides. I would imagine in Minnesota you need a pretty big rain storm to get them feeling Squirrley.

Nothing says you're going to have a good hunt better than seeing a bird or two clinging to a piece of grass in a flooded marsh where they can't run! Of course, they swim too.

When we walk up clappers and virginias on hard spartina marshes, sometimes you see what looks at first glance to be rats running around in a couple of inches of water. But it's them, just like soras they'll do anything not to fly. One time when we were kids, we canoed out to a spot and were walking them up. When we got back to the canoe what I think was a clapper (possibly virginia) was standing on it. He jumped off and ran away rather than fly. They are a lot of fun.

What is a bit disappointing in recent years is that I can't use a .410 with 2 1/2" shells. Nobody makes a decent non-tox load for it, and the reloading recipes are non existent. Before non tox, the .410 with skeet shells was big medicine for rail. It just seems perfectly scaled for them. The 28 is now the gauge of choice, which is ok.

Jeez, did a good job of hijacking Bob's thread! Photos of a nice rail skiff get me goin'.

 

[greg setter]

Best vessel in the whole boatyard Bob

 

[Carl]

I never tried walking up clappers in coastal Alabama.
They tend to stay in the juncus marshes, which we have more of than spartina.
And getting poked a by juncus hurts. A lot.

 

[CaptBobKeeney]

Best vessel in the whole boatyard Bob

It is in the top ten in the marina Greg!

 

[jode hillman]

Jode that is very cool where did you pick that pole up at? My builder was from Bridgeton area

A pair of these Poles came out of a house in Salem. A friend of mine saved them from the dumpster and gave me one

 

[RM Anderson]

I've read about rail hunting in MN. If you have wild rice in local marshes, or stands of other emergent aquatic grains, the rail birds are around.

Cool! I've never even heard of Rail hunting until this forum. Are they tasty?
RM

 

[Steve Sanford]

With Railbird season a month away let’s see everyone’s skiffs here’s mine it is a 1922 Casper Bass built in Bridgeton NJ this is all original and I am the 3rd owner. The Skiff is 13ft 6 long and 3 1/2 ft wide. It is built out of white cedar. The push pole is original as well and is 13ft long made or cedar and white oak duck feet that are brass riveted

Good morning, Bob~

Gorgeous rig - congratulations! So sweet to see both vessel and pole in original condition.

I have always admired both the sport and the gear. If I had a Bucket List, rail gunning would be on it (I just have an infinitely long To Do list.....)

Rails are a great group of birds. We still have a few Clappers on Long Island - especially where Fiddler Crabs still abound. The old timers tell me there were many more back when there were lots of bay houses on the meadows - in western Great South Bay. The houses provided some fine nesting platforms and refuge on the highest tides. I almost stepped on one out in Moriches Bay whilst birding last Summer with a friend.

We have Soras on local cattail marshes hereabouts. I worked on the Horicon Marsh in Wisconsin back in 1976 and commonly saw Soras and Virginias venture out onto the mudflats with their young - from the safety of the cattails. I flushed only one big King Rail - the Clapper's freshwater cousin.

I hope to meet you and some of your gunning boats at Tuckerton next month.

All the best,

SJS