GAINESVILLE SUN (Florida) 29 September 06 Tradition: Frog-gigging (Tim Tucker)
It's all about the eyes.
Dusk gives way to a practically moonless night as we ease our way out of Cross Creek and into the dark waters of Lake Orange. Two airboats quietly putter forth, their occupants scanning the shallow shoreline grasses for one thing.
A pair of eyes.
But when it comes to the game of frog-gigging, it's important to take aim at the right kind of eyes. You don't want to take a short-armed spike at a set of eyes that are too wide apart or the three-pronged gig might sink into the leathery skin of a big gator. And that is the kind of a battle that we hadn't signed off on when we left the dock.
"It happens," said Gene Posey, owner of A Family Tradition Fish Camp on Cross Creek and the leader of our frog-gigging excursion.
"I've gigged bream, eels, cottonmouths sitting under the frog that I didn't see. I've had gators run out under the boat, but usually you won't get more than one prong in them and you just shake them off."
Our targets on this night are far more manageable - big, beefy bullfrogs. The kind that fills the nighttime air with a deep-throated chorus, but doesn't give away their location until the rays from a headlamp comes across them. The frog typically freezes in place when lit.
Frog-gigging is one of Florida's longest and richest outdoors traditions. It is the means to an end that includes consuming a fried delicacy known as frog legs. But it is much more than that. It is a Cracker family's rite of passage.
"It's something I love," Posey said. "My father did it on this lake and my uncle had the second airboat on this lake in the 1930s. My dad helped pioneer airboats and they all frog and gator hunted. That included my grandfather Moses Sikes, who is the one who built a lot of Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings' home."
On this night, Posey directs the airboat while his regular gigging partner, 9-year-old granddaughter Amanda, stands on the front scouring the vegetation and poised to strike with long-handled gig in hand. Before the evening was over, she would prove to be quite a hand with the miniature pitchfork.
"I love frog-gigging because it's really fun," Amanda said. "It's just cool to be able to get out on the lake with my grandfather and see everything, all the gators and frogs. The stars are so bright at night and you can see them all."
Amanda's enthusiasm is catching.
"I put a lot of value on family," Posey said. "It's been very, very important to me. I would love to have a grandson, but I wouldn't trade my granddaughters for anything in the world. She does everything - she can run the boat, fish, help at the camp."
The best way to slip up on these amphibians is via airboat. On this night, Posey is piloting a 14-foot long, 8-foot wide GTO Performance Airboat (made in Ocala and rigged by Gene Posey, Jr.). It has plenty of power for scooting around the nearly empty lake. A 425-hp 383 Stroker engine gives it a cruising speed that approaches 60 mph.
Speed is not what frog-gigging is all about. Quickness is.
Posey concentrates his attention on specific types of shallow grass. Hydrilla and coontail moss, especially if it is around the edges of peppergrass, is prime because the bullfrogs will come out and sit on it with their heads protruding slightly above the waterline.
Lily pads and bonnets are also prime frog habitat, but can be tough on the eyes because the light from a headlamp or spotlight reflects off of the flat surfaces.
You have to be able to detect the eyes.
"You have to start looking for the frogs and train your eyes to see them," Posey advised. "The whole frog may be sitting there. But you can't see them because you don't know what you're looking for. I can see their nostrils sticking up out of the water.
"If you have a full moon, you have to make sure you don't put the moon at your back because if he sees you he's gone. They're skittish then. Dark nights are the best. The trick to frog-gigging is if you find them in the lily pads is to beat the pads down. The more you stir them up, the more they come out."
His gigs are home-made, fashioned from various lengths of fiberglass saltwater rod blanks. A heavy-duty four-pronged head is screwed or riveted to one end.
Gigging frogs requires deft hand-eye coordination, and teamwork between the person running the boat and the gigger. The usual approach involves positioning the bow square to the frog and then slowly approaching it. It is critical to minimize boat noise and movement to avoid spooking the target. While a partner aims the light, the gigger remains motionless until the last moment before making a quick jab into the frog.
With the timing and touch of a veteran, Amanda rarely misses with the gig. Within a couple of hours, she had bagged more than two dozen of the biggest bullfrogs in Orange Lake.
Grandfather and granddaughter prove to be a great team. He spots the eyes and she nails them with the gig.
"I'm looking for the eyes," Posey said again. "It's real good after a good rain. There are eyes everywhere - water drops and the spiders on the lake with glowing eyes. You really have to learn how to pick out the frogs, which makes you a better frogger."
Tradition: Frog-gigging