Airboats are great
for frogging. You have to be able to travel through
grassed up and shallow areas where the frogs live, and
to be fast enough that you can approach the frog and
gig him before he jumps into the water.
A large, grassy
area good for frogging - probably why that 'gator likes
it there.
The white PVC pipe is a frog
chute.
(The kid is my son, Jason).
While not overly
fond of seeing frogs gigged, it's still a fascinating sight
to watch a good frogger at work. He has to maneuver his
airboat at a high speed in the dark with a headlamp attached
to his forehead. When he spots his prey he uses his right
foot to control acceleration of the boat, his left hand
to steer it, his head to aim his light, and his right
hand to use a long handled gig to spear the frogs. He scrapes
the frog off the gig into the frog chute
and stabs another one, all the while maintaining control
of the boat. It's as beautiful as a ballet to see it done
well.
The frog chute is
a large PVC pipe leading from within reach of the gig to
the bottom of the boat. A bag is attached to the bottom
of the chute to catch all the frogs as they come sliding
down. When you get back to town you take the sack of frogs
and cut their hind legs off and skin them and throw the
rest of the frog away.
All of this is quite
unpleasant for the frog, but you can get $8 a pound for
frog legs, you know!