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January 9, 2009

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Shark Teeth

Green's Mill Ru...

RE: Green's Mill Run review.

5/17/2005 8:29:50 AM

legacyForum

725 posts

RE: Green's Mill Run review.

Hi Chimp,

Could you give me some more details on the pile near Chocowinity?
Is it along Highway/route 33?
Are there any more NC DOT-piles, closer to Greenville?

Tanx,
Paul

5/17/2005 10:57:58 AM

legacyForum

725 posts

RE: Green's Mill Run review.

hwy 33 is correct. about 1 mile past the intersection on the left. There is a pile in Greenville at the DOT. It is off limits. I've tried to get in before. Forget that one. Either the Choco pile or in front of the Aurota museum.

5/19/2005 2:04:28 AM

rivrdigr

50 posts

RE: Green's Mill Run review.

Isn't their a pile inbetween chocow & Aurora, just off 33. you would take a right at a store coming back from Aurora.
it has some type of crossing name. we found some good stuff there.

5/19/2005 8:04:20 AM

legacyForum

725 posts

RE: Green's Mill Run review.

Hello again to all.

I have some more details regarding my stay at Greenville.
I will be arriving at the Courtyard Hotel somewhere around 8 PM on June 1st. So at best I will be able to do some reconnaissance during the remainder of that day. Unfortunately, I will be flying out of Durham again on Friday afternoon, so I will be pressed very much for time (L). It seems my only collecting slot is on Thursday evening.
Looking at some maps, I noticed that Greens Mill Run actually "starts"'/ runs quite close to the hotel.
In view of using the available time to the utmost, I was wondering whether there are any good spots more upstream than the crossing at Elm Street and the University Park?
So should you know a good spot close to the hotel (2225 Stantonsburg Road), please let me know.
If you are afraid to share "hard-won" info among a large group of people, just send me a mail. In view of the traveling distance and the duration of my stay, I don't think you have to be afraid this “Dutchy” will be able to take the whole lot (J).
Any info is welcome.

In addition, there is this “Dutch connection” I have, who was a regular at Mill in the “good old days” (2002-2003). He has a splendid collection of shark teeth. He actually was one of the few who had the luck of finding a Meg in Mill (they are extremely rare there, with a frequency of 0-2 finds a year). I told him I had some contacts in the US and he was more than interested in the possibility of exchanging material. If you are interested, just send me a mail and I’ll bring you into contact.

Anyway, thanks for your help so far and ...... wish me luck.

Cheers,
Paul

PS: Ron, I did get your last mail, but have not yet gotten around to answering!

5/19/2005 12:41:07 PM

legacyForum

725 posts

RE: Green's Mill Run review.

I have not been more than 50 yards north of the Elm street bridge collecting...it was a bit deep and too snakey when I was there. It wouldn't hurt to give it a shot, although I really don't know what it's like much farther upstream.

5/31/2005 8:28:46 PM

legacyForum

725 posts

RE: Green's Mill Run review.

I'm flying tomorrow, June 1st. I'll report in about a week from now!

Cheers,
Paul

6/7/2005 9:16:45 AM

legacyForum

725 posts

RE: Green's Mill Run review.

Hello there,

Yes, I am back in the Netherlands, albeit still suffering a bit from a jet-lag.

I was in Greenville last Thursday and Friday, and managed to find the creek described in this thread up to the finest detail, including the bank of shells near the Elm Street Bridge. So how did this Dutchie fare?
Well, first of all the customer kept me fairly busy during the day and the evening so spare time was in limited supply and the fact that sunrise (6 AM)is late and sundown early (8 PM) there - at least compared to the Netherlands (4.30 AM c.q. 10 PM)- it was extremely hard to find some time to "sample the creek".
Ultimately, I got out of bed on Friday at 5 AM (I had already been awake for 3 hours by that time) and was at the creek at sunrise, which left me exactly 1 hour before I had to get back to the hotel and get dressed for another days of work and the return trip on Friday afternoon. So I put on my waders and went down the "concrete steps" near Elm Street Bridge and immediately noticed the big shells in the bank. I took two home and actually managed to keep them in one piece! By the way, should anyone know the exact name of these shells, drop me a line! So with my makeshift gear (and ice bucket and a small crate with holes in the bottom) I scraped the sand/gravel/glass (I have 4 small cuts on my right hand to prove the presence of the latter)-mixture from between the rocks and actually found two teeth in the first go!
To cut a long story short: in that one hour I scooped out 29 teeth albeit most in poor condition, due to wear and fragmentation. Even the edges of broken teeth were badly worn. But hey, I came with nothing and left with 29 teeth.
So thanks to all of you for sharing this info (also from my son who got half of the spoils!)!

Cheers,
Paul

P.S.: a "scan" of the spoils can be found at http://82.161.106.104/~herman/forums/viewtopic.php?TopicID=753

8/7/2006 11:00:02 PM

legacyForum

725 posts

RE: Green's Mill Run review.

Wow! Its been almost a year and a half since I originally posted this thread and I finally made it to Greenville to see if there are any teeth left in the creek. I'm happy to say the trip was definitely worth it. I parked in the big lot up-stream from the park, walked down to the creek and picked up a decent 2 inch carcharias. Thinking the place must be loaded, I grabbed my gear and got to work. After about a half hour I decided I was wrong. I had a few small teeth but no more great whites. I remembered setting up a tooth trap several years before in that area, but I figured it would be long gone by now. Wrong for the second time that day. It was still there and working. There were several carcharias teeth there and the best three came up in one screen together. Glossy and very high grade they were 1 7/8", 2", and 2 1/4". I got several dozen smaller types of teeth before I decided to move on. The last thing I did before leaving was to re-set the trap. I decided to move down-stream for the rest of the day. The sand bars were loaded with small teeth and a couple of carcharias teeth as well. After wondering around for 30 to 45 minutes going,"Where would I be if I was a shark tooth?", I decided on what looked like a very crappy spot for teeth. It was a good spot. I found what I call a peat-pocket. There are some places in the creek with a layer of peat on the bottom. The trick is to find gravel under the peat. That's what I found. How can you tell if you have found one? Two things...no glass or trash in your screen and big teeth. I found some big makos, great whites, big tiger shark teeth, sand shark, large cretaceous gar scale, petrified wood, lots of big chunks of whale bone, and a surprisingly nice posterior 2 3/4" megalodon. Total take of C. carcharias for the day was 30 with 13 nice to killer ones. I had over 400 smaller teeth, most in very average condition.
The moral of the story is that with some hard digging there is still treasure to be found in Green's Mill Run.

8/9/2006 11:18:03 PM

legacyForum

725 posts

RE: Green's Mill Run review.

400 teeth! I went and picked up 20 in about an hours time. All were in worn condition. BTW, what is a shark tooth trap?

8/10/2006 6:53:02 PM

legacyForum

725 posts

RE: Green's Mill Run review.

I thought the tooth trap might raise some eyebrows. I set up a series of large rocks in a wide " U " shape with the legs pointing up-stream. I put the biggest rocks in the center and set them up so the up-stream edge is vertical or slightly undercut. I like the center rocks to be about a foot tall and wedged tightly together. When the creek floods, the teeth go bouncing along close to the bottom and get pushed toward the center of the trap. A lot of the teeth and bones get lodged against the rocks while the sand, shell, and little teeth get washed over the top. If you have a flat area in the creek that is hard packed clay or gravel a log will work, but you have to weigh it down somehow or it will wash away when the water gets high. The log has to touch bottom all the way across or the teeth just slip right under it. The traps work pretty good in small shallow streams. If you find a log while you're collecting, dig on it's up-stream edge and you might get lucky if someone hasn't gotten to it first.

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