Pond Fishing in Early Spring
March 29, 2009
By Joel Walters
In the early spring, hitting a local pond can be the best bet for putting a few sunfish on the table. I have been dying for a good bluegill dinner, so this past Tuesday my dad and I decided to try to a pond near his house that has been stocked with bass and hybrid bluegill. He had been there a couple of other times this year and pretty much knew how to approach the fish. Tuesday was a beautiful sunny day in the 70’s, but that made the fishing a little harder. The harsh sunlight had the fish a little spooky and the water temperature was still very low. The pond is about an acre in size and fairly clear. Other than some algae on the bottom of the pond, there is no discernable vegetation in the lake for cover and the fish seem to either hang around the dock or just cruise around.
As we baited up and made our first casts, we tried to hang back ten feet or so from the bank because the fish scattered when we approached the water. My dad was casting a chartreuse grub on a lead head and I had a Gulp green imitation minnow. On my dad’s grub, the fish seemed to hit the bait on the way down after the cast. He soon had a couple of nice chunky bluegills for the basket. I soon had a hit on my minnow running the bait along the bank with a slow retrieve. The fish hit very slowly though. Just a little, tap, tap, then letting the line go slack to see if they will take it the rest of the way.
I missed most of my hits, but my dad seemed to be doing pretty well. A lot of my fish hit so slowly that when I finally did get them hooked up, they were only barely hooked. I think I might have had better luck with some live bait worked under a small float. I could have worked the bait more slowly. As it was, I was having a hard time working the bait slowly enough and not drag a bunch of algae up from the bottom. On one retrieve, my pole doubled over from the weight of a great fish. Line stripped from my reel, but then the bait flew out of the water. Attached to the hook was a large silver scale from one of the huge grass carp that patrol the pond.
After a couple of hours, we had ten nicely sized bluegill for the basket and we headed back to clean them.
There is nothing like the beautiful sweet fillets of big bluegill taken from cold water. The next day I took out all of the fillets and decided to try an easy recipe my dad had given me. I always have been a flour and corn meal guy, but this recipe seemed really good. First I took some Panko bread crumbs and seasoned them with salt and pepper. My dad usually adds lemon pepper, but I didn’t have any. Next, I beat an egg and filled a third bowl with flour. I dredged the filets in the flour, then dipped them in the egg wash, and lastly covered them with the Panko crumbs. I then placed them in a large non-stick skillet in which I had a small amount of oil heating on medium-high. After 3 or 4 minutes a side, the fillets came out golden brown and wonderful. Simple and delicious.
LBL draws thousands of tourists | The Leaf-Chronicle
March 29, 2009
Recreational area focal point for fishing, hunting, camping
By OWEN SCHROEDER • The Leaf-Chronicle • March 29, 2009
Land Between the Lakes is a 170,000-acre national outdoor recreation area in the western parts Kentucky and Tennessee, located just off Interstate 24, 35 miles west of Clarksville, and 30 miles southeast of Paducah, Kentucky.
The recreation area forms an inland peninsula bounded by two reservoirs, Lake Barkley on the east and Kentucky Lake on the west. A canal joins the twin lakes and, together, they constitute one of the largest bodies of man-made water in the world.
Kentucky Lake was created in the 1940s on the Tennessee River by the Tennessee Valley Authority and Lake Barkley in 1950s on the Cumberland River by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
LBL is the focal point of a $600 million tourism industry that draws nearly 2 million visitors each year. The recreation area is the most visited attraction in the state of Kentucky and the third most visited in Tennessee.
You can quickly conclude that fishing is the number one activity for LBL visitors. Bordered by two of the most popular fishing lakes in the United States, the recreation area is a natural destination for anglers who want to catch heavy stringers of fish, especially bass, crappie and catfish.
In addition to the Twin Lakes, fishing is also permitted in most of the 20 farm ponds and five small lakes within LBL, adding another dimension for angling possibilities.
To assist the visiting anglers with their fishing decisions, LBL provides a telephonic weekly fishing report with the current conditions on Kentucky and Barkley Lakes. The recorded 2-minute message is updated every Thursday afternoon and provides information on what species of fish are being caught, where to fish for them and what fishing techniques to use. Lake conditions, water levels, water temperature and water clarity are also provided in the report. The fishing information can be obtained by calling (270) 924-2000. A printed version of the fishing report is also posted weekly at all LBL visitor facilities and on the LBL Web site at www.lbl.org Click link below for full story!
Kentucky Afield Outdoors: Best Turkey Reproduction on Record Means Exciting Spring Season
March 29, 2009
Frankfort, Ky. – Turkey hunters are about to reap the rewards of the best turkey reproduction on record.
“Last year was the highest number of poults ever recorded in the 25-year history of our turkey brood survey,” said Steven Dobey, turkey program coordinator for the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources. “There are probably more turkeys on the ground now than at any time in recent history.”
Dobey estimates the statewide turkey flock at 220,000 birds. Hunters can match their wits with those wild turkeys soon, with the upcoming youth-only season April 4-5, and the general spring turkey season April 18 – May 10.
“We’ll have a lot of jakes on the ground this year. There will be a lot of opportunity to see a lot of birds, which makes for an exciting hunt,” Dobey said. “However, patience will pay off if you want to go after an older tom.”
Turkey numbers remain high even after January’s devastating ice storm. The resulting ice cover didn’t last long enough to impact turkey populations.
“The damaging part of ice storms, for turkeys, is that it physically prevents birds from feeding,” explained Dobey. “That period of ice cover, while it seemed long to us, from a wildlife perspective probably wasn’t long enough to cause an impact on survival.”
Last fall’s mast (nut) crop, moderate in some areas and good in others, may impact where hunters find birds this spring. In areas where trees produced a lot of acorns, hunters should target the woods where nuts can still be found on the ground. Turkeys will be more scattered in areas that didn’t produce as many nuts. Hunters should concentrate on fields in those locations.
Hunters who plan to hunt public land can learn a lot from Kentucky Fish and Wildlife’s online Telecheck results, which show public areas with the highest turkey harvest. Go to fw.ky.gov. Telecheck results from last spring’s season show several areas in the western half of Kentucky, such as Peabody Wildlife Management Area and Land Between the Lakes National Recreation Area, that posted high turkey harvests.
“As far as locations in general, the Green River Region has the highest production on a statewide basis,” said Dobey. “They have plenty of habitat, agriculture and they have great reproduction every year. That’s reflected in the harvest.”
Tony Black, Kentucky Fish and Wildlife’s regional coordinator in western Kentucky’s Purchase Region, said hunters should also check out Pennyrile State Forest in Christian, Caldwell and Hopkins counties.
“There are more than 16,000 acres there,” Black said. “Pennyrile is a pretty good place to hunt.”
Black cautioned hunters that wooded areas will be more difficult to navigate this year, as the ice storm left behind low-hanging branches and debris.
“Be careful in the woods this season,” he said. “A lot of our areas still have broken branches hanging in the trees.”
Marrowbone State Forest and Wildlife Management Area in Cumberland and Metcalfe counties is a newly opened southern Kentucky area. It holds a good population of turkeys and is open under statewide regulations for the spring hunting seasons.
The Daniel Boone National Forest in eastern Kentucky continues to be a productive area to turkey hunt. With fewer forest openings and more mountainous terrain, this area will give hunters a workout.
“You may do more walking, but it’s beautiful scenery, and there is low hunting pressure considering the amount of land,” Dobey said.
For complete spring turkey hunting regulations, pick up a copy of the 2009 Kentucky Hunting Guide for Spring Turkey & Squirrel, available wherever hunting licenses are sold
Big-game hunting close to home | The Times Daily | Florence, AL
March 29, 2009
Kentucky, Tennessee now open to elk hunting
By Dennis Sherer
Staff Writer
The last time Jeff Patterson went elk hunting, he spent 25 hours behind the wheel driving to the Rocky Mountains.
He hopes to be able to go elk hunting this fall or winter a little closer to home – about 350 miles from Florence.
Patterson is among thousands of hunters throughout the country who have applied for a permit to go elk hunting in Kentucky.
“It’s exciting to think I might be able to hunt elk only five or six hours from here,” he said. “It would be really neat if I am able to kill one that close to home.”
Since being released in 1997, elk have proliferated throughout the eastern Kentucky mountains.
Dave Baker, a spokesman for the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources, said the agency will issue 1,000 elk permits this year. In 2008, only 400 were issued.
The cost to apply for an elk permit is $10. Those selected in the lottery-style drawing must then pay $365 for a permit for non-residents to go elk hunting in Kentucky.
Baker, editor of the agency’s magazine, Kentucky Afield, said 250 of the permits issued for upcoming elk season will be to harvest bulls. The remainder will be for harvesting cows. The reason for increasing the number of permits is to stabilize the state’s elk herd, which is the largest east of the Rocky Mountains. Elk hunting was first allowed in 2001.
Baker said Kentucky’s elk population has grown quicker than expected. Baker said grassy areas left when strip mines are refilled created prime habitat for elk. The mild weather of the Bluegrass State allows the animals to grow more rapidly than Elk living in western states where deep snow often covered grazing areas during the winter.
“There is a tremendous amount of food available to the elk. They grow very rapidly and the bulls get really big,” Baker said. “We’ve already had several Boone and Crockett-class bulls harvested here.”
Gabe Jenkins, a wildlife biologist for the agency, said many hunters who harvest elk in Kentucky had never hunted anything larger than a white-tailed deer before being selected to receive an elk permit. He said most are amazed by the size of the elk.
“When somebody asks me how big the elk are, I tell them to imagine a horse,” Jenkins said. “They are as big as horse.” Click link below for full story!
via Big-game hunting close to home | TimesDaily.com | The Times Daily | Florence, AL.
Hunting scheme targeted elderly property owners | Mansfield News Journal
March 29, 2009
Cincinnati.com • March 29, 2009
ADAMS COUNTY — There were track marks of four-wheel drives. Piles of dead deer.
And sometimes late at night, Evelyn Butts would look out the window at her 100-acre property and see lights flickering in the woods.
None of that made sense – until authorities began investigating a Sharonville man for a wildlife scheme in Adams County that netted more than $80,000 from dozens of hunters and took advantage of elderly property owners.
“I’m angry, disgusted and annoyed,” Butts said. “I’m a 73-year-old lady, and you better bet I’m not gonna sit on this. Oh my goodness – I feel violated.”
Butts, like many others in rural Adams County, owns property that stretches into the woods and well beyond the line of sight from her home. She is one of at least half a dozen property owners who recently discovered that a stranger had been leading hunters onto their property in search of deer and turkey.
That stranger, investigators say, is Joseph Todd Payne, who faces several wildlife charges that are third- and fourth-degree misdemeanors. More charges are pending. He is scheduled to appear in Adams County Court in April.
Payne allegedly charged hunters $1,200 to $1,500 for five-day deer and turkey hunts on land he didn’t own. The 30-year-old helped start a company called Lethal Impact Outfitters, which provides deer and turkey hunting guide services. The company’s Web site touts “trophy class whitetails” and more than 2,000 acres of “private low-pressure” hunting in Jackson and Adams counties.
Payne’s business, which was in operation for several years, wasn’t short on customers.
“It’s a growing industry,” said Joel Buddelmeyer, investigator with the Ohio Division of Wildlife. “There’s a lot of money to be made, especially with out-of-state hunters from Georgia, Tennessee and North Carolina. We have bigger and better deer here.”
Payne’s alleged scheme didn’t land on the radar until last January, when a property caretaker noticed several people hunting. The hunters said they paid Payne to hunt there and showed written permission slips issued by Lethal Impact Outfitters.
An undercover investigation revealed several parcels of land being used.
A search warrant was issued earlier this month on Payne’s Sharonville home, where authorities confiscated computers, journals, records and receipts.
Most of the property owners, such as Helen Haverland, 83, do not live on the land. Haverland said her land is used for farming and is usually unregulated. She said she allowed hunting on her property years ago but has since posted signs that forbid it.
Butts also has “no trespassing” signs and said part of her land is fenced, but there’s no way for her to regulate so many acres.
“It makes me angry to think that people profit from bringing other people into my property,” Butts said. “It makes me so angry. They don’t pay my taxes. They have no right to be here, and to think they’ve made a profit off of it.”
Hundreds of acres of open land in Adams County go without watch, she said.
No license is required to be a hunting guide, and the only way for wildlife officers to know someone has trespassed is through public complaint, Buddelmeyer said.
“We’re getting more and more deer guides in Ohio, and the Division of Wildlife doesn’t have any regulations on them,” he said.
Butts isn’t sure what she’ll do to protect her land.
“You can’t put up a fence around 100 acres of land, and they won’t stay out because of a trespassing sign,” she said. “I never know who’s back there.”
via Hunting scheme targeted elderly property owners | mansfieldnewsjournal.com | Mansfield News Journal.
Between The Rivers
March 25, 2009
Between the Rivers guide service is owned and operated by Jim Doom, a frequent guest on Kentucky Afield Television. Jim specializes in Striper, Catfish and Smallmouth Bass in the Cumberland, Tennessee and Ohio rivers. He offers fishing all year round and best of all, just show up with your fishing license because all equipment is supplied. He offers half and full day trips that start at just $225 for up to 2 people. This includes cleaning and bagging the catch which by the looks of things could be substantial. For more information you can go to their website at www.kybeaver1.com. You can email Jim at jdoom26@yahoo.com or call him at 270-362-0221 or 270-703-7337. Remember if he is fishing with Tim Farmer he’s got to be good! Just check out the video below.
Union Co. hunting operation, its manager fined : News : Evansville Courier Press
March 20, 2009
Gleaner staff
OWENSBORO — A Union County hunting preserve, Game Trails Lodge, and its manager were sentenced and fined Thursday in U.S. District Court in Owensboro for misdemeanor violations of the Lacey Act.
The punishment was handed down for the crime of taking wildlife in a manner unlawful under Kentucky law, and for making false statements to Kentucky Fish & Wildlife about the takings and transporting of wildlife in interstate commerce, Acting U.S. Attorney Candace G. Hill of the Western District of Kentucky said.
U.S. Magistrate Judge E. Robert Goebel ordered that Game Trails, a limited liability corporation, pay a $35,000 fine and 43-year-old William Dirk McTavish Jr. of Paducah, the site manager of Game Trails Lodge, pay a $15,000 fine. No jail time was imposed upon McTavish.
The defendants pleaded guilty to the charge and were sentenced on the same date. The charges arose out of Game Trails’ practice of the killing of does over limit at its lodge at 7616 State Route 365, near Strugis, between June 1, 2006 and November 30, 2007, and shipping parts of the wildlife between Sturgis and Atlanta.
Game Trails and its agents used the Social Security numbers of hunters at the lodge without their permission to report the deer as having been legally taken to Kentucky Fish & Wildlife’s telecheck program. McTavish was the Lodge Manager at Game Trails Lodge at the time, was aware of and participated in the violations.
The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Randy Ream, and it was investigated by the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources and the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service
via Union Co. hunting operation, its manager fined : News : Evansville Courier Press.
Anticipation for the upcoming season
March 15, 2009
By Joel Walters
Every year when other guys are arguing over how to fill out their brackets for the NCAA tournament, I begin to get worked up over the imminent start of the Spring turkey season. In my state the season won’t begin for at least another month, but the process of getting ready builds slowly into its final fever pitch. At first you might catch a few minutes of a hunting show and watch a successful hunt, then you might flip through the new Cabela’s catalog, but before long, you are driving your spouse to drink with your nonstop attempt to recreate a NWTF calling championship in your basement. I probably spend at least 5 to 1 the number of hours practicing my calling, getting my gear together, and watching instructional turkey hunting videos than I do actually being able to hunt. When coworkers, people you might consider friends, jump into the men’s room in order to avoid you during April because they just can’t bring themselves to listen to you prattle on one more time about the different situations you might use a box call versus a slate call, you know you got it bad.
Another thing the other guys are missing out on is the memories you cherish of past experiences. One memory I think back on often was during a hunt a few years ago. I was hunting in Robertson County, KY on my uncle’s farm and got there just at first light. This part of Kentucky is characterized by large rolling hills. The tops of the hills are typically clear hayfields and the steeper hillsides are grown up into mixed hardwoods and cedars. I walked along the edge of one of these hayfields in the gathering light and blew my owl call into the nearby cedars. I got a couple of responses fairly close. The birds seemed to be down the hill about half way. I eased my way along the edge of the cedars with the hayfield on my left until I reached an opening in the trees. At this point the hayfield begins to wrap around in a large crescent shape along the top of the hill and forms a draw that is bush hogged clear every other year. As I looked down the draw, the tree line runs straight down an old fence line to my right ending in another tree line that runs up the opposite side of the draw. From the air, I imagine the open draw probably looks like somebody cut a piece out of a forest pie.
Looking down the tree line, I blew my owl call again and heard the birds in some trees below me on the edge of the draw. I decided to back up into the hayfield and get out of sight. I walked in the hayfield along the top of the hill, out of sight of the birds, and made my way around crescent shape to the opposite tree line along the open draw. Walking carefully in the dark along an ATV trail, I got to a bench area in the trees that was fairly open and visible to the roosted birds in the opposite tree line. I set my decoys out and set up against a large ash tree and began to make a few tree yelps. The birds responded immediately and with vigor. It seemed like a large flock with a couple of gobblers and a bunch of hens. Not wanting to call too much, I occasionally made a few soft clucks and yelps until it started to get light enough for the birds to see my decoys in the woods. I tried to perform my best fly down cackle, including using my hat to imitate a hen pitching down from a nearby tree. Whatever I did, seemed to work because I could hear a couple of the flock start to pitch down too, then all of them started to fly in my direction. I could see them in the air, heading my way, when suddenly instead of landing, the birds angled back up and landed in the trees all around me. “Did they see me?”, I wondered. I got my answer soon enough when to my right the muzzle of a coyote became visible a few feet from me. The dog walked out in front of me and sat down looking up at the turkeys and then down at my decoys. He jogged down the hill and out of sight and at that all of the turkey pitched down the hill too but completely away from my setup. What a disappointment. If it were legal, I might have been able to shoot one of them when they were in the tree above me. I saw Michael Waddell do that once on his show when he was hunting in Tennessee and he called a gobbler to him from one tree to another. I wasn’t as confident in my ability to explain my situation to a wildlife officer, so I decided to pass on the shot.
I called for a few minutes more, but the distant gobbles down the hill only mocked me and my setup. Sitting, feeling dejected, I was suddenly sprung wide awake. The coyote had made a big circle around my setup and suddenly appeared at full speed trying to grab my decoy! By the time I had my shotgun on it, the coyote had grabbed the head of my hen and was heading down the hill. I imagine the taste of plastic was not what he was expecting, so he dropped the decoy halfway down the hill.
Some people would say that this was a completely busted hunt, and they would be right in one respect. But as the days start to get longer and we make our way to the last sleepless night of opening day, these are the types of memories that get us through the waiting.
Double Grand Slam
March 15, 2009
BY JOHN BERRY
I had not fished in two days and I was beginning to have withdrawal pains. I checked conditions and noted that the Norfork was off. The temperature was thirty but the Weather Channel assured me that the temperature would climb to thirty nine and there would be little wind and bountiful sunshine. I tried to tempt my wife, Lori, but she thought it was too cold. My yellow lab, Ellie had not recovered from the constant action of our last outing, so I decided to go by myself. I loaded my wader bag and rod case into my ancient Volvo and headed out.
When I arrived at the Ackerman access, I was surprised to see that mine was the only car there. I leisurely donned my waders and put my nine foot four weight fly rod together. I waded up stream and headed to one of my favorite spots. My rod was still rigged with a size eighteen zebra midge from my last fishing trip. I waded over to a nice run and began fishing. On the second cast I caught a small brook trout.
I immediately thought about the grand slam. The Arkansas grand slam is when you catch all four trout species that we have here, rainbow, brown, cutthroat, and brook trout, in one day. The rainbows are heavily stocked and pretty easy to come by. The browns are stocked in fewer numbers but they reproduce naturally which creates a significant population. The Cutthroats are lightly stocked and fairly hard to come by. The brooks are the least stocked and hardest to come by. While several of my clients have landed grand slams in the past year, it has been a while since I have had one. It seems that I catch the rainbow, brown, and cutt, but cannot seem to find a brook. Today, by starting with a brook, I thought I had a great chance at catching one.
I picked up a couple of rainbows but the action was light. I moved over to another run to try my luck. As I was walking in, I noticed that there were several trout rising and that a heavy midge hatch was beginning. I sat on the bank for a while and rerigged my rod. I clipped off my fly, untwisted my lead, clipped of my tippet and removed my strike indicator. I was left with a seven and a half foot 4X leader. To that, I tied on a four and one half foot 6X tippet and a Dan’s turkey tail emerger size eighteen.
This is my brother, Dan’s, signature fly. He designed it specifically for the Norfork River but has found it effective on the White and every where else he has tried it, from Montana to the Smokey Mountains. Dan has been tying them for me for twenty years and they are a staple of my fly box. A few weeks ago I decided to learn to tie them for myself. I went through my fly tying materials and located the items I needed. I sat down with the recipe from the Home Waters book and a fly Dan had tied. I took my time and knocked a few out. The next time I saw Dan I showed him the flies and asked him to critique them. He told me to make the wing a bit longer but that they looked pretty good. The fly I tied on was one of my ties.
I walked into the run until I was on the right hand edge of the current and faced down stream. I cast to the left at a forty five degree angle. As soon as the fly hit the water I stripped the line back to sink the fly in the film. As it swung in the current the water pressure against the fly line caused a belly to form in the line. Rather than mending the line upstream to achieve a drag free drift, I left the belly in the line. The increased water pressure on the fly helps set the hook when a trout hits the fly. I began picking up fish immediately. I caught several rainbows and then got into a pod of browns and landed several. I still needed a cutthroat. I kept working my way down stream and finally picked up a cutt. I had my grand slam!
I continued fishing down the run and landed several rainbows, browns and cutthroats in the process. I felt the strong take of a good fish. It hit my fly hard and immediately ran down stream taking a lot of fly line with it. I was almost in the backing when it made its first jump and I got my first glimpse of him. It was in incredibly fat, brightly colored, male rainbow that was at least eighteen inches long. I swallowed hard and tried to concentrate on the job at hand. I was able to slowly work the fish closer and then he took another long run. About this time the rainbow took another head shaking leap into the air. In the process, the light 6X tippet broke and the bow was gone.
I cranked my line back in. I wasn’t disappointed. He had given me a thrill and I had really enjoyed the struggle. I pulled out my fly box and searched for another Dan’s turkey tail emerger. Alas, that had been my last one in size eighteen. Luckily I had several in size twenty two that Dan had tied. Would the smaller fly work as well as the eighteen? I carefully tied one on. With the smaller hook it was much harder to thread the 6X tippet through the hook eye. After several failed attempts, I cut the tippet at a 45 degree angle to create a point on the end of it and was then able to complete the knot. I pinched down the barb and returned to my fishing. On my first cast, I hooked and landed a nice brook trout. It was my second grand slam of the day!
Minnesota Independent: Minnesota’s gray wolf to be removed from endangered species list–again
March 15, 2009
By Andy Birkey
Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar announced Friday that the federal government was removing the gray wolf from the list of species protected under the Endangered Species Act. Minnesota’s gray wolf population is one the nation’s largest, second only to Alaska.
“The recovery of the gray wolf throughout significant portions of its historic range is one of the great success stories of the Endangered Species Act,” Salazar said in a statement on Friday. “When it was listed as endangered in 1974, the wolf had almost disappeared from the continental United States. Today, we have more than 5,500 wolves, including more than 1,600 in the Rockies.”
Minnesota’s gray wolf population was downgraded by the Bush administration from endangered to threatened in 2007, but a court case over-ruled that decision in September 2008. Gray wolf populations were also de-listed in the northern Rockies in early 2008, but a judge over-ruled that decision as well.
Minnesota has far exceeded its goals in its wolf management plan. As of October 2008, the state had a population of at least 2,900 with a goal to maintain a stable population of 1,251 to 1,400 wolves.
Salazar maintained the endangered status of gray wolves in Wyoming because that state offers the wolves no protections from hunters and livestock owners who perceive the wolves to be a threat to their herds. Click link below for full story.
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