Gun Control – the Column GDN Censored

3/7/26

    I got a BB gun when I was six years old. The pump Daisy was a reward for having my tonsils taken out.  I had almost worn it out four months later at Christmas when I got a very strong BB gun. I do not remember the brand, but you pushed the barrel down to set it. It was stronger than anything my friends had, other than pellet guns.

    For my eight birthday I was given a well-used Remington semiautomatic .22. It had a high-capacity magazine holding 17 long rifle bullets.  I hunted with that gun until I got a new .22 when I was 12. It was like the old one, semiautomatic with a high-capacity magazine, but it was not worn out and seldom jammed, unlike the old one,

    When I was ten I got my first shotgun, a single shot 410.  And I had access to three other shotguns, all 12 gauges. The Winchester 1996 pump was grandaddy’s gun and it still had Daddy’s 1938 hunting license, his fist, rolled up in the stock. 

There were two semiautomatic 12 gauges. One with a short barrel and flash suppressor was for quail. I never got the full story of how that Navy guard gun got from base after WW2 to daddy’s hands. Something about a friend still in service taking it apart and mailing it piece by piece to him. But the friend never came to pick it up. 

The humpback Remington had a long barrel and would reach out and hit doves a long way away. I shot many doves with it. The short barrel one I used mostly for rabbits but I did shoot a few quail with it.

I got a Marlin lever action 30-30 deer rifle for my 16th birthday. As an adult, I got a 7mm Mag deer rifle as a going away (or good riddance) present from the bus drives and garage crew when I left Pike County after 14 years.

 I have bought more than a dozen pistols, mostly semiautomatic, with high-capacity magazine. The first pistol I bought was a well-used .38 police special that I still carry.  And the one I shoot most since the bullets are inexpensive for practice is a semiautomatic .22.

When Clinton banned “assault weapons” I quickly bought two, an MAK 90 that is the same as an AK 47 but with a thumb hole stock, and a .223 Colt AR 15 style rifle. Both have multiple 30 round magazines

All this is to say I know guns and have had and shot a variety of them all my life.  I know guns are tools, just like a hammer or ice pick. All can be misused, but the tool itself it not evil or to blame.

Since I was old enough to know, I have been an adamant supporter of the 2nd Amendment.  I believe the Bill of Rights when it says owning and using guns is a right that is not to be infringed. I have fought every way I could against laws that punish law-abiding citizens like me but have no effect on criminals.

For years Jay Bookman was an editorial writer for the Atlanta Journal Constitution. He was reliably liberal to the point I read everything he wrote and assumed the opposite was true. Cinthya Tucker was his editorial boss and even more liberal, if possible.

I grew up spreading the Atlanta Journal on the floor and reading it after school, long before I could hold it up without problems. And I read the combined Journal and Constitution on Sundays.  Tucker and Bookman, and the bleed over of liberal bias into news articles, made me  cancel my subscription to the AJC I had had since I was 21, but we still got it at work

In the 1980s every time Bookman wrote an anti-gun editorial, always fill of half-truths, false information and outright lies, I gave a membership in the NRA to a youth, in his name. I would send him a thank you note from them.  I always got their parents permission to give them the membership. I hope that helped create some pro-gun rights youth that grew into pro-gun adults.

Bookman left the AJC a few years ago, for some reason. Now he writes his propaganda for another group.  I see it online and, unfortunately, in the Griffin Daily News.

Read his articles. Think about them. Do a little research on anything he says. Decide for yourself.

Many folks ask why I read his stuff and listen to liberal media.  The bible says, “know they enemy.”  I keep up with what they say, research to find the truth, and make up my mind what is true and what is hype. You should do the same.

Why Do I Love Bass Fishing?

i caught one

I will never forget the first bass I caught. All my short life I had caught bream and small catfish on my cane pole with cork bobber. Usually the bobber would twitch or go down and when I lifted the pole tip the fish would pull down and make circles.

    When about 12 years old, while fishing in the spillway hole below Usury’s Pond dam, my cork popped under the water. When I raised my pole and set the hook an 11-inch bass exploded from the surface of the water.  It pulled hard, running all over the place and jumped two more times. It hooked me much better than I hooked it.

    When I was in high school I loved to water ski. Daddy bought a fantastic ski boat for the time, a 17-foot Larson with a 120 hp Mercury inboard/outboard – now usually called and outdrive.  It wasn’t fast but it would pull up six skiers on double skis or three on slalom.

    But it was not much of a fishing boat. We could run trotlines, bank hooks and jugs for cats and tie up or anchor to fish. And it was very good for trolling. Linda caught an 8-pound, 10 ounce largemouth on a Hellbender plug pulled behind it in 1972.

    Of course it had no trolling motor up front so working down the bank was a problem. The spring after Linda caught the 8 pounder, I made a wooden platform that fit over the front running light and hooked to the front cleats. 

    I put a small trolling motor on a bracket hanging down in front so I could sit on the platform and turn the motor with my foot. To turn it on and off I unclipped the battery clamp from the 12-volt battery sitting beside me. It was ok as long as the wind didn’t blow, that small trolling motor would barely move it.

    It was cumbersome but it was better than anything else I had. Clambering over the windshield to get to the front was not a problem when I was that age.

    Linda and I bought our first car together the first year we were married, a 1972 Cutlass Supreme Convertible. Our next big purchase was a bass boat, a 1974 17-foot Arrowglass that had tolling motor and depth finder, top of the line at that time.  Oddly enough, each cost $3500.00, more than half the annual pay each one of us made as teachers.

We fished many hours out of that boat, pulling it with the Cutlass.  For camping we loaded a big Sears 6-man tent and all our supplies in the trunk and back seat.  We caught untold numbers of bass, crappie and catfish from that boat.

Jim Berry invited me to join the Spalding County Sportsman Society in March of 1974, the week after I bought the boat. Fifty years later I still fish in that club but not that boat! 

I fished with Jim in my Arrowglass at Clarks Hill in the club tournament in April that year, my first tournament.  And I fell in love with tournament fishing.  I had never enjoyed playing games or sports and still don’t, but somehow the competition of tournament fishing hooked me. 

In January 1976 I caught an 8-pound, 4 ounce bass from that boat while fishing with Bobby Jean Pierce at Jackson in a club tournament, finally breaking that mark. It was big fish in the tournament.  In 1978 I caught another 8-pound, 4-ounce bass at Jackson in a January tournament while fishing with Cecil Aaron. It was third biggest bass that day. Fishing has changed since then!

I have had nine bass boats in my life. The current on, a 20-foot Skeeter with a 250 Yamaha four stoke motor, top of the line trolling motor and all the electronics and other bells and whistles now available. I bought it used but new it listed for 30 times the price of my first bass boat. Prices have changed, too!!

There is a saying “the difference between men and boys is the cost of their toys.”  Most outdoor hobbies from golf to shooting are expensive.  I am sure I could get by with cheaper equipment but don’t want to.

My current boat is almost 9 years old and things are starting to fail. But the cost of an new one, or even a used one, is scary!  But I don’t think I can go back to fishing with a cane pole from the bank.  Not all the time, at least.

    Now I fish with three bass clubs and seldom miss a tournament, due to a very understanding wife.  And I plan on fishing tournaments until I am not competitive. I am afraid that will be all too soon.

Do You Go Hunting Or Just Shooting

    Did you go deer hunting or deer shooting last weekend?  I often get criticized for making a distinction, but it is an important one to me.

    I grew up going to dove shoots and going quail hunting. That shows the difference pretty good.  Dove shoots are hiding on a field or water hole waiting for the doves to come to you. Quail hunting means going out to look for the birds, usually with dogs.

    To find quail, you must know something about their movements and habits. To shoot doves, you only have to know where they feed or water.

    I admire anyone willing to put in the time and effort to learn the habits of a big buck and do everything needed to get a shot at him.  It takes hours of study and work. 

    I have no problem with folks putting out a corn feeder then shooting a deer that comes to it. It is legal. But it is shooting, not hunting. I don’t think I could be real proud or brag about such a “trophy.” 

    Planting food plots is the same thing, it just takes more effort. You plant something the deer want to make them come to you to get shot. If you like that, I have no problem as long as it’s legal.

I worry young folks are taught to place all their emphasis and efforts on killing, not the whole hunting experience.  I see pictures of kids five and six years old with their first deer. Great. But hopefully their training will go past that point. At that age all they did was sit where told and make a shot. At least they probably have some training on hitting the target.

I am proud of the first buck I killed when I was 18 years old. I had actually patterned him and placed a climbing stand in the right place to get a shot.  Some of it was luck but it did take some effort.  I spent the whole archery season and the first three weeks of gun season learning about him. Back then that was a lot – each season lasted four weeks!  No corn involved. His full shoulder mount hangs on my office wall.

I have killed much bigger bucks, but they were all just by accident, or “luck.”  Linda and I both love venison so for years I preferred shooting a doe. I would shoot any legal deer. I still do.  And I wait near a corn feeder. I do not hunt them I wait for them to come to me to go to my freezer.

The biggest is a big nine-pointer I shot on my hunting club years ago. And I was a little embarrassed.  In 1985, I nailed two boards between forks in a sweetgum tree and put in spikes to climb up to the simple stand of one 12-inch-wide board.

That stand was on an old fire break between a hardwood bottom and a pine hillside.  And I killed more than 30 deer from it, it was on a natural feeding area transition to a bedding area.

I had a slight view of an old logging road about 100 yards up the hill but had never taken a shot at any deer on it. And it was rare to see a deer walking down such an open road.

That day during rut I was about to climb down from the morning hunt. I glimpsed movement on the road and when I looked in my scope I could see a deer walking along. I glimpsed horns, so I waited on a clear shot and made it. When I got to the deer I was surprised by the size of the rack.

As I loaded the deer another club member stopped, looked at the deer and said “You got him.”  It was a big buck he had been hunting all season, had seen several times but had never had a good shot.

I had killed his trophy with no special effort; it was just in the wrong place at the wrong time.  And I do have the antlers – on the wall of my garage. I take no pride in killing that deer.

I learned to hunt squirrels growing up so I’m somewhat prejudiced.  It took time to learn their habits and what to expect at different times and even on different days.  That training helped me kill my first deer and some more after it.

I encourage parents to take their kids hunting. And even take them shooting. But please teach them that there is more to hunting than just killing something.  Video games teach them enough of that!

After deer season, try squirrel hunting. It can extend your time in the woods and is great teaching tool.

____________________

FISHING FOR CATFISH IN GEORGIA

FISHING FOR CATFISH IN GEORGIA is fun and produces some good eating.

SOCIAL CIRCLE, Ga. (July 2, 2025) – Don’t let summer slip away without heading out to the local fishing hole and casting a line for catfish. There are plenty of locations to land a catfish, and it’s a great experience for both new and experienced anglers, according to the Georgia Department of Natural Resources’ Wildlife Resources Division (WRD).

“Fishing can be a fun experience for new or young anglers, especially when you target catfish. The gear you need is relatively simple, and catfish are found throughout Georgia so angling locations are plentiful,” says Scott Robinson, WRD Fisheries Management Chief.  “And, while catching fish seems like the best part, it’s really the memories being made. I don’t think anyone ever looks back on their life and says, I took my kid fishing too often. So, get out there and make those memories as you Go Fish Georgia!”

Georgia’s public waterways are home to several species of catfish, including channel, white, blue, flathead, and bullheads (yellow, brown, snail, spotted, and flat). Larger species, like blue and flathead catfish, can even exceed 50 pounds!

What to Use:

  • Use 8- to 14-pound test line and medium-sized hooks (size 2 to 1/0) under a bobber or fished on the bottom when targeting channel and white catfish. Best baits include worms, liver, live minnows, shrimp, cut bait, and stink bait.
  • For large blue or flathead catfish, heavy tackle is a must — large spinning or casting gear with 20- to 50-pound test braid or monofilament line, large hooks (3/0 to 8/0), and heavy weights (1–5 oz) to keep bait on the bottom. Flatheads prefer live or freshly killed fish, while freshly caught gizzard shad is ideal for blue catfish.
  • Other effective catfishing methods include trotlines, limb lines, and jug-lines. Regulation details on these methods are available in the Georgia Sportfishing Regulations Book at GeorgiaWildlife.com/fishing/angler-resources.

Where to Look:
Target rocky shorelines, rip-rap areas, points, and outside bends of rivers or submerged river channels. Catfish often stay in deeper “holes” during the day and move into shallow areas at night to feed. When fishing rivers, look for deep holes with rocky or woody cover during the day and focus on shallow sandbars, flats, and shoals near these holes at dawn, dusk, and nighttime. Flatheads especially favor downed trees and structure on outside bends.

When to Go:
Although catfish can be caught throughout the day, the best summer fishing is typically at dusk and into the night. Catfish bite year-round, but the peak action occurs from early spring through summer. Be prepared to move if you don’t get a bite within 30 minutes.

What are Some Good Locations?

Remember what we said about the best summer catfish fishing at dusk and into the night? Georgia’s Public Fishing Areas (GeorgiaWildlife.com/allpfas) are great places to target catfish, with most PFAs being open 24 hours a day year-round. For more lake and river fishing suggestions, check out the Fishing Forecasts webpage at GeorgiaWildlife.com/fishing-forecasts.

Visit GoOutdoorsGeorgia.com to purchase a fishing license online or to view a list of retail license vendors or buy a license by phone at 1-800-366-2661.

For more fishing information, visit GeorgiaWildlife.com/fishing/angler-resources.

Keeping Wild Animals As Pets

Watching a squirrel scurry around in my yard looking for breakfast brought back memories of some of the wild pets I had growing up. I know now it is illegal to keep wild animals as pets, and a terrible idea, too, but 60 years ago I had to learn on my own.

    The old farmhouse I lived in until I was 12 years old had a chimney on a covered fireplace. The oil burner heater had a pipe vent that went up the chimney but it was open around it.

    One winter Sunday night as we came in from church and turned on the lights, something came off the top of the curtains and landed in mama’s hair. As soon as she calmed down we caught the little critter, a flying squirrel.

    It had come down the chimney trying to find a warm place, I think. Daddy got the old bird cage we had stored and we put the critter in it. Over the next few weeks it got very calm and would take pecan halves from our fingers. We named it “Perry” after the detective TV series popular at the time.

    Perry lived with us for three years. I would sometimes sneak him into a shirt pocket and take him to school. He slept the day away except when I got him out to play with at recess and lunch – and maybe sometimes during class.

    One of the biggest mistakes I ever made happened after I moved to Griffin in 1972.  I was deer hunting near High Falls Lake one Saturday and stayed in the tree until it got too dark to shoot.

    As I walked back to the car, our old VW Bug, a mama raccoon and five kits in single line behind her crossed the trail not far ahead.  I had taken my big, heavy coat off for the walk out of the woods, and genius me decided to catch one of the kits in it.

    I ran up and put my coat over the last one in line and wrapped it up tightly. When I got to the car I put the bundle in the storage area behind the back seat and settled in to drive home.

    Apparently cranking the engine did not sit well with the young raccoon. I had the interior light on and looked up in the rear-view mirror just in time to see teeth and claws come over the top of the back seat.

    Somehow I got the raccoon wrapped back up and went home. Linda was not too surprised when I brought the bundle into our apartment at Grandview, she knew I was odd since I had a pet guinea pig running loose in my dorm room at UGA when we met.

    There was a small bathroom under the stairs in our apartment so I put a bowl of water on the floor, released my new pet, and slammed the door before it could get to me.  I figured I would make a cage for it the next day.

    Sunday morning I slowly cracked open the bathroom door but could not see the critter. When I saw some bottles on the floor I looked up to see two black beady eyes and barred teeth pointed toward me from the medicine cabinet. I have no idea how it got up the tile wall to it, opened the door and settled in on a shelf. 

    I made a nice four-foot square cage with hardware cloth wire on all sides, top and bottom. It sat up on concrete blocks so we could clean under it. After about a week “Rocky” seemed to start to calm down a little and did not go crazy when I got near the cage.

    One day Linda decided to vacuum and ran the wand under the cage. Rocky went berserk, bouncing off the walls, top and bottom of the cage. I don’t think he liked the sound of the critter coming after him.

    For another week I tried to tame Rocky but every time I got withing six feet of his cage he went crazy. I was afraid he would kill himself slamming into the walls of the cage. I finally let him go in the back yard.

    I have had many pets from hamsters that I raised to sell when in elementary school to dogs, cats and fish. I also caught mice and kept them as “pets” but they were never as much fun as hamsters. And mama took exception every time I tried to keep a pet snake, even Kingsnakes!

    At one time there were 22 “pet” cats on our farm and all had names.  But some disease spread and killed all but one, the big, long hair black cat that was mama to many of them.  I have no idea how she survived.

    Now I am down to two dogs, and that is enough. No more wild animals for me, they can be fun but it is illegal and can be dangerous! 

GEORGIA PUBLIC FISHING AREAS PROVIDE A GREAT PLACE FOR FISHING, FAMILIES AND FUN

GEORGIA PUBLIC FISHING AREAS PROVIDE A GREAT PLACE FOR FISHING, FAMILIES AND FUN and there is one near you

SOCIAL CIRCLE, Ga. (July 2, 2025) – Why should you plan a trip to one or more of Georgia’s 11 Public Fishing Areas (PFA)? Naturally, the fishing is great as PFAs are managed for fishing by the Georgia Department of Natural Resources’ Wildlife Resources Division (WRD), but did you know that most areas also offer additional experiences to entertain the whole family?

“Our fisheries staff takes great pride in managing these locations for the enjoyment of anglers and their families,” says Scott Robinson, WRD Fisheries Management Chief. “And, even if fishing isn’t the activity for all of the family, these locations provide something for everyone, including activities like hiking, bird watching, picnicking and camping.”

Waters on PFAs vary from lakes several hundred acres in size to ponds less than one acre with some designated as kids-only fishing ponds. Anglers can fish from a boat, along the shoreline, or from piers or docks at most locations.

All PFAs have concrete boat ramps, picnic tables, various nature and wildlife observation trails, fish cleaning stations and restroom facilities. Some PFAs offer camping opportunities (from primitive camping to RV) for those wishing to stay overnight on the area. All PFAs are open seven days a week, and except for Rocky Mountain PFA, also allow night fishing year-round.

Make plans to visit one (or more) of the following PFAs today:

  • Rocky Mountain PFA (Floyd County): Includes two lakes totaling 559 acres. Species: largemouth bass, bluegill and redear sunfish, channel catfish, crappie and walleye. Additional amenities: beach and swimming area, camping opportunities (tent, RV and group primitive camping), picnic shelters, archery range. Note: There is a $5 parking pass required to visit this PFA.
  • McDuffie PFA (McDuffie County): Includes seven lakes ranging from five to 37 acres, fish hatchery, and an education center. Species: largemouth bass, bluegill, redear sunfish and channel catfish. Additional amenities: camping (tent and RV) opportunities (campground under renovation), archery range, covered pavilions.
  • Big Lazer Creek PFA (Talbot County): Includes a 195-acre lake. Species: largemouth bass, bluegill, channel catfish, redear sunfish, redbreast sunfish, and crappie. Additional amenities: primitive camping opportunities, canoe/kayak launch onto the Flint River, and a firing range.
  • Marben Farms PFA (Jasper/Newton counties): Includes 20 ponds ranging from one to 95 acres, a wildlife management area and the Charlie Elliott Education Center. Species: largemouth bass, bluegill, redear sunfish, crappie and channel catfish. Additional amenities: RV and tent camping opportunities, archery, shotgun and firearm range, visitors center, covered pavilions.
  • Ocmulgee PFA (Bleckley County): Includes a 106-acre lake. Species: largemouth bass (catch and release), crappie, bluegill, and redear sunfish. Additional amenities: Archery and Shooting Range (Ocmulgee WMA), canoe access.
  • Dodge County PFA (Dodge County): Includes a 104-acre lake. Species: largemouth bass, bluegill, redear sunfish, channel catfish and crappie. Additional amenities: primitive boat-in camping opportunities, group shelter facility available for rent, archery range.
  • Evans County PFA (Evans County): Includes three lakes ranging from eight to 84 acres. Species: largemouth bass, crappie, bluegill, redear sunfish, brown bullhead and channel catfish. Additional amenities: camping (tent) opportunities, event center (with commercial kitchen) available for rent, archery range, covered pavilion, boardwalk nature trail.
  • Flat Creek PFA (Houston County): Includes a 102-acre lake. Species: largemouth bass, bluegill, redear sunfish, crappie and channel catfish. Additional amenities: Pavilion with picnic tables and grills, archery range.
  • Hugh M. Gillis PFA (Laurens County): Includes a 109-acre lake. Species: largemouth bass, bluegill, redear sunfish, channel catfish and crappie. Additional amenities: primitive boat-in camping opportunities, picnic tables, and a fishing pier.
  • Paradise PFA (Berrien & Tift Counties):  Includes 60 lakes totaling 525 acres. Species: largemouth bass, bluegill, redear sunfish, crappie, and channel catfish. Additional amenities: primitive tent camping opportunities and reserved group camping, canoe/kayak trail.
  • Silver Lake PFA (Decatur County): Includes more than 30 lakes and ponds totaling 537 acres. Species: largemouth bass, bluegill, redear sunfish, channel catfish. Additional amenities: Panic Pond (trophy bass pond), primitive camping opportunities, geocaching.

From Fins to Feathers! Let’s add bird watching to our outdoor adventures at Georgia PFAs. With an average of 154 species seen across all 11 PFAs, you are sure to find something to boost your birding life list. And, when you report those sightings through the eBird app, your observations provide great information for biologists and other birders.

Whichever activity you choose to enjoy at a Georgia PFA, be sure you have a valid fishing or hunting license or Lands Pass. Get a license online at GoOutdoorsGeorgia.com, buy a license by phone at 1-800-366-2661 or visit a license vendor (list of vendors found at GoOutdoorsGeorgia.com).

For more information on PFAs in Georgia or for detailed PFA guides and maps, visit GeorgiaWildlife.com/allpfas. 

Two Young Fishermen Give Me Hope for the Future and Night Fishing Memories

This past Sunday I spent seven hours in a boat on West Point with Rob Boswell, his son Brent and Brent’s tournament teammate Dylan Thayer.  They provided me with information for my September Map of the Month article.

    Brent and Dylan won two high school tournaments at West Point during the past tournament year and both impressed me with their skill casting, knowledge of bass and use of electronics. Both just graduated and know more than I do after more than 60 years of bass fishing!

    The thing that impressed me most was the maturity, courtesy and manners of the two young men.  They worked hard trying to catch fish and never gave up. They never had a cross word for each other or me, even when I asked stupid questions.  I told Rob he had trained them right!

    Young men like those two give me hope for the future even on days when the news is full of the opposite kind of youth and adults.

    The day was miserably hot, with bright sun, dead calm wind, water temperature 90 degrees and the air even hotter. It reminded me of why I prefer fishing at night this time of year.

    One of my first night fishing memories is going to Raysville Bridge and fishing under it.  I heard fishing under there was good and even back then I got fired up, just knowing I could catch catfish, bream, crappie and bass. I spent hours getting my rod and reel ready.

    We got a bucket of minnows and walked the long causeway out to the bridge and got under it.  I was tired from the walk and soon got sleepy – and irritable.

    It seemed every cast got hung in the rocks and I had to break off and retie my line with sinker and hook.  And we never got a bite.

    Another memory is of daddy and how patient he usually was with me. We were camping at Elijah Clark State Park on Clarks Hill and could see the big Highway 378 Bridge a half mile across the water.

    We had rented and old wooden jon boat and paddles. I talked daddy into paddling me to the bridge to fish one night. We loaded up the boat with rods, reels, ice chest with drinks, snacks and rope to tie up with and daddy and I, mostly daddy, paddled us to the bridge.

    After tying up I got my rod and started to bait my hook, and there was no minnow bucket! I had forgotten to put it in the boat.  Daddy patiently untied, paddled us back to the campground, got the minnows and paddled us back to the bridge!

    I don’t remember getting a bite that night.

    When I started teaching school in 1972 I had summers off so I often spent a week at a time at our camper at Raysville Boat Club.  I would fish a lot at night, fishing from 6:00 PM to 9:00 AM and then sleep all day for a week at a time.

    A few nights I tied up under Raysville Bridge in my bass boat and fished for whatever would bite.  Two nights really stand out in my memory.

    One trip I planned on fishing all night so I carried food and drinks with me.  I tied up a few feet from a family in a big boat and we all sat there, catching a crappie or hybrid every once in a while.

    About the time I started getting hungry the woman in the boat beside me pulled out a big box of fried chicken. The smell wafting across to me made my mouth water.

    Although I ate my sardines and saltines, which I usually loved, they were just not that good that night. I kept hoping the family would offer me a piece of chicken. I even considered grabbing one of the bones they threw in the water and gnawing any tiny shred of meant left!

    Another night worked out better. There were a dozen boats tied under the bridge but no one was catching anything. It was frustrating, we could see big hybrids holding about five feet down under our lights and sucking in tiny young of the year shad.

    Drifting a shiner minnow in front of them did no good, they ignored it, the shad they were eating were no more than a half inch long.  I remembered the adage “match the hatch” and got an idea.

    I dug around in my tackle and found a black #6 long shank bream hook. I peeled some shiny foil off my pack of cigarettes and wrapped the shank the hook with it. When I dropped it down under a small split shot, the hybrids ate it!

    I think they saw the tiny glint of my foil and mistook it for a little shad. Whatever happened, I caught more than a dozen big hybrids and no one else ever caught one. That laughed at me when I told them the “bait” I was using, I guess they thought I was lying, and they never tried it.

    It’s a good idea to be flexible when fishing!!

Big Bite Debuts New Sensation Fuzzy Stick

  • Big Bite Debuts New Sensation Fuzzy Stick, it looks weird but catches fish
  • By The Fishing Wire

Irving, TX – The Big Bite 4″ Scentsation Fuzzy Stick is creepy, crawly, and killer on bass. Featuring “fuzzy” appendages that are designed to drive fish crazy, the Scentsation Fuzzy Stick is truly unique and already has a proven track record.

“I first started using the Scentsation Fuzzy Stick at the St. Lawrence River tournament last year, which I won,” explains Big Bite pro Michael Neal, referencing his 2024 victory on the Bass Pro Tour. “It’s a bait that can mimic a variety of forage such as shad, bluegill, gobies, and crawfish. It’s all dependent on the color selection.”

The Scentsation Fuzzy Stick also shines in a variety of different techniques. “It can be fished a lot of different ways as well, including on a drop shot, nail weight, or Ned rig,” says Neal. “I feel like the bait shines on pressured fish that need a different profile to react. The skirt material is almost constantly moving with the water, so it looks much different than anything we currently have in the Big Bite lineup.”

Featuring Scentsation technology designed for bigger and longer bites, the Big Bite Scentsation Fuzzy Stick is available in 6 proven colors and comes 5 per pack. 

For more information on Big Bite Baits, please visit their website HERE, or find them on Facebookand other social media avenues.  

For additional questions or inquiries, please email marketing@gsmorg.com. Or, if you’d like to see the entire family of GSM brands, please visit www.gsmoutdoors.com.

About GSM Outdoors:

Few American outdoor companies enjoy a mutually respected relationship with their customers that span over five generations. GSM Outdoors is among those few! For over 70 years, the GSM family of brands has been helping passionate hunters, shooters, knife enthusiasts and anglers succeed through innovation and the manufacture of high-quality, reliable products that continue to prove themselves in the field, on the range and on the water. GSM Outdoors continues to leverage the latest technology and provide customers with the best products on the market. Tradition, heritage, and loyalty to outdoor enthusiasts of generations past and generations to come…that’s the GSM Outdoors guarantee!

Locusts and Cicadas and A Sinclair Tournament

    Momma’s parents lived on a small farm in Thomson until grandaddy died when I was six years old.  I have a few memories of visiting there even at that young age.

    There was a small barn for the milk cow and a tiny pasture for her, a hog pen where a couple of hogs were raised to butcher, a small chicken coop for eggs and meat and a big garden. Behind the barn was a pine thicket I loved to explore.

    Every trip I could find “locust” shells on the pine trees.  I put locust in quotation marks because later I found out they were really cicadas, a totally different bug. Locust like in the bible are just grasshoppers that cause terrible problems when they swarm.  Fortunately we don’t have locusts in the Southeast US.

    We do have cicadas.  The adult female lays up to 400 eggs on branches and twigs that hatch into nymphs that look pretty much like the adults without wings. They immediately dig underground to suck sap from plant roots.

    This stage is interesting. There are about 3000 species of cicadas and they are divided into 23 “broods” in the US. Those broods’ nymphs live underground for two to 21 years! 

    When they are ready to molt they come out of the ground and climb up trees and bushes.  The nymph sheds its exoskeleton, the shell I found on the pine trees, and the winged adult comes out.  It then mates and starts the cycle over again.

    When broods emerge there may be thousands of adults looking for mates. When there is a big emergence, you can hear a humming sound for miles as the males flex their rib tymbals to make the “song” and females answer by rubbing their wings together.

    The adults may live for six weeks before they die, so we often hear the “song” for weeks at a time.  Around here, brood XIX, the Great Southern Brood, emerges every 13 years. They last emerged in 2011 so they will emerge again next summer.

    One strong memory I have of the 2011 cicadas is a tournament at Lake Sinclair.  I fished for several hours without a bite while listening to the hum of the cicadas all around. Dead adult bugs littered the water surface.

    When I looked at one closely I realized it had a red hue. I knew all fish that could get them in their mouth, from carp to bass, gorged on them, so I put a red worm on my Carolina rig and caught two or three bass after switching colors!

    I have read that about the only time you can catch carp on a fly rod on top is during a brood emergence.  Carp will feast on the floating bodies and a dry fly imitating them, with a little red or orange in it, will catch them if placed in front of a rubber lipped mudsucker eating the bugs.

    All this came to mind when I found a cicada shell on the post of my garage.  I guess that one got confused and I bet it never found a mate!

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    Last Sunday 12 members of the Spalding County Sportsman Club fished our July tournament at Sinclair. After casting from 6:00 AM to 1:00 PM we brought 38 largemouth weighing about 66 pounds to the scales. There were four five bass limits and one member did not catch a keeper.

    Raymond English won with five weighing 12.48 pounds and got big fish with a 5.96 pound largemouth that almost broke our six-pound pot. My five at 10.87 pounds was second, Jay Gerson came in third with five at 7.29 pounds and Lee Hancock came in fourth with five weighing 6.63 pounds.

    I had an exciting start, catching three nice keepers, including a 3.06 largemouth, on a topwater frog around a grass bed the first 30 minutes. When a bass slams a frog working through grass the bite thrills me then I get hyper trying to get the bass out of the grass and into the boat.

    The bite slowed way down and I caught two small keepers on a Trick worm worked weightless in grass, filling my limit by 7:45.  Then I culled one with a two pounder that hit a jig.

    Punching grass means using a very heavy rod and strong line with a one ounce or heavier sinker in front of a plastic bait like a Fighting Frog.  You get your boat in close and drop the heavy weight into the grass where it “punches” through. A bass in the grass will often suck the bait in as it falls the foot or so to the bottom.

    The heavy outfit wears out my weak arms and I have to sit down to fish and that makes it more difficult, so I do not do it much. But I keep a rod rigged and ready just in case. About 10:00 I picked it up and the first punch caught a 2.5-pound bass, culling my smallest one. But although I wore my arm out for over an hour punching, I never got another bite!