Monthly Archives: November 2013

No Federal Fish Hatchery Closings for Now

FWS: No Hatchery Closing, For Now
from The Outdoor Wire
Etta Pettijohn

Since media reports revealed the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s (FWS) plans to quietly shutter several federal fish hatcheries in 2014, the agency has backed off from those plans – but not from closing them in the future.

Tennessee Sen. Lamar Alexander expressed disappointment and concern after reviewing the agency’s “Strategic Hatchery and Workforce Planning Report,” and conversations with FWS Director Dan Ashe.

“It is fortunate that we have an ongoing three-year agreement between the Tennessee Valley Authority and state and federal wildlife agencies to keep Tennessee’s hatcheries open and producing fish, but the threat of closure still exists,” said Alexander, who has two federal hatcheries in his district.

Plans to eliminate mitigation hatcheries from the FWS mission began in the mid- 1990s, but media attention and political pressure blocked those moves. Beginning in 2011, the agency intensified its efforts, despite Congressional mandates, presidential decrees encouraging outdoor activity, and public support for the facilities.

In 2012 the FWS slashed funding for mitigation hatcheries from its FY 2013 budget, hoping to hand management and funding to other agencies. The FWS attempted it again in 2012, but Congress forced it to finance them that year, directing the agency to secure other federal funding before defunding of the nine then targeted for closure.

Despite all this, by all appearances, agency officials remain determined to close hatcheries and direct its funding and priorities in recovery of endangered and threatened species, restoration of tribal trust responsibilities, and other propagation programs for native species.

FWS officials cited budget cuts in 2012, although Rick Nehrling, a retired 38-year veteran of the FWS (19 spent overseeing southeastern hatcheries) asserts that budget documents clearly indicate Fisheries is the only resource program in the agency the Directorate proposed for reductions then, and planned closures in FY 2012 and FY 2013.

“The other five resource programs (National Wildlife Refuge System, Endangered Species, etc.) have all had substantial budget increases during the same time period,” Nehrling contended.

Now FWS is saying if sequestration continues into the 2014 fiscal year, the agency will have lost close to $6 million for hatchery operations since 2012.

“This report sounds the alarm on a hatchery system unable to meet its mission responsibilities in the current budget climate,” Director Ashe has stated.

It appears the new agency mantra is “sequestration will require the hatchery closures.”

Ashe said the 2012 “Strategic Hatchery and Workforce Planning Report,” found ongoing budget reductions due to sequestration and increasing costs for operations spurred the review of the 70 national hatcheries.

“This report sounds the alarm on a hatchery system unable to meet its mission and responsibilities in the current budget climate,” Ashe asserted. “In the coming months through the 2015 budget process, I have directed the Service to work with all of our partners to determine whether the options identified in the report, or others, are necessary and appropriate to put the system on a more sustainable financial footing.”

A working group trying to come up with answers includes the FWS, the TVA, and the Tennessee and Georgia state wildlife agencies. TVA signed an agreement with federal and state wildlife agencies in May to pay more than $900,000 per year for the next three years to replace fish killed by TVA dams, and keep Tennessee’s hatcheries producing fish while the working group develops a permanent solution, said Tennessee Sen. Lamar Alexander.

“I will help to find a long-term solution, because the nearly 900,000 Tennesseans and visitors who buy fishing licenses in our state depend upon these hatcheries, as they are the principal reason Tennessee has some of the best trout fishing in the country,” said Alexander, who in 2012 brokered a deal with the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) to provide some of the funding for the hatcheries there.

Meanwhile, insiders report the battle is merely delayed, and far from over, and that the agency has full intentions to end its century-old mission of mitigation stocking, an effort that many communities where these are located are dependent on for fishing license sales and sales tax revenue.

Fishing Smith Lake, Alabama In the Winter

Last year in early December I drove to Smith Lake in Alabama to get information for a Alabama Outdoor News article. Smith Lake is a beautiful highland lake north of Birmingham with very clear water, steep rocky banks, beautiful houses and big spotted bass. It as windy that day, too.

I fished with Craig Daniel, a local bass pro that fished the national trails from 1990 to 2000. He made the Bassmasters Classic twice, the FLW Championship twice and has won over $450,000 in tournaments. He has also won four bass boats and a truck. Craig is a very good fishermen!

We fished only a few hours. I drove 4 hours over there and it took four hours to dive back, so I was glad we didn’t stay too late. In that time we landed about a dozen spotted bass on jig head worms.

The pattern was fairly simple. Find cover of any kind, like brush, rocks or stumps, in about 20 feet of water and fish around it. It was interesting that the 14 inch spots we landed were not even keepers. There is a slot limit there and you have to let bass between 13 and 15 inches long go.

Craig says Smith will just get better and better during January and the big ones will hit, too. He has landed 11 spotted bass weighing over six pounds each, so he knows about big bass!

Give Smith Lake a try this winter.

Are Crankbaits the Best Baits For Fall Fishing?

These Two Pros Agree: Crankbaits Best for Late Fall

Try crankbaits for fall fishing

Elite Pro Dean Rojas says crankbaits, thought of as deepwater summer baits, are equally effective into fall and early winter in the right spots.

All bass tournament pros have their favorite lure choices for each season, and rarely do they agree with each other. The exception comes now, during the late autumn and early winter, when crankbaits seem to be everyone’s first choice.

“Crankbaits offer a number of advantages, such as letting you cover a lot of water,” points out Yamaha Pro Dean Rojas, “which is important because bass are moving a lot during this period. The different models of crankbaits allow you to cover water depths as shallow as four feet or as deep as 20 feet, too, which certainly helps when you’re looking for fish.”

“Crankbaits are also effective around different types of cover, such as rock, vegetation, or wood,” adds fellow Yamaha Pro Brandon Palaniuk, “which is unusual for a single lure type. They also draw both reflex as well as feeding strikes, because they imitate baitfish so well.”

Palaniuk grew up fishing Lake Coeur d’Alene in northern Idaho where crankbaits were practically the only lure he could use efficiently along the lake’s miles of rocky shoreline. Today, rocks remain his first choice when searching for late fall and early winter bass.

“The best places often seem to be transition zones where the type of rock changes, such as from small gravel to larger chunk rock,” he continues. “Bass everywhere like edges because they give them an ambush point, and larger rocks provide that edge. These transition zones are nearly always noticeable along the shoreline so you can easily visualize them extending out under the surface, and they frequently attract schools of bass, too. That’s why I’m always looking for them.”

“I like rock, but I also look for vegetation and brushpiles, laydowns, and other wood cover,” notes Rojas. “Both types of cover attract a lot of baitfish, and they’re also easy to fish with a crankbait.

Yamaha pro’s Brandon Palaniuk and Dean Rojas are both crankbait fans as water cools, though they might prefer different terrain to try the versatile lures.

“With vegetation, I like to reel my crankbait down to the very top of the vegetation, then either rip it out with a violent jerk, or if the water is colder, I’ll stop reeling and just drag the lure slowly over the vegetation with my rod. This type of erratic action, which is so easy to do with a crankbait, is normally what brings strikes.

“The colder the water, the better this dragging presentation works, because you can still vary your speed according to how the bass are reacting.”

Both Yamaha Pros advise early winter fishermen to look for steeper breaklines where the depth changes quickly. Creek and river channels that swing close to a shoreline are among the best places to look for bass now, because it means the fish don’t have to swim as far to reach shallow feeding areas. Instead of moving long distances horizontally, they can simply move up and down in the water column.

The right lure in the right terrain has been the secret to many of Brandon Palaniuk’s highly successful finishes this season.

“They come shallow to feed, so what I like to do with a crankbait is cast to the deeper water and retrieve into the shallow water,” explains Palaniuk, “because it forces a bass that may be following your lure to commit to a strike before the lure gets away. If you retrieve from shallow water to deep, the bass can just swim back down into deeper water and disappear.”

When he’s fishing deeper brushpiles, the Yamaha Pro will retrieve his crankbait into the brush and stop it momentarily, then slowly crawl it through the limbs and branches. This is completely different from summertime tactics, when he’s retrieving much faster and trying to deflect the lure for a reflex strike.

“This is just another example of how versatile crankbaits can be,” concludes Rojas, who fishes Lake Havasu and the Colorado River near his home in the winter months. “This time of year, bass are not only feeding heavily in preparation for the colder months ahead, they’re already becoming less active as water temperatures continue cooling.

“Rather than keep changing lures, all I have to do is change my retrieve. When I go fishing this time of year, I still have three or four rods on my boat deck, but they’re all rigged with crankbaits.”

What Is It Like To Be In A Deer Camp?

Deer Camp

Deer camp. Those two words can conjure up many different meanings for different people. You can really know what a deer camp is only if you have spent time in one. And not just a day or so, but days at a time, year after year for many years.

There are always a few workers that show up early and get things set up, clearing debris, cutting grass, stocking the cook tent and generally making things right for everyone. They are the ones you call on when you need something done because you know they are dependable and will do what needs to be done.

As the rest of the club members trickle in, there are time worn greetings, often repeated by the same people to the same people year after year. New members are greeted somewhat warily, with long-time members slowly testing them out to see how they fit in. It can be worse than a fraternity rush!

By mid-afternoon on opening day of camp there is a roaring fire going, a requirement of all deer camps. Never mind that it is 85 degrees and sunny, you gotta have a fire. And everyone sits around it, close if the weather is cool and way back if a typically hot Georgia weekend greets you.

One member of the club is responsible for the fire. Not an elected position, someone just assumes the job of stoking the fire and keeping it going. He will usually be one of the first ones up in the morning, adding firewood until a bright blaze greets the rest of the club. Sometime the job is formalized with a title, but usually it is just acknowledged by long standing habits.

The fireman’s job also involves keeping a kettle full of water boiling over the fire. Sometimes the hot water is used for washing dishes, but often it just boils way, only to be replenished to boil away again. Sometimes peanuts are added to the water for wonderful snacks for those sitting around the fire, but many times the boiling water is as useful as boiling water at a birth.

At some point the story telling starts. Members who have been in the club for years nod in anticipation of highlights because they have heard the same story every year. But everyone pays attention because something new is sometimes slipped in, but seldom will anyone argue a point, even if they were there and know the truth. Fishermen have nothing over hunters when it comes to tall tales about the size of the one that got away.

Good natured ribbing is always part of the conversation. Hunters shooting a small deer are repeatedly reminded of it by statements like “We searched and searched for that deer, and finally found it when we turned over a leaf” or “remember, he toted it out of the woods by the hind legs like a rabbit.” The object of the story always just grins and bears it, or the ribbing gets even worse.

Kids are an integral part of a good deer camp. After all, they are what it is all about. Without kids coming up to learn the traditions of the camp it will end at some point. Youngsters usually sit enthralled with the stories because they want to be like the adults and experience the excitement the story refreshes. And they haven’t heard the same story dozens of times.

Food is always fantastic in camp, partly because anything just tastes better when cooked and eaten out in the woods. But there is often one member of the club that is a good cook and takes care of the kitchen, making sure the roast is put on and taken off at the right times and bringing the chili to just the right temperature to cook and not burn.

Each member has his specialty for food, too. Everyone eagerly anticipates the unveiling of the carrot cake, a treat no one wants to miss. And the brownies are jealousy watched as they are passed around to make sure no one hoards them or gets more than his fair share.

Deer camp means tradition. It is the passing on of a way of life that people cherish and want to preserve, especially for their children. No matter how hectic and troubling the world gets, deer camp tradition means some sane part of what is important to you will always be there. It is a way to save what you value most.

How Can I Catch First Freeze Walleye?

First-Freeze Walleyes On Featureless Lakes

by Daniel Quade
from The Fishing Wire

A shout echoes unanswered across the barren icepack of Minnesota’s massive Upper Red Lake. It’s hardly a call for help, much less a greeting. It’s veteran walleye guide Jonny Petrowske, proving a point about getting away from the crowd to corral first-ice ‘eyes.

“If I yell at the top of my lungs and no one hears me, I’m far enough away from other anglers,” he grins.

Catch big walleye

Guide Jonny Petrowske says the trick is to find the fish, then not spook them, to produce whoppers like this.

Petrowske says that even aggressive walleyes get skittish when clamorous hordes of winter warriors overrun the ice. Since the only reply to his thunderous vociferations was the raspy, disapproving cackle of a raven drifting overhead, it appears we’re good to go.

We’re targeting early winter walleyes shortly after the mighty lake’s surface has solidified. Shallow and relatively featureless, Upper Red is typical of many fisheries that are first to freeze, and first to offer a chance at hardwater walleyes.

“It’s largely devoid of structure,” Petrowske said, “so the walleyes are nomadic, wandering vast flats looking for food.”

Catching them calls for two things, he says, finding the fish, and then not spooking them once we do.

“Since there’s nothing tying them to small area, they won’t tolerate the sound of your feet shuffling around above their heads.”

With nearly 50,000 acres at our disposal on the state-managed section of Upper Red, we have an intimidating amount of territory to cover. Petrowske quickly narrows it down to forage-rich shallows within a mile of shore.

“Depending on the lake, such areas offer walleyes everything from emerald shiners and young-of-the-year yellow perch to frogs and other forage,” he says. “Water depths of 4- to 8-feet are ideal. On lakes with slow-tapering bottoms, the search area may stretch a mile or more from the bank.”

Beginning far from shore over the deepest part of our chosen hunting grounds, Petrowske punches a string of holes spaced at 1/8-mile intervals all the way back to the shallows. At each stop, he augers a pair of portals to the underwater world 6- to 7-feet apart to allow for fishing two presentations simultaneously. Since silence is golden, he drills all of the holes in one fell swoop, which gives all spots except the last drop zone time to quiet down.

After deftly skimming away the slush from our first hole, Petrowske pulls out a 28-inch ice rod spooled with 6-lb-test, high-visibility monofilament. A study in compromise, the blank is medium-action.

“If the rod is too stiff, your jigging motions can get herky-jerky,” he says. “If it’s too soft and you exert a lot of energy bending the rod, the bait barely moves.”

Use small lures for big walleye

Lindy Darters and other small lures do the job on walleyes under the ice.

A small ant swivel links the mainline to an 18-inch, 6-lb fluorocarbon leader. The swivel fights twist, while the fluoro battles abrasion and is less visible to the fish. At the end of the line he ties a Lindy Darter, a hard-bodied rattler that’s raucous on the uptake and swims on the fall.

“Not all noise is bad,” admits Petrowske. “Walleyes are curious and often check out something that sounds like a meal. And, since we’re focused on scattered fish, the ability to call them in is key when fishing a vast, featureless lake like this.”

Although the fertile water is decidedly less than gin clear, he opts for natural lure colors that mimic the lake’s forage base. Natural Perch is his favorite, but Yellow Perch and various shiner patterns are good, too. On cloudy or snowy days, brighter patterns with a touch of chartreuse get the nod.

With a plop Petrowske’s Darter drops into the ice water and quickly swims to bottom on a slack line. After tightening the tether, he twitches the rodtip several times to tap-dance the bait on bottom, generating slight puffs of sediment. Next, he raises the lure 6 inches and pauses. He says that this pause often triggers a strike.

If it doesn’t, he begins phase two. Gently swim the lure up a foot, just fast enough to lightly engage the rattles, let it fall, then lift again.

If you’ve never fished a Darter before, he recommends practicing various lifts and drops within sight of the surface. Such swimming lessons are invaluable for learning how different jig-strokes affect the lure.

Petrowske’s final performance before pulling up stakes starts off wildly animated.

“I rip the heck out of it,” he laughs, explaining that the routine includes three or four sharp lifts of 12 to 18 inches, followed by a pause. “If that fails, but I think there are fish around, I slowly jiggle the lure upward until I can see it in the hole, then open the bail so it swims off to the side and crashes like a B-52.”

After the lure touches down, he reels slowly, crawling it along bottom.

“When it gets directly beneath the hole, I raise it 6 inches and pause,” he says. He credits this “reset” maneuver to fellow guide Jon Thelen, who developed it to turn watchful ‘eyes into biters. “If that doesn’t do it, I head to the next pair of holes.”

When Petrowske pinpoints a pod of active fish, he deploys a set-line in the second pre-drilled hole. The rig consists of a lively minnow tail-hooked on a jig or jigging spoon and suspended 8 to 12 inches off bottom beneath a bobber.

“Lindy’s Rattl’n Flyer Spoon, Frostee and Frostee Spoon are my favorite lures,” he says, noting that slip-floats with large metal grommets, such as members of Thill’s Pro Series lineup, limit ice buildup.

Strung with 4-pound Silver Thread Trout Line or AN40, the bobber rod tempts hungry ‘eyes that were lured in by Petrowske’s jigging theatrics, but not tempted enough to strike. It’s one more ploy in his bag of tricks for taking first-freeze walleyes in shallow, featureless lakes.

How Do Wild Animals Survive the Winter?

Its nice to be able to deal with the cold weather by building a big fire, curling up under a thick blanket or turning up the thermostat. But what do critters in the wild do? They deal with the cold in many different ways.

We all know bears hibernate, but they don’t, really. Bears sleep though the winter but they can wake up. Their heartbeat slows way down but nothing like true hibernation. A ground squirrel does hibernate. Their heartbeat is around 300 beats per minute in warm weather but it slows down to only one beat per minute while they are hibernating. You can not wake one up until you warm it up.

Bugs like wasps deal with the cold by finding a protected area to hide in. At my farm, where the heat does not stay on, they find a good place to hold up during the cold by coming into my room in the barn. If I turn on the heat they start moving around when it warms up. Those don’t survive the winter.

Hornets abandon their paper hives in trees and the female will find a hole in the ground or a hollow tree to spend the winter. Then when it warms up it starts a new hive, just like the female wasps that survive. As they build the nest and lay eggs their hive grows and gets bigger and bigger.

Most warm blooded animals and birds have to stay active and find food all winter long. Some birds migrate long distances to avoid the cold When I was growing up we read about robins being the sign of spring, but that seemed silly since robins were around all winter long. The reason is robins from northern states, where the ground stays frozen for long periods of time, have to fly south. It is real hard to find earthworms, robins’ favorite food, when the ground is frozen.

So here in middle Georgia we will see robins all winter long. They head back north with the spring and really are signs of spring up there, but not here.

For a while I could not understand why I saw so many blue herons in the winter, then I realized there is no way they could get fish from frozen lakes. So they fly south to find open water where they can feed during the winter. As lakes and ponds thaw further north they head back that way.

Geese, ducks and many other kinds of water birds also fly south for the winter, then head back north as it warms to nest and start the cycle over again. Some birds do stick around in the winter and find food the best they can. Wild turkey can’t fly long distances so they have to scratch in the snow to dig up food.

Squirrels are famous for burying acorns and they do it to have a food supply during the winter. They don’t remember where they bury their acorns, they find them by sniffing them out. So they may eat other squirrels acorns if they find them. That is one reason they are so territorial in the winter, trying to run others off.

Deer and other big game have to eat foods they ignore in better times. They will feed on honeysuckle, green briar and other evergreen plants during the winter. But they depend on their fat supply, too. Deer feed heavily on acorns in the fall and build up layers of fat to sustain them all winter long. That is the reason a good acorn crop is so critical to deer herds.

Cold blooded animals like fish just get real inactive. They go to deeper water and hold near the bottom, feeding rarely. They will eat an easy meal if one comes close but bass and bream don’t move around a lot in real cold water. Other species, like hybrids and stripers, are more adapted to cold water and feed all winter long.

Some species of trout, like steelhead, feed in very cold water. Steelhead are just rainbow trout that are hatched in streams but swim out to lakes or the ocean, live a grow a few years then go back into streams to spawn. They get big and fight hard, and live to spawn many times, unlike some species of salmon that die after spawning.

You may have noticed hawks on power lines along roads recently. This behavior happens each winter. You won’t see many until it gets cold. They move to roadsides to catch mice and birds that live along ditches since food in the woods gets scarce this time of year. Many get hit by cars as they swoop across roads to grab a mouse for lunch.

Critters have it much worse than we do. They have to adapt to the cold. We can just throw another log on the fire and be glad we don’t have to sleep outside!

What Are Lionfish and Why Should I Care?

Lionfish Appear Exotic, Present Major Threat to Fish Populations

Editor’s Note: Today, David Rainer of the Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources addresses the issue of the invasive lionfish in our waters. The good news- they are great tasting, offering many culinary opportunities.
from The Fishing Wire

Lionfish in the Gulf of Mexico

A diver grabs a lionfish by the head after spearing the invasive species in south Florida, where lionfish are having the most impact on native fish species. The good news is that only the spines of the lionfish are venomous and the flesh is delicious. Photo Courtesy of REEF, with permission.

When my daughter asked where I’d been as I walked in the door late the other night, I responded, “Lionfish workshop.”

“That’s the fish that’s poisonous, right?” she asked.

“Nope, the lionfish is venomous, not poisonous,” I said.

Judging from the puzzled look on her face, I needed to explain that lionfish have venomous spines but the fish’s flesh is perfectly edible, in fact, delicious and not poisonous.

That fact is one of the main messages that Keri Kenning of the Reef Environmental Education Foundation (REEF) tries to relay during the lionfish workshops she is conducting in the states that border the Gulf of Mexico.

The other main message is that the lionfish is an invasive species that is spreading rapidly. Because it has very few natural predators, it is detrimental to the native fish species.

“They are an aquarium’s dream; an underwater photographer’s dream,” Kenning said. “Some people say it’s great that we have lionfish here. I don’t have to go to the Indo-Pacific to see lionfish any more. But I usually show people one image and they change their minds. It’s their predation. These guys are hungry, hungry fish, and they are eating through our native fish populations. We cut open one lionfish and found 21 juvenile grunts in its stomach. We had another lionfish from Biscayne Bay that had 64 juvenile fish and a shrimp in its stomach.

“We know that lionfish consume more than 70 different fish species and invertebrates. It can consume prey species up to half their size, and their stomach can expand up to 30 times its normal size to take in all that food.”

Kenning said the lionfish is the first marine invasive fish species to become established in the Atlantic. DNA evidence can trace the current U.S. population back to nine female lionfish that were likely released from someone’s aquarium. The first lionfish in the wild was spotted in south Florida in 1985. Kenning said the lionfish population has since spread like wildfire with sightings off the Atlantic Coast and Bermuda around 2000, then the Bahamas in 2004 and the rest of the Caribbean in 2007. Now, the lionfish population encompasses all of the Gulf of Mexico, up the Atlantic Coast and the Caribbean. Juvenile lionfish floating in the currents account for the spread of the species, Kenning said.

Kenning asked the 50-plus in attendance at 5 Rivers Delta Center in Spanish Fort where they had spotted lionfish during their diving excursions. Most responded reefs, wrecks or any kind of structure.

“Every single type of habitat we’ve looked at, we’ve found lionfish,” she said. “They live on natural reefs or artificial reefs. They really like structure, so we’ll see them in mangroves, in seagrass beds, boat basins, pilings. We’ve seen them inches deep in the mangroves, all the way out to 1,000 feet deep from private submarine footage.

“We’ve seen them all the way up to Massachusetts in the summertime.”

Kenning said in its native range the lionfish will reach a maximum of 13 inches. In the U.S., there have been fish up to 19 inches captured.

The reason lionfish are so successful in the wild is they possess 18 venomous spines, which are used for defense. There are 13 venomous spines on the dorsal fin, two on the pelvic fins and three on the anal fins. The venom is a protein-based neurotoxin, which can cause severe pain and swelling. Kenning said each person reacts differently to the venom.

“Snakes have fangs, bees have stingers and lionfish have spines to deliver the venom,” Kenning said. “The good news is there is no documented case of anyone dying from lionfish venom.”

Should anyone be unfortunate and get punctured by a lionfish spine, Kenning said that divers should follow all normal procedures to safely return to the surface because the hazards from ascending too quickly far outweigh the effects of lionfish venom. After safely on the surface, divers should clean the wound with soap and water.

“Remove any rings because of the potential of swelling,” Kenning said. “Then you want to immerse the hand in non-scalding hot water. Because it is a protein, when you heat it up, the venom will get broken down. If the wound looks red after the pain subsides, seek medical help.”

Obviously, it’s better to avoid the spines altogether. Kenning gave the attendees tips on how to capture the fish with nets if spearfishing is not allowed. She recommended using puncture-resistant gloves to handle the fish. Holding the fish by the head is best to subdue the fish.

Because lionfish rarely are caught on hook and line, Kenning said the best method for the recreational sector to deal with the invasive species is by divers taking the fish. In south Florida, there are numerous lionfish derbies that have been organized to reduce the number of lionfish in that area. Kenning said that one derby in the Florida Keys managed to land more than 1,000 lionfish, which translates to a savings of more than two million pounds of forage species that those lionfish would have consumed.

Speaking of consumption, Kenning also hopes to spread the word of how great lionfish taste.

Eat lionfish when you can

Chef Chris Sherrill of the Flora-Bama Yacht Club served lionfish sashimi to the 50-plus attendees at 5 Rivers.

“Lionfish are venomous but not poisonous,” she said. “We wouldn’t have a lionfish cookbook if they were poisonous. The venom is nowhere near the flesh.”

In fact, Chef Chris Sherrill of the Flora-Bama Yacht Club prepared lionfish sashimi for those at the workshop. He lightly seared the fish in sesame oil and flavored with garlic, salt and pepper.

“To me, it tastes like freshwater crappie,” Sherrill said. “It’s a lot like flounder, light and fluffy. We have fried the whole fish with the spines clipped off. We’ve clipped the spines and grilled the whole fish. We have wrapped it in bacon, and we’ve prepared it sashimi style. It’s delicious.”

Chris Blankenship, Director of the Alabama Marine Resources Division, said the lionfish population is “exploding” in Alabama’s vast artificial reef zone, and he wants divers to get the word out about how good the fish is to eat.

“We were out last week and put a camera down on a chicken coop we had found,” Blankenship said. “There were six lionfish on that one reef. Some reefs have them and some don’t, but they definitely have increased. There was one lionfish speared in Perdido Pass, but the majority we’re seeing are on the artificial reefs in 80 to 100 feet of water.

“The thing is they’re competing for the things red snapper eat, like the wrasses and small tomtates. They’re prolific eaters. They don’t really bite a hook very well. Spearfishing is really the best way to get rid of them. We’re reaching out to the dive shops and having seminars like this one at 5 Rivers to encourage people to spear them and learn how good they taste.”

Any divers who see or spear lionfish are asked to report the sightings to Craig Newton of Marine Resources at 251-861-2882. Visit www.REEF.org or www.outdooralabama.com for more information.

–David Rainer

David Rainer is the former Outdoor Editor of the Mobile (Alabama) Press-Register. He is now with the Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources.

Does Catch and Release Bass Fishing Make A Difference?

When bass tournaments first started back in the late 1960s fish were often put on stringers and most were dead at weigh-in. But that didn’t matter, bass were kept to eat. When local fishermen blamed the tournaments for wiping out their bass in their lake, Ray Scott came up with the idea of “catch and release” as a public relations ploy.

At some of my club tournaments in the 1970s we would keep fish and have a big fish fry, especially on two day tournaments. No one really worried about releasing fish although we got dirty looks from local anglers. But that gradually changed so now almost all the bass we weigh-in are released alive.

When Linda and I got our first bass boat in 1974 we had a rule that any bass we caught over three pounds was released. Smaller bass were kept to eat. We let the bigger bass go mostly because they just don’t taste as good, but also to try to protect bigger fish. A three pound bass has survived for several years and we hoped they would continue to grow and we could catch them again when they were even bigger!

Catch and release is now almost a religious experience for many bass fishermen. Killing a bass upsets them almost as much as it upsets a PETA protester. They will go to extreme lengths to try to revive a bass that is dying.

Does catch and release really matter from a biology standpoint? The answer is a definite “Maybe.” A bass kept and cooked definitely does not survive to fight another day. Some that are released do. But catch and release has problems, too.

Releasing large numbers of bass in a small area like is done at boat ramps and marinas hosting a lot of tournaments can overcrowd an area, putting strain on the food the bass eat. Crowding can lead to spread of diseases. So the long term effects of catch and release can be bad for an area.

Delayed mortality of bass often hides the real numbers of fish that die. Bass that are stressed by being hooked, fought, landed, placed in a live well, ridden around in a boat then taken out, put in a bag, dumped on scales then dumped back into the lake may be alive when they hit the water but die hours or even days later.

The science behind catch and release is somewhat questionable. About half the 12 inch long bass in a big lake will not survive the next year of their life, regardless of fishing pressure. Nature takes care of them Heavy fishing pressure on a small body of water can hurt populations but what percent of bass on a lake measured in thousands of acres are harmed by tournaments?

There does seem to be some effect, but it is mostly anecdotal. In 1983 it was easy to catch a lot of 11 inch largemouth at West Point but it seemed hard to land 12 inch keepers, the minimum size at that time. Then in April a 16 inch size limit was imposed on that lake.

Within a few years we were complaining about catching a bunch of 15.5 inch bass but 16 inchers were very hard to find. Then the size limit was reduced back to 14 inches and, guess what. It seemed we caught huge numbers of 13.5 inch largemouth but 14 inch long bass were hard to find.

Now spotted bass have changed that completely because they don’t grow very fast and there is not size limit on them. Even with a 12 inch limit on spots in tournaments, a most of the bass by far weighed in at West Point are spots.

Releasing all bass can harm rather than help a lake. Spotted bass in lakes like Blue Ridge and Jackson where they are not native often overpopulate, crowding out native populations of smallmouth and taking the place of bigger largemouth. Spots are so aggressive that five one pounders may take the place of one five pound largemouth in many cases.

The catch and release mentality keeps fishermen from helping out managing a lake like Oconee. Biologists say we need to remove bass shorter than 11 inches in Oconee to keep overcrowding of smaller bass down since Oconee is an infertile lake. But very few keep those small bass, making it impossible for the slot limit to do its job.

It is easy to blame a lot of things for not catching bass on a fishing trip. If blaming tournament fishing or fishermen killing bass works for you, use it. But in reality the bass are probably there for you to catch. After all, those tournament fishermen had to catch them somehow and tournament results show someone will catch a lot of bass somehow almost every time.

Keep a few bass to eat if you want to. Release most of the bass you catch to make you feel good and as a PR tool. But don’t condemn anyone for enjoying a few bass filets.

How To Catch Bass On Frogs In the Fall

Fall Froggin’ For Largemouths

By Abe Smith
from The Fishing Wire

Frost on the pumpkin doesn’t mean it’s time to put the frogs away. Late fall is a great time to catch bass on hollow body frogs, and here’s advice from the best fishing pros in the business on getting the most out of your autumnal amphibian angling.

Use a frog in the fall

Elite Pro Zell Rowland likes a Booyah Pad Crasher or Poppin’ Pad Crasher around docks and over the dying weeds of fall.

Elite pro Zell Rowland is well known as the dean of all things topwater, and he often fishes a hollow body frog during fall. Two of his favorite froggin’ targets are docks and grass mats.

“I love to fish frogs around boat docks and floating docks,” he said. “A wooden dock with lots of cover is perfect for a frog. I prefer docks that I can throw under, those where I can make my presentation under the dock.”

If the dock fish aren’t home, Rowland looks to weedbeds as an alternative. He focuses on the healthiest-looking beds of hydrilla or milfoil, or better yet, a mixture of the two.

“I think a lot of the fish that live in these areas hardly ever leave the vegetation,” says Rowland. “The question is, ‘How deep will they be?’ Will they be in 2 feet of water or in 4 to 5 feet of water…or more toward the edge of the vegetation in 8 to 10 feet? The biggest challenge an angler has to overcome is finding that selective depth.”

He pays special attention to areas where hydrilla intersects with lily pads, or where Eurasian milfoil meets hydrilla. Certain mixes often hold significantly more fish than others, but those mixes might also change, too, with the season or even day to day.

“I look at everything around the area when a strike occurs,” Zell said. “If I get two or three bites in, say, 20 minutes, I will key in on that exact type of area. Once I determine where I’m getting most of my strikes, I won’t waste any more casts in unproductive water.”

Frogs in the fall draw explosive strikes

When strikes come on a frog, they tend to be fast and dramatic. Now the problem is getting the fish out of the cover.

Zell also keeps careful notes on the location of that vegetation for reference after it dies and retreats from the surface. Even though lily pads die off as winter encroaches, the stems still hold bass. Likewise, hydrilla and vegetation may retreat from the surface, but there’s often still plenty of cover a few feet down.

Few lures in the bass angler’s arsenal are a better fit for the habitat they are designed to work in than the hollow-body frog. A specially designed dual hook cradles the hollow frog bodies of the Booyah Pad Crasher and Poppin’ Pad Crasher with hook points tucked against the bait. That design allows the frogs to move through moss and thick vegetation and up and over fallen timber without snagging.

“The Booyah Pad Crasher catches fish when they are in shallow water and in heavy cover,” says legendary angler Bill Dance. “There aren’t many baits you can throw into a log jam or on top of matted vegetation, and because of the shape you can easily skip it under docks or overhanging trees.”

Accomplished frog anglers impart a walk-the-dog action to their frogs. This side-to-side action is effective when quickly covering a spot of open water, but also adds another benefit. By giving a single twitch, the frog darts at a diagonal instead of straight ahead, allowing anglers to more thoroughly work a piece of cover or keep the bait in the shade of a dock longer.

“The Pad Crasher comes through mats of vegetation and is pretty easy to walk,” says Alabama guide Jimmy Mason.

Mason fishes frogs at least 10 months out of the year, and even though he’s often on grass-covered Tennessee River impoundments, he’s always on the lookout for a hidden spot to skip the frog into, such as marina stalls and overhangs. He uses the regular Pad Crasher when fishing on top of the grass, and a Poppin’ Pad Crasher when he wants the surface disturbance of a Rebel Pop-R in snaggy, open-water areas.

“A frog sends off significant sound waves, and it’s a more attractive sound than other lures deliver,” says Dance. “It’s a ‘calling bait.’ Unnatural or unfamiliar sounds will spook fish, especially in shallow water, but the Pad Crashers sound natural. I like the Poppin’ Pad Crasher when I need to get their attention. At times, they can call fish from a distance you wouldn’t believe.”

Both Dance and Rowland say that anglers need to try a variety of retrieves every day to determine what the fish want. One day it will be slow with plenty of pauses, and the next it will take a constant walk-the-dog retrieve. As Rowland always says, the bass will tell you what they want. You’ve just got to listen.

Seasoned froggers know that size matters, too and that bigger isn’t always better. Alabama’s Lake Guntersville delivers some of the best big-bass action in the country, yet veteran anglers often prefer to “get small.”

“One thing that is important on Guntersville is small frogs,” says Mason. “Old timers have been cutting the legs off of their frogs for years to cut down the size. But the smaller Pad Crasher – the Booyah Pad Crasher Jr — is deadly. I always have multiple colors of the Pad Crasher and a Jr on when I’m fishing. Sometimes I will miss a fish on the Pad Crasher but come back and get it with the Jr.”

He keeps his color selection simple, primarily using white and black frogs when fishing the grass and opting for shad-type colors when walking the frog in open water.

Catch bass in the fall on frogs

“The Booyah Pad Crasher is one of the top frogs among pro anglers today,” says Rowland. “I can’t tell you how many guys on the pro tours ask me if I have a frog they can borrow.”

Here are a seven frog fishing tips from the pros:

As fall changes to winter, weeds die back and become more scattered. Top frog anglers seek areas where two types of vegetation come together.

• As fall wears on, look for the greenest weeds possible. Dying vegetation doesn’t hold as many bass.

• Listen for quiet “pops” to key you into a productive grassbed. The sounds are bluegills slurping bugs and other foods from the surface and close-to-surface weeds.

• Docks become more productive when the sun gets high. Shade is one of a dock’s main attractions, so the more intense the sunlight, the better docks get.

• Use braid when frog fishing grassbeds, but a mono or copolymer for open water.

• Open spots in a big grassbed indicate that a bass has blown through that spot to get at something on top.

• Follow-up quickly when you miss a blow-up in a grassbed. That bass has just shown you where it is. If it won’t hit the frog again, try an unweighted YUM Dinger.

• Trim one of the Pad Crasher’s legs shorter than the other to make it walk easier.

Two Club Tournaments and A Top Six At Hartwell

Bass fishing is good in November but it does vary a lot, as three tournaments show. Two years ago the Potato Creek Bassmasters fished their November tournament at Oconee. Then the Spalding County Sportsman Club fished its November tournament at Lanier. And the Flint River Bass Club sent a six man team to the Georgia Bass Chapter Federation Nation State Championship at Hartwell.

At Oconee, 20 members of the Potato Creek club weighed in 24 keeper bass weighing 40.68 pounds. There was one five-fish limit and six members didn’t have a keeper bass after eight hours of fishing.

Bobby Ferris won with the only limit and his five fish weighed 8.44 pounds. Wesley Gunnels was second with three bass weighing 5.17 pounds, Michael Cox was came in third with three at 4.63 pounds and Bob Nash placed fourth with two at 3.03 pounds. Pete Peterson had big fish with a 2.48 pound largemouth.

Fishing was tough for bigger bass at Oconee and the 14 inch size limit makes it harder to land a keeper bass.

At Lanier the next Sunday 11 members and guests of the Spalding County Sportsman Club fished for eight hours to land 13 keeper bass weighing about 27 pounds. There were no limits and four fishermen zeroed in the tournament.

Javin English won it all with four bass weighing 9.84 pounds and his 3.66 pound bass was big fish. Jimmy Harmon came in second with two keepers at 4.93 pounds, Kwong Yu placed third with two at 3.66 pounds and Russell Prevette had two at 3.62 pounds.

There is a 14 inch limit at Lanier and the spotted bass just didn’t cooperate.

At Hartwell six Flint River club members fished for two days to try to qualify for the State Team. The top 14 fishermen in this tournament advance to the Southern Regional in Kentucky next April. The top man on that team will go on to the Nationals where one fisherman from each region will qualify for the Bassmasters Classic.

Although there are no team awards other than bragging rights, the six club members, myself, Bobby Ferris, Lee Hancock, JJ Polak, Charles Gaddy and Chris Lee worked together and tried to help each other out. All of us but Chris went up Wednesday or Thursday and practiced two days trying to find fish for the tournament.

It took ten bass weighing 24 pounds to win. I caught ten weighing 17.94 pounds and came in 8th. I was happy but disappointed at the same time since the top seven fishermen get to take their boats to the Regional and I missed that, so I will have to fish out of someone else’s boat.

JJ Polak finished in 10th and will also be on the team. He had ten bass weighing 17.53 pounds. JJ owns JJ’s Magic dip and dye and Ole Nelle bait company and is president of the Flint River Club.

In two days of practice I caught some fish but was worried. On Thursday I landed seven keepers but they were all small. Then on Friday it took me from daylight to 11:00 AM to catch a bass. That one was a good three pound fish and it hit back in a creek where I had caught fish before. I hooked several more in a few minutes before leaving the area.

In the tournament on Saturday we went there but in the first two hours I broke off a fish in a tree top and my partner landed one. We ran to another place I wanted to fish but another boat was already there. I stopped on a nearby dock and landed my best fish of the tournament, one close to four pounds.

After fishing several more docks in the area I told my partner I felt like we should go back where we started. Between noon and leaving at 3:10 to get to weigh-in on time we both landed our limit. I caught two keepers on my last two casts at 3:05, just a few minutes before we had to crank up for the ten mile run.

I was surprised to be in 14 place out of 90 fishermen after the first day. The second day my partner and I ran the small creek, shut down the gas motor at 7:10 AM and did not crank it until 2:45 for the run back to the ramp. I got another limit but it was slow. He caught three keepers.

I was happy to make the state team again. My partner from the first day got a limit the second day and also made the team, visiting in 12th place.

If club fishing and going to the Top Six sounds like fun, both the Flint River and Spalding County clubs are taking new members and everything starts over in January. The Potato Creek club does not send a team to the Top Six but have their own championship.

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