Monthly Archives: April 2019

If Gun Control Laws Worked Those Supporting Them Would Not Have To Lie

“We flood communities with so many guns, that it is easier for a teen to buy a Glock than get his hands on a computer or even a book,” claimed President Obama That statement ranks right up there with “If you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor. If you like your health care plan, you can keep your health care plan.” on any truth meter.

It is against federal law for anyone younger than 21 years old to buy or possess a pistol. Glock makes only pistols. A teenager is younger than 21. So the statement is inherently false unless you add “legal Glock.” But that just shows the futility of more laws like the ones already ignored.

If gun control laws worked those supporting them would not have to lie.

I’m still waiting to hear about all the shootings in Cleveland during the RNC by the folks legally carrying guns openly. The head of the police union there lost all credibility with me when he said “We are going to be looking very, very hard at anyone who has an open carry,” he said. “An AR-15, a shotgun, multiple handguns. It’s irresponsible of those folks — especially right now — to be coming downtown with open carry AR’s or anything else. I couldn’t care less if it’s legal or not.” I don’t want those folks walking around with automatic weapons.

So this guy is head of the police union and doesn’t care what is legal? And he doesn’t know or wants to ignore the fact that automatic weapons are almost impossible to own in the US right now? That scares me.

Several times tv news shows showed folks walking around the convention area with ARs and other mean looking guns on their backs. Did you hear of any shootings done by them? NO, because there were none. Law-abiding citizens with guns are not the problem and more laws won’t affect those that do not obey them.

I have to fear for the future of the US when I listen to folks like Michael Moore. He is a hero of liberals and recently said: “Don’t get me wrong. I have great hope for the country I live in. Things are better. A majority of Americans now take the liberal position on just about every polling question posed to them: More gun control – check. A huge shift has taken place – just ask the socialist who won 22 states this year. And there is no doubt in my mind that if people could vote from their couch at home on their X-box or PlayStation, Hillary would win in a landslide.”

Look at the first part – is that what you want for your country? And don’t imagine he is accurate – the last Gallup poll I could find that asked the simple question “In general, do you feel the laws covering the sale of firearm should be made more strict, less strict, or kept as they are now?” found that 53 percent said the same or less verses 47 percent wanting more.

So Moore is either lying or simply does not know what he is talking about. Or both. After all, he wants us to be a socialists country – while he hordes his millions, I’m sure.

The last two sentences are very telling, and probably right. The folks too lazy to get off their couches and go vote, those that playing computer games is more important than voting, support Hillary and are liberal. Is that who we want running out country, those so sorry they won’t work or vote but sit on their couches playing games and living off the productive members of our society? And no doubt support gun control. Not me.

New Fisheries Management Plan for Greers Ferry

New Fisheries Management Plan for Greers Ferry Includes Angler Input
By Randy Zellers
Assistant Chief of Communications
from the Fishing Wire

HEBER SPRINGS — The Arkansas Game and Fish Commission has completed its new fishery management plan for Greers Ferry Lake thanks in part to the input of anglers through recent public meetings and surveys. The plan addresses steps the AGFC will take to improve the fishing experience for all anglers on this popular body of water during the next five years.

According to Matt Schroeder, regional fisheries biologist at the AGFC’s Mayflower Regional Office, there are many aspects of a fishery beyond the control and capability of the AGFC to manipulate. There are, however, some factors the AGFC can address to try to improve the fishery for anglers.

“The lake is owned and operated by the (U.S. Army) Corps of Engineers and its primary purpose is flood control, mandated by The Flood Control Act of 1938,” Schroeder said. “We have talked with them many times about changes to water management for fishery health, but they have to follow the plans handed to them for flood control as their primary purpose. That being said, they work within their mandate as much as they can to help recreation, and Greers is in the top 10 reservoirs in the country for recreational boating.”

Helping Habitat
Because of its primary purpose in flood control, the lake’s water level cannot be manipulated to promote the fishery by flooding shoreline cover during the spawn and lowering it after young-of-the-year fish have grown larger to establish next year’s shoreline vegetation. But that doesn’t mean biologists cannot do anything to improve the lake’s fish habitat.

“Since water level manipulation and seasonal flooding is out of our control, we can work to add as much habitat as we can in the aging reservoir to benefit both fish and anglers,” Schroeder said. “We already have conducted large-scale habitat projects on the lake to give different species year-round options for cover and likely areas for anglers to locate predatory fish such as largemouth bass and crappie. Our new plan will continue with these large-scale habitat projects.”

The new fishery plan also will continue to focus on establishing native aquatic vegetation on Greers Ferry where possible. Aquatic vegetation in a reservoir can add an exceptional amount of spawning and nursery habitat for fish, but it is extremely difficult to establish in reservoirs with highly fluctuating water levels. Efforts to establish aquatic plants in Greers Ferry, Bull Shoals, Greeson, and elsewhere have been largely unsuccessful so far because of massive annual water level changes, but biologists have not given up and are always looking for a better way. AGFC biologists meet regularly with biologists from surrounding states to discuss strategies that have worked elsewhere, but there are few examples of success in highland lakes.

“We will continue to identify suitable native plant species that will benefit the fishery without overtaking it,” Schroeder said. “Once those have been selected, we will conduct plantings of one or more of these species at different locations and depths and evaluate its effect on the fishery before adapting planting strategies for future establishment.”

Fish Food
A tried-and-true program initiated by AGFC biologists at Greers Ferry in the last few years is boosting the forage population of the lake through stockings of threadfin shad. The shad are stocked directly from hatchery trucks and from the lake’s nursery pond located at Mill Creek. Forage species stocked in Greers Ferry before this period consisted primarily of bluegill, which also serve as sport fish. In 2015, fisheries biologists evaluated the forage base and discovered that the lake’s threadfin shad population was depleted. Extremely harsh winters and an abundance of predatory fish likely had taken their toll.

Biologists immediately made plans to stock a crop of bluegill through the nursery and began researching the possibility of stocking threadfin shad the following year. In 2016, 36,500 adult-size and 563,856 fingerling-size threadfin shad were stocked into Greers Ferry. This was followed by an additional 10,000 adults and 1 million fingerlings stocked in 2017 to boost the population. Pre-spawn adult shad were stocked in the nursery pond and allowed to spawn. The shad were even more prolific than expected, and fingerling production was excellent.

“The new plan lays out the need for more focus on forage, calling for more threadfin shad stockings each spring and fall in all parts of the lake,” Schroeder said. “When shad are not available, we will shift to other forage species, such as fathead minnows and bluegill. We also have plans to try some new crayfish stockings once we do enough research to see if we can culture species native to Greers Ferry.”

Schroeder says many anglers present at the focus groups asked for increased stockings of sport fish, such as largemouth and smallmouth bass in addition to the forage, but the lake’s current situation is a lack of food, not predators.

“We would just be adding more mouths to feed into a fishery that already is pretty infertile,” Schroeder said. “And although Florida bass fingerlings have been stocked in the lake in the past, the lake has shown very poor characteristics for those genetics to thrive.”

Halting Hybrids
One management practice that has seen controversy over the last decade is the stocking of hybrid striped bass at Greers Ferry. A manmade cross between the native white bass and the non-native striped bass, the hybrid is a much-sought gamefish in some states and has seen popularity with Arkansas anglers at times. However, during recent creel surveys conducted at the lake, only 4 percent of anglers on Greers were targeting white bass or hybrids. Additionally, a follow-up mail-in survey of willing Greers Ferry creel survey participants conducted by AGFC biologists found that anglers opposed their stocking overall.

Ben Batten, chief of the AGFC’s Fisheries Division, says recent research also suggests hybrids at Greers Ferry could have adverse effects on forage at the rate they currently occur. Of particular interest is the hybrid’s ability to switch forage on Greers Ferry in the absence of open water shad populations.

“When shad populations decline, striped bass will suffer because they don’t readily adapt to different forage and habitat. This helps keep striped bass in check if the shad get scarce,” Batten said. “But recent studies have indicated hybrids may take after their white bass parents and switch to crayfish and other forage that bass, walleye and other gamefish use.”

The last time hybrid striped bass were stocked at Greers Ferry was in 2014. With the lack of angler interest and the concerns over the lake’s forage base, no more hybrids will be stocked for the foreseeable future.

One Foot Across the Black Bass Board
Bass anglers also will note the possibility of a regulation change regarding minimum length limits on largemouth, smallmouth and spotted bass derived from the meetings.

“In 2020, we will propose a straight 12-inch minimum length limit for all three black bass species in Greers Ferry that will be effective in 2021 if it passes Commission approval,” Schroeder said. “There’s currently a 15-inch minimum length limit on largemouth, but recent research has shown no biological need for it to be so high.”

Schroeder explains that minimum length limits are placed on lakes when there is an issue with poor or inconsistent recruitment or when the species sees high mortality rates from harvest. It also requires a good growth rate for fish to move up into harvestable size quickly enough that they don’t overpopulate.

“Recent research suggests that it takes four-and-a-half years for a largemouth to grow beyond the 15-inch minimum length limit, and that the annual rate of mortality from natural and catch-and-release angling combined only reaches 30 percent of the population in a given year,” Schroeder said. “And our game fish species are currently at or above the carrying capacity that the lake can support, so we need to increase harvest of some fish to enable faster growth rates.”

Schroeder says adding the minimum length limit on spotted bass was part of the AGFC’s current goal of keeping regulations simple. A standard 12-inch length limit will be easier for anglers to remember and won’t penalize any tournament anglers looking to bring fish to the weigh-in.

“No matter which species, if it’s a black bass it will have to be 12 inches long to keep if the regulation passes next year,” Schroeder said. “Anglers won’t have to worry about trying to identify a spotted bass from a largemouth.”

Helping Hands
The good turnout at both Greers Ferry public meetings as well as at the recent town hall meeting with Commissioners gives biologists and administrators hope a new resource can be used more effectively in the future — the anglers themselves. Many focus group attendees said they would be willing to volunteer their time to participate in future habitat projects and other initiatives to help the lake’s fishery. Schroeder says habitat projects are an ideal way anglers can contribute to be a part of the solution, and the amount of habitat that can be added can be greatly enhanced.

“Moving forward, we will try to reach out through media outlets and create a volunteer distribution list for help,” Schroeder said. “We’re anglers too, that’s why we wanted to be fisheries biologists in the first place. I think there are a lot of areas where we can all work together to help the Greers Ferry fishery.”

The complete Greers Ferry Fishery Management Plan and management plans for other lakes in the state are available at www.agfc.com/fishmanagement.

Renew Your Fishing License

For years, Georgia fishing and hunting licenses expired on April 1 each year. Now, they expire on the day you bought them a year later if you buy an annual license. That confuses many folks and they forget to check and renew them on time, risking a fine.

April Fools Day always reminds me to check my license since I had to buy one by then for many years. I did this year, it expires in 2216. I got my lifetime Senior License a few years ago but forget that and check anyway. I just wish I could be fishing 197 years from now when it expires, and I would have to renew it.

I never minded paying for hunting and fishing licenses. The fees are used to improve those activities in a variety of ways, from hiring new game wardens to funding hatcheries that produce all our hybrids and most of our trout.

My only worry about the fees is that they will not be used as intended. As I understand the process, the license fees go into the general fund and then legislators have to approve it being spent at intended. It would be too easy for them to spend that money in other ways.

I would not be happy if they voted to use the money for something like highway improvement. Not only would that be double taxation, hunters and fishermen already pay the gas tax for that, it would go against the way the money was intended to be spent.

I feel the same way about outdoor recreation that has nothing to do with hunting and fishing. Funding a nature trail on public land is nice, but do not use money hunters and fishermen paid to improve their sports. Use money from a fee or pass for using the area if not hunting or fishing.

Hunters and fishermen fund our sports nationally, too. The Dingle-Johnson Act places a ten percent excise tax on all fishing equipment. You pay it when you buy hooks or reels, or anything else related. Hunters pay the Pitman-Robinson excise tax for the same reason.

Funds are collected by the federal government and most of it is sent back to the states as block grants. The amount each state gets is based on a formula that includes number of hunting and fishing licenses issued by that state. It also requires that the receiving state spend all their state hunting and fishing license fees on those activities.

States are required to spend this money on hunting and fishing, but all outdoorsmen benefit. Most state hunting areas are open to bird watchers, hikers and others that do not hunt but get to enjoy lands hunters and fishermen purchased and conserved.

Check you fishing and hunting license!

White Bass Time Across Arkansas

White Bass Time Across Arkansas
Randy Zellers Assistant Chief of Communications
Arkansas Game and Fish Commission
from the Fishing Wire

LITTLE ROCK — Each spring, anglers across The Natural State start getting the fever for some fishing action. Sure, die-hard anglers and veteran bass fishermen have been on the water fishing for big fish for the last month or so, and many crappie anglers never put the boat away in winter, but by and large, the best angling action of the year is just around the corner. If there’s a kickoff to “fishing season,” it’s the fast and furious angling action brought on by the annual migration of white bass from large lakes and rivers upstream to their spawning areas each spring.

“The white bass spawn is fishing’s equivalent of the opening day of dove season,” said Chris Racey, deputy director of the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission. “You’ll start hearing people ask, ‘Are the white bass running yet?’ beginning in late February and early March every year.”

White bass typically start concentrating near the mouths of streams feeding lakes and rivers each year as the surface water temperature begins to reach 50 degrees. When the water warms to the mid-50s, the fish will move upstream as far as they are able and spawn on sand or gravel surfaces with flowing water that will aerate their eggs.

“White bass don’t tend and fan a nest like crappie, bream or largemouth bass,” Racey, who was a fisheries biologist for the AGFC for many years, said. “Instead, their eggs settle to the bottom and stick to rocks and gravel where the current keeps them aerated until they hatch.”

The fish actually don’t bite much when they are actively spawning, but feed heavily just before and afterward.

“It’s more a matter of fish being concentrated in an area and being easier to locate that makes the white bass run such a big deal for many anglers,” Racey said. “And this is one of the few times of the year that these fish, which normally spend their time in deep water, will be available for bank anglers.”

Keeping things light is a must for walk-in angling, and Racey has narrowed down his arsenal to some specific lures for people to carry in their pack.

“I have three baits in my white bass tackle box,” Racey said. “My go-to is a white 2-inch curly shad Bass Assassin grub on a 1/16-oz. jighead. Then I’ll bring a ?- or ¼-oz. White spinner with a silver blade and a small, blue over orange belly Rapala suspending jerk bait. You can throw all of them on light spinning tackle.”

Here’s a list of some of the most popular places to try your hand at fishing for white bass this spring, according to the biologists who work and fish on these waters. There’s even one location in this list that has no limit on white bass, so anglers looking to have a family fish fry can load the boat.

Magical Millwood
Typically one of the first locations in the state to start receiving reports about the annual white bass run is Millwood Lake in Little River County. This southwestern Arkansas reservoir is known as one of the best places in the state to chase memorable-sized largemouth bass because of an intense Florida-strain largemouth stocking program that has been in place for decades and its shallow-water habitat that is the key to the strain’s success. The river that feeds this giant reservoir also is home to some incredible action during the white bass spawn if anglers know where to look. According to AGFC Regional Fisheries Biologist Supervisor Eric Brinkman, many anglers enjoy fishing the river section of the lake by boat for fiesty white bass.

“Little River anywhere upstream of Yarborough Landing on Millwood is a good place to fish,” Brinkman said.

According to the AGFC Weekly Fishing Report, Millwood Lake Guide Service points out McGuire Oxbow and the entrance to Cemetery Slough as likely staging areas, but when the fish move upstream of the U.S. Highway 71 bridge, the spawn is in full force.

Other areas on Brinkman’s short list for the white bass spawn include Star of the West Recreation Area and Self Creek on Lake Greeson in Pike County and the Saline River upstream of Dierks Lake in Sevier County, although a boat is required for Self Creek and Dierks.

Bust ‘em at Beaver Lake
In the far northwestern corner of the state, Beaver Lake offers one of the best white bass runs for Arkansans. It also has the distinction of being one of the few places in the state where you may find a trophy-class striper working its way up the same tributaries as the white bass. Fisheries Supervisor Jon Stein says this year has already gotten off to an excellent start, with many anglers reporting 100-fish days. And keeping those white bass is no issue because Beaver Lake and its tributaries have no daily limit for white bass. The prolific nature of the species and relatively light pressure on the resource have made limits on the fish unnecessary in this corner of the state.

“The fish move into the river arms to spawn,” Stein said. “The best locations are out of the Highway 45 Access, called Twin Bridges, on the White River and War Eagle Creek below War Eagle Mill. You don’t have to get too technical with it, either. A Mister Twister Sassy Shad on a jighead works just fine for me to catch whites on the run.”

Find the flow at Lake Conway
White bass also make a spawning run around Lake Conway, but the hot bite may be in different locations depending on water flow. AGFC Regional Fisheries Supervisor Tom Bly and Fisheries Biologist Matt Schroeder both agree that the upstream end of Gold Creek beyond Wilhelmena Cove, a popular crappie-fishing location, in the northwest portion of the lake has a good run of white bass. Another place where anglers can look for some action is below the dam where the lake flows into Palarm Creek.

“We will get reports of white bass and some stripers from the Arkansas River running up to as far as the Conway Dam, but there won’t be much action unless the gates of the dam are open to maintain water levels during rain events,” Bly said. But you can catch them on white or shad-colored curly tailed grubs on jigheads, smaller crankbaits or shad imitations on a fly rod.”

Bly notes the weir on Palarm Creek at Cadron Settlement Park on the Arkansas River sees a similar migration of white bass where the fish moving from the river are concentrated into a small area.

Greers Ferry a good bet
Another good white bass run occurs in the river arms on the northern section of Greers Ferry Lake in Heber Springs. The lake is known as the site of the former world-record walleye, and that species also is known to make spawning runs within the Devil’s Fork, Middle Fork and South Fork of the Little Red River. Chasing white bass on this lake usually means having a boat, but one of the most popular destinations can be found at the Johnson Hole Access of the South Fork arm north of Clinton. Boaters can access the area from the lake or can launch at this access, but the creek has many shallow areas between the main lake and where the whites run, making it a better prospect for small boats, kayaks and walk-in access. According to Bly, many anglers will catch their limits in this section of the river during the annual spawning run.

Maumelle mainstay
It seems like every year, one location sees more attention than the rest in the state from white bass anglers. Perhaps it is because of its close proximity to Little Rock, or perhaps it is because the white bass run here is just that good. Either way, the upstream end of Lake Maumelle is so popular with white bass anglers and creek fishermen that the AGFC and Central Arkansas Water worked together to enhance access at the west end of the lake. Sleepy Hollow Access was enhanced with a campground, two boat ramps for boats with motors 25 horsepower and less and a courtesy dock. A parking area also was constructed for a special walk-in only area called Bringle Creek Access. Both of these access points can be found with a few miles of where Arkansas Highway 10 crosses the lake’s upstream end. You’d be hard pressed to find either of the parking lots of these areas empty from March through May each year as anglers tote their favorite spinning rod and curly-tailed grubs to fool the fish as they feed along the shoals before spawning. The stream is part of Lake Maumelle, so no wading is allowed, but there is plenty of shoreline to walk and fish.

Lake Oconee March Club Tournament

Sunday, March 24, 11 members of the Spalding County Sportman Club fished our March tournament at Lake Oconee. After casting eight hours, from 7:30 AM until 3:30 PM, we brought 27 keeper bass to the scales weighing about 48 pounds. There was one five-fish limit and everyone caught at least one keeper.

I managed to scratch out a win with four weighing 7.54 pounds, Raymond English with the only limit was second with 7.34 pounds and Wayne Teal placed third with four at 7.19 pounds. Niles Murray, Raymond’s partner, came in fourth with two keepers for 5.71 pounds and had big fish with a nice 3.47 pounder.

It was a tough day. I had mixed hopes since the BFL there the day before had been won with five bass weighing 21 pounds 11 ounces so I knew the big fish would bite – for some. But it took only 10 pounds 11 ounces to get a check in 24th place. That is a low weight for a check for those guys, so I knew it would be tough for fishermen like me.

I started casting a spinnerbait and crankbait to a rocky point at the mouth of a big cove. Prespawn bass should be feeding on places like that. With the full moon last week, I thought they should be on that pattern, but the 57-degree water temperature discouraged me.

The area I fished was much clearer than I expected. I could not get a bite on moving baits, even though I tried off and on all day. But about 300 yards down the bank, in a small dip, I got my first keeper on a shaky head worm at 8:00.

After trying a variety of things, I went to a brush pile on a big, shallow point I found last year. After a few minutes I caught my second keeper at 10:00 on a Texas rig. Although I fished the brush and others around it for an hour, I didn’t get another bite.

Since the sun was high and the water should be warming, I went to some smaller spawning coves. I caught several 13-inch bass but no keepers. Going between two pockets I cast a shaky head in front of the boat, just to keep my worm wet. That cast resulted in my third keeper at 11:00.

After trying some more things, I went back to the brush. It is about 100 yards off the point and a danger marker is about 50 yards off the bank. I would position my boat about 100 feet from the marker to cast toward it, the brush was about half way to it.

Although I caught my biggest keeper that at 1:00, I could not fish it. Several skidoos and big boats illegally ran between me and the marker, right over the brush and well within the 100-foot law. Either the drivers were too stupid to know the law, were inconsiderate slobs, or both.

I went to a big, calm cove and fished shallow, hoping to find one more keeper. I caught several more short bass but never got my limit.

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