Castable Sonar

By Frank Sargeant, Editor
from The Fishing Wire

We get an remarkable assortment of information on amazing new goodies to make your fishing better, sometimes dozens in a day, but one that caught our eye recently was the “Deeper” castable sonar-a tennis-ball sized depth-finder you can carry with you anywhere, reading the data on your smartphone or tablet. The rig has some interesting possibilities.

The “Deeper” transducer is encased in a composite ball and weighs 100 grams-3.5 ounces. Where ever the Deeper sonar unit lands or drifts, it reads water depth and temperature, and also marks fish suspended off bottom as well as structure.

Spokesman Rolandas Sereika says the unit includes both narrow and wide beam– the narrow beam returns fish, structure, detail and bottom profile, while the wide beam provides broader search area for fish, baitfish and structure.

It sends this via Bluetooth wireless to your properly-equipped Apple or Android phone or tablet with the free downloadable app which also gives moon phases, air temp, solunar “best times”, Internet sharing of fish photos and other useful tools and info.

It reads to depths of 130 feet and has a Bluetooth range of about 150 feet. It has three line-ties so that you can cast it, troll it or lower it straight down from a dock, bridge or pier.

For kayak and canoe anglers, wade fishermen, shore anglers and bridge and pier anglers, the “Deeper” could be a big help. If you can drift your bait down that break line on every cast, it gives a huge advantage in many areas. You could also use them to avoid brushy snags. Plus, you don’t need a hookup to a 12-volt power source.

You can also probe the depth around a weedbed or dock without actually running your boat close to it and spooking the fish.

And there are some neat new mounts from RAM (www.rammount.com) and other companies for both cell phones and tablets used on kayaks and other small boats.

The Deeper system runs on a rechargeable lithium battery that functions for about 6 hours straight between recharges. The housing is watertight to 1 meter and shock-resistant. The system works with most phones and tablets, but be sure to see their website for compatibility. Price is $229. For details, visit www.buydeeper.com.

One Time, One Place for Alabama Largemouth

By Millard Rooney
from The Fishing Wire

If you could be on the water in Alabama only one week out of the year and wanted the best largemouth fishing for numbers and quality, where would you go and what would you throw?

Captain Jimmy Mason puts the grip on a keeper from North Alabama’s TVA chain.

It’s a tough question, given the ample opportunities for great largemouth bass fishing on the Tennessee River in north Alabama. The state has four impoundments — Guntersville, Wheeler, Wilson and Pickwick — along the 652-mile long river that snakes through Alabama, Tennessee and Kentucky. You can’t overlook famed Lake Eufaula, either, for outstanding largemouth bass fishing.

Guntersville, Pickwick and Eufaula generally are considered among the best for numbers and size. At certain times of the year on any of these three, you can catch a 10-pounder or rack up a memorable day with numbers that leave your thumbs raw and mind racing. In each lake, the buffet of forage, deep and shallow water, aquatic vegetation, structure changes, cover and water current from hydroelectric dams combine for endless opportunities.

More than two decades of fishing and guiding on the Tennessee River give Jimmy Mason a unique perspective. As a guide or tournament competitor he’s plied all of the Tennessee River impoundments during all four seasons. He’s also fished Alabama’s other notable lakes, including Eufaula and the Coosa River chain, which has good largemouth but is known more for its spotted bass.

Mason says spring is prime time for numbers, but if you want a trophy, head to Pickwick the first week of February and fish an umbrella rig like the Flash Mob.

“It’s kind of hard to answer, honestly, because there are really good times for big fish and other times for catching a lot of fish,” Mason said. “As much as I’ve fished on all the lakes, though, I’d have to say Pickwick would be my top choice for the chance of catching a truly big bass, a 10-pounder, and also for catching a lot of bass.”

Pickwick Lake is located in the northwest corner of Alabama, a 53-mile long impoundment with more than 43,100 acres of surface area and 490 miles of shoreline. Thanks to the topography of the area, the river is replete with gravel bars, rocky bluffs, hard bottoms, shallow backwaters and numerous tributaries. It’s famous for its smallmouth bass, but in the last decade has seen a solid improvement in the quality of the largemouth bass population.

For landing a 10-pound largemouth, and possibly a 5- or 6-pound smallmouth, Mason says the first week of February is the prime time.

“If you were looking for a longer period I’d say from December through February, but for that one week out of the year when it can be really special, I’d say the first week of February,” he said. “One reason is the bait — the tremendous amount of shad in the lake. The other is the ability to throw the YUMbrella rig and target the big fish with it.

“The winter bite has been phenomenal the last few years for a legitimate chance at a 10-pounder. There probably have been 25 to 50 10-pounders caught that I know of, including several that are bigger than that, and likely a lot more that have been caught I don’t know about. When we get the winter rainfall that keeps the water color good and flowing through the dams to create a lot of good, consistent current, throwing the YUMbrella triggers that big cold-water bite and gives you the best chance to catch a 10-pounder.”

Prespawn Pickwick largemouth (and smallmouth) feast on shad, making the YUMbrella and other rigs that mimic a school of baitfish tremendously effective. Mason mixes up his offerings depending on water clarity.

“I’d fish several versions of rig at that time, including the Flash Mob Jr. and the full size version. For soft plastics I use a 5-inch YUM Money Minnow on the center arm and four 3 ½-inchers on the four surrounding arms. I like the Foxy Shad color for all of them,” Mason said.

It can be chilly in North Alabama in winter, especially at daybreak, but the fish keep right on biting all winter long.

Mason says that if the water is dirty he throws the full size Flash Mob, and is more likely to throw the Jr. size as the water clears. For really clear water, he removes the Money Minnows surrounding the center arm and replaces them with curly-tail grubs.

“I’ll throw these in current eddies or where the current hits the bank directly and causes an eddy, and will be looking for the eddy spots along the bank. It’s all related to current. If you catch one bass, you have a chance to catch several more big fish because they school in these eddies. You also have a chance to catch a 10-pound largemouth and 5- or 6-pound smallmouth in the same area. There are only a few lakes in the country where you can do that.”

For numbers of fish, Mason said the third week of May on Pickwick is the one to circle on the calendar.

“That’s when, generally, the big schools of post-spawn fish move out on the deeper structure — the first big structure off the spawning areas,” he said. “You can sit on a spot and hammer them. Sometimes the schools will look the size of a house on the sonar.

“My favorite bait to throw then is the Fat Free Shad in the Citrus Shad color. Chartreuse with a black back also is good, as is Foxy Shad. That’s also a good time to throw a 3/4-ounce Booyah football jig with a big craw or a 10-inch worm.”

On a Tuesday in 2007 about this time of year I went to Lake Lanier and met Todd Goade to get information for a Georgia Sportsman article on crappie fishing. Although the article won’t run until next April I needed to get information and pictures to meet a deadline.

Todd lives in Buford near the lake and told me many of the ramps were closed. We met at Old Federal Park and the parking lot was full, even on a Tuesday afternoon. With so few ramps open the fishermen and boaters are concentrated at the few still usable.

Even at Old Federal three of the four ramps were closed. They stopped short of the water. The one ramp that was open ended in a flat sandy area and we were able to launch and take his boat out but it was shallow. It won’t be useable for long if the lake keeps dropping as predicted.

We ran about 12 miles up the river to Wahoo Creek and had no problems. Contrary to claims you hear, there is a lot of water still in the lake. Although the lake is about 16 feet low there is water near the dam over 100 feet deep. On the run up the river we were in water 40 feet deep or deeper most of the way.

The water supply problem at Lanier is the water intakes, like the ramps, end and the water is going to drop below the intakes. That still leaves a lot of water in the lake.

Most of the docks we saw had been moved out to deeper water and we fished many back in coves with 17 feet of water under them. Unfortunately, the crappie did not cooperate. Maybe it was the weather, maybe it was just my luck. I still had a great time fishing with Todd.

Lanier may reached its record level when it droped four more feet by early December. In 1982 it was four feet lower than it was in November, 2007. We had a drought 25 years ago, too, and many lakes were extremely low. Clark’s Hill was 18 feet low that year and it was only 11 feet low in November, 2007, so it has a way to go to reach that point.

Its kinda funny that some are blaming this drought on Global Warming. Back in the early 80s during the last drought some of the same folks were claiming that one was due to Global Cooling and were still predicting a new ice age. Funny how things change but stay the same.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.”

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.

“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.

Even with the problems we had a great tournament, as usual. The Flint River, Spalding County and Potato Creek clubs go every October and many of us stay for most of the week, camping or renting cabins. In two days the 28 members fished 17 hours and landed 213 keepers weighing 279.47 pounds.

On Saturday I won with a five fish limit weighing 9.79 pounds, Tom Tanner was second with five at 9.54 pounds, Lee Hancock placed third with a limit weighing 9.31 pounds and had big fish at 3.26 pounds and Brent Terry was fourth with five qt 8.62 pounds. We had 22 limits that day.

On Sunday we fished only seven hours but there were still 11 limits brought to the scales. Bobby Ferris blew us all away with five at 12.01 pounds and his 4.06 pound largemouth was big fish, Niles Murray was second with five at 8.79 pounds, my five at 7.66 pounds was good for third and Raymond English was fourth with five at 6.61 pounds.

As expected there were many more spotted bass than largemouth weighed in. On Saturday there were only 18 largemouth and Sunday there were nine largemouth, so 27 of the 213 fish were largemouth.

Spots are great fun to catch and pull hard, much harder than largemouth, but are usually smaller. I had a spot and a largemouth just under three pounds each on Saturday and the spot felt twice as strong as the largemouth. And another three pound spot on Sunday almost took the rod away from me.

Martin would be a great trip this fall but be aware of the rules at Wind Creek if you plan on camping.