Category Archives: Fishing With Family and Friends

Growing Up Wild In Georgia

My youth was a perfect mixture of strict discipline and growing up wild in Georgia. It prepared me for having a balanced life where I worked hard and did the best I could at my job, but my free time was mine. I could concentrate fully on my job during the workday but forget it and do what I wanted the rest of the time. It has served me well in retirement, too.

From about six years old I had responsibilities on the farm that went along with my age. I helped gather eggs from our 11,000 laying hens, cleaned out watering troughs that ran the length of the chicken houses by running a broom down them from one end to the other, and putting graded eggs in cartons.

Those jobs increased in complexity and effort as I got older. But not all were hard work. I loved taking my semiautomatic rifle with the high-capacity magazine that I got for Christmas when I was eight years old that was loaded with .22 rat shot to the chicken houses each morning. Four of the houses had big open feed bins and during the night wharf rats would get trapped in them. I would climb up to the top, shoot any rats inside, then grab them by the tail and take them to the dead chicken dump hole.

That same .22 rifle or my trusty .410 single shot shotgun accompanied me on my morning and afternoon pre and post school and weekend trips to the woods during the fall and winter. Most anything was fair game, squirrels and rabbits during season and birds the rest of the time.

It was not unusual for me to leave the house on Saturday morning at daylight and return home at dark, exhausted, dirty, hungry and happy. I took some snacks like potted meat, Vienna sausage or sardines with some Saltines or Ritz crackers but that was never enough, although I supplemented it with roasted birds and a pocket full of pecans when they were falling.

Spring and summer were fishing times. Rather than my .22, I would carry my Zebco 33 rod and reel or later my Mitchell 300 outfit and small tackle box with me and walk or ride my bicycle to local farm ponds and fish all day. Or I would go down to Dearing branch with some fishing line and a small fly in my pocket.

I made the flies with chicken feathers and some of mama’s sewing thread, and they looked awful. I would dangle them from the end of my rod, a stick that I had cut in the woods. And the tiny bream and horny heads in the branch thought they were food often enough to make fishing for them productive.

Summer also brought the wondrous time of having many full days to spend wild. My friends and I would camp out, starting near the house in the back yard at eight years old them moving deeper into the woods each summer. Cooking food over a campfire was always an experience, and it never was cooked right, but there was never a crumb left!

We built tree houses, forts, “cabins” in the woods that kept out neither rain nor wind, and traps for non-existent animals. We dammed Dearing Branch, sometime making a pool deep enough to come up waist high on a 13-year-old skinny dipper.

We chased toad frogs and fireflies at night until bedtime. The adults often sat around on the porch after dinner and we kids, not tired enough from a full day of activities, would run around in the dark, chasing toads, fireflies and each other.

I hate that those days seem to be gone. I can not imagine someone 100 years from now sitting at a computer writing about a video game they played as a kid!

Deer Camp Memories

As I threw another log on the fire, my mind wandered over the past 40 years of deer camp here. When I first joined, the “old” men mostly stayed in camp and didn’t hunt much. For several years “Captain” was the old man in charge of the fire. Now it is my “old man” job and I don’t leave camp much.

After spending almost half my life in the club, memories are plentiful. Hundreds of nights sitting around the fire, eating parched or boiled peanuts and sharing stores, some of them mostly true, revive past experiences. And the same ones are told over and over, drawing amazed reactions from young members and smiles from us older ones.

And we celebrate and morn lost members. Many of the young members fathers I watched grow up and become men over the years. They pass on their traditions to their children, just as their fathers passed them on to them. The never-ending cycle of outdoor and hunting life.

Many of the stories are funny and draw laughs every year. Tales of cut shirt tails, stories of first blood, memories of members walking to their stand in a circle in the dark and ending back up at camp, all bring chuckles.

One of mine is finding the perfect place for my climbing stand, easing up the tree in the dark then staring another club member in the eyes in a tree only 30 feet away. Or the time I helped build a permanent stand with a friend, only to have him not be able to hunt it opening day. He doesn’t laugh much when I mention the big nine point I killed from that stand on opening day, but everybody else does.

Four wheelers stuck in the creek are both funny and scary. Turning a four-wheeler upside down on top of you in a creek is not funny until after you are safe. It is funny now to remember the work of the six of us laboring for hours to get it out, but at the time it was only exhausting.

Some of the scariest stories are the one or two about stands breaking and tumbling members to the ground. Fortunately, none ended up with serious injuries, just injured pride.

Many of my memories revolve around a stand I have hunted for more than 30 years. It is a simple stand, 2x4s nailed between two sweetgum trees about 24 inches apart 20 feet off the ground with a 16-inch piece of plywood nailed on top of them. Spikes driven into the trees 30 years ago are sticking out barely enough for a boot hold now.

The stand has been sweetened over the years. A small shelf is placed in the perfect position to hold my coffee cup. Sticks cross the area above my head, placed just right for a black plastic bag to stretch over and protect me from rain. And a nail holds my hanging rifle in position to raise it without excess movement.

I found the place for the stand by accident. I found a creek hillside that seemed to be perfect for a stand, near the very end of one of our roads. I loaded materials to build it in the truck then headed to the end of the road.

Before toting everything through the woods, I remembered hunting too close to the other club member so I walked around a little. Sure enough, there was another stand, hidden in an oak tree, looking over the same hillside.

I went back to the truck disappointed and started driving slowly back out, watching the ground on either side of the road carefully. When I spotted a trail crossing it, I stopped and followed the trail though some pines to where they stopped at the edge of hardwoods. There was a slight opening along the edge from an old logging road.

Careful inspection proved there were no other stands for at least 200 yards in any direction. I built the stand with help from a fellow club member. The first morning I hunted it I was shocked how close it was to Highway 18. The bends in the road fooled me. I could glimpse 18 wheelers traveling along the road, and their tire noise often make it hard to hear.

Even with the noise problem I have killed more than 40 deer from that stand.

Some of those kills I was very proud of, some not so much. One day I glimpsed a deer facing me about 50 yards away at the very end of the old logging road. Young pines hid part of it but I could clearly see its head and chest since it was facing me. I shot it with my 30-30 in the chest and it dropped.

When I got to it, I was shocked how small it was. Although it was doe day and I was hunting meat, I wanted a bigger deer since the limit was two a year back then. I was able to pick up the 40-pound yearling by its back legs and carry it over my shoulder, not drag it out.

I quickly gutted and skinned it and took it home, since I did not want to take it back to camp and get kidded about its size. I quartered that deer, cut its backbone in half and froze it. Each piece fit in a big crockpot! But it was some of the most tender venison I have ever eaten!

I was very proud of a big ten point I shot from that stand, but I really didn’t put any effort into finding it, it just happened to wander by me. It fell near the camp road and I drove to it. As I drug it to the truck and started loading it, another member stopped on his way out of the woods and helped load it.

He gave me a sour look and said “I have been hunting that deer all week!”

Don’t miss a chance to make memories in a deer camp.

Till next time – Gone fishing!

A Good Example Of Why I Have Problems With High School Tournaments

I was told “90 percent of our boat captains are safe.” In a 200 boat tournament that means that diretor knows there are about 20 dangerous boats out there!!

At Lanier the second weekend in November, on Saturday when a clerk at Hammonds told me there was an 80-boat high school tournament the next day I instantly wondered what dangerous, stupid and inconsiderate actions I would witness.

On Sunday I didn’t see many boats, I guess most stayed up the river due to the cold wind.

BUT – I had gone back to Balus Creek to finish up the day. I was fishing the bluff bank past the ramp at 1:00, about 3/4 way out to the point. I had been fishing there for about 15 minutes, slowly working out toward the point fishing a jig.

A bass boat came out of the cove on the other side of the ramp with one kid riding illegally in the butt seat up on the front deck and the other illegally in the chair on the back deck.

The “captain” was at that speed where the front of the boat stays way up, half on plane and making the biggest possible wake. And no way he could see ahead of the boat with the kid up there, too.

If I had been tournament director, they would have been disqualified for illegal and dangerous boating.

They came by me about 100 feet away, rode past me halfway into the cove, made a U turn without slowing down, passed me a second time and stopped on the point ahead of me and started casting. I guess I was fishing where they wanted to fish.

I had to hang on to the butt seat to not get thrown out of my boat from their wake.

I don’t know what they caught, but when I got to the point where they stopped and started casting ahead of me, I caught my third keeper and two 13.5-inch throwbacks.

I try to support youth and high school fishing teams, but things like this are all too common and make it difficult. I don’t blame the kids, the adult boat captains drive the boat and make the decisions where to fish so safety and courtesy are up to them. But too many of them are teaching the kids bad habits.

I fear it is “when” not “if” there is a serious problem.

THEY CAN’T ALL BE BIG ONES

THEY CAN’T ALL BE BIG ONES so enjoy every one you catch, no matter how big

People go fishing for varied reasons. Some want to be outside; others want to spend time with family or friends. Anyone who goes fishing wants to catch a few, and some want to catch a really big fish. Some of those goals are easily accomplished, some are more difficult.

It’s easy to spend time outdoors when you’re fishing. Fishing is done outdoors. If your interest is spending time with family or friends, you just have to invite them to join you. Another easy task. If you’re not concerned about species or size, you can usually catch a few fish. But the big fish goal, that’s an entirely different deal. The reality is the chances of catching an enormously big fish of a certain species every time you go fishing are minimal. However, there are things that an angler can do to increase the odds of catching a gigantic fish of the targeted species more often.

First off, if your primary goal is to catch a lunker of a particular species, you need to go fishing where the lunkers live. Some bodies of water are home to lots of fish, others are known as big fish lakes. For instance, the biggest walleyes usually are found in lakes that have oily baitfish as a primary source of walleye food. Do some research to learn which bodies of water have a history of turning out big fish.

The next thing to do to catch a trophy is to use baits or techniques that will appeal to the larger fish. Much of the time, big baits catch big fish. A trophy can certainly be caught on a small bait, but for most of the open water fishing season, big fish want a big meal. If you want to catch a bunch of bass in the summer, find a deep weedline and tie on an eighth ounce jig head and thread on a four- or five-inch Ocho worm. You’re going to catch’em. Maybe not the biggest ones, but you’ll probably get bass-thumb, and every now and then, a lunker will eat your jig-worm. But if big ones are the goal, find the heaviest vegetation, tie on a Hack Attack Heavy Cover Swim Jig, attach a KVD Rodent plastic, and work it in and around that heavy cover. You won’t get as many bites as you would on the weedline with a jig-worm, but your big bass odds are going to go up.

Last thing: Remember that big is relative. A five-pound bass in some locales is a big one. In other places an eight pounder is needed to turn heads. And, in a few regions or bodies of water, it takes a ten pounder to get a bass-chaser’s attention.

Really the last thing: Fishing is supposed to be fun. If a lunker is your goal, go for it. But also remember that with some luck, that little fish that you just caught will one day be a big fish. Also remember that it’s just fun to catch fish. Many, many fishing guides and tournament anglers have had successful and profitable careers by catching lots of smallish to medium sized fish. If you are set on catching the biggest fish of a particular species, use big fish baits and techniques in big fish waters. But never forget, they can’t all be big ones. It’s fun to catch fish of any size any time, and fun is the best reason to go fishing.

WHAT ARE SOME TIPS FOR KID-FRIENDLY WINTER FISHING

from The Fishing Wire

Looking for a way to beat the winter blues and teach a young person important life skills? Try ice fishing. It offers a great opportunity to learn about fish, lakes, and ice safety. It’s a lesson in patience (sometimes). If you’re successful, you’ll even get some clean, healthy meals out of it!

Keep them warm.

Bring layers and an extra change of clothes. Depending on the temperature, the area around your ice hole will tend to have a little water around it. If kids are kneeling on the ice or handling a lot of fish they’re potentially going to get wet.

Once you get cold, it’s hard to warm back up unless you have a shelter with a heater. If you plan to stay out for a longer day, a shack and heater might be a good investment for you. There are many types of shelters available at sporting goods stores or you can DIY. For an extra special treat, bring hot chocolate or warm soup in an insulated container and pull it out half way through the excursion.

Bring snacks.

Your body burns more calories in response to cold. The best time for your favorite snack is when there is a lull in the action.

Give them a job.

Keeping the holes clear of ice is an important job. It keeps your line from freezing to the side of the hole or getting clumped up with ice. It also lets your bobber move correctly when you have a bite. Especially if you have drilled a lot of holes, the scooper is a great way to keep kids busy and active. Just make sure they know to hold on tight so they’re not sending your scooper to the bottom of the lake.

Catch fish.

It’s the most exciting part. Get to know your local lakes and what fish species are available in each. Our friends over at Alaska Department of Fish and Game have a website to help you figure out what they’ve stocked and when here in Anchorage where there is heavy fishing pressure.

You’ll also want to get familiar with the behavior of fish. Are you looking for fish that are roving around mid-water column like a stocked Chinook or Coho Salmon? Or are you trying to outsmart the hardy Alaska Blackfish that prefers the bottom? Or the ambush specialist, the Northern Pike? Perhaps the burbot? Learn about fish behavior (what they eat, when they’re active) to improve your odds of catching.

For stocked salmon, baits that work well include cured eggs, popcorn shrimp, or a little piece of herring if you really want to impress them. Test out different depths by setting your bobber with a string bobber stop.

If you haven’t tried ice fishing before, one way to learn more about it is during organized kids fishing events. Our friends over at the Alaska Department of Fish and Game hosts a number of winter events in Anchorage and surrounding areas (usually in February) including one at Jewel Lake. Hundreds of holes are drilled and gear is available for youth and families that need it.

Cooking your catch

If you’ve caught some stocked Coho or Chinook (usually small like this), the easiest way to prepare them is taking off the head and then removing the guts by making a small incision from the anal fin to the area where the head is removed. Simply pull the guts out and use the back of your fingernail or small spoon to remove the kidney (the dark stuff along the spine that you can see once all the guts are removed).

In Alaska we are shared stewards of world renowned natural resources and our nation’s last true wild places. Our hope is that each generation has the opportunity to live with, live from, discover and enjoy the wildness of this awe-inspiring land and the people who love and depend on it. We honor, thank, and celebrate the whole community — individuals, Tribes, the State of Alaska, sister agencies, fish enthusiasts, scientists, and others — who have elevated our understanding and love, as people and professionals, of all the fish.

– Katrina Liebich, PUBLIC AFFAIRS SPECIALIST, U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service Alaska

Five Tips for Making Fishing a Memorable Family Affair

Multispecies angler, Josh Peacock, shares what he has learned throughout the process of igniting the fishing flame in his kids

Take your family fishing

PARK FALLS, Wisc. (May 31, 2022) – Raised in Kenora, Ontario where the water from all one million acres of Lake of the Woods eventually flows into the Winnipeg River, Josh Peacock is a fisheries biologist, tournament bass angler, and a former full-time fishing guide. Like many other men his age, Josh is also a husband and a father.

Peacock comes from a long line of river rats. His four-year-old son, Brock, and two-year-old daughter, Eva, make it six generations of Peacock’s on the Winnipeg River dating back to the early 1900s. “The Winnipeg River is a special system with lots of fish, flora, fauna and an abundance of space to recreate,” says Peacock. He claims the river is in his blood. “Some days I swear I can feel it coursing through my veins. There have been days where I’ve felt such an intense connection with my surroundings that it has actually brought tears to my eyes. Not usually because of a fish, either; sometimes it’s just the way the water looks or the way the wind blows,” he states. “It can be a chance encounter with a normally secretive great blue heron that keeps following me around as we are on the same fishing pattern, or an osprey that suddenly appears overhead while I’m thinking about someone that isn’t with us anymore. Those are the connections I want my kids to have with Nature.”

Peacock says he never really thought much about how his family goes fishing together until recently. Seems his frequent family-fishing social media posts began to illicit a steady stream of messages and comments from inspired new parents, friends, and family members. “How do you get to spend so much time on the water?” they ask. “It must be nice!” they exclaim. “Got any tips for new parents wanting to get their kids out in the boat?” Peacock took pause.

“I guess I do!” was the answer he heard in his head. Peacock offers five “rules” for making the most of family-fishing fun on the water.

Rule # 1 – Start Them Young

Peacock advises parents to involve their kids in outdoors experiences as early as they are comfortable getting them out. “My parents had me in a boat at three weeks of age,” Peacock shares. “I truly believe that the gentle rock of a boat, the hum of an outboard, and the sound of water lapping against the boat not only calms newborns, but it alters their DNA in a positive way. Both our kids were born in the wintertime, but as soon as the ice melted, we made sure to get them out in their snow suits – all bundled up for their first ride on the river.”

Peacocks says he and his wife, Paula, have made the first boat ride of the year a family tradition. “Our kids have taken center stage in that tradition,” Peacock says. “We do lots of idling and sight-seeing, run the auto-chart live and make a few maps, maybe fish an hour or so tops – just to be able to say we caught our first bass of the season. These annual first rides get our kids reacquainted with wearing their sunglasses, lifejackets, sunscreen, and hats so it becomes second nature throughout the rest of the boating and fishing season. We make it fun and say things like, ‘don’t forget your fishing hat, or your special fishing glasses!’ We teach them good habits by wearing PFDs ourselves and always wearing the kill-switch tether. As you get older, you realize you are more than a role model to your kids. You are their super-heroes, and they are like sponges and parrots.”

Rule # 2 – Make it Fun, Keep it Fun

Peacock says you can’t fake true enthusiasm, and kids are excited when you’re excited. “I’m constantly astounded by what a child can pick up on,” he says. “I truly believe if you are positive, enthusiastic, and excited. They will be to. I love to go fishing and I love to catch fish, so my kids love those things, too.”

Peacock says keeping things fun starts with making sure kids are comfortable. “Pick a fair-weather day. Light winds, no rain, and sunshine but not heatstroke weather,” he offers. “Make sure they are dressed for the conditions and pack plenty of snacks. Not the ‘Tournament Lunch’ like a bag of trail mix and a Gatorade; I’m talking the whole nine yards. My wife, Paula, is the snack master. Kids love snacks, so spoil them a bit. Have them associate fishing with fun things, not just fishing, and certainly not just sitting there bored while mom or dad fish. A picnic in the boat with the Power-Poles down, or a nice shore lunch or beach spot to break up the day is always a good idea.”

When fishing, Peacock says to pick quantity over quality. “You and I would love to spend all day flipping for largemouth and getting six bites in eight hours for 20 pounds, but kids not so much,” Peacock advises. “Think action! Live bait and slip bobber setups are great for catching almost anything. A couple dozen live minnows are your best investment in making sure your kids have an unforgettable day. When fishing is slow kids, love to play with them, too.” Peacock extends the fun by setting a minnow trap and checking it regularly with his son. “Whether we catch eight minnows or five dozen, he loves it. We get some fresh air and exercise and extend our lessons about nature.”

Rule # 3 – Temper Your Expectations

Peacock says not to stay out too long and advises on planning for what happens when kids start to get restless. “We often bring two vehicles to the launch. I usually launch the boat ahead of time and have everything ready to go,” he says. “If your trip needs to be cut short for whatever reason – inclement weather, forgot diapers, maybe your ‘threenager’ is having a meltdown, etc. – one parent can cut bait while the other can deal with kid # 2, loading the boat, or maybe stay out on the water for a couple of extra hours to catch supper! Anytime on the water is better than none at all.”

He also says you shouldn’t expect to be fishing nonstop yourself. “You can fish on your own time. Focus your attention on helping your kids be successful,” he offers. “You will have successes and you will have failures, but if you remain focused on your kids, they’re going to have a good time, and that’s the win, not how many fish you catch.”

Rule # 4 – Have the Right Gear

“For early spring, we all wear our snowmachine or ice-fishing suits, neck warmers, toques, long underwear, winter boots, gauntlet mitts – the whole nine yards,” Peacock says. “Bring heavy blankets, too. Our kids have always slept really well under the consoles of my Skeeter. We make them comfy beds with blankets, or a ‘fort’ as Brock likes to call it. We also bring a stretchy sunshade that drapes over the console. Some days it feels like we are moving out of the house as I struggle to find another boat compartment to put more snacks or clothes into, but it pays to be prepared.”

Peacock says Brock’s rod of choice is a super-hero-themed spincast combo, but he is starting to become more interested in his dad’s full-sized St. Croix rods, so he keeps a couple of them – Avid and Triumph models – outfitted with spincast reels he helps Brock use whenever he asks. He also bought and stocked a matching tackle box for Brock. “Making sure kids have their own gear goes a long way in giving them ownership of what’s going on, makes them more excited, and begins to teach them lessons about taking care of your equipment,” Peacock says. “Buy your kids a small net with a long handle and invest in a couple of minnow scoops, too. Even if your kid isn’t catching they will love netting the fish and helping out. It also doubles as a sweet bug or frog net!”

If your kids are a bit older or your family in general is new to fishing, Peacock recommends simple 6’0 – 6’6 medium-light, fast action rods, like those available in St. Croix’s Triumph, Avid, and Premier series. “This rod length, power and action combination is one of my favorites of all-time,” Peacock says. “It’s such a perfect and forgiving rod for jigging live bait, slip bobbers, or casting for bass and pike. And if you happen to stumble onto a large pike or a musky this rod will pass the test. Spool up with some inexpensive eight-pound monofilament line and you are in business.” Peacock adds that while these rods are all very durable, he says it’s nice to have St. Croix’s warranty and customer service to fall back on if any accidents happen. “St. Croix truly has a rod for everyone in the family at every price point. Their quality, craftsmanship and warranty set them apart from the rest.”

Rule # 5 – Make Memories

Peacock advises any parent going down the path of introducing their kids to fishing to simply enjoy whatever stage they are at. “Enjoy the journey,” he says. “If you start thinking there’s a concrete destination and are in a rush to get there you’re going to miss a lot. Celebrate every fish and every outing with your kids. More than once on the drive home from the lake, when the truck is all quiet, I’ve heard an innocent and grateful voice in the back seat say, ‘dad, that was a really fun day.’ Or at bedtime when instead of reading a story book he wants me to recount our day on the water and talk about all of the super fun things we did and experienced.

“That’s why the Peacock’s go fishing.”

Digging Bait and Other Ways To Get Fishing Bait Growing Up

Digging bait was always fun, mainly because it was preparation for a fishing trip. We used all kind of bait in local ponds to catch bream, catfish, a few bass and a good many turtles, and red wigglers were one of our favorite baits.

On our farm we had seven chicken houses with a total of 11,000 laying hens. The four old houses were long wooden sheds with chicken wire walls. The birds ran free inside on the wood shaving floor. Their roosts were wooden frames set down the length of the house on either side of the center.

The support posts inside divided the width into thirds. On the downhill side, a galvanized trough three inches wide and five inches deep ran the length of the houses at a slight slant. At one end was a faucet that dripped constantly. At the other end a nipple in the drain stuck up about four inches and acted as an overflow pipe much like the one in a pond, keeping water up to four inches deep the length of the trough. Water slowly ran over the top and out a pipe to the outside.

The water was very fertile since chickens are not real careful where they leave their droppings, and every morning one of my jobs was to remove the nipple, turn the water on at the other end and walk the length of the trough with an old broom, cleaning out the mess. It flowed out the drain pipe.

The ground behind the house near the drain was always wet from the constant flow of water and extremely rich from all the droppings washed out every day. Red wigglers found it an ideal habitat and we could dig a can full in a few minutes with just one or two scoops of dirt with a shovel. There would be dozens of worms in every shovel full and picking them up from the ooze was easy.

Every critter that lives in water loves red wigglers. We even caught crawfish on them when fishing for catfish on the bottom. They were our staple bait when fishing but we did have many others.

The chickens themselves provided great catfish bait. With that many birds on the farm, a few died every day and I would cut them open and take out the heart, liver and gizzard. Those innards put in a jar and set in the sun to ripen made an irresistible bait for catfish of kinds. The livers were soft and hard to keep on the hook but gizzards and hearts were tough enough to last through several fish, if we could get past the smell when putting them on the hook.

One of mom’s favorite baits were meal worms. We didn’t buy them, we grew our own. Mom would fill a coffee can half full of corn meal and flour siftings and let it sit open for a few days, then put a cover of cheese cloth or old curtain sheer over it.

The eggs the flies laid in the corn meal while the top was open soon hatched into grubs, also called maggots, and grew from tiny white worms barely visible to light brown bait about an inch long. If left too long they turned black and tough and fish did not like them much. After that stage they soon emerged as young flies.

Although maggots stunk when taken from dead critters, taking on the smell of rotten meat, they were clean and odorless when grown in corn meal.

Anything we could catch was tried as bait. Grasshoppers, wild crickets, caterpillars, crawfish, big white grub worms and wasp eggs were all good and most harmless. But wasp eggs were a special problem.

First, just getting the nest with the larvae growing in it was dangerous. We did not want to spray the nest with poison to kill the adults guarding the nest since it tainted or killed the larvae. What I would usually do after locating a good nest during the day was go back in the dark, knock it to the ground with a long pole and run off.

Wasps do not fly in the dark so after a few minutes I could go back and pick up the nest, being careful to step on any adult wasps that had stayed with the nest. You could not wait too long to go back for it since ants would quickly find the source of food and be all over the nest.

The nest was then put in the refrigerator in a paper sack to slow down the growth of the larvae. You had to be very careful when taking the sack out for a fishing trip since some larvae would come out as an adult even in the cold. Since they were cold they were sluggish but you had to open the sack carefully and kill any adults that were barely able to move around and sting you.

I found out the hard way that a sack with a nest in it, left in the sun while fishing, would make any larvae close to changing make the transition to adult quickly. More than once, in the excitement of catching fish, I would reach into the bag to get a new bait and get stung by a newly changed adult wasp.

A friend once told me how he would take tiny pieces of meat and stick a little strip of cigarette paper on it. Left outside, a yellowjacket would often pick up the piece of meat to take to their underground nest. He could follow them to the nest by tracking the tiny white dot of paper.

Yellowjackets build big underground nest with paper cells that look like wasps nest. My friend said he could sell a big nest to fishermen too timid to try to get them on their own for several dollars.

I did not know about yellowjacket nests as a kid or I am sure I would have tried his trick to get my own bait!

St Croix Rods Celebrate National Fishing and Boating Week

It’s National Fishing and Boating Week, June 4-12.

Over the past several weeks we have been providing tons of great information to help you get those that are new to fishing, inexperienced, or feeling helpless back out on the water. Now is the moment to put shine and put all of your hard work to good use.

Get your friends, family and up and coming anglers out on the water and show us your fish. Post your story to social media, tag ASA and RBFF and #ShowMeYourFish!

Why St Croix Rod?Meet the individuals who make St. Croix Rods in Park Falls, Wi. The employees at St Croix Rod speak to why being part of the Team that builds the “Best Rods on Earth” is meaningful to them.

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BASS Founder Ray Scott Dead At 88 Years Old

RAY SCOTT DEAD AT 88

from The Fishing Wire

Ray Scott, the man who founded Fishing Tackle Retailer (FTR) and the Bass Anglers Sportsman Society (BASS) and forged the modern sportfishing industry died in Montgomery, Alabama, Sunday night of natural causes. He was 88 years old.

Born in Montgomery in 1933, Scott’s legend is well known among bass anglers. He was an insurance salesman who dreamed of taking bass fishing to a wider audience. In 1967, while waiting out some bad weather on a fishing trip, Scott sat in his motel room and had an epiphany. He would create a bass tournament format that would be fair, honest, and compelling. He dreamed of a time when professional bass fishing would appear on television alongside traditional spectator sports.

“It all just came to me,” Scott said. “I knew it would work.”

In June of 1967, he organized and conducted the All-American bass fishing tournament on Beaver Lake in Arkansas — the first modern bass competition and the template for all that have followed. Six months later, he started BASS, one of the largest fishing membership organizations in history. In 1968, he published the first issue of Bassmaster Magazine. In 1984, he launched “The Bassmasters” television program. About that same time, Scott started Fishing Tackle Retailer magazine as a division of BASS. It was his foray into the larger tackle industry and created a platform through which he could speak to retailers and industry professionals across the country and across all angling demographics.

“He created an entire industry,” said FTR co-publisher Brian Thurston. “Ray was probably the most influential individual sportfishing has ever seen and one of the best promoters of all time.”

It would be almost impossible to overstate the importance of Scott in the bass fishing world specifically and in the sportfishing world generally.

While growing BASS — which peaked at about 750,000 members and still boasts over half a million — Scott impacted virtually every other aspect of modern sportfishing, from water quality to safety to catch-and-release. He was a visionary, a trailblazer, an evangelist, an igniter, a showman, a salesman, a marketer, an entrepreneur, a publisher, a conservationist, and a leader. Most of those who work in the bass fishing industry and many in the sportfishing industry owe their careers to him.

Scott sold BASS and FTR to a group of investors in 1986, but he stayed involved as an executive and as the face of BASS. In the 1990s, he created Ray Scott Outdoors, a communications and marketing firm for fishing industry products and companies. Throughout the ’90s, he was a fixture at industry trade and consumer shows.

But fishing was not Scott’s only interest or passion, he also founded the Whitetail Institute of North America, advancing nutrition and habitat efforts for America’s favorite big game animal. And Scott was involved in politics, supporting the presidential bids of George H.W. Bush in 1980, 1988, and 1992. For several decades, Scott dedicated much of his time and resources to supporting his church — Pintlala Baptist Church in Pintlala, Alabama.

He is survived by his wife, Susan, and four children. Funeral services have yet to be announced.

Four Fishing Etiquette Tips Desperately Needed By High School Fishermen and Captains and Too Many Other Fishermen

FOUR FISHING ETIQUETTE TIPS

One of the biggest pet peeves for many freshwater anglers is when they are having a good day fishing from a boat in a quiet spot on the lake or river and another angler comes along, pulls up right beside them and starts casting in the same area without asking first.

“It happens pretty much on a daily basis,” said Mercury Pro Team member Michael Neal.

If it’s a public body water, everyone is welcome to use the resource, of course. In most places, there are no written rules about how far you need to stay away from other boats and anglers. It’s within your rights to fish next to someone, as long as you aren’t harassing them (intentional angler harassment is against the law in many states). It’s up to each individual angler to decide what’s responsible behavior in terms of how much distance to put between your boat and theirs. Practicing good fishing etiquette means treating other anglers and boaters on the water with respect and giving them their space.

Neal, who fishes the Major League Fishing Bass Pro Tour and Pro Circuit, said it all comes down to following the Golden Rule. “Treat others the way you want to be treated,” he said.

“Communication is key. It’s the number one thing that makes your day on the water go smoothly,” added Mercury Pro Team member and Bassmaster Elite Series angler John Crews.

Here are four fishing etiquette tips from these two pros to help keep it friendly and fun for everyone on the water. What’s outlined here are unwritten rules that guide tournament anglers and serious recreational anglers.

A “bent pole pattern,” indicating that an angler has a fish on the line, is not an invitation to take your boat to that angler’s position and start fishing right next to them. It’s probably better to go somewhere else, but if it’s a spot you had already hoped to fish, just wait it out. “My advice is to wait until they leave to go over to that spot,” said Neal.
When another angler is fishing in a spot near where you would like to fish, stop your boat within hailing distance and let the person know your wishes. For example, if an angler is fishing partway back in a creek, and you want to fish all the way in the back, ask first if he or she intends to head deeper into the creek before you go there yourself. “If I go into an area where someone else is fishing, I ask them if they are going to continue, and if it’s OK for me to fish there. If they are having a bad day and they want to be rude about it, you don’t want to be fishing around them anyway,” Crews said. On crowded lakes, you’re likely to wind up fishing near someone. In that case, keep a respectful distance. “We usually have a mutual understanding: ‘Don’t get any closer to me, and I won’t get any closer to you,’” Neal said, referring to his fellow tournament anglers.
Don’t pass too close to another angler’s boat. “Stay away from the side where their rods are; pass on the other side if you can,” Crews said, adding that it’s important to give other boats with active anglers a wide berth when you pass, if there’s room. “Two hundred to 300 feet is ideal; 100 feet at a minimum. Pass at speed and make a minimal wake rather than slowing down and pulling a big wake. However, if there isn’t room to pass far enough away, come off plane well before you get near the other boat and idle past.”
Never, ever cross lines with another angler. “The number one no-no is to cast across somebody else’s line. I’ve had it happen to me personally. I decided to leave the spot to him. I figured, if it’s important enough for him to do that, he can have it,” Neal said.

Use common courtesy, and there should be enough space for everyone to fish in harmony. When in doubt, err on the side of being as respectful as possible.

“Most anglers are super cool, and as long as you can communicate with them, you can make it work,” Crews concluded.

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