Are Gun Owners Our Own Worst Enemies?

The comic character Pogo famously said “We have met the enemy and he is us.” I often feel that way about Georgia groups that are supposed to support gun owners. We bicker among our selves over trivial matters and almost seen to support Brady Bunch like gun control groups rather than supporting our right to keep and bear arms.

This was what was happening seven years ago.

Right now the Georgia legislature is playing ping pong with HB 89 that removes some restrictions from Georgia gun owners. It has been referred to a House/Senate Conference Committee, a place bills often go to die. At least part of the reason a bill supporting gun owners is having a hard time passing is the disagreement of groups that are supposed to support gun owners’ rights.

Did you know you can not legally carry your gun in a state park, even if you have a carry permit? Did you know that you could be walking down the street with your legally concealed gun, walk up on a group protesting something, and suddenly break the law simply because you had your gun at a public gathering?

The argument over the wording of HB 89 seems silly. Why are law-abiding gun owners in Georgia restricted in so many ways? Why can I carry my pistol into a liquor store but not into a bar? Why can I carry my pistol to a bass club meeting but not to a church meeting? Why am I not trusted based on where I happen to be?

Vermont has no laws restricting gun owners there. Anyone can carry a gun anywhere. According to the Census Bureau Vermont ranked 48th in violent crime in 2004. Georgia has all kinds of restrictions on carrying a gun and we ranked 19th in violent crime in the same report. Law abiding citizens carrying guns are not the problem.

Why do Vermont politicians trust their citizens while Georgia politicians do not trust us? Why are we so restricted in our rights? What purpose do the mish-mash of Georgia gun laws serve, other than to trap law-abiding citizens that make an honest mistake. They certainly do not reduce crime.

The latest shooting on a college campus is a perfect example of the stupidity of gun laws. An insane murderer killed five innocent students at Illinois State University. He had a shotgun and four handguns in a “gun free zone” on campus. That rule did nothing but disarm law-abiding citizens and make them easy targets. We deserve the right to protect ourselves without running afoul of some state law or university rule.

On a more positive note,

Shooting wire 2/15/08
Thirty one state Attorneys General have weighed in on the case, signing an amicus brief that supports the decision of the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in striking down the District of Columbia’s thirty-plus year gun ban. Since I’m one who criticizes pretty easily, it seems only appropriate that I list the names of those Attorneys General: Troy King of Alabama, Talis Colberg of Alaska, Dustin McDaniel of Arkansas, John Suthers of Colorado, Bill McCollum of Florida, Thurbert Baker of Georgia,

And a final note: one “inquiring mind” called me this week to ask if I would consider assembling a list of those Senators and House of Representatives who didn’t sign the congressional amicus brief. I worked on it, but simply didn’t have the list together in time for today’s deadline. Instead, I’m going to list those who did sign the brief. If you don’t see your elected representative’s name on the list – they didn’t support your rights as a gun owner or individual.

Here’s a list deserving of a thank-you from each of us. And an extra thanks to Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison of Texas for leading the bi-partisan effort to let the Supreme Court know a majority of the legislative branch still supports individual rights and freedoms.

Vice President Richard B. Cheney in his capacity as President of the Senate

Georgia – signed
Sen. Saxby Chambliss
Sen. Johnny Isakson
Rep. Jack Kingston (GA-1)
Rep. Sanford Bishop (GA-2)
Rep. Lynn Westmoreland (GA-3)
Rep. Tom Price (GA-6)
Rep. John Linder (GA-7)
Rep. Jim Marshall (GA-8)
Rep. Nathan Deal (GA-9)
Rep. Paul Broun (GA-10)
Rep. Phil Gingrey (GA-11)
Rep. John Barrow (GA-12)

For the past few weeks, a battle’s been quietly raging between legitimate firearms dealers and two of the major companies that process credit card transactions. The companies, Citi Merchant Services and First Data Corp., have both refused to process any non face-to-face credit card transactions involving firearms. That refusal includes both business-to-business transactions between federally licensed firearms retailers, distributors, and manufacturers.

Yet the companies both continue to insist they’re neither anti-gun or anti-firearm industry.

Jan 16 shooting wire

BAD SIGN FROM THE NORTH
The 82,000 members and 655 member clubs of the Ontario Federation of Anglers and Hunters, is criticizing an announcement by the Ontario Chief Firearms Officers of a “pilot initiative” targeting owners of firearms in the City of Toronto who are over the age of 75 and possess more than ten firearms. The “initiative” would subject the citizens to a mandatory search of their premises by officials. The OFHA says such a program would remove Canada’s senior citizens from protection under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Subsequent to this announcement, the Mayor of Toronto and the Premier of Ontario Province have called for a total ban on hand guns across Canada.
Outdoor wire jan 17

Ice Fishing Is Fun and Provides Camaraderie

Get hooked on Fun, Camaraderie of Ice Fishing

Today’s feature, on what it takes to get started in ice fishing, comes to us from the Michigan Department of Natural Resources.
from The Fishing Wire

Kids love ice fishing

Fishing is a year-round activity and when the thermometer plunges below freezing for prolonged periods, most anglers have little choice but to hit the hard water. Ice fishing becomes the go-to activity until spring.

For beginning anglers, ice fishing offers one significant advantage: access. Boat-less anglers, who otherwise are limited to shorelines or fishing piers much of the year, can often access entire lakes. That inspires some anglers to proclaim that ice-fishing season is their favorite time of year.

Fortunately, ice fishing can be relatively simple. All that’s needed to start is a way to make a hole in the ice (an auger or spud), a way to clear the slush from it (an inexpensive scoop), and rudimentary equipment.

So how do you get started?

There’s a good opportunity coming soon. Feb.14-15 is Michigan’s annual Winter Free Fishing Weekend, when no license is needed to participate. There are hands-on educational events scheduled at a number of areas. In addition, the Carl T. Johnson Hunting and Fishing Center in Cadillac holds on-the-ice fishing events every Saturday at noon.

Novice anglers often can find assistance nearby. Tom Goniea, a fisheries biologist at the Department of Natural Resources, says finding a mentor helps shorten the learning curve.

“Ask around,” Goniea said. “Ask the guys at work or the folks at church. Ice fishermen make up a community that’s usually quite willing to introduce others to the sport.

“And most ice fishermen have enough equipment that they can get you started if you go with them so you can see what you need.”

DNR fisheries biologist Christian LeSage agrees.

“There’s a big social component to ice fishing,” he said. “When you get out on the ice people are usually friendly – they’re willing to tell you what they’re doing, what they’re using, and how they’re catching fish.”

Except for largemouth and smallmouth bass – bass season closes Jan. 1 and doesn’t completely reopen until the Saturday before Memorial Day – anglers who ice fish can pursue all species they target the rest of the year. Ice fishing can range from fishing for panfish on a farm pond to making miles-long sojourns on the Great Lakes in pursuit of walleyes, lake trout or other top-of-the-food-chain predators.

Groups make ice fishing more fun

LeSage recommends people start with panfish. He likes bluegills.

“You can try it on a small pond in a park,” he said. “And you don’t need extravagant gear. If you go places where people have been fishing, you don’t even need an auger – you can reopen a hole with a hammer.

“Most veteran fishermen know that the best fishing is at dawn and dusk, but you can catch bluegills throughout the day. You can catch them in shallow water. You can catch a lot in a small area. And they’re delicious.”

What’s nicest about bluegills is that they can be found almost everywhere and, as fishing quarry, are relatively unsophisticated. All you need is a basic gear. Small fiberglass rods with simple, spring-tension spoons can be yours for less than $10 and you will see accomplished ice anglers using them. Add some light line, a few low-cost tear drops (small weighted hooks) and a container of insect larvae (wax worms or spikes, the early life stages of bee moths or flies, respectively) and you’re in business. Lower your bait to the bottom, begin slowly working it upward in the water column until you start getting bites, and then fish at that depth.

It can (and does) get much more complicated with expensive rods, sonar fish finders, and a plethora of other equipment. But many anglers never acquire all that gear and continue to enjoy productive bluegill fishing.

As you progress in the sport and explore other ice-fishing opportunities, the equation becomes decidedly more complex. Get addicted to walleye fishing and you’ll be into snowmobile or quad runners, insulated ice shanties, GPS, underwater cameras – the list is endless.

But some factors never change: The first rule of ice fishing is to be safe.

Good, strong ice can support a semi-truck, but every year there are tragedies that often involve recklessness. Make sure the ice is safe. Even arctic temperatures won’t guarantee it, especially if there’s an insulating layer of snow on top. You can get up-to-date info from bait shops around fishing locales, but always make sure yourself. Carry a spud to test the ice in front of you as you venture forth. Don’t approach ice that is discolored or has objects (such as vegetation or timber) protruding through it. Be especially careful of rivers (current can degrade ice quickly) or spring-fed lakes and ponds where warmer water can cause thin spots in an otherwise solid surface.

Always carry basic emergency gear, just in case. Ice picks (or homemade alternatives constructed of nails in dowels) will give you a way to get purchase on the ice should you break through. Carry a rope to toss to someone else who breaks through.

It’s better – some would say mandatory – not to go alone. You certainly don’t want to head miles off shore – at Saginaw Bay, say, or Little Bay de Noc – without a partner. Always make sure someone knows where you are going and when you plan to return. Carry your cell phone.

Sharing Ice Fishing Knowledge

Make sure you dress for the weather. Dress in layers from head to toe – the best way to keep your feet warm is to keep your head warm – and a waterproof outer layer is advisable. Small luxuries – such as extra gloves and hand warmers – often pay large dividends.

Ice fishing isn’t for everybody. But if you look around in the winter and see the huge shanty towns that spring up on some of Michigan’s best fishing lakes, it’s obvious that a lot of people are having a lot of fun out there.

It isn’t that difficult to become one of them.

For more information on ice fishing, visit the DNR’s website at www.michigan.gov/fishing.

What Is Your Favorite Outdoor Memory?

What is your favorite outdoor memory? I have a lot of them, but I have had a lot of time to make them. If you spend time outdoors you will make both good and bad memories, often when least expected. And you will remember them the rest of your life.

My first bass will always stand out since it hooked me for life. Mom and I were fishing below Usury’s Pond dam and catching small bream and catfish. Our tackle was a cane pole, cork, hook and sinker. Live earth worms were our bait.

My cork went under and when I lifted my pole the fish took off and jumped several times. That bass was probably about ten inches long but I loved the way it ran and fought, very unlike the other fish we had been catching. I have loved catching bass since that day.

My first deer is also memorable to me. I had been hunting for about four years, since I was 14 years old. My first two years my parents would let me hunt only during archery season with my uncle Adron. But when I turned 16 I got a Marlin 30-30 lever action rifle and was allowed to hunt with it.

I was hunting on public land on Germany Creek near out boat club. I had seen a few does during the year from my first climbing stand Mr. Ed Henderson had made from a picture in a magazine. That mid-November morning I had been on the stand about two hours when I spotted a buck about 100 yards up the hill.

It is no excuse, but I this was before I had a scope on my rifle. I aimed at the shoulder, and I am sure I was shaking badly from buck fever. When I pulled the trigger the deer dropped, then got up and ran. I emptied my gun at it as it disappeared over a small hill.

Staying on the stand as long as I could stand it, probably just a few minutes that seemed like hours, I started down the tree. I was in such a hurry I jumped from the stand when it was still about eight feet off the ground. That jump would injure me now, but at 18 I hit the ground running while reloading.

I topped the hill and there lay an eight point buck. I could not have been more proud, although now I know it was a year-and-a-half old buck. Its rack was mall but perfectly formed, and my dad got it mounted. I think he was as proud as me. It is looking at me as I type this.

Camping and building huts in the woods are great memories. The best hut we ever built was a “log cabin.” We cut saplings and made walls between four nicely placed trees, and finally remembered we needed a door so we made one. The roof was saplings laid side by side and thatched with sweetgum limbs and leaves. It slowed the rain a little. That eight by eight foot hut was our castle.

Camping took many different forms, from sleeping in the back yard in lounge chairs to putting up an army surplus pup tent in the woods. Lounge chairs look like they would be comfortable, and they get you off the ground, but that bar across it where it folds guarantees there is no way to get comfortable for the night.

Pup tents worked little better. They were drier than the hut but the gaps around the ground allowed mosquitoes and other bugs in. But we spent many happy nights sleeping on the ground in them in sleeping bags. It is amazing how rocks pop out of the ground right under you all night long no matter how well you clear it before putting out your bag.

My first Top Six tournament when I made the state team will always be special. My first time was over 30 years ago and I have made the team five more times since then, but that one will always hold a special place in my mind. I placed fourth at West Point out of 540 fishermen. Without Kenneth Hattaway’s advice I would not have made the team, and many people have helped me over the years. Those are good memories, too.

Quail and dove hunting with dad was always special, but the first time he let me take the dogs and his short barrel 12 gauge out by myself was special. I found five coveys that afternoon, all by myself, and killed one bird from each covey. That was four more than I had ever killed in one day with my .410!

Dad never went squirrel hunting with me although I hunted several afternoons a week after school and all day on Saturday during most of the season. One day after school while I was getting ready dad said he would go with me. I got a limit that afternoon, killing ten tree rats, very unusual. Dad never fired a shot and I now realized he tried to help me kill every one we saw. He was always the one to walk around the tree to make the squirrel come around where I could see it.

All those and many more are special memories. Don’t miss a chance to make some of your own, especially with your kids.

Try Different Strokes When Ice Fishing

Different Strokes For Different Folks-Or Fish when Ice Fishing

By Bob Jensen
from The Fishing Wire

Yellow perch ice fishing

A lot of factors can determine how many fish we’ll catch through the ice. Color is important: So is lure size. How the bait is attached to your line can be a consideration. A small jig attached to your line with a big, bulky snap/swivel probably won’t be as effective as that same jig tied directly to a low-vis monofilament or fluorocarbon.

A very important consideration any time you’re ice-fishing, but especially when the fish are being finicky, is the action you’re putting on the lure. Just as in open water fishing, how you move the lure will have a direct influence on how many fish you catch.

Different lures have different actions. Consider the difference in action of two really good walleye baits for ice fishing, the Northland Buck-Shot Rattle Spoon and their Puppet Minnow. The spoon has a very straight up and down motion. When you lift it up then let it fall, it flutters a little bit, but falls pretty much straight back to the bottom.

Try different actions

Using the lure with the action that the fish want will help you put more fish on the ice.

The Puppet Minnow has a different design that gives it a different action. When it’s jigged, it falls back to the bottom in a semi-circle. It falls slower, which appeals to fish in some situations. It also covers a larger area as it falls. This action might appeal to fish that are out to the side of your hole that don’t want to come in to eat the spoon that’s being fished straight up and down. Both styles of baits are good, but there are times when the fish will show a preference.

By the same token, sometimes the fish will prefer these baits being worked fast, other times they’ll prefer a slower presentation. Watch your sonar and see how they respond to different actions, then give them the action they want.

Perch and panfish can be very selective about lure action. Sometimes they want the lure moving quickly, much of the time they prefer a quiver, and there are times when they want it motionless.

We were on a lake in South Dakota a while back that had a reputation for producing lots of big perch. When we got there a weather front had gone through that had the perch very unaggressive. We could see them on the sonar, and we tried everything we could to get them to eat our baits, but they just didn’t seem interested.

Finally, one of the anglers in our group sat down in the shelter, rested the elbow of his rod hand on his knee, and sat as still as he could. He jigged the bait softly every now and then, but when a perch came in and looked at this bait, he held the bait as still as possible. Eventually the perch ate the bait. Sometimes it would survey the bait for maybe twenty seconds before eating it. Pretty soon everyone in our group started employing the “elbow on the knee” technique, and we started catching more fish. We didn’t catch every perch that looked at the bait, but we caught a lot more than we had been.

Catch crappie using different lure action

Whether you’re fishing open water or through the ice, if you pay attention to the action you’re putting on the bait, you’re going to catch more fish.

To see the newest episodes of Fishing the Midwest television, go to www.fishingthemidwest.com If you do Facebook, check us out for a variety of fishing related things.

What Is the Proper Spooling of Spinning and Baitcasting Reels?

Kentucky Afield Outdoors: Proper spooling of spinning and baitcasting reels
from The Fishing Wire

FRANKFORT, Ky. – A family member bought you a nice spinning outfit for Christmas. Despite the cold, your desire to cast the new rod into water propels you to a local Fishing in Neighborhoods (FINs) lake to try to fool some winter rainbow trout.

Spooling Tool

A respooler like this one from Berkley makes line winding quick and trouble-free, but home systems, including a spool on a pencil, will also work with care.

Dutifully spooling on some fresh 4-pound test monofilament, you cast a red and silver in-line spinner a few times. As you move to a new spot and shoot a cast, you hear a sound similar to a flushing covey of quail and see a ball of spaghetti moving up the rod.

You now have a bird’s nest of epic proportions, requiring cutting off the mess, pulling out the loops and retying the lure. You curse the brand of line you bought.

In all likelihood, it isn’t the line’s fault. Properly loading fishing line onto a spinning or baitcasting reel is a skill many anglers take for granted, but often do incorrectly, greatly reducing the line’s performance. Incorrect line loading often causes tremendous line twist, the main culprit behind bird’s nests.

For spinning reels, first make sure the line you’ve selected matches the capacities of the reel. These capacities are always labeled on the side of the reel’s spool. Don’t load 10-pound test line onto a reel designed to accept lines from 2- to 6-pound test.

Begin by placing the filler spool onto a table or floor with the label facing up. Run the tag end of the line through the stripper guide – the largest guide closest to the reel – and to the reel. Open the reel’s bail and wrap the line twice around the middle of the reel spool, tie an overhand knot and tighten. Follow up with another overhand knot and clip the line about ¼-inch from the knot. Make sure to clip the tag line, not the main line leading back to the filler spool.

Reel some line onto the spool and stop. Lower the rod toward the filler spool. If the line begins to jump and twist, flip the filler spool over, placing the label down. Sometimes, the direction the line was spun on the filler spool at the factory and the direction the spinning reel places line on the spool are not in synchronization, which causes enormous line twist. Flipping the filler spool alleviates this problem.

If the line comes off the spool in big loose coils and doesn’t twist, keep reeling until you fill the spool to the thickness of a nickel from the spool lip.

Another way to load the spool involves a helper. Have the helper run a wooden pencil through the hole provided in the center of the filler spool housing. Run the line through the stripper guide and tie on to the reel spool. Ask the helper to hold the spool and pencil assembly perpendicular to the reel, similar to the way a wheel rotates on an axle, and apply gentle pressure to the filler spool with their fingers.

The line must come off the top of the filler spool toward the reel, not the bottom, or it incurs line twist.

Resist the temptation to overfill a spinning reel’s spool. If you’ve ever opened the bail on a spinning reel and line shot off it like a top, then you’ve witnessed the results of overfilling the spool. You can lose half a spool of line from twists, tangles and bird’s nests from overfilling a spinning reel.

Choices of Line

There are lots of options in refilling a spool-just choose a line suited to the task, and respool frequently; good line is critical when the big one bites.

Manually closing the bail of a spinning reel with your hand after making a cast is one of the best ways to keep line twist at bay while fishing. Each time you close the bail by turning the reel handle, you apply twist to the line. Over a day of fishing, these twists add up and produce loops and tangles that eventually lead to a mess. After a few fishing trips, manually closing the bail becomes second nature.

To fill baitcasting reels, run the line from the filler spool through the guide closest to the reel and through the line guide of the baitcasting reel to the spool. You can simply run the line through the holes in the ported spools found on most baitcasting reels today and start reeling. Or, secure the line to the spool with an arbor knot. Both techniques work.

The pencil through spool with a helper technique works best on baitcasting reels. Again, make sure the line comes off the top of the filler spool, not the bottom. You can also do it by yourself by placing the filler spool on a table with the label up and checking for twist, but the pencil through the spool method works much better for baitcasters.

Fill the spool to within a 1/16-inch of the rim and, again, resist the impulse to overfill the reel.

Don’t let line problems stemming from improper loading ruin a day of fishing. Following these simple procedures will achieve the best casting distance for your spinning and baitcasting reels, keep tangles at bay, and extend the life of your line.

Author Lee McClellan is a nationally award-winning associate editor for Kentucky Afield magazine, the official publication of the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources. He is a life-long hunter and angler, with a passion for smallmouth bass fishing.

Why Should I Examine All Proposed Gun Laws?

Written several years ago, the idea you should examine all gun laws carefully apply even more today.

The reaction to shootings in public places has me shaking my head but I guess I am not really surprised. During the past several months there have been mass murders at Virginia Tech, malls and a church. At the New Life Church in Colorado an armed church member shot the murderer, stopping him and making him kill himself.

The reaction to these senseless killings? Many officials have promoted victim disarmament zones making it illegal for you to have a gun to protect yourself. It is unreal how those folk’s brains must malfunction. How do they think preventing law abiding citizens’ right to have a gun will stop insane murderers?

One of the most graphic examples of their foolishness was on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” show by co-host Mika Brzezinski. Talking about the New Life shooting, host Joe Scarborough said “One person with a gun can make a big difference.” He seems to get it.

His co-host’s response? “Oh gosh, no! No, no, no. No, no, no, no, no.” Scarborough then said: “One person with a gun in the right place can make a big difference.” Brzezinski responded “You know, that is the most inane statement I have ever heard.”

Not only is she inane, she is insane. How can any rational person deny that the murderer at the New Life Church was stopped by a person in the right place with a gun? I guess the rational part is the key. She is not rational when it comes to guns.

Here in Georgia we have some of the same kinds of problems. Last year the Georgia Legislature refused to pass a bill that would allow employees to have guns in their vehicles in open parking lots. The Legislature said it was OK if employers told their workers could not have guns. This bill did not even apply to gated, secure parking lots, just parking lots anyone could enter.
The NRA supported a bill to make it illegal for employers to disarm their employees. The Georgia Sport Shooting Association, the NRA state affiliate, opposed the bill, somehow finding property rights involved in open parking lots with unrestricted access by the public.

This bill is being presented again this year with a few modifications. I have been told the GSSA will support it. I look forward to seeing the bill. It had not been pre-filed as of mid-December.
The Georgia Legislature this year may go even further in supporting gun owners. The Second Amendment Protection Act has not been pre-filed but I understand Representative Tim Bearden, R-Villa Rica, will introduce this bill this legislative session. This proposed bill is being supported by the GSSA. It sounds good but I would like to see a copy of it before saying it should be supported.

The group Georgiacarry.org is supporting legislation that removes restrictions on law abiding Georgia gun owners. It is unbelievable that a person in California with a state issued gun carry license is not as restricted as we are here in Georgia. In fact, Georgia is one of the most restrictive states in the nation when it comes to where carry permit holders are allowed to have their guns.
In Georgia it would have been illegal for the woman that shot the killer at New Life Church to have her gun with her, even though she had a carry permit. There may have been a way around it because she was considered on the security force at that church, but why is it illegal in Georgia for honest, law-abiding citizens with a carry permit to have their pistol at a church?

There are also other areas of the law that need to be changed. If you own a business and don’t have a carry permit you are still allowed to have a concealed gun on you in your home and at your business. But you can’t have it concealed in your car. So if you put a gun in a shoulder holster at home, drive to your store and go in, you have broken the law unless you took the gun out of the holster and put it in plain view or in a glove box.

That is strange. Citizens are trusted to carry a gun concealed unless in their car but they can still have the gun, it just must be visible or in the glove compartment. How in the world does that have anything to do with preventing a criminal from misusing a gun?

Watch the legislature as they start their session this month. Examine each bill carefully and make sure they support gun rights and don’t do things that further restrict law abiding gun owners.

Is There A Connection Between Climate and Fisheries?

Making the Connection Between Climate and Fisheries

There now seems to be no question as to whether Earth’s climate is warming, though whether it will continue long term and whether humans can do anything about it are still open for discussion in many quarters. But here’s an interesting take from marine scientist Jon Hare, director of the NOAA’s Northeast Fisheries Science Center Laboratory in Narragansett, Rhode Island, on how the warming is affecting many coastal species of fish-as reported by NOAA Fisheries Science Writer Rich Press.

An interview with NOAA Fisheries scientist Jon Hare

By Rich Press, NOAA Fisheries Science Writer
Follow Rich on Twitter: @Rich_NOAAFish
from The Fishing Wire

Jon Hare with a video plankton recorder-

NOAA Fisheries scientist Jon Hare with a video plankton recorder-a device that scientists use to measure the distributional patterns of live plankton.

As the climate changes and the oceans warm, fish populations are moving in search of cooler waters. That is part of the reason why New England fishermen have been catching black sea bass and longfin squid in the Gulf of Maine in recent years, far north of the animals’ usual range. In other places, it’s the absence of a species that’s notable. Just ask lobstermen in the Long Island Sound, who have had little to catch since the range of this valuable species that once supported them shifted north in recent decades.

These changes present a number of challenges both to fishermen, who might need to adapt their business strategies, and to fishery managers, who need reliable information to set sustainable fishing levels.

Jon Hare is the director of the NOAA’s Northeast Fisheries Science Center Laboratory in Narragansett, Rhode Island, and he studies how physical conditions in the ocean affect fish populations. Hare is a fisheries oceanographer, and his work straddles two disciplines. “When I’m with fisheries people, I’m the oceanographer,” he says. “And when I’m with oceanographers, I’m the fisheries guy.”

In this interview, Hare discusses how fish are shifting their distributions in response to climate change and how those shifts ripple through the ecosystem. To adapt to these changes, Hare says, we need to increase our ability to forecast fish populations even as climate change drives them in unpredictable directions. That will require increased collaboration between fisheries biologists, oceanographers, and climate scientists.

You and your colleagues have been researching how fish respond to changing ocean temperatures. What have you found?

A number of scientists from NOAA and elsewhere have been looking at this problem, and multiple studies have found that about two-thirds of the fish populations on the Northeast U.S. continental shelf are moving northwards. Most of the earlier work was done on adult fish, but some more recent work has focused on the earliest life stages of fish, when they’re tiny larvae floating in the water column. We’ve found that in many cases larval distributions are also shifting northwards. So not only are fish populations shifting northward, but their spawning locations appear to be shifting northward as well. There are exceptions, but that’s the general trend.

Is the hypothesis that they’re heading north because they’re trying to stay within their preferred temperature range as the ocean warms up around them?

Yes, that’s the hypothesis, and it’s well supported by a study led by Malin Pinsky at Rutgers University. He looked at more than 350 species from all over North America and found that not only are fish moving, but that their movements track local temperatures very closely. Where temperatures have changed a lot, the movements on average have been greater, and visa versa. So at least some portion of the shifts are linked to temperature.

But we know from other studies that temperature isn’t the only factor. For instance, with summer flounder, a study led by Rich Bell at the NOAA Narragansett Laboratory found that changes in fishing pressure are also playing a role. In the 1990s, summer flounder populations were at low levels. Since then, a new management plan has been put in place that reduced fishing pressure, and today there are more older, larger fish out there. Those older, larger fish migrate further north, and so the range of the species has expanded north as the population has grown. In that case the northward shift is good news, and it shows that our efforts to reduce overfishing are paying off.

We’ve been speaking about the movement of individual fish species, but what does all this movement mean on an ecosystem level?

Each species responds somewhat differently to environmental changes. So as temperatures change, some species move out while others move in. Some are moving fast and some are moving more slowly. In any given location you’re shuffling the community of species in the ecosystem, and that creates a number of challenges both for fishermen and for managers.

For instance, many recreational and state-water commercial fisheries are managed spatially. In the case of black sea bass, to name just one, the total catch is divided among the states, with some states allocated more catch and some states allocated less. These allocations, however, are based on where the fish were in the late 80’s and early 90’s. But since then, the fish have moved north, and now New England fishermen are catching black sea bass in the Gulf of Maine. Those fishermen bump up against their catch limits very quickly, while fishermen from the Mid-Atlantic have to work much harder to catch their limit. That mismatch between the regulations and the distribution of the stock creates a lot of inefficiencies in the fishery.

When these regulations were designed, what happened? Did people not realize how variable things are?

We didn’t realize at the time how dynamic ecosystems are. People understood that ocean conditions varied from year to year, but not that things were trending in any particular direction. Today we understand that climate change and multidecadal variability is forcing the system in a particular direction, but those old assumptions are built into our management structure. So the question now is, how do we make our science and our management more adaptable to these changes that we know are happening.

If you look into the future for me, can you predict what our science and management will look like 20 years from now? What do you think is needed?

I don’t know what things are going to look like 20 years from now, but I can tell you what I think is needed. We need tools that will allow us to predict fish populations into the future under changing climate conditions. Climate scientists already have models that predict climate into the future. And fisheries scientists already have models that predict fish populations into the future without taking climate into account. We need to bring those two types of models together, and then use those coupled models when providing advice to managers. That’s going to require a lot more interaction between the traditional fisheries scientists, oceanographers, and the climate community.

What’s the cutting edge of research in this area?

On the climate side, the cutting edge involves scaling climate models down to the regional level. Today’s climate models predict future climate conditions over very large geographic areas, but fisheries are regional. What will ocean conditions be like in the Gulf of Maine, or on the Northeast U.S. Continental Shelf? Currently we don’t have what are called downscaled climate models for this ocean region.

We also need to models that provide climate information in the 10 to 20 year time frame. Most climate models predict conditions 50 or 100 years out, and that time horizon isn’t very useful for managing fisheries. There are a lot of efforts underway to make reliable predictions during a 10 or 20-year timeframe. That doesn’t help when setting catch levels, which require a 1 to 3 year forecast. But if a fisherman is deciding whether to buy a boat or to invest in a permit to fish for a given species, or if a town is deciding whether to invest in infrastructure for a fishery, having reliable projections on the 10 to 20-year time scale could be beneficial.

The other cutting edge is on the fisheries side. Rising temperatures affect fish populations, and we can analyze those effects statistically, but what are the mechanisms that actually drive those changes? In other words, what is the physiological response of fish to higher temperatures? What is the ecosystem response when predator populations increase or prey populations decrease?

Those are the connections between climate and fish populations in the real world. When we base our models on those biological mechanisms, as opposed to statistical relationships, that will be a big step forward. A lot of scientists-both climate scientists and fisheries scientists-are working on these problems.

First Bass Tournament of the New Year

Last Sunday was the first tournament of the year for the Flint River Bass Club. Only six members showed up at Sinclair on a cold, cloudy day. There was only one limit but everyone caught at least one keeper. The 18 bass we brought to the scales weighed about 29 pounds.

After fishing from 7:00 AM to 3:00 PM Lee Hancock won it all with a limit weighing 9.63 pounds and big fish with a 4.15 pound largemouth. My three keepers weighted 6.27 for second, Don Gober had four at 5.15 for third, and Jack “Zero” Ridgeway had three at 4.89 for fourth.
I started the day fishing a crankbait on a steep rocky bank. After an hour I was ready to leave but saw some brush sticking out of the water ahead of me and fished to it. I’m glad I did. A 3.7 pound bass hit by crankbait by the brush.

After fishing that area hard without any more bites I moved to a cove with docks in it. There is a rock pile between two docks where I have caught bass this time of year. The very first cast I made to it with a jig head worm I felt a tap and my line started moving back to the boat. When I set the hook my line broke.

After saying some choice words and trying to retie, my line broke every time I pulled it tight. Something was wrong with that line, I guess it had deteriorated on the reel. So I switched to another outfit and tied the jig head on it.

The next cast to the rocks produced another hit. My line started moving out, I set the hook hard and my rod bowed up on a heavy fish, and the hook came out of its mouth. That happened on four consecutive casts! I never hooked a fish there. I have no idea why I could not hook those fish unless there was a school of gar there and I could not get a hook in their bony snout.

After noon I ran down the lake to another place and caught my other two keepers by docks, then broke my line when I got a hit on some rocks. This time it was my fault, I had been fishing rocks and had not checked my line.

The Sportsman Club meets this Tuesday and our first tournament in this Sunday at Jackson. Time to join us!

How Can I Stay Warm While Ice Fishing?

Keep Warm On The Ice

by Bob Jensen
from The Fishing Wire

Ice Crappie

If you dress for the conditions when you’re on the ice you’ll enjoy ice-fishing even more, and you’ll also be more successful at catching fish through the ice.

It got cold again! That’s good and that’s bad. It’s good, because the ice is getting thicker and safer across most of the ice-fishing region. That means more anglers will be on the ice in the near future.

It also means that it’s easier for those ice-anglers to get cold, and usually getting cold is not a fun part of ice-fishing. However, it’s not necessary to get cold when you’re ice-fishing or doing anything outdoors this time of year. There is so much outstanding and affordable clothing that there really is no need to get cold outside unless you’re in unusually extreme cold. Here are some ideas for staying warm on the ice.

Remember, if you get too warm, you’re going to get cold. If you’re drilling a lot of holes in the ice, or walking from hole to hole a lot, you’re going to get warm. When we get warm, we sweat, and if that sweat gets trapped next to your skin, you will eventually get cold. We want to be wearing under-garments that will wick the sweat away from your body. Garments made from cotton are not the answer: Cotton traps the sweat. Cabela’s MTP and Polartec base layers are a great place to start.

My next layer is usually a hooded sweatshirt, and I then slip into water resistant bibs. I prefer the bib style because it offers more protection from the wind to areas that could be exposed, and I like the water resistant feature because there are times when I kneel next to the hole to land a fish. The water resistant feature keeps me dry, and therefore warmer and more comfortable.

Next goes on the outer layer: I like parka length because, again, it provides more protection to areas of skin that could be exposed to the elements. My favorite is Guidewear for both the bibs and parka. In fact, the same Guidewear that I keep in the boat for summer fishing works great for ice-fishing.

Round this out with a cap and boots. Wear a stocking cap or something of that nature. Heat escapes from an uncovered head. Set up your fishing position so your back is to the wind, and pull your hood up over your cap. If you’re facing into the wind and you pull your hood up, you get a swirling effect, and that can be not-so-pleasant.

If your feet get cold, you’re going to be cold and uncomfortable. Boots can be a personal thing: Some folks like big “pac” insulated boots that are very warm, but can also be heavy. They’re great for keeping warm, but they make walking around a lot of work.

There are lots of lighter weight boots available that do a great job of keeping your feet warm if you keep moving–several layers of wool socks can help a lot, but be sure to size your boots big enough that the layers don’t cramp your toes–cramped toes are cold toes.

And then, probably the best way to keep warm on the ice is to fish from a permanent shelter that has a heater inside. This year I’m spending quite a bit of time in an Ice Castle house. It’s warm, it’s comfortable, and it’s also very easy to move to follow the bite. Now, that’s really the way to go ice fishing.

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Lake Hartwell Is So Big It Offers Bassmasters Classic Challenges

As one of the largest lakes in the Southeast, Lake Hartwell has 56,000 surface acres and 962 miles of shoreline. This lake will prove to be a challenge for the 56-angler field competing in the 2015 GEICO Bassmaster Classic presented by GoPro.

Massive Lake Hartwell Presents Challenges, Opportunities For Classic Anglers
from BASS

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – When talking with one of the 56 anglers taking part in the GEICO Bassmaster Classic presented by GoPro, Feb. 20-22 on Lake Hartwell, you can expect to hear the words “big” and “everything” a lot.

Serving as a border between Georgia and South Carolina, the lake has 56,000 surface acres and 962 miles of shoreline. That makes it one of the Southeast’s largest and most popular fishing destinations.

“It’s a lot bigger than I remember it being when we were there for the Classic that Alton Jones won (in 2008),” said Aaron Martens, who will be making his 16th career Classic appearance. “I don’t think I even saw half of the lake back then. It’s got a lot of acreage, and the amount of fishable water in that acreage is pretty large.”

The size of the lake combined with its diverse structure could make it hard for anglers to form a solid game plan that’s likely to withstand three days of the area’s often-erratic winter weather. The lake has everything from long, sloping points and underwater islands to standing timber, rocky banks, man-made brushpiles and deep underwater channels.

“There’s so much to look at – a little bit of everything, everywhere,” Martens said. “You can catch them shallow to deep. You have to be ready for it all, but that’s what we do. I think the fish will bite. But depending on the weather, it could be hard to present certain techniques to them.”

Along with diverse structure, Hartwell has two species of black bass that could both be helpful to anglers. First, there are the largemouth that have been the staple of most tournaments on Hartwell for decades. Then there’s the spotted bass that have steadily increased in size the past four or five years since making their way downstream from Lake Keowee, where they were introduced more than a decade ago.

Classic competitor Casey Ashley, who lives just 35 minutes from Lake Hartwell in Donalds, S.C., believes spots could play a major role in the outcome of the tournament.

“It could possibly be won off spots,” said Ashley, who won an FLW Tour event on Hartwell in March 2014. “The 3- to 5-pound spots are there, and there are a lot of them. I’ve just now gotten to where I’ll actually target spots. I wouldn’t in the past because for years, you just couldn’t win with spots. That’s just not the case anymore.”

Elite Series pro Stephen Browning of Arkansas, who will be appearing in his 10th Classic, isn’t sure the event can be won with spotted bass. But he believes they could make for an excellent “Plan B” if the largemouth prove too stubborn.

“Personally, with the exception of the Coosa River (in Alabama), I’ve never seen a lake where a guy can win a multiday tournament exclusively on spotted bass,” Browning said. “But mixing five or six of them in with largemouth may help you survive. I feel like if a guy gets to struggling, those will definitely be the fish to turn to.”

Those anglers and the rest of the field will be aiming to do more than survive — they’re gunning for the $300,000 winner’s prize and the almost instant fame and fortune that go with winning.

Weigh-ins will be held daily at the Bon Secours Wellness Center Arena in downtown Greenville, with the winner to be crowned there Sunday afternoon, Feb. 22.

Plenty of activities are available to fishing fans prior to the weigh-ins. For those willing to brave the morning chill, the Green Pond Landing at Anderson, S.C., provides a fan-friendly setting for watching the pros take off each morning. And one of the country’s largest consumer fishing shows, the Bassmaster Classic Outdoors Expo presented by Dick’s Sporting Goods, will be open all three competitions days. All three venues are free admission.

The local host for the 2015 GEICO Bassmaster Classic presented by GoPro are VisitGreenvileSC, Visit Anderson, Greenville County, Anderson County and the state of South Carolina.

About B.A.S.S.
B.A.S.S. is the worldwide authority on bass fishing and keeper of the culture of the sport. Headquartered in Birmingham, Ala., the 500,000-member organization’s fully integrated media platforms include the industry’s leading magazines (Bassmaster and B.A.S.S. Times), website (Bassmaster.com), television show (The Bassmasters on ESPN2), social media programs and events. For more than 45 years, B.A.S.S. has been dedicated to access, conservation and youth fishing.

The Bassmaster Tournament Trail includes the most prestigious events at each level of competition, including the Bassmaster Elite Series, Bass Pro Shops Bassmaster Open Series presented by Allstate, Old Milwaukee B.A.S.S. Nation events, Carhartt Bassmaster College Series, Bassmaster High School Series, Toyota Bonus Bucks Bassmaster Team Championship and the ultimate celebration of competitive fishing, the GEICO Bassmaster Classic presented by Diet Mountain Dew and GoPro.

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