DO BACKLASHES CAUSE BREAKOFFS WITH FLUOROCARBON?

from The Fishing Wire and Sunline

Backlashes damage your line


The dreaded backlash in a baitcast spool can end the use of that reel very quickly. Whether it is an errant cast into the wind, or a skip cast that didn’t go as planned, a bad backlash can require a scissors to get you up and operational again. This video quickly shows you how to dial in a baitcast reel, to help you prevent this from happening. No matter how good you are, that errant cast still happens to even top-level tour pros. Protecting your line while removing a backlash will help your fluorocarbon last longer and prevent critical break offs.

Anglers choosing to use fluorocarbon line with a baitcaster reel may experience backlashes or loops in their lines during use. Those errant casts cause the spool to overrun and that creates loops, kinks, and tangles in your line. Those overruns can cause a kink in the line when they occur or when an angler is working to remove them. You pull on the line when it is stuck, and a kink is created in the line in that spot. Those kinks can damage your fluorocarbon line and lead to failure later during your usage of that reel and line. The more kinks you cause in your line the more damage you are doing to it and the more likely it is that your line will break when casting or during hooksets.

Kinks in backlashes can cause line breaks

You take the kink like the one above out of your line and it may seem ok, but the damage is often done by then. Sunline has 15+ employees that work in their R&D Department and they spend their days studying line and factors that impact the performance of line. The Sunline R&D team studied the impact that kinks can have on the performance of fluorocarbon line on a bait cast reel.

Below you can see a cross section image of two lines when viewed under an electron microscope. Line A is a normal fluorocarbon line that you can see has no defects. Line B shows an image of the same line where it had been kinked. You will see in image B that micro cracks are now visible inside the line at the spot where it was kinked. Those micro cracks weaken the line and lower the overall performance of the line.

Microscopic picture of damage from backlash

These lines were also tested for straight breaking strength before and after the kink. The line that had been kinked showed a measurable decrease in breaking strength. The micro cracks from the kink had caused the line to break at a 5% lower strength on average after repeated testing. More kinks are only going to continue to weaken the line causing it to fail below the rated level. This can often be seen when fluorocarbon line unexpectedly breaks in the spool on a cast. The kinks from backlashes in your spool have weakened it, so that it breaks inside the spool on a random cast.

The line damage from kinks is also magnified on powerful hooksets where higher stress is placed on the line, and it breaks at the weakest point.

Having your reel dialed in with optimum settings for that lure and technique is the best way to avoid backlashes. No matter what, backlashes and tangles happen when using baitcast reels, just make sure to remove the tangles as carefully as possible to avoid any kinks in the line which will decrease the breaking strength.

Hot July Tournament At Bartletts Ferry

 The first Sunday in July eight members of the Flint River Bass Club fished our June tournament at Bartletts Ferry. We also had one youth fish the tournament.  The club has a special category for youth; they fish with an adult club member or family member and there is no entry fee for them. If they catch a keeper fish they win a prize package of fishing lures. We do not give participation prizes! 

    After eight hours of casting, we weighed in 27 12-inch keeper bass weighing about 31 pounds. There were three five-bass limits and one fisherman didn’t have a keeper.   

Lee Hancock won with five bass weighing 7.87 pounds and Doug Acree placed second with three weighing 5.74 pounds. Doug also had big fish with a 3.41 pound largemouth.  My five weighing 4.96 pounds was third and Niles Murray placed fourth with five at 4.80 pounds.  

Fishing with Lee Hancock, Jett Collins won the youth division with four bass weighing 3.57 pounds, enough to place fifth in the regular tournament.   

I started out pretty good with a keeper spot on a buzzbait within five minutes of our start at 6:00
AM. Then just over an hour later I got a keeper largemouth on a weightless worm under dock. Two in the livewell in less than two hours gave me hope. 

At noon the hope was about gone. It was miserably hot with no breeze to cool me off. And the lake had gotten really rough from pleasure boaters by 9:00 and it was dangerous to sit out in open water fishing. Too many folks do not pay attention to where they are going when driving a boat.  

Even halfway back in coves I thought I was going to get run over twice, once by a pontoon boat full of folks cruising the shoreline and once by a big wake boat pulling two little kids. 

At noon I decided to go to an area with some docks that have produced some keeper fish in June for me in the past.  My first cast with a shaky head hit a post and I got hung. Rather then go in and get it and mess up the fishing, I put that rod down, picked up a rod with a whacky rigged Senko on it and skipped it under the dock. 

A keeper spot grabbed the bait as it sank and I was able to pull it away from the post and land it.  Then on the next dock my first cast produced a keeper spot then another keeper spot, giving me my limit.  Then the same dock produced a spot too short to weigh. 

That was it. I fished docks for the last two hours and caught a couple more short fish, but no more keepers.  

The hot summertime is not the best time of the year for bass fishing.  Many bass go to deep water to avoid the heat and bright sun, and others get as far back into cover like docks for the shade. They are hard to cast to and even harder to land. 

It can be dangerous, too. Way too many folks get in boats and run around without a clue there are rules on driving a boat, just like a car.  I can’t count the times I have been meeting a boat going in the opposite direction and they insist on going to my right to try to pass me, the exactly opposite of the law. 

I prefer fishing at night this time of year, it is more comfortable, the fish bite better and there are fewer boats out there. The clubs used to have night tournaments in the summer but some members don’t like them so they got them ended rather than just not fishing them. 

It can be dangerous at night, but no more dangerous than during the day, and with fewer boats there is less dangerous.   

Bigger lakes offer places to hide from the pleasure boaters.  Fishermen can go way up creeks and rivers where stuff in the water keeps some pleasure boats out.  But skidoos seem to thrill in running such places and making them tough to fish. 

There are a few ways to cool off. I try to fish shady banks as much as possible. And dipping a cap full of water and dumping it over my head helps. Riding on plane in my boat creates a nice breeze, but the water is often so rough that is no fun. 

Even with all the problems, I would rather be out there fishing rather than sitting at home at a computer wasting time! 

C. Booth Historic National Fish Hatchery and Archives Preserves History for the Future

By Craig Springer, USFWS
from The Fishing Wire

Channeling William Faulkner: “The past isn’t dead. It isn’t even past.”

The past is present here at D.C. Booth Historic National Fish Hatchery and Archives in Spearfish, South Dakota. The facility is dedicated to preserving images, documents and objects related to fisheries conservation. The archive is located at one of the oldest operating hatcheries in the U.S., which still produces trout.Barton Warren Evermann, Chief of Scientific Inquiry of the U.S. Fish Commission (the forerunner of today’s U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service created nearly 150 years ago in 1871) came to the Black Hills in the early 1890s to assess the area’s fisheries.On what now seems like a pittance, Congress granted Evermann in August 1892, “for investigation and report, respecting the advisability of establishing fish-hatching stations at suitable points in the States of South Dakota, Iowa, and Nebraska, $1,000, or as much thereof as may be necessary.”

We don’t have an accounting of what was spent, but he noted what streams he seined, the fishes he found, and with whom he traveled.And he didn’t waste time: “Oct. 6. Began work at Deadwood, S. Dak. Oct. 7. Drove to Spearfish and examined Spearfish Creek and numerous springs in vicinity,” states his 1894 Report upon the Fishes of the Missouri River Basin.

His field work ceased with the onset of winter and resumed in June 1893. Then over the next two months Evermann and crew examined not only potential hatchery sites, “but included an examination and study of the physical and biological features of the waters, with especial reference to the species of fish and other animal life they already contain, and their suitability for stocking with other species of food-fishes not indigenous to them.”The waters of the Black Hills were thoroughly vetted by the scientist. It was Spearfish to which Evermann returned.

And he tells Congress why:“Spearfish Creek—This is by far the most picturesque of all the streams of the Black Hills seen by us. We examined Spearfish Creek at the town of Spearfish where it was 30 feet wide, 1 foot or more deep, and with a swift current. The bottom was gravelly and there was considerable vegetation along the banks. From it we took brook trout, Jordan’s sucker, and western dace. The stream is a fine one, indeed. The bulk of its water comes from the hills, but even at Spearfish there are some fine springs. If fish-cultural work should ever be undertaken at any place in the Black Hills, the most satisfactory natural conditions could probably be found here.”And so it would come to pass. By July 1899, Spearfish National Fish Hatchery situated about a mile from the bustling downtown, was operational with 17 ponds and a handsome hatching house designed by U.S. Fish Commission Architect and Engineer, Hector von Bayer. It was neatly tucked in narrow Ames Canyon. The hatching house sat in a commanding position above the creek. DeWitt Clinton Booth, a New York native likely named for his home state’s former governor and U.S. senator, took charge of the new federal fisheries facility.Spearfish National Fish Hatchery produced trout.

Booth and crew, sometime attended by their families, made arduous annual forays into Yellowstone National Park to collect the spawn of “black-spotted trout,” as cutthroat trout were called at the time. The fertilized eggs were returned to Spearfish for raising and stocking in the Black Hills streams and beyond. These trips were made by rail and by wagon, hauling most of their physical needs, including boats and nets. Other species of trout would come from the Spearfish hatchery: brook trout, brown trout, rainbow trout, lake trout.

The quality of the spring waters that Evermann found did not last. The springs dried up about 1940 and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service looked for reliable water nearby and built the McNenny National Fish Hatchery a few miles west. The Spearfish site became a training center for work with fish diets and nutrition, adding a genetics research laboratory to the mix along Sand Creek in Wyoming, while the new McNenny station produced the bulk of the trout.

Spearfish National Fish Hatchery would go through another permutation when something else dried up: funding.In the 1980s the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service divested of a number of facilities in the National Fish Hatchery System. McNenny was turned over to the South Dakota Department of Game, Fish, and Parks. The City of Spearfish took over operations of the Spearfish facility and changed its name to honor the hatchery’s first superintendent, D.C. Booth.In 1989, the past and the present would come to live on the same contour when the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service established its National Fish & Aquatic Conservation Archives at Spearfish.Today, on the grounds of the 

D.C. Booth Historic National Fish Hatchery and Archives, Spearfish Creek batters downhill over rounded stones. Its silver music fades as you approach a preserved boat, “U.S. Fisheries 39,” a craft that operated on Yellowstone Lake in the 1920s. A railcar rests near the boat emblazoned with “Bureau of Fisheries.”  

Inside von Bayer’s hatching house, still in its commanding position, you’ll find a museum with old tools and artwork and photos that tell the fisheries conservation story. The superintendent’s home up the hill is as pleasant to look at as it is entertaining to tour. Appointed with period furniture and accessories—some of it original pieces—you’ll learn how the Booth family lived their lives.

Perhaps the greatest treasures are those most protected—housed in a climate-controlled collection management facility cared for by a professional curator. Some 1.8 million archival items and 14,000 artifacts related to fisheries conservation are preserved here.

A 1919 photograph of a now-extinct yellowfin cutthroat trout from Colorado is particularly moving. It may be the only known image of the fish. It seems appropriate to have a home here in a circularity of experience. Barton Warren Evermann described the yellowfin for science the year before he visited Spearfish, and the image now lives in a place that he deemed suitable to carry on conservation work.

Researchers of history and conservation are encouraged to send their queries to the curator, April_Gregory@fws.gov  

Craig Springer, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service – Fish and Aquatic Conservation, Southwest Region

Bryozoans Look Like Jelly Blobs In the Water

“Jelly Blobs”  is a term often used for a type of single cell animals called Bryozoans. They are one of several strange critters you may encounter in lakes and rivers. Several varieties live in freshwater and attach in colonies to twigs, limbs, ropes and dock posts in the water. They look like brown blobs of jelly.  If you look at them closely they have small star-like structures that are different groups of the animals, called zooids

      Bryozoans Description  – Round or oval-shapped blobs of jelly-like material attached to things in the water.  Color is shades of mottled browns.  They feel solid but slimy to the touch.

          Bryozoans Size  – The balls can be as big as two feet across and contain 2,000,000 individual zooids. Most are smaller, with a one-foot across blob fairly big in most waters.

          Bryozoans Distribution  – Different kinds of jelly blobs are found in almost all freshwater worldwide. 

          What Bryozoans Eat – Normally, diatoms, green algae, bacteria, rotifers, protozoa, tiny crustaceans or nematodes are in their diet.   

          Bryozoan Reproduction  – Asexual reproduction is the norm, through budding to form new animals, but sexual reproduction does take place.

          Bryozoans Attraction to Light – none

          Bryozoans Life Cycle  – A single zooid can attach to something in the water and reproduce by budding, building a colony that looks like the blob you see. Some die off in the winter, with just a few individuals surviving to start a new colony in the spring.

          Bryozoans Problems  – These blobs may look and feel bad, but they actually indicate good water quality.

          Jelly Blobs or Bryozoans are common and do not cause problems.  They indicate good water quality.  These tiny animals that are similar to corals should not bother you unless they are on your dock ladders and ropes.   

What Is Power Rigging for Walleyes and Why Should I Try It?


Tips from Tony Roach
from The Fishing Wire

Nearly fifty years after the inception of the modern live-bait rig—what’s today known simply as the ‘Roach Rig’—its sheer effectiveness still raises eyebrows and turns heads. Take a vigorously squirming minnow, nightcrawler or leech, and couple it with a hook, leader and sliding sinker and you’re fishing the deadliest walleye presentation of all time. Get a natural, lively bait to the bottom, and just start creeping your way along fruitful structure. Sooner or later, a walleye is going to eat. It’s just that simple.

Well, sort of. During the same fifty years, a number of nice little developments have transformed a serviceable bait delivery vehicle into a precision live-bait system. The walking sinker evolved into the Quick-Change Roach Sinker. The bottom bouncer transmogrified into the Northland Slip Bouncer. Live bait care tools, like those by Frabill, now ensure a healthy supply of critters. All the while, hooks, lines, and electronics have advanced almost beyond comprehension.

Which is where “power rigging” enters the equation. It’s old school rigging (light and easy) meets heavy metal bottom bouncing (head-banging fast), plus a dash of new wave tackle and tactics. Developed by ace guide Tony Roach, this hybrid live bait system is indeed, as he calls it, “Roach rigging on steroids.”

“Power rigging lets me maintain a natural live bait presentation, while triggering fish with a bit more speed,” states Roach. “Sort of like rip jigging, the presentation induces a reactionary response, while the live bait closes the deal. Early in the season, you’re moving slow with rigs and jigs, presenting bait to fish on a definite ‘feeding bite’; show ‘em a tempting morsel, keep it in front of their snouts, and they’re going to eat. Later on, as water warms, and the food supply expands, walleyes can turn a little tricky—a slight boost in speed is often all it takes to get fish to go.

“What I really like about the power program is that I can work quickly along a lengthy edge or over a vast flat, moving .9- to 1.2-mph,” he continues. “I can still put natural bait in front of them, but I can show my wares to a lot more active fish. What I also like is that the more boats there are working a spot slowly with rigs, the better. I can cruise right along and mow down the active biters.”From a lake-wide perspective, Roach’s power spots aren’t secrets. “This approach works on nearly any classic late summer and fall walleye location. Rock points, weed edges, transition areas, mudflats—anywhere you can drag a standard walking sinker and live bait, you can power rig,” he asserts.

“It’s really sort of a hybrid between slow-down rigging and dragging spinners on three-ways. I’ll start doing this pretty early in the summer—right after those initial insect hatches— and stick with it on and off through late summer into early fall. Once surface temps hit 60-degrees or so, it’s time to break out the power rigs. Then again in August and September, it really shines as water begins to cool a bit.“Those days when everyone is either creeping along with a standard rig or bottom bouncing at a good clip–especially on flat calm days–that’s when I’ll break out the power rigs.

”Roach’s power program employs a straight wire bottom bouncer, such as the Northland Slip Bouncer, coupled with a super long leader—up to 15-feet for coverless flats— tied with 8-pound test Berkley XT. At slower speeds he typically rigs a live ribbon leech, small shiner or chub on a single #6 or #4 hook. If Roach is pulling crawlers, it usually means he’s moving a bit faster, employing a dual hook harness. For added attraction, he occasionally adds a single fluorescent bead, or a single 00 flicker spinner. Often, too, especially with longer snells or near vegetation, he likes to add a Rainbow Float, 1 to 8-inches above the hook. “You can pin the float in place using a rubber Snubber Stop,” he asserts. Keeping the float well above the hook holds the entire leader off bottom, rather than just the bait itself.

While the hook, float and live bait power the presentation, the Slip-Bouncer drives. Unlike the standard R-bend bottom bouncers, Slip-Bouncers are composed of a single straight wire shaft with an open eyelet on top, which lets you feed line freely to biting fish—no resistance. The 5-inch wire “feeler” transmits bottom types like a stethoscope, while a slide-on weight system yields rapid adjustments to varying depths, speeds and currents. Another advantage: tickled over soft silt, mud or sand, these needle-like weights disturb very little bottom substrate, an occurrence that often spooks walleyes.

“Slip Bouncers are a gem—something every angler should add to their bag of rigging tricks,” Roach says.“Power rigging is ideal for inexperienced anglers and old pros alike. If I’ve got beginners in my boat, I can just set soft-tipped 8-1/2- foot trolling rods, like my Mr. Walleye SuperPros, in rod holders, and let them load up and set themselves. If we start missing fish, we simply hold rods and delay our hooksets. Drop the rod tip back toward a biting fish, feel for solid weight, and give a nice long sweep. Once you get things dialed in, you’ll hook every biter. It’s a pretty forgiving system.

“Really, power rigging can be the answer on any given summer day. Right in the middle of a classic ‘slow-down’ rigging bite, you can really put on a clinic. But the power program shines later on, too, when everyone else is moving faster, pulling standard spinner rigs. In both cases, the system can really make you a hero on those tougher flat calm day bites. Tell you what, any method that saves my hide on tough guide days is okay in my book.”

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.”

Why Does Virginia Says NO to Alabama Bass


From Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries
from The Fishing Wire

What are Alabama Bass?

Alabama Bass (Micropetrus henshallii) are one of approximately twelve species of black bass. They are an aggressive species that outcompetes Largemouth Bass and readily hybridizes with Smallmouth and Spotted Bass. Alabama Bass are nearly identical in appearance to Spotted Bass, and were formerly known as the Alabama subspecies of the Spotted Bass. The other former subspecies of Spotted Bass, the Kentucky Spotted Bass, is found throughout Virginia and is native to the southwest portion of the Commonwealth.

The jaw of Alabama Bass lines up with the middle rear of the eye, while Largemouth Bass jaws extend past the eye. Alabama Bass have a dark, blotchy lateral band from head to tail, and have spots below this band. Largemouth Bass have a more continuous lateral band. Alabama Bass also typically have a tooth patch on their tongue, which is rare in Largemouth Bass. Alabama and Spotted Bass are differentiated by differences in lateral line scale counts or genetic analysis.

Where are Alabama Bass found?

Alabama Bass are native to Georgia and Alabama, occurring primarily in large river systems and large impoundments. Alabama Bass are confirmed to be present in Lake Gaston, Claytor Lake, Philpott Lake, and Martinsville Reservoir. They are suspected to be present in Diascund Reservoir and possibly other lakes. The Department of Game and Inland Fisheries (DGIF) is conducting genetic testing to better identify the extent of Alabama Bass throughout Virginia.

Why are Alabama Bass a concern in Virginia?

Alabama Bass represent a tremendous threat to Largemouth and Smallmouth Bass fisheries. Largemouth and Smallmouth Bass are Virginia’s most popular angling targets, with more than 60% of anglers targeting either species over the course of a fishing season. Largemouth and Smallmouth Bass fisheries in Virginia are valued in the millions of dollars. Declines in either population will result in not only the loss of sportfishing opportunities, but in economic harm to the region.

As an invasive species, Alabama Bass are capable of outcompeting Largemouth Bass, causing declines in abundance. For example, in Lake Norman, North Carolina, the relative abundance of Largemouth Bass decreased to less than 8% of their former abundance following the introduction of Alabama Bass. Declines in Largemouth abundance seem to be most pronounced in lakes that are relatively clear and which have limited vegetation. Systems in Virginia such as Smith Mountain Lake, Lake Anna, South Holston Reservoir, and Lake Moomaw are likely to see declines of Largemouth Bass populations if Alabama Bass are introduced into those waterbodies.

Alabama Bass also can hybridize with Smallmouth or Spotted Bass, often resulting in loss of the genetically pure Smallmouth Bass population. This occurred in Chatuge Reservoir, Georgia and North Carolina, and Nottely Reservoir, Georgia. Smallmouth Bass populations in lakes such as Smith Mountain and Moomaw, as well as in rivers such as the James and Shenandoah, might undergo a similar fate following introduction of Alabama Bass.

Although large Alabama Bass may appear for a few years following introduction, this situation is short lived and occurs primarily when population densities are low. Once established, Alabama Bass populations often increase to the point where stunting occurs, resulting in greater abundance of smaller bass. Fisheries are likely to shift from being dominated by 2–3 lb Largemouth or Smallmouth Bass to being dominated by 1 lb Alabama Bass.

What can you do?

Anglers are the primary vector for the spread of Alabama Bass in Virginia. Current populations are the results of angler introductions that have occurred over the last ten years.

Anglers are reminded that it is illegal to stock fish into a public body of water without an authorization from the DGIF. Anyone with knowledge of intentional stockings of Alabama or Spotted Bass should contact DGIF law enforcement at 800-237-5712 or WildCrime@dgif.virginia.gov.

Anglers who suspect they have captured an Alabama Bass should take a picture of the fish, clip off a thumbnail-sized portion of one of the pelvic fins, and store the fin clip dry in an envelope. The pelvic fins are located on the bottom of the fish, just under the head. They should then either contact the DGIF at fisheries@dgif.virginia.gov or at 804-367-1293.

Flint River Bass Club Fishing At Lake Oconee In 2017

 Two weeks ago 13 Flint River Bass club members and one youth fished our June tournament at Lake Oconee. We landed 23 keeper bass longer than the 14-inch minimum size that weighed about 41 pounds.  There was one limit and two members did not catch a keeper.

    Niles Murray wore us all out with a limit weighing 12.49 pounds and had big fish with a 3.99 pound largemouth.  My three at 5.34 pounds was second, Wes Delay placed third with two weighing 4.53 pounds and Don Gober was fourth with two at 4.34 pounds. 

    Harrison Edge, fishing with dad Ryan, won the youth division with two keepers weighing 2.22 pounds.  We allow youth to fish all our club tournaments with no entry fee and they compete only with other youth.  Any youth catching fish win a prize package rather than cash.

    Last Saturday 16 member of the Potato Creek Bassmasters fished our June tournament at Oconee.  We landed 26 keeper bass weighing about 49 pounds.  There was one limit and four members zeroed.

    Ryan Edge won with five weighing 9.27 pounds.  Donnie Willis placed second with four at 7.97 pounds and Jack Ridgeway came in third with four at 7.07 pounds.  William Scott placed fourth with three weighing 7.13 pounds and had big fish with a 3.60  pound largemouth, and my two weighing 3.5 pounds was good for fifth.

    Last Tuesday I went back to Oconee with Brad Stalnaker, a local tournament fisherman that knows the lake well. We fished nine hours in the rain getting information for the August Georgia Outdoor News Map of the Month article.

    The day was perfect for throwing a buzzbait on shallow grassbeds and seawalls, Brad’s favorite way to fish in the summer.  We landed about six keepers and Brad had one that weighed about 3.5 pounds.  Even with the good conditions, fishing was tough. I landed one keeper.  I am seeing a disturbing downhill pattern on Oconee for me, and the Sportsman Club is fishing it today.

    In the first tournament, I landed 11 bass under the 14-inch minimum size limit and just three keepers.  In the second one I had a dozen short fish and only two keepers.  With Brad I landed about eight short fish but only one keeper.

    I hope the fishing for keepers is better for me today and does not follow the pattern. If it does I won’t catch a keeper!  I am torn trying to decide whether to fish my pattern that produced five keepers in two trips or Brads that produced more keepers, but the conditions were very different.

    Lake Oconee is getting as bad as Lanier with all the big off-shore boats running around.  It is hard to fish after about 10:00 AM with huge waves rocking the boat and crashing into the bank.

    I hope it rains all day today!

Tracking Sailfish Off the South Carolina Coast

FEATURE
By SCDNR biologist Wally Bubley
(originally published on North Carolina Sea Grant’s blog, Hook, Line & Science)
from The Fishing Wire

Using pop-up satellite tags, scientists can get a much better understanding of billfish movement and migration.

Research Need

Typically, researchers measure the movement of large, offshore pelagic fish using traditional streamer tags, but to get information, the fish must be caught again. This method only provides information on the tagging and recapture locations, but no information about what the fish did in between, including movements up and down the water column.

Ideally, to get the best understanding of how, where, and why a species interacts with its environment — and ultimately where to fish for it — a 3D map would incorporate depth with high-resolution horizontal movement.

What did we study?

We used pop-up satellite tags to track the movement of billfish caught in South Carolina Governor’s Cup tournaments. These tags capture the 3D location while attached, using sunlight and pressure sensors. The tags pop off at pre-programmed times and, once at the surface, transmit information to satellites and ultimately to the researcher.

We then used this information to provide a 3D model of movement.

What did we find?

One species of billfish (sailfish) off the coast of South Carolina moves seasonally and tends to stay closer to shore. But sailfish will venture offshore, too, including as far north as New Jersey and as far south as the northern coast of South America.

The depths through which fish travel change throughout the day and potentially during different types of movements, such as whether the fish are migrating or staying in an area to feed.

Overall, by tracking depth, we can capture a more complete picture of what these fish are doing and how they interact with their environment and with other species, which we might miss otherwise.

Anything else?

The advantage of satellite tags over streamer tags was apparent in one sailfish especially. This fish, tagged off the South Carolina coast, traveled to Turks and Caicos before returning to within 150 miles of where it originally was tagged, before its tag finally surfaced.

If this study had used a typical streamer tag on this fish, the only information we would have gathered is that this fish covered the same amount of area that a garden snail could cover over the same time period. Obviously, we would have assumed that likely something more happened with our fish, but without data to know what. Using the satellite tag, however, revealed the fish was much more active.

So what?

Depth plays an important role in limiting competition for food between sailfish and other species. Knowing these differences is especially important in some commercial fisheries, which can be a major source of mortality.

Understanding sailfish and other billfish movement patterns can allow for management and fishing practices that target only the species of interest, while minimizing interactions with billfish species, in turn making them more available to recreational fishermen.

Reading

Walter J. Bubley, Benjamin Galuardi, Amy W. Dukes, and Wallace E. Jenkins’s “Incorporating depth into habitat use descriptions for sailfish Istiophorus platypterus and habitat overlap with other billfishes in the western North Atlantic,” in Marine Ecology Progress Series, Vol. 638: 137–148 2020, https://doi.org/10.3354/meps13239.

Summary compiled by Walter Bubley
Lead photo by SCDNR

NOAA Fisheries, the Guy Harvey Ocean Foundation, and the SC Governor’s Cup Billfishing Series provided support for this research.

The text from Hook, Line & Science is available to reprint and republish, but only in its entirety and with this attribution: Hook, Line & Science, courtesy of Scott Baker and Sara Mirabilio, North Carolina Sea Grant. HookLineScience.com

Cut Grass Or Go Fishing

 The sound of lawnmowers, weed eaters and blowers often disrupt the peace while I am fishing.  Those are both sounds I did not hear in my early years.  We had rakes and hoes, not leaf blowers and weed eaters, and many of the folks I knew had brush brooms, not lawnmowers. Their yards were dirt, not grass.

    If anyone wasted time and effort on a lawn, they did it with an old push reel grass cutter.  I had the “pleasure” of using one of those a few times in my preteen years but could never really push them hard or fast enough to make it work very well.

    By the time I was 13 we did have a nice lawn.  The year before my parents had torn down the old farm house we had lived in for 12 years, building a nice split level brick house on the same lot.  Termites in the old house sped up the need for my mom’s dream house and my parents went way out on a mortgage limb to build it, something they did not believe in.  Borrowing money was not something they wanted to do and going into debt was much less common 55 years ago than it is now.

    The old farm house had a huge living room and kitchen in front and two bedrooms and a bathroom in the back.  All the way in the back was a bedroom, a small kitchen and bathroom that my grandmother lived in for several years.  I think those are now called mother-in-law suites.

    We tore down the front half of the old house and lived in the back rooms while the new house was being built within feet of those rooms. When we tore down the old house we found the floor beams were hand hewn pine logs. The ax marks were plainly visible on them.

    The old section had a big fireplace and chimney.  My dad, being frugal, had us tear it down and chip off the old mortar and he sold the bricks. I was weird to me that folks would pay so much for old bricks that we could buy about ten times as many new ones with the money.

    Daddy decided to plant carpet grass since he had seen some pretty lawns of it in Florida.  It was delivered to our house in sod pieces about two feet wide and three feet long.  Rather than place those pieces for an instant lawn, my frugal dad made us pull it apart and plant sprigs in shallow furrows. That was a hot, tiring job but within a couple of years we had our thick carpet of grass.

    That grass required a good lawn mower and dad got a gas-powered push mower. I spent many hours struggling to crank it then slowly pushing it along. We had a big yard and it took several hours to cut it all.

    One of my friend’s dad was a sergeant in the Army and was very strict.  As punishment, he made my friend cut grass – with scissors!  He would be told to take the scissors out and cut for an hour to punish him for misbehavior. That would probably be called child abuse now but it taught him discipline.  I never had to do that, at least.

    Its funny now that I hate cutting grass in my yard although it is small and takes less than an hour. But I like going to the farm and cutting with the rotary mower for several hours at a time.  I guess it is knowing I am getting ready to hunt the field after getting it plowed and planting winter wheat.