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.

Cooking and Camping Growing Up

 The smell of bacon frying over a campfire made my stomach growl.  That enticing smell, mixed with the aroma of wet canvass, was a staple of our “wilderness” camping trip in the woods a couple of hundred yards

behind Harold’s house.  Although we camped like this several times each summer, each one was special.

    I was glad we had taken precautions and made a lean-to cover of an old tarp to keep firewood dry in the rain.  The lower end was stacked with everything needed from twigs to sticks of firewood cut with our hatchets, and the upper end was high enough to shelter the fire from the falling water that seemed to mark every trip. Our Cub Scout and Royal Ambassador training paid off.

    Last night we had tried to stay awake all night, but as usual sometimes during the dark we gave up our talking and drifted off to sleep.  It was not always easy to go to sleep in the army surplus pup tent with a ground tarp. No matter how hard we tried to remover them all, we always left some sticks and rocks to poke us through our sleeping bags. They seemed to grow during the night.

    When we first woke in the dim green haze of tent light our voices sounded strange as they always did early in the morning.  They took on quality never heard anywhere else.  And there was the usual treat of a rainy morning.  Small puddles had formed on the ground tarp where water had worked under the edge of the tent.  Those puddles made an interesting game of floating our mess kit pans and making them spin when we tried to eat inside sheltered from the rain.

    A mess kit contained all our necessities.  The knife, fork and spoon clipped together with two small brads to hold them in a stack.  The frying pan handle swung over the pan holding them together, making a container to hold the small pot with a top and coffee cup. 

    Perfectly cooked bacon, eggs and toast at home never seemed to taste as good as strips of bacon half burned in the middle and rubbery on the ends, scrambled eggs that ranged from watery to too dry, and toast with black burned areas.  Cooking over an open fire was a slowly acquired skill and we were not there yet. 

    Coffee was not as good as at home, though. We all tried to drink it black with a little sugar but missed the cream that was mixed about half and half with coffee at home. Without no way to keep it cool, cream or milk was not an option on those trips.

    The night before we had cooked our favorite dinner on the coals.  We called it a “Hobo” meal and it was perfect for a camping trip. Before leaving home, we had made a huge ground beef patty and placed it in the center of a square of tinfoil.  On top of the meat went a slice of onion, then slices of potato. Sliced carrots topped the pile of food then a big chunk of butter was placed on it.  A little salt and pepper finished up the preparation.

    The edges of the tinfoil were pulled up and twisted into a seal to keep it all together. If the tinfoil was formed perfectly, and we didn’t poke a hole in the bottom when placing them on the coals that were carefully drug from the main fire, they would cook evenly and be floating in butter.  But we seldom had any butter when the tinfoil was opened.  At least we did not have a plate to wash, the tinfoil served fine.

    We never camped for more than one night. We had to go home to get some sleep, put iodine on the inevitable cuts and scrapes and Watkins Salve on the ever-present chigger bites.  It was also a lot easier to wash up our mess kits at home. We had only one each and although we tried various cleaning methods in the woods none worked very well. And we had to dry out tent, tarps and sleeping bags.

    After carefully covering the fire pit with the same Army surplus folding foxhole shovels we had dug it with, we packed up our gear into army surplus duffel bags.  We would not have survived without Army surplus equipment!

    The trip home seemed to be miles longer that the trip to the campsite.  Although everything was usually heavier from water at the end of the trip, I think our hearts were the heaviest load since the trek home meant the camping trip was over.

NOAA Fisheries Calls on Anglers to Report Sturgeon Sightings and Catches on Sturgeon Hotline


Wild animals, especially those living underwater, can be hard to find and track. Biologists compile and use public sighting information to learn more about different animal species. Atlantic sturgeon are found along the Canadian and U.S. Atlantic Coast as far south as Florida. Understanding where they go, how they get there and where they spawn (lay their eggs) is important for resource  managers. It helps them to put protections in place for this endangered species. With their built-in “armor,” also known as scutes, sturgeon appear to be indestructible. They actually face a number of threats including:

Unintended catch by fishermen

Dams that block access to spawning areas

Poor water quality

Water withdrawals from rivers

Vessel strikes

NOAA Fisheries monitors a sturgeon hotline, (844) STURG-911, as a way to collect sightings information. Recent reports to the hotline have come from as far away as California and as far north as Maine!  One of the most common reporting locations is New Jersey.

About a week ago, while walking along the shore in Cape May, New Jersey,   a family discovered a sturgeon that had washed ashore. The fish, which was about 2.5 feet long, did not appear to be injured. The family found an odd yellow “streamer” with number 53869 attached to the animal. It turns out that yellow streamer was actually a scientific tag applied by a sturgeon researcher!

Our partners with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service confirmed the tag was issued in North Carolina in 2019. Thousands of miles away, we received another tip via the hotline that a sturgeon was spotted off Marina Bay Beach in Richmond, California. The animal had a large bite on its underside. Based on what we know about the abundance of sturgeon in the San Francisco Bay area, this animal was likely a white sturgeon. Without photo evidence, it’s tough to know for sure.

Regardless, calls like these provide valuable data to NOAA researchers. Closer to home, we’ve had more than a dozen reports so far this year. There were two from North Carolina, one from South Carolina, three from Georgia, and three from Florida. You might wonder, how can scientists learn anything from a dead fish, but depending on the animal, we gain lots of useful information. We can determine if it’s been growing, we can determine where it might have hatched using genetics. We can also get a sense of where and when they are migrating (traveling between locations).

For example, by re-sighting a sturgeon, like the one tagged in North Carolina but found in New Jersey, we are able to compare size. We can tell how much the animal has grown between when it was first caught and when it washed up dead.

Your information helps! If you find a stranded, injured, or dead sturgeon, please take a photo, if you can do so safely. In the Southeast you can report it to (844) STURG-911/(844) 788-7491, or send us an email at NOAA.Sturg911@noaa.gov. 

In the Northeast please call the NOAA Fisheries Greater Atlantic Regional Fisheries Office at (978) 281-9328.

Provide additional information such as: Where you saw the animal (latitude/longitude)Approximately how big it was

Any weird marks (like a tag) or wounds you notice when you saw it These are also very helpful pieces of information! 

Hot Tough Tournament At Lake Sinclair

Last Saturday 14 members of the Potato Creek Bassmasters fished our July tournament at Lake Sinclair.  Fishing from 5:30 AM to 12:30 PM unsuccessfully trying to beat the heat, we landed 24 bass longer than the 12-inch minimum with a total weigh of about 39 pounds.  There were three five-fish limits and six people did not have a keeper.

    Lee Hancock had a good catch far outpacing the rest of us with five weighing 11.80 pounds for first.  Raymond English was second with five weighing 5.42 pounds, Dan Dupree’s three weighing 5.23 pounds was third and my five weighing 5.19 pounds placed fourth. Donnie Willis had one fish but it weighed 4.94 pounds for big fish.

    Since we started before daylight I just knew I could catch some bass around lighted boat docks, but after hitting three in the first half hour I had not gotten a bite. I then went to a rocky point leading into a cove with grass beds and docks where I have caught many bass in the past.

    A good fish hit my buzzbait on the point but I missed it. I did not get another bite in that cove.  The next stop was a deep rocky point with a brush pile on it and I caught a short bass there. In a nearby cove nothing hit around docks but I finally caught a keeper at 8:00 AM in a brush pile about eight feet deep on a jig head worm.

    I got no more bites until 10:00 when a bass hit my jig head worm on a point. I set the hook and the fish came to the top and I saw it was a two pound plus bass. I guess I got too excited and tried to get it in the boat too fast.  It came unhooked as it came over the side of the boat, hit the deck at my feet, bounced twice and went over the other side. I almost went into the water trying to grab it.

    After that I was totally disgusted.  It was hot and I had lost a fish. But at 11:00 I decided the sun was high enough to drive some bass into the shade under docks. The third dock I fished, skipping a Senko under them, I caught my best fish of the day, about a pound and a half.

    I continued to fish docks and at noon caught my fifth keeper. I just had time enough to secure all my tackle and make a long run in very rough water back to the ramp.

    The Sportsman Club is fishing our July tournament today at Sinclair. I wonder if I can catch a bass under docks?

Mike Frenette, Legend of the Louisiana Saltmarshes, On the Segar Fishing Line Pro Staff

from The Fishing Wire

The biggest, baddest fish swim in salty water, and the limitless saltmarshes and bayous of the Mississippi River Delta are home to more than their share. The allure of hard-charging bull reds, aggressive speckled trout, wary black drum and slashing jack crevalles draws anglers from around the world to quietly glide along roseau cane-bordered channels and pursue these tackle-testing adversaries. Few anglers know these waters as intimately as Capt. Mike Frenette, who has been fishing, guiding, and competing in and near the Mississippi River Delta for more than 40 years. Seaguar, the inventor of fluorocarbon fishing line, is proud to partner with Capt. Frenette to deliver his hard-earned wisdom to an eager inshore audience, and to enhance our braided line and fluorocarbon leader offerings for saltwater fishing. 

Capt. Frenette first ventured into the saltmarshes near Venice, LA while enrolled in high school, and began building his saltwater fishing business in the early 1980s. His primary targets during his early years as a guide were found offshore. “We chased marlin, tuna, wahoo – you name it,” notes Capt. Frenette, “and during those early years, we didn’t have any competition at all. Nobody was offshore, just us and the fish – big ones, and lots of ‘em.” Indeed, Frenette was the first full-time guide in the now bustling Venice Marina, hanging his shingle for offshore and inshore trips in 1985. Recognized by Sport Fishing magazine as one of the Top 50 Charter Captains in the World, Frenette and his clients are responsible for 28 top 10 Louisiana State Records and four World Records, including a 117 lb wahoo caught on 30 lb test line.

 Fast forward into the 21st century, and most of the trips that Capt. Frenette runs from the Redfish Lodge of Louisiana – his family-owned, full-service lodge in Venice – take him inshore rather than to the blue waters of the Gulf of Mexico. “First, fishing inshore gets my clients into the boat for more days than the volatile offshore environment permits,” asserts Frenette. “Moreover, fishing inshore gives me the chance to do what I do best: teach my clients the technical aspects of chasing trophy-caliber reds. I don’t pick up a rod when I’m guiding; all of my time and attention is devoted to helping my guests find and catch the redfish of a lifetime – and then, to catch another.”

While the Mississippi River Delta offers a broad spectrum of fish to pursue, Capt. Frenette does have his favorite. “There’s nothing more exciting than sight-casting to redfish in skinny water,” confesses Frenette, “which is really hunting and fishing combined into one all-encompassing experience!”Capt. Frenette remains an active competitor in saltwater fishing circuits and has tallied 25 top 10 finishes in professional redfish events, as well as wins or top-three placements in a variety of billfish, tarpon, and other big game tournaments.

“Tournaments are my ‘selfish’ fishing time. I’m a very competitive person, and tournament fishing is what drives me,” states Frenette. “I embrace the challenge of going to places that I’ve never fished before, because dissecting that bite teaches me new ways to succeed – not only in that event, but also back home with my clients. I still learn something new every single day, and that desire to keep learning – and to keep teaching – makes me a better guide.”Seaguar lines and leaders are integral components of Frenette’s arsenal. “Whether I’m guiding clients, fishing a tournament, or just looking to pop a couple slot reds for dinner, I’m spooled up with Seaguar.

For example, my favorite set-up for sight fishing reds is a seven-foot, medium power baitcasting rod, with the reel spooled up with 30 lb test Seaguar Smackdown. Depending on water clarity, I’ll add an 18-36″ leader of Seaguar 100% fluorocarbon. My favorite leader material by far is a new Seaguar product that will be all the rage at ICAST this year; it’s really terrific and precision engineered for the inshore environment. I’ll finish the rig with either a spinnerbait or a weedless jig tipped with a soft plastic. That combo – from rod to line to lure –  has brought more redfish to the boat than anything else I can think of.

”Reflecting on what the future may hold, Frenette notes that, “in 10 years, I’m planning to be just as excited and motivated to fish, learn, and teach as I am today. I’m truly blessed to have the opportunity to work with Seaguar, where I enjoy an unparalleled level of engagement, particularly when it comes to product development and refinement. Watching a prototype that I have worked on come to the market, so that other anglers can use it to catch more fish, is both gratifying and humbling.

”Seaguar is proud to welcome Capt. Mike Frenette into its family of angling professionals. Follow Capt. Frenette on his social media channels and make plans to visit the Redfish Lodge of Louisiana, and you’ll quickly learn why Frenette – and the Seaguar lines and leaders that he relies on – are Always the Best!

Sandwiches and Other Food Eaten Growing Up and While Fishing

I loved the peanut butter and jelly sandwiches served at Dearing Elementary School, probably because they always went with the vegetable soup.  We had that meal about once a month and it was one of my favorite.  And there was always plenty for us to have seconds and even thirds.

    At home during the summers we ate tomato sandwiches almost daily, with delicious tomatoes from the garden. But I never heard of a BLT until I went off to college.  My tomato sandwiches were simply two slices of loaf bread, salad dressing and thick slices of tomato.  And yes, it was always salad dressing, never mayonnaise, although we used that term.

    During the winter we had the sandwiches just without the tomatoes. A mayonnaise sandwich, two slices of bread slathered with so much salad dressing it was hard to keep them from sliding on each other, was both a lunch and after school snack.  Another simple one was a catsup sandwich. Slices of bread soaked with catsup an eaten mostly as a after school snack.

    Pineapple sandwiches had the same bread and salad dressing and we always had canned, sweetened crushed pineapple.  By putting the salad dressing on one slice of bread, piling it with pineapple and putting another slice of bread on top the top slice got delightfully soaked in pineapple juice.  

    On fishing or hunting trips a can of potted meat and Ritz crackers was all I needed, unless I carried a can of Vienna Sausage.  With them I wanted saltine crackers, not Ritz.  The meat had to be paired with the right crackers.

    Those same canned delights made good sandwiches at home.  A thick layer of potted meat and so much catsup on it globs of the mixture fell into the plate from the bottom of the sandwich, to be licked up as a dessert, made a great meal.  I learned at an early age to line of the Vienna Sausage on the bread from side to side with two on top of the row, then the last on in the can on top of those two, filled up the bread. Again, lots of catsup completed my sandwich.

    We always said loaf bread at my house but some of my friends called it “white bread.”  Mom was a great baker, making cakes and pies to sell, as well as fantastic biscuits and corn bread, but she never baked loaf bread. 

    Corn bread was in sticks, muffins or pone that was baked in a black frying pan in the oven. Left over cornbread of all kinds was eaten as an afternoon snack, with a bowl of catsup to dip it in. Yes, I liked and still like catsup!

    My favorite cornbread was something we called “splatter bread.”  Sometimes mom would heat lard in the black skillet until there was a pool a half inch deep and pour a thin mixture of corn meal and water into it.  The edges were amazing, crisp and crunchy, and the center cooked just right.   I still make it to go with steamed cabbage, peas and creamed corn, and soup.

    Writing this has made me hungry, I think I will go make a batch of splatter bread and get a bowl of catsup.

Livebait Spinner Rigs for Summer Walleyes


By Northland Pro Eric Brandriet
from The Fishing Wire

There are countless presentations that anglers use to catch walleyes throughout the open-water walleye season.  Angler strengths and confidence often steer their preference, and in South Dakota a livebait rig pulled behind a traditional bottom bouncer probably tops them all.  Very simple, yet effective livebait spinner rigs can entice the weariest of eyes!

After spawn concludes and water temps increase, walleyes transition off shorelines and shallow areas to weedlines and mid-lake structures.  While other presentations can be effective, spinner rigs become the summer norm allowing anglers to cover large areas of water with varying baits, at various speeds, often producing some of the best walleye angling of the year.

Even though spinner rigs are often seen as simple, they have not avoided evolution through the years.  As a young angler, I saw 2-3 hook harnesses with solid colored #3 Colorado Blades topping the options.  Today’s multi-colored blades on snells, with a variety of hook types, was the farthest from my dreams.

It has been no secret that many walleyes have succumbed to the Northland Tackle Butterfly Blades after their introduction last year.  Butterfly Blades brought spinner blades to an all new level due to their weight or lack of, color variations and sonic-like vibrations.   Endless versatility with the ability to troll at speeds as low as 0.25 mph, use hook variations of choice and catch everything from panfish to pike have made them my favorite. Northland Tackle has now introduced the NEW Butterfly Blade Float’n Harness and the Butterfly Wing-Nut Blade Rig.  I quickly realized after a couple of trolling passes that these just uncovered even more trolling options.

The Butterfly Blade Float’n Harness quickly proved very effective trolled over emerging weeds and rocky areas.  Its ability to avoid snags (weeds/rocks) but remain in the strike zone made this a favorite.   The 12 NEW colors in two different blade sizes will give us options complimenting forage and water/weather conditions.The Butterfly Wing-Nut Blade Rig without a doubt became my favorite enticing almost every species of fish.  The small blade produces a slightly more erratic action unmatched by any other blade.  This unmatched action coupled with three hook configurations (2-Hook, 1-Hook and Super Death) only add to versatility allowing this harness to be tipped with your choice of minnows, crawlers or leeches.

There are characteristics that allow these blades to stand alone and simply will put more fish in your boat.  Their composition (polycarbonate) allows less line sagging when trolled at slow speeds, on turns or while drifting.   The action and vibration is atypical of standard metal blades and this action and vibration attracts fish of all species.  The unique color blade options and two sizes of Float’n Harnesses allow matching the size profile preferred by fish on any given day.

I was born and raised in Northeastern South Dakota. Currently living on Big Stone Lake, also with a property on Lake Oahe, I’ve quickly realized I’m surrounded by “walleye” country! Spinner harnesses are a fishing backbone on many bodies of water as they can be fished easily by anglers of all ages with success, great for a guide like me.  The NEW Northland Tackle Butterfly Blade Float’n Harnesses and Butterfly Wing-Nut Blades have definitely earned space in my stowaways.