Bass Are Cold Blooded So Slow Down for Winter Bass

Slow Down for Winter Bass

By Billy Decoteau

from The Fishing Wire

Bass are cold-blooded creatures, meaning as the water temperature drops lower and lower, bass move slower and slower. Add in some ice chilling water temperatures and lethargic becomes the norm in the underwater world of Micropterus salmoides. (The scientific name for largemouth bass.)

Speaking of scientific, this is the perfect opportunity to employ Z-MAN’s cutting edge ElaZtech soft plastic technology. At no time does ‘Do-Nothing Dead-Sticking’ mean more. When nose hooked on a drop-shot rig, the 4-inch Finesse ShadZ coupled with its exceptional inherent buoyancy mimics the lifelike movement of lethargic baitfish in frigid water. This is also the time when vertical presentations out perform horizontal presentations.

Making the perfect vertical presentation requires anglers to first locate wintering areas with their electronic sonars. Chasing winter bass requires anglers to spend time idling slowly as they monitor their screen, logging waypoints, then dissecting these waypoints even slower with their trolling motors, inserting additional waypoints and pinpointing high percentage spots. High percentage areas may be in the form of vertical cover such as brush piles, rocks, large boulders and ledges or as pictured above structural contour changes. Add in deep vegetation and baitfish… and, you may have found a real winter honey-hole!

Utilize your trolling motor to position yourself above the baitfish/bass. This is when a trolling motor mounted sonar pays off big time. Allow your drop-shot rig to fall straight down to the bottom, as you monitor it falling on your sonar screen. If bass move towards your bait, this signals an active or aggressive school. If your bait misses the target you may need to attach a heavier drop-shot weight or adjust your boat position.

Remember both the water and air temperatures are cold. Pre-rigging several drop-shot rods and jighead rods prior to hitting the water makes life a whole lot easier when snags or bass break-off and re-tying becomes a cold on-the-water chore.

3″ Scented LeechZ™

Keep it simple and subtle when choosing baits for winter bass. More often than not when it comes to action ‘Less is Best’. The following Z-MAN 3″ to 4″ baits are excellent Winter Bass choices for Drop-Shot Rigs.

One important factor to increasing your drop-shot bites when fishing cold water is to keep your baits on or close to the bottom A short six-inch or less drop-shot leader allows your Z-MAN bait to float just off the bottom.

The same subtle action applies when choosing jig-head baits for winter bass. When it comes to the dead-sticking technique, Z-MAN ElaZtech plastics out perform all other plastic baits in my experience. Z-MAN ElaZtech’s inherent buoyancy allows your bait to imitate the movement of lethargic forage in cold water. The following Z-MAN 2.75″ and 4″ baits are excellent winter bass choices for jighead rigs.

2.75″ TRD TubeZ™

The above Z-MAN JigheadZ models allow for several versatile rigging options. For sliding or gliding applications as well as penetrating deep weedlines and vegetation, the pointed large wide-eye head of the Trout Eye jighead falls faster and characterizes a dying shad. Z-MAN’s Finesse ShroomZ matches perfectly as designed with all four of the above baits. While, both the Finesse ShroomZ and Shaky HeadZ may be inserted into the TRD TubeZ, rigging any of the baits by sliding them on the 4/0 Mustad Ultra Point Hook is the perfect Shaky Head combination.

The same vertical boat position over the bass/baitfish applies when descending a jighead presentation. Let your bait fall to the bottom and allow it to lay motionless for as long as you can stand it. Then apply a smooth upward jigging or stroking action allowing your bait to fall back to the bottom, then lay motionless before reeling in and making another cast. Change up your retrieve and cadence until you trigger strikes.

As the aggressive JigheadZ Bait hopping presentation becomes non-productive its time to return to finesse dead-stick and drop-shot techniques. I have caught bass in 34 degree water drop-shotting, when other sections of the lake were iced over! The key to success is downsizing both your line and baits as the water temperature drops. Bass become more lethargic as water temperatures decrease. This is the time for smaller do-nothing baits to entice big cold-water bass.

Fishing Griffin Georgia Bass Clubs

Bass clubs have been an important part of my life for 48 years. Since Jim Berry invited me to join the Spalding County Sportsman Club in April 1974, I have missed few meetings or tournaments in that club. I joined the Flint River Bass Club a few years later, in 1978, then finally joined the Potato Creek Bassmasters about six years ago.

Joining a bass club puts you in a group of fishermen that love bass fishing. We are at all levels, from beginners to a few that can compete on bigger money trails. But the joy of a club is the camaraderie, learning experiences and fun, not the money you might win.

Right now is a great time to join a bass club. All three Griffin clubs are setting our schedules and starting our tournament years in January. My goal each year is to do well in the point standings for the year, and it is hard to keep up if you miss a tournament. And fishing is often surprisingly good in January and February.

The Flint River Bass Club meets the first Tuesday of the month and fishes our tournament the following Sunday. Potato Creek Bassmasters meets the Monday following the first Tuesday and fishes that Saturday. Spalding County Sportsman Club meets the third Tuesday each month and fishes the following Sunday.

All three clubs have some two-day tournaments, with two in Flint River, three in the Sportsman Club and four in Potato Creek. All three meet at Panda Bear Restaurant.

Annual dues are $25 in Flint River and $50 in the other two. Monthly tournament entry fees are $25 to $30 with a variety of pots, like daily big fish at $5, that are voluntary. The Sportsman Club and Potato Creek both have year end Classics that members qualify for during the previous year.

We have a lot of fun at the meetings discussing fishing and telling some true stories about it. Tournaments are fun competition, mostly for bragging rights since entry fees are low and there is not enough money involved to really get serious about it.

There are many of us in each of the three clubs that often fish alone, so there is always room for new members without a boat. I am looking for someone to fish with me in Flint River tournaments. If interested in joining one of the clubs call me at 770-789-6168 or email ronnie@fishing-about.com.

The 2021 tournament year is done and point standings are complete. In the Flint River Bass
Club 100 points are awarded to first place, 90 for second down to 10 for tenth place. If you catch a fish but finish lower than 10^th, you get five points. You also get 10 points for attending a meeting and 20 points for fishing a tournament, even if you zero.

Last year in the Flint River Club I won with 1150 points and 42 bass in 12 tournaments that weighed 70.44 pounds. Don Gober was second with 780 points, 28 bass weighing 44.64 pounds in 10 tournaments. Third went to Don’s grandson, Alex Gober, with 610 points and 19 bass in 10 tournaments weighing 24.4 pounds.

Niles Murray fished six tournaments but had 580 points and 24 bass weighing 44.77 pounds for fourth. Fifth went to Chuck Croft fishing six tournaments with 510 points 13 bass and 29.52 pounds. He also had big fish for the year with a 5.39 pound largemouth caught at West Point in May. Lee Hancock fished only three tournaments but came in sixth with 310 points and 18 bass weighing 29.21 pounds.

The Potato Creek Bassmasters uses the same point system as Flint River but has a lot more members, and more fish every month. Sam Smith won with 785 points, 45 bass weighing 86.62 pounds and I placed second with 765 points, 61 bass and 103.24 pounds. Third went to Raymond English with 700 points, 73 bass and 116.35 pounds and Kwong Yu came in fourth with 695 points, 65 bass and 116.55 pounds.

Fifth place for the year was won by Lee Hancock with 680 points, 55 bass and 98.08 pounds. Sixth was Mitchell Cardell with 660 points, 50 bass and 96.52 pounds. Big fish for the year was won by Jamie Beasley with a beautiful 7.23 pound largemouth caught at Eufaula in March.

It was interesting that the 12 tournaments in this club were won by 11 different members!

In the Sportsman Club 25 points are awarded to first, 24 for second down to one for 25^th. Each fisherman weighing in a limit in a tournament gets a bonus point, as does big fish. And each fisherman gets one point for fishing a tournament, even if they zero, and one point for attending a meeting.

I had 294 points and 52 bass weighting 86.38 pounds for first, second was a tie with Raymond English and Jay Gerson both having 274 points. Raymond weighed in 45 bass weighing 87.71 pounds and Jay had 60 bass weighing 84.19 pounds. Fourth went to Glenn
Anderson with 233 points, 35 bass and 48.28 pounds. All four of us fished all 12 tournaments.

Kwong Yu came in fifth with 214 points, 38 bass weighing 69.4 pounds. Sixth place went to Wayne Teal with 168 points and 28 bass weighing 39.85 pounds. Billy Roberts won big fish of the year with a 5.15 pound largemouth caught at Clarks Hill in April.

Join one, two or all three clubs and have some fun with us and show us how to catch fish!

What Are First Ice Trout and How To Catch Them

First Ice Trout

from the Fishing Wire

First ice is a magical time to pursue many species of gamefish, and members of the trout family are no exception. Just ask veteran trout and salmon guide Bernie Keefe, who plies the high-country lakes around Granby, Colorado.

“Rainbows, brookies and browns are all hungry right now,” he says. “The spawn is over and trout are feeding up before the winter crunch settles in.”

As a bonus, a lack of fishing pressure in recent months often has trout at ease. “Nobody’s fished them for awhile, so they’re ‘dumbed down’ a little bit compared to the rest of the year,” he laughs.

Keefe targets skinny water in early winter, where trout pursue crayfish, baitfish and other sizeable sources of sustenance. “They eat insects, too, of course,” he concedes. “But trout have big appetites this time of year and prefer larger forage when they can get it.”

He focuses on depths of four to seven feet, especially where bottom transitions sweeten the pot. “Changes from rock to sand or muck can be trout magnets,” he offers. “And green weeds can be a plus where available.”

On the flip side, vertical inclines are out. “Forget steep drop-offs,” he says. “Gentle slopes and flats in the backs of bays or alongside points are ideal.”

When he finds a promising fishing area, Keefe quickly pops a trio of holes and sets up shop. “I drill two holes 30 inches apart, which allow me to fish two lines,” he explains. “Then I add a third hole in between, so I can sight-fish both outer holes simultaneously.”

To maximize comfort and manual dexterity while fishing, he pops a Clam portable shelter over the work zone and fires up a Mr. Heater to ward off the chill. “I like fishing without gloves for better feel, as well as the ability to quickly unhook fish, rebait hooks and retie lines,” he says.

In one hole, Keefe drops a flashy attractor lure like an 1/8-ounce Clam Leech Flutter Spoon. In the other, he deploys a more subtle presentation, such as Clam’s tungsten Caviar Drop Jig. Spoons are often fished without tippings, but traditional jigs are tricked out wit
h a small soft-plastic or live bait dressing. “Berkley Gulp! and Maki Plastics work very well,” he says. “Mealworms and waxies are always good choices if you like live bait.”

Spoons are fished with flair. “Give the spoon a 6- to 8-inch lift, then let it flutter back down,” he says. “Dance it in place, pause and repeat the process. When you see a trout rush in, kill the theatrics. Most fish prefer to crush it on the pause.”

Keefe cautions to keep your spoon performances well grounded. “You don’t have to pound the rocks or stir the mud, but always keep the spoon within a foot of the bottom,” he says.

Jigs are fished with a slower hand, tighter to bottom. “Jigs like the Caviar Drop Jig imitate fish eggs, which don’t jump around a whole lot,” he says. “But you have to add a little movement to get trout’s attention. I favor slow, methodical, 1-inch lift-and-drops, but nervous shakes also have their moments. With either approach, keep the jig within an inch of the bottom.”

Whether jigging or spooning, Keefe wields a 28-inch, medium-light Jason Mitchell Meat Stick ice rod, which he says offers a great balance between strength and sensitivity. “The high-vis tip also makes it easy to see light bites when you can’t see the lure,” he adds, noting that 4-pound Berkley Trilene 100 Percent Fluorocarbon is his line of choice.

Since trout are on the bite, Keefe rarely lingers in an unproductive area. “If you don’t get bit within 10 minutes, move,” he says.

Most days, the bulk of the action comes early in the day. “Under clear skies, it’s usually over by the time the sun hits the ice,” he says. “But it’s a great way to spend a morning. And cloudy conditions can prolong the action until noon or later.”

Keefe says the first-ice flurry usually lasts around three to four weeks, depending on fishing pressure. “When crowds move in, trout slide out to deeper haunts,” he says. “They’re still catchable, but the early season magic is over for another winter.”

The Clam Outdoors “Caviar Drop” jig is an excellent first and last ice trout jig. Watch Bernie’s video to learn more.

For more information or to book a trip with Keefe, visit: www.fishingwithbernie.com or call (970) 531-2318.

Traveling Two Thousand Miles In A Week To Fish Lake Seminole and Lake Erie

Two thousand miles later, I know largemouth are biting at Lake Seminole and smallmouth are biting at Lake Erie!

On a Thursday in Novmeber, 2016 I made the 200 mile trip to Wingates Lunker Lodge to meet Clint and Bowynn Brown to get information for the Georgia and Alabama Outdoor News December issues. Clint and his son Bowynn live across the street from Wingates and Clint guides on the lake. Both fish tournaments there. Bowynn is a member of the Bainbridge Bass Cats High and Middle schools fishing teams.

When I got there that afternoon they had been out fishing and had about ten bass in the live well. When they started pulling them out for pictures each held two up. Those four went from almost six pounds to about five pounds. And there was another five pounder still in the live well!

We went out for a few hours looking at the ten spots to put on the map and talked about how to fish them. Then I made the 200 mile return trip to Griffin, getting home about 11:00 PM.

On Saturday Bowynn won his school tournament with three bass weighing seven pounds and Clint won a tournament with five weighing 18 pounds. Bass are feeding heavily at Seminole and it would be a great trip anytime until the water gets real cold around Christmas.

Friday I left my house at 11:00 AM headed north. I thought leaving at that time would get me through Atlanta when traffic was not too bad. WRONG. The traffic warning sign near I-20 on I-75 said there was a wreck at 17^th street and all lanes were blocked.

I started to try to go around it on surface streets downtown but I don’t really know my way around and was afraid I would get lost. Sure enough I came to a stop near 10^th Street. It took me 30 minutes to get past the wreck on 17^th Street. And apparently it had caused other wrecks, the police were working four wrecks between 14^th and 17^th Streets!

The rest of the 400 mile drive to near Lexington, KY was uneventful and I spent the night at a Red Roof Inn. The next morning I drove to Lake Erie just south of Detroit, another 400 miles, and spent the night. I was within a mile of I-75, I took it all the way.

Sunday morning when I got up just before daylight the windshield on my van was iced over. Not frost, solid ice. The air was at 36 degrees according to my phone weather report. At 9:00 I met Bass Elite Pro Chad Pipkins and got my Cabella’s Guidewear, my heaviest winter suit, on.

Chad said it was a nice day even if cold, and the wind was not bad. We put in at the boat ramp in a cove and rounded the point, and I said “I don’t think I’m in Georgia anymore.” There was nothing ahead of us but water as far as I could see.

The waves seemed pretty big to me but Chad said it was not a bad day. We stopped on a rock pile in 15 feet of water and he got on the front of the boat. Every tenth wave or so broke over the front of the boat, soaking his feet and putting several gallons of water in the boat.

He said on a bad day every wave would do that!

We fished for about an hour and each of us caught a smallmouth on drop shot rigs. We then went back into the ramp cove and he showed me all the bells and whistles on the boat. Pros at that level have an amazing array of extras on their boats. This one had four top end Hummingbird depthfinders on it!

We took the boat our and I headed home. The boat followed me! I hope Linda will let me keep it and give it a good home!

I called and made reservations at the same motel in Kentucky where I had stayed two nights before. When I got to Cincinnati I came to a stop about two miles from where I-75 splits and goes over the river. Nobody was going the other way into town. Four miles and 90 minutes later traffic sped up to about 50 miles per hour and thinned. I never saw a wreck or any other reason for the traffic jam.

Pulling a new boat through all that mess worried me a little but everything went fine until I came into Atlanta. As usual traffic was jammed up where I-75 and I-85 join, even at 1:00 on a Monday afternoon. One lane would stop while the one next to it moved, then that lane would stop while the other one moved.

Even though the boat trailer has surge brakes I tried to leave several car lengths ahead of me, you do not stop immediately when pulling a boat. At one point the lane to my left was stopped and I was moving at about 20 miles an hour. Some crazy woman in a tiny red car decided to pull into my lane just about the time my front bumper was even with her back bumper. I managed to slam on brakes and miss her. If I had hit her with my big van it would have crushed her little car.

She went about 50 feet to where the lane we were in was stopped, then jumped back into the left lane between two cars as it started to move, almost hitting them, too. I saw her change lanes like that four more times in the next half mile or so. She was about ten car lengths ahead of where she was when she first pulled out in front of me.

Strangely enough, the most expensive gas on the whole trip was right here in Griffin, Georgia! I wonder why. Long trip, 400 miles each of five days in a row, 800 of them pulling a boat, and I am glad to be home!

Secrets of the Ice Hunters – Hooking, Fighting and Landing Trophy Walleye

Secrets of the Ice Hunters

Frabill pro Dale Stroschein’s system of hooking, fighting and landing trophy walleyes and deep whitefish starts with the proper ice rods

from The Fishing Wire

Plano, IL – Fresh Water Fishing Hall of Famer, Dale Stroschein, is an analytical guy; he has to be. Through his Wacky Walleye Guide Service, Stroschein leads hundreds of ice anglers each year to thousands of walleyes and whitefish, perfecting basic principles through unending trial and error.

He calls it completing the process: the act of getting fish to strike, fighting them and ultimately leading them safely through the hole. This last step is where Stroschein often sees inexperienced anglers struggle, especially where large fish are involved.

“In open water fishing, we have the greatest device ever created to complete the process – the Frabill landing net,” says Stroschein, who has the big fish gene in his DNA.

While competing on the nation’s largest walleye circuits throughout the 1980’s, Stroschein earned a title no angler has ever duplicated; Big Fish Awards for the largest walleyes caught during competition on both the PWT and MWC tours. Indeed, Frabill landing nets helped Stroschein complete the process on both monster fish. “But, on ice, we don’t have that luxury,” he points out.

Following such open-water accolades, Stroschein took hold of yet another title – one of the walleye world’s greatest – when he landed the all-tackle ice fishing world record, a behemoth weighing thirteen and three-quarter pounds. The fish was brought to hand using the big fish techniques perfected over years of guiding clients on and around his home water of Green Bay, Wisconsin. Thankfully, this system is easily duplicated, and starts with the proper ice rod.

As a lead pro and designer on the Frabill ice team, Stroschein has developed a duo of rods perfectly suited to hooking, fighting and landing the giant walleyes and whitefish he and his clients pursue.

The core walleye stick in Stroschein’s arsenal is a 27″ medium action that fishes comfortably within an ice shelter. “You have to put forth an effort to become a good ice angler,” says Stroschein, who points to mobility as one of the most important elements to consistent success in tracking down and catching roaming schools of walleyes. “Today, you really have to go to the fish with a mobile shelter to be successful every day, and a shorter rod is more practical for fishing in a shelter.” Through countless hours of testing within the confines of one-man shanties, Stroschein settled on the 27″ length of his namesake Frabill Ice Hunter walleye rod to allow anglers to fully set the hook without contacting the shelter’s roof.

Even with the advent of superlines in ice fishing, Stroschein continues to rely on monofilament for the bulk of his walleye fishing, as the line simply generates more bites and better hook-ups. “The biggest thing is that you make a very aggressive hook set with a firm rod,” he adds. “Mono holds up to that initial stress very well, and plays well with the shorter, medium-power rod to get big fish up through the hole.”

The rules change when Stroschein turns to chasing whitefish, often in depths approaching 90 feet. Here, the experienced pro moves to Berkley Fireline with a fluorocarbon leader to presents tiny jigs with live bait trailers. Of course, the analytical Stroschein has worked with Frabill to design the ideal rod for this scenario, too.

“The 30″ Ice Hunter whitefish rod has a positive locking reel seat, which is important, but the biggest attribute to completing the system is the rod’s tip,” he says.

In order to detect light bites in deep water, Stroschein demanded a rod with a bright, blaze-orange coloration at its highly sensitive tip. “It’s like a spring bobber without the headaches,” he says. “A live bait angler can detect subtle bites on a pause in the jigging stroke.”

The medium-light power allows for smooth hook sets on delicate fish, but delivers enough backbone to drive the hook home in deep water when using superlines. And the rod’s sensitivity is unparalleled; it has to be. “Whitefish are one of the most difficult fish, ever, to catch,” Stroschein confirms. “The bite is nothing more than a slight change in pressure.”

On average, Stroschein’s Wacky Walleye guide service outfits a minimum of 25 anglers per day, every day of the ice fishing season around Door County, Wisconsin. All clients are outfitted with Frabill rods, enabling each to complete the system Dale Stroschein has worked over 30 years to develop: present, hook, fight, land, repeat.

My Bass Boats Over the Past 48 Years

The difference between men and boys is the price of their toys.

In 1974 I bought my first bass boat. It was a brand new 16-foot Arrowglass with a 70 hp Evinrude outboard on one end and a Motor Guide 12 volt trolling motor at the other. It also had one Lowrance depthfinder, a flasher. The trailer for it had two 12 inch tires and the boat would run about 35 mph at full throttle.

I looked at all the bass boats at the Atlanta Boat Show that January and liked the Arrowglass the best by far. It had raised casting decks front and back, a rod locker that would hold five rods and a livewell that kinda worked, if you poured water into it all day. It was one of the most modern bass boats on the market and when I joined the Spalding County Sportsman Club that March I had the boat with the second-highest horsepower in the whole club.

That boat had a 12 gallon built in gas tank and you had to pour oil into the gas and mix it before running the motor. There were padded seats with arms on pedestals on the front and back decks, and two comfortable riding seats were on either side. I added a kill switch, a simple pull cord that turned off the motor if the driver left the seat.

Eight bass boats and 42 years later, I am thinking about buying another boat. I currently fish out of a 2004 20 foot long Skeeter with a 225 horsepower Yamaha outboard motor on one end and a 24-volt Motor Guide trolling motor on the other. It has a Lowrance HDS 10 on the console and a HDS 8 upfront. Both show details on color screens that look almost like a photo of what is under the boat, and the built in GPS shows me details of a lake and how to navigate. It sits on a dual axel trailer with four car size tires.

I have had this boat running 74 mph but never run it that fast unless I have to. It has two built in gas tanks that hold 25 gallons of gas each, and a two gallon oil tank. The oil and gas are automatically mixed as you run the boat. Two thirty gallon live wells have pump to fill from the lake and other pumps to recirculate the water to keep bas healthy and lively. Two rod lockers will hold 16 rods – each. It, like all bass boats now, has a built in kill switch and you can not crank the motor if it is not attached.

I paid $3500 for the Arrowglass outfit. Thirty years later the Skeeter was $30,800 – without the electronics. Those two Lowrance units on the Skeeter alone cost more than the Arrowglass outfit! I just priced a used 2016 Skeeter that a pro fisherman is selling – for $52,900. List price on that outfit the way it is rigged would be around $76,000!

Do I catch more bass with a more expensive boat? NO. I can go a lot faster between fishing holes, or when running from a thunderstorm, and the ride is much better in rough water. And I can see what is under the boat in detail and never have to worry about getting lost on a lake. And I fish in much more comfort. But I definitely do not catch more bass.

The new boat I am looking at is a 20 foot Skeeter with a 250 horse power motor. It has a four stroke motor, just like in cars, eleminating the need to mix oil with gas. It has four depthfinder/gps combination units that sell for about $3000 each! You can see everything under the water and one of the features shows you a 360 degree view of everything around the boat.

Most folks think it is crazy to spend that much on a fishing boat, and I agree. But I spend at least 24 hours a month in my boat and having more comfort at my age is definitely important. Some buy expensive cars. Nice boats make me happy and it is what I worked and saved for all my life.

NEW 2022 GEORGIA FISHING REGULATIONS AVAILABLE

NEW 2022 GEORGIA FISHING REGULATIONS AVAILABLE: GO FISH GEORGIA!

SOCIAL CIRCLE, Ga. (January 5, 2022) – Start planning your fishing adventures for the new year and be sure to review the updated 2022 Georgia Sport Fishing Regulations Guide, says the Georgia Department of Natural Resources’ Wildlife Resources Division (WRD).

“Whether you are brand new to fishing or an experienced angler, you can always find something of interest in the Sport Fishing Regulations Guide,” said Scott Robinson, Chief of the WRD Fisheries Management Section. “This publication is developed with the help of fisheries biologists and staff to ensure it has the most current and accurate information on regulations and new opportunities and anglers can access it in multiple ways, including online, from our Outdoors GA app or in the printed copy.”

Anglers should note there was delayed production of a printed copy of the 2022 Georgia Sport Fishing Regulations guide due to paper accessibility and manufacturing issues. It is anticipated the print version will be available by the end of January. The guide can now be found online at http://www.eregulations.com/georgia/fishing/, or through the Outdoors GA app (free app for iPhone or Android users). If you need a printed copy sooner, a pdf of the publication will be available online (you can choose to print the full book or only the information you need).

The 2022 Georgia Sport Fishing Regulations Guide provides information such as a color fish identification chart for both freshwater and saltwater fish, license purchasing information, contact information for Wildlife Resources Division and Coastal Resources Division fisheries management offices and DNR Law Enforcement offices, trout stream listings, public fishing area information, state record fish listings, fishing regulations for Georgia and so much more.

What’s New for 2022? Check out this quick bullet list below and get all the details in the new guidebook:

• Minnow trap use is now legal in freshwaters.

• Waters Creek trout regulations have changed.

· Largemouth bass regulations have changed on two Public Fishing Areas.

Need more fishing information? Check out the Angler Resources page on the WRD website (https://georgiawildlife.com/fishing/angler-resources).

When Fall Is In the Air It Brings Back Many Memories and Plans

Fall is in the air. For the first time in months I was happy to fish in the sun in the Sportsman Club tournament a week ago last Sunday. It got hot later, but at daylight it was a bit cool on the water fishing in the shade.

A sure sign its fall is the preparation for the annual three club tournament at Lake Martin. We look forward to this tournament we hold the second weekend of October each year. We usually catch a lot of bass, mostly pound size spots, but it is a lot of fun getting lots of bites.

Last year 24 of the 29 fishermen had limits both days, two more had a limit one day and four keepers on the other day, and no one weighed in less than five keepers. And many of those fish were caught on topwater baits including the 3.74-pound spot I caught on Saturday. That one gave me a thrill!

Members of the Spalding County Sportsman Club also get ready for our Club Classic, held the first weekend in October. To qualify to fish it, members must fish at least eight of the 12 tournaments during the year or finish in the top eight in the club for the year.

Some of the entry fees from monthly club tournaments are reserved for payout at the Classic. The top five get a check as well as the big fish winner. There is a good bit of money paid out, much more than in regular tournaments.

The Potato Creek Bassmasters also has a Club Classic with similar rules and pay-out. It is held the last weekend in March. It is much anticipated, too, and adds to the special spring feelings.

Last week I smelled burning leaves for the first time this year. I love that smell. Often when fishing on a very cold day a whiff of burning leaves can seem to warm you up a little.

It takes me back to raking pecan leaves in the yard, piling them in the ditch and burning them. My favorite part was going back out there when there were just embers left, usually a cool late afternoon, and scratching around for missed pecans.

They usually seemed to be roasted just right. I think since they settled to the bottom of the pile against the ground, most of the heat went up and did not burn them.

We roasted pecans in the oven most of the year, too. Daddy also ordered 50-pound bags of peanuts every year and the bag was always available to get a pan out and put in the oven. Most nights the family sat around the den watching TV after dinner eating roasted nuts or a bowl of ice cream before bed.

Now the whine of leaf blowers replaces the rhythmic scraping of a rake and disturbs the peace. Blowers may be a lot faster, but I hate fishing on a nice peaceful morning only to hear someone crank up a leaf blower and make a lot of noise for hours on end. On a lake with lots of houses it is a constant sound all day.

I heard a DJ on the radio today say there was a sure sign fall is here. The dollar stores are putting out Valentine stuff. Seriously, Christmas stuff is already showing up in some area stores a month before Halloween. Seems a big early to me.

Are we in too big a hurry nowadays? We can’t wait to a holiday in a couple of months to the point of missing the excitement of the ones coming up. And it seems the same for hunters and fishermen. Bass boats scream around the lake, trying to find that perfect spot. Hunters can’t sit still in deer stands, they have to ride their four wheelers in the woods scaring the deer for everyone else.

My favorite season is a toss up between spring and fall. I love the warming weather in spring, the new growth of plants and animals and the fantastic fishing. Planting gardens is always a great anticipation of coming delicious vegetables.

But fall starts hunting seasons and great fishing again. And the bounty of the garden is ending but still producing delicious fresh meals, with digging potatoes one of my favorites. And fall crops of broccoli, cabbage and other cool weather veggies are another anticipation.

One of the best things about fall, the opposite of spring, is the disappearance of bugs. Cooler nights seem to lessen them and the first frost makes most mosquitos, ticks, flies and other irritating bugs disappear.

Many people travel to the mountains to see the colorful leaves each year. I much prefer seeing them from a deer stand. Mountain and valley vistas are nice but sitting in a tree on a ridge over a creek valley is even better to me, since the anticipation of seeing a deer is there.

Deer camp the first week of November is something we look forward to every year, too. Every club has different camps, but all involve fires, good food, great companionship and an escape from the reality of modern life. It takes most of us back to simpler times when the world was not quite so crazy.

Roughing it at deer camp can also make me appreciate the conveniences of modern life. Going four or five days without a hot shower is not something I enjoy, but fortunately, my camp is close enough to drive home every other day for a shower.

Cooking on an open fire is fun – a couple of times. But having to do it every day makes me appreciate the ease of cooking a variety of things an open fire just can not produce. Biscuits, pies and cakes are some of the things you really need an oven to cook!

Enjoy fall – winter will be here soon enough.

Hatchery Fish Often Fail in the Wild. Now We Might Know Why

Epigenetics explained, with help from ’80s pop.

by Amorina Kingdon, Hakai Magazine

from The Fishing Wire

Wild salmon are struggling to get their groove back. Along North America’s Pacific coast, salmon populations—already hit by overfishing—have been forced to dodge the Blob and hungry seals. For years, Canada has tried to help bolster the salmon population by releasing hatchery-raised juvenile fish, or smolts, into the wild.

Scientists know these hatchery smolts don’t do well in the wild—the fish tend to die younger than their wild brethren and reproduce less, but it’s unclear why.

In a recent study, however, researchers think they’ve hit upon a possible explanation. In two British Columbia streams, researchers caught coho salmon smolts that were making their way out to sea for the first time. Some of the fish had been born in hatcheries, while others were wild. Comparing the genetics of the hatchery- and wild-born smolts, the scientists found a huge difference between the two populations. But the changes weren’t so much in their genetics as in how their genes were regulated and expressed—their epigenetics.

Epigenetics is the physical and molecular processes that control how the instructions contained within DNA get expressed or turned into the proteins that affect day-to-day life. Often, epigenetics causes a gene to be expressed more or less frequently than it otherwise would. Everything from stress to chemicals to natural processes like puberty can cause epigenetic changes. Some of the changes are temporary or reversible, while others last forever.

Suppose, for instance, that rather than a jumble of folded proteins, your DNA is a cassette tape of Phil Collins’s 1985 smash album No Jacket Required. When you were born, your DNA was a factory-made tape—you had the same physical spool of tape, more or less, as 13 million other fans.

But say a section of your tape was kinked or twisted after unspooling in the stereo of your Trans Am, garbling the classic riffs of “Sussudio.” Meanwhile, your brother can rock out to “Sussudio” just fine, but he accidentally erased the sultry chorus of “Inside Out” while making a mixtape for his girlfriend. Much like these changes will affect which of Collins’s epic rhythms you and your brother respectively blast, epigenetics can permanently or semipermanently affect how genes get expressed.

In the case of the salmon, Louis Bernatchez, a population biologist at Laval University who worked on the new research, found that while hatchery- and wild-born coho smolts have similar genetic profiles—which makes sense since the two are closely related—some parts of their DNA have wildly different epigenetics. But more than this, Bernatchez found that all the hatchery-raised fish had similar epigenetic changes, even for fish reared at different hatcheries.

Just as two different cassettes chewed up in the same spot of “One More Night” suggest an issue with the tape deck, Bernatchez suspected there’s something about hatchery life that triggers epigenetic changes. He points to two features as possible suspects: atypical food and overcrowding.

“Some of those genes are important in appetite, important in osmoregulation,” Bernatchez says. He stresses that these epigenetic effects don’t necessarily explain hatchery fish’s shortcomings as adults. In part, that’s because it’s still not completely clear which traits they affect, or how long the changes last. But it does open new avenues to explore.Hatchery-born coho salmon smolts have epigenetic changes as a result of hatchery living, which may affect them for life. Photo by Stock Connection Blue/Alamy Stock Photo

In Washington State, hatchery-spawned steelhead also do poorly in the wild. But Penny Swanson, division director of the Northwest Fisheries Science Center, says that while epigenetics may play a part, there are other factors that could account for hatchery fish’s struggles.

For example, fish that do well in hatcheries often have voracious appetites and grow quickly, she says. This serves them well in captivity, but not in the wild, where searching for food and enduring hunger are more important. But it’s not clear if hatchery conditions lead to a form of artificial selection, where the quickest gobblers survive, or if the food, temperature, or relatively sedentary lifestyle are modifying the fish’s genes through epigenetic effects.

Swanson thinks Bernatchez’s research lays important groundwork for untangling the different factors, but there’s still a lot to study, such as epigenetics in fish at different ages. This is tricky to do with wild populations, she says, in comparison to the captive or domestic animals on which most epigenetics research is done, because the natural genetic variation is much wider and less understood.

Mackenzie Gavery, a post-doctorate researcher working with Swanson, agrees that it’s a leap to suggest the epigenetic changes seen in smolts are affecting their success as adults. There’s a big gap in time between when smolts head out to sea and when they return to breed as adults, she says. Gavery also notes that many epigenetic changes are natural, transient, and even reversible. Like straightening a twisted cassette ribbon by rewinding it with a pencil, epigenetic changes in the smolts may be gone by the time they return to spawn.

Bernatchez hopes that further study will untangle how persistent the epigenetic changes are, as well as make it clearer how they’re manifesting in the fish. But it’s a new field, and the researchers still have a long long way to go.

Encounters of the Unusual Kind in the Outdoors

Spending as much time outdoors as I have is bound to present some unusual encounters. Nature has many wonders and they always fascinated me. While growing up and most of my life I have had many books to identify plants and animals in the wild. Now I have apps on my phone to do it.

On a church group camping trip when I was about eight years old, two events stand out in my mind. We camped at an old mill pond and could not wait for the weekend of fishing, swimming, cooking on fires and trying to stay awake all night.

The first afternoon I went off by myself, fishing along the small branch below the dam. I noticed something in the shallows and when I got close, I got nervous, I had never seen anything like it. It looked like a big, thick 16-inch-long mottled brow slimy looking lizard with a red frill around its neck. For a minute I was afraid it was a baby “Godzilla,” growing like the one I had seen in the original movie grow from a leg that was blown off the adult.

Being a kid, I killed it with a stick and took it back to camp. Nobody had ever seen anything like it. When I got home I looked it up and found that it was an “Eastern Hellbender” salamander, the biggest salamander in the US. North Georgia is the extreme southern end of its range so to find on in middle Georgia was very unusual.

Ironically enough, in the early 1970s my favorite lure was a Hellbender, an early crankbait. Linda caught an eight-pound bass at Clarks Hill trolling one in 1971. The lure looked nothing like the real thing, though.

Back at the camp on the mill pond, someone killed a big fat water snake. That night around the fire I got out my trusty pocketknife and split it open. It has 17 eggs in it, mama was developing more water snakes. Someone threw it on the fire against the advice of the adults with us and we all learned how terrible burning snake smells.

Freshwater mussels always interested me. Their shells litter the banks in most of our lakes. Birds and otters will eat them. I have found piles of them under boat docks on a float where an otter went to dinner regularly.

I love all kinds of seafood including oysters, clams and mussels, so I just had to try a freshwater mussel. I found a live one at Clarks Hill that was as big as my fist, so I took it up to the kitchens and steamed it in the oven.

I might as well have scooped up a handful of the mud it was in and put it in my mouth. That’s what it tasted like!

I have never been shy about trying different kinds of food and have always said “I will eat anything that doesn’t eat me first.” That has produced some interesting experiences traveling with Linda all over the world.

While on a nature hike in the Amazon Rain Forest in Brazil with a survival training Captain in the Brazil Army, he showed us many typed of food provided by nature.

He showed us how to tease a tarantula spider out of its hole, saying they tasted good roasted and the fire burned oft the hairs that would tickle your mouth. He then cut a vine up high then cut the bottom, grabbing it quickly. It was full of water, several of us had a swallow of the pure water in the jungle before it all ran out.

He also cut a palm branch with a small nut looking growth on it and said it was a palm nut, similar to a coconut. He told us the meat of the nut was good food but inside was often a source of protein, a palm nut grub. When he split the nut, sure enough there was a grub inside. It reminded me of the grub worms we dig up here.

He asked if anyone would eat it. After a few seconds of quiet, I said I would. When I put in in my mouth and bit down, it popped. It did taste like coconut!

About half of us on that cruise ship flew back to Miami from Manus, Brazil on a chartered 777. When Linda and I were bordered first and put in the two first class front seats, others looked at us and asked how we got those seats.

I told them it was because I had eaten the grub!

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