Innholdsfortegnelse for May 2022 i In-Fisherman

Playing the week of... MAY 2 Fine-Tuned Tactics for Today > Topwater Smallmouths > Stalking Late Fall Largemouths > Historic Calendar Period Teachings MAY 9 Search for the Big & Bad > Precision Nighttime Walleyes > Primetime Blue Cats > A Perfect Storm of Giant Sportfish MAY 16 Hot Bites Happening > Froggin’ Big River Largemouths > Fine-Time Shallow Crappies > 40 Years Down the Road to Great Fishing MAY 23 Unique Fisheries & Fantastic Fishing > Edge of Glory Erie Walleyes > In Search of Alabama Bass > Pioneering Show Scripting: Giant Sportfish…

Swimming in cold water, it arrives in the danger zone with a casual sashay. Nothing too brassy. Not rattling or pushing much water. Tight, subtle, sexy wobble, yes—but not the macarena. The pause is longer than anyone can stand so you twitch it and a distant “tap” telegraphs up the line. In warm water, it’s brash and sassy. The same bait bulls around, gets snapped up, down, and sideways. Pauses are short. The action is erratic. The strike is vicious and bass jump, trying to shake the maddening sticks lodged in their teeth. Pros and guides look for ways to minimize erratic action in cold water and escalate it in warm water. Some baits come out of the box right for certain seasons. Some need to be fine-tuned to fit…

Once upon a time, fishing regulations were established by decree, sometimes based on the inclinations of well-meaning but not necessarily well-informed fishery commissioners or, starting 4 or 5 decades ago, by trained fishery biologists. But this “government-knows-best” practice has been replaced by a process that listens to anglers. In 2019, the leadership of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) recognized the need to review the regulations for the state’s popular black crappie fisheries as part of a comprehensive Fisheries Management Plan. They followed a prescribed protocol. Similar processes are used to promulgate regulations in other states. Step 1: A management team of fishery managers and scientists, law enforcement, and human dimension specialists was created to oversee the process. Step 2a: Anglers were asked multiple questions about their fishing…

Some of the most productive catfish creeks around the country are within city limits. Many are associated with medium to large rivers fed by tributaries that flow through cities and suburbs. Modern urban planners often develop greenbelts with bike and walking paths along those tributaries. Anglers who explore those creeks often encounter catfish miles from the tributary’s mouth. Because many anglers might live in close proximity to urban creeks, the potential for overfishing is high. Anglers who identify honey holes in these waters should follow harvest regulations. I practice catch-and-release in these settings. If you selectively harvest, check for any fish consumption advisories that may be in place. With that in mind, I can relate experiences on urban creeks flowing through suburban neighborhoods that produced 20-pound channel cats from pools…

The little outboard purred like a 16-pound alley cat as I rounded a boulder pile that spilled from a tree-covered island. The rocky protrusion was on the south, the downstream side, and relatively protected from ice-out torrents that had scoured the rest of the island’s edges for untold centuries. I shifted to neutral, and tossed a quarter-ounce jig with a chartreuse twistertail and a salted minnow to where the rocks angled down into a 14-foot hole. Or so said the depthfinder. I felt the bottom, raised the lure a foot, and dropped it again. Two times. Three. Ten. Eighteen. Twenty-six. Tug! Set the hook. Walleye on. I scooped the glistening critter from the tea-colored water, twisted out the hook, and admired it for a few seconds before sending it back…

in-fisherman.com FISHING INSIGHTS » Taking care of your boat batteries during the offseason is just as important as it is during the fishing season. Follow these tips to get the most out of your marine batteries. in-fisherman.com/batterymaintenance TACTICS IN FOCUS » Known for his prowess as a competitive bass angler, Kevin VanDam shares his jerkbait strategies that not only catch bass, but walleyes, too! in-fisherman.com/kvdjerkbaitwalleyes FEATURED VIDEO » How to Rig the New Berkley PowerBait Gilly » Berkley’s new PowerBait Gilly is a head-turner for sure and gets the attention of big bass. In this video, pro angler Mark Courts shares a few rigging methods to put this hot new lure into action. in-fisherman.com/berkleygillyrigging PLUS! MASTER ANGLER » Enter your latest catch into our Master Angler program to receive awards…

Fish Management— Native primarily to the Upper Midwest, walleyes are commonly introduced into reservoirs within and outside their native range to provide recreational fisheries. While walleyes can thrive in reservoirs, natural reproduction is often limited and regular stockings are required to maintain healthy fisheries. Other than angler harvest, walleyes are lost from populations through natural mortality. Reservoirs, however, are unique because walleyes can also be permanently lost from the population due to escapement—the loss of fish over spillways or through water-control structures. While walleye escapement can be significant, how it contributes to fish loss relative to harvest and natural mortality is not as clear. We measured walleye harvest, natural mortality, and escapement in two Iowa reservoirs—Big Creek and Brushy Creek—to better understand the significance of these factors in regulating populations.…

When outdoor writer and tournament pro Joe Balog lived up North, he used a lot of suspending sticks. Not anymore, now that he’s in Florida. “The F-18 Rapala Original Floater (7 inches) has always been a staple in Florida,” he said. “I remember reading about the effectiveness of it in our waters since I was a kid. No question—big Florida largemouths love the big Rapala. “It has to be one of the most realistic hardbaits out there,” he said. “It’s likely the only hardbait that swims in a realistic, horizontal fashion, not nose-down like a crankbait. For a hardbait, it’s very lifelike in the water. That’s critical for me. I only fish for older, trophy fish that get lots of pressure, so I prefer realistic lures. Another important characteristic is…

Crappie anglers, like all anglers, want to catch bigger crappies. Many assert that increasing fishing effort, especially the numbers of anglers employing super-efficient techniques like spider-rigging, are depleting crappie numbers before they grow to large size. The increasing use of forward-looking sonar like Garmin Panoptix, allowing anglers to target the biggest fish and increase size-selective harvest, adds to the fury. Fishery managers work hard to satisfy anglers, but crappie populations, both black and white, sometimes seem to defy management. As management efforts increase, however, it’s becoming clear that not all crappie populations are capable of consistently producing slab crappies, while other populations seem able to sustain quality crappies despite high harvest. Crappie Management Timeline Crappies began to attract fishery management attention in the 1970s. The most frequent problem at the…

Sometimes the catfishing gods smile on me. I was fishing for channel cats in “The Creek,” a meandering farmland waterway near my home. It runs about 10 to 15 feet wide through summer. The farmer who owns the land is a longtime friend who gets a Christmas card from me every year that includes gift certificates to a local steakhouse. I was getting ready to lob my first glob of chicken liver into the lazy current when the farmer’s 14-year-old son and a friend splashed their ATVs through the creek a couple hundred yards downstream, then wheelied up the bank. Spying my pickup truck, they buzzed along the creek’s bank, shut off their machines, and picked their way down the bank to where I stood. “You’re fishing in this little…

October, early 1990s, in Al Lindner’s boat. I’m in back. In-Fisherman Editor In Chief Doug Stange is in the middle. Bibs and heavy coats all around. It’s cold. As usual, Al has the trolling motor cranked up to warp speed. The boat’s moving at about 30 mph. (I exaggerate, but it’s lickity split. It would have violated no-wake zones.) We pitched jigworms. Al threw ahead of the boat, followed the jig down, ripping it 3 feet off the first weed it touched. He repeated that twice, then rapidly reeled in and made another cast. I made a cast and before it could touch anything I had a 20-foot feel-killing bow in the line. Al caught about 24 largemouths. I think Doug caught one. I was blanked. Power finesse is no…

Mike Iaconelli worked with VMC to compile Ike Approved Neko accessories, including weights, hooks, and O-rings. Weights have ribs to anchor in the worm, in sizes from 1/32 to 1/8 ounce. VMC’s Half Moon Wacky Weights are mushroom-shaped to bounce along bottom. The Neko Skirt has strands of rubber on the end of a Neko Weight for action. VMC Neko Hooks have a long shank and 3-degree offset point for solid hookups, in plain and weedless versions with a fiberguard. VMC’s latest addition are Crossover Rings, tough rubber bands that function like an O-ring to prevent plastics from tearing off on a bite or hook-set. They have a rubber tab with tiny holes on two sides, allowing a lure to be rigged in standard wacky style or Neko fashion with…

In the 1960s and ‘70s, fishery managers and anglers witnessed declines in largemouth bass, particularly larger bass, in southern reservoirs. In 1967, fishery biologist Robert Martin documented the depletion of largemouth bass in only several weeks after the opening of a new reservoir in West Virginia. By the late 1970s, managers were seeing the merit of length limits to maintain quality black bass resources. Coincident with the decline of bass resources was the explosion of bass tournaments, which brought the concern about depletion of black bass front and center. Bass tournament organizers began promoting catch and release (C&R), a mentality already long practiced by Atlantic salmon and western trout anglers. The adoption of live release by tournaments was not surprising; it was good conservation and it deflected much of the…

As the name implies, these models estimate how many harvestable crappies are produced by a fixed number of fish recruited to the population. Recruits to the populations are usually estimated as the abundance of age-1 crappies, fish that have survived the larval stage and their first winter, a time of usually high mortality. The mathematical equations for these population models can be intimidating, but operating them is the job of the fishery scientist. Of importance to the engaged angler, though, is how the essential population variables interact over time to estimate the end result: what harvest regulation produces more large crappies? Recruitment adds fish to the population, mortality removes them. Mortality is a result of capture and harvest by anglers (exploitation rate, fishing mortality) and natural causes (natural mortality) like…

Access is the biggest challenge to taking advantage of channel catfish in creeks and small rivers. Small waterways generally flow through private property, and laws vary from state to state about who controls access. The laws of Kansas, Iowa, and many other states consider the water in a creek or river to be public property, but the shores and bottom of waterways are property of the adjacent landowner. Missouri, Arkansas, Minnesota, and Montana view the water and the bottom of the waterway below the high-water line to be public access. “I generally don’t have problems getting access to fish in creeks on private property,” says Iowa angler Spencer Bauer. “I knock on doors and ask for permission to fish, and 4 out of 5 times they let me fish. It’s…

Power-Fishing: Trolling motor on high, covering water quick, rifling casts with medium- to heavy-power casting tackle, using heavy line, ripping big hardbaits like cranks, spinnerbaits, jerks, and lipless cranks with erratic action, attempting to force a reaction from active, aggressive bass. Typical line choices include 12- to 20-pound fluorocarbon or braids of 20 to 50 pounds, depending on cover density and type. Finesse Fishing: When bass are concentrated and wired in, with the trolling motor on low, making long casts with light line, light to medium-light spinning rods in the 7- to 7-foot 6-inch range, 1/16- to 3/32-ounce rigs or jigs, and making slow, subtle presentations with hair or soft-baits to “finesse” grouped, spooky, pressured bass. Typically, presentation is slow with light weights and jigs, and 4- to 6-pound mono…

Texas—Newly constructed, 349-acre Purtis Creek State Park Lake was stocked with Florida largemouth bass and opened to fishing in 1985, as a catch-and-release-only lake. The reasoning was that limited post-release mortality would sufficiently reduce the population to maintain high growth rate and provide quality- and trophy-bass opportunities. Initially the lake received heavy fishing pressure and provided abundant bass with a large size structure. The bass population size structure declined after 2006, as did fishing effort. Although the no-harvest regulation remained in effect, the largemouth bass population was affected by a rapid and extensive expansion of hydrilla, followed by eradication of almost all aquatic vegetation. Lacking vegetation, bass recruitment faltered, and the experiment abruptly ended. Purtis Creek now has a 16-inch maximum length limit, a regulation that Texas Parks and Wildlife…

It’s all kayak fishing—rigging, reviews, tactics, dream denstinations, and much more! Pick up a copy of Kayak Fishing Fun, available on newsstands starting April 12. You can also order a copy at osgnewsstand.com. Big-Water Lakers & Brown Trout There are times when kayaks can deliver you to remote waters far removed from any improved boat launches and submerse you totally in nature. Other times, kayaks can put you on some of the country’s best urban fisheries, which boast easily accessible launch sites within a short paddle of prime fishing locations. Accesses that are iced in for the season make them unusable for boat anglers, but they’re a great jumping-off point for kayak anglers. The Great Lakes are full of such locations and winter can offer some of the best nearshore…