Innholdsfortegnelse for June/July 2022 i Game & Fish East

If you’ve been waiting to introduce someone to fishing, now is the time to do it. Kids go on summer break, leaving their days open for a trip to the water. And if you’re looking to take an adult on his or her first outing, longer periods of daylight leave more time at the end of the workday for a lesson. No need to make it an all-day event; newbies won’t likely appreciate a hard-core approach no matter how good the fishing. An hour or two in the morning or evening is perfect. Summer is a time for ponds and panfish, which is the ideal combination for new anglers. Moving water introduces current into the presentation equation, which can be tricky for beginning anglers to understand. Large bodies of water…

Water temperatures approach their annual peak as the sun climbs higher in the summer sky. As their environment warms toward uncomfortable or even lethal levels, gamefish respond in predictable ways in an effort to do one simple thing: cool down, even by just a few degrees. While many fish concentrate around deep cover or suspend in deep water, some fish—often largemouth bass of exceptional size—make the exact opposite transition, moving into thick, matted vegetation in shallow water. These fish ride out the summer heat in the slop. SUMMER SHADE The number of quality largemouth bass that are sucked into shallow slop by midsummer is amazing. The primary reason for this predictable congregation is rudimentary. Matted weed growth on the surface—and the duckweed, algae and “gunk” it collects—provides protection from the…

Go ahead, ask your hunting buddy. What percentage of poachers in America are caught and convicted? Half? A quarter? Not even close. Research sponsored by the Boone and Crockett Club and its partners indicates that the number is incredibly, depressingly much lower. Based on early studies of a decade of wildlife crime citations and court data from Kentucky, researchers estimate that fewer than 3 percent of poachers in the Bluegrass State are caught and convicted. That’s probably not an outlier; poaching rates in other states are distressingly similar, based on earlier studies that looked at illicit wildlife exploitation. Poaching is not only a theft of animals and opportunities from legal hunters, but it turns out there’s a tremendous monetary cost, too. Using only the minimum penalties assessed for fines and…

Back in The Day (and by that, I mean the early 1970s) gathering bait was part of the fishing experience. Seldom did my father and I visit the bait shop. Instead, we’d drive down to the creek outside my hometown and push a seine for an afternoon, collecting plenty of what the Old Man called “crappie minnows,” along with a handful of crayfish, which would be fished on the bottom for channel cats. Crawlers? Same story, minus the seine. Equipment? A headlamp with the requisite red lens and a Maxwell House coffee can. “That’s two bucks a dozen you’re saving, son,” the Old Man would announce as we climbed aboard his ’65 Ford 500 Custom. Then it was off to John Shafer’s yard where, according to dad, the ’crawlers were…

Summertime fishing has its ups and downs. The kids are out of school and family vacations are coming together. It hasn’t rained in nearly two weeks and those great bass and trout bites of just a few weeks ago are now a distant memory. The weatherman is calling for a 94-degree day with a chance of a stray shower … if we’re lucky. You’ve got half a day to burn, but by the time you hitch the boat and load gear you’ll be crimped for daylight. You want to fish—feel something at the end of the rod—but you’re just not sure what species to target or where to go. Do yourself a favor and go jump in a creek! WHERE TO FISH All throughout the eastern half of the nation…

Revelations, epiphanies, eureka moments or whatever you want to call those instances of insight when we learn a new fishing technique or better understand an old one are pure gold for hard-core anglers. That’s why an outing on Virginia’s James River many years ago still stands out as an important one for me. I fooled some quality smallmouth bass on topwaters that day when the fish were hitting on the surface. I scored several more when they were in a chasing mood and attacking crankbaits and hardplastic jerkbaits. But my buddy caught big bronzebacks all day long no matter what the mood of the bass was. He did so by alternately tossing soft plastic tubes, grubs, worms, craw worms and jerkbaits. That day forever changed the way I fish for…

The simple answer is yes. Because the animals subsist primarily on vegetation, woodchuck meat, when properly prepared, is tender and tasty. It can be used in a number of recipes such as meat pies and stews, or breaded and fried. Woodchucks are easily dressed in the same way as rabbits and squirrels. I like to first make an incision down the belly and down and around each leg. Then, I use my fingers to work the skin forward towards the head. Finally, I remove the entrails, head and feet. The main thing to be aware of are tiny, pea-size scent glands just beneath the skin located around the armpits and tail near the genital area. Due to their small size, the scent glands are easily to overlook, but if not…

Although many small meadow streams and creeks have good populations of delicious sunfish species, it pays to harvest wisely by keeping just enough for a meal from time to time. Indeed, a half-dozen hand-sized redbreasts can offer scrumptious fillets from cold-water environs. Here is my favorite recipe for pan-fried sunfish. INGREDIENTS • 8–12 sunfish fillets• 1/2 cup of whole milk• Peanut or vegetable oil• 1/3 cup of pancake mix• 2 tablespoons of Old Bay seasoning• Salt and pepper to preferred taste DIRECTIONS 1. Place fillets in a bowl of milk for several minutes. 2. Heat a 10-inch frying pan with oil to 375 degrees. 3. Combine the pancake mix, Old Bay seasoning and salt and pepper in another bowl, then coat the milk-soaked fillets in the dry mix and place…

Nobody ever tells my wife to sit down, but when Josh Adams asked her nicely to find her seat she fully understood. Adams was rowing his drift boat toward a small, churning section of rapids on the Connecticut River, and my wife was fishing from the bow. It was her first time fly-fishing from a drift boat, and Adams had been giving her wise and helpful instruction the entire day. She took one look downriver at the roiling water and quickly heeded his advice. Adams turned to me. I had a streamer on my 5-weight flyrod, one that he’d tied on just after we stopped for a streamside lunch some 30 minutes earlier. “Just as we get through the white water, there’s a series of big boulders on our lefthand…

Mother Nature has a unique sense of humor. We had gone to bed with bare, dry fields and roads but woke to 8 inches of fresh snow. Part of our hunting crew suffered delays getting to camp, which meant only a handful of us were crazy enough to consider a morning hunt. We pulled onto the highway, and there were no other vehicle tracks. The snow was up to the hubs on the trailer wheels, and it was still snowing hard. I could not help but think about the passage from Robert Ruark’s “The Old Man and The Boy,” when the Old Man remarked that you had to be crazy to be a duck hunter, as foul weather also spells fowl weather. I went buggedeyed trying to see through the…

Years ago I’d disappear into the wilderness to hunt elk for 10 days or two weeks at a time. No one would know where I was, or even if I was still alive. It was awesome, but it was also dangerous and stressful for my family. Those times have changed. Now I carry one of Garmin’s inReach satellite communication devices anytime I venture afield. With it I can text my friends and loved ones, check the weather, navigate, mark waypoints, save tracks and much more. And should I become seriously ill or injured I can, with the push of a button, summon search and rescue directly to my location. My go-to inReach device has been the standard Explorer unit, except during hard-core backpacking hunts. For that I carried a superlight…

Bowhunters practice a lot. In the months leading up to bow season, it’s not uncommon to see bowhunters shooting in their backyards every evening. Gun hunters, on the other hand, rarely practice. For many, the closest thing they do to practice is checking to see if their rifle is still sighted in a few days prior to the season starting. This obviously explains why so many deer are missed and wounded with rifles every year. It could be the reason you missed or wounded a deer last season. The key to becoming a better shot with a rifle is to practice. Understandably, it is hard for most to shoot their rifle in the backyard; a trip to a suitable and safe range is needed. Also, ammunition is expensive and currently…

Fishing is many things to many people. It can be as easy as stepping out of your vehicle next to a stream or lake and walking a few feet, or jumping in a boat tied to a slip, or hiking to a destination that requires some degree of physical ability. Many of my favorite fishing memories involve adventures I’ve had in the back 40 or high in a remote wilderness. The idea of just getting away from people is plenty of reason to visit the backcountry, and we all know about competition among anglers. It’s often true that the less pressure, the better the fishing. I’ve learned you don’t need to trek many miles in the wilderness to enjoy backcountry fishing. I’ve had outstanding angling in places where just a…

I started hunting woodchucks as a kid with a .22-caliber Winchester Model 190. If memory serves, I missed more ’chucks than I like to admit. This was largely due to my inexperience at stalking and hunting at the time, but mostly due to me underestimating the woodchuck’s crafty characteristics. But those experiences eventually turned me into an avid woodchuck hunter if for no other reason than I refused to let them get the better of me. Plus, they are a lot of fun to hunt. In the process, woodchucks have taught me a great deal and made me a better hunter in general. WHERE TO FIND THEM If I have learned anything about hunting woodchucks over the years, it is they are just like deer, bears or turkeys in the…

The Upper Connecticut River flows through some fairly remote and rural parts of northern New England. That’s part of the charm. If you’re going there to fish, realize that you’re not totally cut off from civilization. The Vermont village of Island Pond (population about 800) has places to stay and eat, with The Essex House and Tavern offering both. Across the street, the Kingdom Grill and The Lakefront Inn are also solid options. On the New Hampshire side, Colebrook (population about 2,100) has a number of amenities, including the Colebrook Country Club and Motel and the Colebrook House of Pizza. For almost two decades now, the two villages on either side of the river have become more reliant on four-season visitors and vacationers. This means you can find private cottages…

Although the Mossberg 940 Pro Waterfowl I took to Saskatchewan was brand new, it felt like I had been shooting it for years. Anyone who has wielded a shotgun that seemed to become an extension of the arms will understand that’s high praise. A slim fore-end and new barrel design made pointing the Pro Waterfowl intuitive, and it was light and easy to swing. Perhaps the most surprisingly aspect of the shotgun, however, is its ability to reduce felt recoil. The 940 Pro line is equipped with a new gas operating system that throws spent shells 12 to 15 feet and uses up much of the energy that contributes to recoil. It cycled flawlessly as I chewed through a case of ammunition. The shotgun is adjustable for drop, cast and…

Jigs are one of the most versatile and effective bass lures of all time. They can probe the entire water column and produce in any habitat, including heavy cover or snag-laden structures where other baits struggle. They’re also known for catching big bass. Historically, jigs have done a great job of visually and audibly attracting bass in environments that few other lures can reach. But now with the introduction of Berkley PowerBait Jigs, which utilize the company’s proprietary infused skirts, anglers can fish jigs that appeal to bass’ sense of smell and taste, too. I recently visited Berkley’s laboratory in Spirit Lake, Iowa, to get a behindthe-scenes look at the development and testing of PowerBait Jigs. Although the chemists and technicians there didn’t reveal any secret formulas, they did shine…