Innholdsfortegnelse for May 2023 i Game & Fish East

Whether you call it fatwood, pine knot, heart pine or pine “lighter’d,” as the guy who showed me where to find it did, the resin-rich heartwood at the center of old pine stumps might be the best natural firestarter in the woods. As a kid fascinated with anything to do with fire, I was amazed at how quickly splinters of the pungent wood burst into flame, necessitating just a single match to create a roaring blaze for roasting hot dogs. Using pine lighter’d or birch bark to start a warming fire even when most of the surrounding forest is dripping wet or covered in snow is something I pride myself on. It’s just one of the dozens of little tricks I’ve picked up from older, wiser outdoorsmen in the four…

Stream trout are perhaps angling’s most perfect finned adversary. Gifted with exceptional eyesight—perfect for their ginclear habitats—trout are ever wary and watchful for predators on the wing and the foot. Trout possess a powerful sense of smell; one their anadromous cousins use to return to the streams of their birth. Stream trout are quick to detect (and reject) offerings that are tainted with synthetic materials such as insect repellent or sunscreen. Sporting streamlined bodies strengthened by life in the current, trout make long, powerful runs toward the gnarliest cover and leap acrobatically into the air to throw lip piercings forged from sharp metal. For trout enthusiasts, opportunities to catch these truly amazing fish across much of the country are plentiful. These range from rainbows and cutthroats patrolling classic freestone fisheries…

Bouncing along on the ATV through northern Alberta’s mixed stands of poplar, birch and spruce among wide-open muskeg swamplands, I felt it: the unmistakable excitement—and unease—of venturing into an unknown wilderness. Shawn Mack, a guide at W&L Guide Service and son of owner Wally Mack, expertly drove us on the scant path he and his brother Kristen, another guide, had carved out in the bush weeks earlier with chainsaws. The route saw us juking fallen trees, bounding into and out of small depressions and cruising through open stretches among grassy bogs. Each minute, it took us deeper into the region’s wild public land (crown land, as the locals call it), which seemed to extend indefinitely. In one open spot, Shawn stopped the ATV, peering down at the soft mud. “That’s…

Fishing a swim jig is a power game, so gear up accordingly. For the rod, I prefer a 7-foot to 7-foot 3-inch length. Shorter rods reduce the ability to move line quickly from a hard-charging bass, and casting accuracy can suffer if the rod is too long. Rods with a medium-heavy power rating have enough strength in the midsection for a good hookset and can muscle a heavy bass away from cover, yet they maintain a soft enough tip to assist with casting accuracy, which is critical when trying to thread the needle in cover. Bass attacking a swim jig in shallow water can only move laterally after the initial hookset, which often has them charging directly at the boat. Therefore, faster reel speeds of 7:1 or 8:1 will accelerate…

The Atlantic coastline creates a perfect migratory route for fish moving north in the spring into Chesapeake Bay, and south in the winter as they seek more comfortable temperatures. And to get to Chesapeake Bay from the south, everything must pass by Rudee Inlet, just south of the bay. Rudee Inlet offers anglers in the Virginia Beach, Va., area their only direct access to the Atlantic Ocean. “Virginia Beach has much to offer fishermen for inshore, nearshore and offshore species,” says Joshua Bourne with Wingman Guide Service in Virginia Beach (@WingmanGuideService on Facebook). “Besides the inlet, we have easy access to the Atlantic Ocean and Chesapeake Bay.” Rudee Inlet covers about 3,000 acres and averages 10 to 12 feet deep, but some holes drop to about 30 feet. The system…

La Zona Fishing Lodge owner Hector Bradanini began as an area guide offering day trips in 2002 and then added overnight cabin accommodations in 2013. In 2019, he completed the lodge hotel. American Airlines offers two 9-hour overnight direct flights from Miami to Buenos Aires’ Ministro Pistarini International Airport. Upon arrival, anglers are met by a La Zona representative who transfers them to the lodge near Concordia, Argentina, via a 5-hour van ride. The lodge offers six air-conditioned bedrooms with private baths and a main building with a comfortable lounge room above an extra-large dining room and kitchen. Excellent and overly abundant food and beverages are provided at breakfast, lunch and a three-course dinner by Chef Santiago Cattani. Since 2018, Chef Cattani has been a premier asset to the operation.…

I’ll never forget watching someone’s tent wheeling its way across the blustery desert because the guy lines were tied with granny knots. It was another reminder that as with most things in life, there is a right way to do something once, and plenty of wrong ways to do it then re-do it. The problem is, in this modern world, gadgets and gewgaws will do many things better than we ever could in city and suburban life, but “out there,” not so true. And even if you were a Boy Scout, those useful skills and knowledge have a way of falling out of your mental filing cabinet. So, here are some tricks I learned from guides, cowpokes, grizzled trappers and other folks smarter than I, who probably learned the hard…

On my hunt, I used the synthetic-stocked Mossberg Patriot Predator in .450 Bushmaster ($568; mossberg.com) and the walnut-stocked standard Patriot in .308 Win. ($669). Their spiral-fluted, dual-lug bolts and detachable box magazines proved utterly reliable. Meanwhile, the user-adjustable LBA trigger broke perfectly. Both guns have hassle-free optics mounts and are great for bear and other big game. A wide field of view and good light transmission in low light are key for baited bear hunts. Shots are often close, and most activity happens late. Swarovski’s Z8i 1-8x24 ($3,188; swarovskioptik.com) and Z8i 1.7-13.3x42 P ($4,166) both offer a wide field of view and have the new Flexchange 4A-IF reticle, which I loved. The illuminated dot reticle has a switch for bright daytime or low illumination. Hold the top intensity switches for…

The biggest fish of the day was rising sporadically right under an overhanging branch. Like the stream itself, the casting window was small, with my only approach being downstream of the rainbow lazily finning in the crystal-clear water. The entire creek was less than a dozen feet wide, sparkling and gurgling through a claustrophobic tunnel of shrubs and gangly trees. The tips of branches bobbed in the current—another impediment foretelling a lost fly and spooked fish. The coin-bright male would leisurely rise, float back and out of his lair, sip in a small caddis, then dart back to his safe haven. There was a 2-foot hole in the rank tangle overhanging the dark slot that was the rainbow’s hiding place. “Ain’t gonna happen,” I said to myself before remembering a…

I grew up fishing for chain pickerel, mostly on my grandfather’s farm pond and in a river a short bike ride from my childhood home. Pickerel may not be the most aesthetically pleasing freshwater fish, but I learned early on in life that they are a joy to catch. At this time of year, look for pickerel in shallow water, from a foot to 5 feet down. Once water temperatures warm into the 70s, the larger specimens might go as deep as 10 feet or so, but pickerel hunt by sight, and there’s always better visibility in the shallows. This is where pickerel find most of their prey species, including various minnows, frogs, crayfish and a host of insects. But the real secret to catching pickerel is cover. Pickerel are…

Even with as much time as I spend in the field, both for work and recreation, I fear I’ll never be able to fully explain the daily activities of a tom turkey. However, as a biologist and land management consultant, working with landowners across the country to im-prove their wildlife habitat has allowed me to fine-tune my ability to understand the bird’s behavior. While I will use approximations and make certain assumptions throughout this piece as I outline the hypothetical daily routine of a tom, know that I intend nothing more than to get you started in the right direction of “thinking like a turkey.” While these erratic birds can leave us dumbstruck at some of the decisions they make, more often than not they behave just smart enough to…

For history buffs, visiting eastern Virginia offers unlimited opportunities. Where Chesapeake Bay hits the Atlantic Ocean in Virginia Beach, check out First Landing State Park, where English colonists landed in 1607. You can even rent cabins or camp in the park where those first English settlers walked. Soon after arriving in North America, the colonists sailed up the James River and established the first permanent English settlement in the New World. Today, you can see a replica of the Jamestown fort (historicjamestowne.org) and a church dating to the 17th century. Eventually, the colonists moved their capital to higher, drier ground and founded Williamsburg. Today, visitors can walk in the footsteps of people like Thomas Jefferson in Colonial Williamsburg (colonialwilliamsburg.org), which is designed to give visitors an authentic 18th-century experience. A…

The early June day was absolutely perfect. You just don’t get many like that: high skies, 80 degrees, nearly flat calm, and the bass were a special kind of hungry as the spawn was winding down. Conditions were ideal for a kayaking largemouth slugfest—or so we hoped. It was to be an exceptional day based on company alone; my son Tommy, who has become quite the hammer on bass waters, was in tow, along with my two friends Alex Sherbinow from Old Town and renowned Yooper photographer Scott Niska, who was pulling double duty with the camera and rod and reel. The goal was to conduct a road launch with a fleet of Old Town Sportsman kayaks on a beautiful lake that didn’t offer a modern public ramp. Both…

Many hunters think of bears as big nasty critters that are hard to kill. Bears can be big; an Alaskan brown bear can weigh more than a half ton. Bears can also be nasty. Across North America black bears kill—on average—at least one person each year. But bears—most bears—are not hard to kill, and their size varies greatly by location. Most black bears weigh less than 500 pounds, with the average being closer to half that. And while a 500-pound black bear might be twice the size of a 250-pound black bear, it’s not twice as hard to kill. So, given their average size and the potential for danger, what are the best loads for bears? First, we must set some parameters because brown bears and grizzlies are a whole…

Wally Mack’s W&L Guide Service (wlguides.com) pursues black bears from a comfortable camp just outside High Level, Alberta. The perfect staging ground for outings into the wilderness, the camp has an assortment of cabins with cots, mattresses and pillows as well as wood stoves or heating units. There’s a separate kitchen and dining area where Wally’s wife, Louisa, prepares fabulous homecooked meals. Hunters will also appreciate the shower facility with on-demand hot water. While the camp’s look has changed significantly in its history—beginning first as a wall-tent camp more than 25 years ago—it’s always been set up near High Level. According to guide Shawn Mack, this is due to the area’s phenomenal bear population and the abundance of huge black bears. The camp’s biggest spring black bear measured 8 feet,…

The blazing sun was causing me to wilt by mid-afternoon, and the offshore bite I’d been pursuing on my first visit to this small reservoir just wasn’t coming together. Hoping to avoid the “skunk” with a change in strategy, I spied an oasis of green bushes on a distant shoreline that gave me hope for saving the day. After a short run and idle onto the flat, I fumbled through the rod locker in search of a 3/8-ounce jig-and-plastic-trailer combo on which my hopes now rested. The move to shallow water paid off, with three bass in the 3-to 5-pound class boated and released within 30 minutes. The jig in shallow cover saved the day; however, the jig in this case never touched the lake’s bottom. Instead, I watched the…

I heaved the 6-ounce spinnerbait and trailer as far as I could toward the dam and let it fall toward the bottom. Powerful currents from the hydroelectric power plant’s 14 open gates quickly swept the bait downstream and away from our boat. The offering started tumbling through huge rocks some 10 to 12 feet below the surface. I began a slow crank, keeping the bait at a depth where it bumped into the boulders about every 5 seconds or so. The boat continued its drift downstream in the tailrace area as I retrieved my first cast of the day. I tossed it again as far upstream as possible and engaged the reel after the lure’s 8-second free fall. On the second handle revolution, I felt the spinnerbait tick a rock,…

A sturdy and reliable trailer is critical for getting your kayaks down the road safely and to the access point that leads to the water’s edge. Yakima has you covered with several options, but one version I especially like is the EasyRider. The EasyRider ($3,399; yakima.com) can carry from one to three kayaks rigged with a number of additional Yakima accessories, or up to four bare kayaks total. Plus, the aluminum trailer is more than capable of long-distance, cross-country expeditions on paved and gravel roads, thanks in part to its shock absorbers. It features a 500-pound capacity, and the tongue folds for easy storage.…

Kayaks built with fishingspecific features make time on the water more productive for anglers seeking small-craft adventures. From ample storage and electronics-rigging options to smart mounting solutions for accessories, kayaks designed for fishing help us find the bite and make the most of it—all while remaining easier to transport and store than larger boats. Our colleagues at Florida Sportsman recently put the latest kayaks to the test on the water, and the following models stood out for a variety of fishing situations. OLD TOWN SPORTSMAN AUTOPILOT 136 LENGTH: 13'6" | WIDTH: 37" WEIGHT: 158 lbs. including motor CAPACITY: 660 lbs. MATERIAL: single-layer polyethylene PROPULSION: Minn Kota trolling motor (45 lbs. thrust) with i-Pilot; paddle MSRP: $4,849.99 oldtownwatercraft.com TOP FEATURES: Among other specialties (including the famed PDL pedal drive), Old Town…