FISHING FOR TURKEYS
If you’re a turkey hunter, while you are out fishing this spring, you can also scout for turkeys. Have a topographical, Corp of Engineers or maybe TVA map of the lake on your smart phone to mark any turkey sightings or sounds. I like to use the same onX app I use when deer hunting. You’ll usually find that the birds you locate will be within a half-mile radius of your sighting when you’re ready to go hunt them.
If turkey season is open, wear your camouflage clothes and keep your calls and shotgun handy in the boat. As you work your way back in the creeks searching for spawning fish, use your mouth call while you’re catching fish and be ready for a gobbler to talk back to you. When you get a response, head for the bank.
Locate your bird and start moving in calling periodically. When he answers get set up and ready. Once you’ve got your gobbler, work your way back to the boat with your head down looking for morel mushrooms. When you’re back in your boat with your turkey and mushrooms you can go back to fishing again. Fried fish, grilled turkey breast and sautéed mushrooms are a great spring treat.
DID YOU KNOW?
Did you know healthy nightcrawlers will help you catch more fish?
What kind of fish?
Oh, let’s see, how about largemouth bass, smallmouth bass, white bass, striped bass, spotted bass, trout, walleye, catfish, bluegill, perch, suckers, crappie, just about any fish you can name will eat a healthy, wiggling nightcrawler.
SPRING FISHING TIP
During spring, look for white bass far up feeder creeks and rivers leading into large impoundments. They sometimes migrate miles up these tributaries before spawning, and they are tightly concentrated and easy to catch. Use live minnows, jigs, lipless crankbaits and spoons. They are also very good to eat.
SIGNS OF SPRING
To some, the first sign of spring is a robin in their yard, leaves starting to bud out, or flowers beginning to bloom. To me, it’s the mating call of the peeper frog. A single peeper frog is no bigger than your finger nail. One peeper by itself probably couldn’t be heard standing right next to you. However, when hundreds of them blend their clear, birdlike “peeps” into a chorus trying to woo a suitable mate it’s music to my ears. Spring is here!
TAX TIME
To most Americans, the annual income tax deadline is a hated, dreaded and even feared day of the year. No other date causes as much anxiety and stress as the day we have to send our poor uncle some of our money. Many of you believe that since you are the one who worked for your money you should be allowed to keep it. After all, what you send to uncle would buy an awful lot of fishing tackle, camping gear and hunting equipment.
A FISHING QUOTE
“I now believe that fishing is far more important than the fish” ~ Arnold Gingrich
