HOOKED ON™ SUZUKI TECHNOLOGY
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A BIGGER COOLER RELIABILITY TO FISH ALL DAY WITH CONFIDENCE Among the many advantages of Suzuki’s proven technologies are simplified rigging and installation, silky smooth shifting, instant throttle response, enhanced performance, and superior fuel economy. With Suzuki Marine’s reputation for performance and reliability, you can rest assured your fishing day is going to make memories that will last for years to come.
YEAR LIMITED WARRANTY
5 YEAR LIMITED WARRANTY applies to qualifying purchases of Suzuki outboard motors sold and delivered to the retail purchaser, for pleasure (non-commercial) use only, from April 1, 2021 through March 31, 2022. See Suzuki Limited Warranty for additional details. Suzuki, the “S” logo, and Suzuki model and product names are Suzuki Trademarks or ®. Don’t drink and drive. Always wear a USCG-approved life jacket and read your owner’s manual. © 2021 Suzuki Marine USA, LLC. All rights reserved.
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6940A HIGHWAY 59 | GULF SHORES, AL 36542 HWY 59 @ COASTAL GATEWAY BLVD. 2 APRIL 2022 // GreatDaysOutdoors.com // 877.314.1237
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YOUR METAL ROOFING HEADQUARTERS 8 LOCATIONS TO SERVE YOU DIXIESUPPLY.COM
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Troy, AL • Baker, FL Fountain, FL • Cantonment, FL METAL ROOFING & SIDING | 20 COLORS | 29 & 26 GAUGE | 5 PROFILES
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877.314.1237 // GreatDaysOutdoors.com // APRIL 2022 3
HUNTING & FISHING IN ALABAMA & THE FLORIDA PANHANDLE
12
8
20
CONTENTS
Giant Grouper Fishing Explained . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 by Ed Mashburn How to Attract Turkeys to Your Property. . . . . . . . . .12 by David Strickland Picking the Best Crappie Bait . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 by Frank Sargeant Selecting the Best Oysters. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 by Stephanie Mallory Must Have Surf Fishing Gear List . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 by David Thornton Choosing Food Plot Equipment for Your Needs . . . 28 by John E. Phillips Cobia Fishing Tips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32 by Ed Mashburn Do You Need a Boat Trailer Repair. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .36 by David Strickland Spring, Summer and Early Fall Food Plots. . . . . . . . 40 by John E. Phillips and Charles Johnson Braid, Mono or Fluorocarbon?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46 by Frank Sargeant Night Vision Scope Attachment Pros & Cons. . . . . . 50 by Josh Honeycutt Building a Cabin Step 3 - Electric Utilities & Alternatives. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54 by Joe Baya Understanding the Pond Stocking Process. . . . . . . 58 by William Kendy How to Hook a Shrimp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60 by Captain Blake Nelson
In Every Issue
32
4 APRIL 2022 // GreatDaysOutdoors.com // 877.314.1237
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Best Bets. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 by William Kendy Camphouse Kitchen. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62 by Hank Shaw New & Cool Gear for Outdoorsmen. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64 by William Kendy From the Commissioner. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66 by Chris Blakenship From the Director . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68 by Charles Sykes Paddle Fishing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70 by Ed Mashburn Coastal Outlook. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72 by Chris Vecsey Pier & Shore. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74 by David Thornton Regional Freshwater. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76 by Ed Mashburn Prime Feeding Times, Moon, Sun, and Tide Charts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80 Pensacola Motorsports Trophy Room. . . . . . . . . . . . 84 Great Days Kids Corner. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86 Fishing Tips. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89 by Captain Bobby Abruscato A Great Day Outdoors. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90 by Jim Mize
Starling Road Family Recreation Tract
Escambia Creek Hunting and Timber Investment
If you are looking for a family getaway tract for hunting, riding ATVs, or just relaxing, this tract is hard to beat. It would also be a great game day tract for football weekends. It is located less than an hour from Tuscaloosa and less than an hour and a half from Birmingham, with gated access off of Starling Road. A nice camphouse with a very private setting is located in the middle of the property. Most of the property consists of a mix of mature pine and hardwood timber, and Sparks Creek runs through the property, providing a year-round water source for the wildlife. This tract offers great hunting with several wildlife food plots already in place, and a very good internal road system makes it easy to get to all your favorite hunting spots, or to just enjoy family ATV rides. There is also a shed to keep your tractor, ATV, and other equipment out of the weather. This property is shown by appointment only.
This waterfront timber and hunting investment has a little bit of everything. Located between Excel and I-65 with deeded access from Old Stage Road, enjoy merchantable pine plantations with wet weather logging opportunities, multiple species of hardwood, and a large year round creek. Escambia Creek flows through the property for over a mile, providing fishing and waterfowl hunting opportunities, and you can hunt the large deer or turkey the area is known for across multiple food plots or in the hardwood bottoms. There are also several potential fishing lake sites and multiple scenic campsites across this unique tract.
Hale County, Alabama, 140+/-Acres
Conecuh County, Alabama, 355+/-Acres
Alabama Listings COUNTY Autauga Autauga Baldwin Baldwin Baldwin Baldwin Baldwin Baldwin Barbour Barbour Barbour Barbour Bibb Bibb Bibb Bibb Blount Blount Blount Butler Butler Butler Butler Calhoun Chambers Cherokee Cherokee
ACRES 372 114 688 518 113 48 39.43 39 1331 125 5 3.42 573 395 168 152 211 67 36.9 406 394.47 32 2 1.4 166 2230 2
COUNTY Cherokee Chilton Chilton Chilton Chilton Choctaw Clarke Clarke Clarke Clarke Clarke Cleburne Coffee Coffee Coffee Colbert Colbert Colbert Colbert Conecuh Conecuh Conecuh Conecuh Coosa Covington Covington Covington
0.3 34 2.88 2.42 1.95 175 620 100 66.42 8.9 8.4 65 169 117 112 18.84 18 0.28 0 355 119 74 1 430 0.86 0.84 0.79
ACRES
Covington Covington Crenshaw Crenshaw Crenshaw Cullman Cullman Cullman Dale Dale Dallas Dallas Dallas Dallas Dallas Escambia Escambia Escambia Escambia Fayette Fayette Fayette Fayette Fayette Geneva Hale Hale
0.73 0.71 276 109 75.44 117 106 8 115 104 740 270 179 130 94 644.88 311 269.5 50 484 344 275 260 235 228 350.2 140
COUNTY Hale Hale Hale Henry Henry Henry Henry Henry Houston Houston Houston Houston Houston Jackson Jefferson Jefferson Jefferson Jefferson Jefferson Lamar Lamar Lamar Lamar Lauderdale Lauderdale Lauderdale Lauderdale
96 80 80 115 76.3 57 6 1 295 261 54 38 35 80 265 202 128 126 99.16 373 202 143 47 102.69 75 25 24.63
Lauderdale Lawrence Limestone Limestone Limestone Limestone Limestone Lowndes Lowndes Lowndes Lowndes Macon Macon Macon Marengo Marion Mobile Mobile Mobile Mobile Mobile Monroe Montgomery Montgomery Montgomery Montgomery Montgomery
ACRES 24.6 97 60 53 30.31 0.67 0.67 783 656 50 4 483 289 185 25 40 1800 399 260 200 192 191 640 200 100 65.8 24
COUNTY Perry Perry Perry Perry Perry Pickens Pickens Pickens Pickens Pickens Pike Pike Russell Saint Clair Saint Clair Saint Clair Shelby Shelby Shelby Shelby Shelby Sumter Sumter Sumter Sumter Sumter Talladega
610.57 398.31 240.75 240 212.26 430 356 260 180 121 44 9.2 218.44 128 67 1.04 133 87 75 74 64 2151 1282 908 640 630 250
Talladega Talladega Talladega Tuscaloosa Tuscaloosa Tuscaloosa Tuscaloosa Tuscaloosa Walker Walker Walker Walker Washington Washington Washington Washington Washington Wilcox Winston Winston Winston
ACRES 93 15 1.01 800 600 525 500 393 160 140.27 115 95.91 1320 640 430 280 213 522 213 81 2.3
FL Panhandle Listings
COUNTY
Washington
ACRES 133
Over 700 more tracts across 47 states available...
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877.314.1237 // GreatDaysOutdoors.com // APRIL 2022 5
BEST BETS
BEST BETS FOR APRIL These are our top targets for hunters and fishermen this month! BY WILLIAM KENDY
APRIL SURF FISHING
April is one of the prime months to be out in the surf casting for pompano, redfish and other migratory fish. The beauty of surf fishing is that it doesn’t require that much tackle to be successful. Still, as veteran shore and pier fishing expert David Thornton explains that fishermen have a tendency to haul too much stuff out on the sand. In his article, “Must Have Surf Fishing Gear List” Thornton, along with well known Destin surf fishing guide Weldon Hall, share their advice as to what they consider the “essential” surf fishing gear. While the term “essential” has a different meaning to every angler, Hall believes that the basic principle to follow is, “minimize tools for maximum uses”. Advice that can save your back.
SPRING AND SUMMER IS FOOD PLOT SEASON
VOLUME 26 ISSUE 4 APRIL 2022
PUBLISHED BY: Great Days Outdoors Media, L.L.C. PUBLISHER/EDITOR-IN-CHIEF: Joe Baya EXECUTIVE EDITOR Butch Thierry MANAGING EDITOR: William Kendy GENERAL MANAGER: Samatha Hester CREATIVE DIRECTOR: Wendy Johannesmann
For those who have property and plant food plots for game, spring and summer is the prime time to get the wheels turning on getting those fields in. “The hunters who supply food, shelter and water can hold more deer on their lands than the hunters who don’t plant during the spring and summer,” says authors John Phillips and Charles Johnson in their article, “Spring, Summer and Early Fall Food Plots.
DIRECTOR OF DIGITAL MARKETING Jarod Bosarge
Great Days Outdoors (USPS 17228; ISSN 1556-0147) is published monthly at P.O. Box 1253 Santa Rosa Beach, FL 32459 Subscription rate is $30 for one-year, $54 for two-years, and $72 for three-years. Periodicals Postage Paid at Mobile, Ala. and additional mailing offices.
They quoted David Brown, of Southern Seed and Feed, who explained that during the spring and summer in the South droughts sometimes reduce the protein available to wild game. “By planting in the spring, you make sure that when a drought hits, the deer and turkeys still have plenty of food to get them through before your fall plantings green-up,” Brown advised.
PICKING THE BEST CRAPPIE BAIT
So many cool things are happening in Alabama in the spring it is difficult to try to figure out what to highlight. On the freshwater side the top honors have to go to the ever popular (and tasty) crappie. Frank Sargeant, in his article “Tips for Picking the Best Crappie Bait” explains what you need to consider in lure selection if you are long line trolling to find the fish or push trolling once you’ve found them. He dives into fishing the spawn, “pluggin” for crappie and how to incorporate fish scent into your presentations. Regarding scent, he explains how the new “eyehole” jig can hold scent longer and increase your crappie fishing success.
POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Great Days Outdoors Media, LLC PO Box 460248 Escondido, CA 92046 SUBSCRIBERS: All subscriptions begin the first issue for the month following receipt of payment, if payment is received by the 15th. Great Days Outdoors assumes no responsibility for delivery after magazines are mailed. All delivery complaints should be addressed to your local postmaster. CONTACT US: EDITORIAL | JoeBaya@greatdaysoutdoors.com ADVERTISING | SamHester@greatdaysoutdoors.com SUBSCRIPTIONS | greatdaysoutdoors@pcspublink.com Great Days Outdoors Media LLC PO Box 460248 Escondido, CA 92046 877. 314. 1237 info@greatdaysoutdoors.com www.greatdaysoutdoors.com All rights reserved. Reproduction of contents is strictly prohibited without permission from Great Days Outdoors Media, LLC.
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6 APRIL 2022 // GreatDaysOutdoors.com // 877.314.1237
877.314.1237 // GreatDaysOutdoors.com // APRIL 2022 7
Giant Grouper
Fishing Explained BY ED MASHBURN
8 APRIL 2022 // GreatDaysOutdoors.com // 877.314.1237
FISHING When it comes to grouper, size matters. Let’s be honest. Size matters a lot. Most anglers who go offshore for red snapper or other reef fish will encounter grouper accidentally. We’re talking now about fishing on purpose for GIANT grouper. These are the massive fish that make strong men sweat to bring them up from their deep water homes. Sometimes, the giant grouper can be encountered in shallow water, too. Let me tell you all about my most recent encounter with one of these giant groupers. I was anchored under the Pensacola Bay Bridge, and I was having a ball catching bull redfish. I had a load of pogies for bait, and I had my reliable level-wind bull redfish reel and thirty-five pound line and enough weight to take the pogie down to the bottom where the bulls were holding. I dropped a lively pogie down, and my line came tight. I set the hook and got ready for that first scorching redfish run but that run never happened. My rod tip was pulled slowly down, down, down until it was in the water. My reel’s drag was pretty tight, but it gave line and kept on giving line. I tightened the drag down as far as I could by hand and the line just kept pulling off. It was not a hot run, but I could not do anything to slow it down. The line peeled off my reel and then when the fish below reached the bridge piling, there was a tug, and then the line came back in. Hook gone. Bait gone, leader and rig gone. Big old fish gone. That’s the way anglers are treated when they encounter giant grouper without adequate tackle. This giant fish that took me apart was no doubt a massive goliath grouper, a protected species but there are other grouper species which also grow to impressive sizes. We wanted to talk with someone who knows about catching these massive hard-pullers. Captain Delynn Sigler is well-known and highly-regarded for his knowledge of giant grouper and for his skill in putting anglers in contact with the big hard pullers. We talked with Sigler and got his thoughts on successful fishing for giant grouper. THE LOWDOWN ON GIANT GROUPER All grouper can get big, but the big three species in our waters are the gag grouper, which is common on snapper reefs and other close-in structure, Warsaw grouper which live farther out, and goliath grouper, the biggest of all- and these monsters live wherever they want to live- sometimes in surprisingly shallow inshore waters. GAG GROUPER CAN GET BIG. “The biggest gag I have put a client on weighed 73 pounds, and I’ve had a lot of 50 pound gags come in for us,” Sigler said. Warsaw grouper commonly reach weights of well over a hundred pounds, and there are much bigger Warsaw grouper out there on the far reefs and wrecks. Goliath grouper are, just like their name, giants. These grouper, which love to hold around rough and nasty structure, can often go over 500 pounds, and fish of this size are a real struggle to land at any time. Anglers are reminded that goliath grouper are totally protected and they can’t be kept by anglers. Caught- yes, kept- no. FINDING THE GIANTS Anglers who want to locate the big grouper need to be prepared for a long boat ride- or not. “Big grouper are found throughout the U.S. From shallow water (a few feet) to 1000 feet. It really depends on which one you target. Goliath grouper like shallow water- 5 to 150 feet, while Warsaw grouper like 250 plus,” Sigler explained. They all like some kind of structure which can range from mangrove roots, coral, limestone and artificial reefs.”
Out of Pensacola, anglers will usually have to run out thirty miles or more to catch big Warsaw grouper. “The biggest Warsaw grouper I’ve brought aboard came in 250 feet or water. This fish weighed 99.8 pounds,” he said. When it comes to season and time, Sigler says that the big grouper are generally catchable at all times of the year. “The best season to me is winter and spring, but the big ones can be caught year-round. A little current is OK, but not so much that you can’t keep your bait where you want it. They do feed more at night with a full moon, but they can be caught day and night,” Sigler explained. WHAT TO FEED THE GIANTS This is probably the easiest part of the giant grouper game. Big grouper don’t get big by being picky eaters. Goliath grouper in particular will eat just about anything that comes their way that will fit in their mouthsand they have big mouths. “They will eat anything and everything- large or small, dead or alive. I know elephants eat peanuts, but I like a bigger bait for giants. Pin fish, mullet, ladyfish, bluefish, Boston mackerel- live or dead will work,” Sigler noted. Day in and day out, anglers who run out to the deep reefs and drop a big lively mullet or ladyfish will find a giant ready to eat and join the party. RIGGING FOR THE GIANTS- CRUCIAL Having the right tackle when seeking giant grouper is perhaps the biggest key to success than any other factor. The giants are not fast, but they are big, and they have a lot of pulling power. Gear and angler need to be able to put a lot of pressure on really big fish, and tackle which is too light is a recipe for failure. When asked about rigging up for giant grouper, Sigler advised that if you are going with a charter captain use his gear because he will be rigged for big fish. If an angler wants to get in the big grouper game, it really won’t cost too much to buy gear which is up to the task. “I use those old Penn Senator 4/0 to 6/0 star drag reels. I’ve used these reels for twenty-five years. And I use the older models- they’re better made. The new models of these reels are not as good as the older ones,” Sigler explained. For rods, Delynn recommends a solid fiberglass boat rod. They are harder to break than hollow rods. But even though the solid rod needs to be tough, it also needs to bend well. “A strong rod that bends is easier on the angler and there will be fewer pulled hooks.” According to Sigler an angler should be able to get a good reel and rod for around $250. SIGLER SAID THAT LINE CHOICE IS IMPORTANT. “I like a slip-lead Carolina rig with a six-foot leader. My leader is usually the same size as my braid main line. Eighty-pound is a happy medium,” Sigler said “ “For giant grouper, I use Ande monofilament for my leaders.” Hooks for giant grouper should be stout, solid hooks. They will be under a lot 877.314.1237 // GreatDaysOutdoors.com // APRIL 2022 9
Giant Grouper Fishing Explained
Goliath grouper will sometimes be found in groups of the massive fish, and they’ll always be near structure.
FWC Approves Limited Recreational Harvest of Goliath Grouper in State Waters The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) approved a limited, highly regulated recreational harvest of goliath grouper in state waters beginning Spring 2023. This unique recreational opportunity is possible through conservation efforts by state and federal agencies that aided in the goliath grouper population rebuilding over the course of three decades, following years of overfishing. This limited harvest will allow access to a fishery that has been closed since 1990 by issuing up to 200 harvest permit tags via random-draw lottery. This approved recreational harvest of goliath grouper includes: • •
of stress when a big grouper takes the bait.
•
“A Demon Perfect Circle hook in 8/0 size is great,” Sigler advised.
• • • •
AND LET’S TALK ABOUT BUTTS- WINTHROP BUTTS, THAT IS Anglers who hook up with a giant grouper will need every advantage they can get to land that giant. Traditional straight rod butts are points of the rig which can cause pain to anglers when a big fish goes the other way with power. Traditional straight butt rods can put a lot of pressure on anglers in places which are not made to withstand a lot of pressure. Having a rod with an adjustable butt can make fishing for giants a lot more pleasant. The Winthrop Adjusta-Butt is made from machined aircraft grade aluminum with a hardened stainless steel positioning mechanism to allow quick, secure adjustments from straight position to bent position after that giant grouper is hooked and going the other way. This butt is created to accept reels from #30 to 130 class. Basically what this butt provides anglers is the ability to push a button and position the rod from a straight position to a bent position to fight the big fish more effectively. Sigler points out that there is another important advantage to the Winthrop Adusta-Butt- outfit. “Also, you can put it in the rod holder to reel him up if you get tired,” he concluded.
10 APRIL 2022 // GreatDaysOutdoors.com // 877.314.1237
•
A recreational harvest of up to 200 goliath per year, with a maximum of 50 from Everglades National Park. A required recreational goliath harvest permit and tag, issued via a random-draw lottery, to legally harvest a goliath ($150 for residents, $500 for non-residents). Limiting harvest to one fish per person per open season with permit and tag, non-transferable. A March 1 through May 31 season. Allowable gear will be hook-and-line only. A slot limit of 24 to 36 inches total length. Harvest would be permitted in all state waters except those of Martin County south through the Atlantic coast of the Keys, all of the St. Lucie River and its tributaries, and Dry Tortugas National Park. Post-harvest requirements, such as proper utilization of the harvest tag, reporting harvest data and submitting a fin clip for genetic analysis.
This opportunity is intended to provide access to this fishery while balancing the values of various stakeholder groups. Goliath grouper over 36 inches in length will continue to be prohibited from harvest as well as those in heavy dive ecotourism areas. This limited harvest is not intended to address fishing depredation concerns. For more information, including the March 2022 Commission meeting presentation, visit www.MyFWC.com/ Commission and click on “Commission Meetings.”
877.314.1237 // GreatDaysOutdoors.com // APRIL 2022 11
How to Attract
Turkeys To
Your Property
BY DAVID STRICKLAND
I have pursued a variety of wild game since clutching my first Daisy B-B gun about 60 years ago. I heard very little about turkeys as I learned to hunt squirrels, ducks, rabbits, and deer. Later, when I got a job in my hometown, I was surrounded by a group of turkey hunting fanatics who created, modified, and constantly produced a variety of sounds with their calls. They taught me to make one out of an old plastic bottle and a balloon, and I practiced right along with them and listened to their stories. They would reenact their hunts with animated gestures and add the tiniest details to each story. Whenever anyone spoke the name Ben Lee, it seemed 12 APRIL 2022 // GreatDaysOutdoors.com // 877.314.1237
one or two reached for the brim of their hat as if to remove it at the mere mention of his name. The turkey population was growing, as was the number of hunters willing to forego sleep to slip into the woods before sunrise. DWINDLING NUMBERS Sveral wildlife groups and many dedicated sportsmen worked together nearly 90 years ago to bring Alabama’s deer and turkey back from the brink of extinction. Their inspirational story should be required reading as part of hunter education.
HUNTING
Good land management and selective trapping can increase your turkey population
It seems that the turkeys in Alabama once again need a little help, and the growing consensus is that the problem might involve more than a simple answer. A few numbers can easily verify the downward trend in turkey harvests. The earliest Alabama harvest records are from the 1963-64 season, and the records indicate 37,000 hunters spent about 148,000 days turkey hunting. The total harvest was about 16,000 gobblers during the combined fall and spring seasons.
The 2006-07 season recorded that 58,000 hunters spent about 495,000 days harvesting nearly 72,000 gobblers. The 2020-21 season reveals that about 60,000 hunters spent nearly 550,000 days harvesting just over 25,000 turkeys. According to Auburn University professor Will Gulsby, the wild turkey population has decreased in Alabama and almost every other state over the last 10 to 15 years. Gulsby is an associate professor of wildlife management in Auburn’s School of Forestry and Wildlife Sciences. He has begun a research 877.314.1237 // GreatDaysOutdoors.com // APRIL 2022 13
How to Attract Turkeys to Your Property
Bobcats, along with coyotes are the primary predators of adult turkeys. Image Courtesy of Shawn Phillips
project to identify the regions in Alabama where the turkey numbers have fallen and the reasons behind it. In addition, other states are also conducting studies to identify possible causes and solutions. So what’s changed, and what can landowners do in the meantime to increase the flocks on their property? A good starting place might be a thorough property survey accompanied by a seasoned trapper and a land manager. IMPROVING HABITAT Each piece of property is unique and requires an accurate assessment to determine the amount of hard and soft mast available and the percentage of the property in fields or wildlife openings. If you can create more open areas and provide cover for nesting and safer feeding sites for poults, then part of the equation is solved. It might also involve adding a few fast-growing hardwoods or a mix of fruit trees and berries. I contacted Brian Sheppard of “Brush Clearing Services” (BCS) to get his take on the most efficient way to improve a property for wildlife, and especially turkeys. His company has offices in Georgia and Arkansas, and he offers his expertise and services throughout the South—from Georgia to Texas. He stated that controlled burning, along with selective timber harvesting, are probably the most cost-effective options for any landowner looking to make their property more turkey and deer friendly. “Controlled burns are highly beneficial but take considerable planning. We use a variety of powerful industrial equipment that can efficiently remove 14 APRIL 2022 // GreatDaysOutdoors.com // 877.314.1237
underbrush and create openings through mechanical mulching,” Sheppard said. He added that his team includes experienced arborists who will understand your specific needs and provide solutions to preserve and enhance your land’s beauty, function, biodiversity, and economic value. PREDATORS VS. HABITAT Many biologists are taking a closer look at egg and poult loss due to predation. We all know that studies take time, and scientific opinions can be slow to change, but if you listen to any seasoned trapper, they will describe a predator population that has flourished over the past 10-15 years. Alan Probst grew up in a family that hunted, trapped, and loved the outdoors, and he caught his first muskrat when he was seven. He is a vocal proponent of predator control through responsible trapping. Probst began North American Trapper after a decade in professional baseball, and one of his goals was to educate the general public on the best environmental and ecological trapping methods. He’s traveled across the country, producing videos demonstrating the techniques and strategies needed to remove excess predator pressure on domestic and native wildlife populations. “One thing I’ve tried to do is create material that educates hunters, farmers, and ranchers on how they can become the steward of their own land, but it’s also suitable to teach the homeowners and general public as well,” Probst said He also said that falling turkey populations are a common topic of conversation wherever he travels.
How to Attract Turkeys to Your Property
There can be limits on how much a hunter can modify the landscape on a given property, but with a few traps, most anyone can reduce the number of egg eaters close to nesting time.
planted in field edges and beside roads will allow newly hatched chicks to stay hidden as they forage without overly exposing them to predators and the elements.
Probst advocates for a realistic goal that targets specific populations trapped just before and during nesting until most poults can leave the nest and take flight. Look for episodes of North American Trapper on many cable television and satellite channels
Adults need stands of timber open enough so they can scan for any potential danger. In addition, strategically situated openings help reduce the amount of travel the birds need to meet their needs and further reduce exposure.
TRAPPING Turkey predators can be loosely divided into three groups. • • •
Adult predators-Bobcats are the greatest threat to adults, followed by coyotes, foxes, and an occasional great horned owl. Poult predators- Most everything with a claw or fang will try and dine on young turkeys. In addition to the adult eaters, snakes, hawks, and raccoons will prey upon the young ones. Nest predators- Raccoons, possums, feral swine, skunks, snakes, fire ants, along with a growing body of data that also points to armadillos.
WHEN SHOULD YOU SET YOUR TRAPS Management or targeted trapping is a term that refers to temporarily reducing predator numbers at specific times of the year. For example, trapping a few weeks before nesting season can significantly reduce the population of egg-eaters in the areas where turkeys typically nest. Though a short-term solution, it can substantially increase egg and poult survival. Since most turkey losses occur during nesting, this targeted trapping strategy can make a significant difference in just a few seasons. Nesting hens need fairly thick ground cover to help conceal her and the nest. Likewise, young turkeys need stands of thicker vegetation tall enough to hide that’s also attracting insects. The right mix of grass and grains
Sometimes increasing turkey numbers begins with simply improving habitat rather than reducing predators. However, the addition of selective, timed trapping will definitely help more young poults survive to adulthood. FINAL THOUGHTS Improving your property to provide more clearings that can provide better food sources and shelter for the turkeys will also benefit other wild game. By improving habitat and reducing predators simultaneously, you can create an environment where your forest echoes with the yelps, clucks, and the occasional gobble that will tickle the ears and warm the hearts of those that love the outdoors. Contact Information Brian Sheppard Brush Clearing Services, LLC brushclearingservices.com Office-706-663-8076 Direct-706-718-1690 Alan Probst North American Trapper northamericantrapper.com 866-471-7075
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The greatest fish cleaning stations known to mankind. 877.314.1237 // GreatDaysOutdoors.com // APRIL 2022 15
Picking the Best
Crappie Bait BY FRANK SARGEANT
16 APRIL 2022 // GreatDaysOutdoors.com // 877.314.1237
FISHING Crappies can be frustrating. While these tasty panfish usually throw themselves into the process of becoming fried filets with enthusiasm, occasionally the “easy” fish becomes difficult. Selecting the right bait or lure at those times can make the difference between a crappie fry and eating veggie burgers – well, maybe not that bad, but the right offering definitely can make a difference in the catch. FINDING THE FISH BY LONG-LINE TROLLING I’ve had the privilege of fishing with a number of true crappie experts over the years, and they taught me a number of the basics that apply pretty much wherever you chase the “paper-mouth” panfish. First, selecting a lure that helps you find the fish is critical. Long-line trolling with jigs was the traditional way of finding crappies before the arrival of high-resolution side-scan and forward scanning sonar, and it’s still the way most weekend anglers find fish when they’re stacked up in open water prior to the spawn. Anglers put out a spread of lures, typically small jigs, from 75 to 150 feet behind the boat and ease along at walking speed until they hit fish. Specialized long poles like those from B&M are used as outriggers to spread the offerings widely behind the boat, with two long rods on the outside, two shorter rods directly astern. In long line trolling, one of the major factors is the lure weight, other things being equal, that is the line type and diameter and the length of line let out-- a 1/64 ounce jig runs much shallower than a 1/8 ounce jig of the same design. But vary the line length and things change—the more line out, the deeper a given weight of lure runs. And a lure fished on 6-pound-test mono runs deeper than one fished on 10-pound-test mono. Varying the color of lures sometimes helps as well. Trolling a variety of lure colors can help determine what the fish want for a given level of water clarity and temperature on a given day, and it does seem to vary significantly. PUSH TROLLING Push trolling is often more effective than long-lining once you know about where the fish are. Most crappie anglers these days rig their boats with a spider rig up front like those from Millennium Marine, a holder for multiple rods projecting out over the bow, so that they can fish almost vertically in the zone where they can see fish on sonar. The arrival of forward-scanning sonar has made this tactic much more effective in the last couple of years and it’s now possible to spot fish ahead of the boat and push the lures right to them, at the exact depth where they’re holding. Since pushing is done on a short line, heavier jigs are typically used to keep the lures in the strike zone—1/16 to 1/8 ounce lures are typical, but some use up to ¼ ounce to better keep their lures vertical and also because the larger head shows up better on Livescope type sonar. Push trolling is also a very slow process, with the boat typically moved at as little as .3 mph and rarely over 1 mph. While you cover less water this way than with long-line trolling, pushing is often more effective for those with good sonar because you can see both the fish and your lures on the screen, and be sure your lures are passing just above the fish, right in their strike zone.
FISHING THE SPAWN Catching spawning crappies comes into its own in early spring as the fish move into brush, stake beds, grass and boat docks to spawn. This can take place anywhere from mid-February through early April in much of the South. Crappies spawn when water temperature hits the high 50’s and low 60’s, typically in two to six feet of water, though sometimes deeper in clear lakes. The wonder of fishing the spawn is that where you catch one, you may catch 50 without ever moving the boat. The spawners tend to run large—those big platter-sized crappies full of yellow roe fill a cooler in a hurry. It’s easy fishing once you find them. It is basically just lowering a jig or live minnow straight down into the cover and letting the fish take hold. PLUGGIN’ FOR CRAPPIES While the vast majority of crappies are caught on jigs and live minnows, some big fish experts rely on crappie-sized crankbaits to trigger strikes from those plate-sized two-pounders we all love to catch. The Mr. Crappie Slab Hammer, Strike King Bitsy Minnow, Bandit 300 Series, Rapala Ultra-Light Crank, Rebel Bitsy Minnow and others present the larger fish with a more substantial mouthful that sometimes causes them to bite when they ignore smaller lures. As with all crankbait fishing, longer casts cause the lure to run deeper, and lighter line makes them more effective so four to six-pound test does the job. They can also be trolled, of course. Tying them on with a loop knot or a tiny swivel allows better action. THE SMELL OF SUCCESS Though crappies feed by sight like bass, they also feed by scent like catfish or trout. That’s why commercial crappie baits like Berkley Gulp Crappie Nibbles, Crappie Bites and other moldable scent baits sell well. But keeping those scented baits on a hook or jig is a challenge. And many times you find yourself “fishing on credit” because your scent bait is long gone while you continue to push or troll your jig, or wait for a bite around a stake bed or brush pile. Alabama angler and guide Blake Phillips had a better idea. Blake’s wife, Resee, fished with him regularly and was frequently annoyed that the scent bait she stuck on her jig hook barely got down where the fish were before it was gone. While a standard jig has no place to put a scent bait but on the hook, Phillips reasoned there might be a way to modify a jig so that it could retain the bait longer. “I used a drill press to put a hole in the lead head of a jig right where the eye was. I punched a hole in my finger the first time, but I also got a hole through that jig and saw right away that it would work,” recalls Phillips. THE EYE HOLE JIG WAS BORN. The jigs are now cast with a hole in the head, into which any moldable bait can be pressed. “Now, you’ve got scent on the jig that stays on it, and you can catch fish after fish without replacing it,” says Phillips. “We’ve occasionally caught up to a dozen crappies without replacing the bait.” A good idea has legs, and this one apparently hit the ground running.
877.314.1237 // GreatDaysOutdoors.com // APRIL 2022 17
Picking the Best Crappie Baits
SUPPORTING THE LOCAL ECONOMY & ECOLOGY
Admiral Oysters are now available for retail by the dozen at Bon Secour Fisheries, Inc. in Bon Secour, Alabama. Fresh, raw oysters can elevate any event. From a simple, nutrient dense appetizer at home to a shucking party with friends, Admiral Oysters will steal the show.
Call 251.949.7411 for pricing and availability
Today, Phillips and his wife have three employees and produce up to 20,000 Eye-Hole Jigs per week, shipping them to tackle shops all over the Southeast. His products are now in over 100 stores. “We make 14 models and 10 colors, and we’re looking for more employees,” Phillips said.
Oysters grown at our farm are consistent in size and flavor profile. Frequent handling and wave energy at our unique location creates a sustainable environment in which our oysters thrive. This combination results in the perfect half shell presentation of the Admiral Oyster.
Their lineup includes a Pill-Head model in ¼ ounce weight, designed specifically for deeper water and for Livescope anglers, a minnow-head design with a size two sickle-style hook good for casting and trolling, an underspin model of the minnow-head, also for casting and trolling, a round head model with light wire hook allowing quick penetration on light lines, and the new Brandon Smith Tournament model cast on a strong Mustad Black Nickel 90-degree Ultra Point hook. The company has also recently released slip sinker weights for bass anglers with the scent-holder hole cast into them, adding an extra dimension for those who chase largemouths. Phillips says his lures are fished like any standard jig, adding a soft plastic tail of choice and then fishing either vertically, by casting, trolling or pushing. Some anglers also add a weight above a 12-inch leader and fish them below a slip cork, allowing them to suspend the jigs over brush and other cover.
18 APRIL 2022 // GreatDaysOutdoors.com // 877.314.1237
We are located near Fort Morgan AL, in an untouched wild stretch of beach that will be immune from development. The site has witnessed centuries of history including the Battle of Mobile Bay as Admiral Farragut charged into the Bay with the iconic line “Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead”. That motto comes in handy on cold rainy mornings and when the winds get high!
Visit Us at AdmiralShellfishCompany.com
Preserving Alabama’s natural resources starts in our backyard. Did you know longleaf pines are home to roughly 120 endangered or threatened plant and animal species? That’s why Alabama Power is working hard to help them grow. We’ve teamed up with partners across our state to preserve the natural resources that make Alabama a great place to put down roots – especially if you’re a longleaf pine. AlabamaPower.com/Environment
© 2022 Alabama Power Company
877.314.1237 // GreatDaysOutdoors.com // APRIL 2022 19
The Perdido Beach Resort, which serves Admiral Shellfish oysters, offers four versions of broiled oysters. (Image provided by Perdido Beach Resort)
20 APRIL 2022 // GreatDaysOutdoors.com // 877.314.1237
LIFESTYLE
SELECTING THE BEST
Oysters
TO SERVE AND EAT BY STEPHANIE MALLORY
Oysters have been a much-loved Gulf Coast delicacy for centuries, but a growing demand and shrinking wild population was making them harder and harder to come by until oyster farming stepped onto the scene about 10 years ago. Now the more than 20 oyster farms along Alabama’s Gulf Coast are helping meet that demand for fresh oysters while at the same time helping to preserve and sustain the wild population.
“I like Admiral’s proximity to the Gulf,” Olive said. “They get that wonderful influx of fresh clean Gulf water. The salinity is remarkable. Their oysters have that nice deep cup. They look small, but they’re meaty. Our guests have been thrilled with their oysters.”
While wild oysters are delicious, many discerning oyster connoisseurs prefer the farm-raised versions, which have a more consistent quality thanks to somewhat regulated conditions, quality control and the fact that they are harvested when at their peak flavor and size.
“It all depends on the evening. Some nights, we sell more raw oysters. Other nights, everyone wants one of the broiled options, like Rockefeller or our Gorgeously Garlic Oyster,” Olive noted.
Of course, not all farm-raised oysters are alike. In fact, the size and flavor profile can range widely depending on where the oyster originates. Even oysters along the same coastline can taste different depending on their specific location, with flavors ranging from briny to buttery to sweet or even coppery. Anthony Ricciardone, co-owner of Admiral Shellfish Company in Gulf Shores, Alabama, says that, like wine, oysters are a product of their environment. “There are three or four factors that play a role in the taste and quality of an oyster – even if the season is held static. Different sites produce different salinity, food, temperature and water chemistry based on their location (mouth of river, marsh, etc.). Conditions can change drastically from location to location along the same coastline. Seasonality also plays a huge role,” he explained..” you’ll notice in the winter the water is clearer due to the absence of phytoplankton and algae. The oysters stay cleaner and more savory during this time of the year. In the summer they taste a bit stronger. But a single oyster’s flavor can change in a matter of days, depending on the brininess of the water at any given time.” Chris Head, co-owner of Admiral Shellfish Oyster Farm, who is also an environmental scientist, says the farm’s location was chosen for its ideal conditions. Located on a remote stretch of beach near Fort Morgan, the farm benefits from clean, salty tides that flush in directly from the Gulf to the shallow and sandy banks. The conditions create an ideal site for healthy year-round growth and consistent salinity that nurture an impressive crop of oysters, which are easy to shuck, have a deep cup, beautiful shell, plump meat and a clean salty liquid with a savory seafood finish. Those qualities are exactly why award-winning Executive Chef Brody Olive of Perdido Beach Resort serves Admiral Shellfish oysters to his patrons.
Olive says restaurant guests enjoy the oysters in a variety of ways.
Olive says he believes everyone should try raw oysters at some point. “If you want the training wheels, then try your first oyster with lemon, a cracker and cocktail sauce, but you don’t really need those things. A fresh, clean Gulf oyster is delicious all on its own,” he said. Admiral Shellfish oysters are not only enjoyed around Mobile Bay, but highend restaurants in Houston, New Orleans, Mississippi, Atlanta and Birmingham also feature the oysters in some of their most delectable dishes. “As the farm-to-table trend has taken hold in the last 10 to 15 years, a lot of oyster bars and restaurants are beginning to offer oysters from a variety of geographic regions,” Ricciardone said. “Some establishments will have 10 different oysters from various geographical locations on the menu.” OYSTER PREFERENCE Ricciardones pointed out that for some people, preference is simply determined by where they grew up eating oysters. He has found top chefs and consumers prefer a briny oyster. “Many people simply like the familiar,” he noted.. “For example, someone from Louisiana may enjoy oysters that have a milder, less-salty, creamier taste. Someone from the Northeast may prefer an oyster that is firmer and has a higher brine taste.” “When they have a low brine, they’re bland, which doesn’t pair well with the texture,” he added. Executive Chef Irv Miller of the famed Jackson’s Steakhouse in Pensacola, Florida, and author of the cookbook Gulf Coast Oysters: Classic & Modern Recipes of a Southern Renaissance, said, “If I was serving a regular crowd, I would offer both 2 ¼-inch and 3-inch oysters, with a salinity level of 14 parts per thousand (PPT) on the low end and up to 30 PPT on the high end to satisfy everyone.” 877.314.1237 // GreatDaysOutdoors.com // APRIL 2022 21
Selecting the Best Oysters to Serve and Eat
Ricciardone explains that ocean seawater is typically 35 PPT. Mobile Bay is 12 PPT. The Admiral Shellfish Oyster Farm sits in an area that is 15 to 25 PPT, which is really salty for that section of the Gulf, which produces that briny flavor everyone loves. The farm’s oysters are also that ideal 2 ½- to 3-inch size that chefs and consumers prefer. HANDS-ON CARE Ricciardone says that they create that ideal shape through handling and tumbling. “We do it by hand. Our farm is set up facing 30 miles of open water, so they also get some natural tumbling. When an oyster is growing, it tries to grow a lip on its shell. We pull the bags containing the oysters and shake them back and forth. You’ll see chips falling out. It’s that lip breaking off,” he said. Head explains that the oysters are shaken after desiccation (drying out). “Every week we take the time to air them out for 24 hours, which kills the algae and the fouling. We essentially create low-tide conditions, which occur naturally on the oyster reef. These low-tide conditions get rid of barnacles and other aquatic species that can’t survive 24 hours without water. This process helps to shape and clean the shell. When we shake the oysters and they chip, that regrowth energy is put into forming a deep cup. Then, when the oyster is plated, you’ve got all that juice in that deep cup to keep the meat moist so it can absorb those flavors. The cup gives the meat a place to sit and is aesthetically pleasing,” Head added. That is just the type of oyster that Executive Chef Milton Joachim of Charred Steak & Oyster Bar in Ocean Springs, Mississippi, likes to serve his customers.
Joachim, who typically serves wild oysters, says he plans to start offering farm-raised oysters and that’s why he recently tried the oysters from Admiral Shellfish, which he found clean and flavorful. “They are plump and full and have a sweet taste to them,” Joachim said. “I prefer a medium-sized oyster because I can cook them consistently all the same. Plus, I don’t like a huge or super-small oyster when served raw. I want it to fit inside the palm of my hand.” Of course, quality and safety are at the forefront of all chef’s requirements. ENSURING SAFE QUALITY You’ve no-doubt heard the age-old warning to only eat oysters in months with the letter “r” – from September to April – to avoid an unpleasant oyster or a nasty bout of food poisoning. This was wise when oysters were only harvested from the wild rather than farmed. While refrigeration was a factor in this advice, it really had more to do with the fact that oysters in some popular growing areas would spawn around them. A spawning oyster devotes everything to reproduction, and leaves the meat and flavor almost deflated, watered down, and unappealing. Modern-day oyster farming and strict environmental rules and enforcement mean it’s now safe to eat oysters year-round. “Alabama’s Department of Health has as strict regulations as any state in the country,” Ricciardone said. “We follow a written operation plan of what we can do and when we can do it based on the water and air temperature,” he said. “These rules and regulations create a situation with way less risk than there once was. There’s been a lot of academic work and research to create a timetable and restrictions for oyster farming.”
Timeless Design
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Innovation
Available at
4500 Hwy. 77 • Southside, AL 35907 1-800-IMREADY • www.bucksisland.com 22 APRIL 2022 // GreatDaysOutdoors.com // 877.314.1237
Selecting the Best Oysters to Serve and Eat
Executive Chef Brody Olive of the Perdido Beach Resort says good raw oysters should taste crisp, clean and salty. (Image provided by Perdido Beach Resort)
Ricciardone says the farm’s staff is trained under the state regulations and strictly follow the written procedures. They take steps to make sure that they are accountable with checks and balances and risk mitigations in place. The Admiral Shellfish farm is set up and organized in a way that as crops mature, some will produce sooner and some later. It takes approximately seven to 12 months for the oyster to grow from seed to harvest. Then the bags are pulled and the oysters are run through a grading system. The vast majority that do not meet that 2 ½- to 3-inch size range will go back to the bay to feed and grow. The ones that meet size requirements will be immediately put on ice and then into mechanical refrigeration. “We have a certain amount of time to get them to the processor who supplies the restaurants according to state guidelines. Of course, that differs per season. During hot summer months, we have less time than we do during the colder winter months,” Ricciardone said. MITIGATING RISKS As with any type of farming, there are risks. With oyster farming, those risks include red tide, hurricanes, predators, debris, potential for once-in-a-generation environmental disaster, and thievery. “During a hurricane, our standard 7,000-pound mainline can hold the gear down. So, if a storm surge comes in, we can hopefully ride it out…depending on the severity,” Ricciardone said. “Our biggest fear is a north wind bringing debris down from the northern part of the bay. Pier, docks, etc. can take out a line. We can sink gear during a hurricane, but debris can move in and take everything.” Head says some oyster farms have to worry about changing water quality, but thanks to its prime location, Admiral Shellfish is not affected as much. “Due to the Coriolis effect, water on the incoming tide swings hard to the right (east) and brings us a dump of fresh Gulf water every day from the high tide, which increases the salinity and water quality. Farms that don’t have
Broiled Gulf oysters are a favorite choice for patrons dining at the Perdido Beach Resort. (Image provide by Perdido Beach Resort)
that same tidal influx may experience lower salinity,” he said. Believe it or not, thievery is also a threat. “A farm in Pensacola recently had 40,000 oysters stolen,” Head said. Fortunately, the thieves got caught. Head explained that a farm-raised oyster often has a black line going down the middle of the shell. The thieves took the stolen oysters to a processor and tried to pass them off as wild oysters that they’d harvested. The processor said no way, and the authorities ended up catching the individuals.” Predators can also threaten a farm-raised crop. “Fortunately, we have not seen a predator problem where we are, but in the west bay they deal with oyster drill snails and blue crabs,” Head said. “The crabs and drills can get into the mesh bags and eat the oysters.” In addition to the physical threats, Head says one of the biggest challenges is simply educating the public about the delicious taste and quality of farmraised Gulf Coast oysters. “From a culinary point of view, people sometimes don’t value the Gulf Coast oyster like they do the East Coast and Pacific oysters. They think those oysters are more petite and cleaner than Gulf Coast oysters, which they believe are fatter, creamier, bigger and less salty, but nothing could be further from the truth. Gulf Coast oysters can be just as shapely, briny and crisp as oysters from these other regions. People just need to give them a try so they can see for themselves,” Head concluded.
Important Contact Information Admiral Shellfish Company Box 291 82 Plantation Pointe Rd Fairhope, AL 36532 www.admiralshellfishcompany.com/ 877.314.1237 // GreatDaysOutdoors.com // APRIL 2022 23
How to Keep People Off Your Property
Must Have
Surf Fishing Gear List BY DAVID THORNTON
Essential Gear may include beach chairs.
24 APRIL 2022 // GreatDaysOutdoors.com // 877.314.1237
FISHING MINIMIZE TOOLS FOR MAXIMUM USES It seems the longer surf fishermen delve into the simple sport of surf fishing the more “stuff” we naturally accumulate. There is just so much gear that can make your time on the beach more productive and enjoyable. But sometimes you may feel like you are dragging everything but the kitchen sink across that soft white sand of the Emerald Coast. So, of course a decent surf cart is practical, some say even essential… ROLL WITH IT No doubt a cart for hauling gear to the surf line is a great tool, a primary tool. The question is, which one is right for you? Or your budget? With so many viable options in the marketplace for transporting surf fishing gear, it is rare to get it right the first time. Most neophyte surf anglers “‘grow” into the sport over a period of time, and tend to accumulate more gear they consider essential. When choosing a beach cart, look for long term value to set your budget. Just keep in mind surf fishermen abhor a vacuum as much as nature does. So don’t start out with too large a cart. Inevitably you will fill that space with something you think you need, but really can get by without. The wider wheel (balloon tire) concept sure makes hauling easier, but they are much more expensive than conventional 12 inch rubber wheels. Many anglers find upgrading to balloon tires easier on the budget, rather than justifying going all out to begin with. Prices typically run $250 to $500, but used models are available for about half that amount. Wide wheel (16 inch) upgrade kits cost about $200 to $250 per axle. Most aluminum frame beach carts are single axle Junior or Senior sized with five or eight rod holders respectively. Junior size carts are sufficient for a few anglers but a Senior or dual axle custom cart makes better sense for families. That means extra hands to help haul all the additional gear like chairs and sun-covers to make everyone’s day more enjoyable. A cart liner is a great upgrade to help keep gear from falling out, or sand blowing in. But having a proper sized cooler to hold ice, drinks, bait and catch would seem essential in any case. GOTTA HAVE IT Before each outing, take a little time to check the weather forecast and conditions to determine what fish to best target, and what gear will most likely make that happen. Bring a few contingencies in case conditions change. Items like rain gear or other appropriate clothing should be considered for conditions. Once onsite, unneeded gear can be left in the car, house or motel room. Just be sure to not leave expensive items in plain view. I keep extra beach towels in the car to protect stored gear from searing hot sun rays and inquisitive eyes. The subject of carrying “must have equipment” out on the beach came up in a Northwest Florida Fishing Report Podcast (September 22, 2021). Host Joe Baya quizzed well known Destin area surf guide Weldon Hall about his essentials for surf fishing. Hall mentioned anglers should “minimize tools for maximum uses.” “A five gallon bucket and kitchen shears are essentials” Hall said. “The bucket has multiple uses from toting items, to washing hands or your catch. The shears replace a knife with more precise trimming of line, cutting up Fishbites, bait or whatever. Most anglers would include needle-nosed pliers to that short list. They too are versatile for removing hooks, holding fish, and general repair work”. Backpack or belt pack anglers who wade fish to target flounder, speckled trout or pompano dial back their “must have” list even more by carrying only a few choice lures and rigging tools for their run-and-gun fishing style. Plastic snow sleds work great sliding over soft sand sand if not overloaded. They are cheap, alternatives (about $20) to a beach cart, easily customized
to haul “essentials”. TERMINAL GEAR CHOICES While it is nowhere near feasible for surf anglers to carry everything available from the shelves in their local tackle shop, a small assortment of terminal tackle in appropriately divided storage boxes is doable and comes in handy. These light weight, compact boxes are not expensive and take up very little space. (See GDO mag October, 2021 “Best Surf Rigs You Need To Know” for an in-depth rundown of terminal tackle). A roll of Miracle Thread is a great lightweight addition to keep soft baits like ghost shrimp from flying off the hook while casting. Savvy anglers make up their own terminal rigs on the spot to best match conditions, species and size being targeted. Carry just a few of each type of hook and weight per angler, plus a few short rolls of leader material. Use snaps (Duo-lock) and swivels only when necessary, and only the smallest you can get away with. Only sharks, bluefish and mackerel have teeth sharp enough to easily cut monofilament line. So no leader is needed when casting jigs for pompano or lures for speckled trout but a heavier monofilament leader is needed when ladyfish, or toothy mackerel or bluefish are around. Most anglers tie their own leaders with about a foot of clear mono in several sizes (8# to 50#). But some prefer fluorocarbon, especially when fishing CLEAR water. Lightweight 29# steel single strand wire works fine for larger bluefish & mackerel and heavier Sevenstrand wire will target small sharks. An old nail clipper is a great tool for cutting heavy mono or light wire and trimming knots. Keep it handy on a cord around your neck or a belt lanyard. Prepackaged professionally tied Pompano and Whiting/Spot Rigs featuring light mono (or fluorocarbon), small swivels and #6 or #4 kahle or circle hooks are the backbone of “set rig” surf fishing. Carry several styles in a quart Ziploc bag. This goes for Fishbites too. Put a small variety of the “hottest” flavors and colors in your gear assortment year-round. Blue color packs for water above 70 degrees, and red packs when the water is below 70. 1/4 to 1 ounce jigs and spoons catch many species, and locally produced 1/2 ounce leadhead pompano jigs catch a variety of species because they are so versatile and relatively inexpensive. Those, along with the ‘Bubble Rigs’ can be picked up at bait and tackle shops where sales associates can instruct you on their use. Berkley Gulp Shrimp or Ghost Shrimp threaded onto a ¼ or 3/8 jighead and dragged along the bottom are great flounder baits. In addition, redfish, drum, speckled trout, white trout, pompano, whiting and ground mullet and a plethora of small jacks will strike them too. New Penny or New Penny Fleck are favorite colors, but Natural and Pearl can be good too. Several plastic pouches of these store in a quart sized Ziploc bag. The same jigheads can be used with four inch soft plastic swim baits like Fin-s or Zoom Fluke in Pearl or minnow colors. And a few Gotcha plugs are good to bring along with suspending hard baits like MirrOlure, MirrOdine, Rattletrap and Rapala X-Rap if you expect to run across bluefish, ladyfish, trout or the like. A larger partitioned storage box (370 size) will hold a fine assortment of lures applicable for a wide variety of these species. Ghost shrimp make great cold water baits, but can only be gathered using a “Ghost Shrimp Pump” (available for about $35 -$40 from coastal tackle shops). They are usually worth the trouble though, because fish relish them so much. (see GDO mag March 2018 “Ghost Shrimp Pump: A Good, Cheap Investment“). Sandfleas can be bought (frozen), or better yet collect your own with a sandflea rake (for about $40) along the swash zone during warm water months.
877.314.1237 // GreatDaysOutdoors.com // APRIL 2022 25
Must Have Surf Fishing Gear List
Sand Spikes for beach fishing (often just 3½ foot long 2” diameter PVC pipe diagonally cut on one end) are a great way to keep your reels from getting in the sand and saltwater. They are a must have for targeting fish with set rigs, and should be dug in properly! How many to bring is up to you.
Lure Storage Box is a 370 size box with typical lure assortment of the day.
Also, the essentials list should include wearing some kind of hat (preferably wide brimmed), polarized sunglasses (amber shade), and sunscreen (SPF 30+, water resistant) to protect your skin from sunburn (even in mid winter). Other useful items include sand shoes, reef walkers, or boots, neoprene waders (in cool months), rain suit (Frogg Toggs), and a bait knife (I use a Swiss Army Knife with scissors). Again, multi-use products are best to save space and weight. I store many of these items in two, two gallon rectangular plastic buckets that easily fit inside my cart. Finding just the right “must have surf fishing gear” to make your day more productive and enjoyable takes some practice and time. But we hope this article will help your evolution in that direction happen more quickly.
CCA AL Events Check our website for our online silent auctions and giveaways this month!
Show Your Support for Alabama’s Coastal Fishing & Marine Resources. All proceeds from your TAX DEDUCTIBLE purchase are used for marine conservation in Coastal Alabama.
26 APRIL 2022 // GreatDaysOutdoors.com // 877.314.1237
For more info on the events or CCA Alabama www.ccaalabama.org 251-478-3474
Gulf Coastal Plain Ecosystem Partnership Wildlife and Sport Fish Restoration Program
42 APRIL 2020 // GreatDaysOutdoors.com // 877.314.1237
EASY APPLICATION!!! Unlike many liquid fertilizers, Clark’s Plot Nutrients: • Will not settle out in your tank or application equipment • There are no particles large enough to clog spray nozzles • It is readily absorbed by plants because it is a foliar application. Therefore, within one hour 80-90% of the fertilizer is already absorbed into the plant and working • Heavy rain will not wash away the fertilizer See what a difference it can make on your place!
CALL FOR PRICING & QUANTITIES DISTRIBUTED BY:
Liquid Food Plot Fertilizer Plus Calcium
Clark’s Plot Nutrients is a true liquid fertilizer that is designed to not only provide fertilizer to your food plot, but also supply calcium. Calcium is vital to the development of deer antler growth and egg shell strength in turkeys.
ENDORSED BY:
Chris & Kelley Grantham Elba, Alabama
334-233-2687 ALFandSupply@gmail.com www.alfandsupply.com
877.314.1237 // GreatDaysOutdoors.com // APRIL 2022 27
Selecting the Best Surf Fishing Rod Auburn University Students Win More Than $1 Million Bass Fishing
Choosing
Food Plot Equipment for your needs BY JOHN E. PHILLIPS
The John Deere 4052 Compact Tractor is heavy duty and is recommended for planting one to two acre green fields.
28 APRIL 2022 // GreatDaysOutdoors.com // 877.314.1237
HUNTING
Keeping a well-managed food plot is invaluable for landowners and hunting clubs. The proper equipment is a must, but what equipment do you need for your specific situation? Here’s what the experts say. HOW TO DECIDE ON THE EQUIPMENT YOU NEED The first question that has to be answered is whether you need a tractor to create the food plot, or can you use implements designed for an ATV (all-terrain vehicle) or an UTV (Utility Task Vehicle or Side-by-side). To answer this question, you need to consider: • • • • • • • •
Will this food plot be a new site? Is this place an old logging road or an old log landing? Is the spot an overgrown field? Are there stumps and roots at this site? Are the rocks there as large as grapefruits? Is the soil tightly packed, for instance like red clay will be? Is the plot larger than 3 acres? Are you planning on having six food plots or more?
WHEN YOU NEED A TRACTOR Planting for wildlife has become almost as important to hunters as finding, growing and hunting deer and turkeys. Although you can use many tools to plant for wildlife, the amount of land you have, the size of the green fields you intend to plant and the investment you’re willing to make all play a major role in the type of planting equipment you’ll need and choose. For instance, you don’t want to purchase a tractor that’s too small for the land acreages you want to plant or overspend on a tractor that’s not the right size you need to get the job done. Great Days Outdoors interviewed Trevor White, a salesman associated with SunSouth, located in Foley, Alabama, for advice on how to select the best farming tools for you, your land and the wildlife you want to manage. White suggests that if you’re looking for a tractor to plant small green fields on the property where you hunt, that you consider purchasing a John Deere 3 Series or a 4 Series Compact Tractor. These tractors will enable you to pull small disks behind them, get in and out of the woods easily and come equipped with four-wheel drive that makes planting green fields less difficult. “The first question I ask my customers to help them make the best decisions for tractors for their lands is, ‘What size green field do you intend to plant?’ Quite a few landowners and hunting clubs prefer to plant several, 1/4-acre fields, especially on smaller properties. That’s when I’ll recommend the John Deere 3038E Series, featuring a hydrostatic transmission that increases tractor performance, and can pull a 5-foot implement. This 3038E is the best pick for planting 1/4-acre fields because of its compactness and its ability to get in and out of wood lots easily,” White said. “The price point too is where it needs to be for this type of machinery. This tractor is easy to haul on a 7000 trailer and can break ground, seed, fertilize and plant, making it the ideal tractor for hunting clubs and small green fields.” If a landowner wants to plant bigger fields rather than smaller one, what type of tractor should they consider? “A John Deere Series 4 tractor, like a 4044M is a good pick. This tractor will allow you to pull a 6-foot frame implement, and because it’s a bigger tractor with more horsepower than a Series 3, you can get work done much faster – particularly on 1-2 acres - than you will with a smaller tractor,” White explained. “But, if you’re not planting more than 1-2 acres of green
fields, then I suggest using a Series 4 tractor. However, if you want more horsepower to plant a larger green field, I’ll recommend a 4052R tractor. Or, to clear land in preparation for a green field, you may want to consider a 4052 heavy-duty tractor.” When asked to name the most-popular tractor for landowners and hunting clubs who want to plant their own green fields, White said that the John Deere 3038 or the 4052 both fit the bill. “These two tractors seem to be the best tractors for planting wildlife food plots, since the 3038 and the 4052 are compact and easy to get in and out of the woods. Both tractors can be hauled easily with a half-ton truck, and they seem to be the most-popular tractors in our region for managing wildlife lands”, he said. Realizing that a tractor is a major investment for a landowner or a hunting club, White expects the life of these tractors to be 20-30 years if “You maintain your tractor every year.” White explained how customers can get the best available option to fit their needs. “Know what he wants the tractor to do, what’s the size of the green fields he intends to plant, what he’ll use to tow the tractor to the worksite, and how much land he’ll break, till, fertilize and plant each year. With that information, your salesperson can help you find the right tractor for you that will give you the most service for the longest time,” Whie said. To learn more about these tractors, check out https://sunsouth.com/ New-Equipment/Deere-Equipment/Compact-Tractors. SunSouth has 10 Alabama locations, five in Georgia and one in Mississippi. You can click on the dealer locator map at https://sunsouth.com/locations for more information. ATVS AND FARMING IMPLEMENTS After that initial food-plot planting, many landowners and hunting clubs may want to replant the food plots once or twice a year, with their ATVs and ATV implements. The muscled-up ATV engine needs to be at least 450 ccs, have four-wheel drive, feature low-range capabilities and have been well-maintained or be brand-new. An ATV that doesn’t meet these specifications won’t get the job done when you put ATV farming implements on the back of it. Today biologists are encouraging landowners and hunting-club members to plant the same food plot twice a year, once with a cool-season planting and then replanting that same food plot with a warm-season planting to help hold wildlife on that property all year long. STEPS TO FOLLOW TO PLANT FOR WILDLIFE Plowing - If you already have a tractor, the first implement you’ll need is a disk plow. This true plow does primary tillage and leaves behind a rough surface by breaking-up the soil. Harrowing - You drag the disc harrow over the field to cut-up and break-up the clumps of earth and turn them into very-fine soil and a fairly-level seed bed.
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Choosing Food Plot Equipment for Your Needs
Soil Testing - A soil test tells you the chemical makeup of the soils in that specific food plot and will give you recommendations on the amount of lime and fertilizer you need on that field you’ve disked and harrowed. Liming and Fertilizing - You can use a seeder to set the amount of lime and fertilizer to be spread over the size of the green field you want to plant. Cultipacking - After you’ve put-out lime and fertilizer, you need the cultipacker to help get the seed bed as level as possible and make the soil somewhat pressed down. Checking for Rain - Watch the weather forecast before planting to have rain on that field as soon as possible. Seeding - After you’ve cultipacked the ground the first time, you need to replace the cultipacker on the back of your tractor with the seeder. Pour the seed or blend of seeds into the seeder. Cultipacking – After seeding a green field, take the seeder off the tractor, put the cultipacker back on and go over the field with the cultipacker to push the seed down into the earth. Planting green fields with both annual and perennial seeds drastically will improve the overall health of your deer herd. HOW TO TAKE CARE OF ATV IMPLEMENTS WITH J. WAYNE FEARS My longtime friend, J. Wayne Fears of New Market, Alabama, is a wildlife biologist, who has managed several hunting lodges and supervised more than 200-hunting clubs for a major timber company. So, Fears has plenty of experience with planting green fields.
“One trend I’ve noticed is that after an individual or a small hunting club plants their food plots with ATV implements in September, they often don’t take care of their implements,” Fears explained. “Every farmer knows that he has to maintain tractor implements after using them and take care of them. You need to clean, oil and lubricate all your implements after using them, according to manufacturers’ recommendations and then have a place to store those implements, so they are out of the weather.” HOW TO FINANCE FARM EQUIPMENT Will you buy used or new tractor and/or ATV equipment, and who should you consider for a financial partner (lender)? One of the oldest and most-trusted lenders for any type of farming equipment nationwide has always been the Farm Credit System that was established about a century ago. In recent years, this organization has partnered with and become a part of state agricultural credit unions, like Alabama Ag Credit, a borrower-owned cooperative lender. Steven Bozeman is a loan officer with Alabama Ag Credit, who explained that Alabama Ag Credit primarily works with farmers and hunters in the lower 40 counties of Alabama. “We can loan up to 75% of the cost of agricultural equipment. For instance, if the implement costs $100,000, the buyer only has to put up 25% $25,000 and Alabama Ag Credit will loan the other $75,000 to the person. The terms of this type of loan will last from 5-7 years with a fixed interest rate.,” he said. “However, when you’re considering buying ATV and UTV farming equipment, you only may want to have a 3-year loan, depending on the cost, the age and the size of the implement(s) and the projected useful life of the equipment. This equipment must meet the specs for farming for wildlife, planting green fields and improving the land.” Bozeman pointed out that the purpose of Alabama Ag Credit is to help in-
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Choosing Food Plot Equipment for Your Needs
dividuals, hunting clubs and people to buy rural land for farming or planting for wildlife and/or improving the land. “Many people, especially first-time land buyers may not ever have heard of Alabama Ag Credit, or may not know that we can help them buy the equipment they need to improve the land for wildlife, as well as farming,” he said.
The John Deere 3038 E Compact Tractor works for smaller green fields.
“If you need help finding an Ag Credit Union, you can go to www.alabamaagcredit.com and find the offices and information about them. We also help direct customers to Farm Credit offices in different states, if that’s where they live or hunt and fish. Although we do more loans for real estate than we do for implements, we’re becoming more involved in loaning money for all types of equipment. We also provide money for other kinds of land improvements like fencing. You can call me directly at 334-4897103 or write Steven.Bozeman@AlabamaAgCredit. com,” Bozeman said.
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Cobia
Selecting the Best Surf Fishing Rod Auburn University Students Win More Than $1 Million Bass Fishing
Fishing Tips BY ED MASHBURN
Kayak anglers are often able to find and catch cobia when they migrate through our waters.
32 APRIL 2022 // GreatDaysOutdoors.com // 877.314.1237
FISHING
It’s that time of year again. The birds are migrating back from their winter spots, baseball season has started, and here on the Gulf Coast, it is that time of year when boats line up and cruise slowly along the beaches and bay passes looking for a very special returning favorite fish. That’s right, it’s cobia time. The problem with cobia time is that even though there are lots of cobia moving through our waters and these fish are usually quite eager to bite anything put before them, there’s a lot of water for the cobia to lose themselves in, and there are lots of anglers competing for these hard-pulling, delicious fish. So any advantages an angler who wants to meet up with these big brown brawlers can find are very good things. And that’s what we’re going to do here- look at some advantages that a local cobia expert can give us. Tip number one, before we get into specific gear and techniques, is a matter of timing. “Cobia don’t follow the calendar. They generally arrive here in our waters around the first part of April. When the water starts to get to 66 to 68 degrees, the cobia start moving through. Anglers need to keep an eye on water conditions to find springtime cobia,” says Captain Richard Rutland, from Cold Blooded Fishing in Mobile. LIVE BAIT- A GOOD START For cobia as most gamefish, live bait works to entice them to eat when nothing else will. A good first step in any cobia chasing trip is to have some good live bait ready to go. Traditionally, live eels are a prime cobia bait, but these things are hard to find in bait shops, and when found, they tend to be very costly. So, are there other live bait options? “Usually I use live pogies or pinfish or croakers. Eels are too hard to get, and I can catch those other live baits myself, so I don’t have to pay for live bait,” Rutland said. “I free-line my live bait to cobia I see. I use a 40 to 60 pound main line, the same weight in fluorocarbon leader, and a 6/0 circle or J hook,” Rutland said. “If it’s later in the season, I’ll knocker rig live bait with a two or four ounce sinker around anchored ships and gas rigs.” Chumming? When live baiting for cobia, Rutland doesn’t often chum for them, but when he does, it can work. “I rarely chum. But if I’m around a platform and marking cobia on the fish finder I will. If they won’t bite, I’ll set up on the up current side of the rig and drift chum down to them. I like pogies for chum,” he noted. JIGS-TRADITIONAL COBIA CATCHERS Throwing long-distance jigs for cobia spotted cruising through the clear springtime water of the Gulf Coast is a tried and true method for catching cobia. “I like six to eight inch curly tail jigs. If I’m fishing deep for cobia, I’ll use a heavy six to eight ounce jig head,” Rutland explained. “Hogie Eels on jig heads are great if I can see the cobia, and I like chartreuse colors for the eel.”
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Cobia Fishing Tips- Timing and Techniques
BEST COBIA RIGGING- GET IT RIGHT Going cobia fishing without the proper set up is a recipe for disaster. Cobia are powerful fish, and the wrong rig will not succeed in bringing one of these big brown brawlers to the boat or pier. It’s not uncommon to encounter seventy pound cobia, and every year, there will be 80 to 100 pound cobia caught in our Gulf Coast waters. “I like a seven to seven and a half foot long spinning rod in the 20 to 40 pound line class. A 5000 to 6000 series reel is needed. I’ve been using Penn Clash reels, and they work well,” Rutland said. Rutland prefers 40 to 60 lb. braid main line with an eight foot long of 40 to 60 lb. fluorocarbon leader for both live bait fishing and also throwing jigs or other artificials. For those who prefer rigs other than spinning rods, Rutland supplies level wind reels “I will use a level wind reel and set up. I like the Shimano Tranx reel in the 400 series. You can cast or drop fish with this rig,” he explained. WHERE TO LOOK IN SPRING- THEY COULD BE ANYWHERE The first and probably most important part of any cobia fishing trip is to actually find the fish. Cobia in springtime will move from east to west as they traverse our Gulf Coast waters, but they may be close to the beach or they may be a long way offshore. “If I’m sight fishing, I’ll start out in 30 to 40 feet of water. Then I’ll zig-zag in this shallow water. The migrating cobia will usually be out past the second bar off the beaches, but sometimes they’ll be inside that bar. I’ve seen it both ways,” Rutland said.
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Cobia chasers will need to have plenty of fuel aboard, because this “bar-hopping” method of spring cobia fishing can require many miles of slow-cruising along the bar watching the clear water for the long dark shapes of cobia to appear in the clear, green water. A lot of big cobia tend to orient around the many gas rig platforms and anchored ships out in the waters leading into Mobile Bay. These fish can be in large schools, and they tend to be hungry. “When I’m fishing, I want to scan the surface first for any fish I see and cast to them. Then I look around the structure with electronics and side imaging really helps do this. I’ve found when I fish anchored ships, the cobia will either be holding up front on the anchor chain or they’ll be on the rear near the screws,” he explained. As his best advice to cobia chasers, Rutland says to always be ready. “Always be ready. When I start a cobia fishing trip, I am rigged and ready. I’ll have a live bait hooked up and ready in the live well. You’ve got to be ready. And then when you see a cobia, don’t throw it right at it. Bait doesn’t fall out of the sky. Throw way past the fish and in front. Retrieve the bait to the fish,” he noted. “I try to throw 20 feet ahead and 20 feet past. And it’s good to have a second angler rigged and ready to throw if the cobia refuses the first offering. And remember most of the time, you won’t be throwing to a single fish. These migrating cobia tend to run in small packs of fish.” As a special word of advice to springtime cobia chasers, Rutland advised, “And when I’m cobia fishing, I always have some live shrimp on board because at this time of year, you’ll see tripletail coming in, too. This can be a great by-catch. Tripletail love live shrimp.”
Cobia Fishing Tips- Timing and Techniques
Every year some truly big cobia are caught in our Gulf waters.
GETTING GOOD INFORMATION ABOUT THE FISHERY Recent detailed scientific studies are starting to shed some light on the previously unknown habits of these big brown fish. Coastal Conservation Association of Alabama along with researchers from the University of South Alabama have embarked on a study to help determine where cobia go when they make their annual migrations. CCA Alabama successfully deployed four Wildlife Computers mini-PSAT tags last year with the help of Rutland. These tags are pop-up satellite archival tags that record information about speed of travel, depth, temperature and light for the cobia which do not always stay near the surface. The initial study indicated that some of the tagged fish moved in a south to southeast direction which is interesting because the fall migration generally is an eastward direction. These tagged fish may have eventually moved eastward or they may have moved into overwintering water south of the Alabama coast. Further tagging studies are planned to help learn more about this crucial cobia movement. “Cobia are amazing fish, and their great ability to migrate coupled with the very rapid growth make them a wonderful but challenging species to study. With the assistance of CCA Alabama, we will be able to tag fish with tags that will give us information on the migration and discard (release after catch) mortality,” says Dr. Sean Powers, chairman of the University of South Alabama Marine Sciences department.
Contact Information Captain Richard Rutland Cold Blooded fishing 251-459-5077 richard@coldbloodedfishing.com Alabama Coastal Conservation Association 251-478-3474 info@ccaalabama.org
BY JOANG2
Recipe and image courtesy of www.allrecipes.com
Broiled Grouper Parmesan Fresh grouper is my absolute favorite. It is a mild fish and this recipe may entice even those who don’t like fish to make it a favorite. The recipe is super easy and can be served with a minimum preparation and cooking time. Perfect for a warm summer evening supper. Garnish with lemon twists and parsley before serving. Ingredients • 2 pounds fresh grouper filets • 2 tablespoons lemon juice • ½ cup grated Parmesan cheese • ¼ cup butter, softened • 3 tablespoons mayonnaise • 1 dash hot pepper sauce (e.g. Tabasco™) • salt and pepper to taste Instructions
1. 2. 3. 4.
Preheat the oven’s broiler. Place the grouper filets on a greased baking tray. Brush them with lemon juice. In a small bowl, stir together the Parmesan cheese, butter, mayonnaise, hot pepper sauce, salt and pepper. Set aside. Broil the filets for 4 to 6 minutes, until they can be flaked with a fork. Remove from the oven and spread the cheese mixture on top of the fillets. Return to the broiler for an additional 30 seconds, or until the topping is browned and bubbly.
877.314.1237 // GreatDaysOutdoors.com // APRIL 2022 35
Selecting the Best Surf Fishing Rod Auburn University Students Win More Than $1 Million Bass Fishing
Do you Need a Boat Trailer Repair BY DAVID STRICKLAND
36 APRIL 2022 // GreatDaysOutdoors.com // 877.314.1237
LIFESTYLE Have you ever seen a perfectly good boat sitting on a broken-down trailer on the side of the road? Have you been in that unfortunate position yourself? This article will address some of the more common trailer issues and how you can prevent most breakdowns with a bit of preemptive maintenance. I will also highlight a newer approach to finding someone in your area to help with the upkeep or repair of your trailer. It’s not uncommon for a boat to get more attention than the trailer it sits on. Sometimes, it’s when a tire suddenly goes flat, or the rearview mirror reflects smoke billowing from a wheel that owners realize they should have spent a little more time inspecting their trailer. Trailers in good condition allow for the easy transport, launch, retrieval, and storage of a boat. Conversely, neglecting to maintain your trailer can leave you stuck on the side of the road, or worse yet, involved in an accident caused by a blown tire or broken axle. PARTS OF A TRAILER Getting to know the various parts of your trailer will help you spot that roller, bracket, or runner that might need a little extra TLC. After unloading your boat and parking your trailer, make it a habit to do a walk around to look for anything out of kilter. Trailer Frames All trailers consist of a frame, one or more axles, suspension, bearings, wheels, and tires. Frames that get submerged in salt or brackish water are far more likely to have rust and brake issues than those used in freshwater, so choosing the best frame material and brakes for your boat is essential. Aluminum and galvanized-steel trailers are better at resisting corrosion than painted steel. Aluminum costs more but usually outlast galvanized in saltwater use. One precaution that can help reduce the corrosive effects of residual salt is to give your trailer a thorough freshwater rinse after saltwater use. Brackets are welded or bolted to the frame to position the rollers and carpeted runners to fit a specific boat. They allow the hull to easily roll and slide while loading and unloading: without causing any damage to the boat’s hull in the process. Larger boats use heavier-duty trailers with more runners and rollers to distribute the additional weight evenly. Also, larger trailers often have dual or triple axles with mechanical or hydraulic brakes. Unfortunately, this also means those larger trailers have more parts to inspect and maintain, and it follows that more can potentially go wrong.
Give the suspension and its mounting bolts a thorough once over each year. Also, an alignment check might be prudent if you notice abnormal tire wear. Tires and Bearings Wheel bearings and tire-related issues account for about 65% of all trailer-related breakdowns, so carrying a tire pressure gauge and ensuring the bearings are greased/oiled can help prevent the most common issues. Dry rot on trailer tires results from prolonged storage (lack of use), excessive heat and sun exposure, or low inflation. Often, a combination of these factors results in premature sidewall and tread failure. Use black tire covers if stored outdoors. When you stop at the water’s edge to undo your straps and winch, reach down and feel your axle hubs and tires. They might feel a little warm, but if one tire is hotter than the rest, check the tire pressure before you head back home with your boat. Also, if one hub seems too hot, jack the wheel up, wiggle it side to side and spin it to make sure the bearings are ok. Replacing or “repacking” bearings in a parking lot is much more convenient than on the side of a busy highway. Bearings use grease or an oil bath system for lubrication. Sight windows allow for visually checking the oil level in each hub. Many oil covers are plastic and can suffer damage and oil loss. Carrying a spare cap and oil is cheap insurance. Check tire pressure before each road trip and grease/oil bearings once a year. Also, if you know your trailer will be stationary for an extended length of time, jack the tires off the ground to avoid flat-spotting; and don’t neglect your spare. Brakes Smaller boat/trailer single axle combinations rarely have braking systems installed. However, Alabama law requires a boat trailer to have an independent braking system if the Gross Towing Weight (GTW) is over 3,000 pounds or if the trailer’s weight exceeds 40% of the tow vehicle weight. Trailers can have either drum or disc brakes. Drum brakes require precise and periodic adjustments to operate efficiently, but most newer trailers come equipped with disc types, and they can be the surge-type or electrically operated. A thorough freshwater rinse is a necessary precaution after using in salt or brackish water.
After the boat launch, a quick visual is usually good enough, but a thorough annual inspection is vital.
Check brake fluid levels before each trip and adjust drum brakes annually or every 2-3,000 miles. Also, lubricate caliper pins and check pad wear during your annual bearing inspection. Most mechanics also recommend changing the brake fluid every two years.
Safety Chains/Cables Check for rust and closely inspect the chain links or cables for bends, cracks, and deformities. Chains and cables hook onto the tow vehicle in various ways; ensure your fastening mechanism is in good working order.
Wiring/Lights Occasion dabs of dielectric grease on each connector and bulb bases can prevent corrosion issues at these connections. Before each trip, make it a habit to test running lights, signals, and brake lights.
Winch The winch sits atop a stand that’s bolted or welded onto the tongue of the frame. Check periodically for any strap or rope damage; also lubricate the gears, and ensure the hook is in good working order.
Inspect wiring annually, especially where it runs through the frame for missing insulation or cracks.
Axles Axles are tough, but a pothole, curb, or road hazard can cause frame damage or misaligned wheels. Also, rust is an issue when launching in saltwater. A freshwater rinse can help keep most rust issues at bay.
REFERRALS Unless you have established a good relationship with a local marina, you will probably search the internet for a reputable dealer that can help with any maintenance or repairs for your trailer. Asking fellow boaters is another way to find a qualified dealer, but having 877.314.1237 // GreatDaysOutdoors.com // APRIL 2022 37
Do you Need a Boat Trailer Repair
more than one referral can be helpful when making your final decision as to whom you will do business with. BOATERS LIST There’s another option for boaters looking for anything to do with boats or trailers. It’s a website featuring a search engine that lists marine resources specific to your location to help with anything from rentals and guide services to repairs. The company is also ready to release its Boaters List App for Android and IOS. Boaters List can also provide free referrals, said Martin Kroeche, President & CEO. They have already assembled an impressive collection of trusted dealers and services covering almost everything associated with the water. “Our list of dealers is growing daily, or you can even give us a call if you don’t see a nearby option on our site,” Martin said. REVIEWS Reviews are a valuable insight into the reliability of a service or product and have become an essential tool to help boaters evaluate a business. The more reviews, the better, and a quick search of the Boaters List website will provide those evaluations, opinions, and contact information for any questions you may have. “We launched our site less than a year ago, and we’re working hard towards our goal of being the top provider of the information boaters and water enthusiasts need throughout the US and beyond,” Martin explained. “We are excited that we can provide boaters and anyone looking to have fun on the water with a way to easily search through more than 100 categories to make their time on the water more enjoyable,” Martin commented. “In addition, our Boaters List phone app will make this search even more convenient.”
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Another exciting feature we are working on includes a listing of marine parts. A user can search for a specific part near or far and quickly verify availability and price. “We are working hard to be the one-stop site for ‘Connecting everyone to everything on the water’”he added FINAL THOUGHTS Warm weather is right around the corner, so get your boat and trailer ready for that sunny weekend that’ll be here before you know it. Also, if you need a little help with that trailer, check out Boaters List and see if they can recommend someone nearby that can help.
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877.314.1237 // GreatDaysOutdoors.com // APRIL 2022 39
Spring, Summer and Early Fall
Food Plots BY JOHN E. PHILLIPS AND CHARLES JOHNSON
One of the early fall seed groups is turnips that are especially popular with deer that not only can eat the tops but also the roots.
40 APRIL 2022 // GreatDaysOutdoors.com // 877.314.1237
HUNTING All hunters want to take older-age-class bucks, and the formula to be able to take bucks with big racks and heavy body weights is simple. All you have to do is provide everything that a mature buck wants or needs on the land you hunt. Even on small properties, you can hold older-age- class bucks there, if you provide plenty of food. The hunters who supply food, shelter and water can hold more deer on their lands than the hunters who don’t plant during the spring and summer. To learn why spring and summer plantings for green fields are so important, and what benefits are available from planting them, Great Days Outdoors talked with David Brown, sales manager for Southern Seed and Feed (https://southernseedfeed.com/) that was established in 1983 and today has products available in feed stores throughout Mississippi and Alabama and in several Alabama Farmers Co-Op stores. “During the spring and summer in the South, often droughts occur that burn-up many of the crops that produce protein for deer, turkeys, quail and doves on your lands.” Brown explained. “Spring and summer plantings provide the protein that these game animals need during this most-stressful time of the year. By planting in the spring, you make sure that when a drought hits, the deer and turkeys still have plenty of food to get them through before your fall plantings green-up.” The seeds that Brown recommends for a quality spring and summer wildlife planting include brown top millet, iron and clay peas, wild game sorghum, Stonewall soybeans and peredovik sunflowers (black oil sunflowers) that doves, quail and turkeys enjoy. Deer also browse on these 4-5 foot tall sunflowers that scavenge nutrients from deep in the soil to make them available to shallower root systems. “All of these ingredients are in our Southern Buck Spring and Summer Mix,” Brown reported. “This mixture provides protein for deer during the drought times of the summer.” When asked about when to plant the Southern Buck Spring and Summer Mix, Brown said, “You can plant this any time after the danger of the last frost has passed. Since our company offers a wide variety of seeds, different crops within the blend will mature at various times of the spring and summer. In the summer in late June, July and August, the protein level of most crops begins to drop-off. However, this mixture yields high-protein plants that benefit all your wildlife and help to hold them on your property.” Another advantage to planting this crop at this time of the year is that you can begin your trail- camera surveys, watch your bucks’ antlers grow and see what kind of fawn crop you have on your land. By having these spring and summer plantings, you’ll also have a better chance of holding the wildlife you want to hunt in the fall until that time and not have those deer and turkeys leave your property for greener pastures somewhere else. FALL FOOD PLOTS THAT PRODUCE THROUGH SPRING “Once the deer have consumed this crop of Southern Buck Spring and Summer Mix, you’ll need to start some supplemental feeding and get the fall crop in the ground to provide plenty of wildlife food for the deer and turkeys before bow season,” Brown said. “We recommend Southern Buck Rack Zone and Southern Buck Super Buck for fall plantings that feed through the following spring.” Southern Seed and Feed has developed its different types of wildlife plantings specifically for the South’s temperatures, soil types and availability of rain. A soil test can help you choose which seed blends are best for your green field plantings. Southern Buck Rack Zone, containing wheat, forage oats, Austrian winter peas, trophy rape, Balansa, arrowleaf, Berseem and crimson clovers, rye and Appin turnips, provides early forage for deer and lasts for 10 months through the fall, winter and spring.
Southern Buck Super Buck, containing wheat, forage oats, Austrian winter peas, trophy rape, Balansa and crimson clovers, Daikon radishes and turnips, provides early forage too and will enhance your deer herd’s health for 8 months – providing nutrition through the spring. For more information, visit Southern Seed and Feed (https://southernseedfeed.com/contact-us/), or call 662-726-2638. You can find a dealer locator at (https://www.southernstates.com/farm-store/store-locator). USING LIQUID FERTILIZER Most wildlife managers understand that, in order to effectively grow the best spring and summer food plots for deer, your plants require three major nutrients; Nitrogen, Phosphorus and Potassium. These are the basic nutrients in all fertilizers. Overall plant health translates to providing quality, nutritious forage for all types of wildlife. Chris Grantham of Alabama Liquid Fertilizer explains the pros and cons of using liquid fertilizer versus granular fertilizers. According to Grantham, one reason that liquid fertilizer like Clark’s Plot Nutrients is more efficient is because liquid fertilizer is applied as a foliar. Since it is directly applied to the foliage, the plant can instantly begin absorbing and using the nutrients of the fertilizer. There is no waiting on soil moisture or rain to activate the fertilizer. In granular fertilizer applications the nutrients have to “melt” into the soil before the plant can utilize the fertilizer. In sandy soil Nitrogen can move six to nine inches after a rain which means it is possible the plant roots may never receive any of the benefits of Nitrogen. There is a time lag for the granular nutrients to melt into the soil before the plant roots can receive them. During this lag time wildlife like deer, turkey, quail and others are consuming a less than nutritious plant. In addition, granular fertilizers are not consistent with nutrients in each granule. Plant roots can steer away from granular fertilizers that are high in Nitrogen and Phosphorous. Granular fertilizers are soil and pH dependent for the plant roots to utilize the nutrients. With a low soil pH level, the plant will not get all the benefits of the granular fertilizer. On the other hand, liquid fertilizers have the same amount of nutrients in each drop. Plants can absorb liquid fertilizers more efficiently. Leaves, stems, blooms and fruit can intake the liquid much faster than granular. With liquid fertilizer the plant begins utilizing the nutrients right away. As a result, deer munching on food plots fertilized with Clark’s Plots Nutrients begin benefitting from the enriched plants. Phosphorus is essential for rack growth in bucks. Grantham pointed out that there are two major factors in why liquid fertilizer is a wise choice, when it comes to summer food plots for deer. One, it makes the plants more palatable to wildlife. This means that the plants taste better. The second reason is the liquid fertilizer acts like a mineral lick. The product also provides calcium which is beneficial to deer and turkey and other wildlife. Calcium is an essential mineral to help in growing racks on bucks. Does also benefit from healthy development of fawns resulting in better fawn survival. Another consideration is that liquid fertilizers are less expensive than the granular form. Grantham says his product is around $20 per gallon. The amount of liquid fertilizer required is around 2 – 2 ½ gallons per acre. For a one-acre food plot the cost would be around $40 bucks. 877.314.1237 // GreatDaysOutdoors.com // APRIL 2022 41
Spring, Summer and Early Fall Food Plots
You can follow your Southern Buck Spring and Summer Mix with Southern Buck Super Buck, a fall food plot planting that will provide food for the deer into the next spring.
Application is much easier with liquid fertilizers. An ATV style sprayer can be used to effectively spray a food plot in a short time. The liquid is fertilizer diluted with water. Users will need to determine the amount of liquid their sprayer is emitting. Liquid fertilizer can be applied when the plants are around three to six inches high. An average application of liquid fertilizers will last around two to three months. Also, depending on the plant species, liquid fertilizer can be used year-round. Grantham cautions that before you apply liquid fertilizer be sure wash out and clean the spray tank if it has been used with herbicides like Round-Up. Flush out pump, hoses and spray nozzles. Killing all of your plants would, definitely, not make for the best spring and summer food plots for deer.
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2100 Halls Mill Road • Mobile, Alabama 36606
251-473-3176 42 APRIL 2022 // GreatDaysOutdoors.com // 877.314.1237
FEATURES:
• All steel construction • Sliding glass windows • Maintenance-free • Locking windows and doors • Full staircase/handrail on most models • Fully carpeted interior on economy blinds • 2” foam insulation in walls, ceiling, & floor in insulated models • Exterior window and door shades • Octagonal shape • Multiple tower heights and sizes to accommodate any hunter • Trailer blind options • ADA accessible ramp option • Door chain
BENEFITS:
• No wood to rot • Windows open and close without catching a glare • Pest proof • Enhanced safety when entering/exiting blind • Controls sound and scent • Helps keep rain off windows and doors for visibility • Increased visibility • Increased mobility for hunting any location • Keeps door from flying open and making unnecessary noise
FEEDER FEATURES: • Feeders come with battery and solar panel • Feeders are 52” or shorter • Feeders are on skids • High capacity feeders • Eliminator plate FEEDER BENEFITS: • Ready to use unit just fill and set timer • Fill feeder without climbing, keep both feet on the ground • Easily drag feeder to feed location • Fill feeders less often, less disturbance for wildlife • Hog and raccoon proof feeders!
We are the Southeast’s premier source for MB Ranch King high-quality hunting blinds, deer and fish feeders and shooting products - all made in the USA. For more information on MB Ranch King products, contact:
Kevin Kloda (205) 807-2937
877.314.1237 // GreatDaysOutdoors.com // APRIL 2022 43
When a pastime becomes a passion.
Some don’t get it, but we do. Looking for your own place to hunt, fish, enjoy 4-wheeling—even a building site for a cabin or home? Alabama Ag Credit is the original land lender and your local expert in recreational real estate financing. We understand the unique requirements of long-term rural real estate lending, and can custom build loan packages with competitive rates and flexible terms. So you can enjoy the great outdoors for years to come!
Recipe and image courtesy of Hi Mountain Seasonings (www.himtnjerky.com)
Grilled Venison Heart Steaks Ingredients • 2 Venison Hearts • Hi Mountain Seasonings Garlic Pepper Rub • Hi Mountain Seasonings Venison Rub • Olive oil Instructions 1.
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44 APRIL 2022 // GreatDaysOutdoors.com // 877.314.1237
4.
Cut the tops off each heart to remove the cartilage. Then, with a sharp knife, slice off a thin layer of the outer membrane from each heart. Slice the hearts open like a hinged book. This will allow you to lay the hearts flat on the grill. Clean out the inside of the hearts. Coat the hearts with olive oil and apply a liberal amount of Hi Mountain Garlic Pepper Rub on the first heart and apply a liberal amount of Hi Mountain Venison Rub on the second heart. Marinate in the refrigerator for a couple hours before cooking. Using both rubs will allow you to serve two equally delicious heart recipes. While your grill is heating up, take the hearts out of the refrigerator and let them sit to get closer to room temperature before grilling. Once your grill is hot, place the heart steaks on the grill and cook until the internal temperature of the hearts reaches 130 degrees. Turn them over once while grilling. Once they reach the temperature, remove from the grill and let rest 15 minutes before slicing and serving.
ALL ALABAMA TURKEY HUNTERS
GAME CHECK IS MANDATORY
All hunters are required to report their turkey harvest using Game Check, which will help the Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources effectively manage wildlife for generations. Check your harvest at OutdoorAlabama.com/GameCheck or by using the official ADCNR mobile app Outdoor AL Search OUTDOOR AL on your app store!
877.314.1237 // GreatDaysOutdoors.com // APRIL 2022 45
Braid, Mono or Fluorocarbon? BY FRANK SARGEANT
Fishing guides fish when they have clients, not when conditions are perfect for angling. That’s why long-experienced tournament-winning captains like Bobby Abruscato of Dauphin Island, Alabama, have learned to adjust their tackle and tactics to whatever a day on the water requires for success. One aspect of angling that can change rapidly is water clarity, especially in a big, riverine estuary like Mobile Bay where Abruscato plies his trade. Upstream rains can bring seemingly endless murky water down into the bay, while periods of calm, dry and cold weather can rapidly clarify the waters. Saltwater can push way up into the delta when rain is absent or with steady south winds, and that also affects the clarity. High salinity also helps bring the saltwater fish up the bay, while a big push of fresh water pushes them back south. Particularly in the colder months, Abruscato says many trout and reds go into the tannin-stained bayous and coastal rivers where the water often looks like strong tea, clear but stained a reddish black.
46 APRIL 2022 // GreatDaysOutdoors.com // 877.314.1237
The guide stays tuned to what works thanks to his steadily-booked charter service. And he changes out not only his lures as the water conditions change, but also his lines in order to keep his anglers in fish. MONO FOR TOPWATERS “I like monofilament for topwaters because it floats,” Abruscato said. “Fluorocarbon sinks, and that can have an effect on how some lures work—it’s subtle, but it can make a difference in the number of bites my clients get over the hours of the day. A fish here and a fish there and three or four anglers casting—that adds up in a day.” Monofilament is also relatively low-visibility compared to braid, he notes, though not as hard for the fish to see as fluorocarbon, and it has a significant amount of stretch. Even on reels using braided line—which include all of the spinning reels he provides for his clients—he adds a couple feet of monofilament leader if throwing topwaters is on the menu.
FISHING
The mono is tied to the braid with a double-uniknot, a fast and easy tie with good holding power. BRAID FOR ALL AROUND SPINNING USE Bobby notes that he uses braided line on the dozen or so spinning rods he carries on each charter trip. “For my clients, spinning is just a lot easier to learn and to use without problems so unless they ask for baitcasters, I gear them up with spinning tackle,” he says. “And braid is just better on spinning for what we do here on the coast.” Most of his rods are rigged with 12-pound-test Berkley Nanofil, an exceptionally slick and thin type of braided line. “The Nanofil gives my customers great distance on casting, and it tests way over 12 pounds, so there’s plenty of power there when we need it on
a big red or a jack,” he says. “Plus, by the nature of braid, it doesn’t twist and cause spool knots the way that monofilament or fluorocarbon will if you crank the reel when a fish is taking line, which is not uncommon when I guide folks with minimal saltwater experience.” Like most guides, Abruscato also likes the fact that braid far outlasts mono and fluoro, even under heavy action. “It used to be that one of the jobs after a really good day of catching would be to change out the monofilament on all the spinning reels. But with the braid we can fish for months without having to change line,” he says. “It costs more to start with, of course, but it’s way more economical and less work in the long run,” he noted. He said he typically uses a leader of 20-pound-test Trilene 100 Percent Fluorocarbon about two feet long, again tied in with double uniknots. “For general use and average water clarity, I like the 20-pound-test leader, 877.314.1237 // GreatDaysOutdoors.com // APRIL 2022 47
Braid, Mono or Fluorocarbon?
but when it gets really clear in winter or sometimes after a long time without rain or strong winds, I’ll go down to 15-pound-test,” he says. “The lighter line is not only harder to see, it’s more flexible, so that gives a lure or live bait better action.” He said he likes the braid when used with a popping cork and live bait or an imitation shrimp because it gives long casts and lots of authority to get a big “pop” out of the cork, as well as to set the hook on a long cast. Braid is also preferred by some anglers who fish topwaters for big trout and reds when the fish are in the shallows in spring and fall. Again, the nostretch quality gives the lure exceptionally sharp, fish-attracting action when the rod is twitched, and hook sets on a long cast are much easier than with stretchy monofilament. Not only that, but when real jumbos like bull reds are hooked up, the braid allows getting them to the boat in a reasonable length of time, something that can be very difficult with mono unless heavy tests are used.
A VERY SLICK FISH CATCHER The Slick Lure has a cult following these days along the northern coast of the Gulf of Mexico from Florida to Texas and guide Bobby Abruscato is one of its biggest fans. “I have my clients fish the Slick Lure a lot--it’s just behind live shrimp on my boat. I’m not sponsored by them but those baitfish imitations just flat catch ‘em so I buy them. I fish subtle colors in clear water, bright chartreuse colors in dark water. You get the right conditions and those lures will outfish live bait. I like that you can catch dozens of fish on one lure, too—that’s unusual for a soft plastic,” Abruscato said.
(Note that while Bobby Abruscato likes a short fluoro leader, many other expert anglers now opt for a rod’s length leader, which allows them to cut off multiple lures and re-tie before having to change leaders. Preferred length is typically just enough to put a wrap or two of fluoro around the spool.)
The 4.5” models are typically fished on Owner Beast or Gamakatsu Spring Lock 4/0 to 5/0 widegap hooks making them snagproof but not fishless. The slim profile and ½ ounce weight allows exceptionally long casts with the lure, even against the wind.
FLUOROCARBON FOR LEADERS AND SINKING LURES Abruscato and many other expert anglers like fluorocarbon for leader material both because it’s nearly invisible underwater and also because it has a very hard surface compared to most monofilaments, making it more abrasion-resistant to the teeth and jaws of gamefish.
They work best in one to four feet of water, and they’re fished like most jerkbaits, with two or three sharp twitches to create a darting back-and-forth motion, followed by a brief slack line to allow the lure to drift down toward bottom before repeating the motion.
And new versions of fluoro now have the flexibility to act as running line, as well. “For my own fishing, if I’m throwing a jerkbait or a Slick Lure, which I throw a lot, or a jig, I prefer straight Trilene 100% Fluorocarbon Pro Grade on a baitcasting reel. That gives me the best combination of a quick-sinking line with minimal stretch and low visibility, and for me it’s a lot less likely to backlash than braid on a revolving spool,” Abruscato said. He notes that fluoro also has less stretch than mono, but it does have just a bit of “give” compared to braid, reducing the chance of shallow-hooked fish shaking the lure. Conversely, subsurface baits will go deeper with fluorocarbon. And it has minimal stretch, though more than braid. For fishing jigs, the fluoro not only lets light jigs quickly hit bottom, but also gives the angler a better feel for soft-striking fish, and more authority in setting the hook.
Important Contact Information Bobby Abruscato’s A-Team Fishing Adventures Mobile Delta and Dauphin Island (251) 661-7696 www.ateamfishing.com. The Slick Lure www.pureflats.com.
48 APRIL 2022 // GreatDaysOutdoors.com // 877.314.1237
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877.314.1237 // GreatDaysOutdoors.com // APRIL 2022 49
Night Vision Scope Attachment Pros and Cons
BY JOSH HONEYCUTT
50 APRIL 2022 // GreatDaysOutdoors.com // 877.314.1237
HUNTING
Everything has its advantages and disadvantages. Here’s a breakdown on night vision attachments
Night hunters, such as those who chase coyotes, hogs, and other non-game animals, often benefit from the use of night vision scope attachments. But, like anything, these come with a set list of pros and cons. Let’s dig into some of the advantages and disadvantages that these tools have to offer, and other pertinent information that follows. COMMON PLATFORM SETUPS Before diving into the specifics with night vision scope attachments, it’s important to determine if this is for you, or not. Generally, these attachments are crafted for AR10 platforms, which are generally .308 caliber or larger or AR15s, which are typically .223 (5.56). Both will have a rail atop the barrel, though. Regardless of which platform you use, most firearms are primarily used during the day, not at night. So, it’s important to consider this when setting up a rig. You must decide if it will be a nighttime-only firearm, or if it will be used during daylight and low-light situations. This will determine what type of night vision scope attachment you go with. NIGHT VISION SCOPE ATTACHMENT STYLE OPTIONS There are numerous styles on the market, but some tend to be more popular than others. “There are a bunch of options, but two are really worth talking about,” said Sean Kirk of Photonis Defense. “One is the static in-line optic where you are mounting it in front of or behind the scope on the rail. It’s static.” Basically, what that means is “if it’s on the weapon, it’s on until you decide to take it off”.. That itself can be a negative thing, especially if you plan to use the firearm during the day. It can be a hindrance because you can’t remove it without losing zero. “You’re stuck with night vision unless you completely remove it,” Kirk said. “Then, if you take it off and put it back on, your zero might be close, but will likely be off some.” But what might seem like a disadvantage to some is exactly why others love it. “It’s there. It’s in-line. It’s zeroed,” Kirk said. “Typically, it’s 877.314.1237 // GreatDaysOutdoors.com // APRIL 2022 51
Night Vision Scope Attachment Pros and Cons
Photonis Defense Vyper Monocular System
a bit hardier.” So, if you’re moving through brush, and it contacts things, you don’t have to worry about it quite as much.” “Then you have the flip-mount that flips out of line or back into place,” Kirk said. “But you want to make sure the one you’re using is robust, because you want to be able to flip it in and out and still be zeroed. Some options have loose tolerances. That’s why you want a name-brand option.” This system generally operates by clipping onto the rail in front of the daytime optic. Of course, the advantage this style offers is that it flips in and out. This makes it much easier and quicker to change between daytime and nighttime use. That said, the very nature of this advantage produces its disadvantage, which as Kirk mentioned, makes it inferior at holding zero. FIELD USE EXPERIENCE Great Days Outdoors Publisher Joe Baya is an experienced hunter, and he’s used the Photonis night vision offerings extensively. “People who are budget minded oftentimes want to get something they can use as a night vision monocular that can be attached in front of their scope,” Baya said. “There are a lot of options out there with mixed results on how they work in the field. “I really like this setup because you can quickly detach the monoc52 APRIL 2022 // GreatDaysOutdoors.com // 877.314.1237
ular, and use it as a monocular,” he continued. “You can reattach it quickly and use it as night vision. For guys who have that in mind, if they want one piece of night vision or thermal that does both, this is a good option.” Still, what about thermal? Hunters who have used it, generally love it. And those who’ve used night vision tend to love it even more. “You have more situational awareness,” Kirk said. “With thermal, you’re only picking out hot and cold spots. I’m only one guy, but I’ll pick night vision over thermal any day. Thermal is limiting to me. It’s just to detect heat. Night vision is much more versatile.” Furthermore, with night vision, you get more quality and performance for fewer dollars. “If you buy an expensive thermal system, you’ll have to spend in excess of $5,000 or $6,000 on thermal to outperform what you’d get from a night vision monocular that would cost about $3,500,” Kirk pointed out. Another benefit is that night vision can be used behind glass, whereas with thermal, you cannot see through glass. That said, one downfall to night vision is it’s less effective on darker nights. Baya says he’s hunted some really dark nights and was really impressed with how Photonis night vision monoculars performed.
Night Vision Scope Attachment Pros and Cons
What he likes almost as much? This setup can double great as a hunting and home defense combo. “Most guys already have an AR15 for more capacity and faster follow-up shots,” Baya said. “With a holographic sight, it’s a great home-defense weapon.” Still, when you clip on that monocular, it quickly becomes a nighttime hunting gun, too. Overall, Baya seems to concur that night vision is superior to thermal, and for several reasons. “The only time I’ve hunted with thermal is with a dedicated thermal scanner or scope,” he said. “I think that, most guys who night hunt, they end up with a weapon-mounted night vision or thermal. I’ve appreciated the weapon-mounted night vision. It’s easier on your eyes.” He also likes to pair a Photonis Vyper Monocular System with an EOTech holographic sight system (https://www.eotechinc.com/ holographic-weapon-sights) using Larue LT110 and LT133 Mounts. He has found this system to hold zero very well while quickly detaching and reattaching in the dark. (https://www.larue.com/ products/larue-tactical-eotech-qd-mount-lt110/ (https://www.larue. com/products/larue-tactical-pvs-14-mount-qd-lt133/) “If you’re shooting inside 150 yards, with that EOTech holographic and night vision monocular, you can do that,” Baya said. On the thermal end, scanners are great for looking over ag fields, clear cuts, and other open areas where you want to cover a lot of ground. With thermal, you can quickly pick up a heat signature.
THE PHOTONIS DEFENSE VYPER MONOCULAR SYSTEM Those who are looking to go with the static, in-line mounting option should consider the Photonis Vyper Monocular System (https://photonisdefense.com/vyper-tm/). It is a rugged option that’s great for hunters. According to Photonis, the Vyper monocular system achieves MILSPEC performance when paired with the Photonis Defense 4G image tube. Furthermore, when the Vyper is integrated with the Photonis Defense ECHO image tube, the system can even provide near MILSPEC performance at a commercial price point. This option is crafted with high-strength resin. It offers superior impact resistance. Its custom sleeve protects the image intensifier tube. It’s even tested for shock, submersion, drop, and vibration. “There’s the standard Viper,” Kirk said. “And if you’re running a D ring on the front lens, I’d recommend the titanium ORC. That’s a titanium ring that replaces a typical ring that’s made of polymer, which isn’t as sturdy. That will give you a hardened place to mount a ring-type mount that wraps around the device.”
However, Baya says thermal won’t pick up a limb. For example, if you’re hunting pigs, and you’re sitting on the ground, you won’t pick up brush between you and the hog. For most guys hunting in the South, you’re hunting in areas with brush. “All of that being considered, if I was buying something today, and had nothing, I’d buy night vision,” Baya said. “I’d buy a monocular and run it as an attached monocular [with] whatever optic is mounted.” Contact Information Photonis Defense Systems Photonisdefense.com www.photonisdefense.com/night-vision/)
Capt. Rutland Capt. Richard Richard Rutland 251.459.5077 251.459.5077 Inshore Fishing Guide Service Inshore Inshore Inshore Fishing Fishing Guide Guide Service Service
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Building a Cabin Step 3: Electric Utilities and Alternatives BY JOE BAYA
54 APRIL 2022 // GreatDaysOutdoors.com // 877.314.1237
LIFESTYLE In this, the third installment in our how to build a cabin series we’re going to delve into providing electricity to your cabin. In today’s world there are a number of different sources of getting electricity. There are the traditional hook-up options to your local utilities, solar and wind options and propane and/or gas-powered generators. There are basically three types of solar power systems. There is the purely grid tied system where you are producing power and selling it back to the grid reducing your electric bill. Then there is the grid tied with battery backup which your batteries are charged and if the grid goes down you are covered. Then there is off the grid system which is what we are talking about here. Sometimes the most accessible building site is not always the most aesthetically pleasing and the one with the “wow” It follows that providing electricity to that location may be expensive. Rob Ozols is the founder of Vulcan Solar Power out of Birmingham. Vulcan is a licensed general contractor and specializes in providing turnkey solar energy systems for businesses, homeowners and nonprofits in Alabama, Mississippi and Georgia. Ozols pointed out that running a powerline to your cabin, depending on its location and distance from a hookup location can carry a hefty upfront charge. In addition, once you get hooked up you will have a monthly bill as long as that service is in force. “Solar can be a great application for hunting cabins particularly remote ones and one of the biggest factors can be the cost of a utility power line. We’ve talked to folks who have been quoted anywhere from $10,000 to $40,000 depending on how off the beaten path your cabin is,’ Ozols said. “On top of that you have monthly bills for the rest of your life as long as you own that cabin even if you are not really using any power because they all have minimum meter fees.” Ozols explained that with a solar energy system along with a battery bank that can provide power whenever you need it and, aside from the cost of the system, that power is free, so you don’t have that monthly expense as you would with utility power. He also said that with a battery bank you are protected against grid power outages. ‘You are saving that big upfront utility cost and you have free power for basically the next 30 years or so,’ Ozols said. “With solar you are fully autonomous. If you have a power outage at the cabin and don’t visit it regularly and you have food in your freezer and everything unthaws, you are not only going to lose it but have a terrible mess.” Ozols also pointed out that since your hunting cabin is in a rural area you are probably going to be one of the last to get power back and a fix might take a couple of days or even longer. The reality is that if you are serious about going solar, you need to size what you are going to build and make sure that the solar system is big enough to satisfy what your energy needs will be. If you are in the South, then you obviously need air conditioning. You need to have heat, power refrigeration and a freezer and all the requisite appliances and electronic devices. The big question becomes how do you figure out what size of system you need to make everything work. According to Ozols it is all about the designing and sizing process of the system. The more care you take into building a new and more efficient hunting cabin your solar energy cost will be less because you can install a smaller system. When it comes to air conditioning, he recommends AC “Mini-Splits” which he feels are more efficient than standard HVAC units since they can be controlled by room. He also says that cabin builders need to focus on the most efficient appliances they can get, including lighting in order to minimize energy costs and allow for the smallest solar system possible while still providing adequate capacity. The bottom line is determining what the needs are and then defining how big the solar system and battery bank needs to be to make sure that there is a constant flow of energy into your appliances to keep everything operating at the level you want. To determine that Ozols does some calculations to determine what the
sunlight capturing options are during the worst days of the year and builds from there. Basically, it is evaluating a worst-case scenario. Ozols says that he looks at the shortest days of the year which are in late December and figures out how much energy the cabin needs or uses while it is vacant. Then he factors in two to three days of no solar production with the goal of making sure that your battery bank is sufficient to power everything. Then Vulcan determines whether the solar “array” (panels) is large enough to keep the battery bank 100% powered when you enter that two-to-three-day period with no solar production. “We never want to over-promise and under deliver and the last thing we want is to sell someone an off the grid system and then have them run out of power,” Ozols said. If you have an off the grid system then it makes sense to have a backup gas or diesel generator which is triggered by a “maximum discharge level” for the batteries. For example, if you set the level at 20% once that is reached the generator trips on, charges the batteries back up to 100% and then trips off. In terms of sizing a system Ozols uses a PVWatts model (developed by the National Renewable Energy laboratories) that can model out the production of a solar array and is based on the nearest weather station and ten years of historical data. Ozols noted that it can model the solar production hourly throughout the year and he factors in local weather in order to produce a custom solar production system. When it comes to the actual solar panels, they can either be mounted on the roof or ground mounts. Mounting the panels on the roof is the most cost-effective way but it depends on the circumstances, which might be that the cabin doesn’t have a good roof or you know you will be using a lot of power. “A rooftop is just a little less expensive because you’re not building the full ground mount structure, ‘’ Ozols said. “To go fully off grid, you’re probably going to need to go with a ground mount regardless just to be able to install enough solar panels.” In terms of roof direction, south is the best, east and west work fine but not a north facing roof. For ground mounts the area should be as close to the cabin as possible. For both, shade trees are a big “no-no” and the goal is to expose the solar panels to unobstructed sunlight from 10:00 am to 3:00pm every day. Ozols explained that unfortunately there is no “rule of thumb” in coming up with how large a solar system needs to be to provide adequate power for your hunting cabin needs. It is a matter of doing due diligence and identifying exactly what type of appliances and tools you have and what you want to do with all of them. “Our manufacturers and distributors have spreadsheets that we use for an off grid system, you really do want to spend the time on your due diligence, Ozols said. “We ask our customers to be as granular as possible, including the make and model of your microwave, your AC mini-split, tools, and total wattage of your lights. We want estimates of how frequently you’re going to use them, two days a week, three months a year as close as possible. Then we can model out how big the system needs to be.” Now the big question is at one point cost wise should you consider installing a solar powered system and approximately what is the cost range for solar? “When you’re potentially looking at $10,000 or more to run a line which sounds like a lot but there is a 26% federal tax credit for homeowners who install solar energy systems and that covers the cost of the batteries as well,” Ozols said. “The total system cost varies depending on how big the cabin is, how often you are going to use it, how much energy you think you need and it can get up to $30,000 or $40,000.” Contact Information Vulcan Solar Power, LLC 205-679-8666 www.vulcansolarpower.com 877.314.1237 // GreatDaysOutdoors.com // APRIL 2022 55
Fishing Tournaments near you Stanly County Big Bass Bounty
Format: A CPR (catch-photo-release) online “virtual” tournament in which bass are photographed on an approved measuring board along with an Event Identifier Card then uploaded via the Fishing Chaos App. Minimum length: 15.00” Number of Fish: 1 Number of Photos Scored: There’s no limit to the number you may submit; fish with lower scores are automatically replaced by those with higher scores. The score of your largest bass will remain on the Monthly and Overall Big Bass Leader Board at end of competition and your Best Five for the year long Leader Board. January 1, 2022 - October 31, 2022
MBKFA 2022 BATTLEGROUND - AOY & Citations 2022 AOY & Citation Standings.
January 1, 2022 - October 31, 2022
Baldwin Strong Tournament Series 2021-2022
The Baldwin Strong youth fishing tournament series is an online (CPR) catch, photo, release fishing tournament for anyone 18 years old and younger. A CPR tournament is a length-based tournament format quickly growing in popularity where participants capture a photo of the fish on a bump board or measuring device and submit the photo to the tournament. The Token is required to be visible (written on hand or paper) within all photos submitted (NO PHOTO EDITING ALLOWED) The tournament series will consist of 8 month-long tournaments from October 2021 to May 2022 with competitive categories and prizes each month with the Master Angler awarded at the conclusion of the tournament! All participants are encouraged to log every fish caught, as we will have random prize giveaways. October 1, 2021 - May 31, 2022
2022 Tripletail Championship
A six month long contest to find out who the best Tripletail fishermen around are. Multiple cash prizes as well as sponsor prize packages spread over several categories including the crowning of a Grand Champion. This is a catch and release tournament. May 1, 2022 - October 31, 2022
For a full list of tournaments, rules, and prizes, check out https://app.fishingchaos.com/tournament 56 APRIL 2022 // GreatDaysOutdoors.com // 877.314.1237
FISHING TOURNAMENTS NEAR YOU
Phins Fishing Classic
The inaugural Phins Fishing Classic, presented by Phins Apparel, the net proceeds will benefit United Ways across the 8-state region of this event. The goal of this tournament is to raise funds and awareness for United Way, as well as connect anglers to their local United Way chapter. The proceeds from this event will be divided proportionally based on how many anglers participate from each community. Participants of high school age and up are invited to join this event because it will be an NSR Reporting Qualifier! Phins Fishing Classic will be open to Fishing, with plans to expand nationwide in future years. Open Ticket: $35.00 Open Ticket with a T-shirt: $55.00 April 9, 2022 - May1, 2022
Crank 4 Bank on Lake Martin 2022
Crank 4 Bank is a bass fishing event held on Lake Martin and Lake Wheeler April 1st-July 4th where anglers purchase a $100.00 ticket to have a chance (after reg) to catch a tagged spotted, smallmouth (Wheeler) or largemouth bass worth $1,500 dollars along with a chance at being drawn to win one of two boats (a Bass Cat from Russell Marine or a Skeeter bass boat from Ashley’s Boat and RV) on Lake Martin, one boat (a Phoenix Bass Boat from Freedom Marine) on Lake Wheeler or a new Chevrolet Truck. When you purchase a $100 ticket and catch a tagged bass you win $1,500, a chance to be drawn to win one of the two bass boats on Lake Martin or one on Lake Wheeler, a new Chevy Truck (sponsored by Lake Martin Cabinetry and Alan Embry on Lake Martin or Lynn Layton Chevrolet of Decatur on Lake Wheeler) or $1,000,000 (sponsored by Point Broad Band and Big Fish Realty on Lake Martin or Alabama Mountain Lakes Tourism on Lake Wheeler) while also being eligible to win prizes through our first ever virtual fishing tournament that runs concurrent with Crank 4 Bank! You must have purchased a $100.00 ticket to fish the virtual tournament. Lake Wheeler on the Tennessee River in North Alabama will be added to the OGS Family in 2022! 200 tagged bass will be released in February and March of 2022 throughout Lake Martin (from up the river beyond Hwy 280 to Parker Creek near Kowaliga) and Lake Wheeler (from one end of the lake to the other) with a tag. April 1, 2022 - July 4, 2022
FishOPS CATCH5 Challenge Series
There are no minimum age limits; however all competitors under age 18 must be supervised at all times during competition by either a parent or guardian or by an adult designee. Waiver & Release form must be completed and on file with KBF for the current year. A month long CPR (catch-photo-release) online “virtual” tournament in which bass are photographed on an approved measuring board along with an Event Identifier Card then uploaded via the Fishing Chaos App. January 1, 2022 - December 31, 2022
2022 KBF April State Challenge
A month long CPR (catch-photo-release) online “virtual” tournament in which bass are photographed on an approved measuring board along with an Event Identifier Card then uploaded via the Fishing Chaos App. Minimum length: 12.00” Number of Fish: 5 Digital photos for any KBF State Challenge may be submitted only for bass caught from public-access waters for which the competitor is legally authorized to fish, and for which he complies with all regulations. Competitors in multi-state or multi-province groups may submit bass caught in either/any of the combined states or provinces, providing they comply with all regulations (e.g., have a valid fishing license, meet boat permit requirements) for the water in which they fish. ENTRY FEE $46.00 April 1, 2022 - April 30, 2022
For a full list of tournaments, rules, and prizes, check out https://app.fishingchaos.com/tournament 877.314.1237 // GreatDaysOutdoors.com // APRIL 2022 57
One of the keys to getting a balance between predator and forage is removing excess bass.
Understanding the Pond Stocking Process BY WILLIAM KENDY
58 APRIL 2022 // GreatDaysOutdoors.com // 877.314.1237
FISHING It is pretty much a given that most pond owners love to stock fish. Stocking fish is one of those things that many people see as a “silver bullet” or “magic pill”: to solve all pond issues. “Just give them more to eat and all will be fine” is the concept. Unfortunately, that really isn’t the case. Successful pond stocking is very much a step-by-step scenario. The timing, quantities and species that are stocked are all very important and the predator-prey metrics all affect the balance of the pond and the angling quality. Norman Latona is owner of Southeastern Pond Management and has been helping pond owners in the Southeast get more production and enjoyment out of their ponds for over 30 years. Latona says that there is a right and wrong way to successfully stock ponds and it is very much a process with identified steps. Those steps are basically the same for both a new and an established pond except that there are a few more wrinkles when it comes to stocking established ponds. MAKE SURE THE POND IS FISH FREE The one step common to both new and established ponds is that the pond needs to be fish free. It should be noted that in the southeast the dominant predator fish is the largemouth bass and while bluegills, shellcrackers and even crappie create their own angling opportunities, most of the forage fish are in place to supply bass with food. “There is no better opportunity to get the fish community established than start with a clean slate and build a fishery that is sustainable and dynamic,” Latona said. “There is a definite recipe that we want to follow.” Latona explained that to rid the pond of its fish he will use a seine net, electrofishing or utilize Rotenone, which is a chemical that quickly suffocates the fish. The chemical detoxifies in the water very rapidly in a matter of days or maybe even a week or two depending on how quickly the pond is filling. WHAT AND WHEN TO STOCK According to Latona, forage fish are stocked before one bass hits the water. Those include bluegill, shellcracker, threadfin shad, golden shiners, flathead minnows and this normally happens in the later fall all the way to early spring. The actual timing is dependent on when the pond has enough water to make stocking feasible. “A lot of these lakes are built or renovated in the summertime and they fill up in the fall and winter and typically we stock them in late winter and early spring to get that forage base established,” Latona said. “We are going to let that forage swim around predator free and eat, and grow and reproduce and then wake up, do it again all the way until the summertime, maybe as late as June and then we may think about stocking some bass fingerlings.” “We want to make sure that they have as many reproductive cycles as possible to create that grocery store for the bass fingerlings. We have found that early stocked bluegills and shellcrackers grow too big for the bass fingerlings but the fry that they are actively reproducing which is what matters for the fingerlings,” Latona added. One of the ways Latona hedges his spawning bets is to stock fathead minnows which don’t get very big but spawn early, as in February and March, which means chances are good these have spawned before bass are introduced. In terms of stocking ratios of forage to bass it really all depends on the objectives of the pond owner. Latona has found that in well foraged ponds bass will grow quickly and the result is a predator crowded lake and stunt-
ed bass because the food source has been greatly and quickly reduced. So SEPond started stocking more threadfin shad, fathead minnows and upped bluegills (because they spawn pretty much continuously) and started to manipulate the diversity of the species and the ratios. They would even reduce the bass stockings to get things into sync. “When we have customers who say they want a trophy bass pond we will stock 40 to 50 and maybe even more forage fish to one. Bass. We might stock several thousand forage to 50 bass per acre,’ Latona explained. “The idea is to make sure that not only today but 6 to 12 months from now there will still be plenty for the bass to eat.” “Once the predators are in the pond it is much more challenging,’ Latona added. You have to start stocking adult bluegill because if you stock fingerling bluegill they will get gobbled up so quickly it does almost no good. You have to stock adult threadfin shad and it becomes a more expensive proposition.” STOCKING ESTABLISHED PONDS Latona advises that for an established pond which is predator crowded, aside from eliminating all fish, you need to reduce the predator count and adding more forage without a reduction in bass is an expensive act of futility. The key is to get a balance between forage and bass. “It will break your wallet to try to overwhelm a pond with food. You can back up a semi-truck every month full of forage and those bass say ‘thank you very much’ and then just gobble them all up,” Latona said. “We have to take some of the mouths out of the herd and thin down the predators. When you do those things inconcert is when you will see results as in larger and more healthier bass.” HOW MANY AND HOW TO REMOVE BASS Latona points out that removing 40, 50 or even 75 pounds of bass per acre is not unheard of in order to get the pond in forage/predator balance. Fishing is the first remedy that comes to mind but that equates to a lot of angling effort and hours with not much gain. You can have a bunch of fisherman out there for a few days and catch some fish but it will be quite a challenge for them to haul in that much poundage unless it is a constant endeavor. For example, let’s say you have a pond with stunted bass in the 12-inch range, each weighing half or three quarters of a pound. To remove the minimum of 40 pounds you need to catch between 80 and 50 fish per acre. A more efficient way (but more expensive) of removing surplus predators is electrofishing where direct electricity flows between electrodes, one of which is an anode in the water. Fish are involuntarily drawn toward the anode and are stunned. They can be scooped up and the unwanted fish are harvested while the others are returned to the water unharmed. “When I’m fishing and catch a bass on a topwater bait, I always throw it back because that is the kind of aggressive fish that will hit an artificial bait and it is exactly what I want to keep. The great thing about electrofishing is that it is indiscriminate so it doesn’t just take the aggressive fish and hit those predator removal goes in much less time than fishing,” Latona concluded.
Important Contact Information Norman Latona Southeastern Pond Management www.SEPond.com 205-288-1371 877.314.1237 // GreatDaysOutdoors.com // APRIL 2022 59
How to Hook a Shrimp BY CAPTAIN BLAKE NELSON
Hooking the Head
Hooking the Tail
I like to hook the shrimp in the head and fished under a popping cork. You will see it has two dark spots, one right behind the eyes and the other a little way back. You want to insert the hook between them. You can either hook them horizontally (as shown) or from bottom up
I use this hook up when I’m fishing with light monofilament or a light fluorocarbon leader. Hook the shrimp in the hard area far back in the tail and push the hook through that hard ridge. That allows you to get good casting distance and allow the shrimp to pop around and do their thing. Hooking it horizontally in the tail keeps the shrimp alive a little longer and it is harder to fling them off the hook but you can also hook them up from the underside and push the hook through the hard ridge.
Hooking in the Middle
I hook a shrimp in the middle when the fish are biting great and it really doesn’t matter.
Important Contact Information Last Cast Charters Captain Blake Nelson www.captainblake.com (850) 499-3811 60 APRIL 2022 // GreatDaysOutdoors.com // 877.314.1237
Land Financing Interest Rates BY GREAT DAYS OUTDOORS STAFF
In January of 1904 United Bank opened its doors of a single office in Atmore, Alabama with the goal of serving the financial needs and becoming part of the communities of Southwest Alabama and Northwest Florida as only a community bank can. One hundred and eighteen years later, after enduring two world wars, the Great Depression, and countless other political and economic events, United Bank has grown from that single office to 20 branches and two specialized loan offices. It is recognized as one of America’s strongest banks by national bank ratings firms. That growth didn’t happen by accident. One of the pillars of that success is a commitment to exemplary customer service, community support, developing and utilizing new technology and providing financial products that serve the needs of the community and customers. The first loan United bank made was an agricultural loan in 1904 and they have a history of lending to the local ag community. United Bank offers competitive financing for farmland, pastureland, timberland, barns, greenhouses, farmhouses and other facilities required for successful agricultural operations. That includes purchase or refinance of real estate, farm homes (preferably those on 10 acres or more) and real estate improvements, all at competitive rates, financing options up to 30 years and flexible repayment options. Agribusiness Loans United Bank offers many options for Agribusinesses including long term fixed rate options up to 30 years and flexible payment structures. Purchases or Refinances United Bank can finance crop and livestock facilities including stockyards, grain elevators, cotton gins, peanut buying facilities, nurseries/
greenhouses (either wholesale or retail) and more. Equipment Loans No matter whether it is “do-it-all tractors’, plows to turn the soil, or harvesters to collect the crops, local farms need affordable access to machinery and equipment to operate efficiently. United Bank can tailor equipment loans that allow you to finance new or pre-owned equipment, up to 85% financing, at competitive rates, up to a seven-year term and repayment plans that account for the seasonal nature of your cash flow. Working Lines of Credit/Crop Production United Bank recognizes that whether you plant crops or raise livestock it takes upfront capital to cover the costs of doing business. That is why they offer special lines of credit that can help you with operating expenses to see you through to harvest time. UNITED BANK LOAN RATES Land: 7.50% up to 36 months* (land must be greater than 10 acres) *Annual Percentage Rates as of 3/4/2022. Subject to credit approval. Rates may vary based on credit history and terms. Rates subject to change without notice. Additional terms may apply. Ag equipment: 3.25% up to 84 months1 1Annual Percentage Rates as of 3/4/2022. Subject to credit approval. Rates may vary based on credit history and terms. Rates subject to change without notice. Additional terms may apply. United Bank www.unitedbank.com 877.314.1237 // GreatDaysOutdoors.com // APRIL 2022 61
BY HANK SHAW Photos by Holly A. Heyser
Turkey Black Bean Chili This recipe can be done in as little as an hour if you use the shortcuts, but I do prefer it cooked with the dry ingredients slow and low. Either way works well. Serve your chili with cornbread, rice or crusty bread. Prep: 20 mins • Cook: 1 hr •Total: 1 hr 20 mins Ingredients
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2 to 3 tablespoons bacon fat, lard or vegetable oil 2 to 3 pounds ground turkey 1 large white or yellow onion, chopped 1 large green bell pepper 4 to 6 cloves garlic, minced 2 teaspoons chili powder 2 teaspoons ground cumin 1 28-32 ounce of crushed tomatoes 1 quart turkey or chicken broth 4 to 6 dried guajillo or New Mexicans chiles, stemmed and seeded • 3 tablespoons paprika • Salt • 1 to 2 cups cooked corn kernels (1 cup dry is using) • 2 to 3 cooked black beans or 2 15-ounce cans GARNISHES • 1 cup shredded cheese • ½ cup chopped cilantro Instructions If you are using dried corn and dried beans, soak them in water overnight. The next day, you can either cook them with the chili, which will increase cook time to about 6 hours, or you can cook the corn and beans separately, which will take about 3 hours; the acid in the chili will drastically slow the cooking of the beans. 2. If you are using the dried chiles, about 30 minutes before you plan on starting the chili, put the chiles in a bowl and pour boiling water over them to rehydrate. 3. Heat the bacon fat or oil in a large pot like a Dutch oven over high heat and, when it’s almost smoking, add the ground turkey. Sear the turkey over high heat without touching it for a couple minutes, then stir and repeat that process until the meat is cooked and has some nice brown marks. 4. Stir in the onion and green pepper and cook, stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes. Stir in the garlic, chili powder and cumin and cook for 2 minutes more. 5. Pour in crushed tomatoes and stock and stir well. If you are using the dried chiles, buzz them into a puree in a blender and add to the chili. If you are using the paprika, add it now. Stir well and add salt to taste. 6. If you are using the dried corn and beans and want to cook them in the chili, add them now, along with another quart of water; it’ll cook down over time. Simmer the chili until the corn and beans are tender, which will take several hours. 7. If you are using fresh or frozen corn and canned beans, thaw the corn and rinse the beans. Let the chili simmer for 30 minutes, and then add the corn and beans and cook for another 15 minutes. Serve with the garnishes once everything’s nice and tender.
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62 APRIL 2022 // GreatDaysOutdoors.com // 877.314.1237
CAMPHOUSE KITCHEN
Chinese Duck Noodle Soup Prep: 30 mins • Cook: 30 mins • Total: 1 hr
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Ingredients BROTH • 2 quarts duck stock, or other dark stock like beef • 3 tablespoons sliced fresh ginger • 3 star anise pods (optional) • Soy sauce to taste SOUP • 1 pound Chinese wheat noodles • 2 pounds mustard greens • Salt • 1 roast farmed duck or 2 wild ducks • 3 green onions sliced thin • Sesame oil to taste Instructions Set the broth in a pot and bring it to a bare simmer. Add the ginger and the star anise if using. Add soy sauce to taste. 2. Trim the mustard greens to pieces about 4 to 6 inches long. Remove the thickest part of the stalks. 3. Bring another pot of water to a boil, and add enough salt to make it taste like the sea. Get a bowl of ice water ready. Boil the
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mustard greens for 2 minutes, then plunge into the ice water to chill. Remove the greens and lay them on a kitchen towel. Now boil the noodles in the same pot; usually this takes 5 minutes, but follow the instructions on the package. Move the noodles to the bowl of ice water to stop them cooking. When they are cold, drain off all the water. Carve the roast duck. Carve off the breasts, then slice them. Carve off the legs and wings. If using a wild duck, leave them whole. If using a farmed duck or goose, separate the thigh from the drumstick of the leg, and the wing at its joints. Pull off the crispy, lacquered skin from the carcass and cut into bite-sized pieces. To serve, put noodles in everyone’s soup bowl. Arrange some mustard greens on one side. Sprinkle with chopped green onion and drizzle some sesame oil on top. Arrange some duck, skin side up, on the opposite side to the greens. The moment you are ready to serve, ladle in the hot broth, taking care not to serve the pieces of ginger or anise pods.
Notes The elements of this soup, the broth and the duck, can be made and stored ahead of time. The noodles will hold, cooked, for about 1 hour if you need to do that. If you are holding them for a while, drizzle a little sesame oil on them to prevent them all from sticking. 877.314.1237 // GreatDaysOutdoors.com // APRIL 2022 63
NEW & Cool gear BY WILLIAM KENDY
Hawke Introduces New Vantage Binoculars
The all-new Hawke Vantage 8x42 and 10x42 binoculars combine both clarity and quality at a budget-friendly cost. These rugged binoculars feature multi-coated optics that are water and fog proof. The 8x42 model has a 367-foot field of view at 1,000 yards and weighs just 19.6 ounces while the 10x42 sports a 304-foot field of view and weighs only 19.4 ounces. Suggested Retail Price: 8x42- $159.00 10x42-$169.00 www.hawkeopics.com
RYO Announces Re-Designed Shooting, Glassing and Walking Stix
Constructed of high performance and lightweight 7075 aluminum the RYO shooting sticks offer both flex and strength all in a featherweight package. Designed to provide both a stable shooting and binocular rest, the Stix, when fully deployed has a 40-inch length and is strong enough to be used as a “walking companion”: to help you negotiate whatever terrain you run into on your excursions Suggested Retail price: $79.99 www.rickyoungoutdoors.com
Compact GPO Rangefinders for Turkey Hunters
The small and lightweight GPO RANGEGUIDE™ 8x32 and 10x32 range finding binoculars combine edge-to-edge clarity and precise ranging on targets from 6 yards to 1.75 miles and weigh about 24 ounces. The compact units feature a magnesium frame and the package measures just 5.4 inches tall by 4.9 inches wide, making them the most compact high-quality premium range finding binoculars in the world. Suggested Retail Price: Beginning at $1,157 www.gpo-usa.com
Fiocchi Announces New Golden Turkey TSS
Fiocchi Golden Tungsten Super Shot offers hard-hitting, deep-penetrating performance at long-range delivering dense shot patterns to drop the toughest toms in the most challenging conditions. It incorporates precision manufactured hulls and wads, the world’s best primers and carefully selected powder all blended with premium 18 g/cc tungsten shot for accuracy and terminal performance. Available in 3-inch shells in 12 and 20-gauge and .410 bore. Suggested Retail Price: N/A www. FiocchiUSA.com.
AG Composites Announces New Rifle Stock Camouflage Options
The new line of AG Composites firearm stock Rogue Camo patterns offers a variety of different color combinations for hunters who want to seamlessly blend in with their environment and for shooters who want to make a bold statement with their rifle. Rogue options include the Swamper, Erosion, Kodiak, Arctic, Glacier and Bengal in some striking colorcombinations.. Suggested Retail Price: N/A- depends on firearm www.agcomposites.com 64 APRIL 2022 // GreatDaysOutdoors.com // 877.314.1237
NEW & COOL GEAR FOR OUTDOORSMEN
Zamberian 1005 Hunter Pro Insulated Boot
The 1005 Hunter Pro Evo GTX RR WL is an insulated, 11-inch boot ideal for lateseason,big-game hunting in harsh and cold environments. Features include GoreTex lined, waxed full-grain leather uppers in a waxed Chestnut color, full rubber rand protection and exclusive Zamberlan Vibram Darwin outsoles. The Zamberlan Flex System) allows the uppers to break forward in comfort without compromising lateral stability around the ankle Suggested Retail Price: $475.00. www.zamberlanusa.com
Newport Vessels Offers New Kayak Trolling Motor
The Newport NK180S electric motor incorporates a 24-volt brushless motor and can propel most kayaks at speeds of more than five knots. It bolts to a 4-bolt Power-Pole style stem mount. This lightweight motor has 60 pounds of thrust, a shaft length of 19.7 inches and weighs 14.3 pounds. It can be used with two 12V lead-acid deep cycle batteries or a lighter-weight 24V lithium battery Suggested Retail Price: $799.00 www.newportvessels.com
Nukem “Grab and Go” Hunting Blinds
This blind’s stake free, one pole set up and breakdown allows hunters the option of a quick location change at a minute’s notice and a setup virtually anywhere. It’s adjustable height and easy folding design eliminates the headache associated with conventional ground blinds. Weighing in at only three pounds, it is not a burden to carry and its compact size ensures room in the pack. Suggested Retail Price: $109.99 www.nukemhunting.com
NEBO 800 Lumen Underwater Green Fishing Light & Dock Light
The NEBO Submerser 800C! underwater LED fishing light emits 800 lumens of green light from its waterproof 360 degree C*O*B design and is submersible up to 30 feet. The green light creates a food chain reaction by drawing in plankton and small baitfish. This in turn attracts the more coveted game fish you’re after, like bass, crappie, perch, trout, and much more. Suggested Retail Price: $59.99 www.nebo.acgbrands.com
New On-line “Shopping Mall” for Hunting Equipment
If you are looking to buy and sell used and even new hunting equipment, look no further. The Hunting Exchange is a new on-line service that can help you find what you are looking for, from boots to bows and arrows, decoys, optics, treestands and blinds and more. Plus, if you have hunting gear that you want to sell, listing and selling it online is easy and safe. For more information go to www.hunting-exchange.com.
877.314.1237 // GreatDaysOutdoors.com // APRIL 2022 65
Choosing Outdoors Pursuits Difficult in April
April is a difficult month for me. It’s difficult to decide which outdoor opportunity I want to enjoy. Do I go to Alabama’s abundant freshwater lakes, rivers and impoundments to enjoy some postspawn bass or crappie fishing? Or do I head to the woods and match wits with the wily wild turkey? And don’t forget that April usually brings a more stable weather pattern to our beautiful Gulf Coast, where speckled trout and redfish abound.
BY CHRIS BLANKENSHIP Commissioner of the Alabama Department of Conservation & Natural Resources
For those who love to chase turkeys, don’t forget about the changes made to the regulations that include a ban on the use of decoys for the first 10 days of the season, which starts later than previous years. The turkey season in Zone 1, which covers the bulk of the state, will be from March 25 through May 8. Zone 2, which covers northwest Alabama, will be open April 1 through May 8. The dates for Zone 3, which includes Talladega, Clay, Randolph, Clarke, Monroe and Covington counties, are November 20-28, December 11 through January 1, 2022, and March 25 through May 8, 2022. The daily turkey bag limit is one gobbler per person per day with a season limit of four, including fall and spring seasons. Having grown up on the Gulf Coast, I always look forward to speckled trout fishing in April.
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The stormy, windy weather that blows through in March has normally subsided, and the trout are starting to move into a warm weather pattern. Alabama is blessed with a variety of estuaries where trout can be found. If you start to the east, you’ve got Perdido Bay and the Gulf beaches, Wolf Bay and Bon Secour Bay to name a few. Then you’ve got one of the most impressive estuaries in the world in Mobile Bay. Keep heading west and you’ve got Portersville Bay, Grand Bay and the Mississippi Sound. A lot of my inshore fishing time has been spent near Dauphin Island and in the Mississippi Sound, especially Portersville Bay. In April, I can grab a bucket of live shrimp for bait and head for the grass beds, oyster beds and points in Portersville Bay and search for trout. I’ll hook the shrimp under a popping cork and make long casts into the shallower water. A quick snap of the rod makes the cork, with its concave head, produce a sound that mimics trout feeding on the surface. For other trout in the area, it’s like ringing the dinner bell. The thing about trout fishing is you have to cover water until you find the fish, and don’t stop until you do. If you haven’t had a bite in 10 minutes, you’re wasting valuable fishing time. Keep going to different spots until you find them.
FROM THE COMMISSIONER When you do find the fish, the action can get so hectic that you have to be mindful of the daily creel limit, which was changed in 2019 to six speckled trout per person. Also enacted was a speckled trout slot limit, which means anglers will be allowed to keep trout that measure between 15 and 22 inches total length with an allowance for one fish over 22 inches total length. Access to the water is an issue the Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (ADCNR) takes seriously, and improving that access is a long-term goal. To make getting to Portersville Bay and the Mississippi Sound easier, the ADCNR’s Marine Resources Division renovated the parking and shoreline areas at the Delta Port Marina located at 5080 Green Dr., in Coden on West Fowl River. Renovations to Delta Port included enhancing the riprap (rocky material) along the shoreline to improve erosion control, increasing the number of parking spaces and applying new aggregate (gravel) to all parking areas. This project was funded through the federal Sport Fish Restoration Program, which is supported through excise taxes on the sale of outboard motor fuel and fishing equipment and through the sale of state fishing licenses. Another of the ramp projects recently completed was the renovation of the Ted Middleton Boat Ramp in Mobile County. The boat ramp, located on Battleship Parkway directly across from the USS Alabama Battleship Memorial Park in Mobile, was renovated by the ADCNR’s State Lands Division with money from GOMESA (Gulf of Mexico Energy Security Act Program) funds. GOMESA funds are derived from a percentage of oil and gas leases in Gulf waters. Renovations at the Middleton ramp included replacing the boat ramp and improving the parking area. The existing docks were also expanded to accommodate additional vessels. The new docks are built with flow-through decking to better withstand damage from tropical weather events. This project is another example of Governor Kay Ivey and ADCNR’s commitment
to provide public access to our waterways and public lands in areas like the Mobile-Tensaw Delta, America’s Amazon, as well as Upper Mobile Bay. For those who enjoy fishing and boating in the Orange Beach-Gulf Shores area, access to the water is going to be greatly improved when the latest launch and parking facility opens this summer on the Alabama Gulf Coast on the Intracoastal Waterway near the Beach Express toll bridge. Governor Ivey was on hand last July to break ground on the project, which will include six ramps, 150 parking places and, in the future, family-friendly attractions, like walking trails, biking trails and environmental tourism. Alabama and Baldwin County shared the cost of the $16.9 million project with about $10 million coming from Governor Ivey and about $7 million from Baldwin County. As I said at the groundbreaking ceremony, this will be the biggest boat launch in coastal Alabama with parking when it’s all done. For more information about public boating access along Alabama’s Gulf Coast, visit www.outdooralabama.com/boating/coastal-alabama-boatingaccess. Be sure to purchase the proper fishing licenses before you head out this spring if you didn’t renew your licenses when the licenses expired on August 31. For Alabama residents, you’ll need the freshwater fishing license, which is only $14.20. For saltwater angling, residents will need the $25 annual license or a $10.40 trip license. And for those residents who choose to chase turkeys on private property this spring, a $28.50 all-game license is required. Don’t hesitate to head out into Alabama’s great outdoors this spring and enjoy our abundant natural resources and great hunting and fishing opportunities.
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Well, It finally Happened…CWD is in Alabama
The deer season of 2021-22 will be one that goes down in the history books. I can assure you that no one was more ready for February 10 to get here than I was. As much as the 2020-2021 deer season was one of the best years for me, this season will go down as one of the worst. Typically, each year, I’ll hunt quite a bit at the end of bow season and the first few days of firearms season when the swamp chestnut oak acorns are falling. Then, I’ll usually hunt the week of Christmas and New Year’s and finish things up hunting hard the last week of the season to finish filling the freezer.
BY CHARLES “CHUCK” SYKES Director of the Alabama Division of Wildlife and Freshwater Fisheries (WFF)
For some reason, I just couldn’t get motivated this year to spend much time in the woods during the “chestnut time.” So, I’d given myself a pep talk and hit the woods the Thursday afternoon before Christmas Eve. A little after 5:00, my phone started vibrating in my pocket. When I pulled it, my heart sank when I saw it was from Dr. Tony Frazier, the State Veterinarian with the Alabama Department of Agriculture and Industries (ADAI). A call from him at that time of day meant it wasn’t going to be good. As expected, he was reaching out to inform me that a CWD
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sample from a hunter-harvested deer in Lauderdale County had come back suspicious and ADAI overnighted it to the National Veterinary Services Laboratory in Ames, IA, for confirmation. I’ve gotten calls like this in the past that turned out to be a false alarm. But this conversation seemed different, and I had a feeling this was going to be the one. The morning of December 28 found several members of my staff and myself, as well as members of our legal and communications sections, sequestered in my conference room preparing for the inevitable. We updated the website, drafted a new regulation, prepared a press release, shot video segments for news stations to use, as well as a plethora of other tasks. Days turned into weeks and finally Thursday, January 6, I received the call confirming that Alabama had become the 28th state to become CWD-positive. After meeting with the Commissioner and finalizing our plans, I called an emergency meeting with my District 1 staff the next morning in Decatur. At 10 a.m. I informed our staff of the CWD-positive confirmation. For the next
FROM THE DIRECTOR four hours, we prepared for the upcoming weeks of the season and what would be in store for them. At 2 p.m. on January 7, the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources officially announced to the public that we had detected a CWD-positive deer in Lauderdale County. Keep in mind that we’ve been testing for CWD since 2002, drafted a CWD Strategic Surveillance and Response Plan (SSRP) in 2012, and have been preparing for this since MS and TN became CWD-positive in 2018, with a full-blown education program for our hunters. So, this was in no way a surprise to us, nor should it have been a surprise to hunters in our state. The first action of the new regulation was to establish a CWD Management Zone (CMZ) around the CWD-positive. The CMZ comprises a Buffer Zone (BZ) and a High-Risk Zone (HRZ). With the immediate need to obtain as many samples as possible, we removed the daily and season bag limits within the CMZ. All deer harvested within the HRZ were required to be sampled for CWD, and hunters who harvested deer within the BZ were encouraged to have their deer tested as well. Despite what the social media conspiracy theorists were saying, we had no intention of destroying the deer herd or deer hunting within the CMZ. We simply wanted to make it as easy as possible for hunters to harvest as many deer as they wanted to us with CWD samples. Thankfully, most hunters understood what we needed, and they responded extremely well. We received 922 hunter-harvested samples from January 7-February 10 within the CMZ. Of those samples only one other was positive. That’s the best-case scenario as far as I’m concerned. When TN found their first CWD-positive, they found dozens more within a few weeks. This proved to me that we’d accomplished our goal of educating hunters in ways to prevent artificially bringing CWD into Alabama. It also proved that we were looking for CWD in the right places and found it early in the
process. By following our SSRP, we’ve positioned Alabama to be in the best possible situation in dealing with CWD. Compared to the period from January 7 through February 10 last season, 226 more deer were reported through Game Check within the CMZ this year than last year. So, that disproves the conspiracy theorists’ accusations of killing all the deer in the CMZ. This additional harvest isn’t going to destroy the deer herd. Oh yeah, on the yearly Game Check statistics, we harvested 1084 fewer deer in the CMZ this year than last. At the March 5 meeting of the Conservation Advisory Board, the following recommendations were approved. 1. The entire CMZ will fall within the boundaries of Zone A for season dates and bag limits. 2. Baiting and supplemental feeding of wildlife will be suspended within the CMZ. The only exceptions are feed in an active hog trap or bird feeders located within 100 feet of a building or occupied dwelling. 3. Mandatory testing of harvested deer in the HRZ and BZ will take place during certain time periods. However, it is strongly recommended that all deer harvested within the CMZ be submitted for CWD testing. So now what? First and foremost is not to panic. CWD is not going to destroy the deer herd nor deer hunting within the CMZ. We have a well-developed plan to monitor and manage the impacts of CWD. We’ve collaborated with many other state DNR professionals and learned from their past and present experiences. Many of our agency personnel enjoy deer hunting just as much as you and have this highly valued resources’ best interest at heart to ensure its sustainability. So, just take a deep breath and go to www.outdooralabama.com to see all the latest information on CWD in Alabama.
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2022 Buyer’s Guide- Best Fishing Kayaks for the Money
Tim Perkins is having fun in his modern fishing kayak.
Once upon a time- and it’s not such a long time ago, really- an angler who wanted to get into kayak fishing had a problem finding a suitable kayak which had the features anglers need. Now, kayak anglers have another problem. The kayak fishing game has exploded in the past ten years and now so many companies design and build superb fishing kayaks that it is a big problem for anglers to search through the hundreds of fishing kayak offerings to find kayaks which suit individual needs. To be truthful, before an angler spends money on a kayak for fishing, it is much wiser for a potential kayak angler to spend some time studying the multitude of kayaks offered. Evaluation of specific fishing styles, locations, conditions and equipment can make buying a new fishing kayak a much easier and more enjoyable process. We have decided to help in the evaluation process by providing this quick buyer’s guide for new kayaks for anglers. This is by no means an exhaustive listing of all fishing kayaks out there. BY ED MASHBURN Photos by Ed Mashburn
By the way, we’re limiting this look at Best Fishing Kayaks to those kayaks that are paddled or pedaled. We’ll look at powered kayaks in another
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review soon. FEATURES TO KEEP IN MIND WHEN CHOOSING A FISHING KAYAK #1 - Seat There’s no element of any fishing kayak that contributes more to the pleasure or pain of a fishing trip than the seat. Some kayak seats are just plain bad. Some kayak seats are wonderful to spend long periods of fishing time in. The thing is, not every seat works for every angler. Before an angler spends money on a new kayak, he or she needs to spend some time actually sitting and paddling or pedaling in the seat. All modern fishing kayak seats are elevated to give a higher point of view for anglers, and all modern kayak seats should allow anglers to twist and reach gear stored behind the seat. There’s nothing short of actual seat time to tell an angler if a particular kayak seat is acceptable. #2 - Propulsion Traditionally, paddles are the means of moving kayaks, and many modern, very effective kayaks still rely on the paddle to move them. I prefer paddles in most applications. However, for those kayak anglers who plan on doing a lot of off-the beach fishing or long-distance trips, we would strongly suggest a pedal system. There are a multitude of pedal drive systems, and they all work well. Here
PADDLE FISHING again, a good trial period actually using a pedal drive system is the best bet. Pedal systems are good for open water, long distance travel for kayak anglers. #3 - Add-on Ability Each and every new fishing kayak is not a finished product. The basic kayak is just the starting point for most anglers. Most modern kayaks offer lots of accessory mounting rails where rod holders, video cam mounts, and fish finder mount arms can be firmly attached. It is impossible to have too many accessory mounting rails on a fishing kayak. Also, some fishing kayaks now come with fish finder transducer “ports” built into the hull. These built in ports can make life much simpler for anglers who want to use electronic gear on their kayak. #4 - Stand up Stability Although most of any angler’s time spent in a kayak will be seat time, there will come times when the angler will want to stand up and cast. This is a very important factor for inshore anglers to keep in mind. A standing position is much superior for sight fishing and reading water conditions. Many modern fishing kayaks have a lot of stability built into their hulls, but anglers will need to again try a kayak out to see if a standing position is comfortable and secure. Some kayaks work great for some anglers, and other anglers just can’t stand up in these kayaks at all. Standing up comfortably in a certain kayak is a matter of individual preference. BEST FISHING KAYAKS AROUND $500 No one would argue that a small, lower-priced kayak will do all of the things that a higher end kayak can, but there is much to be said for smaller, simpler, lower cost kayaks. I greatly enjoy my cheap little boats that I can toss in the back of the truck and go to some small water and go fishing. Cheap and small are not always bad things. Pelican Sentinel 100X Angler- This open cockpit kayak is one of the smallest kayaks to offer stand-up stability for sight fishing. The multi-chine hull is stable and moves easily under paddle There are several attachment points for accessories. This is a 9 foot six inch long hull with a light weight of 44 pounds. Suggested Retail Price: $399.00 Perception Kayaks Sound 9.5 - This is a sit-in cockpit kayak which offers anglers a great deal of security without being cramped. The seat back is adjustable, and there are several mounting points for add-ons. This little kayak is 9 feet, 6 inches long and weighs only 38 pounds for easy transport to the water. Suggested Retail Price: $489.00 Feel Free Move Angler - This smaller kayak is best for younger anglers or small adults. It has a stable tri-hull design, and the Wheel in Keel makes moving the kayak from car to water much easier. This 9 foot long mini-kayak weighs 42 pounds, so it is very easy to move. Suggested Retail Price: $579.00 BEST FISHING KAYAKS AROUND $1000 In this price range, we get into some excellent, very effective and comfortable fishing kayaks. Kayaks in this price range offer lots of equipment, lots of options, and they can be superb fishing craft for not too much money. Perception Pescador Pro - This very reliable and stable kayak has several storage areas, and there are many accessory mount options. The seat in
the kayak is all-day comfortable, and the hull design makes entry and exit for anglers very easy and secure. This kayak provides solid stand-up fishing, and there is good front and rear storage. This kayak is 12 feet long and weighs 64 pounds. Suggested Retail Price: $979.00 Old Town Topwater 120 Angler - A very stable double U hull construction and universal transducer mounting system makes this kayak a good fishing machine. The ElementAir seat with high and low positioning makes long fishing days pleasant. There are large storage tanks and stand-up fishing stability built in. This kayak is 12 feet long and weighs 85 pounds. Suggested Retail Price: $1,149.00 Wilderness Systems Tarpon 105 - This reliable kayak has excellent stand-up stability, and the Phase 3 Air Pro seat makes long days on the water much more comfortable. There is a large rear storage area. Slide Trax accessory rails allow plenty of gear additions to the basic kayak. This kayak is rudder capable. At ten feet, six inches long and 55 pounds, this kayak is easy to transport to launch sites. Suggested Retail Price: $999.99 BEST FISHING KAYAKS OVER $1000 Here we’re getting into the top end of kayaks for fishing, and we’re getting into some money spent, too. These kayaks should be, and they are, superior in most ways. Hobie Mirage Pro Angler 12 - Here’s the real deal for those who want the top-end fishing kayak. This kayak features Mirage Pedal Drive kick-up fins propulsion, and the elevated Vantage ST seat is excellent. The Hobie H-Rail system makes accessory addition quick and secure. The hull has a built-in Guardian Transducer Shield for fish finder application. Of course, this kayak is very stand-up stable for anglers. At 12 feet long and 105 pounds, this is a big, solid kayak. Suggested Retail Price: $4,299.00 Wilderness Systems Recon - This wonderful fishing machine can be ordered in either paddle or pedal configurations, and it is stand up stable for sight fishing. There are rod storage troughs for secure rod placement in transport. The Air Pro ACE seat is quickly adjustable to high or lower positions. There’s a large rear tank well for storage, and there’s a rear-mounting transducer area built in. The Helix PD Pedal Drive makes this a big-water kayak. This kayak is 12 feet two inches long, and it weighs 95 pounds. Suggested Retail Price: $1,199.00 Hobie Mirage Revolution 13 - This kayak is a great offshore big water fishing kayak. It offers Mirage pedal drive and kick-up fins, Vantage CT seating, and lots of front and rear storage. The Hobie Revolution is a very good long-distance, rough water boat. This boat is 13.5 feet long and weighs 88 pounds. Suggested Retail Price: $3,199.00
Important Contact Information Feel Free Kayaks 828-774-5511 info@feelfree.com
Hobie Kayaks 1-760-758-9100 info@hobie.com
Old Town Kayaks 800-343-1555 feedback@oldtowncanoe.com
Pelican Kayaks 1-888-669-6960 Pelciansport.com
Wilderness Systems Kayaks 888-525-2925 wildernesssystems.com
Perception Kayaks 888-525-2925 Perceptionkayaks.com
877.314.1237 // GreatDaysOutdoors.com // APRIL 2022 71
Gulf Coast Fishing Outlook
April means big cobia along the northern gulf coast! Photo courtesy Tradition Fishing Charters
There’ll be a lot of big swings this month along the northern gulf coast. Many migratory species have arrived and more areto arrive as we progress through spring. April weather can go from extremely pleasant to torrential downpour, so be ready for anything. MISSISSIPPI This month will be an active one along the MS coast. With a little luck, it’ll be a bit more dry than the previous. “Last spring was extremely wet,” says Captain Bill Hancock of Reel Outlaw Charters. “Call me an optimist, but I feel like the weather is getting back to normal, and if that’s the case, we can expect a fantastic spring bite.”
BY CHRIS VECSEY
Hancock says the action will be great throughout the sound and out to the barrier islands, with a variety of targets to choose from.
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“Speckled trout will be feeding heavily as we approach the spring spawn.” says Hancock. Jerkbaits, topwaters and a variety of soft plastics will produce trophy trout throughout state waters. As for live baits, shrimp and croakers will be top choices. While running the sound, keep an eye on tidelines, crab trap floats and channel markers for the arrival of tripletail. These tasty brawlers will begin to flood inshore waters through the month and the action only gets better as it gets hotter. A live shrimp under a float or freelined near a drifting fish will usually draw a strike. Along the channels, spanish mackerel and bluefish will be a common catch and can often be found while crashing bait on the surface. They will strike just about anything small and shiny like spoons, got-cha plugs and
FISHING OUTLOOK other similar baits. Hancock says these species will bend rods many others are tough to find and can provide great action on light tackle.
sheepshead will still be in their usual haunts around inlets and jetties but many will move into deeper waters around wrecks and deeper structures.
April is still a prime month to hit the harder structures and reefs inshore. “There will be plenty of sheepshead and black drum around piers, inshore reefs, rigs and pretty much any substantial structure right now,” says Hancock. Live shrimp or fiddler crabs will get the job done.
Along the flats and boat docks, presenting baits and lures tight to structure will produce plenty of slot redfish, speckled trout, flounder and mangrove snapper. Live bull minnows and finger mullet are hard to beat, although artificial lures like the DOA shrimp, vudu shrimp and vudu mullet will take their fair share as well.
“You really can’t go wrong this month as long as the weather cooperates.” says Hancock. “I’ll spend a lot of time capitalizing on the variety this month. It’s a great time for both conventional and fly anglers alike with so much action.” ALABAMA April is one of the very best months to surf fish off the Al coast. Pompano will still be running in very strong numbers along with whiting, flounder, redfish and others. Big jack crevalle will start appearing in large packs waiting to smash topwater poppers and bigger spoons and other lures. Incoming tide is generally best on the beaches this month. A little wave action is preferred on most days but be ready to adjust weight sizes on days when the surf kicks up. Just offshore, king and spanish mackerel will offer a lot of fun for the trolling crowd. Pulling spoons and small lipped plugs at speeds of 4-5mph will keep rods bent. Add a planer/spoon combination when the fish are running deeper. Scamp and other shallow water grouper species come back into season this month. Hit natural bottom areas in 180-300ft for the best action with these prized bottom fish. Live baits like pinfish and cigar minnows are best but these fish will also hit a variety of frozen baits and jigs. Wahoo will be a reliable target offshore around the rigs, 50 and 100 fathom lines and around the Okaloosa County FADs. Pulling mixed spreads of ballyhoo/ilanders, various deep diving and lipless plugs will score with ultrafast wahoo. Look for areas with temperature breaks and color changes as well as debris. Subscribe to a satellite imagery service like Hilton’s Realtime Navigator to monitor offshore conditions. This helps save time by pointing the way to the right areas. FLORIDA This time of the year is always highly anticipated as countless panhandle anglers await the big push of cobia along the sugar-white beaches. Captain Miles Howell of Tradition Fishing Charters is always on the ready for the incoming cobia. “I like to get out on days with a light easterly wind and start my search in waters from just outside the second sandbar, to 60ft or so.”
Offshore, Triggerfish will be open and there will be plenty of action with these bait stealers. Two hook rigs baited with small pieces of squid or bonito will get the job done. “I like to fish natural bottom areas for triggers because in addition to the triggers, we will score many bonus vermilion, lane and mangrove snapper.” says Howell. Plenty to do this spring. Enjoy the time before the summertime crowds hit.
Important Contact Information Reel Outlaw Charters Captain Wild Bill Hancock 601 807 5811 www.reeloutlawcharters.com Tradition Fishing Charters Captain Miles Howell 850 324 4464 www.traditionfishingcharters.com Hilton’s Real-Time Navigator www.hiltonsoffshore.com
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These fish will be moving from east to west and may travel alone, or in packs of 20 fish or more. They are also notorious for hanging out under sea turtles, manta rays and large pieces of debris. “ I rig my baits on 20-30lb spinning rods and use live baits like eels, pinfish or small grunts.” says Howell. Hook sizes depend on the size of the baits being used. Many different styles and colors of jigs will work as well. Cobia numbers have declined over the past several years, so guides like Howell now heavily promote catch and release for smaller cobia, even with legal fish. Inshore, sheepshead will still be around although their numbers will dwindle as the month goes on. “I keep my rigging simple for sheeps, using a #4 kahle hook for my baits of live shrimp and fiddler crabs.” says Howell. Most
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Pier & Shore Fishing Outlook
Chris Eaton landed these nice pompano in Orange Beach, AL last April.
With so much diversity and numerous opportunities for shorebound anglers, is there any wonder April is a most favored month to fish? Spring gets into full swing as April rolls in along the Emerald Coast. Boatless anglers can take advantage of some varied opportunities presented by warming water temperatures from the upper 60s though the lower 70s by month’s end.
BY DAVID THORNTON Photos by David Thornton
This is a “time of plenty” with more pelagic species arriving daily to plunder the abundant bait fish this month, and they begin congregating along the beach swash zone to grow and mate. Colonies of these thin oval shelled crabs draw pompano and gulf kingfish (“whiting”) closer to shore, within reach of anglers and shorebirds alike. In fact, a wide variety of feeding sandpipers, willets and sanderlings often indicate the presence of a ready made bait source for
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surf fishermen. Now is the time to dust off that old sandflea rake to earn its keep. Warmer weather means anglers can shed heavier clothes and even wade fish though our weather pattern can still be quite active, especially earlier in the month when ‘spring storms’ may rage. But that just “stirs the pot” every few days for hungry schools of pompano. They prowl the shallows and sandbar drop offs for food as they fatten up for their spawn beginning around the mid-month full moon (16th). Coincidentally, a NEAP tide will occur late that week. But the days before and after that will have the strongest tidal movement of the month, thus likely the best surf fishing.
FISHING OUTLOOK The spring run of pre-spawn pompano is renowned as the best time of year to get a relatively easy limit of these tasty silver sided jacks from the white, sandy beaches. Most anglers traditionally use medium to medium heavy rods, 8 to 12 feet in length to reach the outer sandbar. Weights in the three to five ounce range are needed to fling their double dropper pompano rigs over 60 yards. But this time of year, as the highest tides now occur near midday, pompano often feed closer to shore. This makes them much more accessible to standard seven foot long rods and medium class spinning tackle. Lighter line and smaller weights and rigs can be used to maximize what I like to call “the FUN FACTOR”!
angler’s blood pumping in the early morning light than the boiling strike of a topwater plug being blasted by a hungry trout. Each angler seems to have their favorite brand and color of topwater plug, and the fish seem to respond to them all at times. Once the surface action fades away when the brightening rays of the sun illuminate the shallow beach troughs, the action may shift into slightly deeper water a short distance away. Look for deep breaks in the sandbar, channels or drop-offs where the water plummets to six to nine feet. These are haunts where the trout will regroup and hunker down until the late afternoon dinner bell rings for them. That’s when they again move back onto the nearby shallow flats and sandbars to feed.
More stealthy Fishfinder (“Carolina) rigs, single drop rigs or Mortician rigs are much more effective with these lighter tackle presentations. Also a lot less weight is needed to cast shorter distances. Whiting are still the most common by-catch, though redfish, drum, bluefish and an ever increasing host of pelagic species such as blue runner and ladyfish are likely.
These deeper water fish can be reached with suspending plugs (like MirrOdine MR-18) or with weighted soft plastics (like Fin-S and Zoom fluke). A quarter ounce jighead is average weight, but heavier may be needed in breezy or choppy conditions. Water clarity along the beaches is a big influence on the bite, so windy or rough days that stir up bottom sediments are often not as productive.
PIERING INTO SPRING The options for pier anglers are even more diverse through April as numbers of migrating Spanish mackerel increase. In addiktion, this month is typically the high point of the cobia migration, for what it’s worth nowadays. Though only a pale shadow of what it once was, this parade of large, brown, flat-headed pelagics is still a draw for many dedicated pier fishermen. They spend weeks on the panhandle piers, peering eastward with their nine foot long medium heavy action rods at the ready with brightly colored three ounce jigs dangling on 30 to 65 pound test line. Cobia do get quite large, up to 100 pounds or more, though a third that weight is more typical. Huge schools of mature jack crevalle in the 20 to 30 pound class run the same route, making an easy distraction for anxious young cobia “jig slingers”. King mackerel weighing 15 to 30 pounds show up in more abundance as the month wears on and the water gets warmer. They push shoals of baitfish like “cigar minnows” (Round scad), “herring” (Spanish sardines), and “LYs” (Scaled herring) before them, and corral those around the piers. Little tunny (called “bonita”), bluefish and ladyfish add to the melee with such yearly consistency as to draw anglers from all across the country wanting to partake in the best fishing season of the year. Even closer to shore, seemingly endless schools of one pound blue runners mix in with Spanish mackerel, ladyfish and bluefish to provide hours and hours of rod bending action to anglers casting sabiki rigs, small jigs, spoons and plugs. With so much diversity and numerous opportunities for shorebound anglers, is there any wonder April is a most favored month to fish? WESTWARD, HO Even farther westward, along the Alabama and Mississippi Gulf coasts, shorebound fishing is re-surging throughout April. The speckled trout spawn cranks up, as the sheepshead spawn winds down. Shifting action from coastal piers and rock jetties to the beach troughs, where schools of spawning speckled trout seek refuge from prowling predators like sharks and bottle-nose dolphins. Beach run trout can be caught on a variety of baits and lures, but the overall favorite has to be topwater plugs. Nothing gets an
Of course, fishing live shrimp is almost always a sure fire method for catching speckled trout this month, but demand often exceeds supply. Also quality may suffer because the (brown) shrimp are growing so fast and shedding often. But a well placed live shrimp, or viable imitation is rarely turned down by these hungry trout. Light or medium light tackle is more than a match for the typical 1 to 3 pound specks, and even the occasionally encountered over slot trout, redfish or sheepshead that may weigh twice that much. Sifting through all the shorebound fishing options April offers is often the most difficult part of having a great day outdoors.
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877.314.1237 // GreatDaysOutdoors.com // APRIL 2022 75
REGIONAL FRESHWATER Fishing Outlook BY ED MASHBURN Photos by Ed Mashburn
All across the South, crappie will be biting in April.
ALABAMA WATERS
fresh cut shad will be the best bait.
“It’s all going to be wide open. Everything will be in full-blown spring patterns,” says Joe Dunn of Dunn’s Sports in Thomasville.
LAKE WILSON/PICKWICK Mouths of major creeks like Shoal, McKernan, Six Mile, and Big Nance will all hold staging fish this month. In the main lake fish should concentrate along the base of bluff lines relating vertically to blow downs and chunk rock where present. Some fish will always be on or near the bottom, but look for fish to start suspending in the water column as the water warms throughout the month. A good way to catch these cats is to use a 2/0 or 3/0 Mister Twister weighted worm hook to medium heavy action spinning tackle and bait with shad, skipjack, or chicken livers and cast toward bluff and allow it to slowly fall to the bottom. If live crayfish can be found they are deadly for big blue cats fished this way.
MILLER’S FERRY For best fishing regardless of the target, anglers will want to concentrate on the sloughs such as Gold Mine, Marina Slough, and Hog Pen Slough where the water will warm faster than the rest of the lake.
For bass anglers that means they’ll want to work the banks at Miller’s Ferry using spinnerbaits, buzzbaits and chatterbaits. We can’t go wrong if we use white and chartreuse, white and blue, and Joe’s favorite color combination, white and gold in the spinnerbaits. Bass anglers can also find good bass by flipping jigs in the growing grass mats. Crappie anglers will also want to be looking at shallow water. Crappie will be on the spawning grounds in the shallows, and anglers can work the banks with live minnows under floats. Dunn says that vertical jigging around the stumps will produce lots of slabs in April- look in four to six feet of water. Catfish will be hot too. All of the shallow flats will have catfish in April and jugs with one to foot long lines will work well. For best catfish catching, 76 APRIL 2022 // GreatDaysOutdoors.com // 877.314.1237
“We’ll have a potentially wider range of water temperatures this month. Water temperatures will begin in the low to mid 50’s and by month’s end should reach the 70-degree mark. Catfish will start migrating into the mouth of the deeper sloughs early this month.” said Captain Brian Barton. a long-time Tennessee River lakes angler and guide. Tops and just off the river ledges will be good spots to target. The mouths of Indian, Second, and Bear Creeks will hold plenty of catfish this month. Look for these fish in anywhere from 15 to 35 feet of water. On the upper end of Pickwick, near the dam, look for concentrations of cats behind wing walls and rock piles that run horizontally along the lake. The barge canal below the dam is an excellent place to fish late in the month. Last
FISHING OUTLOOK year during the last weekend of April, we took 47 cats on jugs in less than five hours. For those who like to jug fish, set jugs 8 to 12 feet deep and bait with shrimp, shad gut, or cut bait. The gravel bar at Pond Creek will load up with spawning channel catfish this month. To target these fish, anchor upstream and along the edge of the gravel bar. LAKE EUFAULA ”Bass will be found near brush piles on the river edges, and anglers will need to look for grass growing rapidly,” predicted Captain Sam Williams from Hawks Guide Service. Soft plastics rigged Carolina style and lipless crank baits will pull these bass in. They will be found in good groups near the mouths of creeks, and the hydrilla should be growing and creating thick mats of vegetation which will hold better bass. Anglers should look for the fresh green color, and if this new grass is near other structure such as blowdowns or old lily pad stems, it deserves some time and attention. The catfish bite will be getting very good in April when the whisker fish will be going to the spawning beds. Live bait or big chunks of cut bait will work either on rod and reel or jug fishing. “They’ll be up in creeks- look for them in weeds and pads.” He tells us.” A little caution is in order when pulling on jug lines which seem to have big catfish on them,” Williams said. For some white bass and hybrid action, anglers can use lipless crank baits and spinner baits in silver or white colors near creek and river channels where the fish will either be heading upstream to spawn or downstream back to the main lake body after they’ve completed spawning. April will also see bream of all kinds starting their annual move to shallow water for bedding. Try live bait fished on the bottom around shoreline cover for April bream action. LAKE WEISS Weiss is famous for its crappie fishing and April is a great month to get in on the crappie bite. Crappie will be shallow around brush piles, piers, and stump rows. Crappie will be spawning the whole month, so the fishing and catching will be hot if the fish can be located and the angler puts the right bait before them. Lots of two to two and half pound crappie will be located and caught in April. “Locating the new growth water vegetation is a matter of high priority for anglers looking for the best bass fishing. If you can find some fresh green- a mix of old and new grass- find the grass with the yellow-tipped flowers- the bass like that better,” advised Captain Lee Pitts who has fished and guided on Weiss for many years. Spinner baits, jigs in 3/8 oz. weights or soft plastic lizards will all work well in the springtime grass. For the spinner baits, go with white or white/chartreuse colors, and just slow roll it across the bottom. Another good April technique is to let the spinner bait sink, and then slowly hop it back. When the spinner bait reaches the end of the grass, just let it “die” and sink. Often the bass will take it as it falls toward the bottom. Jig colors which work well on Weiss bass are black and blue, and green pumpkin colors. The Zoom Super-Chunk is a very good addition to the jig. Pitts said that location is important in April and that the better fish will be way in the back of pockets. ”We like to throw a cork with a jig under it. A Southern Pro jig in 1/32 oz
weight in dark colors such as black/chartreuse and gape and chartreuse are great on cloudy days. On brighter days we’ll go with black and red, blue/sour grape, and white/chartreuse colors,” Pitts said Fishing the cork and jig combination for big slabs is pretty easy if you don’t like to work too hard and too fast. Pitts advises crappie chasers. ”Throw the jig with a three-foot leader. Ease it eight to ten inches and stop. Let it swing and try to shake it under the jig. Work this rig near cover.” Pitts reminds anglers,” Most all flats on Weiss have stumps, holes, something that’s holding the fish. Find the structure and you’ll find the fish. We’ll keep working these spots,” Pitts advised. MOBILE DELTA Tournament angler and fishing guide Wayne Miller from the Mobile-Tensaw Delta Guide Service stressed that since the Mobile Delta is so massive anglers need to note the water levels and fishing results of every excursion. “In the Delta, pay attention to the water level. Keep a log book of some kind to note water levels and fishing results. Then you can come back in a later year and have a good idea of how to start. It’s critical to pay attention to the river stages. The Mobile radio station gives river stage information every week,” Miller said. According to Miller, the Delta sees waves of spawning fish, so in April, there will still be some fish spawning and other fish post-spawn. A lot of bass will be up in shallow water in April, and they’ll stay there for quite a while after the spawn is done. Miller also said hat spinnerbaits, crankbaits, swim jigs, chatterbaits all work well, but blade baits are the most common lure thrown in April. Match the size of the spinnerbait to the baitfish present- and this means the spinner may need to be quite small. If the water is still high and stained, a larger, noisier spinner may work better. A little hint- a spinnerbait with a red blade can work very well in April. “In April, it’s a matter of trial and error. You may need to change the color and size of the lure to find what the bass want. Size can be very important,” he added. LAKE GUNTERSVILLE Bass in Guntersville will often make a bed under the grass mats as protection and cover. This can help anglers locate bedding fish. Any green grass needs to be worked- lizards, worms, chunks, creature baitsall will work when they are dropped into or below the green grass. Try the soft plastics as trailers for jigs in 3/8 to ½ oz weights. Black/blue and peanut butter and jelly (purple with brownish steaks) are good colors for the bedding bass. Rattle-L-Traps in red colors if murky water and Texas Shad patterns if clear will work well. “Fish the sloughs off the main river and the shallow flats off the main rivers. The Goose Pond Marina area and the Mud Creek areas are both very good for April bass,” predicted Mid-South Bass Guide Service guide Jake Davis. Crappie anglers looking for good slab action will find crappie on the beds on flats, and they will often be in the same general area as the spawning bass. “I’ll find flats with crappie spawning, and the bass will be eating the crappie. It’s totally possible for anglers to fish the crappie for a good mess of fine-eating slabs, and then fish big silver crank baits or spinner 877.314.1237 // GreatDaysOutdoors.com // APRIL 2022 77
Regional Freshwater Fishing Outlook
baits on the edges of the crappie beds to catch some big bass which have been dining on the crappie,” Davis said. “To catch the crappie, try live minnows or small plastic-body jigs worked very slowly across the bedding areas.” Bream anglers should start to find bluegills and redears moving into shallower water, and don’t be surprised if bream start to show up while anglers are working crappie beds. Bream will take small crappie jigs, but crickets and red worms fished on light tackle will work best. SIPSEY FORK Randy Jackson of Riverside Fly Shop on the Sipsey Fork tells us that April should begin some of the best fly fishing of the entire year. “April is the best hatching month of the year, and in April we usually have a good caddis fly hatch usually, but it’s all dependent on the weather. Anglers need to watch the weather and look for days that are not too humid and are calm and cloudy- these are the best dry fly fishing days,” he said. “Last year, the Sipsey Fork had some great fly hatches all summer from April to August.” When the bugs are not hatching off, anglers can use subsurface nymphs like the classic Hare’s Ear in sizes 14 to 16 for good results. For those anglers who have not mastered a fly rod yet, lots of Sipsey Fork rainbows can be caught on ultra-light spinning gear. ”Use a tiny swivel with a light leader and a fly. Put a tiny lead above the swivel and a float above that. The fly moves through the water naturally.” Four-pound test line on the ultra-light rig is needed, and fluorocarbon line works best,” Jackson said. Skipjacks may very well be up the river near the dam in April, and they are a blast on light tackle. Anything tiny, shiny lure or fly will work for the jumping skipjacks. Anglers can expect to find nine-inch rainbows quite often, and there are some fine twenty-inch hold over rainbow trout downstream.
FLORIDA WATERS
WAKULLA/ WACISSA RIVERS Both the Wakulla and the Wacissa hold good populations of feisty Suwanee bass, the Florida equivalent of smallmouth bass, and these little battlers are a lot of fun to catch. Bass anglers will want to throw frogs and speed worms for the big bass, and early and late in the day Zara Spooks are very good for the topwater bite.
Long time area angler Bill Goodroe of Wilderness Way in Shadeville, Florida advised anglers that both of these lovely spring-fed rivers will be very good for post spawn bass fishing in April. “The bass are off the beds now, but they will be feeding,” he said. For anglers who go after truly big bass, the Wacissa River down toward Goose Pasture is home to some very big- ten pound plus- bass. Last year, a fifteen-pound bass was taken in April from the Wacissa. Panfish will be on fire in April. Bream of all kinds will rise to dry flies, poppers, and foam body bugs. Live bait will always work. Goodroe said, “They’re all over the place in April.” Anglers are reminded that Wilderness Way runs chartered guided fishing trips, and these trips are the best way to learn the better fishing spots on 78 APRIL 2022 // GreatDaysOutdoors.com // 877.314.1237
the rivers, and how to fish the spring-fed streams. LAKE TALQUIN The bass will still be spawning in places, and the post-spawn pattern will be good. There will be shad spawning by then in the shallows. Jerk baits matched to the small size of the shad fished around shallows will be very good in early mornings. Any of the lake’s shallows can hold great bass in April,” said Jeff DuBree of Whippoorwill Lodge on Lake Talquin. Bream will be very good in April here. Bluegill will be spawning heavily and anglers using crickets and worms can fill an ice chest. Also, Jeff DuBree recommends anglers try small Beetle Spins in black with gold spinners for great bream action. Some big redears will be caught in April in deeper water- say 8-10 feet around sandy humps in the main lake. Catfish will be quite good in April for anglers who use stinkbaits.
Important Contact Information Joe Dunn Dunn’s Sports 334-636-0850 33356 Hwy 43, Thomasville, AL Captain Sam Williams Hawks Guide Service 334-687-0400 Brandon Jackson/ Randy Jackson Riverside Fly Shop 17027 Hwy 69N Jasper, AL 256-287-9582 Riversideflyshop.com Captain Lee Pitts 256-390-4145 www.leepittsoutdoors.com Captain Brian Barton 256-412-0960 brianbartonoutdoors.com Captain Jake Davis Mid-South Bass Guide Service 615-613-2382 msbassguide@comcast.net Jeff DuBree Whipperwill Sportsman’s Lodge Lake Talquin 850-875-2605 fishtalquin@gmail.com Captain Wayne Miller Mobile-Tensaw Delta Guide Service 251-455-7404 Millewa2000@yahoo.com Bill Goodroe Wilderness Way 850-877-7200 3152 Shadeville Road Crawfordville, FLA 32327
...like hearing the waves lapping the side of the
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fishing are all some of our favorite ways to reel in dinner.
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877.314.1237 // GreatDaysOutdoors.com // APRIL 2022 79
MOON & FEED TIMES
Mobile / Tensaw Delta
PRIME FEEDING TIMES
This chart is specifically designed for fishing times in the Mobile/Tensaw Delta & other tidally influenced waters of South Alabama. Date Day
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30
April 2022
Fri Sat Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat
80 APRIL 2022 // GreatDaysOutdoors.com // 877.314.1237
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ALABAMA TIDE CHARTS
Fort Morgan 01:12 AM / 0.78
06:51 AM / 0.57
12:46 PM / 0.85
07:58 PM / 0.37
03:41 AM / 0.70
06:22 AM / 0.67
12:11 PM / 1.04
08:55 PM / 0.24
Su 3
01:06 PM / 1.30 10:33 PM / 0.05
Su 3
12:22 PM / 1.20
09:51 PM / 0.15
M 4
01:32 PM / 1.42
11:32 PM / 0.00
M 4
12:48 PM / 1.32
11:00 PM / 0.11
T
5
01:23 PM / 1.39
--
T
02:07 PM / 1.49
--
02:04 PM / 1.43
12:47 AM / 0.10
02:51 PM / 1.44
02:23 AM / 0.07
F
8
03:40 PM / 1.43
03:40 AM / 0.04
S
9
04:30 PM / 1.40
04:41 AM / 0.01
Su 10 05:22 PM / 1.34
05:28 AM / 0.00
M 11 06:22 PM / 1.25
06:01 AM / 0.03
T 12 07:50 PM / 1.13
06:25 AM / 0.11
W 13 09:51 PM / 1.00
06:39 AM / 0.24
Th 14 12:56 PM / 0.78
06:40 AM / 0.41
11:52 PM / 0.89
05:46 PM / 0.66
F 15 12:05 PM / 0.88 --
06:27 AM / 0.60 07:04 PM / 0.45
S 16 02:29 AM / 0.82
06:00 AM / 0.77
11:35 AM / 1.06
08:01 PM / 0.25
Su 17 11:34 AM / 1.26
08:59 PM / 0.09
M 18 11:57 AM / 1.45 10:15 PM / -0.02 T 19 12:35 PM / 1.60
--
W 20 01:24 PM / 1.68 12:16 AM / -0.08 Th 21 02:20 PM / 1.71 01:53 AM / -0.14 F 22 03:18 PM / 1.68 03:10 AM / -0.17 S 23 04:13 PM / 1.59 04:17 AM / -0.15 Su 24 05:06 PM / 1.44 05:13 AM / -0.08 M 25 05:59 PM / 1.23
05:55 AM / 0.07
T 26 07:19 PM / 0.99
06:18 AM / 0.28
W 27 12:24 PM / 0.85
05:49 AM / 0.50
11:23 PM / 0.82
05:14 PM / 0.72
Th 28 11:34 AM / 0.95 --
04:43 AM / 0.67 07:01 PM / 0.50
F 29 10:46 AM / 1.12
07:52 PM / 0.32
S 30 10:41 AM / 1.29
08:33 PM / 0.18
S
2
02:26 AM / 0.85
07:21 AM / 0.64
F
1
02:32 PM / 1.06
01:24 PM / 0.90 08:38 PM / 0.32
5
12:55 PM / 1.11
09:39 PM / 0.16
W 6
02:49 PM / 1.52 12:59 AM / -0.01
Th 7
03:39 PM / 1.52 02:50 AM / -0.03
F
8
04:38 PM / 1.50 04:08 AM / -0.06
S
9
05:42 PM / 1.48 05:07 AM / -0.09
Su 10 06:46 PM / 1.44 05:54 AM / -0.09 M 11 07:55 PM / 1.35 06:32 AM / -0.03 T 12 09:25 PM / 1.24
07:00 AM / 0.09
W 13 11:32 PM / 1.11
07:17 AM / 0.27
Th 14 01:40 PM / 0.83
07:14 AM / 0.51
-F 15 01:28 AM / 1.02
06:14 PM / 0.65 06:50 AM / 0.74
12:37 PM / 0.97 07:34 PM / 0.42 S 16 03:38 AM / 0.97
06:04 AM / 0.94
11:58 AM / 1.22
08:40 PM / 0.20
Su 17 12:05 PM / 1.48 09:43 PM / 0.03 M 18 12:35 PM / 1.71 10:56 PM / -0.09 T 19 01:17 PM / 1.87
--
W 20 02:07 PM / 1.95 12:35 AM / -0.15 Th 21 03:04 PM / 1.96 02:21 AM / -0.22 F 22 04:08 PM / 1.90 03:41 AM / -0.26 S 23 05:15 PM / 1.78 04:43 AM / -0.25 Su 24 06:21 PM / 1.59 05:32 AM / -0.15 M 25 07:28 PM / 1.34
06:09 AM / 0.03
T 26 09:23 PM / 1.06
06:25 AM / 0.27
W 27 01:02 PM / 0.92
05:57 AM / 0.53
--
06:00 PM / 0.70
02:58 AM / 0.98
08:23 AM / 0.71 09:30 PM / 0.46
05:27 AM / 0.87
07:54 AM / 0.83
01:57 PM / 1.30
10:27 PM / 0.29
Su 3
02:08 PM / 1.50
11:23 PM / 0.19
M 4
02:34 PM / 1.65
--
T
5
03:09 PM / 1.74
12:32 AM / 0.14
S
2
W 6
03:50 PM / 1.79
02:19 AM / 0.12
Th 7
04:37 PM / 1.80
03:55 AM / 0.09
F
8
05:26 PM / 1.79
05:12 AM / 0.05
S
9
06:16 PM / 1.75
06:13 AM / 0.01
Su 10 07:08 PM / 1.68
07:00 AM / 0.00
M 11 08:08 PM / 1.57
07:33 AM / 0.04
T 12 09:36 PM / 1.42
07:57 AM / 0.13
W 13 11:37 PM / 1.25
08:11 AM / 0.29
Th 14 02:42 PM / 0.98 --
08:12 AM / 0.51 07:18 PM / 0.83
F 15 01:38 AM / 1.11
07:59 AM / 0.75
01:51 PM / 1.10
08:36 PM / 0.56
S 16 04:15 AM / 1.03
07:32 AM / 0.96
01:21 PM / 1.32
09:33 PM / 0.31
Su 17 01:20 PM / 1.58
10:31 PM / 0.11
M 18 01:43 PM / 1.81 11:47 PM / -0.02 T 19 02:21 PM / 2.00
--
W 20 03:10 PM / 2.10 01:48 AM / -0.10 Th 21 04:06 PM / 2.14 03:25 AM / -0.18 F 22 05:04 PM / 2.10 04:42 AM / -0.21 S 23 05:59 PM / 1.99 05:49 AM / -0.19 Su 24 06:52 PM / 1.79 06:45 AM / -0.10 M 25 07:45 PM / 1.54
07:27 AM / 0.09
T 26 09:05 PM / 1.24
07:50 AM / 0.35
W 27 02:10 PM / 1.06
07:21 AM / 0.63
--
06:46 PM / 0.90
F S
1 2
11:28 AM / 0.59
04:25 AM / 0.40
--
05:53 PM / 0.18
12:40 AM / 0.45
03:00 AM / 0.41
09:55 AM / 0.70
06:26 PM / 0.11
Su 3
10:18 AM / 0.81
06:59 PM / 0.07
M
4
10:52 AM / 0.89
11:05 PM / 0.06
T
5
11:30 AM / 0.94
--
W 6
12:13 PM / 0.95
01:01 AM / 0.02
Th 7
01:03 PM / 0.94 01:58 AM / -0.01
F
8
02:03 PM / 0.91 02:54 AM / -0.03
S
9
03:05 PM / 0.88 03:57 AM / -0.04
Su 10 03:59 PM / 0.83 04:54 AM / -0.04 M 11 08:04 PM / 0.78 05:36 AM / -0.01 T 12 08:55 PM / 0.76
06:03 AM / 0.06
W 13 09:58 AM / 0.36
06:01 AM / 0.17
09:46 PM / 0.69
12:26 PM / 0.31
Th 14 10:16 AM / 0.46
05:49 AM / 0.30
10:45 PM / 0.60
02:44 PM / 0.25
F 15 10:26 AM / 0.58
03:16 AM / 0.39
11:56 PM / 0.49
04:36 PM / 0.14
S 16 09:19 AM / 0.75 --
02:25 AM / 0.43 05:58 PM / 0.01
Su 17 09:45 AM / 0.93 06:49 PM / -0.10 M 18 10:22 AM / 1.07 08:54 PM / -0.15 T 19 11:07 AM / 1.16 10:55 PM / -0.22 W 20 11:58 AM / 1.19
--
Th 21 12:53 PM / 1.17 12:18 AM / -0.26 F 22 01:54 PM / 1.09 01:33 AM / -0.27 S 23 02:57 PM / 0.98 02:32 AM / -0.22 Su 24 03:48 PM / 0.84 03:32 AM / -0.13 M 25 07:46 PM / 0.72 04:36 AM / -0.01 T 26 08:47 PM / 0.63
05:15 AM / 0.13
W 27 09:27 AM / 0.53
05:03 AM / 0.29
09:42 PM / 0.52
05:40 PM / 0.32
Th 28 12:42 AM / 0.86
05:06 AM / 0.70
Th 28 01:09 AM / 1.02
06:15 AM / 0.83
12:11 PM / 1.06
07:35 PM / 0.45
01:20 PM / 1.19
08:33 PM / 0.63
F 29 11:27 AM / 1.25
08:30 PM / 0.23
F 29 12:32 PM / 1.40
09:24 PM / 0.40
S 30 11:25 AM / 1.44
09:12 PM / 0.07
F 29 10:08 AM / 0.76
S 30 12:27 PM / 1.62
10:05 PM / 0.23
S 30 09:58 AM / 0.84 07:07 PM / -0.01
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Th 28 09:47 AM / 0.65 --
01:53 AM / 0.38 06:07 PM / 0.17 06:37 PM / 0.06
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Learn more about the powerful performance of our 4.2-liter V6 Offshore F300, F250 and F225 at YamahaOutboards.com/V6offshore.
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*Testing conducted by Yamaha at Yamaha’s test facility on a Grady-White® 257 Advance/300 hp, with each boat rigged for maximum performance. REMEMBER to always observe all applicable boating laws. Never drink and drive. Dress properly with a USCG-approved personal floatation device and protective gear. © 2017 Yamaha Motor Corporation, U.S.A. All rights reserved. 1-800-88-YAMAHA
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FLORIDA TIDE CHARTS
Panama City
Pensacola Bay Destin East Pass Navarre Beach F 1 01:31 AM / 0.67 12:12 PM / 0.85 S 2 12:09 PM / 1.08 Su 3 12:22 PM / 1.26 M 4 12:46 PM / 1.36 T 5 01:18 PM / 1.41 W 6 02:00 PM / 1.41 Th 7 02:52 PM / 1.40
06:02 AM / 0.55 08:19 PM / 0.14 09:25 PM / -0.02 10:20 PM / -0.13 11:18 PM / -0.17 -12:27 AM / -0.17 01:51 AM / -0.17
F S Su M T W Th
03:11 AM / -0.19 04:14 AM / -0.22 04:59 AM / -0.23 05:31 AM / -0.20 05:54 AM / -0.09 06:07 AM / 0.08 06:06 AM / 0.31 05:28 PM / 0.50 05:37 AM / 0.55 06:56 PM / 0.24 08:03 PM / -0.02 09:07 PM / -0.22 10:18 PM / -0.35 11:42 PM / -0.42 -01:16 AM / -0.46 02:42 AM / -0.48 03:50 AM / -0.46 04:41 AM / -0.36 05:15 AM / -0.16 05:28 AM / 0.10 05:12 AM / 0.38 05:49 PM / 0.53 04:03 AM / 0.59 07:12 PM / 0.26 08:05 PM / 0.03
8 9 10 11 12 13 14
F 15 S Su M T W Th F S Su M T W
16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27
Th 28 F 29
03:54 PM / 1.38 05:02 PM / 1.37 06:10 PM / 1.34 07:18 PM / 1.27 08:31 PM / 1.14 09:59 PM / 0.96 12:31 PM / 0.65 11:53 PM / 0.79 11:27 AM / 0.83 -11:07 AM / 1.08 11:16 AM / 1.34 11:45 AM / 1.55 12:29 PM / 1.69 01:24 PM / 1.77 02:29 PM / 1.77 03:41 PM / 1.73 04:57 PM / 1.63 06:13 PM / 1.46 07:33 PM / 1.22 09:08 PM / 0.94 11:53 AM / 0.76 11:25 PM / 0.69 10:55 AM / 0.98 10:41 AM / 1.22 --
S 30 10:48 AM / 1.42 08:49 PM / -0.12
F 1 12:58 AM / 0.33 05:28 AM / 0.18 11:39 AM / 0.41 07:45 PM / 0.05
F
S 2 11:36 AM / 0.53 08:51 PM / -0.01
S
Su M T W Th F S Su M T W Th
Su M T W Th F S Su M T W Th
3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14
F 15 S Su M T W Th F S Su M T W
16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27
Th 28 F 29
11:49 AM / 0.62 09:46 PM / -0.04 10:44 PM / -0.06 11:53 PM / -0.06 -01:17 AM / -0.06 02:37 AM / -0.06 03:40 AM / -0.07 04:25 AM / -0.08 04:57 AM / -0.07 05:20 AM / -0.03 05:33 AM / 0.03 05:32 AM / 0.10 04:54 PM / 0.16 05:03 AM / 0.18 06:22 PM / 0.08 07:29 PM / -0.01 08:33 PM / -0.07 09:44 PM / -0.12 11:08 PM / -0.14 -12:42 AM / -0.15 02:08 AM / -0.16 03:16 AM / -0.15 04:07 AM / -0.12 04:41 AM / -0.05 04:54 AM / 0.03 04:38 AM / 0.12 05:15 PM / 0.17 03:29 AM / 0.19 06:38 PM / 0.09 07:31 PM / 0.01
12:13 PM / 0.67 12:45 PM / 0.69 01:27 PM / 0.69 02:19 PM / 0.68 03:21 PM / 0.68 04:29 PM / 0.67 05:37 PM / 0.66 06:45 PM / 0.62 07:58 PM / 0.56 09:26 PM / 0.47 11:58 AM / 0.32 11:20 PM / 0.39 10:54 AM / 0.41 -10:34 AM / 0.53 10:43 AM / 0.66 11:12 AM / 0.76 11:56 AM / 0.83 12:51 PM / 0.86 01:56 PM / 0.87 03:08 PM / 0.85 04:24 PM / 0.80 05:40 PM / 0.71 07:00 PM / 0.60 08:35 PM / 0.46 11:20 AM / 0.37 10:52 PM / 0.34 10:22 AM / 0.48 -10:08 AM / 0.60
S 30 10:15 AM / 0.69 08:15 PM / -0.04
82 APRIL 2022 // GreatDaysOutdoors.com // 877.314.1237
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14
F 15 S 16 Su M T W Th F S Su M T W
17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27
Th 28 F 29 S 30
10:12 AM / 0.65
03:47 AM / 0.38
--
04:36 PM / 0.08
12:54 AM / 0.52
03:41 AM / 0.43
09:13 AM / 0.86 09:45 AM / 1.03 10:23 AM / 1.15 11:04 AM / 1.22 11:50 AM / 1.25 12:44 PM / 1.25 01:45 PM / 1.24 02:53 PM / 1.23 04:03 PM / 1.21 05:14 PM / 1.17 06:32 PM / 1.10 08:12 PM / 1.00 10:10 AM / 0.67 09:59 PM / 0.88 09:37 AM / 0.82 11:40 PM / 0.76 08:37 AM / 1.04 -08:45 AM / 1.29 09:19 AM / 1.51 10:02 AM / 1.67 10:53 AM / 1.76 11:50 AM / 1.77 12:53 PM / 1.70 02:01 PM / 1.57 03:13 PM / 1.40 04:31 PM / 1.19 07:53 PM / 0.97 09:44 AM / 0.78 09:44 PM / 0.80 09:29 AM / 0.91 11:21 PM / 0.67 08:19 AM / 1.07 -08:12 AM / 1.25
05:46 PM / -0.02 06:59 PM / -0.10 08:29 PM / -0.15 10:27 PM / -0.19 11:47 PM / -0.20 -12:49 AM / -0.20 01:41 AM / -0.17 02:24 AM / -0.11 02:58 AM / -0.03 03:20 AM / 0.09 03:22 AM / 0.23 03:09 AM / 0.39 02:22 PM / 0.46 02:59 AM / 0.53 03:37 PM / 0.29 02:50 AM / 0.64 04:48 PM / 0.09 06:02 PM / -0.09 07:37 PM / -0.24 09:53 PM / -0.36 11:17 PM / -0.43 -12:26 AM / -0.43 01:28 AM / -0.36 02:21 AM / -0.21 03:02 AM / 0.00 02:45 AM / 0.24 02:03 AM / 0.43 01:52 PM / 0.54 01:56 AM / 0.55 03:17 PM / 0.35 01:50 AM / 0.60 04:30 PM / 0.16 05:34 PM / -0.00
F
1 12:13 AM / 0.72 05:18 AM / 0.49 11:42 AM / 0.75 06:22 PM / 0.17
S 2 01:47 AM / 0.57 11:26 AM / 0.93 Su 3 11:12 AM / 1.10 M 4 11:35 AM / 1.23
03:47 AM / 0.55 07:40 PM / 0.06 08:56 PM / -0.03 10:09 PM / -0.09
T 5 12:11 PM / 1.31 11:24 PM / -0.12 W 6 12:53 PM / 1.35 -Th 7 01:39 PM / 1.35 12:48 AM / -0.14 F S Su M T
8 9 10 11 12
02:32 PM / 1.34 03:33 PM / 1.30 04:47 PM / 1.24 06:24 PM / 1.17 07:58 PM / 1.07
02:08 AM / -0.16 03:07 AM / -0.17 03:50 AM / -0.16 04:20 AM / -0.10 04:37 AM / -0.00
W 13 09:24 PM / 0.95 04:43 AM / 0.15 Th 14 11:01 AM / 0.64 04:46 AM / 0.32 10:57 PM / 0.82 F 15 10:45 AM / 0.79 -S 16 12:41 AM / 0.70 10:12 AM / 0.99 Su 17 10:14 AM / 1.23 M 18 10:46 AM / 1.44 T 19 11:31 AM / 1.60 W 20 12:22 PM / 1.70 Th 21 01:18 PM / 1.73 F 22 02:17 PM / 1.68 S 23 03:21 PM / 1.55 Su 24 04:44 PM / 1.37 M 25 06:55 PM / 1.17 T 26 08:30 PM / 0.96 W 27 10:12 AM / 0.75 10:05 PM / 0.76 Th 28 10:04 AM / 0.94 -F 29 10:02 AM / 1.12
04:04 PM / 0.46 04:38 AM / 0.51 05:29 PM / 0.28 03:35 AM / 0.65 06:48 PM / 0.09 08:09 PM / -0.09 09:34 PM / -0.25 10:55 PM / -0.36 -12:14 AM / -0.43 01:28 AM / -0.44 02:34 AM / -0.39 03:29 AM / -0.27 04:10 AM / -0.08 04:29 AM / 0.16 03:59 AM / 0.41 03:35 PM / 0.54 03:19 AM / 0.59 05:11 PM / 0.34 06:28 PM / 0.17
S 30 09:49 AM / 1.28 07:33 PM / 0.04
MISSISSIPPI TIDE CHARTS
Pascagoula
Biloxi Bay F
1
S
2
01:51 AM / 0.93
05:53 AM / 0.81
11:58 AM / 1.02
07:36 PM / 0.32
11:58 AM / 1.30
08:53 PM / 0.14
Su 3
12:16 PM / 1.54 10:00 PM / 0.00
M 4
12:42 PM / 1.71 11:03 PM / -0.10
T
01:13 PM / 1.82
5
--
W 6
01:50 PM / 1.88 12:06 AM / -0.16
Th 7
02:35 PM / 1.88 01:12 AM / -0.18
F
8
03:28 PM / 1.85 02:16 AM / -0.19
S
9
04:31 PM / 1.78 03:16 AM / -0.17
F S
1 2
01:33 AM / 0.99
05:46 AM / 0.78
10:10 AM / 0.96
06:21 PM / 0.33
03:29 AM / 0.91
05:36 AM / 0.89
10:36 AM / 1.19
07:22 PM / 0.20
Su 3
11:05 AM / 1.37
08:18 PM / 0.11
M
4
11:40 AM / 1.50
09:12 PM / 0.06
T
5
12:26 PM / 1.57
10:17 PM / 0.04
W 6
01:19 PM / 1.61
11:42 PM / 0.05
Th 7
02:10 PM / 1.62
--
F
8
02:58 PM / 1.59
12:56 AM / 0.07
S
9
03:52 PM / 1.54
02:47 AM / 0.09
Su 10 05:46 PM / 1.70 04:08 AM / -0.11
Su 10 05:09 PM / 1.46
04:15 AM / 0.09
M 11 07:10 PM / 1.59 04:52 AM / -0.02
M 11 06:35 PM / 1.38
04:54 AM / 0.12
T 12 08:40 PM / 1.46
05:27 AM / 0.13
T 12 07:56 PM / 1.27
05:23 AM / 0.20
W 13 10:15 PM / 1.30
05:51 AM / 0.33
W 13 10:26 PM / 1.15
05:41 AM / 0.35
Th 14 12:36 PM / 0.85
05:59 AM / 0.58
Th 14 11:38 AM / 0.72
--
04:28 PM / 0.74
F 15 12:06 AM / 1.13
05:34 AM / 0.85
11:23 AM / 1.06
06:16 PM / 0.49
S 16 11:06 AM / 1.37
07:36 PM / 0.20
Su 17 11:18 AM / 1.71 08:49 PM / -0.08 M 18 11:47 AM / 2.02 10:02 PM / -0.31 T 19 12:27 PM / 2.27 11:17 PM / -0.47 W 20 01:15 PM / 2.40
--
Th 21 02:09 PM / 2.43 12:32 AM / -0.56 F 22 03:09 PM / 2.33 01:44 AM / -0.55 S 23 04:15 PM / 2.14 02:51 AM / -0.44 Su 24 05:31 PM / 1.87 03:49 AM / -0.25
--
info@GreatDaysOutdoors.com
05:25 AM / 0.54 04:36 PM / 0.50
F 15 12:18 AM / 1.05
05:22 AM / 0.74
09:44 AM / 0.92
05:41 PM / 0.27
S 16 02:45 AM / 1.01
05:26 AM / 0.94
10:01 AM / 1.20
06:45 PM / 0.04
April 2022 Sunrise / Sunset
Su 17 10:25 AM / 1.47 07:52 PM / -0.16 M 18 10:57 AM / 1.71 09:02 PM / -0.30 T 19 11:39 AM / 1.87 10:32 PM / -0.38 W 20 12:37 PM / 1.96 11:59 PM / -0.40 Th 21 01:38 PM / 1.96
--
F 22 02:32 PM / 1.89 01:05 AM / -0.36 S 23 03:21 PM / 1.72 02:18 AM / -0.25 Su 24 04:18 PM / 1.49 03:43 AM / -0.10
M 25 07:09 PM / 1.56
04:36 AM / 0.03
T 26 09:27 PM / 1.25
05:05 AM / 0.37
W 27 12:05 PM / 1.04
05:03 AM / 0.71
W 27 10:51 AM / 0.82
05:06 AM / 0.60
05:28 PM / 0.81
11:24 PM / 0.88
04:09 PM / 0.62
Th 28 12:26 AM / 1.03
03:46 AM / 0.97
Th 28 10:17 AM / 0.97
10:53 AM / 1.27
06:47 PM / 0.51
F 29 10:37 AM / 1.55
07:42 PM / 0.26
F 29 09:00 AM / 1.21
06:19 PM / 0.19
S 30 10:47 AM / 1.79
08:28 PM / 0.07
S 30 09:28 AM / 1.42
07:00 PM / 0.04
--
Share highlights from your great days outdoors with us!
M 25 05:46 PM / 1.23
04:36 AM / 0.10
T 26 09:46 PM / 1.01
05:03 AM / 0.34
--
03:46 AM / 0.79 05:34 PM / 0.39
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15
6:33 AM 6:31 AM 6:30 AM 6:29 AM 6:28 AM 6:26 AM 6:25 AM 6:24 AM 6:23 AM 6:21 AM 6:20 AM 6:19 AM 6:18 AM 6:16 AM 6:15 AM
7:05 PM 7:06 PM 7:06 PM 7:07 PM 7:08 PM 7:08 PM 7:09 PM 7:10 PM 7:11 PM 7:11 PM 7:12 PM 7:13 PM 7:13 PM 7:14 PM 7:15 PM
16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30
6:14 AM 6:13 AM 6:12 AM 6:11 AM 6:10 AM 6:08 AM 6:07 AM 6:06 AM 6:05 AM 6:04 AM 6:03 AM 6:02 AM 6:01 AM 6:00 AM 5:59 AM
7:15 PM 7:16 PM 7:17 PM 7:18 PM 7:18 PM 7:19 PM 7:20 PM 7:21 PM 7:21 PM 7:22 PM 7:23 PM 7:23 PM 7:24 PM 7:25 PM 3766 Airport 7:26 PM
Bo geico.com/mobile-al |
SAVINGS AND SERVICE THAT WILL FLOAT YOUR BOAT 251-445-0053 3766 Airport Boulevard Suite C | Mobile Geico.com/mobile-davis
Some discounts, coverages, payment plans, and features are not available in all states, in all GEICO companies, or in all situations. Boat and PWC coverages are underwritten by GEICO Marine Insurance Company. GEICO is a registered service mark of Government Employees Insurance Company, Washington, DC 20076; a Berkshire Hathaway Inc. subsidiary. © 2020 GEICO
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Pensacola Motorsports
TROPHY
Mary Catheryne Hinkley posing proudly with her red snapper...and she should
You didn’t see it coming. Neither did the fish.
ROOM
Ashley McDaniel with a lot of bull redfish on her hands
GET FEATURED IN OUR ISSUES OF GREAT DAYS OUTDOORS WHEN YOU
GIVE US YOUR BEST SHOT
Introducing the all-new FISH PRO™ The world’s first personal watercraft designed for fishing will bring you closer to the action for an experience like never before.
IT'S EASY TO ENTER POST:
Discover yours at our dealership
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618 N New Warrington Rd. Pensacola, FL 32506 (850)456-6655
©2018 Bombardier Recreational Products Inc. (BRP). All rights reserved. ®, ™ and the BRP logo are trademarks of BRP or its affiliates. Some models depicted may include optional equipment. Carefully read the operator’s guide and safety instructions. Observe applicable laws and regulations. Always wear appropriate protective clothing, including a personal flotation device and wetsuit bottoms. Riding and alcohol/drugs don’t mix. See your authorized BRP dealer for details.
84 APRIL 2022 // GreatDaysOutdoors.com // 877.314.1237
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Photo of the Month! Simply share your great day outdoors with us!
[ OR ]
EMAIL:
info@GreatDaysOutdoors.com
When Submitting Trophy Room photos, be sure to include as much information as possible about the person and the trophy. Final Decision is made by the editorial Staff of Great Days Outdoors Magazine. Submitting a photo does not guarantee it will be published.
Landon Jones showing off his blackfin tuna caught from the Navarre Pier!
Alexis Haver with a gator of a spec!
Sonia Catrett Long with a trophy
877.314.1237 // GreatDaysOutdoors.com // APRIL 2022 85
KID'S CORNER
TROPHY ROOM 1
ST
Deer
Will Blevins 16 showing off his catch
Mila Boykin age 12 with her first deer
1
ST
Deer
Greyson Mosley, 6, his first deer
Adelynn Hays killed this 160 lb 8 pt, or as she calls him “Split Toe’s Son”, in December in Bellville, Al.
George (10) and Sam (9) Ramsey - Furman, AL with their kill
1
ST
Rabbit
Micah Ferguson 4 years old proudly showing off his catch
Connor Rider, 6, with his first rabbit
Give us your best shot!
Send your submission to info@greatdaysoutdoors.com.
Submitting a photo does not guarantee that it will be published. We cannot give any guarantees on when a photo will be published. Please include: child's full name, age, mailing address, and any details. We need to know when, where, size (weight, points, etc.), shot or caught with what and any other meaningful information, like first time, etc.. CONTRIBUTIONS WITHOUT THIS INFO WON’T BE PUBLISHED.
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JODY WALDORFF 4” BUTT KICKER BAYOU LA BATRE, AL
3.5” Fight’n Shrimp
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UB R ” G 6
88 APRIL 2022 // GreatDaysOutdoors.com // 877.314.1237
5” Brawler Jerk Bait
FISHING TIP
Advertiser Index A-Team Fishing Adventures . . . . . . . . 3 Admiral Shellfish . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 ADCNR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46 ADCNR Marine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 Advance Transmission . . . . . . . . . . . 38 Alabama AG Credit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44 Alabama Farmers CO-OP . . . . . . . . . 92 Alabama Liquid Fertilizer . . . . . . . . . 27 Alabama Power . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 Bay Transmission . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 Bluewater Yacht Sales . . . . . . . . . . . 81 Boaters List . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91 Buck’s Island Marine . . . . . . . . . . 22, 31 Camper City . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75 CCA Alabama . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 Clutch Products . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49 Coast Safe & Lock . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73 Cold Blooded Fishing . . . . . . . . . . . . 53 Deep South Crane . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27 Dixie Building Supply . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Farm Credit of NW Florida . . . . . . . . 34 Fiber Plastics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42 First South Farm Credit . . . . . . . . . . 67 Fishbites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88 Fishing Chaos . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56-57 Geico . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83 Gulf Shores/Orange Beach . . . . . . . . 79 Hilton’s Offshore Charts . . . . . . . . . . 49 Hydraulic Crane . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82 Killer Dock . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 MDH Foundation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69 Midway Lumber . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53 National Land Realty . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Paradise Marine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Pensacola Motor Sports . . . . . . . . 84-85 Ranch King . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43 Ricciardone Dentistry . . . . . . . . . . . 38 Sams Bait & Tackle . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67 Slick Lure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 Southeastern Pond Management . . . . 7 Test Calibration Co. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80 United Bank . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48 War Eagle Boats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
April Springtime Inshore Fishing Tips BY CAPTAIN. BOBBY ABRUSCATO
There is no better calendar period to catch big speckled trout than the springtime. With water temperatures reaching the upper 60’s the spawn is in full force. During the peak spawns, speckled trout- unlike other fish species- feed aggressively. The spawning schools are huge and the competition for food is fierce. These spawning schools consist of mostly males that are “flexing their muscles” in an effort to encourage the larger females to lay her eggs. The females in the schools are loaded with dense roe which dramatically adds to their weight. So the key to catching spawning spring trout is mainly a function of finding them. So, how does one go about that? A couple of the keys are to know what type of environment speckled trout require in order to spawn. First, they will not spawn in lower salinity environments, so you’ll need to find salinity levels of over 15 parts per thousand. Usually, during the spring, that will be in the lower reaches of the
Mobile Bay and Mississippi Sound as the rivers systems to the north are still draining upstate runoff; thus the upper sections of the Bay will be too fresh. Secondly, they will spawn over hard bottom in the form of shell, rock, sand or grass. Again the lower ends of the Mobile Bay system are loaded with all of the above. So now that we know where they are, what to throw? Although shrimp is always good bait, try larger fin fish imitations like Slick Lures or top water plugs. You’ll have no problem with numbers using shrimp when you locate a spawning school, but the larger baits will appeal more to the big females… and that’s the one you want for that picture!
Important Contact Information Captain. Bobby Abruscato odepot@bellsouth.net www.ateamfishing.com
877.314.1237 // GreatDaysOutdoors.com // APRIL 2022 89
A GREAT DAY OUTDOORS
Allergic to Turkeys list what you’re not allergic to.” “What would that be?” I inquired. “Bowling balls.”
BY JIM MIZE Thinking about spring turkey hunting gives me the shivers. It can happen late on a cool evening as I wonder where they’ll roost, or on a summer drive as a dark stump in the edge of the woods looks at first glance like a gobbler’s profile, or even on an early walk as flushing birds startle me with wings flapping. Yet what confuses me is how I can be addicted to something I’m allergic to. For some, spring is a time when a young man’s fancy turns toward romance. For me, spring is the time when an old man’s fancy turns to decongestants, antihistamines, and a case of Kleenex. When most hunters watch the sunrise, their concentration seems to focus on the wildlife moving through the woods and the sounds that may offer clues on a gobbler’s roost. My focus, on the other hand, is on the golden cloud of pollen drifting through the air and wondering how long before it reaches me. My allergy symptoms resemble those of most hay-fever sufferers . . . well, maybe worse. I cough like I’m hacking up a cat. My eyes water like I just finished a marathon of Love Story, The Way We Were, and Old Yeller, including the thought that would make most of us cry, the idea I was paying full price of admission to each film. And it’s not like I haven’t sought medical help. My allergist ran a test with so many pinpricks on my back it looked like I’d been to an acupuncture marathon. After the results were back, all the doctor could do was stare and utter that ultimate of medical terms, “Hmmm.” “Well, Doc, what’s it say I’m allergic to?” I asked. After further study, he replied, “Easier to
So with a diagnosis like that, the woods become a playground for things that make me sick. After the onset of such allergies, my eyes puff up like I was the loser at a Mike Tyson fight and my nose runs and becomes so irritated that I’d really like to leave it at home. Obviously, turkey hunting under these conditions is harder than finding the handlebars on a unicycle. For starters, it’s practically impossible to call. I have adjusted how I use my mouth calls to have my own special sounds under these circumstances. For example, I’ve developed an effective fly-down sniffle. Then, there’s a call I refer to as the putt and hack, which is typically followed by my yelp and wheeze. Some of my symptoms, however, may help me in the woods. For instance, I’ve discovered that a good sneeze will trigger a shock gobble. Of course, it’s usually from a gobbler with the sniffles.
For some, spring is a time when a young man’s fancy turns toward romance. For me, spring is the time when an old man’s fancy turns to decongestants, antihistamines, and a case of Kleenex. I’ve never put it to the test, but I also believe that if I ever forget my shells, I can probably drop a gobbler by loading a wingbone call with pea gravel and sneezing. Before I try it, though, I’ll obviously need to research the regulations to determine if this falls in the category of rifles or primitive weapons. Sneaking up on those birds is difficult because I’m not a quiet sneezer. With a full-blown hoot, my hat lifts off my head and my sneeze rings so loudly it echoes through the forest. Or possibly, those are the yells of nearby hunters telling me to quiet down.
90 APRIL 2022 // GreatDaysOutdoors.com // 877.314.1237
I’ve tried pinching my nose when I sneeze, but it never works. I sound like a rampaging bull elephant with a knot in his trunk. You’d think modern medicine would offer a cure. No such luck. I’ve tried every antihistamine, decongestant, and throat lozenge, with the primary side effect of driving me blind and putting me to sleep trying to read the fine print on the box. These things have more side effects than a bad idea at a carnival fun house. Some pills make me sleepy, some make me hyper. I should be able to take one of each and be just right. But no. It’s never that simple. The first is a four-hour dose and the second a twelve-hour dose, so it requires algebraic calculations the likes of which would cause Einstein to prefer working on his Theory of Relativity. A physicist faced with such a calculation would start like this, “If one train is traveling 25 miles per hour from the west and another is traveling thirty miles per hour from the east, where would be the best place to lie in the tracks to cure your sniffles?” But getting back to the fine print, it also tells me to avoid operating heavy equipment. I interpret this as meaning I should be fine unless I decide to turkey hunt from a crane, farm tractor, or eighteen-wheeler. Luckily, it says nothing in there about ATVs, guns, or steep terrain. Drug stores have yet to recognize the opportunity I offer as an allergenic turkey hunter. Nowhere have I found Realtree Kleenex, Mossy Oak Handkerchiefs, or throat lozenges that also drive off gnats. So I’ll throw this challenge out to the medical industry. You have two choices, but one’s got to work. You can cure me of either hay fever or turkey hunting. But if you prefer to tackle the easier of the two, you should start with the first one. JIM MIZE still thinks either turkey season or pollen season should be set to different dates. You can find his awardwinning books of humor on Amazon or at www.acreektricklesthroughit.com.
877.314.1237 // GreatDaysOutdoors.com // APRIL 2022 91
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