ISOutdoors | March 2016

ISOutdoors enjoying the outdoors and sharing it with you

MARCH 2016

WILD

TURKEY www.isoutdoors.com

“NOW YOU’VE MADE ME HUNGRY.” —FREDY REIHL, SHOOTING SPORTS NEWS PUBLISHED BY SKYHORSE PUBLISHING 307 WEST 36TH STREET NEW YORK, NY (212) 643-6816 SKYHORSEPUBLISHING.COM

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volume 3, issue 4

CONTENT read

little red river fly fishing

read

the ultimate bowhunting challenge

read

puppy training an antler dog

read

live minnows for river smallies

read

booking your first western big game trip

read

the big show

publisher Brock RAY

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COLUMNS hitchhiker

read

big game

read

videography

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bass fishing

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what’s new

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destination nation

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women outdoors

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featured outfitter

read

Little Red River Fly Fishing:

Arkansas’ Most Fabulous Trout Fishery

“Is there anything finer than the feel of a frisky trout flailing against a willowy fly rod?”

by Don Kirk

M

any believe that North America’s finest fly fishing for trout is the Little Red River in Arkansas. The river boasts an incredible rainbow and brown trout fisheries, fostered by a year round growing season, high water quality and more macroinvertrbrates per cubic yard of water for the trout to feed than has been measured anywhere. The Little Red River is not a natural trout fishery, but one that owes it existence to man. When the dam was built, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers constructed a trout hatchery for annually stocking large numbers of trout here.

Among the world’s most heavily stocked waters, year-round stockings of 9- to 12-inch trout accomplish two critical things.

They maintain an abundance of keeper-size trout in easily accessed reaches of the river, so fishermen can catch a “limit.”

This takes pressure off the more remote stretches of these rivers.

Second, stocking large numbers of keeper-size trout also provides a source of food for the larger trout to which the Little Red owes its international fame. Stocking may have been the genesis of this trout fishery, but it is not its sole benefactor. To everyone’s surprise, a couple decades ago brown trout started spawning in the Little Red. Downstream from the dam on the Little Red, the temperature ranges from 50 to 60 degrees Fahrenheit.

These rivers are rich in the aquatic insect life needed

isOutdoors to sustain a trout fishery, and have proven to be prime troutholding habitat. Tail water trout rivers, like the Little Red, are not like any natural stream found in the mountainous regions of the Appalachian or Rocky Mountains. Tail water rivers have four distinctive personalities, or flow phases referred to as low tide, rising tide, high tide, and falling tide. Low tide is when a tail water river is at its lowest flow level -- when little if any water is released by the upstream dam. This varies from river to river. Sometimes, this is when there is little to no flow, with trout concentrated in deep pools and is most pronounced at smallish rivers such as the Little Red. Rising tide is the next flow phase, and is universally regarded as offering the best fishing. When water is released at the dam, it races downstream.

The closer you are to the dam, the quicker that happens and the sooner the crescendo of good fishing it sparks ends. The farther downstream you are from the dam, the slower the rise of www.isoutdoors.com

water occurs, and the longer the good fishing it brings lasts. You can get the generating schedule by calling the dam. At high tide, these tail water rivers range from 2 to 10 feet deeper than they are at low tide.

Falling tide, when all or most of the turbines shut down and low tide is achieved, occurs more slowly than rising tide. It is common for the waters to drop 1 inch per 15 minutes, but the rate

isOutdoors of drop can be faster or slower.

Generally speaking, the best fly fishing is midway through the falling tide. The shutdown of the water flow upstream at the dam works like a wake-up call to the trout and the aquatic insects upon which they prey.

During falling tide, those fish come out to feed on the emerging caddisflies and mayflies, scuds, and midges, which come in large numbers.

At this Arkansas tail water river, dropping water levels typically provide two to four hours of great trout fishing before the action, and the water bottoms out. The problem is, unless you know the Little Red River tail water fairly well; it is difficult to recognize trout-holding cover while high tide float fishing. During high tide, the river can become an intimidating expanse of swirling, surging water. There is hardly a hint of what lies beneath the surface. This is why hiring one of the many trout fishing guides available on these tail water rivers is a real bargain. www.isoutdoors.com

Fly rods that are 8.5- to 9.5feet long that are engineered to cast 3 to 6 weight fly lines work well on this streams where most casts are under 50-feet in range.

Leaders need to be at least 9-feet long, and tippets of 4X to 6X are recommended. Because so much of the fly fishing here is subsurface nymphing, if you are new as this style of fly fishing, bring along a few strike indicators to help you get the hang of fooling these deft feeders.

Spring hatches on the Little Red River has a fairly predictable hatch of midges in the morning (sizes number 22, 24, and 26), and later during the day you usually will encounter emergences bluewing dun mayflies (sizes number 18, 20 and 22). Additionally, standards such as Sowbugs, Hares Ear’s and Caddis Pupas (sizes number 14, 16 and 18--the faster the water the larger fly you can get away with successfully using) are productive this time of year

Wild Turkey:

The Ultimate Bow Hunting Challenge

“Shotgunning is a piece of cake compared to successfully arrowing a strutting gobbler.�

by Brock Ray

isOutdoors

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ow hunting for wild turkey is crazy, nutty and too much for most archers, right? When you consider how tough it can be to kill a gobbler with a shotgun, the very notion of trying to accomplish the same task with a bow and arrow seems crazy.

Using a bow and arrow decreases your odds for success by four to eight times to that of a shotgun.

The biggest thing working against a bow hunter hunting turkey is the extra movement he must make when drawing his bow. It is not uncommon for a gobbler to “hang-up� at 50 to 60 yards for 30 minutes or more, but it is not practical for the bow hunter to hold even an 80-percent let-off bow for that long.

The average bow hunter has killed a halfdozen whitetail, including does, as well as other species of game such as antelope or bear. They have above-average shooting skills and have learned that controlling their emotions is the key to success. Most above-average bow hunters have three or four years experience.

Basically, there are two times to draw your bow when hunting turkey: first, when the bird has its back to you; second, when there is an object, such as a tree, between you and the turkey. If you are calling from an open field, your blind can act as the barrier between you and the turkey. I like blinds that can be set up in a minute and conceal all my movement, especially movement from the neck down.

Bow hunters that can call well stand a better chance of taking a gobbler than those who cannot -- even a trophy jake -- if they follow a few simple rules. Most turkey hunters are quick to point out nothing is more difficult to bag than a wild turkey.

Going after a gobbler with only a bow and arrow is like a boxer going into the ring with one arm tied behind his back. Still, it is popular because it is so challenging. www.isoutdoors.com

Portable blinds are convenient because you can carry, assemble, take down and repack them easily. Even if you use a camouflage blind, you should still dress in head-totoe camouflage. Regardless of what your favorite camo pattern might be, make sure that it matches where you are hunting enough to allow you to get close enough to a gobbler to literally pull its beard!

The next step is shooting. The vitals of a wild turkey, i.e. its lungs and liver, are located in its chest. The heart and lungs are the best places to arrow a turkey. Hitting either of these organs is difficult, as they are no larger than a baseball. In fact, half of what you see is just fluffed feathers.

Some bow hunters like to shoot right at the beard, in the center of the body, while others like side shots. I find front and side shots tricky. However, one shot that has proven lethal for me time and again is shooting the gobbler in its rectum after it has turned away from me. It is almost inevitable that this shot will penetrate and damage the lungs and heart. Decoys are helpful for this kind of shot, as they divert the turkey’s attention from me to the decoys, giving me a perfect shot.

Shooting equipment is largely a matter of taste. If you are shooting high poundages and have difficulty drawing your bow while seated on the ground, you may find

it easier if you turn down the poundage.

Actually, many southern bow hunters shoot poundages that are too big. Bows set as low as 40 to 50 pounds will allow you to take even the biggest gobbler.

Another hot topic regarding bow hunting for wild turkey is what to shoot. Many oldtime bow hunters still advocate putting a washer the size of a quarter behind a broadhead to slow down the arrow’s travel through the body of a turkey. This works well, but I prefer to use the same three or four-blade broadhead I use when deer hunting. It is difficult to top the killing power of a razor-sharp broadhead with a GameTracker string retrieval unit.

If you can call worth a hoot, or have a buddy who can call while you set up to shoot 50 to 100 feet ahead of him, combine your skills and put your efforts to work for bow hunting turkey this spring. After all, a jake is a grand trophy, especially if you take it with a bow and arrow. www.isoutdoors.com

puppy training an

antlerd “Create your own shed antler finding dog.

Roger Sigler, Master Trainer

dog i n the development of shed antler dogs we have worked with several different breeds and after great time and effort we have found that the Labs have the qualities that are best for shed hunting. We select pups that are from hunting blood lines. We really like the new style lab that is somewhat smaller then the l00 pound fur friends of a few years ago. The labs that we select are for the most part, black or yellow.

That may just a personal preference, but the chocolates that we tried at first, seemed to be a little more difficult to work with. We do not find much difference in the trainability of the pup from the male to the female.

Once again, most people have had dogs before and have a personal preference in that regard.

We test our puppies for play drive and prey drive first and foremost. The puppy must be crazy about playing with a ball or squeak toy and willing to chase it as much as you would expect an eight to nine week old puppy to be able to. Naturally, a puppy that is so young will probably not be retrieving the toy or ball to you, but you will be able to tell if he is really interested in the game. We have developed our own training program, which is a reward based training technique,

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isOutdoors which we call “The science of participative training.� It is extremely important to use positive reinforcement in training puppies.

It is very easy to ruin a perfectly good dog, if you try to push them to hard and fast at the beginning of their training experience.

We have studied with some world class animal behaviorists and animal trainers and formed our own system. The science of participative training, SPT, is the safest and easiest way to get results in training your puppy. We have had great success with adult problem animals as well.

The possessive reinforcement builds a confident animal by developing a mutual language. Dogs do not understand English any more then they understand German or any other language, until they are taught the meaning of the words that are being used to ask for a behavior. Remember a treat is only used as the reward as the dog begins to understand your commands.

No matter what type of puppy you are training, obedience is the first step in making your pup a welcome member of your family. Puppies can be very difficult to handle if they are not shown the rules of their new home. If your puppy is going to

be a house dog, it is necessary to make sure he understands what you expect of him. Our puppies are started with simple commands such as sit. This begins at nine weeks. As the pup grasps the command, he will begin to offer the behavior for the reward. Your pup will pick up the sit usually in one session.

From the puppy’s introductive obedience training, we progress at the pace of our student. Just like children, puppies all learn differently. Some will catch on quickly and

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isOutdoors others will take a little longer. The main concern in puppy training is consistence.

Shorter more frequent sessions are always preferred to one long session. After your pup has the basic obedience behaviors in full understanding, you can move on to the retrieve. We use a ball that has been cut in half and an antler tine passed though the middle for the fetch toy. The movement of the ball gets the attention of the pup and he will quickly be drawn to the action and look forward to playing the game of fetch and retrieve.

Scent discrimination is an entire book and cannot be covered in the words allotted.

However, it is the all important next step in the progress of your pup. It is impossible for any dog to know what it is that you want him to look for without this step. Your pup is capable of smelling a single drop of blood in a fifty-five gallon barrel of water. Just like a drug or bomb sniffing dog, they will have to be taught which scent he will be searching for.

The next step is the search. We have a series of games that we have for our pups, once they understand the scent they will be sniffing out. We work our pups almost every www.isoutdoors.com

day. It is like play time for them. They look forward to the games. By the time our pups are between five to nine months of age, they are ready for controlled antler hunts. We may start them in our indoor facility, under a pile of hay or other similar covers at first. It is incredible how much they enjoy the hunt.

From this stage, they move very quickly to the hunts outdoors. It is important to remember that a dog can smell you on any object that you have handled and may hunt your scent. We take great care to eliminate human scent from controlled hunts. These controlled hunts will go on for several months.

It is a thrill to set those young dogs out for the hunt for the first time and watch them cover the terrain, nose down, quartering in front of you like an old pro. With each season, the dogs just get better and better. We have puppies for sale of all ages at different times of the year. If you are interested in more information, you can visit our web site, www.r.s@randssigler.com. Feel free to contact us at 1-816-289-1154. We have DVD’s available that can give more detail about antler dogs at Antler Ridge. Remember, if you are hunting sheds without a dog, it’s just a walk in the woods.

Live Minnows for

river sMaLLies

Stream bronzeback action is super in April.

by Ed Rivers

M

uch of the eastern half of the US is veined with rivers and streams sporting some of the country’s finest angling for smallmouth bass. The smaller cousin of the more widely available largemouth bass, the smallmouth, thrives in fast flowing currents of streams and rivers of the Mississippi as well as smaller watersheds along the Atlantic Ocean.

A few years ago, I noticed a few local anglers wade fishing the Little Pigeon River. Two days later I tried my hand at this wide, but shallow river that empties into

www.isoutdoors.com

the much larger French Broad River 15 miles downstream. Fishing live minnow under a float, I caught several dozen smallmouth bass.

Catching river-dwelling smallmouth bass during April is not difficult if you are not afraid of baiting a hook with a minnow.

During April no offering exceeds the lethal effectiveness of a lively minnow.

When fishing for bronzebacks, work a live minnow slowly along the bottom of a river.

This is where big smallmouth lurk to feed aquatic edibles. The flutter of a minnow moving along the bottom is more than

these bass can resist. The importance of presenting a minnow that is in good condition cannot be overstated. The livelier it is, the better it performs.

During spring, river brownies hang out in deep sloughs, slow murky runs, and pools where the current only inches by. Slow, murky depths are good places for them to ambush unsuspecting small fish. The two

secrets to fooling big river smallmouth bass is using the right size minnow and getting them deep enough into the right places.

Fishing the bait, dead slow along the bottom is the final key ingredient to this type of fishing.

I have experimented with several varieties of live minnows, including such bait shop specialties as Baltimore’s and shiners, as well as creek-dwelling varieties of darters, daces, sculpins and chubs. My greatest success is when using hardy, olive-colored 3- to 5-inch creek minnows captured by seining the shallow reaches of the rivers.

They are difficult to collect in quantities (two dozen is the most we have ever had at one time). As a rule, the bigger the minnow, the bigger smallies you are likely to catch.

Avoid handling valuable baitfish more than necessary so they remain as lively. Always hook these large minnows lightly through their lips to prevent crippling a minnow.

You want the friskiest bait possible. www.isoutdoors.com

isOutdoors Smallmouth bass in deep pools and runs are spooky. Drawing strikes from such bass requires finesse. When using live creek darters to tangle with smallies, use stout, size #4 O’Shaughnessy-style hooks.

A 1/4-ounce crimp-on sinker is located 18 inches above the hook. Heavy sinkers are used because they anchor the bait near the bottom, even when there is a strong undercurrent. Like most river rats, I prefer wading upstream, casting and fishing against the force of the current. To avoid spooking the bass, I cast many of the pools from up to 125 feet away, 4 or 5 feet deep.

The instant my bait hits the water, I trip the bale of my spinning reel and extend the tip of my rod high into the air to help me take up slack without interfering with the natural downward drift of the bait. Once the bait is on the bottom, inch it along at a snail’s pace.

When in big pools, strikes by these fish are often surprisingly light and many times are hardly noticeable when taking live bait.

At other times, though, a big brown bass will hit like a runaway steam locomotive.

Whenever a live minnow is in the water, it is important to be alert for bumps, tugs, www.isoutdoors.com

slow stops, and unmistakable strikes.

River smallies are predators which are not inclined to chase down healthy fish that are full of energy. Instead, they wait for a small fish that shows signs of having difficulty swimming or balancing itself in the current.

Most of the time, just the sight of a crippled baitfish will trigger an instinctive attack from smallmouth bass.

Maybe it isn’t quite fair for us fishermen to take advantage of this weakness on the part of Mr. Smalljaws. If your conscience won’t let you do it, I’ll understand. If, however, you spot another person fishing just as you, wave -- you may just have a new fishing partner.

BOOKING YOUR FIRST WESTERN BIG GAME HUNTING TRIP

You’re ready, right!? Or, are you??

by Brock Ray

After a year of dreaming and scheming, you feel that you are ready to book your wesern hunt of a lifetime. Booking a great, trophy hunting trip is neither difficult nor without room for to make a big mistake.

Meaning, even the most experienced, hardworking outfitters, who have access to the West’s best elk or moose, can have trips that, frankly, are clunkers. There are some aspects of a trip that are just out of our control; for example the weather, the behavior of our quarry, and, at times, our www.isoutdoors.com

performance as a sportsman.

Let’s say you have planned an elk hunt in NewMexico. Many hunters, who want an “away-from-home trophy elk hunt,” go to New Mexico because of its many ranches and liberal special permits for nonresident hunts for elk. You made the decision to go there because, according to all the reports, big record-class bulls are plentiful--even Boone & Crockett class bulls. You know in your heart that an elk-hunting trip to

northern New Mexico would, without a question, be a true adventure.

You look through your collection of hunting magazines for ads placed by outfitters who offer New Mexican, private, ranch, trophy elk hunts and do a “trophy elk� search on a common Internet search engine like Yahoo. To be thorough, you even attend a couple of big off-season, consumer, hunting shows where you talk to outfitters at their booths. In short order you are overwhelmed, as all options look great and are inviting. After considerable effort, you determine that five of them are in the price range you have budgeted for your trip. So, what do you do next?

All respectable outfitters provide reference lists of hunters or fishermen along with addresses and telephone numbers. When talking to a sportsman on a reference list, ask if he has the names and numbers of other people who were at the camp at this time. Many do exchange phone numbers when friendships are established by hunting together for 5 to 10 days. Probably not as successful as the sportsmen listed on the reference list, these individuals can provide you with a balanced opinion of the outfitter, and of the quality and quantity of animals they had opportunities to harvest.

Once you have thoroughly researched your short list of outfitters, make your choice and then contact them. Odds are that your selected outfitter will book you over the phone by establishing the dates and the particulars of the hunt. Always ask him about little details like the travel arrangements (especially ground transportation) and any hidden costs? You cannot ask too many questions, but you must also pay close attention.

Virtually every outfitter provides clients with lists of essential pieces of equipment and clothing as well as lists of suggested equipment. Follow the list with religious fervor. If it is suggested that you bring Gore-Tex rainwear or vulcanized, all-rubber hunting boots, by all means follow this to the letter. Bring, as closely as possible, precisely what your outfitter suggests.

If it rains every day of your trip, who can be blamed for this occurrence? On the other hand, if you show up in poor physical condition, unable to make a stalk or an 8-mile jaunt, you are to blame. If your shooting is grossly lacking--you are to blame. Prepare for your trip as much as you expect your outfitter to be prepared to insure you have a productive vacation. Making your first guided hunting trip to the West a success requires lots of effort, attention to detail, and preparation but, it is time well spent. www.isoutdoors.com

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ARCTIC HIGH ADVENTURE:

BOWHUNTING FOR MUSKOX!

by Bob Foulkrod

Even through the low hanging fog enduring the aggravating weather delays the last leg of my trip north from Ottawa, made the sight of the Inuit Village Grise Fiord on the island of Ellesmere a welcomed sight.

Two long days spent waiting for a break in the sky while at the outpost village of Resolute, had made me more than a

little anxious to get to where I could bow hunt. As I descended from the warmth of the airplane, my long time friend, Jerome Knapp of Canada North Outfitters greeted me with a big smile and the words, “A very large herd of musk ox with a couple of nice sized trophy bulls has been located within half a day’s snowmobile ride from Grise Fiord.”

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Grise Fiord has the unique distinction of being the last community found in the northern half of the Western Hemisphere.

Along with an annual allotment of musk ox permits, the village also receives almost three dozen polar bear permits, of which six are sold to non-native sportsmen. Our plan was to make a 125 mile trek by snowmobile across icy Ellesmere Island to the musk ox. I had three days to bow kill a musk ox and it’s not uncommon for spring hunts to be spoiled by bad weather.

The half day trip across the ice took ten hours. Unlike my Inuit guide who rode straddle of a snowmobile, I rode comfortably atop a padded seat housed in a box.

Garbed in caribou skin overcoat, trousers and boots clothing, I was quite warm in an environment where the air temperature was -20-to-30 degrees F and wind blew hard. Lodging was a small cabin that was barely large enough to hold us, but was warm and we slept well.

Following a warm breakfast, we went out to look for musk ox. To our surprise, locating the herd proved easy. Getting within bow range was a different matter.

Musk ox are not especially intelligent or difficult to hunt. They are probably the www.isoutdoors.com

least understood by American sportsmen of all native wildlife. Their shaggy, two-layer wool-like coats give them the appearance of huge beast, although they rarely weigh more than 800 pounds, and do not stand as high as the bison. Musk ox are herd animals that defend themselves by the herd forming a defensive circle. Known as “Oomingmak” by the natives, these are among the most primitive animals found in North America. They are literally relics from the Ice Age they shared with the saber-tooth tiger and wooly mammoth. Musk ox are related to bison. Musk ox do not “musk” from

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glands as was once believed to occur. The strong odor is from rutting bulls spending time in odorous, urine-spiced wallows Historically, the Native Americans relied on the musk ox only as a secondary source of food, far more frequently utilizing the more abundant caribou. The arrival of Europeans resulted in musk ox numbers dipping dangerously low. It has only been since 1967 when it was determined their numbers had rebounded sufficiently to permit the limited harvest of musk ox.

Ellesmere Island is the place for bow hunters to go for a record class musk ox bull.

Once exclusively the quarry of the rifle hunter, in recent years bow hunters have taken an increasing rate. My Inuit guide cautioned me to be careful and keep an eye for big bulls that can become aggressive. I made a huge circle that moved the animals into a boxed in area. Then to my www.isoutdoors.com

surprise the herd moved in my direction.

This was too easy I thought to myself, and I was right. An instant later they spotted us.

The great roar of the thundering hoofs on the ice coming to a grinding stop to form a defensive circle shot my heart into my throat. What a sound it was!

While the musk ox held position on the frozen tundra, I approached to within 50 yards of them. The wind whipped the long fur around gnarled horns of the bulls. While a massive bull pawing the ice indicated this was the lead animal. Coming to full draw I squared my 40 yard pin on the lungs of the long hair covered beast, and let my Satellite Titan broadhead fly. The fatally hit animal stood there until falling stone dead Musk ox hunts with an Inuit guide cost between $3,000 to $5,000 plus license fees.

For more information contact Far North Outfitters, P.O. Box 3100, Almonte, Ontario K0A-1A0; 613-256-4057.

isOutdoors V I D E O G R A P H Y

Your Own Television Show?

“Having your own broadcast program may not be as far fetched as you think.�

A

By Brock Ray

re you one of the hundreds of thousands of sportsmen who watch television shows on hunting and fishing, thinking to yourself that this must be the life? If you are, you are not alone. And if you have ever www.isoutdoors.com

wished you could find out for yourself if this is something you want to do, then read on. I can tell you from personal experience and from helping others, it is possible.

The first order of business is the decision to have your own television show. Once

you know what you want to accomplish, then it becomes a matter of mechanics. If you are looking at a 30-minute program for broadcast, then you will need 22 minutes of content. Content is the actual show that includes the introduction, credits, opening scores, take-outs and closing. The other 8 minutes is commercial time. The actual action of a 30-minute broadcast is under 20 minutes.

You will need a high quality video camera and at least two off-camera microphones, or the service of a professional camera man. I strongly recommend against using a high eight camera. The best bang for the buck is a Cannon XL series video recorder and two remote, off camera microphones.

You can get all of this for about $5,000.

Hiring a camera man with his own equipment will run you about $500 a day.

If you need to learn how to operate a video camera in outdoors environments, you can attend my Outdoor Videography School, or order the Brock Ray Viography Home Study Course.

Assuming you now have the equipment and know-how, then you need a pilot. A

pilot is a single complete show that you want to produce. This is what you will later shop around to networks and station managers. A pilot is not a collage of what you hope to produce in the long haul, such as a mixture of footage that might include deer hunting, fishing, hiking, and sight seeing.

Now you need a scene script. This is the general order in which you want things to occur and how long each will be. Scene scripting ensures you have all of the components you need to weld together the tougher to get action footage. Actually shooting a buck or landing an eight pound bass takes astonishingly little time. It is perhaps the high point of your pilot, but it must be framed with entertaining, varied scenes and messages that create interest of the viewer.

So, let’s say you now have all of the footage that you need to make a good pilot. The next thing is to clue it all together. This means you need a professional grade opening with eye catching graphics, background music, and scene changes that transition in such a way as the viewer www.isoutdoors.com

isOutdoors V I D E O G R A P H Y

does not feel they are on a roller coaster.

If you are very computer savvy and know how to do video editing and special affects that’s great. If not, enlist the services of a professional production studio. I have been in the television business for almost two decades and I still farm out the work on the final product. This does not mean that I do not compile the scenes as I want them, or that I do not use voice over scripting to augment the live audio. However, the actual technical chore of putting it all together with music and snazzy graphics is hired out to a company in St. Louis. To get a fair review by program executives, your pilots needs the professional touch that such companies, large and small, provide.

Okay, now you have a finished DVD pilot of your show that is both uniquely dazzling and entertaining. Where do you go from here? The odds of a network or local station paying you to air your work are remote.

In fact, they will probably want to sell you the time. In other words, you pay to have your program aired. This can be as much as $40,000 a week on a major network like ESPN, or as little as $200 a week on your local NBC affiliates. So, how in the world do you make money when you incur the cost www.isoutdoors.com

of creating your outdoors show and then have to pay to have it aired?

Do you recall the eight minutes of noncontent program time in your 30-minute program? Well, you will either have the ability to sell it all, or part of it to sponsors who pay you. Typically, you have 8 minutes.

That could be eight 1-minute commercials, or sixteen 30-second commercials. If you charge $100 per week per 30-seconds, that is a gross income of $1,600. If you sell them for $50, then the gross income is $800.

Of course, if you have a great Saturday morning timeslot on a major network, then you would need to charge $2,000 per 30-second commercial, with a gross income of $36,000 per week.

The Brock Ray Outdoor Videography Home Study Course includes DVDs, CDRom software for editing, and a course book full of the information you’ll need to get started in your outdoor videography career. It costs $49.99 (plus $10.00 shipping & handling. Contact Brock Ray’s Outdoor Videography School to get yours today; PO Box 64; Oneonta, AL 35121, telephone 205625-5473.

isOutdoors B A S S

F I S H I N G

The Devil’s Horse – A Propbait Served Southern Style

By Chuck Bailey, editor www.crankbaitcentral.com

T

he invention of the propeller changed the world. Whether it was attached to a boat or an airplane, it was associated with high RPM’s – (Revolutions Per Minute) – and designed for increasing the speed at which something moves.

So when Smithwick designed and manufactured the Devil’s Horse back in the 1950’s, equipped with not one, but two props, it is understandable why anglers still made the connection between props and speed. Novice anglers often tie on the bait for the first time and assume it should www.isoutdoors.com

be raced across the surface, or “ripped” sporadically back to the boat.

But down in Florida, where the Devil’s Horse has an almost cult-like following, a high speed retrieve is considered by many to be detrimental to consistent success.

Among these die-hard propbait fans is Barry Weaver, a bass tournament angler, and owner of “The Crankin Cracker” – a shop that that produces custom painted crankbaits.

If Barry believes the bass are willing to chase down a surface bait moving at high

isOutdoors B A S S

F I S H I N G

speed, he will reach for a buzzbait. The true secret to fishing a Devil’s horse is to “Go Slow” – to finesse the bait in the right place at the right time.

Woe Horse! Slow Down!

“A lot of people who fish the Devil’s Horse like to rip them and move them fast,” states Barry, “but I will throw it into a spot and let it sit there for 5 to 10 seconds. And if you start to move it right away, a lot of times you will scare the bass away; you can see them run from it.”

Weaver knows this to be true because he has used this technique in clear water, where the bass could be observed. “The bass will come up to investigate, they’ll move underneath it and sit there and watch it. I’ll let it sit the 5-10 seconds and let all the swirls go away. I continue to let it just sit there, and then I’ll give it just a little twitch.”

Twitch It! That twitch is very subtle, insists Barry, “I don’t want it to move but a couple of inches - just a little twitch. Ninety percent of the time it’s the first two or three twitches that will get the hit.” It’s a painfully slow technique with 5-6 seconds between twitches, and requires the angler to stop www.isoutdoors.com

thinking about the lure’s propellers and fight the instinctive desire for a high speed retrieve.

Shallow Water, Cover, and Bass Fishing the Devil’s Horse requires two obvious basics: shallow water and cover.

Of course, it first requires bass being in that shallow water cover, but in Florida that is a 12 month blessing their northern cousins don’t have. While “Yankee” anglers may have to wait until spring for the bass to move into the shallows before being able to target the cover with propbaits, the Devil’s Horse slow “southern style” technique is effective anytime bass are in shallow cover.

Seasonal or Weather Dependent?

Interestingly enough, southern topwater anglers rarely consider the “seasonal conditions” before throwing topwater, (after all, there are only a few colder months of winter, and the rest is summer), in as much as they pay attention to “weather” conditions. Barry agrees, “I look for the weather rather the season, and I will fish the Devil’s Horse all year long depending on the conditions.”

Even water temperature seems to be disconnected from the propbait’s formula for success down south. “I’ve caught fish

isOutdoors B A S S

on Devil’s Horses in the middle of winter, and in 100 degree summers. So really, I don’t think water temperature bothers the bass down here that much.”

Ideal Conditions The ideal conditions for throwing the Devil’s Horse are easy for Barry to describe, “Number one; hopefully it is going to be a windy day. (I’m not talking 30 mile an hour winds, I’m just talking about enough to put some chop on the water.) And I’m going to look for isolated patches of lily pads with the winds blowing up to it, and I am going to fish the windy side of those pads.”

A Little Wind “The fish love to get on the windy side of any kind of cover, whether it’s shoreline, an isolated mud bank, or anything that has wind and current going to it. The bass will sit there on the edge and ambush anything that comes their way. If the wind is blowing shad up under the pads or into the grass, the bass are going to sit right there, making it a prime target for the Devil’s Horse.”

That doesn’t mean Barry won’t throw the propbait on a windless day. “If I have a calm day, and I am able to ‘look for sign’, that is, if I see little pads moving up close to

F I S H I N G

the shore, that’s a prime topwater location.

I’m always watching the shoreline and watching the grass. A fish is not going to sneak through Kissimmee Grass and not move it, so I am always watching. If I see movement, I throw the Devil’s Horse close to it.”

Weeds, Pads, Grass!

The vast majority of the cover Barry targets is aquatic vegetation, especially lily pads, “If I am doing topwater I’m tossing at green vegetation. We also have something we call Kissimmee Grass, which is like a little pepper grass that is real thick, and it will die off in the cold months yet remain there.”

Though there are stump fields in many of the lakes that Barry competes on, he says “I’m probably not going to throw a topwater into stump fields very much.”

There are other baits better suited for the woody environment. The same is true of open water situations. Should Barry come across schooling fish, (chasing shad balls in open water), he’s likely to throw other baits - unless the Devil’s Horse is the only bait he happens to have tied on. He usually reserves the Devil’s Horse for shoreline cover that consists primarily of aquatic vegetation. click here to read the rest of the article

isOutdoors W H A T

’S

N E W

Roscoby Riser Cam The Roscoby Riser Cam is a bow-mounted video camera that enables hunters to record their shots to watch later. The camera captures the arrow in flight, its impact and the reaction of the animal when it is hit. The Roscoby Riser Cam fits into the stabilizer receptacle where it also serves as a stabilizer. www.roscoby.com

Kicktail XL-7 Fishing Lures Kicktail XL-7 fishing lures are almost the exact duplication of the real action of a bait fish swimming as its 5-segment tail movement actually kicks from side to side while it is retrieved through the water. This action is as real swimming action along the surface as can be made by man.. www.ngcsports.com

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New Moon Game Calls New Moon Game Calls one-sided custom box turkey calls are designed not only to be highly effective at calling in gobblers,

but it is user-friendly as well. These onesided custom box calls are available in walnut, cherry and Alaskan yellow cedar, or about any wood you might desire. www.newmoongamecalls.com Camp Chef Outdoor Camp Oven The Camp Chef Outdoor Camp Oven gives you all the comforts of your kitchen at home, while camping. It is stove, grill, and oven all in one portable propane powered unit.

Features include two top burners (1 all purpose burner/1 grill burner), nonstick grill, oven box with a thermometer, matchless ignition, and stainless steel construction. www.campchef.com

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isOutdoors DESTINATION NATION

ALABAMA’S REDNECK RIVERIA Alabama’s underbelly fronts less than a hundred miles of beaches butted up against the Gulf of Mexico, which unless you knew it was there, might very well escape notice when taking a casual look at a map. Diminutive though this stretch of coast might be, this swatch of sugar white sand is not only home to incredibly good spring season fishing, but is a recreational hotspot that has the well deserved nickname, “The Redneck Riviera.”

The southern-most recesses of “LA” (or, lower Alabama); the culture of the Redneck Riviera is cornucopia of paradoxes. It is reminiscent of a sort of course year round Mardi Gras held at a beautiful beach with stunning sunsets, and inviting gulf breezes populated by southern belles clad in the www.isoutdoors.com

briefest of bikinis. When in LA, the rules are simple. Let your hair down. Forget your problems. Go fishing.

Panama City is the capital of Redneck Riviera. The coastal highway is a nonstop smorgasbord of water parks, tattoo parlors, beer dives, crab shacks, beach wear boutiques, and every beach trinkets known to man jammed up against by high-rise condominiums. No decent fisherman worth his salt can help but immediately fall in love with this armpit of depravity. Talking about fishing, fishing, eating fish and dreaming about fishing are all part of going coastal here.

Many people across the country are well aware of the Redneck Riviera having what

some regard as the world’s top fishing for red snapper. Orange Beach, Alabama is home of the Red Snapper World Championship Tournament which runs from April 21st through May 21st. This month is the top time to catch these great to eat fish.

The Alabama Gulf Coast is also known for its big grouper. When you come here it can be tough to pick which you want to try to catch first.

I suggest picking a charter boat captain who targets grouper fishing along with all of the other many species in addition to the ever-so-popular red snapper. There are several types of grouper which can be caught along the Redneck Riviera. Among the most popular are gag grouper, black grouper, red grouper and scamp. These fish are usually found in water depths from 140 feet to 240 feet and deeper. Many of the red grouper and smaller gag grouper are caught in depths of 80 feet to 120 feet of water. Great taste is the common denomi-

nator for them all.

Beginning in March and all through April, cobia race along the Redneck Riviera. Also known as ling and lemon fish, each spring these delicious-to-eat and fun-to-catch sport fish, make a migratory run from the tip of south Florida, all the way around the Upper Gulf Coast. Cobias start hitting the beaches along the Alabama coast about the third week of March. Anglers come from all over the US to the Redneck Riviera to catch these hard-fighting fish. The www.isoutdoors.com

isOutdoors DESTINATION NATION

spring run lasts until mid-May. Most fish will weigh 20- to 50-pounds; however, catching 60- to 100-pound cobia is not uncommon.

When the run is on and skies and water are clear, it is not uncommon for anglers to spot as many as 20 cobia in a day. In the spring these fish hold on oil and gas rigs offshore and above artificial wrecks and reefs off of the coast. Fishermen spot the cobia swimming just under the surface and then motor their boats in front of the paths of the cobia and let the cobia pass before them. With the cobia within casting distance jigs, live eel and a wide variety of baitfish are tossed in front of cobia. www.isoutdoors.com

These sight feeders attack morsels with great gusto and veracity. The Redneck Riviera has more than 11,000-artificial reefs made of everything from World War II troop transport ‘Liberty’ ships, army tanks, bridge rubble and a wide variety of other structures.

Tourism and fishing are well developed enterprises along the Redneck Riviera.

For more info visit www.orangebeach. com/fishing/biting. To learn more about Alabama’s Redneck Riviera contact, call the Alabama Gulf Coast Convention and Visitors Bureau at 1-800-745-7263, or visit www.gulfshores.com.

isOutdoors WOMEN OUTDOORS

Getting Her Started Hunting: PART TWO

During the first segment of this article I talked about accommodating women in the outdoors, with particular emphasis on physical differences in men and women and how this translates to gear. The second segment will focus on female hunters and anglers getting along with the opposite sex in an environment that evolved around the male gender.

Ladies, here’s the deal. A hunting or fishing camp is just that, and it was never meant to be home. The best thing a woman can do is join right in and go with the flow. Sure, you do your part of the cooking and cleaning, but no more. If you do more than your share, be assured that most men will do little to slow down your efforts. The thing to remember is you are an outdoorswoman. Your first job is to hunt or fish. Nothing, not disgusting soiled www.isoutdoors.com

by Sheila Foulkrod

towels, questionable sanitary condition or clutters of cobwebs in the cupboards should ever be allowed to sway a woman in camp from their primary mission. Once a woman accepts this basic premise of the sport, they can acclimate to such new surroundings with little difficulty. In other words, when in Rome do as the Romans.

Oddly enough, some men experience acute anxiety regarding the prospect of having women in the midst of their deer and fishing camps. The lack of need to maintain minimal levels of human decency in attire and indoor behavior is part of what makes hunting clubs and living in a tent along a lake attractive to some men. Invasion of this domain by the opposite sex – the gender blamed for the establishment of civilization – does not set well with all of those strong,

hardy outdoorsmen. However, it has been my experience that given sufficient exposure to the cultural benefits which abound when women are in a hunting camp, even the worse holdouts will come around.

Now that you know the pitfalls, here are a few tips on how you might be able to get your girlfriend, daughter, or wife interested in hunting and fishing. First, if you are genuinely intent on interesting a female in hunting, you must make it sound exciting and fun.

There will be plenty of time to acquaint your prospective hunting buddy with fishing in the rain, hunting in subfreezing temperatures, and other less-than-romantic aspects of the sport.

The next order of business is getting your newest fishing and hunting buddy properly outfitted. Odds are you grew up amidst the trees and waterfalls, and have long been aware of all of the gear and its various functions. You know the difference in a spinning reel and a spinnerbaits, climbing tree stands and a chain-on tree stands, or a fixed power rifle scope and a variable power rifle scope, but to a female newcomer it all sounds like coded Greek. Girls growing up 10 to 20 years ago might have learned to bait their own hook when fishing, but they rarely have even a rudimentary understanding of guns, ammunition, tree stands, calls, bows, and other essential gear. My advice is to take your time introducing and teaching fishing and hunting to your female pal. Remember, patience is a very under-rated virtue.

Being a bow hunter who is married to a bow hunter, I must confess, I’m predisposed to be in favor of starting women out with archery tackle. On the other hand, some women are very fond of shooting firearms. Take your female buddy to a quality archery shop where she can be fitted with a bow that matches her size and strength. Encourage her to use a sight and mechanical release. Investing in the skills of a good bow coach for 10 or 20 hours is not the worst thing you can do either, particularly if it is your wife who is learning to shoot.

But, here is the bad news. After all is said and done, you’ve successfully convinced your wife or daughter to try fishing and hunting-and they love it. You’ve spent a tidy sum on outfitting your new partner, but you probably will say that is nothing new. Now comes the reality check. The last time you watched a pride of African lions hunting, which sex made the kill, and which sex ate most of the kill? If your answer is the female, you are correct.

In the human and animal world, the truest, most finely honed predator senses are that of the female. In other words, you may find your new woodland partner not only takes to hunting like a duck to water, but even exceeds your gusto and love for bass fishing and deer hunting. Don’t worry though, you’ll have the best lifelong whitetail hunting partner you could ever hope for, and there will always be plenty of venison burger and fish fillets in the freezer.

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isOutdoors FEATURED OUTFITTER

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for incredible trophy class whitetail bucks.

Hunters stay in a fully accommodated lodge nestled in the rolling hills of this remote county. The kitchen serves up only homemade dishes that range from fried chicken, homemade noodles, breads, and desserts, to ice cream made under the old shade tree. The rustic lodge not only serves hunters, but families as well. Along with deer hunting, the lodge offers upland bird, turkey and waterfowl hunting.

(800) 717-4868 • (217) 734-2526 RR 1 Box 8A • Nebo, IL 62355

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