Outdoorsmen Adventures.com

Reprinted from the Sioux City Journal

AKRON, Iowa – The Big Sioux Cat Anglers Club began like most others. A bunch of guys sitting around a table talking about fishing and suddenly the idea of forming a club comes up.

For this group, it was back in November of 2008 when the club formed.

“A bunch of us were just talking in Dad’s garage,” Bobby Walrod remembers. “Darrell Carter brought up the idea. There were nine of us there and we thought that was a good idea.

“That’s how the club came about,” he says.

“We wanted to be more than just a group of guys with like fishing interests,” he continues. “We wanted to organize tournaments, but we also felt there was a lot of good a club could do up and down the Big Sioux River.”

Access points along the river are few and far between and that would be one area where an organized club might make a difference, the group felt.

“We would like to do some community service projects,” he says.

“There is grant money out there for projects such as boat ramps that would improve our river and access,” Bobby says. “That’s what we would like to grow into.

“We’d like to work with the IDNR and county conservation groups to have a river clean-up day on the Big Sioux next year,” he says.

From that initial group of nine guys, the club has grown to over 40 members today. Most are from Akron, Hawarden, Elk Point, Sioux City and nearby areas.

The charter members include Bobby, his father Bob, Akron; Carter, Elk Point; Austin Walrod, Sioux City; Dick Hendricksen and Stacy Rabey, both of Akron; Keith Copenhaver, Hinton, Jeff Nohava and Carl Harry, both of Hawarden.

The group held their first tournament in 2009 and have now grown to five tournaments a year. Those include Brown’s Lake; Pro Sport Bistro (the club runs that tournament in cooperation with Pro Sport Bistro Restaurant in Hawarden); the Sioux City Missouri River tournament (canceled due to high water); the Skily Slam (a memorial for Bobby’s brother Chris “Skil” Walrod); The Lewis and Clark Tournament (Aug. 14 out of Weigand Marina) and the Big Sioux Triple Crown (Sept. 18 on the Big Sioux).

Reprinted from the Sioux City Journal

Travis Carter, Elk Point, S.D., and Dan Foss, Onawa, Iowa, captured first place in the Seventh Annual First Class Cat Attack Saturday.

Forty-five teams of catfish anglers headed out into a rain-swollen Missouri River from the South Sioux City Public Boat Dock at 7 a.m. for the competition.

A heavy rain the night before, put the Big Sioux River at nearly bank full and foiled many angler’s plan of fishing that stream.

The high water made this the toughest fishing of any of the events, but Carter and Foss brought in eight channel catfish for a total of 26.40 pounds.

The pair took home a check for $1,373.

The 45 teams from six states weighed-in 98 channel cats and eight flatheads for a total of 106 catfish.

Total weight of all fish was 210.30 pounds. No blue catfish were caught this year.

No team weighed a limit of 10 fish. Two teams weighed nine and five teams weighed eight.

Second place went to Shane Jones, Westfield, Iowa, and Adam Conlon, Sioux City, $968, 14.15 pounds.… Continue reading

When I’m doing in store promotions and fishing seminars, I get a lot of questions, the one that’s asked the most often is “how can I catch fish”?

It’s not really all that complicated; first you have to understand why fish do certain things and when they’ll do it!

What you need to do is to think like a fish.

In order to understand fish, you first need to understand the senses a fish uses to survive.

One of the most misunderstood senses of the fish would be its lateral line.

A fish’s lateral line is made up of a bundle of nerves whose projecting hairs is enclosed in a gelatinous substance located on either side of the fish.

The lateral line is sensitive to changes in the water pressure and as the pressure changes either by a change in depth or an approaching fish or creature causes the hairs to vibrate, sending signals to the brain allowing the fish to detect movement that they may not have see.

The lateral line also helps fish to swim in tight schools with out running into each other.

The eyesight of a fish is similar to that of we humans, they’re able to detect both brightness and color.

Fish that roam the shallow water, such as bass have excellent eyesight.  In bright light, bass see many of the colors that humans are able to see.

Other species of fish won’t have the full line of color perception that humans do.

Since water filters out colors, fish located in deeper water can’t detect all the colors that shallow water cousins can.

Walleyes for instance see primarily orange and green, with all other colors appearing as different shades of gray.

Fluorescence hold their color longer in deeper water, what this means is that the fish are more apt to see a florescent colored lure better in deeper water.

Fish that feed in deep water aren’t able to distinguish the different colors so instead of responding to color, they respond to vibration and the flashes of light coming off predators, prey fish or your lure.

All species of fish have an excellent sense of hearing.  Part of the reason that a fish hears so well is because water conducts sound better than air.

Fish don’t have ears like other animals; they pick up sound through the bones located in their head.

The way one species of fish will relate to sound varies from one species to another.  The vibration made by an angler walking along a bank can spook trout, but panfish don’t seemed to be bothered by noise.

I can attest for this first hand as a few years ago, we were SCUBA diving in Lake Francis Case, most of the fish in the area that we were working, moved away when from the bubbles coming from our gear.  The panfish weren’t afraid at all and came closer with the more racket we made.

Taste is another sense that fish have.  Taste is not one of their primary senses and not many fish rely heavily on just this sense when feeding.

The exception to this rule is the bullhead and catfish family.  They have very poor eyesight and rely heavily on the taste receptors located on the outside of their mouth in their barbells or whiskers to help locate food.

The sense of smell is excellent in most species of fish.  As they move through the water, their sense of smell is continually being used, checking out the surrounding body of water.… Continue reading

Reprinted from the Sioux City Journal

TEKAMAH, NEB. — It probably wasn’t the kind of day you would pick for catfishing, but nobody told the cats.

Pat Carter, Elk Point, S.D., and I arrived at Summit Lake in the middle of a morning rainstorm, but when the downpour turned to sprinkles, we launched my boat and headed out.

Pat had fished the lake a couple times before and was impressed with the channel catfish to be found there. When he suggested we give it a try, I was quick to agree.

For the past seven years, Pat and I have gotten together prior to Sioux City’s one and only catfish tournament and spend a day or an evening chasing “ole whiskers.”

It’s a tradition now and what began as a U.S. CATS sponsored tournament is now a local tournament with Pat as the director. Strong sponsor support from local businesses, headed by First Class Credit Union, and individuals is quickly making this event one of the premier catfish tournaments in the country.

Last year the First Class Cat Attack attracted 51 teams with entries from a seven-state area. This year Pat hopes to top 60 boats and is well on his way. Current entries exceed last year’s.

This year, the boats will blast off from the South Sioux City boat ramp with waters of the Missouri and Big Sioux Rivers eligible.

Last year’s event was won by Dean and Bruce Strobman of Sioux City with a single catch — a 56.60-pound blue catfish. Second was taken by Keith Copenhaver, Sioux City, and Chris Sharp, Merrill, Iowa with 10 fish weighing 40.90 pounds.

In all, anglers weighed in 155 fish totaling 500.15 pounds, the highest weight in the history of the tournament.

This year’s event will be July 24 with anglers fishing from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. The event has a $5,000 guaranteed payout. Cash awards will be given for first through 6th place with additional cash placements for over 30 teams. Seventh to 15th place teams will win door prizes. Additional door prizes will be offered including a trolling motor, depth finder and rods and reels.

Entry automatically qualifies teams for the 2010 Night Tournament from 7p.m. to 8 a.m. Sept. 4.

The public is welcome to the weigh-in at the ramp. A free cookout and drinks will be available beginning at 3 p.m.

Entry fee for the event is $100 with an optional $10 for the big fish Pot. Entries are being accepted at the Bacon Creek Country Store at 2520 Gordon Dr. Entries will also be accepted, cash only, the morning of the tournament. A mandatory rules meeting will begin at 6:30 a.m.

If there’s one thing my grandson Brandon Caserta likes to do when he visits his grandfather, it’s to go fishing.

And we did just that for two days last week. In the boat were grandson Eric Fluharty, wife Fran, daughter Teri and Teri’s husband Patrick.

Patrick, Teri and Brandon live in Phoenix, Ariz., and do get a chance to fish in some of the ponds in parks around their home.

But it is not like climbing into a boat and fishing some of our Missouri River oxbows.

We put three spinning rods in rod holders out the back. One to the port side, one to the starboard side and one right out the back.

We were pulling my number one, go-to lure for this kind of fishing on any of our oxbow lakes, a Rebel F-77 Teeny Wee Crawfish. It doesn’t dive more than about three feet and if you shortline, it will go even less.

It’s one-and-a-half inches long and has a strong wobbling action that calls in any gamefish.

We used them in Chartreuse/Brown Back, Chartreuse/Green Back and Cajun Crawdad, a sort of neutral brown.

Most of the time there doesn’t seem to be a strong preference for color on the part of the fish, but on the second day, it was clear that the rod with the Chartreuse/Brown Back lure was getting all the action.

Eric ran the bow mounted trolling motor keeping our speed at about 1.5 miles an hour.

When one of the rods bent, Brandon grabbed it and landed the fish.… Continue reading

Reprinted from the Sioux City Journal

SELKIRK, Manitoba — It was back in 1986 when I first fished the Red River below the dam at Lockport, Manitoba, with Stu McKay.

Stu was working with the railroad at the time, but aspired to become a full-time guide on the Red River along the stretch long known as the Miracle Mile.

It was in early June and I just couldn’t believe that five of us boated over 1,000 pounds of channel cats in two days. I wrote about it and the next year came back. Stu had realized his dream and had purchased a concession right there called “Lily Ann’s.”

That quickly grew… Continue reading

Reprinted from the Sioux City Journal

It was opening day of Iowa’s first turkey hunting season.

My two hen decoys were sitting 20 yards out in a picked cornfield and I sat, back against a tree along the timber’s edge.

I was a couple miles northeast of Linn Grove, Iowa, widely known for the good fishing below the low head dam over which the Little Sioux River flows.

A thunderstorm was forming over the valley and I counted after the lightning strikes to the sound of thunder to determine how far away the storm was.

One mile. That was close.

I could tell rain was pouring out of that little cell, but so far it was only a light sprinkle here.

I hen-yelped on my slate call but drew no answering gobble.

Then the sky opened up.

I was dressed in camo rain gear but this was too much. I jumped up and ran 50 yards back into the timber and took shelter in a deer house.

When the rain let up I went back out and set up again.… Continue reading

The 7th annual Northeast Nebraska Whitetails Unlimited banquet was held Friday March 19th at the Wausa Fire Hall.

Whitetails Unlimited (www.whitetailsunlimited.com) is a national conservation organization promoting deer hunting and other outdoor activities, which headquartered out of Sturgeon Bay, WI. established in 1982 with over 100,000 members.

Approximately 425 people attended this year’s event where attendees had the opportunity to win numerous prizes including 40 guns and bows.

WTU banquets are family orientated events aimed at involving the entire family.

Our youth are very important to WTU, as they are the future of deer hunting and all outdoor sports.

Because of this, there are special promotions and contest held at the banquet designed especially for the youth.

WTU offers its members an avenue to raise funds to support common interests such as preserving the hunting tradition and educating the public on the importance of conserving our natural resources

At this years event, $48,000.00 was raised, much of which will remain in the area, being used for conservation and youth programs.

Funds raised from these WTU events, one half of which stays locally, is donated to numerous area activities.

In 2009 the Northeast Nebraska WTU donated  $20,906.00 to conservation related activities. Included in these were; donations to area schools, 4-H groups, hunter’s education, handicap hunters programs, archery clubs, area communities, conservation organizations and for state game & park projects.… Continue reading

To be successful at turkey hunting there are several to things that need to come together.

The most important of these is knowing the area the birds are using.

In order to find out this information, it will require pre season scouting as this allows you to have a plan put together ahead of time, so you’ll know the who, what, when and where before opening day.

By doing your pre-season scouting you’ll be able to figure out the bird patterns, where they’re roosting, where they’re coming out of the roost, their travel routes to and from feeding areas and how they get back to their roost just before dark.

Don’t make the mistake that some spring hunters do and use a turkey call while doing your scouting.

Once a bird hears the hen call, he may come running in and catch you out in the open, which is a good way to educate the bird.

When scouting, use a call that makes the Tom gobble, but not come your direction.

You’ll want to use a call that will cause the bird to shock gobble as these loud calls startle or shock the bird causing it to gobble.

Good shock calls can be a predator, owl or crow call as these are sounds that the birds have heard before that won’t make them come running in your direction.

These calls can be used during pre-season scouting and during the regular season.

Locating the tree the birds are using as a roost will be a big help, giving you a place to start on opening morning.

Roost trees are generally some of the tallest trees in the woods.  Look for trees with an accumulation of droppings and feathers under them, which is a pretty good indicator that the birds have used the trees as a roost.… Continue reading

Best crappie fishing of the year is right around the corner.

Reprinted from the Sioux City Journal

Crappies are among the first game fish to bite well right after the ice goes out.

It’s a pre-spawn movement to the shallows and the fish will stay there through the month of April in our area, through May in central Minnesota and into June in northern Minnesota.

Spawning crappies need some sort of structure to spawn on. In natural lakes that is often last year’s reed beds or downed timber along the shoreline. In ponds and small reservoirs they will be attracted to submerged trees or other woody structure. If the lake does not have trees or wood, rocky shorelines along the face of the dam will attract them. I’ve even found them along glacial rocks on the shorelines of South Dakota lakes. Also, don’t overlook boat docks, boat hoists or other man-made structure.

For the earliest fishing, think warm water. Warmest water right after ice-out will be found in canals, boat channels or around stream inlets.… Continue reading