Wade Bourne

Tackle-Free Fishing

outdoorlife-editor — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 12:26:29 -0400

The hands-down majority of fish caught in North America are taken on some combination of rods and reels, but anglers also have the option of fishing with a number of "no-tackle" methods that can be as productive as casting or trolling.

Such tackle-free fishing utilizes limbs, jugs, cans, nylon line, stout hooks and other simple components. Techniques for using them are inexpensive and highly efficient at catching catfish and other popular species. A spool of staging line or monofilament, and some sinkers and hooks, don't take up much space in your camping gear when you go on a weekend camping trip or squirrel-hunting foray. Thus prepared, and provided there's fishing water nearby, you might be able to
enjoy fresh fish for supper.

Following are descriptions of six
alternative fishing methods that anglers might try when rods and reels are nowhere to be found. Fishermen should review local regulations to make sure a particular method is
legal, as fishing laws vary widely from state to state.

Limblining

Limblining is the simplest of all alternative fishing methods. Tie a length of strong staging line to a limb hanging over water that's got some depth to it; say, at least five or six feet deep. Adjust the line's length to extend two to three feet into the water. Tie a strong hook (1/0 to 3/0) on the opposite end of the line, and add enough weight six or eight inches above the hook so the line will hang vertically beneath the limb. Bait the hooks in late afternoon with night crawlers, live minnows, fish chunks or some other choice catfish morsel, then check the line the next morning. Chances are you'll find a feisty channel or blue cat struggling to get away.

Limblining is a numbers game. Most limbliners set at least two dozen lines at a time, spreading them along a riverbank or lakeshore. Rig lines in different areas: adjacent to deep pools,
below riffles, along rocky banks or near logjams. Once you learn where the fish are feeding best you can concentrate your lines there the next night.

Tie lines to limbs that are alive and springy. That way, when a big catfish takes the bait, the limb will bend but probably not break when the fish tries to make a run for it.

One other note: be sure to remove your limblines when you're through fishing. The law requires it.

Yo-Yo Fishing

"Yo-yoing" is a high-tech method of limblining. A yo-yo is an automatic reel consisting of a stainless-steel spring
encased in a sheet-metal disk (about the diameter of a doughnut). This device has a line attached to its topside for tying to a springy green limb, which suspends the yo-yo reel above the water's surface.

Inside the yo-yo mechanism are several feet of strong nylon line wrapped around the spring. The end of this line dangles from the bottom of the yo-yo. A snap swivel is tied to the end. A 1/0 to 3/0 hook (attached to the line via the snap swivel) and one or two split-shot weights complete the rig.

After the yo-yo is tied to a limb, the hook is baited and enough line is pulled off the reel to lower the bait two or three feet beneath the surface. As the line is pulled off the reel, the spring coils tighter. Once the desired length is extended, a small wire trigger on the side of the reel is set to keep the line in place. When a fish takes the bait it trips the trigger and the reel uncoils quickly to set the hook.

The best strategy for yo-yos is to scatter two dozen or more along a tree- or brush-lined river or lakeshore. Set the devices at dusk, then run them periodically through the night or at first light in the morning.

As is the case with limblines, yo-yos can be rigged with monofilament leaders and smaller hooks to catch bluegills and crappies-but be sure that it is a legal fishing method for those species in the state in which you fish. Bait with wigglers, catalpa worms or crickets fobluegills, and small live minnows for crappies.
Contact: Mechanical Fisher Yo-Yo Company (870-422-7715; www. rocking.altd.com/mfish.html).

Throw Lines

Don't have funds for a new fishing reel? No worry. Try casting with an aluminum soda can or plastic bleach bottle. Using containers of some sort to cast lines has a long history in Asia and Latin America. This fishing method, which is sort of a landlocked trotline, works amazingly well with a little practice.

The container serves the same function as a spinning reel spool. Tie stout monofilament or braided line around the container and cinch it up, then wrap several feet-enough to make a long cast-around the can or bottle
toward one end. Add hook, sinker and bait on the other end.

To cast, hold the container at one end so the opposite end is unencumbered. Catch the dangling end of the line in your free hand and sling the line as you extend the container out toward the water. Done properly, the line will coil off freely to gain distance.

This is not a method for continuous casting and retrieving. If you don't want to hold the line while waiting for a bite, cut a willow branch or small sapling, poke it into the bank and take a few turns around the top end with the fishing line. The bobbing tip will tell you when you're getting a bite.

When a fish takes the bait or you want to make another cast, pull the line by hand, wrapping it back onto the can as it comes in.

Trotlining

Trotlining is an extremely efficient means of "alternative fishing" that is a favorite of commercial fishermen.

Trotlines are long lengths of strong nylon staging line with "droppers" and hooks spaced evenly along a "mother line." The line is secured on one end by tying or weighting. The hooks are baited, and the line is stretched taut and secured on the other end. Jug buoys might be used to mark both ends of offshore trotlines. The typical sport-fishing trotline has 25 hooks. Lines are usually set in the afternoon and run the next morning.

Trotline kits are sold in tackle stores and by mail-order houses. Instructions in the kits show how to rig and deploy the lines. One common method is to tie one end of the line to a stationary object on the shoreline (a tree or rock, for example), stretch the line into the river or lake, then anchor the other end with a heavy weight. Also, small "dropper weights" should be added every five or six hooks to hold the baits on or close to bottom. These weights (around a pound each) should be
attached to the mother line with dropper lines about a foot long.

Typical trotline baits are whole baitfish such as shad, cut fish parts, chicken guts, catalpa worms and commercially prepared baits.

Set Poles

This is a specialty rig for catching big flathead catfish from smaller rivers.

Use a hatchet to chop out sturdy hardwood saplings 7 to 10 feet long. Each pole should have a fork on the fishing end. Use the hammer side of the hatchet to drive the poles into the bank of the river at the heads of deep pools, preferably where the bottom is sloping from shallow to deep. When set properly, the forked end of the pole will
angle out over the water three to five feet, and the butt will be lodged
securely in the muddy bank.

Next, tie a long length of heavily tarred nylon line to the closest limb or tree behind the pole. Unroll the line to the end of the pole, and wrap it several times just below the fork. Then run enough line out so a hook and bait will hang within a foot of the river bottom. Add a 4/0 to 6/0 hook, and loop a bell sinker onto the line a foot above the hook. Use enough weight to hold the line vertically in the current.

Bait the hook with a big goldfish or small bluegill (where legal). Hook the bait through the back just behind the dorsal fin so it can swim naturally. Rig several set poles in this manner during the day, then bait and run them at night. This fishing method will take the biggest flathead cats in the river.

Jug-Fishing

Plastic two-liter soft-drink bottles (with caps on, of course), staging, hooks, sinkers and bait are the ingredients necessary for jug-fishing. Lines are cut to lengths of 4 to 10 feet, depending on water depth. (Six-foot lengths are a good average.) Each piece of line is tied snugly around a bottle's neck. A 2/0 bait-keeper hook is tied to the opposite end of the line, and enough split shot is added a few inches above the hook so the line hangs vertically beneath the jug. Then the line is wrapped around the jug and held snugly with a wide rubber band for storage purposes.

Jug-fishermen use a boat and motor to set out 20 or more jugs at a time. Jugs are unwrapped, baited and dropped in the water on the upwind or up-current side of a flat, channel or pool. The wind or current drifts the jugs through fish feeding areas. The angler floats alongside the jugs, watching for one to tip up and move off as a hooked catfish tries to escape.

The best results usually occur during low-light periods near dawn and dusk. Jugs can be run at night and it's helpful to paint each with orange or phosphorescent paint so they can be spotted easily with a flashlight.
poles in this manner during the day, then bait and run them at night. This fishing method will take the biggest flathead cats in the river.

Jug-Fishing

20 Great Economical Adventures

outdoorlife-editor — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 12:26:27 -0400

Reelfoot Lake is a shallow cypress-studded lake in northwestern Tennessee that was formed during the New Madrid earthquake of 1811. This strong seismic jolt opened a fissure between the Mississippi River and the nearby Reelfoot Creek bottoms, permanently flooding several thousand acres of swampy lowlands.

In the process, a duck paradise was formed, and the birds have been coming ever since. Today, Reelfoot Lake is a major wintering area for mallards, gadwalls and other species. During the peak of migration, more than half a million ducks will jam into refuges
adjacent to the lake.

Most gunning is done from fixed blinds in legendary holes with third- or fourth-generation guides doing the calling. Duck hunting at Reelfoot Lake is a mix of great shooting, beautiful scenery and rich waterfowling tradition stretching back generations.

One good way to enjoy all this is to book a trip with Blue Bank Resort. Blue Bank offers three-day packages that include first-class accommodations, sumptuous meals and hunting with some of the best guides on the lake. Weekday packages cost $599 per hunter; weekend packages, $699. Duck season at Reelfoot typically runs from early December through late January. Licenses for nonresidents total $36 (seven-day hunting license and three-day Reelfoot preservation permit) plus $15 for a federal duck stamp.

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20 Great Economical Adventures

outdoorlife-editor — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 12:26:27 -0400

Redfish are back along the Gulf Coast! Strict new laws on netting have allowed redfish and other coastal species to
recover from commercial overharvest, and fishing for them is good again.

One great area for redfish is in the marsh south of New Orleans. Millions of acres of brackish inshore waters are available to anglers who can launch their boats from any of several public access points in the area.

It's a good idea to obtain the services of a guide before striking out on your own in the Delta. There are plenty of outfitters in the area. Bryan Dickenson operates Dixie Riverside Charters out of Buras. Dickenson guides clients who fish from a 23-foot bay boat. Reds will average two to eight pounds, and there's always a chance of tying into a bull red that will weigh up to 45 pounds. Other fish such as speckled trout are likely to be encountered, too.

"The two best months for fishing the Gulf Coast for redfish are May and October, but anytime from mid-April through mid-December is good," Dickenson says. Cost of a daily charter (an eight-hour trip for two fishermen) is $325. This includes everything but lunch and a $5 charter fishing license (valid for three days). A Louisiana resident license costs $15; a three-day nonresident license costs $70 and a nonresident annual
license costs $110.

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20 Great Economical Adventures

outdoorlife-editor — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 12:26:27 -0400

Deer hunters with plenty of energy might consider a backpack hunt in
the Daniel Boone National Forest in eastern Kentucky. This forest spreads over 695,000 acres in 20 counties. Most areas are open to public hunting.

John Gassett, deer/elk biologist for the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources, states, "Deer density in the Daniel Boone Forest is not as high as in some other parts of the state, but the quality of these animals is very good. Last year hunters took several trophy bucks from the forest, including one that scored 214 B&C (non-typical) from Morgan County."

Gassett has good advice on how to go after these big boys: study maps to find areas isolated from roads, then hike in and hunt from a temporary camp away from other hunters.

A Kentucky resident hunting license and deer tag costs $33.50. A nonresident hunting license and deer tag cost $116. The rifle season occurs in early November, when bucks are rutting.

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20 Great Economical Adventures

outdoorlife-editor — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 12:26:27 -0400

The Nantahala National Forest in western North Carolina offers a unique "cast-and-blast" package in the spring. Streams that drain the eastern slope of the Great Smoky Mountains feature blue-ribbon fishing for rainbow and brown trout.
And the towering hardwood ridges of the Nantahala forest are home to an abundant population of Eastern wild turkeys. Visitors here can pursue gobblers in the morning and cast for trout in the afternoon. "Turkey hunting in the Nantahala National Forest involves hiking along backcountry roads and trails and stopping and calling periodically to locate a bird," says Mike Carraway, district wildlife biologist for the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission.

Hunters who want more information or maps of the Nantahala forest should contact the U.S. Forest Service's Cheoah Ranger Station in Robbinsville. Hunting licenses (six-day nonresident, big-game tag, game lands use permit) total $65.
To buy licenses by credit card, call 888-248-6834.

One good headquarters for this hunting/fishing package is the Blue Boar Inn in Robbinsville. This bed-and-breakfast offers guided trout packages plus useful information on popular local fly patterns and access
to area streams such as Santeetlah and Snowbird. A three-day fishing license and trout permit totals $25.

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20 Great Economical Adventures

outdoorlife-editor — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 12:26:27 -0400

Beautiful scenery and red-hot fishing await visitors to the White River National Wildlife Refuge in southeastern Arkansas. This giant refuge (160,000 acres) contains more than 300 small lakes and sloughs, and virtually all have abundant populations of bluegills, crappies and bass.

"Fishermen can get a refuge map, go exploring and find great fishing on their own," says Jim Spencer of the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission, who grew up fishing these waters. "The road system is easy to navigate. Some lakes have concrete boat ramps; others have gravel or mud ramps. The best boat is a small johnboat with a trolling motor. An outboard is handy on the bigger lakes."

Spencer says late May through June is the time to go, depending on the
water level in the White River. Spawning bluegills and crappies are taken by dipping tiny jigs or live bait around shoreline brush and trees.

Some smaller lakes are accessible only by ATVs, which are allowed on this refuge. A 7-day Arkansas nonresident fishing license costs $17; a 14-day nonresident license costs $22. A three-day license is $11 and a nonresident seasonal license is $32. Don't forget the mosquito repellent!

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Shallow-Water Boat Blinds

outdoorlife-editor — Tue, 30 Sep 2003 20:00:00 -0400

Hunters who have the option of moving around in the late season can track duck movements, following the birds as they shift from one location to another.

One of the best ways to do this is with a portable boat blind. The boat allows for mobility, and the blind provides cover once a hunting site is chosen. With this one-two punch, a hunter can locate ducks and then set up virtually anywhere.

Such blinds may be commercially made or they can be homemade. My favorite commercial design is the Quick-Set blind from Avery Outdoors. The blind offers full concealment, including overhead. It can be set up or taken down in seconds. Its hinged aluminum frame collapses flat on the boat's gunwales, so it's out of the way when not in use. For pricing information visit Avery's Web site: www.averyoutdoors.com.

As an alternative a hunter can custom-build a boat blind from his own design. Such blinds can be collapsible or fixed in place. Collapsible boat blinds are lighter and easier to load. A fixed blind offers convenience, incorporation of more features, and better camouflage. Fixed blinds can be built from tarps, wire, plywood or other materials.

Be sure to match the boat to the type of water where it will be used. Swamp, marsh and backwater hunting call for a smaller johnboat with a shallow draft and a semi-V bow to slice through brush and grass. A Go-Devil motor or a small outboard is a good match for such a rig. A bigger, deeper johnboat or a deep-V hull with a higher horsepower outboard (30-75 hp) is safer and more efficient for boat-blind hunting on big water.--Wade Bourne

A Refuge For Hunters Hunting is part of a USFWS birthday party

outdoorlife-editor — Sun, 31 Aug 2003 20:00:00 -0400

Dirk Nash raced the boat ahead as if he was a NASCAR driver. He knew one throttle position: wide open. The big johnboat blasted through the bottoms, then followed a submerged roadbed. It veered down a winding creek channel, then a flooded logging trail through a stand of tall timber that was ghostly in the dawn twilight. For the uninitiated, it was a white-knuckle ride. For Nash, a guide who had made the run countless times, it was just a way to get to his duck hole without wasting time.

We were on the White River National Wildlife Refuge, just south of Clarendon, Ark. The White was flooding and fresh water was backing into the timber. Nash and other locals knew it meant that the ducks would come in swarms, and he wanted to beat competitors to his spot.

No Complaints

After dropping decoys in a small hole of open water, Nash rammed the boat into a stand of brush on the upwind side. We took off our life vests, retrieved our shotguns from their cases and loaded them with 3-inch shells. "Look at that," Nash whispered with excitement edging his voice. Twenty or more mallards were settling into our spread. "Boys, it's going to be a day to remember," he prophesied.

And so it was. Ducks poured from the Arkansas sky that morning, etching a memory that still remains vivid. The White River National Wildlife Refuge lived up to its reputation as the "duck capital of the world." Other parties were scattered along the bottoms, and the echoes of their guns rolled like thunder through the towering oaks and cypress trees. Chances are good that on many wildlife refuges in many states, the same sort of scenario was repeated.

The National Wildlife Refuge System is the land management arm of the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (USFWS). The refuge system's mission is "to administer a national network of lands and waters for the conservation, management and, where appropriate, restoration of fish, wildlife and plant resources and their habitats within the United States for the benefit of present and future generations of Americans." One such benefit is providing hunting and fishing when it doesn't conflict with an individual refuge's main purpose for being.

Last March, the National Wildlife Refuge System celebrated its centennial anniversary: one hundred years of wildlife and fisheries management and public recreation. President Theodore Roosevelt, an avid hunter, established the nation's first refuge in 1903 at Pelican Island, Fla. In the decades since, the system has expanded to 540 refuges across the nation, totaling nearly 95 million acres.

Dual Mission

"Last year national wildlife refuges logged over two million hunting visits and over six million fishing visits and we had millions more wildlife watchers and hikers," says Steve Williams, director of the USFWS. "Where it's possible, hunting and fishing programs are being expanded on refuges. Both activities were identified as priorities under the Refuge Improvement Act (1997). It confirms how important it is to continue those traditions that have supported conservation."

There's at least one national wildlife refuge within about an hour's drive of most major cities. Consequently, a majority of sportsmen can enjoy reasonable access to USFWS lands where outdoor recreation such as fishing and hunting is probably available on a seasonal basis. To find the refuges and learn more about controlled hunts, visit the National Wildlife Refuge System's Web site: http://refuges.fws.gov, or contact the USFWS at 800-344-9153 and ask for the publication National Wildlife Refuges: A Visitor's Guide.