Just Plain Scary

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HB 309 Poop

do it now or forever hold your tongue

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.. Despite the outcry from fisher folk this obnoxious bill is trundling along like an out of control steamroller. Opponents of the bill have noted that the response from the interested public is "satisfactory."
.. "SATISFACTORY" is not what is needed! Words like 'enormous' and 'overwhelming' would be more to our liking.
.. Send a letter now. Make a telephone call now. Send an email now. This insidious push to remove  access to the public-owned waters of Montana will continue if the response is only "satisfactory."
.. Below are listed some recent blog posts, news articles, and other information that will help you understand the issue. Also listed are a few key addresses for your use.

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==> Interview with Montana T.U. Conservation Director Mark Aegenes @ Chi Wulff.

==> Dirty Dozen threats to Montana's rivers and access still alive in the current legislative session @ Chi Wulff.

==> Ranchers Strike Back At Stream Access in The Flathead Beacon.

==> The debate in Helena: from KPAX.com.

==>Passage of the ditch bill from the Helena Independant Record.

==> Representative Welborn's rationale for sponsoring the bill and what the language "really" means. From his lips.

==> Post from The Shooting Head in Washington - good plan of action.

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.. Now that the senate has the bill we need to let the senators in Helena know our feelings. Provide them with the sane and rational reasons to defeat this bill. Here's a list:

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SD 01: Chas Vincent (R)
34 Paul Bunyan Lane
Libby, MT 59923

293-3839 / Cvvincent@hotmail.com

SD 02: Ryan Zinke (R)
409 West 2nd Street
 Whitefish, MT 59937

862-0823 / Ryanzinke@yahoo.com

SD 03: Bruce Tutvedt (R)
2335 West Valley Drive 
Kalispell, MT 59901

257-9732 / Tutvedt@montanasky.us

SD 04: Jon Sonju (R)
PO Box 2954
 Kalispell, MT 59903

270-7113 / Sonjumt@yahoo.com

SD 05: Verdell Jackson (R)
555 Wagner Ln
 Kalispell, MT 59901

756-8344 / vjack@centurytel.net

SD 06: Carmine Mowbray (R)
PO Box 1202 
Polson, MT 59860

883-4677 / clarity@cyberport.net

SD 07: Greg Hinkle (R)
5 Gable Road
 Thompson Falls, MT 59873

827-4645 / ccwhi@blackfoot.net

SD 08: Shannon Augare (D)
PO Box 2031
 Browning, MT 59417

450-0020 / Shannonjaugare@aol.com

SD 09: Rick Ripley (R)
8920 Highway 200
 Wolf Creek, MT 59648

Ripleys@3rivers.net

SD 10: Bradley Hamlett (D)
PO Box 49 
Cascade, MT 59421

264-5885 / Wranglergallery@hotmail.com

SD 11: Anders Blewett (D)
PO Box 2807
 Great Falls, MT 59403

231-8618 / Anders.blewett@gmail.com

SD 12: Mitch Tropila (D)
PO Box 929 
Great Falls, MT 59403

899-3474 / tropila@mt.net

SD 13: Edward Buttrey (R)
27 Granite Hill Lane
 Great Falls, MT 59405

250-5103 / ebuttrey@cteq.com

SD 14: Llew Jones (R)
1102 4th Avenue South West
 Conrad, MT 59425

271-3104 / Lcjones@3rivers.net

SD 15: Jim Peterson (R)
1250 Buffalo Canyon Road
 Buffalo, MT 59418

374-2277 / jpranch@ttc-cmc.net

SD 16: Jonathan Windy Boy (D)
Box 269
 Box Elder, MT 59521

395-4718 / Windyboy_j@yahoo.com

SD 17: Rowlie Hutton (R)
2 Lila Drive
 Havre, MT 59501

hutton4senate@yahoo.com

SD 18: John Brenden (R)
PO Box 970
 Scobey, MT 59263

783-5394 / senatorbrenden@gmail.com

SD 19: Donald Steinbeisser (R)
11918 County Road 348 
Sidney, MT 59270

433-2187 / Donstein@midrivers.com

SD 20: Frederick Moore (R)
487 Signal Butte Road
 Miles City, MT 59301

234-3562 / elmoore@midrivers.com

SD 21: Sharon Peregoy (D)
PO Box 211 
Crow Agency, MT 59022

639-2198 / apsaalookewoman@yahoo.com

SD 22: Taylor Brown (R)
775 Squaw Creek Road
 Huntley, MT 59037

348-2070 / Taylor@northernbroadcasting.com

SD 23: Alan Olson (R)
18 Halfbreed Creek Rd 
Roundup, MT 59072

323-3341 / Ajolson@midrivers.com

SD 24: Kim Gillan (D)
750 Judicial Avenue
 Billings, MT 59105

248-6063 / Glonky@aol.com

SD 25: Kendall Van Dyk (D)
PO Box 441 
Billings, MT 59103

690-1728 / Kendallvandyk@gmail.com

SD 26: Lynda Moss (D)
552 Highland Park Drive 
Billings, MT
59102
252-7318 / Lyndamoss@imt.net

SD 27: Gary Branae (D)
415 Yellowstone Avenue 
Billings, MT 59101

245-2127 / Garybranae@gmail.com

SD 28: Jeff Essmann (R)
2101 Grand Ave #5 
Billings, MT 59108

259-8404 / Jeff@jeffessmann.com

SD 29: Edward Walker (R)
4221 Rimrock Road 
Billings, MT 59106

697-6967 / ewalker@edwalker2010.com

SD 30: Jason Priest (R)
PO Box 743
 Red Lodge, MT 59068

425-0674 / jason@priest2010.com

SD 31: Ron Arthun (R)
285 Shields River Road
 Wilsall, MT 59086

578-2340 / ronarthun@gmail.com

SD 32: Larry Jent (D)
506 East Babcock 
Bozeman, MT 59715

587-1210 / larry@imt.net

SD 33: Bob Hawks (D)
703 West Koch Street
 Bozeman, MT 59715

587-1403 / R_hawks@imt.net

SD 34: Joe Balyeat (R)
6909 Rising Eagle Road 
Bozeman, MT 59715

539-5547 / Joebalyeat@yahoo.com

SD 35: Art Wittich (R)
3116 Sourdough Road
 Bozeman, MT 59715

585-7418 / art@wittich4senate.com

SD 36: Debby Barrett (R)
18580 Highway 324 
Dillon, MT 59725

681-3177 / Grt3177@smtel.com

SD 37: Steven Gallus (D)
2319 Harvard Avenue 
Butte, MT 59701

494-3914 / Steve.gallus@gmail.com

SD 38: Jim Keane (D)
2131 Wall Street
 Butte, MT 59701

723-8378

SD 39: Terry Murphy (R)
893 Boulder Cut Off Road
 Cardwell, MT 59721

285-6937 / murphter5@yahoo.com

SD 40: Mary Caferro (D)
PO Box 1036 
Helena, MT 59624

443-4066 / Marycaferro@gmail.com

SD 41: Christine Kaufmann (D)
PO Box 1566
 Helena, MT 59624

439-0256 / Kaufmann@mt.net

SD 42: Dave Lewis (R)
5871 Collins Rd
 Helena, MT 59602

458-5511 / Davelewisd@aol.com

SD 43: Gene Vuckovich (D)
1205 West Third Street
 Anaconda, MT 59711

563-2313 / genev@q.com

SD 44: Bob Lake (R)
PO Box 2096 
Hamilton, MT 59840

363-4091 / Lakemill@montana.com

SD 45: Jim Shockley (R)
PO Box 608
Victor, MT 59875

642-6647

SD 46: Carol Williams (D)
3533 Lincoln Hills Point
 Missoula, MT 59802

728-8735 / Cwilliams@montanadsl.net

SD 47: Ron Erickson (D)
3250 Pattee Canyon Road
 Missoula, MT 59803

549-4671 / Nancron@aol.com

SD 48: Tom Facey (D)
418 Plymouth
 Missoula, MT 59801

728-6814 / facey_tom@hotmail.com

SD 49: Dave Wanzenried (D)
903 Sky Dr
 Missoula, MT 59804

543-2775 / daveew@gmail.com

SD 50: Cliff Larsen (D)
8925 LaValle Creek Road
 Missoula, MT 59808

728-1601 / Cliff@larsenusa.com

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.. If you need inspiration for a letter or email check out the one written by Wayne Mumford over at WILL FISH FOR WORK.

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.. Fishing and catching ends on the wade section of the Madison River today, (February 28, 2011.) It's time to let the fish cavort and indulge in sexual shenanigans. Only the section between the lakes is now open. With the return of a few sunny & warm, (20's,) days the midges should return with a vengeance. We'll let you know.

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Latest Fish Report Cabo

February 19th to February 25th, 2011

Overall Catch Success Rate 71.70%

BILLFISH: This week was definitely the best we’ve had in awhile for marlin especially when we look back on the past month. Nevertheless we did have a few “skunks”, but this was mainly due to anglers requesting half day trips, when they saw lots of marlin but could not get them to bite. Patient is a must with fishing and perhaps these boats would have got hook-ups if they had stayed longer. Thirty one percent of our boats caught one to three striped marlin this week. “Tracy Ann” started out with a bang on February 19th, the envy of the dock, when they showed up with three marlin flags. Robert Bernstein was on board from Weston, Florida and they fished close to Palmilla; all three fish were released and were estimated between 120 to 160 lbs. This same day, “Bill Collector” released two stripers for Armand and Ryan Maaskamp from California five miles in front of Cabo Real as well as landing a bonita. “Bill Collector” also did well at the end of this report, releasing two more striped marlin at Punta Gorda for Griffin Ordway from San Diego, CA and his father in law from Russia. On February he 25th, Reed Mack and Mike Kelly from San Jose, Ca. had a double marlin aboard “Great Escape Jr”, this time at the 11:50 spot; both fish took live caballito. Jed Crabb and Jim Bielich from Edmond, Ok released one striped marlin which was between 150 – 160 lbs seven miles out from Chileno aboard “Adriana”. Pisces anglers had twenty one striped marlin this week; all released except two.

OTHER SPECIES: Dorado catches were basically the same, just a couple around, the water is a bit on the cold side for them. One of them was a respectable 35 lb’er for Brian and Glenn O´Neil from Keansburg, NJ aboard “La Brisa”, who also did well to release a striped marlin on the 24th at Punta Gorda. Tuna catches are steady but not great, with twelve percent of our boats catching between one to twenty two fish. Actually the last day of this report was the best for tuna. “Rebecca” slammed them with twenty two tuna, for Dale & Cheryl Duke & Mike Malone from Kent, WA; the fish took a combination of cedar plugs and brown/black lures. Not far behind was “Andale” with sixteen tuna for a group from Austin, TX; they went thirty five miles out from Santa Maria bay. “Tracy Ann” also did well for Dwayne Skow and friends from Texas, boating thirteen yellow fin tuna between 15 to 20 lbs in front of Palmilla by the Sea of Cortez.

As to other species, sierra catches are still good with twenty one percent of our boats catching between one to twenty five fish- many released. Darren Stevenson and son from Alberta, Canada went out on the 24th aboard a panga and had a lot of action reeling in twenty five of these little fish (great fun on light tackle) most of them between 8 to 10 lbs with hoochis as lure by the old lighthouse. This same day “Attitude Adjustment” went inshore and achieved twenty sierras at Los Arcos on the Pacific side. Tom Schmidt and Mark Wright from Wilder, KY did well on February 19th, aboard a panga with ten Spanish mackerels, one bull shark and one jack crevalle released; the fish took a combination of live bait and hoochis.

On the 19th, "La Brisa" was out with some anglers who had traveled a REALLY long way to be here; Campbell & John Ferguson are from Melbourne, Australia, which is a very long flight. They were fishing out at Punta Gorda and had already caught a striped marlin that weighed around 150 lbs (thanks guys for making us look good, when fishing has been ahem.....slow) when the crew saw something odd floating on the surface and went over to investigate, it was a ratfish, also known as a quimera and it was dead. They gently lifted it into the boat to bring back to shore and to the scientists. You may recall that we saw the first one of these two years ago and nobody had a clue as to what it was. It was identified by local scientists who went on to do research with the specimen we gave them. We followed up with a second fish several months later and now they have this one. It appears that this is a new species of ratfish, not known before and they are expected to publish a paper on it soon. We applaud the crew of La Brisa, as they have been working with the scientists on several projects and all of our crews are showing a keen interest in conservation and want to learn more. They did well to recognize this as something unusual and to get it to us intact to the freezer.

As to other species we had rooster fish, skip jacks, lady fish, sea bass, bull shark, rock fish, mojarras, jack crevalle, rat fish and many bonitas.

WEATHER CONDITIONS: Clear, sunny skies. Some windy days. Mostly calm to choppy seas. We are back to cooler mornings.

LOCATION: Pacific Side – Golden Gate, Migriño, Pozo Cota, Los Arcos, Old Lighthouse, Molino.

Sea of Cortez – Palmilla, Chileno, 95 spot, San Jose del Cabo, Punta Gorda, 11:50 Spot, Cerro Colorado, Destiladeras, Santa Maria

AVERAGE WATER TEMP. 73 F

BEST LURES; Cedar plugs, rapalas, hoochis, petrolero, chilliwilli, green, guacamayo, black/brown

Live bait: caballito, ballyhoos, sardine

Based on the catches of Pisces by Ale Almada & Tracy Ehrenberg.

 

oak creek gives up a brown trout

Fishing with Damien is always alot of fun. He is top notch at knowing exactly when to give a fly that subtle twitch. He proves it again with a nice (estimated 8 pound) brown trout taken from a deep bend on an egg sucking leach.

taken on the twitch

oak creek brown trout

ice fishing lake geneva part 2

As my friends in the fishing world grow so do the number of reports that get sent to me via email and text. I've been fishing with Randal (a long time friend of Neal) for 3 years and would put him toe to toe with the best of them. He always seems to be the first who is calling the jig color that puts the rest of us on the bite.

On his last trip to Lake Geneva he came back with some real toads and these crappie might actually top the previous. Great job to you and your father-in-law!

lake geneva slob crappies

10 inch red ear

2 big crappies dwarf the rest

the pike river in early spring

Neal sent over some photos earlier of the pike river just a short walk from home. Looks like almost all the ice gone and the river was as cold as he had ever felt it. No Fish sighted but steelhead conditions look promising.

pike river in racine wisconsin

Pattern changes as the weather heats up

Ken Taylor of North Port, Fla., is a happy angler after landing this fine Sarasota Bay pompano.

The pattern has changed – just as we suspected it would with the advent of warmer weather. We’ve left the deeper channels and other winter haunts and are now fishing the backcountry shallows and offshore grass areas.

As a result, we’ve been taking loads of spotted seatrout, plus Spanish mackerel, bluefish and pompano. That action should only heat up as we move toward spring.

This fishing can be fast and fun. When it’s going on, we often find hits on most every cast. And it doesn’t matter if you’re spin fishing or fly fishing.

When using spinning rods, we’re most often casting D.O.A. CAL jigs with gold paddle tails. We employ 20-pound fluorocarbon leaders – until the blues and macks show up. We’ll then go to heavier shock leaders.

Although a majority of the trout are 20 inches or less, there are some big girls out there. A friend of mine, Capt. Rick Grassett of the Snook Fin-Addict Guide Service, recently took a 6-pounder off the deep grass.

The bluefish often will top 5 pounds. Pompano will go better than 4 pounds. Most of the mackerel will range from 2 to 4 pounds. However, last spring, I took a 7 ½-pounder!

Randy Honaker of Centerville, Ohio joined me recently and caught a number of spotted seatrout. He also had shot at bluefish and Spanish mackerel, but didn’t connect. He had one fish that took line and made the fly line “rooster tail” through the water.

The next day, Russ DesErmia of Bradenton and his father, Bruce DesErmia of Traverse City, Mich., had a better day. They combined to land a bunch of spotted seatrout and Spanish mackerel. I think they also caught a couple of bluefish. All were taken on CAL Jigs.

Randy Honaker fished the west side of Sarasota Bay and was able to make a couple of casts to tailing redfish. He didn’t connect, but it makes your knees knock and your heart beat faster when you see those tails sticking out of the water.

Later that morning, we managed spotted seatrout to 21 inches, a redfish and several ladyfish. The highlight of my day was a squid that I took on a CAL Jig.

Ken Taylor of North Port fish the deep grass with me and did very well. We got into tailing reds early, but the fish didn’t tail very long. We caught jigs and topwater plugs in the shallows off Whale Key and landed four redfish and a trout. When we finally got out to the deep grass, we managed 45 trout, several ladyfish and a couple of fine pompano.

As the weather warms, snook will move out into the bay. When that happens, anglers fishing with me will get a shot at a snook or two just before daylight on either flies or jigs. That’s an added benefit!

In fresh water, we’re getting big bluegill and largemouth bass.

Beach snook season is just around the corner. The action will begin to heat up in May and run through August. This is “sight fishing” at its best. My anglers usually get shots at 300 or more snook of a morning, including fish of 20 pounds or more.

Please book your beach snook trips early. My schedule tends to fill up quickly.



Steve Gibson

Southern Drawl Kayak Fishing

www.kayakfishingsarasota.com

http://gibbysfishingblog.blogspot.com/

(941) 284-3406

Waterfowl Biologist Meeting

Last night I had the opportunity to host a bunch of waterfowl biologists from the entire Mississippi flyway down at the Hooked On Fishing Park. They came from like 14 different states from Alabama all the way up to Canada. Some Ducks Unlimited biologists and other US Fish and Wildlife people were there as well. Altogether we had about 50 guys come down to the park just to hang out, do some fishing and of course EAT! A great break from a bunch of meetings and seminars.

Here is about half the group standing together.


They are all in town meeting for a week solid about hunting seasons, limits, conservation, habitat, and all sorts of stuff that directly affect how we manage our flock of birds in the flyway. It was extremely interesting to spend some time with these guys and get some inside information not typically available to the public. I am sworn to secrecy so I can't mention anything about stuff like the new 90 day duck season proposal and 5 goose bag limits.....just kidding.......

Anyhow Chef Todd outdid himself with this feast! With the help of key park volunteers Charlie Bracket, Bill Johnson, Todd Clanin and Brett Erickson, he pulled off a wild game feast of epic proportions! He basically cooked all this food outside in 40 degree weather with a big grill, a turkey fryer, a deep fryer, and a generator powering roasters.

Chef going to town on the big grill:


While some of the guys were out fishing and catching rainbow trout, largemouth bass, and big bluegills; Chef and co were cooking away under the pavilion, and the rest of us were gobblin it down as fast as it would come hot off the press. I feel kind of bad, but I was pretty much camped out under the pavilion near the food the entire evening and only snapped one fish photo. He caught a monster rainbow right next to the pavilion so I finally ventured out from my laziness den and snapped the pic quick:



I snapped plenty of food photos though cause they were near my home base! On this plate there is antelope, mule deer, and whitetail to munch on.


Chef's secret homemade duck egg rolls:


Eggroll after spending a couple minutes in 400 degree grease:


Todd Clanins famous pulled, smoked pork butt. We had 4 different barbecue sauces for this meat!


Homemade goose gravy! Was supposed to be duck gravy, but we brought the wrong package of meat so it became goose gravy and by golly it turned out way better than this puky picture looks!


She was the only lady biologist and is from Michigan. From what I could tell she probably caught more fish than anyone until she lost her secret mepps spinner to a big fish. Cheff loaded her up with about 2 platefulls of food.


Duck eggroll, Chef's famous cole slaw, pulled pork sandwich, elk stuffed mushrooms covered with grilled bluecheese sauce and jalapeno mashed potatoes smothered with goose gravy!



Jeff Lampe's first plate. I don't think anyone had just one plate! There was always hot food coming off the press all night long!!


Grilled Elk stuffed mushrooms!


Fresh sweet chili glazed trout


I didn't get any pics of the fried yellowtail snapper fillets or several items that I have since forgotten about without picture documentation, but you get the point.... I had a early breakfast meeting this morning with a mennonite pastor at Bob Evans and didn't have much of an appetite for some reason? I choked down some pancakes, but definitely didnt go for the usual gravy and meat breakfast!

On another note, event planning for our annual Hooked On Fishing Fundraising Banquet at the new Metamora Fields Golf Course is going great! So far we have sold 38 tables of 8 to many friends of the park and several key area businesses. I have about 8 tables left and hope to fill them very soon!

Just this week the following businesses have stepped up and helped us out tremendously by donating items and sponsoring tables- Cefcu, Prairie Home Alliance, Lone Wolf Concrete, Rocke Brothers Masonry, Noah Herman Sons Builders, Presleys Outdoors, Sun Foundation, Heights Finance, Kaiser Electric, Bob Grimm Chevrolet, Timber Creek Land Company, Midwest Land and Habitat, Fort Transfer, FW Boland Plumbing, Carver Lumber, Dust Boss, Bobby Smith Remodeling and Roofing, The gang at Led's Shed and Heartland Outdoors! I know there are more businesses out there with a passion for outdoor education!!

I can't thank these businesses enough for their support of the park and also the entire community! I still have a handful of individual tickets left for $75 each and like mentioned earlier about 8 tables and then we will have the banquet hall filled to capacity! If we can fill those tables, the sky will be the limit for the fishing park this season!!!