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Even after lifetimes of fishing southern waters, many Rebs have trouble recognizing that brook, rainbow, brown, cutthroat, and lake trout are viable targets in numerous southeastern freshwater streams, rivers, and lakes. Fishermen should be elated that spring ushers in excellent trout prospects in several southern states including Arkansas, Kentucky, the Carolinas, and Tennessee. Once, while fishing a small feeder stream flowing into North Carolina's Fontana Lake, I tossed a tiny Mepps spinner and caught and released 60 brookies in about three hours. It wasn't until later in the day that I learned from a game warden that this particular stream had been designated "fly fishing only." Arkansas Brookies Happily, the statute of limitations has long ago passed. What's particularly noteworthy is a recent announcement by the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission that a good 'ol Mississippi boy, John Brister, bested a new state record on brook trout with a beauty scaling 3 pounds, 13 ounces. Brister, a retired Mississippi Delta farmer, caught his prize downstream from Norfork Dam in Arkansas's North Fork River using an Ozark sculpin for bait. Brook trout are one of five species found in Arkansas waters. Others include rainbows, browns, cutthroat, and lake trout. Native in more northern states and Canada, brook trout are stocked in modest numbers in the state's trout waters when supplies of young fish are available from federal hatcheries. Chances are Brister's plum was one that was planted by Arkansas fisheries managers some time back and managed to survive to a record size. Southeast Stranger Another stranger that is rapidly expanding throughout the Southeast and is being encountered by anglers--particularly in Alabama, Louisiana, and Mississippi--is the nutria, an aquatic rodent that is also called "The Big Rat." This nutria, which is known to grow to at least 20 pounds, is widely distributed throughout the coastal regions of the southeast and is frequently confused with a beaver by the uninitiated. Unlike the beaver, a nutria has a tail that is round and hairless. The typical coloration of this creature is dark brown with long, coarse guard hairs. Despite having conspicuous incisors, the nutria is a vegetarian and will feed on many types of aquatic plants. Although the animal is not native to North America, it adapts well to certain coastal regions of the United States. It's thought that nutrias were first introduced into the Mobile Delta marshes of Alabama in the late 1940s. In Louisiana they have become one of the state's most numerous furbearers. Among several factors responsible for nutria expansion in the Southeast is the amount of available habitat. They thrive in ponds, rivers, streams, backwaters, and brackish marshes, and they are known to start breeding throughout the year after reaching nine months of age. If the next time you're out fishing in an Alabama river and you see a huge 20-pound rat swim by, it's no doubt a nutria. Sunshine Bass The sun is shining on 6,000-acre Newnan's Lake near Gainesville, Florida, these days. Long renowned for its bass and crappie (speck) fishing, Newnan's Lake is currently one of the hottest sunshine bass fisheries in Florida. Recent creel surveys show anglers landed nearly 20,000 sunshine bass in Newnan's last October and November. "This is the highest annual harvest ever documented from any Florida lake or river, and it occurred in a mere two months," said biologist Randy Myers of the state's Game and Fresh Water Fish Commission. A hybrid, scientists developed the technology to produce sunshine bass in the mid-1970s. It is a cross between a striped and a white bass. Fisheries specialists have even made it easy to find sunshine bass in the lake because two of the three known hotspots are marked by fish attractor buoys in the lake's deepest parts where brush and specially constructed fish attractor panels have been anchored to the bottom. Creek mouths on the lake's north shore are also good areas, especially when the creeks are flowing after a heavy rain. Last spring, two anglers tossed Rat'L Traps and Cotee Jigs, catching eight sunshines with a combined weight of 60 pounds, or an average of 7-1/2 pounds each. Live shiners and shad typically are among the bait favorites, but grass shrimp also produce heavy stringers. A 10-pound sunshine bass is fairly common at Newnan's Lake where a 20-fish-per-day limit is in effect. A fish weighing 16.31 pounds is the current sunshine state record, while the largest reported at Newnan's is a 13.50-pounder taken last spring. Kentucky Turkeys Kentucky has so many wild turkeys running around that the state's Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources have increased both the spring and fall season, in addition to upping the fall bag limit. Kentucky's spring shotgun and archery season for turkeys opens April 14 and continues through May 4, adding an additional seven days from last year's gobbler season. The spring limit is still two turkeys with visible beards, but hunters cannot bag a duo on the same day. An archery-only fall season will be extended by 31 days later this year, from October 1 through December 31, and the bag limit has been increased to two turkeys of either sex. For additional information on this promising hunting opportunity, call Kimberly Hermes, 502-564-4336. Lone Star Toms Speaking of turkeys, field biologists with the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department report that 1,000 birds are being purchased at $525 per head from surpluses in Missouri, Iowa, and Georgia for transplanting in the eastern part of Texas in Phase II of an impressive turkey restoration project now progressing in the Lone Star State. Phase I of the program is nearly completed. With an additional 1,000 birds arriving by plane and truck from elsewhere, perhaps the time isn't too far off when hunters will include the wild turkey in their Texas hunting plans. Since 1978, game officials have released 5,386 turkeys in various areas throughout the state. Anyone wanting more information can contact project leader John Burk, 409-560-5779. Copyright (c) 1997 All Outdoors, Inc. All rights reserved. |
