Dan Small Outdoors Radio: Show 1951
Merry Christmas from Outdoors Radio. Fisheries biologist suggests ways to
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December 21, 2024
Early ice on Mississippi sidetracks capture of Asian carp in Minnesota, Wisconsin
Unlike a year ago, when the Minnesota and Wisconsin DNRs caught the most Asian carp in one attempt on the Mississippi River than ever before in state history, this season’s carp capture effort wasn’t as productive.
While the Asian carp field team had planned to go onto the Mississippi River near and south of Winona, Minn., throughout early and mid-December, early ice foiled those plans thanks to unsafe conditions.
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Approached correctly, winter stream trout fishing in southeast Minnesota offers uniqueness, serenity
It was, in retrospect, an incandescently stupid mistake.
I obviously didn’t listen close enough to the weather terrorists on television the previous night. Surely our indispensable news-meteorologists would have warned me about the biting northwest wind that would cut through the southeastern Minnesota river valley the following day and freeze my face like it had been shot with Botox.
I could hear the wind whip the second I opened my truck door. The pretty scene – blue sky above, snow on the ground, gurgling trout stream ahead – belied the bone-chilling cold.
Bob Gwizdz: Biologists worry CWD will be a long-term issue in Michigan’s deer herd
It’s been a while since chronic wasting disease has been in the news in Michigan, so I thought I’d take a look at the literature. I called Chad Stewart, the Michigan Department of Natural Resources’ top deer guy, to review where we stand. Here’s what I found out.
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Go shallow for early-ice panfish in New York
Go shallow in the early ice season: go deeper in the shank of winter: go shallow again as the ice season melts away. Many members of the “Frozen Chozen” will attest there is truth to that three-part dictum but it is not the whole story.
Adjusting depth is one thing for sure, but adjusting places and covers is another, adjusting baits is also a consideration, and even changing the species you pursue according to the time of the ice year is important.
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Weasels provide a good opportunity to get started in trapping
My first encounter with a weasel was fox trapping as a teenager in the 1970s. I caught one in a No. 1½ coil-spring trap at a dirt-hole set for fox. I admit I set my pan tension pretty light in those days, but that little half-pound long-tailed weasel must have been dancing on the pan to spring the trap.
Since then, I have caught my share of weasels. Weasels are fascinating animals. There are three species in the U.S.: long-tailed, short-tailed and least (in order from largest to smallest).
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John Tertuliani: Memories of long-ago come flooding back each deer opener
I was 13 when an opportunity for a rifle hunt came together in north-central Pennsylvania, the region where my grandfather immigrated to and met the woman who would become my grandmother. The hunt started a generation or two before me. It was how they fed their families. Her parents had immigrated, as well.
A way of life for them, with close friends becoming members of the hunting family. For me, it was passage to the inner circle of heritage hunters who went after everything allowed, especially whitetails. My journey began in a World War II-looking Jeep.
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Try this ‘glowing’ strategy to catch more crappies through the ice
My knees were starting to bang together. I wish I could’ve pulled the ice hole closer to the little fire I’d constructed but that was physically impossible.
The sun was deep into the high hills and Nature’s next act would be the appearance of dim stars. But just before that the sonar screen lit up like the top of an erupting volcano and I felt the unmistakable rap of a winter crappie on my spoon.
To get that to happen on the ice you have to pick your time and place carefully. Crappies, particularly black crappies, are notorious late afternoon and evening biters.
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State Roundup: Driving trucks on Wisconsin ice on Dec. 17? Hold on a second
Hold on here for just a second now folks – it’s too early to be driving trucks on the ice, no? What? Yes. We received reports last week, Dec. 17, that there were already guys driving trucks on the ice in the Minocqua/Arbor Vitae areas. That’s not a great idea.
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