Before you leave for your all too brief Memorial Day vacation, grab one or two fishing rods from the basement or garage because this is your big chance to pull the kids away from their phones and hypnotizing devices and introduce them to the joys of the outdoors through fishing.
Take them on a Memorial Day bluegill outing.
Catch-and-release fishing can be a deep subject, really. We have come to accept catch and release as a norm of modern fishing, and it certainly has its valid place. But hard thinkers on natural resource topics as respected as Ted Kerasote have debated the practice in writing, on ethical and ecological grounds.
Iowa Department of Natural Resources (DNR) fisheries biologists have investigated recent reports of dead bluegill and crappie in southern Iowa lakes.
These natural fish kills are a common occurrence at a number of lakes each spring during spawning season. There is little danger to the overall population of bluegill or crappie. Iowa lakes can support thousands of panfish per acre of water.
I have had a love affair with Lake Traverse for 32 years. This Minnesota-South Dakota border water is one of the gems of the Midwest but sadly, it seems, something has happened to the fishery.
2. Camo up. Whether you’re fishing from shore or from a boat, wear clothing that blends into your surroundings.
Spring is a consistent time to find bluegills and other sunfish. No need for a fishing forecast when they gather in the shallows to spawn. The pre-spawn catch can be as good as those taken during the spawn. Both events become excellent opportunities for finding the largest bluegills within casting distance of shore or from a small boat.
Bluegills, crappies, and bobbers go together and remain a basic, productive means to catching panfish. But somewhere along the way, bobber fishing got sophisticated. Bobbers and corks became “floats.” Call them what you want, but there’s now a bobber/float to match any type of panfishing.
Of the roughly 200 walleyes sampled in last summer’s survey, 82 of them were less than 11 inches long, 72 were between 12 and 14 inches in length, 38 measured between 15 and 19 inches, and just four were over 20 inches long.
They say the best way to make an impact in the world is to act locally. And there are things that you can actually do to make a difference on your local waters.
It might not change the world and we might not all be dancing and singing “Kumbaya,” but by taking action and encouraging your friends to do likewise, you can bring about change.
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