Ah, spring; ah, morel mushrooms

Black morels usually are the first to appear. They can be tough to see, but are good to eat.

        It's been a tough winter, but with spring finally on the horizon, thoughts change from shoveling snow and salting ice, to catching crappie and hunting for morel mushrooms.

Black morels should be making their way through deep woods leaves in the near future. I have found them as early as the last week in March, but that is rare. Early April usually marks their arrival.

A quick look on the internet indicated  a few black and small gray morels were found March 11 in Georgia. As the weather warms finds begin to move north, and will continue till late spring in the northwoods of Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota.

Dedicated mushroom hunters (shoomers) follow these tasty fungi all the way to the northern border. Many find plenty to sell to folks who don't want to, or can't, venture into the woods distant from home. 

Two keys to a good spring morel season are moisture and warm weather. We've had the moisture this winter, now for the warmth. My friend Doyle Coultas also believes a snowy winter also is benfeficial to spring mushroom finds.

The early black morels, also called “hickory chickens” and by probably a dozen other local names, are the first to appear. 

The blacks are usually found in heavy wooded areas, and are first found on the south or southeastern side of hills where the early spring sun strikes first. It won’t take too many sunny days and it will be worth a trip to the woods to see if any blacks just might have popped through the leaves.

The blacks are  followed (and overlapped) with the long stem variety, then the white morels and the big yellow sponges. There usually is three weeks or so of good hunting.

While hunting morels, it also is a good opportunity to scout for wild turkeys and find good hunting sports for the season that opens in Indiana April 22 and runs through May 10.

It’s also fun to enjoy a combination day of mushroom hunting and crappie fishing. If successful, it 

Word of caution -- Don’t eat any mushroom you aren’t sure is safe. The morels are wonderful eating; however, some other types of fungi are poisonous. There are numerous books and internet websites which identify the edible mushrooms. 

There are many types of mushrooms; however, I concentrate on the morels. They are the ones I know best, and I feel confident picking and eating them.

The mushroom books are good, but I highly recommend first time hunters try to get out with an experienced “shroomer” as the hard-core hunters call themselves. An experienced hunter not only teach you to identify the morels, he or she also can provide tips on how and where to find them.

Bass pro Jordon keeps spoons handy

Photo courtesy Yamaha

Spoons can be successful in catching northern pike, lake trout, and muskies, however Yamaha pro angler Kelly Jordon also uses them for largemouth bass.

Spoons have produced northern pike and lake trout for this old scribe for years in Canada, but I never gave much thought or effort to using them for bass in the Midwest.

True, I have caught several bass on a Johnson Silver Minnow over the years, but that is the extent of my spoon success stateside. So, a recent news release from Yamaha was of considerable interest. It is worth sharing.

“If you caught 15 bass, each weighing between four and six pounds, on the first 15 casts you ever made with a new lure, wouldn’t that lure become one of your all-time favorites? Of course it would, which is exactly what happened to Yamaha Pro Kelly Jordon several years ago when he decided to tie on a big flutter spoon one afternoon at Lake Fork. Ever since that day, Jordon has kept a box full of spoons in his boat and ready to use, regardless of the time of year.

“I had known about the big six-inch flutter spoons for some time, because they’re made right at Lake Fork by a friend who had designed some special spinnerbaits for me,” admits Jordon, “but I just never had considered using them. Then, when I found a school of bass suspended about 25 feet deep off an old sunken bridge and didn’t have any other lures I could use efficiently at that depth, I put one on.

“On my first cast, I counted it down to what I thought would be the right depth, jerked it once, and a six-pound bass just slammed it. I caught a four-pounder the next cast, and that’s how it started. I caught 15 bass on my first 15 casts before I lost one.”

The Yamaha Pro believes the 1 1/2-ounce lures trigger strikes because they imitate a shad either dying or being chased by another bass, since they can be retrieved to flutter erratically up and down throughout the water column. Jordon has caught fish on them from 10 feet down to about 50 feet, but knows other anglers who’ve caught bass as deep as 80 feet with the big spoons.

“The winter months are a good time to use big spoons because they do work so well in deep water,” says Jordon, “especially when the fish are very close to the bottom. I like to make a cast, let the spoon sink completely to the bottom, then hop it lightly. I do this with my rod tip and only hop the lure six to 12 inches up above the bottom at a time, and after two or three hops, I’ll just let the spoon lie motionless. 

“I have actually had bass pick up my spoon when it is lying on the bottom, but not often. Most strikes come either as the spoon begins its upward movement, or when it’s falling.”

If he locates bass suspended five or six feet above the bottom, Jordon will still begin by making short bottom hops with the spoon, but then he’ll suddenly rip the lure up through the fish and let it fall again. When fish are suspended even higher, he’ll cast beyond them, let the spoon sink, then begin swimming it back, sometimes reeling really fast, then stopping so the spoon sinks. Because of the way they are designed, these lures flutter as they’re falling, too.

“These big spoons are not effective around vegetation because the dangling treble hook does get snagged, but they’re excellent winter choices around deeper structure like ledges and breaklines, humps and high spots, and certainly along sunken roadbeds and old bridges. If they do snag, you can usually jiggle them free because they’re so heavy.

Yes, this old scribe, now also keeps several spoons in my tackle box.

Surely winter will end; then turkey season soon will arrive

Surely this tough winter will come to an end soon. Hopefully, an abrupt end, and then on to spring. Ah, yes, morel mushrooms, crappie, and turkey season.

Turkey season will arrive soon, and before the season opener, scouting should be on a hunter’s agenda.

While it might not be the best time to be trekking through the woods searching for turkeys, keep your eyes open while on a later winter hike, or when you're driving around territory close to your favorite hunting spots suggests the National Wild Turkey Federation. 

The late winter flocks that you see will break apart in the spring, but it's a good way to learn what birds are in your area and give you a starting point for on-the-ground scouting in early spring.

Indiana’s youth turkey hunting weekend is April 18-19, and the regular season is April 22 to May 10.

Kentucky’s youth hunting weekend is just a month away on April 4-5. The regular spring turkey season is April 18 to May 10.

Besides scouting for birds and preparing gear for hunting trips, one should think about their health.

According to the NWTF, hunters spend months and sometimes years planning their dream trips, all the while never thinking about the physical excursions the hunt might require. Poor fitness and undiagnosed health problems can combine into a disaster. 

The NWTF suggests a visit to your doctor to ensure you're healthy enough for the trip, and then start training. Walking is one of the best forms of exercise, and is often required when pursuing wild turkeys. 

I used to start my turkey season with hunts with my friend Carl Hunter in the hills near Lake of the Ozarks. Carl, a retired track coach, was kind and waited for me to huff and puff up some of the hills.

It may be too late to get into top shape for the upcoming season, but some walking can help prepare a hunter for the woods.

Mystery fish was walking catfish

Robert Hayman of West Lafayette, IN, holds a walking catfish he caught from Lake Rosalie in Florida.

At first, he didn’t know what he had caught. But from all indications, it was a walking catfish.

Paul Keeler, a fisherman friend from MIchigan rode up on his bike and said I should go down to the dock and look at a fish another friend, Robert Hayman had just caught.

“It looks like some kind of catfish. Maybe you can figure out what it is,” said Paul. “Robert is down there with it right now.”

I quickly retrieved my camera and headed for the boat ramp where Hayman, a retired postal worker from West Lafayette, IN, had been fishing.

When I arrived at the dock of the Harbor Resort and Marina on Lake Rosalie there was no Robert to be found, but I quickly located him. We walked to the dock where he pulled up a basket of fish. 

In the basket, there were several catfish, plus a half dozen crappie, and a dark unusual looking fish. It seemed to have a catfish head, but the body was different, The body seemed more like that of an eel. The dorsal fins were different than the usual Indiana catfish. It certainly wasn’t a channel, flathead or a blue.

Several other Harbor winter residents and anglers had already viewed the less than handsome fish, and offered their opinions as to what it might be. One thought bowfin, then there was a guess of snakehead, another said it looked a bit like a mudfish, but wasn’t, and yet another suggested walking catfish.

Robert caught two other smaller versions of the fish, and all had been hooked on nightcrawlers.

I took a quick picture of Robert with his mystery fish. He had plans to head out for a round of golf.

I headed back to my little winter abode and downloaded the picture to the computer. Then I placed the picture on my blog as well as Facebook. I guessed it might well be a walking catfish, although I had never seen one. I figured some of my fishing or outdoor writer friends could help identify the fish. I also used Google to find photos of Florida catfish.

Quickly, it became apparent that I had just photographed my first walking catfish.

Walking catfish are native to Southeast Asia and apparently were illegally brought to south Florida in the early 1960’s for the purpose of aquaculture. It didn’t take long for the rascals to make their way to other ponds and eventually to lakes and streams in at least 20 southern counties of the sunshine state.

A major problem  with the walking catfish is that it competes with more desirable fish such as redear (shellcrackers), bluegill and bass, and it loves to feed on the eggs of the game fish. 

Walking catfish are found in lakes and rivers, but seem to thrive in muddy ponds and ditches where other fish can not, according to the Florida Museum of Natural History.

The catfish are gray or gray-brown in color and have small eyes, which can appear to be red. The head looks much like other catfish, but the tail section is different. It appears to be a bit more flexible and the dorsal fins are different.

Walking catfish can breathe out of the water as long as they remain wet, and they can take short jaunts using their pectoral fins to keep them upright as they wiggle their way to another location.

They have been known to reach 24 inches in length, but few exceed 14 inches in south Florida, according to the Natural History Museum.

One bit of good news is they don’t thrive well in cold water, so apparently we don’t have to worry about them in Indiana.

In Southeast Asia, the fish are often sold by street food vendors. Robert was adventurous and gave his fish a taste test, but said a taste was enough. “It was very strong,” was his evaluation.

Winter when birds need food help

        Winter is a time birds can use your help. 

The long period from after the holidays through the NCAA tournament and possibly seeing Kentucky’s Wildcats in the finals, is one of the toughest to weather for birds, says Kate Heyden, avian biologist for the Kentucky Department of Fish & Wildlife Resources.

“Winter is the best time to feed birds as they need the food now more than at any other time of year and you will typically see a greater number and variety of birds at bird feeders,” according Heyden in a KDFWR release.

She said Kentucky receives many interesting birds from the north in winter and again in spring when many species return home from lands south of us, providing a great variety of species to see.

Bird watching is a good way to introduce kids into the outdoors and spark awareness of our natural world. It is also productive practice for bird hunters, who must make quick identifications of birds in the field.  

“You don’t need to spend money on food or feeders to attract birds to your yard,” Heyden said. “If you can leave a small area of your yard un-mowed, you can attract a lot of birds. They eat the seeds from the grasses and weeds and use the area for cover as well.”

Using a feeder grants the ability for close study of birds. Heyden explained all feeders draw birds, but those that keep the bird feed dry and free of mold are best. Moldy seeds are bad for bird health. 

Place feeders either near a window or fairly far away to help prevent birds from colliding with windows when startled.

The most common feeder is a hopper or house feeder, usually made of windows of clear plastic with that feed seed to a perching surface. These feeders attract cardinals, nuthatches, chickadees, grosbeaks, buntings and titmice.

“One without a lot of perching surface minimizes use by house sparrows or starlings,” Heyden explained. “The most important thing is to keep feeders clean by washing with bleach water every few weeks.” Washing with bleach water prevents the spread of disease.

Although slightly more expensive, Heyden feeds birds black oil sunflower seeds. “They attract a wide variety of desirable birds without attracting as many pest species,” she said. “The cheap bird feed is full of filler and often contains corn which attracts squirrels, house sparrows starlings and crows.”

A suet feeder attracts woodpeckers, nuthatches, chickadees and bluejays. Some birders push suet or peanut butter into crevices in bark or in the cracks of old stumps to attract these birds.

Various reasons shooters reload shells

It’s not unusual for hunters and target shooters to load their own ammunition. So why do they take the time and effort to load their shells?

Historically, many people had to load their own shells, and at times there have been shortages of ammo, but even where shells were plentiful and reasonably prices, many shooters prepared their own.

Today’s gun store shelves are filled with all manner of ammunition for every caliber and every type of shooting, many shooters are not content to go with over-the-counter production ammo. Many, in fact, prefer to hand load their own cartridges. 

However. there are many reasons for reloading and ShooterSurvey.com recently polled recreational shooters and hunters to find out exactly what the top reasons are.

  Reason No. 1 was not a surprise. By far, the top response was to save on the expense of buying production ammunition, which can sometimes cost several dollars a round. In fact, 85 percent of those surveyed cited “to save money” as the main reason they hand loaded.

  Sixty-seven percent of those polled cited improving accuracy as a top reason, while 44 percent do it to obtain calibers or loads that are hard to find in stores. Lastly, 30 percent reload to reduce waste, and 15 percent cited other, unspecified reasons for hand loading, according to information provided by the survey.

Respondents could chose more than one answer as many have multiple motivations for loading their own ammunition.

  While reloading has its numerous advantages, anyone trying their hand at the activity needs adequate equipment and good training to be safe and successful.

Robert Hayman and a mystery catfish

Robert Hayman with mystery fish.

     My friend Robert Hayman, a retired postal employee, from near Layfayette, IN, caught an interesting fish this morning at Lake Rosalie in central Florida.
     The fish appears to be from the catfish family, but looks different. It appears to have a catfish head with whiskers, however it has red eyes. It's backbone seems to be a bit more limber and the fins are different.
     This picture of Robert and the fish isn't great, but may show the fish reasonably well that some of my angler friends may help identify it. This fish probably weighs a couple pounds.
      The fish looks a bit like a dog fish or bowfin, and some guys on the dock think it is a walking catfish.
      Any ideas????