Meridian Star - Outdoors

Cooling off, One Way or Another
Alright, I can't help it. In this heat, my thoughts turn to cool mountain streams in the Rockies where Douglas fir trees shade the stream banks and the trout water is so cold that a hand thrust into it hurts. I know, I can stream fish here in the Southeast and have a good chance at nighttime catfish following a hundred degree daytime sun.
Where and when to camp out
More Americans than ever are staying close to home this summer for economic reasons. Thousands of families and communities around the country have already registered for this summer's ultimate staycation -- National Wildlife Federation's fifth annual Great American Backyard Campout on June 27.
An Associated Press-GfK Poll found that 20 percent of respondents planning a trip this summer will stay closer to home. Camping is an accessible and affordable "stay-cation" that brings families together and helps keep them mentally and physically healthy. Participation for National Wildlife Federation's fifth annual Great American Backyard Campout is expected to be unprecedented, with tens of thousands of campers already registered across the country.
Trout, birds and Custer’s last stand
If one were struck with an urge to fish a tributary of the mighty Mississippi River, one might choose the upper Yazoo in our state. But let’s say fly rods and tiny feather artificials and swift, cold water fit that angler’s idea of piscatorial pleasure. He or she might choose the Bighorn River in Montana, for example. Yes, The Bighorn flows northward, where it is joined by the Little Bighorn at Hardin, Montana before its waters lose its name to the Yellowstone appropriately between the towns of Custer and Bighorn. The Yellowstone joins the Missouri at the North Dakota line and you know its route to St. Louis and to our own Mississippi.
Sea Hunter team wins Mississippi Gulf Coast Billfish Classic
Mike Heard and teammates of the Sea Hunter, captained by Captain Ricky McDuffie, took top honors in the annual billfish tournament held out of the Isle of Capri Casino in Biloxi last weekend. Heard was joined by Meridian anglers Billy Humphrey, Lance Brent, Spike Watts, David Burns, and Kevin Anders. Other members of the team were David West and Eddie Booles of Madison, and C. D. Norberg of Birmingham and Charles Thomas of Shuqualak.
“We happened up on a Rip,” said Heard. A rip is a moss bed or grass line that is full of baby crabs, grass, and baitfish. “When you find a rip you’re going to find some fish,” continued Heard.
$100,000 Meridian Family of Stations and Bud Light Fishing Rodeo concludes with winner
Your local CBS, NBC, FOX TV Stations along with Bud Light gave 47 local fisherman a chance at winning $100,000 at Mitchell Distributing last weekend in Meridian. It was all part of the grand finale to the $100,000 Meridian Family of Stations and Bud Light 2009 Fishing Rodeo. Starting March 30 through June 12 area anglers caught 47 of the 300 tagged fish in 7 area lakes as distributed by the Mississippi Wildlife and Fisheries Department. Each tagged fish earned the angler a guaranteed prize provided by the Rodeo sponsors, items like fishing equipment, trolling motors, depth finders, guns, gas cards, clothing, sunglasses, and cash. Additionally, each tagged fish earned the angler one entry into the drawing for a chance at the Grand Prize of either $100,000 cash, $10,000 prize package including a Tracker Pro 16” Boat with motor and trailer or two Artic Cat 366 4x4 ATV’s, $1,000 cash, or a 10’ John Boat with trolling motor, battery and safety equipment.
Susan Gregory; successful lady angler
Susan Gregory eased the trolling motor into the water and began probing the brackish waters of Cowan Bayou on the Lower Pearl much like a skilled surgeon. Gregory’s precise pitching and casting abilities allowed her to make pinpoint casts into the shallow water spawning grounds of finicky springtime bass. As she pitched her craw worm next to a brush top and gently shook it, a nice three pound bass inhaled it and headed to parts unknown.
Almost instantly the pro-angler set the hook and drove the steel home, deep into the jaw of the hungry bass. Though the bass fought wildly, Gregory quickly wore it down and brought him into the boat. After admiring and photographing the bass, she released the feisty lunker back into the brackish water to fight another day.
A place to run away to
“Gradually the cool dim gray of the morning whitened and as gradually sounds multiplied and life manifested itself. The marvel of Nature shaking off sleep and going to work unfolded itself to the musing boy. A little green worm came crawling over a dewy leaf, lifting two thirds of his body into the air from time to time and sniffing around, then proceeding again for he was measuring, Tom said…
“Now a procession of ants appeared, from nowhere in particular, and went about their labors; one struggled manfully by with a dead spider five times as big as itself in its arms, and hugged it straight up a tree trunk…
June declared Great Outdoors Month
WASHINGTON - June is an especially good time to trade screen time for green time, and get outside with family and friends. For several years the President and most Governors have issued annual proclamations declaring June as Great Outdoors Month. On Monday, President Obama released his 2009 proclamation for Great Outdoors Month.
The Screaming Cat
Ronald, Billy Wade, Mule and I were in Ronald's old jeep headed down toward the Navy Base turkey hunting early one morning. This was prior to the base being built and the area was a wilderness, completely isolated; no houses, no sounds except the lonesome whistle made by distant trains. There were no improvements at all, even the road was just a pig trail through the woods impenetrable except by four-wheel drive vehicles. We were riding along in the jet black before day surrounded by forest when Ronald related the following story.
It seems earlier he and Morris Whitfield had driven on over close to the railroad tracks and slipped across to one of Nunn and Company's fish ponds. It was a bright moonlight night and the pond was in a pasture with cows lying nearby in a group of trees contentedly chewing their cuds. The men were talking and bragging about all the fish they expected to catch and just thoroughly enjoying a beautiful night.
How to catch a lunker at dusk
A warning to all bream, small fry, frogs, small animals, and reptiles; the spawn is long gone and lunker bass are now searching out their prey like an unseen submarine destroyer. Yes, these lunker bass are now feasting on any and everything that they can catch to help re-stock their energy supply.
Honeybees – good and bad
When Sampson was courting Delilah he had to walk through the fields and woods on his way to the valley of Sorek to see her. In those days I suppose there was more wilderness than cities and encounters with dangerous wild animals during foot travel was predictable. One day as Sampson made his way to meet Delilah, a lion charged from the brush.
My shooting story

Hello. My name is Summer Roberts. I am 12 years old. I’m in the 4-H Field and Stream club that I call the shooting club. So here is my story.
My grandfather Mike bought me an air rifle. I was so scared to shoot my first gun. See, my sister, Harleigh Smith, already knows how to shoot. She started shooting when she was three years old. I’ve been shooting for three months, but when I pulled the trigger I missed the target. I was glad anyway because I actually pulled my first trigger on my own.
Catfish on the rocks and in the shallows
March and April are traditionally big spawning months for crappie and thousands of crappie are caught daily around the state during that time. May, on the other hand, is a time when the channel catfish head to the shallows to spawn as well. On Okatibbee Reservoir the catfish start heading to the shallows to spawn in late April and throughout the month of May, depending upon the current weather conditions and water temperatures.
And the peak of the spawn will usually vary from year to year. Recent rains have pushed the reservoir about a couple of feet higher in the last week or so and this will likely have an effect on the catfish. While thousands of catfish will head for the rocks to spawn, still others will head for the shallow coves and flats to spawn also.
Don Napp – Turkey Hunter
Don Napp is a turkey hunter. This news evokes either loathing or empathy in those who know what it means to be labeled a turkey hunter. Those non-participants who have perennially observed our ways and are unable to understand us most often loathe our habits. To others of us who understand and are so afflicted, the word is empathy. For those readers who don’t know the difference between a turkey hunter and a door knob because they have never cared, please read on so I can properly introduce Mr. Napp.
Turkey hunters are fanatic about their endeavor; maybe not about other areas of their lives, but about turkey hunting. There are no half way turkey hunters. You go every waking minute you can and you keep getting beaten by the quarry and you like it equally when he wins or when you win. Turkey hunters are sensitive, right brained persons who will hunt spring gobblers often when other important life responsibilities go undone. They are likely to be involved in the arts.
Bream catching: Fun for all kids!
Easing along the banks of the small stream I stopped momentarily and dropped my red worm into a deeper hole. The cork wiggled slightly before disappearing beneath the surface. I set the hook and jerked the diminutive bream from the water. After baiting up again I put another offering in the same hole. This time a small catfish engulfed my worm. A few minutes later I caught a small bass from the same spot.
As I followed the shallow stream around the bend some 40 years ago, I came upon another youngster and his grandmother who were fishing the same stream. Naturally I stopped to see who they were and ended up talking to them while continuing to catch fish. And yes the other youngster was catching them as well.
Camp bread from a cowboy’s skillet
I am not much of a cook. I had a brother who maybe cooked the best wild game dishes anywhere, but none of it rubbed off onto me. Oh I like to cook. I often find myself cooking for the camp. But I lack creativity. Beyond a few basics like stew, hash, grits, gravy and anything fried, I go by a recipe and hope for the best, which usually does not describe the results. My best work comes from cans.
I am always collecting recipes and I have a thick file. I won't live long enough to try them all, even once each. But I go through them once in a while, my mouth watering and lips smacking, and I promise myself I'll get around to trying them. But I never do.
Memories for a lifetime
One of the great joys of any hunting experience is to be able to maneuver quietly into the animal’s world without any hint of human intrusion. Such was the case during the final weekend of this turkey season. My son and I were treated to a magnificent morning of Mother Nature’s best turkey talk and activity.
Final day journal
I tiptoe as quietly as possible along the dim trail that leads into the big timber. I spooked three turkeys off their roost last week and I don't want that to happen again. This is my last chance for one of these birds. It is the last morning of the turkey season, and who knows if they will be here next spring?
20th Annual Sandy Ridge Bream Tourney a success
Young Adrianna Burrage has been fishing the Sandy Ridge Tourney for as long as she can remember. And the last five years she has placed among the top finishers every year while fishing with her dad Larry Burrage. This year was no different for the father and daughter team as Adrianna caught a lot of fish again. This time, however, she won the children’s division for her first divisional win. This young lady is among a growing contingent of female anglers who are not content to sit on the sidelines and watch the boys do it. No sir, she’s getting in the game and showing them how to do it!
Outdoor Notes
A story of getting even with a squirrel
Every hunter has had his or her presence announced to every living creature in the woods by a barking squirrel upon entering a pristine spot with expectations of slipping up on a deer or some other game animal. Usually it is right after you have carefully chosen each foot placement and avoided snapping a single stick or shuffled a single leaf for a hundred yards and are feeling proud of your skill at arriving at your spot in total silence.
Graduation gobbler
Easing silently into the pitch black woods we carefully made our way to a prime listening spot right near a roosting site. If there was a gobbler still left in the woods, we would surely hear him from this vantage point, far from the hustle and bustle of towns, roads, and automobiles.
A Beckoning from the Wild
20th Annual Sandy Ridge Bream Tourney
Carolina in my mind
It was just four days after the full moon and as soon as the hidden morning sun lighted the sky slightly brighter than the moonlight, I smelled trouble. Back home, I was used to seeing a lot more sky while waiting for that first turkey to gobble. Here, in the mountains of North Carolina, I could see much more land than sky and most of it was above eye level; far above.
Nothing beats fishing with dad
Growing up in the early 60s, most of us country boys didn’t have large reservoirs or the like to fish in.
What we did have was plenty of ponds stocked with bass and bream. My dad, Jack Giles, was a country boy also and we fished with what we had, mostly Zebco 33s and live bait.
Catching spawning crappie
When the water temperature hits 59 degrees, then you need to start looking for white crappie to begin their spawn. If an area has rising water and a temperature of 59 to 60 degrees, that's when the crappie will move into the shallow water to spawn. The black crappie probably will have spawned out early, since they usually spawn before the white crappie do.
Most people believe the crappie spawn only lasts for about two weeks. But I've found that the crappie spawn can last into the summer because it doesn't happen all at once. There's definitely a peak of the spawn. However, some crappie lag behind and don't spawn until the summer. I've seen male crappie go on their nests in March and still be on their nests in June. I think the females move in and out of an area to lay their eggs
Hot bass action
Trolling down the shoreline of a secluded lake one afternoon this week I detected several tell tale swirls of shallow water bass working the shoreline. Casting a Mann’s Hardnosed Frog just past the first swirl, I cranked the lure up on top and started “cranking” it back to the boat like Ray Joyner had shown me some 25 years ago in a Collinsville bass club tournament.
A fat sow bass quickly smashed the lure as it passed across the ripples! Rearing back on the rod I drove the Gamakatsu steel deep into the jaws of the lunker bass. Instantly the now enraged bass exploded through the water surface and tail walked across the water until it relented and dove for deep cover. After a few minutes of touch and go I finally wore the feisty bass down and my first bass of the day was history.
Though I had grown up fishing frogs really slow in small lakes and caught quite a few in the process, Joyner’s form of “cranking” was unique and years ahead of its’ time. Thanks to Ray I became very proficient at catching salad patch bass. Just as a baseball batter must see the ball and time his swing, a bass angler must see and feel the strike of a bass and then drive the hook home! Too early and you jerk it out of the bass’ mouth. Wait too long and he’ll spit it out.
What are you doing to that fishing lure?
There are three things certain in this world: death, taxes and if you manufacture a flawless fishing lure, some fisherman will alter it; .take it brand new right out of the box and do something to it. I don=t care if you market a lure and go around and find all the alterations anglers have made on it and incorporate all of them into a new version. Some guy will get his needle nose pliers out and bend that revised sucker! It=s written somewhere in the laws of human behavior. We can=t help ourselves.
My first experience with this anglers= quirk was in 1959 when I took a new job and learned that several of my co-workers were dedicated bass fishermen. I would soon discover that in fact the group formed a curious cult that held bass fishing up there near the level of religion. They each fished almost daily and they were good at it.

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