Time to get your tag applications in for the state of Oregon.  This terrain-diverse and weather-crazed state has many big game hunting opportunities to experience.  On May 15th, the deadline arrives for pronghorn, elk, bighorn sheep, mountain goat, and deer tags.  Oregon is not necessarily a trophy destination for deer hunters, but both blacktails and mulies are available to hunt.  Also, Oregon boasts a Roosevelt elk population…a true test of will for those willing to tackle the Northwest’s temperate rainforests.

Well, Friday’s predictions came true on Saturday with a trip to my super top secret bowfishing honey hole in North Carolina’s Piedmont.  Using the trusty jonboat, we toted a trolling motor, 2 batteries and oars to pole our way through shallow weeds and timber.

The first fish to jump in the boat was this hefty longnose gar.  We weren’t 100 yards from our secret put-in when a ball of gar erupted to the surface and Andrew snap shot the biggest in the group.  Almost 50 inches long and 16″ girth, a great fish to start off the day and actually Andrew’s first longnose of his bowfishing career!  25% completed.

The trip down the lake to our honey hole is about 2 miles and we picked up about 5 common carp on the way.  50% completed!  No sooner had we shot 1 or 2 more common carp in the shallow standing timber of our honeyhole, than Andrew draws back on fish species #3, a NICE bowfin in the 8 lb. range.  He stunned her with a well-placed to the noggin’.  75% completed.

Few more common carp and we were finally back to our grass carp hotspot, and they didn’t disappoint.  I would say we conservatively stalked 10 grassies in an hour, but the water was real clear and getting close enough for a shot was tough.  After Andrew missed a couple lengthy shots, I connected on our 3rd big game stalk and landed the biggest grassie of the day…this 30+ pounder.

After a couple more blown stalks, Andrew pegged this one cruising through some submerged weeds.  It looked like Andrew just finished the job that something else had started…tail ripped to shreds and a missing eye.

A great redemption shot and just like…the NC Bowfishing Grand Slam was complete.  We weren’t done yet though, Andrew missed one more grassie and I connected on one last grass carp before we got turned towards home a little early because of a thunderstorm.

On the way back, we hugged the shoreline and cruised through some standing timber where we picked up another gar and couple more commons and saw way more needlenoses that we either missed or couldn’t get shots at as they zoomed past the front of our boat in muddy water.

What a day though, 13 commons, 1 bowfin, 2 gar, and 3 grass carp.  To top it all, Andrew becomes the first bowfishermen I’ve ever had the pleasure of hunting with that completed the NC Grand Slam!  Congrats and can’t wait until you get in town again to bust out the bows again!

Don’t kn0w what it is, but if dogwoods are blooming you can bet the carp are in full gear.  Boy, are they!?!?!  I cut out a couple hours early from the office yesterday (once again on a Thursday, definitely is my ‘rec’ day) and headed up to the lake.  Water levels have come down a little since last Thursday, but there was still plenty of water to fish in.  I started getting into fish as soon as my waders were knee deep and I was in the fish until I left a couple of hours later.

I actually passed on a lot of smaller carp today, hoping to shoot some commons pushing towards that 10 lb. mark (and maybe if I could get lucky a 14 lber. - my goal for the year).  Didn’t quite reach the decade mark, but shot a few that were in the 8 lb. range, certainly much better than average carp for the lake I was fishing.  I got into a few bowfin, but they were small males - no citation sized bowfin to be found.  I think the females must have dumped their eggs and headed back out to safer waters.

I ended the day with 24 common carp.  I think I had 3 pull off in the first 15 minutes, but none after that.  Guess I was just getting dialed in.  I’ll leave you with my favorite shot of the day.

A carp and his buddy were sucking something off the water surface, lips exposed, and when he lowered his lips to get a drink of water, I cut loose from about 12 yards away.  Assassination shot!

I cannot wait until tomorrow…weather permitting, Andrew and I will be fishing the day away on a trolling motor only impoundment…rarely gets bowfished and has some great grass carp action, tons of common carp of course, a few bowfin and even some good-sized needlenoses!  Check back after the weekend to see if we pull off the North Carolina Grand Slam of Bowfishing!

People often talk about their ponds or favorite fishing hole on the lake being choked out by hydrilla, but few of us - including myself - really understand what Hydrilla verticillata really is and the damaging effects it has on water ecosystems.  I picked up the latest copy of Aquatics this week and read the feature article on hydrilla eradication from Clear Lake, CA - a site commonly referred to as the “Bass Capital of the West”.  Bass enthusiasts might recognize this premier fishing destination as the producer of the 122 lbs. 14 ounces stringer from a Bassmasters Tournament.

Hydrilla is anchored to lakebed sediment by tubers that survive at least 4 years and can generate in excess of 30 million tubers per acre in ideal conditions…SCARY!!!  More often, tuber numbers are in the 3-5 million tubers/acre range.  Hydrilla is such a persistent pest because of their tubers which aren’t vulnerable to most ordinary commercial aquatic herbicides.  Among its more damaging effects are the clogging of irrigation canals, hydroelectric intakes in dams, and interfering with boating activities.  At high concentrations, hydrilla can harm local fish and wildlife.

How can hydrilla be exterminated?  Grass carp consider hydrilla a delicacy and some lakes such as Lake Gaston, NC/VA, stock the triploid freaks at a rate of 10 fish/acre.  Copper herbicides such as Komeen and fluridones such as Sonar are effective at killing hydrilla plants and has a very low toxicity to desirable aquatic organisms such as fish and waterfowl.  A more strenuous method of removal is diving and uprooting the hydrilla, but this method causes an over-disruption of lake bottom sediments.  Mechanical harvesting of hydrilla can be effective but runs the risk of creating floating mats of hydrilla and fostering new infestations at different sites in the lake.

It’s tough to top the beauty of wild columbine’s.  They’re my hands-down favorite flowering plant in the Turner House native landscape.

This post will be a little off subject, but still has many direct and indirect influences on what kind of wildlife species might use our backyards. North Carolina State University has just completed its instructional website on native plant landscaping. Turner House, a disjunct building from the rest of campus, is the department building for fisheries and wildlife sciences. It is also where I have my office.

A couple of years ago, Dr. Chris Moorman planned a native plant landscape design and with the help of many students, transformed the urban backyard into a native plant garden, complete with a small yard pond and irrigation system. As a follow-up, brochures have been made about the landscape project and the benefits of using native plants to landscape.

The new website “Going Native” has some great pages on how to design a landscape plan for your yard, a warning page highlighting invasive exotic landscape plants, a page highlighting great native plants to substitute and reasons why native plants are the up-and-coming thing for landscaping.

Well, dad leaves in the morning for southeastern Kansas with a friend who has never turkey hunted before.  Last year, dad went on a south Texas wild quail hunt with him and is sort of returning the favor with a trip to the country’s heartland in search of longbeards.  You might remember that my dad was successful last year in bagging a big tom and had a beautiful mount done.  I’ll be in touch with him Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday as he tries to bag a Kansas gobbler for the second consecutive season.  Shoot straight dad and have fun!

Well, I’ve been chatting on the phone back and forth with my buddy Andrew Partin who is culling pig populations for the NPS in the NC mountains.  After several weeks of inactivity, hogs came out of the woodwork and Andrew and his partner were able to lay the smackdown 14 times last week.

One day, they were hiking a loop trail when Andrew spotted a sow along a stream bank late in the afternoon.  Carrying his 870 Express, he crept closer while his partner kept a bead on the pig with his 30-.06.  Eventually they switched weapons and discovered there were a bunch more pigs that just the one.  Seven to be exact.  I can’t remember the exact details, but Andrew’s first shot from the 30-.06 centered a big sow right between the eyes and then the 870 express took over.  And when I saw the 870 took over…it dominated the entire rest of the herd.  Complete eradication!!!  Another sow and a mess more of piglets/shoats.  Needless to say, mission complete for that afternoon!

Andrew said this week should produce some more piggies but he’s not holding his breath about the kind of action last week produced.  His total is up to 40…which leads all pig sharpshooting teams in the NP so far this year.  This weekend, he’s coming home to switch out his truck that is being worked on and hopefully we’ll be out bowfishing on Saturday.  Stay tuned for those pictures next weekend.

As promised, here are the pictures from my Thursday afternoon bowfishing outing.  I totaled 25 fish, with 23 commons and 2 bowfin (1 male, 1 female).  The female (the fish in the forefront of the above picture) was my 6th citation bowfin of the spring at 8-6.  I just could not believe how clear the water was and found myself trying to take more pictures of fish than actually shooting fish.  If I had been fishing with a partner, 50 or 75 fish would have been easily attainable during the 2 1/2 hour shooting spree. 

This weed patch was absolutely packed with common carp.  You can see the 2 fish sitting in the center of the photograph, but a couple of minutes before there were about 20-25 fish cruising around within 10 feet or so.  My wife called me on the cell phone and I sat and talked to her while fish cruised in and out around my legs.  I wasn’t even going to shoot one here, but 2 lined up and gave me the opportunity for a double and I took quick action with a snap shot.  Bingo!

My third double of the year!  Sorry for the picture quality but there was too much water to find many places to sit my digital camera for a self portrait!

This picture should be captioned “Kiss it goodbye!”

Here is a final picture of a carp I left to be shot another day.  My arms were getting sore! 

Thursdays seem to be becoming my afternoon for outdoor play.  Yesterday, I headed up to the lake and did some wading around shooting carp and a few bowfin.  Very good day…check back tomorrow for that post.

After I was finished slinging the fiberglass arrow, I headed up to a country grocery/gas store and bought 2 dozen minnows, headed back to the exact spot I was parked and dropped some  minnows off the bridge from about 6:30 til 8:45 p.m.  Didn’t tear the crappie up, but did catch enough to fill my frying pan tonight for supper.  I caught the fish only about a foot off the bottom (5 feet deep) with live minnows.  Only 1 small crappie and kept 4 in the bucket and filleted them when I got home.  All 4 fish were within the 11-13″ size category.  Nice, give or take a couple ounces “pounders”.  Unfortunately, my camera battery got used up shooting pictures of my bowfishing outing, so no pictures of the crappie.

Tip: If a bridge is constructed out of a series of solid walled culverts, crappie tend to relate tightly to structure.  Drop a bait within about a foot of each corner of the concrete walls coming out from below the bridge to intercept crappie passing back and forth under the bridge. 

Photo courtesy of CBC, Inc.

Woops, wrong blog…just kidding.  The only reason I post this is because it helps my blog readers to learn a little more about myself.  One of the non-outdoors things I am passionate about is Pittsburgh Penguins hockey (love the Steelers and the Pirates also).  Last night, the Pens swept the Ottawa Senators and cruised into the second round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.  The team is getting contributions from all its players and are really clicking on all cylinders right now.  My love for hockey definitely stems from my dad’s love for hockey and my family’s original roots in northwestern Pennsylvania.  Anyways, totally unrelated to the outdoors, but still something I get excited about and I’m sure some of my readers love hockey too.  So, GO PENS!!! 12 more wins!!!