I have worms!

And I have lots of them! The late summer hatch of Catalpa Worms is starting, just in time for the dog days of summer catfish season. For those who may not be aware - catalpa worms, also sometimes called catawba worms, are especially appealing to catfish. Heck they are appealing to almost any fish.

The black and lime green fat striped beasts exude a nasty green slime that according to most theories emits a scent that fish - especially catfish cannot resist. In fact this green goo is so attractive to fish, that some anglers actually snip the heads off and turn the worm inside out to get even more of the smelly goo out there to the fish. I must confess though - turning a worm inside out requires far better dexterity and fine motor skill than I possess.

Generally if I’m using them for catfish I thread them onto a circle hook, making sure that I’ve poked a few holes in the tough hide so that the famed green goo can escape. If I’m using them for panfish - I snip them into small sections for use on little panfish hook. Catalpa worms are tough buggers, and if you’d prefer not to have worm goo stuck forever under you fingernails I’d suggest using a pair of pliers, a multi tool or a sharp pocket knife to cut them up. That toughness is another eason they are prized as bait. One can often snag several fish with just one worm.

The catalpa worm is actually the caterpillar stage of the Catalpa Sphinx Moth a common hawk or sphinx moth and only feeds on Catalpa leaves. They are voracious feeders and can quickly defoliate a tree of it large showy heart shaped leaves. It’s been my experience that even with a significant infestation, as soon as the caterpillars have had their fill and drop off the trees quickly recover.

If you are lucky enough to find a catalpa tree with some of these black and lime invaders the best way to harvest them is to pick off by hand the ones you can reach, then place a sheet or tarp under the tree and give it a good shaking. Be forewarned - wearing a hat is almost a necessity because the worms will invariably not only land on your head, they’ll spit green goo and worm poo all over you. So unless you want a head full of goo, poo and worms.. wear your hat.

After you have a good supply of worms, the best way to store them is in a bag or box packed with catalpa leaves and bit of cornmeal in cool place. The caterpillars are voracious eaters and you’ll need to keep replenishing the catalpa leaves. Alternately they can be packed in sawdust or cornmeal and frozen for future use. The oldtimers that I learned from would fill a gunny sack with catalpa leaves, worms and sawdust, dip it the creek periodically to keep it moist and hang it in the shade from a catalpa limb. One should note however that using tap water for moisture will kill them.

The trees grow naturally along rivers and margins of swamps. Northern catalpa occurs naturally as an occasional tree in some central and south-central states such as Indiana, Illinois and south Arkansas to Tennessee. Catalpas have also become a popular landscaping tree due to their rapid growth, excellent shade producing qualities and beautiful spring flowers.

So go have look for some catalpa trees, check under the leaves for these neon striped invaders and I’ll bet you’ll be having catfish for supper soon!

Sticking Fish on a Saturday

Despite early morning storms and extremely high daytime temperatures, twenty bowfishers competed in the Third Annual Kaskaskia River Bowfishing Shootout, Saturday August 14th at Smitty’s Marina in New Athens. The shootout was sponsored by Southern Illinois Outdoors, Bowfishing Association of Southern Illinois and Illinois Bowfishers.  High river levels coupled with the closure of the Kaskaskia River from the Marina north made for tough shooting in comparison to previous years. 

Adam Rutkowski of Freeburg, IL prepares to remove one of the many small gar shot during the shootout.

Team SILO’s Bob Rutkowski, New Athens, IL and Adam Rutkowski of Freeburg, IL show off there skills at nailing a “two for” when shooting into a school of carp.

Fellow PSO Blogger Eric Giles and I split the difference as he teamed up with my husband and they headed off to try try their hands in some oxbows and backwater while I kept my usual spot on the TeamSILO boat we affectionately call ‘Ol Ugly. Shooting was hard - the morning’s torrential rains had turned the water into chocolate milk making it difficult to see the fish. River levels were still somewhat elevated as well, sending many of the fish back into the brush and trees, just out of arrow range.

Difficult shooting conditions didn’t seem to hamper the efforts of the New Athens team of Bill Dawson, Jason Foster, and Brendan Litteben. “The Bighead Boys” as they came to be known by end of the event,  took first place in the big 10 Format with 126.27 pounds of fish, primarily big head carp.  This is the third year in a row that these fellows have taken the Kaskaskia River Bowfishing Shootout. Team member Bill Dawson also took the Big Fish title with a 16.11 pound bighead. 

Second place went to the Randolph County team of Jesse Thomas and Korey Rains with 70.73 pounds of fish.

Third Place was taken by John Richardson and Jacob Martin of Granite City with 31.43 pounds of fish.
Additionally John Richardson won the Smallest Gar Category with a 0.14# gar.

For more information about bowfishing in Southern Illinois visit
Southern IL Outdoors (SILO)
Illinois Bowfishers
Bowfishing Association of Southern IL

The Light Show in the Sky

It’s too hot during the day for many of my favorite outdoor activities, the woods are thick, thick, thick and level full of spiders, ticks and chiggers… Recent triple digit temps and heat indexes that are just plain brain melting have me turning to cooler night time outdoor activities. One of my favorite August activities is watching the Perseid meteor showers.  The Perseids are such a reliable late summer show that we used to tell my niece whose birthday falls at the peak viewing time that the meteor showers were her birthday present from the sky. The Perseids are actually a result of earth passing through fragments and dust trails created by the Comet Swift-Tuttle. This means the Perseids Meteor Shower has already started and will be getting stronger each day until its peak on August 12th.
The Perseids are named after constellation Perseus because meteors appear to fan out from an area surrounding the constellation, The Perseids Meteor Shower’s claim to fame lies in its reliability and excellent viewing opportunities across the northern hemisphere.
The Perseids Meteor Shower will peak in the morning of August 12 where meteors can be seen anywhere in the sky. For viewing the meteor showers, find a dark place away from man-made lights and lean back in a relaxing position looking toward the darkest part of the sky. A nice summer night combo activity is to set out tightlines for catfish and just kick back watch the sky light up and the rods bounce. There are years when viewing is hindered a bit by the bright moonlight, but this year we are lucky that the showers will be peaking when the moon is in a waxing crescent phase. This means less “light pollution” in the sky and a much better viewing experience.
As a general rule for this meteor shower I would advise to begin by looking to the northeast, but no one ever really knows where meteors will appear. It’s also hard to give folks an exact time to view the celestial light show. General advice is to try observing in the late evening of August 11th into the early morning of August 12th.  Meteor showers are misunderstood, a lot of people think they are nighttime events, they’re actually better seen closer to dawn. There’s been some speculation from astronomers and scientists that this year’s may well be producing up 100 meteors an hour, so there will be no lack of chances to see meteors skipping across the sky.
While most of the meteoroids during the Perseids Meteor Shower are as small as a grain of sand, the occasional softball size meteoroids can create large fireballs.  Additionally, Perseids meteors enter the Earth’s atmosphere at amazingly fast speeds as high as 133,000 mile per hour and even though most are the size of a grain of sand you’ll still see them glowing and whizzing through the air.
So mark your calendars, get out lawn chairs and enjoy a wonderful summer night with your friends or family next week gazing at the stars and watching the heavens ignite with the Perseid meteor showers!
Additional resources and information
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perseids
http://www.seasky.org/astronomy/astronomy_calendar_2010.html
http://stardate.org/nightsky/meteors/

Tree Rat Time!

Opening day for tree rats is nearly upon us. While many defer their squirrel hunting until the colder months when the woods are bit more hospitable, I know there are just as many that will be out there Sunday looking for our little four footed fuzzy tailed friends.
This little fellow at my house evidently has no clue what he’s setting himself up for!
Today finds me on the hunt for new and different squirrel recipes. My household loves the squirell stew, squirell and dumplings and of course plain old friend squirrel, but I’d like to liven things up a bit - What’s your favorite way to prepare tree rats?

Looking pretty smug isn’t he?

There’s Power in the Pink!

It wasn’t long ago that it would be an odd sight to see a waterfowl hunter or hunt test handler wearing pink, but thanks to Deb West of Waterloo, Illinois, those days are rapidly disappearing. West,  who also owns Brownwaterdogs, is the founder and mastermind behind a new group called The Pink Whistle Society.
Many of my friends and readers here have often heard my wailing and moaning about all of the pink outdoor products aimed at women, and my disdain for them, but this is one pink product that I am proud to wear , support and stand behind!

Pink Whistle Society founder Deb West and her beloved champion hunt test and certified therapy dog Squeler

The Pink Whistle Society made it’s debut in the fall of 2009 at a lady handler seminar held by WISLL HRC in Wisconsin where West participating as trainer.  It started out just as a gift from West to be included in the lady handlers’ bags. A symbol of support , if you will,  of the community spirit found in women handlers .
West told me, “I thought it would be neat to give all the women a pink whistle in their handler bags.  So it grew from there.  I thought it needed a FB page, so I created that.  Then I thought how neat it would be to have pink lanyards and leads…so I looked and found a maker, Fallin’ Feathers in Missouri.  Then we needed pink calls…so it took some doing but we got some awesome ones for the set but they were very cost prohibitive…keep searching, and a friend from St. Louis took the idea to Buck Gardner and he makes them for us now at a reasonable price.  With that being done, they needed to be pink so Gateway Hydrographics in St. Louis dips them for me.  Then we needed a logo…Action Graphics did the artwork for that.  Once we had that they also make the logo on Fox 40 whistles for us.  So now we have a really great little set. “

It is a great, functional, and stylish set – that contains a lead, lanyard, a pink whistle and pink camo call.  These aren’t just pretty, all the items are fully functional and work well during training, handling, and the rigors associated with owning a good retriever.  West shared that Buck Gardner has been great to work with on this project, and the calls from him for this set sound fantastic. The Pink Whistle Society and the popularity of the lanyard and lead sets is growing exponentially in the retriever and waterfowling community. Those who purchase the sets (lead, lanyard, whistle, call, and band),  which retail for a total of 70.00 (65.00 plus 5.00 shipping and handling)  have the added bonus of knowing that proceeds from the sales are split between the HRC Foundation and the Breast Cancer Foundation.

The Pink Whistle Society doesn’t have web site yet, but does operate a Facebook page which can be found here.  Through the miracles of word of mouth and social media marketing West has seen phenomenal growth, not only in the sales of the “Society Sets” but in the popularity of the Pink Whistle Society as a group that provides a place for lady handlers to hang out, share experiences and frustrations, support each other, and celebrate the women who are active in the outdoors, waterfowling, and hunt dog handling.
“It has crossed all boundaries.” Said Deb West, “ I know the logo and the beautiful picture that Debbie Stonebraker did for us have HRC on them, but I have sold many to AKC club members, NAHRA, and other group members as well.  Cancer and cancer survivors don’t care what your club affiliation is.  They know what it stands for and where the money goes, so it has grown farther than I ever imagined.

When asked how the men in the retriever and hunt test community accepted the pink invasion, West shared that many men were buying the sets as gifts for the women in their lives who participate side by side with them in hunting and hunt test activities.  With pride West recalled that renowned dog handler and trainer Chris Akin was seen sporting the Pink Whistle Society set at the HRC Grand last year.  The number of men who happily wear them on the line at hunt tests is rapidly growing.  Men are beginning to realize that issue of breast cancer is not just a woman’s issue. It happens to the women they love most, their mothers, wives, sisters and friends. 

Matt Settlemoir,  “Sam”, and Mark Leahy show their support of the Pink Whistle society. These gentlemen understand that real men CAN wear pink!

Hunt tests are notorious for being very specific regarding the attire that can be worn on the line. I had to wonder if any of the handlers wearing the pink had ever encountered a problem from a line judge who requested that they remove the pink call, whistle, lanyard etc.  When I asked West, who is also an accomplished hunt test judge herself, about this as a potential problem, she happily replied that “At the National HRC meeting in Memphis I presented this to the Executive Committee, and was ask to present it at the General meeting.  It was a great hit.  The PR committee was all a buzz about it.  The Field Reps said they thought it was great!  There was absolutely no talk about it being any problem at the line.  Although I would presume that would be up to the individual judges at each hunt test.  But once people are informed about what it stands for I don’t fear any problems.  One woman just told her judge she was a breast cancer survivor - end of discussion.  I don’t foresee any problems.  If there are it will up to the individual to really handle it the way they see fit, and there are ways to do that most constructively.  I think mainly the guys need to know the symbolism! “

The Pink Whistle Society continues to enjoy support from across the world of hunt testing and waterfowl hunting and also from friends in the art community. Acclaimed artist Debbie Miller Stonebraker has made available a special limited edition print for the Pink Whistle Society. The number 1 of this beautiful signed and numbered print was auctioned at the Annual National HRC meeting this year, fetching a sizeable donation for the HRC Foundation.

Artist Debbie Stonebraker’s gorgeous limited edition art print

Following its debut at the HRC National Meeting, the limited edition print is now available for purchase to the general public by contacting Stonebraker via   .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) . Only 100 editions of this print will be available insuring that it will be another great collector’s piece for those who love retriever art.
Surely at this point you are wishing for and wanting a Pink Whistle Society set for yourself or that special lady handler/hunter in your life. How can you purchase one these great sets for yourself, the lady handler in your life or to honor someone you love who has battled breast cancer?

Contact The Pink Whistle Society or Deb West
Deb West, 101 Paul Simon Dr. Waterloo, IL 62298 to order
Ms. West can also be reached at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) and via her Facebook page and the Pink Whistle Society’s Facebook page.

Don’t you want a good dog and pink whistle too? Gigi Strauss and her award winning retriever “Samson”
Special thanks to the Pink Whistle Society, Gigi Strauss, Matt Settlemoir, Debbie Stonebraker, and Deb West for sharing and allowing use of their photos.