Prairie State Outdoors Illinois' premier hunting, fishing and birding Web site 2013-05-18T19:39:51Z Copyright (c) 2013, Chris Young ExpressionEngine tag:prairiestateoutdoors.com,2013:05:19 Stay connected for news and updates tag:prairiestateoutdoors.com,2012:/83.20863 2012-11-06T11:00:46Z 2013-03-29T19:39:47Z Chris Young sjroutdoors@comcast.net Hunting seasons are in full swing, so stay in touch with Prairie State Outdoors.

We post daily news updates on our Facebook page so you will always be in the loop on what’s happening in Illinois and surrounding states.

We also publish information on season dates, changes in rules and regulations, and pictures from your fellow successful hunters.

“Like” us, so we can keep you informed this fall.

Send photos of your outdoors adventures to editor@prairiestateoutdoors.com.

We are always interested to hear what you think. Let us know if there is something we should be covering.

]]> Texas senior, 18, bags 800-pound record alligator tag:prairiestateoutdoors.com,2013:/83.22417 2013-05-19T00:39:51Z 2013-05-18T19:39:51Z Chris Young sjroutdoors@comcast.net HOUSTON (AP) — A Houston-area high school senior has bagged a 14-foot, 800 pound alligator — the heaviest ever certified in Texas — on his first alligator hunt.

Texas Parks and Wildlife Department officials say 18-year-old Braxton Bielski bagged the record gator last week at Choke Canyon State Park, about 90 miles south of San Antonio.

The agency says in a statement that Braxton shot the giant reptile after hooking it on a line using raw chicken as bait.

Bielski's father, Troy Bielski, won a Parks and Wildlife drawing for a five-day permit to hunt in the Daughtry Wildlife Management Area. The Houston police officer says his son had been dreaming of hunting alligators for years.

Parks and Wildlife says the alligator was between 30 and 50 years old.


Copyright 2013 The Associated Press.
]]> Four Louisiana men convicted of deer poaching in Iowa tag:prairiestateoutdoors.com,2013:/83.22415 2013-05-18T23:04:42Z 2013-05-18T18:04:42Z Chris Young sjroutdoors@comcast.net COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa (AP) — Four Louisiana men have been found guilty of poaching deer in southwest Iowa.

The Iowa Department of Natural Resources said the investigation began with a call in November 2011 to Kansas wildlife officials about the men's hunting activities in that state, the Council Bluffs Daily Nonpareil reported (http://bit.ly/12jV4VO ) Saturday.

Kansas officials' investigation led them to call Iowa conservation officials about possible illegal hunting in Iowa. About the same time, a person called the Iowa Natural Resources Department to report illegal deer hunting in southwest Iowa.

Michael Fralick, of Ponchatoula, La., was convicted of 32 counts of deer hunting violations in four southwest Iowa counties. He was ordered to pay nearly $29,000 in fines, court costs and damages and forfeit two rifles. He also received a five-year license suspension.

James Moore, also of Ponchatoula, pleaded guilty to 11 counts and was ordered to pay more than $12,000. He is under a five-year license suspension.

Stanley Russel, of Roseland La., and William "Heath" Chambliss, of Kentwood, La., were convicted of several counts and ordered to pay more than $1,400 each. Both received a two-year license suspension.

"These men came to Iowa specifically to road-hunt trophy bucks," Deb Howe, state conservation officer for the Department of Natural Resources, said in a release. "They did not have any licenses or tags to hunt in Iowa during the time they were here."

The four men also have pleaded guilty to various wildlife crimes in Kansas.

___

Information from: The Daily Nonpareil, http://www.nonpareilonline.com


Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. ]]> Minn. DNR: 25-pound grass carp found near Sartell tag:prairiestateoutdoors.com,2013:/83.22414 2013-05-18T23:02:37Z 2013-05-18T18:02:37Z Chris Young sjroutdoors@comcast.net SARTELL, Minn. (AP) — The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources says a grass carp found in the Mississippi River north of Sartell may have been intentionally released.

The agency says an angler bowfishing on the Mississippi last week shot the 25-pound fish. The DNR says the exotic species previously was found much further south in Minnesota, including lower portions of the Mississippi.

DNR fisheries biologists believe the 36-inch fish could not have gotten past the dams at Coon Rapids, St. Cloud and Sartell. So the agency says the fish likely escaped from a private pond through floodwaters or was released intentionally.

The DNR says like bighead and silver carp, grass carp also can cause environmental harm. The species can grow to 70 pounds and cause water quality problems.


Copyright 2013 The Associated Press.
]]> State commission approves wolf hunt in Michigan tag:prairiestateoutdoors.com,2013:/83.22413 2013-05-18T23:00:04Z 2013-05-18T18:00:04Z Chris Young sjroutdoors@comcast.net DETROIT (AP) — Michigan now has a wolf hunting season after a board voted Thursday to allow hunters and trappers to kill up to 43 of the animals in selected parts of the state's Upper Peninsula.

The 6-week season will open Nov. 15 and end Dec. 31.

The seven-member Natural Resources Commission voted 6-1 in favor of the plan in Roscommon during its monthly meeting. The plan was recommended by state wildlife regulators.

Michigan becomes the sixth state to authorize hunting wolves since federal regulations were lifted over the past two years in the western Great Lakes and the Northern Rockies. About 1,100 wolves have been killed by hunters and trappers in Minnesota, Wisconsin, Montana, Idaho and Wyoming. About 658 of the animals are believed to be roaming remote areas in Michigan's Upper Peninsula.

Three harvest zones were chosen in the UP because of conflicts between wolves and humans. State officials say they've received a high number of complaints in those areas where wolves have preyed on livestock.

"We anticipate that this limited public harvest could both change wolf behavior over time — making them more wary of people, residential areas and farms — and reduce the abundance of wolves in these management areas that have experienced chronic problems," said Russ Mason, DNR Wildlife Division chief. "We're aiming to decrease the number of conflicts and complaints while maintaining the long-term viability of the wolf population."

Commission chair J. R. Richardson called the commission's vote "a thoughtful, science-based decision."

It "ensures the long-term presence of wolves while providing a valuable tool for managing conflicts between wolves and human populations," he said.

A target of 16 wolves can be taken from Gogebic County; 19 from a region that includes portions of Baraga, Houghton, Ontonagon and Gogebic counties; and eight from portions of Luce and Mackinac counties.

Wolf management units will be created for each region. Once the target harvest is reached in each unit, hunting is closed in that region for the season.

Hunters and trappers are allowed only one wolf each. Firearms, crossbows and bow and arrows can be used. Hunting and trapping is allowed on public and private land.

Starting Aug. 3, 1,200 wolf hunting licenses will be available. The cost is $100 for Michigan residents and $500 for nonresidents.

___

Online:

http://www.michigan.gov/wolves


Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. ]]> Body of missing boater recovered Friday tag:prairiestateoutdoors.com,2013:/83.22412 2013-05-18T18:26:11Z 2013-05-18T13:26:11Z Chris Young sjroutdoors@comcast.net RIPLEY — The body of a 20-year-old Rushville man who had been missing since May 11 was recovered from the LaMoine River just after 1 p.m. Friday.

Josh A. Hart was one of five people involved in a boating accident that occurred about 9:30 p.m. May 10 one mile west of U.S. Route 24.

The 12-foot jon boat struck a logjam and capsized, said Sgt. Mark Wagner of the Illinois Department of Natural Resources. The other four occupants made it to shore safely, but Hart remained missing until Friday.

Wagner said the boat was overloaded and only had two life jackets on board, instead of the required one per person.

An autopsy is pending. Wagner said the accident remains under investigation.
]]> ‘Moral character’ clause removed from Senate concealed carry bill tag:prairiestateoutdoors.com,2013:/83.22411 2013-05-18T13:45:51Z 2013-05-18T13:51:52Z Chris Young sjroutdoors@comcast.net Sen. Kwame Raoul said Friday he’ll remove one of the more contentious provisions in his concealed-carry legislation that required permit applicants to show they have “good moral character” before qualifying to carry a weapon in public.

Despite speculation he’d call the bill for a vote before senators left Springfield for the weekend, the Chicago Democrat held off, saying he lacks the 30 votes needed. His bill passed out of the Senate Executive Committee 10-4 on a party-line vote Thursday.

Opponents have cited the “good moral character” provision as too vague and a way local law enforcement could veto anyone’s application.

Beyond that, Raoul said he’s unlikely to change anything else in the bill.

Lawmakers, who are scheduled to be in session until the end of the month, have until June 9 to enact legislation due to a federal appellate court decision in December that struck down Illinois’ last-in-the-nation ban on concealed carry.

Concerns have been raised on both sides of the debate about what could happen if lawmakers don’t reach a compromise by June 9.

Pro-gun supporters say “constitutional carry” will set in and anyone with a Firearms Owner ID card could carry a weapon in public. Gun-control supporters like Raoul say municipalities could then enact ordinances, creating a “patchwork” of laws throughout the state.

“For my part, I will not concede anything that compromises public safety,” Raoul said Friday. “And if that means going to the end, where there’s a stalemate and it’ll be up to local municipalities to enact ordinances, I will feel safe with a situation cities could enact ordinances.”

In Raoul’s bill, Springfield and the other 200-plus home-rule municipalities in Illinois would still have additional say over where people can carry a weapon in public. They would have a six-month window to set up gun-free zones in addition to the ones already specified in the bill.

Meanwhile, amendments could emerge as early as next week on the House’s more permissive concealed-carry legislation, which preempts home-rule authority. That bill fell seven votes shy of approval in the House last month.

Sponsoring Rep. Brandon Phelps, R-Harrisburg, said some amendments are being considered such as a mass transit ban, upping the hours of training required and limiting reciprocity for other states.

Phelps and Raoul agree on one thing: “Constitutional carry” is a possibility if lawmakers do not act by June 9. The “mayhem,” Phelps said, would work in gun-rights advocates’ favor.

“You’re going to have so many lawsuits that are going to be filed. You see, Chicago and Cook County are going to lose those lawsuits,” Phelps said.

“We go off the cliff, that’s OK. Some people in Chicago are thinking it’s a better deal for them if we go off the cliff. Fine, let’s take that chance. We’ve got a court ruling in our favor.”

Lauren Leone-Cross can be reached at 782-6292. ]]> Illinois college grad establishes nest boxes for kestrels tag:prairiestateoutdoors.com,2013:/83.22410 2013-05-17T20:55:04Z 2013-05-17T15:55:04Z Chris Young sjroutdoors@comcast.net
A recent graduate of Illinois College in Jacksonville, Joray has established nest boxes around Kane County, near his home in Aurora.

He said Christmas Bird Count and Breeding Bird Surveys show the kestrel, a bird of prey not much bigger than a robin, has suffered long-term declines in numbers in some parts of North America.

Overall the declines averaged about 1 percent per year over the past 45 years.

Kestrels still are common, but Joray said changes in land use and competition for nesting cavities with aggressive birds such as European starlings may be contributing to its decline.

To keep an eye on the kestrel, the Peregrine Fund, better known for helping bring the Peregrine falcon back from the brink of extinction, has established the American Kestrel Partnership.

Visit: http://kestrel.peregrinefund.org/kestrel-decline.

The idea is that interested people can set up and monitor nest boxes and enter their results online.

“Basically they are trying to gather data from across the United States to find out what is causing the decline,” Joray said.

He set up 10 nest boxes in Kane County that he monitored weekly. To get a more complete picture, he also examined the rate of occupancy for 169 nest boxes in Illinois, Wisconsin and Minnesota.

Overall, kestrels occupied (meaning they nested and laid at least one egg) 45.6 percent of the boxes set up for them.

Starlings moved into almost a fourth of the boxes.

In Kane County, Joray said only two of his 10 boxes had kestrels in 2012.

“A lot of them were used by starlings,” he said. “A few others had eastern bluebirds and tree swallows.”

He said the second year is showing more promise.

“Yesterday was the first day I was able to check, and two out of three had kestrels in them,” he said. “I’m assuming we are going to have a lot more kestrels this year.”

Joray recently graduated from Illinois College and is heading to Texas to help the Peregrine Fund work with the endangered Aplomado falcon this summer (http://www.peregrinefund.org/aplomado).

He said he plans to take some time off and then go to graduate school.

He presented the findings from his kestrel study at the Illinois State Academy of Science meeting held at Illinois College in April.

And while the decline of any species usually is complicated to determine, one factor stood out.

“What I found was starlings are a bigger problem than most people think,” he said. “They are one of the most populous birds in the United States (with upward of 200 million of them), and they are very aggressive.

“They will kick kestrels out of some of the boxes.”

Chris Young can be reached at (217) 788-1528. Follow him at twitter.com/ChrisYoungPSO. ]]> Basic pistol course set for June 1, 27 tag:prairiestateoutdoors.com,2013:/83.22409 2013-05-17T20:51:27Z 2013-05-17T15:51:27Z Chris Young sjroutdoors@comcast.net
The course also is sponsored by Pistol Prep Academy.

The course will be taught by local NRA-certified instructor Annette Chapman and will cover the basics of safe gun handling and shooting.

Participants will learn about firearm safety, parts and operation, shooting fundamentals, care and cleaning, storage options, selection, and more.

For more information, call Chapman at (309) 830-7182 or email at info@pistolprepacademy.

Visit: http://www.pistolprepacademy.com.
]]> League of Illinois Bicyclists director to talk about bike-friendly cities tag:prairiestateoutdoors.com,2013:/83.22408 2013-05-17T20:34:14Z 2013-05-17T15:34:14Z Chris Young sjroutdoors@comcast.net
Barsotti will also discuss how Springfield can become a more bike-friendly city.
]]> Humphreys win Springfield Crappie Club tournament tag:prairiestateoutdoors.com,2013:/83.22407 2013-05-17T20:32:56Z 2013-05-17T15:32:56Z Chris Young sjroutdoors@comcast.net
Luke Humphrey also caught the big fish of the day weighting at 1.56 pounds.

Second place went to Rick Clifton and Bob Sarko with the weight of 5.61 pounds.

Third place went to Joseph Barber and Steve Baker with 5.5 pounds.

The next club tournament will be a two-day tournament held on Mark Twain Lake May 18 – 19.

For more information, visit: http://www.springfieldcrappieclub.com.
]]> Wildlife ranger fined for poaching mule deer tag:prairiestateoutdoors.com,2013:/83.22405 2013-05-17T18:31:46Z 2013-05-17T13:31:46Z Chris Young sjroutdoors@comcast.net DENVER (AP) — A Colorado Parks and Wildlife ranger has been fined and demoted for using artificial light while poaching a trophy mule deer after legal hunting hours last October.

Trinidad Lake State Park ranger Travis McKay was cited in October for poaching, but was allowed to keep his job.

Colorado Parks and Wildlife director Rick Cables tells the Denver Post (http://tinyurl.com/byk8dy9) the punishment for the incident was adequate, but some employees are unhappy the ranger wasn't fired.

McKay finally admitted to poaching the deer and was issued a fine of more than $11,000, most of which stemmed from the deer being a trophy animal.

___

Information from: The Denver Post, http://www.denverpost.com


Copyright 2013 The Associated Press.
]]> Minn. DNR to use dogs in zebra mussel fight tag:prairiestateoutdoors.com,2013:/83.22404 2013-05-17T18:27:19Z 2013-05-17T13:27:19Z Chris Young sjroutdoors@comcast.net ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Minnesota conservation officers will get help this year in the fight against zebra mussels from three dogs specially trained to sniff out the tiny invasive species.

For the first time, the agency plans to use the dogs this spring and summer in addition to between 126 and 146 human inspectors to check boats for zebra mussels.

Zebra mussels often elude human inspectors who search boats being hauled into and out of Minnesota lakes.

On Tuesday, Labradors Brady and Digger successfully found zebra mussels hidden inside a boat trailer's taillight during a demonstration with their handlers, conservation officers with the DNR.

More than 100 Minnesota lakes, rivers and wetlands already are infested with zebra mussels. The pests clog water intake pipes, cut swimmers' feet and disrupt the ecosystem.

"The dogs are going to be able to inspect watercraft and vessels a lot faster than humans, and a lot of times more successfully because they're using their nose instead of their eyes," said Travis Muyres, one of the DNR conservation officers working with the dogs.

Muyres traveled to California this year to learn about that state's use of dogs to find zebra and quagga mussels, another invasive species. California is using more than a dozen dogs to inspect boats.

"They figured it was five to 15 times faster" to use dogs, Muyres said.

The dogs and their handlers went through five weeks of training that involved teaching the dogs to identify the scent of zebra mussels. During Tuesday's demonstration, two of the dogs took turns circling the boat and sat down when they picked up the zebra mussels' scent. They were then rewarded with a ball.

The DNR will see how the dogs perform this year and decide whether to expand the program, Minnesota Public Radio News (http://bit.ly/141xNtv) reported. The dogs also are being trained to detect wildlife such as deer to help find poachers and could also be trained to smell firearms. The DNR already has K-9 units, so Muyres said adding the zebra mussel dogs was not a big expense. One of the dogs was purchased from a breeder, and the other two came from shelters.

Finding dogs that would be a good fit was challenging, Muyres said.

"We need the right dog with the right temperament, right sociability," he said, "and then we needed the dog with the right drives. The right search drives, the right stability, the right focus. And to try to get all of those elements together in the same dog was really difficult."

The dogs and human inspectors will target high-traffic lakes, or lakes the DNR has deemed susceptible to zebra mussel infestations.

___

Information from: Minnesota Public Radio News, http://www.mpr.org


Copyright 2013 The Associated Press.
]]> Central Illinois fishing report for May 17 tag:prairiestateoutdoors.com,2013:/83.22403 2013-05-17T12:14:26Z 2013-05-17T07:14:26Z Chris Young sjroutdoors@comcast.net What’s biting

Fluctuating springtime weather has made fishing a struggle in many areas, but bluegills could be your best bet right now in farms ponds and strip mines. With water levels returning to near normal, the catfish bite has picked up on the Illinois River.

Honey holes

In Peoria County farm ponds and strip mines, crappie are moving up to shallows. Bluegills also moving up and taking waxworms or crickets.

Crappie are biting close to the banks on jigs or minnows at Clinton Lake. Channel cats are also being caught on dipbaits, shrimp or nightcrawlers. At the spillway, good-sized hybrid stripers taking swimbaits.

At Dawson Lake, crappie, catfish and walleye have been best. Crappie are taking minnows, and catfish going after stinkbaits or livers. Worms working for most everything else.

On the Illinois River, white bass striper have been biting on blade baits in Henry and Utica areas. Cats are also taking cheesebaits or cutbaits. Near Utica, drum and sheephead have also been good on nightcrawlers.

Bluegill are coming up to the shoreline at Spring Lake and biting on waxworms, redworms or tube jigs. Good-sized catfish are still biting on the south-end turnoffs.

Big crappie have been caught at Banner Marsh’s Shovel Lake using medium minnows.

At Snakeden Hollow, crappie and bass have been best. The two new state lakes and McMasters Lake are particularly good. Minnows and nightcrawlers are working for baits.

Wall hangers

Stan Smith of Peoria caught a 22-pound channel catfish on nitro crawlers Monday at Spring Lake.

Tip of the week

From larrysfishing hole.com: “Catfish eat day or night. They seem to feed best just as the sun cracks the horizon for 1-2 hours. Will feed heavily as storm front approaches until it passes and then start again — two days later they are back to normal. So monitor the weather for fronts, then be ready to hit the water when a combination of falling barometric reading and south to east winds indicate weather changes ahead.”
]]> Turkey hunter on an “epic” quest tag:prairiestateoutdoors.com,2013:/83.22402 2013-05-17T03:14:45Z 2013-05-17T15:05:46Z Chris Young sjroutdoors@comcast.net
That’s because on Wednesday he finished a month-long, turkey-hunting odyssey that brought him within four states of bagging a tom turkey in 49 states..

“I’ve seen the sunrise every day for 34 days and had an average of four hours, 20 minutes of sleep for the past 31 days,” Budz said. “It has been an amazing journey.”

Budz, a professional hunting guide formerly of Springfield and now living in Florida, is known for turkey-hunting grand slams, defined as harvesting all four wild turkey sub-species (Eastern, Merriam, Osceola and Rio Grande). Illinois is home to the Eastern wild turkey.

Most hunters would be elated to be able to say they have bagged all four over the course of a lifetime, but Budz has done it numerous times — more than any other turkey hunter.

He hopes to reach 100 grand slams next spring.

His current goal is to harvest a tom in 49 states. The NWTF calls it the U.S. Super Slam. Alaska doesn’t have wild turkeys, but Hawaii does.

“Everyone always asks this, so yes, I went to Hawaii in 1999,” Budz said. “And there are more turkeys there than in any place I have ever hunted. There are no predators so they fly down in the pitch black. It is just phenomenal hunting.”

Budz was back in Springfield recently to visit relatives and hunt with his friend Dick McCormick in Cass County.

During one stretch, Budz had killed 10 toms in 10 states in 13 days. In all, he killed 22 birds in 16 states

Only circumstances and hunting season dates could slow him down.

“I had to wait two days for the season to open in West Virginia,” he said.

No matter. Brief delays provided opportunities for trout fishing and morel hunting along the way.

“When people ask me about doing all of the states, I think about so much more than the actual kill,” Budz said. “From this year alone I remember crayfish in Louisiana, crabs in Delaware, trout in West Virginia, morels in Illinois, muddy roads in Kansas, snow in South Dakota and walleye in Minnesota. This country has so much beauty to experience, and this quest has been a great excuse to enjoy it all.”

‘It’s epic’

P.J. Perea of the National Wild Turkey Federation said Budz will be in a small, select group when he finishes his super slam.

Before joining NWTF, Perea worked for the Illinois Department of Natural Resources. He has hunted with Budz in the years since both left central Illinois.

Budz also has racked up more turkey-hunting grand slams than any other hunter out there.

“He passed Dick Kirby who had been number one forever,” Perea said. “He passed him awhile back and now he’s the number one grand slam holder probably of all time.”

Kirby died in 2010 with 61 grand slams.

“Unless someone starts this in high school or college, they’ll probably never catch up with Jeff,” Perea said. “He’s definitely one for the record books.”

Budz started the year at 34 states, hoping to have 45 under his belt by the end of this week.

He said he’s up to 91 grand slams and hopes to reach 100 by the end of next year. Third place on the list has 41 slams. A few hunters have 21.

“It’s thin atmosphere in the double digits,” Budz said.

It’s hard to imagine anyone approaching Budz’s totals.

“To see the pace that Jeff keeps up, it is pretty unreal,” Perea said. “It’s epic.”

Visit Jeff Budz's Website: http://www.tagitworldwide.com.

Chris Young can be reached at (217) 788-1528. Follow him at twitter.com/ChrisYoungPSO.
]]> Iowa fishing report for May 16 tag:prairiestateoutdoors.com,2013:/83.22401 2013-05-17T03:11:04Z 2013-05-16T22:11:04Z Chris Young sjroutdoors@comcast.net
For lake locations, maps and other information, go to http://www.iowadnr.gov/Fishing/FishingReports.aspx

NORTHWEST
Beeds Lake
Channel Catfish - Fair: No reports, yet, but catfish should be feeding in the shallower west end. Try fishing along the causeway when the wind is from the south or southwest. Crappie - Good: Anglers are catching some crappies near the cuts of the causeway.

Upper Pine Lake
Crappies, bluegill and largemouth bass are biting on Pine Creek (between the lakes), mostly on grub-type baits.

Clear Lake
The lake is about 7 inches below crest. Water temperature is 68-70 degrees. Channel Catfish - Good: Catfishing is good right now as they are close to pre-spawn mode. If you find the fish, action is fast and aggressive. Try with some cutbait, worms, or stinkbait on a windward shoreline or near some of the water sources coming in. Anglers are picking some catfish up when fishing for yellow bass with cutbait. Crappie - Good: Anglers have been catching crappie in the boat harbors for the past few weeks. A few have also been taken near Dodge's Point. Walleye - Good: Anglers are been catching better numbers these last few days with the warmer weather and water. A few bigger fish have been caught but most anglers are catching a mix of sublegals and small legal walleyes. Most are caught on jig and a minnow. Some are catching walleyes drifting or trolling. Muskellunge - No Report: Yellow Bass - Fair: Anglers are starting to pick up better numbers of yellows. The spawn is started and should be good through Memorial Day weekend. Most anglers are using bobbers and minnows or a small jig with a piece of crawler on bottom.

Lake Cornelia
Fishing has been good. Lots of fish are being caught. Channel Catfish - Slow: Cats should be biting on cutbait or stinkbait on a warmer day. Bluegill - Good: Bluegills are keeper size. Yellow Bass - Good: Yellow bass are 7-7.25 inches.

Little Wall Lake
Crappie - Good: Anglers are catching 7 to 8-inch crappies and bluegills off the north fishing jetty. Some bass have also been caught along the shorelines.

Crystal Lake
Northern Pike - Good: Northerns up to the mid 30-inches have been caught using weedless spoons or bobbers with chubs. Bluegill - Slow: Great population of 7-9 inch fish. Largemouth Bass - Excellent: Anglers have reported catching lots of largemouth. Walleye - Good: Anglers are catching some 16-17 inch walleyes.

Blue Pit
Rainbow trout were stocked on Jan 19. Rainbow Trout - Fair: Crappie - Fair: Anglers have caught a few crappies on minnows this week.

Bluebill Lake
Largemouth Bass - Good: Largemouth bass are biting well along shorelines. There is a 15-inch minimum length limit on bass. Crappie - Fair: Some crappie are being reported.

Fin and Feather Lake
There has been some activity for panfish.

Iowa River (Iowa Falls to Marshalltown)
Water level is on the rise from recent local rains. There is some activity below Steamboat Rock for walleye and northern pike.

Shell Rock River (above Greene)
Water levels are high. Northern Pike - Slow: A few are being caught with a chub and bobber, or slow artificial presentations. Between Northwood and Nora Springs below dams, backwater areas and anywhere a creek feeds into the river. Walleye - Slow: A few small walleye being caught on jig/twister.

Winnebago River
Northern Pike - Slow: Northern pike are being caught in Fertile by the dam and the park point east of the dam. Anglers are using a slow retrieval with Mepps number 4 and 5 spinner baits or a Rapala 3 inch Countdown Minnow. Some pike are also hitting chubs presented below bobbers. Channel Catfish - Slow: Anglers should try below the dams or in backwater areas using cutbait, stinkbait, or minnows.

East Fork Des Moines (Algona to Humboldt)
The East Fork is running high. Walleye - Fair: Reports are few, but anglers were doing well in the Plum Creek area.

For lake updates and fishing information in the north central area contact the Clear Lake Fish and Wildlife office at 641-357-3517.

Big Spirit Lake
With the warmer weather the water temp has made it into the mid 50s. Bullhead - Good: The grade is providing some good bullhead action and don't overlook the north side. Smallmouth Bass - Good: Try fishing rock piles with stick baits or drifting over them with live bait. Walleye - Slow: With the clear water fishing has been tough but the night bite seems to be a bit better than during the day. Slip bobbering , trolling crankbaits, spinners, and lindy rigs all have produced a few fish.

East Okoboji Lake
Walleye - Slow: With the cool water fishing has been slow but a few fish are being caught. Try trolling crankbaits, spinners, or Lindy rigs along drop offs and mudflats.

West Okoboji Lake
Bluegill, crappie, and bass fishing have been good in the canals. Try small jigs under a bobber for the bluegill and crappie. Walleye - Slow: The clear water has made the fishing tough during the day but the night bite is a bit better.

Big Sioux River
Channel Catfish - Slow: With the warming water the cats are starting to bite. Try cut bait or crawlers in deeper holes and log jams.

Little Sioux River (state line to Linn Grove)
Channel Catfish - Slow: Try cut bait and crawlers in deep holes and around log jams. Walleye - Fair: Try throwing twister tails or fishing small chubs in deeper holes.

For more information contact the Spirit Lake Hatchery at 712-336-1840.

NORTHEAST
Volga Lake
More anglers have been out and many have reported catching fish near the new cedar tree piles. Fish activity should pick up with warmer water temperatures. Bluegill - No Report: Crappie - Good: Fish are in shallower water this week especially to the north of the boat ramp and around the fishing pier. Try using a jig tipped with imitation minnows.

Lake Hendricks
Water temperature is on the rise so fish in shallower water. Channel Catfish - Good: Catfish are biting on night crawlers or dead chubs fished under a bobber along the rockier shoreline. Largemouth Bass - Good: Anglers have been catching largemouth bass along the sandy beach using a jig and plastic worm.

Lake Meyer
Fish activity is picking up with warmer water. Water clarity is excellent. Bluegill - Excellent: Anglers are picking up a lot of small bluegills along the shoreline. Largemouth Bass - Good: Anglers have been picking up bass with jigs and plastic twister tails fished slowly along the shoreline. Crappie - Fair: Anglers have been picking quite a few small ones off the jetty using jigs with artificial baits.

Upper Iowa River (above Decorah)
Water levels continue to stabilize and clear. Sucker - Slow: Use a worm, weighted with a sinker to bounce along the stream bottom. Walleye - No Report:

Upper Iowa River (below Decorah)
Water levels have stabilized and are clearing. Sucker - Slow: Try using a worm on a hook weighted to bounce along the stream bottom. Smallmouth Bass - No Report: Walleye - No Report:

Yellow River
Fish activity has improved with more stable water conditions. Remember to get landowner permission to fish the Yellow River or fish out of a canoe or kayak.

Turkey River (above Clermont)
Water levels have dropped nicely and clarity is good. Water temperature is 54 degrees. Smallmouth Bass - Fair: Anglers are using jigs tipped with plastic twistertail with good success.

Cedar River (above Nashua)
Water levels are stabilizing and clearing. Channel Catfish - Fair: Anglers were catching cats on dead chubs in the impoundment above Nashua dam as the water levels dropped. Smallmouth Bass - Slow: Anglers should start catching smallmouth bass on jig tipped with minnows and crawlers as water clears and flows drop. Walleye - Slow: Try a jig tipped with a minnow and expect to catch a few smallmouths.

Decorah District Streams
Northeast Iowa streams are in superb shape and trout fishing has been good. As of last weekend, there were still dark Hendrickson’s hatching in the afternoons, with a few light Hendrickson’s as well. Blue Wing Olive and caddis hatches have also been excellent. Please call 563-927-5736 for current stocking information.

River and stream water levels have stabilized and are clearing. For more on water levels, visit http://waterdata.usgs.gov/ia/nwis/rt All .Decorah area trout streams are in excellent condition. For more information, call the Decorah Fish Hatchery at 563-382-8324.

Casey Lake (aka Hickory Hills Lake)
Crappie fishing has been good with quality sizes being caught. Anglers have been doing well fishing the rip-rap around the jetties especially early morning or late evening hours. Crappie - Good: Sight fishing has been good using a minnow under a slip bobber retrieved over spawning beds.

Big Woods Lake
Anglers are beginning to catch some crappies. Crappie - Fair: Use small jigs or minnow under a slip bobber.

Brinker Lake
Anglers are beginning to catch crappies. Crappie - Fair: Use small jigs or minnow under a slip bobber.

George Wyth Lake
Anglers are beginning to catch some crappie as they near spawning areas. Crappie - Fair: Use small jigs or minnow under a slip bobber.

Plainfield
Anglers are catching bluegill and crappie. Bluegill - Fair: Small piece of crawler on a small hook under a bobber always works well. Crappie - Fair: Try casting small colored tube jigs or minnow fished under a slip bobber as they move shallow to spawn.

Cedar River (Nashua to La Porte City)
The Cedar River has been providing some excellent fishing with the recent beautiful weather. Walleye, smallmouth bass, channel catfish and crappie have all been biting well. Channel Catfish - Good: Anglers have been successful using nightcrawlers or minnows fished in the current. Smallmouth Bass - Excellent: Spinner baits and crank baits have been great. Crappie - Good: Use small jigs or minnow under a slip bobber fished along rip-rap. Walleye - Good: Jigs tipped with half a nightcrawler has been very good.

Shell Rock River (Greene to Shell Rock)
The Shell Rock has been good for walleye and smallmouth bass. Smallmouth Bass - Good: Spinner baits and crankbaits have been great. Walleye - Good: Jigs tipped with half a nightcrawler has been very good.

Wapsi River (Tripoli to Troy Mills)
There have been some reports of walleye, smallmouth bass and northern pike being caught. Northern Pike - Fair: Try casting larger spinner baits. Smallmouth Bass - Fair: Spinner baits and crankbaits have been great. Walleye - Fair: Jigs tipped with half a nightcrawler has been very good.

Maquoketa River (above Monticello)
The Maquoketa River continues to fall and remains in good condition for fishing in Delaware County. There have been good reports of smallmouth bass and walleyes. Sucker - Fair: Use a heavy enough sinker to stay on bottom of river with a night crawler on a hook. Smallmouth Bass - Good: Spinnerbaits or lead head jigs with a twister tail work well. A live crawler drifted under a slip bobber is effective for this time of year also. Walleye - Good: Jigs tipped with half a nightcrawler has been very good.

Manchester District Streams
Area Manchester District trout streams are currently in excellent condition.

The interior rivers are falling and producing some good fishing once again. Black Hawk County lakes are beginning to produce bluegill and crappie. Manchester District trout streams are in excellent condition, for further information call the district office in Manchester at 563-927-3276.

MISSISSIPPI RIVER
Mississippi River Pool 9
River level at Lansing has fallen to 11.0 feet and is expected to drop another foot this week. Channel Catfish - Good: Look for channel cats to be feeding aggressively on crawlers or cut bait in the eddies, just off main channel, borders and side sloughs. Flathead Catfish - Good: Flathead catfish are being caught on live chubs and shiners. Try fishing the side channel areas below the dams. White Bass - Good: Fish along the flooded shorelines just off the current. Nice size fish are striking on larger in-line spinner baits. Bluegill - Excellent: Fish the shorelines close to the dams or rock structure out of the current. Smallmouth Bass - Fair: Smallmouth are feeding more actively along rocky shorelines this week. Try small crankbaits or inline spinners along the riprap. Yellow Perch - Excellent: This spring has been one of the best perch fishing seasons in years. Many large perch are being caught on minnows or jigs with worm. Freshwater Drum - Good: Drum are actively biting on worms or small bits of crawler fishing along the main channel drop-offs and sand flats.

Mississippi River Pool 10
River stage at Lynxville has fallen slightly to 22.1 feet and by the end of this week predicted to fall to 19 feet. The Sny Magill boat ramp is still inaccessible. Channel Catfish - Good: Look for channel cats to be feeding aggressively on crawlers or cut bait in the eddies just off main channel borders and side sloughs. Flathead Catfish - Good: Flathead catfish are being caught on live chubs and shiners. Try fishing the side channel areas below the dams. White Bass - Good: Fish for white bass along the flooded shorelines just off the current. Nice size fish are striking on larger in-line spinner baits. Bluegill - Excellent: Fish the shorelines close to the dams or rock structure out of the current. Smallmouth Bass - Good: Smallmouth are feeding more actively along rocky shorelines this week. Try small crankbaits or inline spinners along the riprap. Yellow Perch - Excellent: This spring has been one of the best perch fishing seasons in years. Many large perch are being caught on minnows or jigs with worm. Sauger - Fair: Sauger have spawned and have been actively feeding. Try jigs or minnows in the side channel areas of the locks and dams. Freshwater Drum - Good: Drum are actively biting on worms or small bits of crawler fishing along the main channel drop offs and sand flats.

Mississippi River Pool 11
River stage at Guttenberg has crested and is 13.6 feet. Levels expected to recede to 11 feet by next week. Fish are becoming more active as water temperatures warm into the 50s. Channel Catfish - Good: Look for channel cats to be feeding aggressively on crawlers or cut bait in the eddies just off main channel borders and side sloughs. Flathead Catfish - Good: Flathead catfish are being caught on live chubs and shiners. Try fishing the side channel areas below the dams. White Bass - Good: Fish for white bass along the flooded shorelines just off the current. Nice sized fish are striking on larger in-line spinner baits. Bluegill - Excellent: Fish the shorelines close to the dams or rock structure out of the current. Smallmouth Bass - Good: Smallmouth bass are active along the current areas. Try casting in-line spinners or a small crankbait near the rocky shorelines. Yellow Perch - Excellent: This spring has been one of the best perch fishing seasons in years. Many large perch are being caught on minnows or jigs with worm. Sauger - Fair: Sauger have spawned and have been actively feeding. Try jigs or minnows in the side channel areas of the locks and dams. Walleye - Fair: Some walleyes are being caught vertical jigging in the tail waters of the lock and dams.

Mississippi River is still high this week but the good news is the water is receding. Some boat ramps are still inaccessible but expected to be operational late next week. Water temperature is steadily rising into the mid to upper 50s. The fishing has been excellent for a variety of species despite the high water. Anglers are having success catching drum, smallmouth and catfish this week. Water temperature is in the mid to upper 50s and expect fish to feed more aggressively as temps rise.

Mississippi River Pool 12
Water levels at Dubuque Lock and Dam are at 14.9 feet and at the railroad bridge water levels are at 16.8 feet. Water levels are expected to fall. High water is hampering fishing effort in most places. Northern Pike - No Report: Northern Pike are done spawning and are on an aggressive feeding pattern. Use bright gaudy spinner baits for the best success. Yellow Perch - Fair: We are still hearing that some yellow perch are showing up around O'Leary's Lake. It is one place that can be accessible from bank during high water. Yellow perch are also mainly done spawning and beginning to aggressively feed. Muskellunge - No Report: Last week, some bass were being caught along rocky shorelines, very close to the shoreline edges. In this high water try to find eddy areas near rock piles.

Mississippi River Pool 13
Water level at Bellevue is 15.3 feet and falling. Water is stained but fishable. Water levels are expected to fall throughout the week. No fishing was reported mainly due to high water.

Mississippi River Pool 14
Water levels at Fulton is at 15.4 feet and falling. The water is stained and fishing conditions are not ideal in most areas. Some clearer water can be found in the large backwater areas. No fishing was observed on Pool 14 this week due to high water.

Mississippi River Pool 15
We have received no information regarding fishing on this water body this week.

The Mississippi in Pools 12 to 15 is high but finally starting to recede. Many ramps are under water so please make sure you call ahead to the DNR or local bait shops if traveling to the River to fish. Water temperature is 58 to 60 degrees.

Mississippi River Pool 16
Tail water stage at Lock and Dam 15 in Davenport has risen to 15.86 feet. Flood stage is 15 feet. River stage is beginning to fall. Many of the ramps are not accessible due to the high water. The Marquette Street ramp is underwater. Water clarity is fair and there is some debris floating in the water. White Bass - Good: White bass are being caught between Lock and Dam 15 and the casino, below the Arsenal Dam in Sylvan Slough, and at the mouth of Sylvan Slough on the point of Arsenal Island. Some white bass are also being caught at the mouth of Sunset Marina. Try casting jigs and twister tails. Other lures to try are inline spinners and crankbaits. Walleye - Fair: A few walleyes are being caught above the casino in Davenport. Try casting jigs and plastics.

Mississippi River Pool 17
Tail water stage at Lock and Dam 16 in Muscatine is 15.65 feet. Flood stage is 15 feet. Many of the ramps are not accessible due to the high water. Big Timber (The Breaks) is closed. Water clarity is fair and there is debris floating in the river. Fishing has been slow on the river due to the recent high water conditions. Most fishing reports are coming from area lakes and farm ponds.

Mississippi River Pool 18
River stage at Lock and Dam 17 at New Boston is 17.23 feet. Flood stage is 15 feet. River stage is beginning to fall. Many of the ramps are not accessible due to the high water. Toolesboro is closed. There is debris floating in the river. Fishing has been slow due to the high water conditions. Most fishing reports are coming from area lakes and farm ponds.

Mississippi River Pool 19
River stage at Lock and Dam 18 above Burlington is 13.02 feet. Flood stage is 10 feet. Many of the ramps are underwater. There is debris floating in the river. Fishing has been slow due to the high water conditions. Most of the fishing reports have been from area lakes and farm ponds.

Mississippi River Pools 16-19: River stages throughout Pools 16-19 are still at or above flood stage. Many of the boat ramps are not accessible due to the high water. Water clarity is fair and there is some debris floating in the river. Fishing has been slow due to the high water conditions. Remember to clean, drain, and dry your boat before going to another water body. If you have questions about fishing Pools 16-19 contact the Fairport Fish Hatchery at 563-263-5062.

SOUTHEAST
Lake Odessa
All the ramps on Odessa are underwater.

Lake Geode
The water remains a little turbid. Crappie - Good: Crappie fishing remains very good along the face of the dam. Jigs tipped with minnows seem to be working well.

Lake Belva Deer
The water is still a little cloudy, at least by Belva Deer's standards. Largemouth Bass - Good: bass fishing has been pretty good during the warmer weather. Crappie - Good: The crappies finally moved in shallow. Dark colored jigs are working the best.

Lake of the Hills
There's been plenty of boats on the lake with the Mississippi River conditions being what they are. Remember, Lake of the Hills is the only lake in West Lake Park that allows the use of live minnows as bait. Rainbow Trout - Fair: Trout fishing is starting to tail off, work the rocks and where water enter the lakes. Worm and bobber seems to work the best. Largemouth Bass - Good: bass fishing has been good along the dams and other rocky areas of the lake. Jig and pigs or a slow moving crankbaits seem to be the best baits. Crappie - Good: Crappies are starting to move in shallow. Worms are working better than minnows.

Railroad Lake
Remember the use of live minnows as bait is not allowed in Railroad Lake. Bluegill and crappies fishing is starting to pick up. Bluegill - Good: Anglers are picking up bluegills along the area around the inflow from Bluegrass. Crappie - Good: Anglers are also picking up crappies in the same area as the bluegills.

Wilson Lake
Rainbow Trout - Excellent: Trout fishing has been good depending on the trout's daily menu. Berkley Powerbait in a variety of colors seem to be the most dependable producers.

Skunk River (Coppock to Mississippi River)
The Skunk is about half bank-full. A few boats were out over the weekend. Channel Catfish - Fair: The anglers are picking up a few catfish over the weekend.

Big Hollow Lake
Lots of people are fishing this week. Water temperature is 66-67 degrees. Crappies seem to still be in pre-spawn mode. Bluegill - Good: Bluegills are shallow, at least when it's not raining. Largemouth Bass - Good: Bass are in fairly shallow, work the rocky areas in the lake. Crappie - Good: Anglers are picking up a few crappies on minnows near the structure. The fish are down 6 to 8 feet. Only a few are in shallow. Most of the keepers are around 11 inches.

For more information on the above lakes and rivers call the Lake Darling Fisheries Station at 319-694-2430.

Hannen Lake
Water clarity is up to 15 feet and water temperature is in the mid 60s. Remember, no minnows are allowed here. Largemouth Bass - Fair: Bass are moving shallow in preparation to spawn. Look for them in shallow spawning areas. Crappie - Good: Fish shallow rock, gravel, and brush with small jigs.

Iowa Lake
Largemouth Bass - Fair: Crappie - Fair:

Lake Macbride
Water temperature is about 65 degrees. Water clarity is still murky with less than three feet of visibility. Many fish species are moving to shallow water. Largemouth Bass - Fair: Some fish are being caught shallow now. Crappie - Fair: Fish around shallow brush with bright colored jigs and/or minnows. Most fish are running small...about 8 inches. Walleye - Fair: A few fish are being caught shallow on sand and rock. Most fish are 13-14 inches, with some 16-18 inches.

Central Park Lake
Largemouth Bass - Good: Crawdad colored baits are working best. Crappie - Good: Small purple jigs have been working best.

Pleasant Creek Lake
Water clarity is excellent and water temperature is around 60 degrees. Remember, largemouth bass must be 18 inches to keep and musky must be 40 inches to keep. White Bass - Good: Last week white bass were being caught in the shallows. Largemouth Bass - Fair: Some bass are being caught on rocky banks. Crappie - Fair: Some nice crappies had been caught in the creek arms around brush. Walleye - Fair: A few walleyes are being picked up along the dam at sunset.

Diamond Lake
The lake is still murky. Remember, no minnows are allowed here. Channel Catfish - Fair: A few fish are being caught on chicken livers. Bluegill - Good: Bluegills have moved shallow and many are around 8 inches. Crappie - Good: Crappies have moved shallow. Most are about 9 inches with an occasional one up to 11 inches.

Otter Creek Lake
The fish cleaning station is now operational and the boat dock is in. Bluegill - Slow: Yellow Bass - Fair:

Union Grove Lake
Bluegill - Good: Crappie - Good: Many 9 to 10-inch crappies are being caught in the shallow pockets. Jigs with waxies are actually working best. Yellow Bass - Excellent: Anglers are catching quite a few 10-inch fish.

Coralville Reservoir
The lake level on May 16 is 695.7 feet (normal 683 feet) and is supposed to crest Friday at 695.8 feet, then begin to fall. The water clarity is about three feet. Channel Catfish - Slow: Some fish are being caught on cut shad, minnows, or crawlers. Some fish have moved to the shallows. Crappie - Fair: Fish shallow brush along hard banks with bright jigs and/or minnows.

Sand Lake (Marshalltown)
Bluegill - Fair: Largemouth Bass - Fair: Crappie - Fair: Walleye - Fair:

Iowa River (Marshalltown to Coralville Lake)
Channel Catfish - Fair:

Iowa River (Coralville Lake to River Junction)
Outflow from the Coralville dam is 6,000 cubic feet per second. It will remain at this flow until normal water levels are reached in the Lake.

Cedar River (Cedar Rapids to Moscow)
Channel Catfish - Good: Good catches of catfish are being reported below the dams in Cedar Rapids.

Wapsi River (Troy Mills to Oxford Junction)
Channel Catfish - Fair: Smallmouth Bass - Good: Fish are being caught below the dams on jigs, crankbaits, and live bait. Walleye - Good: Fish are being caught below the dams on jigs, crankbaits, and live bait.

For more information, contact the Lake Macbride Fisheries Station at 319-624-3615.

Red Haw Lake
Bluegill - Good: Anglers have been having success fishing small jigs along the shoreline tipped with a chunk of nightcrawler. Largemouth Bass - Fair: Anglers have been catching largemouth bass using spinnerbaits and crankbaits. Target areas along the dam and around the fishing jetties. Crappie - Fair: Use small jigs tipped with minnows fished along the rock jetties and around the underwater structures. Using a bobber has not been necessary.

Lake Sugema
Bluegill - Fair: Anglers have been having some success using ice jigs tipped with a wax worm or a chunk of nightcrawler. Largemouth Bass - Fair: Use crankbaits and spinnerbaits fished along any areas with rip rock or other rock. Also try plastic worms or lizards in the same areas. Crappie - Fair: Crappie fishing has improved with the warmer weather. Use jigs or jig and minnow combos starting in about six feet of water and working shallow.

Humeston Reservoir
Bluegill - Fair: Use small jigs tipped with a chunk of nightcrawler along the shore. Crappie - Fair: Anglers have been having some success catching crappies from shore using minnows and small jigs.

Rathbun Reservoir
Channel Catfish - Slow: Try using cut bait in coves with the wind blowing into them or along rocky shorelines. Crappie - Slow: Crappies are still in a little deeper water waiting for the water temperature to increase so they can move shallow to spawn. Try using jigs or jigs and minnows in 8-10 feet of water. The current lake level is 916.36 feet with normal pool being 904 feet. The water temperature is 58 degrees. Don't forget Lake Rathbun contains zebra mussels so make sure to clean, drain, and dry boats before transporting to another water body. Spray boats and trailers with high pressure hot water (above 104 degrees) or let them dry for at least 10 days (5 days in the sun).

If you have other questions regarding fishing in south central Iowa call the Rathbun Fish Hatchery at 641-647-2406.

SOUTHWEST
Don Williams Lake
Crappie - Fair: Some 10 to 12-inch crappies can be caught using minnows under a bobber fished tight to wood habitat, especially on the upper half of the lake.

Beaver Lake
Crappie - Good: Good numbers of crappie are being caught in the rock on the face of the dam using minnows.

Rock Creek Lake
Crappie - Fair: Anglers are beginning to pick up some crappie from shore using minnows under a bobber on the south half of the lake.

Big Creek Lake
Bluegill - Fair: Bluegills are starting to be caught near shallower brush and along the rock jetties using small pieces of crawler.

Lake Ahquabi
Crappie - Good: Crappie are spawning. The water is clear enough to locate fish can be close to shore on beds in the open pockets of vegetation. Fish live minnows under a bobber.

Red Rock Reservoir
Crappie - Good: Crappie have moved shallow. Fish the marina along the riprap in the dredged area, and near any rock or wood structure in protected bays, especially up the Whitebreast arm. Use live minnows under a bobber.

Saylorville Reservoir
White Bass - Good: Flow over the Big Creek spillway is attracting white bass. Anglers are doing will casting jigs or fishing minnows under a bobber. Some good white bass activity is also occurring around the marina point. Crappie - Good: Crappie are being caught near riprap near rip rap in the marina, the Cherry Glenn jetty, and Lake View jetty using small tube jigs or live minnows under a bobber. Best access is from a boat, but shore fishing is possible. Crappie are also being caught in the riprap below the Big Creek spillway. Walleye - Fair: Flow over the Big Creek spillway is also attracting walleye. Anglers are picking up decent numbers of 14-16 inchers casting jigs.

Des Moines River (Saylorville to Red Rock)
White Bass - Good: Even with higher flows anglers are still doing fairly well fishing for white bass. Good areas to target are creek inlets that have water backed up into them. Crappie - Fair: Anglers fishing below Red Rock that are targeting walleye with jig presentations are also getting into some crappie.

Warm, stable weather has brought some good fishing. The central Iowa crappie spawn is going with anglers having good success at many lakes. For questions on central Iowa lakes and rivers contact Ben Dodd or Andy Otting at 515-432-2823.

Greenfield Lake
Crappie are being caught around the jetties and along the dam. Greenfield also has a good channel catfish population with many 2 to 3 pound fish. The boat ramp is usable. Channel Catfish - Slow: A few channel catfish have been caught around the jetties using shrimp. Crappie - Fair: Cast small jigs around rock and along the dam to catch spawning crappies. Sorting is necessary for 8-10 inch fish.

Nodaway Lake
Crappie fishing has picked up. Bluegills are also being caught close to shore. The lake is about full and the boat ramp is useable. Bluegill - Fair: Bluegill, 7 to 8 inches, are being caught casting small jigs close to shore. Crappie - Good: Small jigs and minnows are catching crappie around shallow brush piles and along the dam.

Lake Anita
Crappie are moving into the pontoon area of the lake and around the underwater reefs to spawn. A few bluegill are also being picked up close to shore. Bluegill - Fair: Bluegills are reported to be caught around jetties with small black jigs. Crappie - Fair: Fish with small jigs in the pontoon arm of the lake and around underwater reefs. Sorting will be necessary for 9 to 10-inch crappie.

Willow Lake
Largemouth bass fishing has been good. Bluegills can be caught close to shore. Bluegill - Fair: Bluegill and being picked up with small jigs close to shore. Willow bluegills are 7 to 8 inches. Largemouth Bass - Good: Bass fishing has been good in the upper end of the lake using a variety of spinners and plugs.

Viking Lake
Viking has a good population of crappie. Channel catfish is another species to target. Largemouth Bass - Fair: Largemouth bass are being caught casting the shoreline with spinnerbaits. Fish are all sizes. Crappie - Slow: A few crappies are being caught along the dam and around rocky shorelines.

Lake Manawa
Crappie fishing has started up again in the canals. Reports of walleye and catfish caught last week. Channel Catfish - Fair: Fish the windy shoreline with shad sides for catfish of all sizes. Crappie - Good: Crappies up to 12 inches can be caught with minnows in the canals.

Cold Springs District Farm Ponds
Crappie and bluegill fishing was good this week in ponds. Remember to always get permission before fishing private farm ponds. Bluegill - Fair: Cast small jigs around structure and close to shore to catch bluegill. Largemouth Bass - Good: Small spinners and jigs casting around structure has been good for bass. Crappie - Fair: Fish minnows and small jigs close to shore to catch crappies.

Crappie have moved to shore in many lakes in southwest Iowa. Good bluegill fishing has also been reported. For more information, contact the district office at Cold Springs at 712-769-2587.

Binder Lake
The lake is full and the clarity is good. Vegetation is creeping into the shallows. Crappie - Good: Some nice sized crappies are being caught from along the dam on white jigs in three feet of water.

Lake Icaria
Water clarity is normal for springtime. The crappies are biting. Channel Catfish - Good: The channel catfish are biting on and crawlers. Largemouth Bass - Good: A lot of nesting largemouth bass are being caught near shore. Crappie - Excellent: A lot of mid-sized crappies are being caught from any of the gravel and rip rap areas. The big cove on the south side for the campground is a very good spot. Walleye - Slow: A few walleyes are being caught from the dam and the old roadway.

Grade Lake
Water clarity is good and the fish are biting. Bluegill - Excellent: Some real nice bluegills are being caught from the east end of the dam using crawler pieces suspended 2 feet down.

West Lake (Osceola)
The water level is normal and the clarity is good. Crappie - Good: A lot of mid-sized crappies are being caught from along the face of the dam.

Little River Watershed Lake
The lake has filled. All ramps are accessible. All fish have been restocked but they are small. Channel Catfish - Fair: Several two pound channel catfish are being caught from the shoreline access areas using crawlers on the bottom.

Badger Creek Lake
Water level is near full and clarity is average for spring. Bluegill - Slow: A few very large bluegills can be caught from the structure in 4 to 6 feet of water. Crappie - Good: Several very large crappies are being caught from gravel areas surrounding the jetties and the roadway.

Fogle Lake S.W.A.
The water level have risen to within six inches of full. Clarity is very good. Largemouth Bass - Fair: Several largemouth bass are moving to structure near shore. Crappie - Fair: Some mid-sized to large crappies are being caught from along the dam and gravel areas surrounding the jetties.

Mt. Ayr Old Reservoir
Water clarity is good. Crappie - Good: A lot of crappies are being caught from the face of the dam during the evenings.

Lake of Three Fires
Water levels are full and clarity is good. Largemouth Bass - Excellent: Several mid-sized and big largemouth bass can be caught from near-shore. Crappie - Excellent: Crappies are near-shore and the bite is on. Several crappies are being caught from the gravel areas around the jetties and from the east end of the dam.

Sands Timber Lake (Blockton Reservoir)
The lake has been drained to allow completion of shoreline work and a wetland at the upper end.

Wilson Park Lake
Water levels are full and clarity is average. Crappie - Excellent: Crappies are packed along the face of the dam. White jigs about 2 to 3 feet down works the best.

Green Valley Lake
The lake has filled. Clarity is good. Bluegill - Good: Bluegills are starting to move shallow. Some are being caught on jigs tipped with crawlers. Largemouth Bass - Good: A lot of mid-sized largemouth bass are being caught from the shoreline structure. Crappie - Good: The crappies have moved into the spawning areas an can be caught on small jigs in three feet of water.

Summitt Lake
Water levels are full. Boat access is easy from the main ramp. The fishery has been restocked.

Three Mile Lake
The water level is full. Boat access is easy. Water clarity at mid lake and the dam is good. Crappie - Good: A few crappie are moving to the near-shore gravel and rip rap areas. A few remain off-shore in the flooded trees. Walleye - Slow: A few walleyes are being caught from the face of the dam and some of the larger points.

Twelve Mile Creek Lake
The water levels are full and boat access is easy. Bluegill - Good: A few anglers are catching a lot of bluegills on small black jigs. The flooded trees close to spawning areas seem to be the best. Largemouth Bass - Good: Several largemouth bass are hanging around the flooded cedar tree piles and nearby shoreline areas. Crappie - Excellent: Several crappies can be caught from the rock and rubble areas around the jetties, spawning beds, and armored points. Walleye - Fair: An occasional walleye is being caught on crappie sized jigs from gravel and rip rap areas.

Criss Cove County Park Pond
Water clarity is good. Crappie - Good: Several crappie are being caught from the gravel along the road and from around the jetties.

Walnut Creek Marsh
The water levels are full. Boat access is normal. Bluegill - Fair: A few bluegills can be caught from the shallows along the edges of the vegetation.

The water temperature is in the mid 60s. The water levels at most lakes near full but not overflowing excessively. Water clarity is good to very good at most lakes. The crappies going strong.

Missouri River (Sioux City to Little Sioux)
Channel Catfish - Good: Anglers have had success with worms and stinkbait in side channel areas around logs, river and stream inlets, wing dykes and revetments. Flathead Catfish - Fair: Anglers have been catching a few flathead catfish on chubs. Sauger - Slow: Fishing has been slow for sauger. Walleye - Slow: Fishing has been slow for walleye.

Missouri River (Little Sioux to Council Bluffs)
Channel Catfish - Good: Anglers have had some success with worms and stinkbait in side channel areas around logs, river and stream inlets, wing dykes and revetments. Flathead Catfish - Fair: Anglers are catching a few flathead catfish on chubs. Sauger - Slow: Fishing has been slow for sauger. Walleye - Slow: Fishing has been slow for walleye.

Missouri River (Council Bluffs to Missouri State Line)
Channel Catfish - Good: Anglers have had some success with worms and stinkbait in side channel areas around logs, river and stream inlets, wing dykes and revetments. Flathead Catfish - Fair: Fishing has been fair for flatheads on chubs. Sauger - Slow: Fishing has been slow for sauger. Walleye - Slow: Fishing has been slow for walleye.

The Missouri River at Decatur, Nebraska is at 18.73 feet / 22,528 CFS. Water levels are predicted to remain stable over the next week.
]]> Backyard birding video series tag:prairiestateoutdoors.com,2013:/83.21713 2013-05-17T02:05:02Z 2013-05-17T02:15:03Z Chris Young sjroutdoors@comcast.net For those lucky enough to live on the edge of town, or near a park or patch of woods, the rose-breasted grosbeak could be a regular backyard visitor.

Grosbeaks get their name from their large, seed-crushing bills.

If you have any ideas for topics for future videos, e-mail editor@prairiestateoutdoors.com.

Follow Chris Young at twitter.com/ChrisYoungPSO.


Rose-breasted grosbeak
May 16, 2013

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White-throated sparrow
April 19, 2013

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Northern flicker
March 7, 2013

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Screech owls roost together
Feb. 28, 2013

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What’s in a name?
Jan. 10, 2013

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Red-bellied or red-headed woodpecker?
Jan. 3, 2013

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Make every tree a bird feeder
Dec. 27, 2013

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First snowstorm
Dec. 21, 2013

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Goldfinches in winter
Dec. 20, 2013

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Arctic visitor
Dec. 13. 2013

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Red-breasted nuthatch
Dec. 19, 2013

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The feeder follies (filmed entirely with a Midland XTC 300 camera mounted to the feeders)
Dec. 17, 2013

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]]> Senate panel OKs restrictive concealed carry bill; full Senate could vote Friday tag:prairiestateoutdoors.com,2013:/83.22400 2013-05-17T01:27:55Z 2013-05-17T01:36:56Z Chris Young sjroutdoors@comcast.net
The measure, which gives local law enforcement veto power for permits and home-rule municipalities additional say over where people can carry a weapon in public, passed the Senate Executive Committee by a party-line 10-4 vote. All Republicans except Senate GOP Leader Christine Radogno voted “no.” She voted “present.”

Todd Vandermyde, lobbyist for the National Rifle Association in Illinois, said House Bill 183 isn’t a “carry bill” but a means to deny Illinoisans the right to carry a weapon in public.

“In our eyes, this is not a carry bill. This is a bill to discourage people and prevent people from carrying a firearm and exercising their constitutional, fundamental right to keep and bear arms for self-defense in the public,” Vandermyde said. “You can put lipstick on a pig and it’s still a pig. And that’s what this is.”

Lawmakers have until June 9 to enact legislation due to a federal appellate court decision in December that struck down Illinois’ last-in-the-nation ban on concealed carry.

Sponsoring Sen. Kwame Raoul said he believes the restrictions in HB 183 are needed to protect public safety by keeping guns out of the wrong hands and out of sensitive places.

But many lawmakers expressed concerns over a provision that requires a person to have “good moral character” — the basis on which local law enforcement could object to a person’s application — and “proper cause” to carry a weapon in Illinois.

“What are you looking for? The guy didn’t go to enough of his kids’ softball games …? That someone drank too much, that they didn’t spend enough time at home? … What is it that you’re looking for in that?” asked Sen. Dale Righter, R-Mattoon.

Illinois State Police Lt. Darrin Clark cited as an example a person who has had repeated run-ins with police despite never having been charged with a crime.

“There’s a number of individuals that are ‘on the bubble,’ so to speak, that are not a risk at this point, but there’s just something not quite right,” Clark said. “There would have to be a pattern of behavior that had been documented.”

But Righter argued the bill’s language is too vague and could lead to law enforcement denying permits to basically anyone they wish.

The bill also would allow the 200-plus home-rule municipalities in Illinois, including Springfield, a six-month window to set up gun-free zones in addition to the ones already in the bill, including government buildings, amusement parks, child care facilities, police stations, alcohol-serving establishments and private businesses if the owner wishes, among others. Guns would also be banned from public transit, a key element sought by Chicago lawmakers.

Opponents argued that a “patchwork” of different rules would confuse gun owners.

“Don’t they kind of have to know town-by-town what the restrictions are, and isn’t that potentially undue burden on them to exercise that (Second Amendment) right?” said Sen. Matt Murphy, R-Palatine.

With no limits as to the type of places or buildings home-rule units can deem off-limits, Sen. Dave Luechtefeld, R-Okawville, raised the concern that some cities could create enough restrictions to potentially ban concealed carry entirely.

“If you get a community that’s too restrictive, doesn’t that trample on gun rights?” Luechtefeld asked.

Anyone wanting a concealed-carry permit would already be subject to background checks and training, and also would need to have a valid Firearms Owner Identification card.

Raoul’s bill also would close a loophole in the law regulating private gun sales, requiring a seller to verify that a prospective buyer has a valid FOID card. Raoul said that addresses the issue of people using revoked FOID cards to buy weapons.

HB 183 could come up for a vote in the Senate as early as today, Raoul said.

Lauren Leone-Cross can be reached at 782-6292.
]]> IDPH: Take precautions against tick bites tag:prairiestateoutdoors.com,2013:/83.22399 2013-05-17T01:20:04Z 2013-05-16T20:20:04Z Chris Young sjroutdoors@comcast.net
Ticks can spread Rocky Mountain spotted fever, Lyme disease, tularemia and ehrlichiosis.

These diseases can cause a range of symptoms from mild, to infections requiring hospitalization or even death.

The Illinois Department of Public Health preliminary numbers for 2012 show 50 cases of ehrlichiosis, four cases of tularemia, 204 cases of

Lyme disease and 151 cases of Rock Mountain spotted fever, which included one death.

Antibiotics are available to treat these illnesses, but prevention of tick bites is recommended.

Recommendations from the IDPH:

1. Walk in the center of trails so weeds do not brush against you.

2. Use repellent that contains 20 to 30 percent DEET on exposed skin. Always follow product instructions.

3. Use products that contain permethrin to treat clothing and gear, such as boots, pants (especially they cuffs), socks and tents. Or look for clothing pre-treated with permethrin.

4. Tuck long pants into your socks and boots. Wearing light-colored pants makes ticks easier to see.

5. In areas where there are ticks, check yourself, children and other family members every two to three hours for ticks (especially ears, hair, neck, legs and between the toes).

6. If pets go outdoors, check them often for ticks. Ticks can “hitch a ride” on your pets, but fall off in your home before they feed. Tick collars, sprays, shampoos, or monthly “top spot” medications help protect against ticks.


Tick removal and follow-up:


If you do find a tick, on yourself, others or pets, remove it right away.

Grasp it with fine-point tweezers as close to the skin as possible and gently, but firmly, pull it straight out.

Do not twist or jerk the tick.

Wash the bite area and your hands thoroughly with soap and water and apply an antiseptic to the bite site.

Within two weeks following a tick bite, if you experience a rash that looks like a bull's-eye, or a rash anywhere on your body, or an unexplained
illness accompanied by fever following, call your doctor.

The most common symptoms of tick-related illnesses can include fever, chills, aches and pains, and rash.

Early recognition and treatment of the infection decreases the risk of serious complications.

For more information, visit: http://www.idph.state.il.us/envhealth/pccommonticks.htm.
]]> Wind farms get pass on eagle deaths tag:prairiestateoutdoors.com,2013:/83.22396 2013-05-15T16:15:18Z 2013-05-15T11:15:18Z Chris Young sjroutdoors@comcast.net CONVERSE COUNTY, Wyo. (AP) — Wind farms in this corner of Wyoming have killed more than four dozen golden eagles since 2009, one of the deadliest places in the country of its kind.

But so far, the companies operating industrial-sized turbines here and elsewhere that are killing eagles and other protected birds have yet to be fined or prosecuted - even though every death is a criminal violation.

The Obama administration has charged oil companies for drowning birds in their waste pits, and power companies for electrocuting birds on power lines.

But the administration has never fined or prosecuted a wind-energy company, even those that flout the law repeatedly.

"What it boils down to is this: If you electrocute an eagle, that is bad, but if you chop it to pieces, that is OK," said Tim Eicher, a former U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service enforcement agent based in Cody.

It's a double standard that some Republicans in Congress said Tuesday they would examine after an Associated Press investigation revealed that the Obama administration has shielded the wind power industry from liability and helped keep the scope of the deaths secret.

"We obviously don't want to see indiscriminate killing of birds from any sort of energy production, yet the administration's ridiculous inconsistencies begs questioning and clarity— clarity on why wind energy producers are let off the hook," said Sen. David Vitter, R-La.

The House Natural Resources Committee, which was at the beginning stages of an investigation, vowed to dig deeper Tuesday.

"There are serious concerns that the Obama administration is not implementing this law fairly and equally," said Jill Strait, a spokeswoman for the committee's chairman, Rep. Doc Hastings, R-Wash.

Wind power, a pollution-free energy intended to ease global warming, is a cornerstone of President Barack Obama's energy plan. His administration has championed a $1 billion-a-year tax break to the industry that has nearly doubled the amount of wind power in his first term.

"Climate change is really greatest threat that we see to species conservation in long run," said Fish and Wildlife Service director Dan Ashe in an interview with the AP on Monday. "We have an obligation to support well-designed renewable energy."

But like the oil industry under President George W. Bush, lobbyists and executives have used their favored status to help steer U.S. energy policy.

The result is a green industry that's allowed to do not-so-green things.

More than 573,000 birds are killed by the country's wind farms each year, including 83,000 hunting birds such as hawks, falcons and eagles, according to an estimate published in March in the peer-reviewed Wildlife Society Bulletin.

Getting precise figures is impossible because many companies aren't required to disclose how many birds they kill. And when they do, experts say, the data can be unreliable.

When companies voluntarily report deaths, the Obama administration in many cases refuses to make the information public, saying it belongs to the energy companies or that revealing it would expose trade secrets or implicate ongoing enforcement investigations.

Nearly all the birds being killed are protected under federal environmental laws, which prosecutors have used to generate tens of millions of dollars in fines and settlements from businesses, including oil and gas companies, over the past five years.

"We are all responsible for protecting our wildlife, even the largest of corporations," Colorado U.S. Attorney David M. Gaouette said in 2009 when announcing Exxon Mobil had pleaded guilty and would pay $600,000 for killing 85 birds in five states, including Wyoming.

The large death toll at wind farms shows how the renewable energy rush comes with its own environmental consequences, trade-offs the Obama administration is willing to make in the name of cleaner energy.

"It is the rationale that we have to get off of carbon, we have to get off of fossil fuels, that allows them to justify this," said Tom Dougherty, a long-time environmentalist who worked for nearly 20 years for the National Wildlife Federation in the West, until his retirement in 2008. "But at what cost? In this case, the cost is too high."

The Obama administration has refused to accept that cost when the fossil-fuel industry is to blame. The BP oil company was fined $100 million for killing and harming migratory birds during the 2010 Gulf oil spill. And PacifiCorp, which operates coal plants in Wyoming, paid more than $10.5 million in 2009 for electrocuting 232 eagles along power lines and at its substations.

But PacifiCorp also operates wind farms in the state, where at least 20 eagles have been found dead in recent years, according to corporate surveys submitted to the federal government and obtained by the AP. They've neither been fined nor prosecuted. A spokesman for PacifiCorp, which is a subsidiary of MidAmerican Energy Holdings Co. of Des Moines, Iowa, said that's because its turbines may not be to blame.

By not enforcing the law, the administration provides little incentive for companies to build wind farms where there are fewer birds. And while companies already operating turbines are supposed to avoid killing birds, in reality there's little they can do once the windmills are spinning.

Wind farms are clusters of turbines as tall as 30-story buildings, with spinning rotors as wide as a passenger jet's wingspan. Though the blades appear to move slowly, they can reach speeds up to 170 mph at the tips, creating tornado-like vortexes.

Flying eagles behave like drivers texting on their cellphones; they don't look up. As they scan for food, they don't notice the industrial turbine blades until it's too late.

The rehabilitation coordinator for the Rocky Mountain Raptor Program, Michael Tincher, said he euthanized two golden eagles found starving and near death near wind farms. Both had injuries he'd never seen before: One of their wings appeared to be twisted off.

"There is nothing in the evolution of eagles that would come near to describing a wind turbine. There has never been an opportunity to adapt to that sort of threat," said Grainger Hunt, an eagle expert who researches the U.S. wind-power industry's deadliest location, a northern California area known as Altamont Pass. Wind farms built there decades ago kill more than 60 per year.

Eagle deaths have forced the Obama administration into a difficult choice between its unbridled support for wind energy and enforcing environmental laws that could slow the industry's growth.

Former Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, in an interview with the AP before his departure, denied any preferential treatment for wind. Interior Department officials said that criminal prosecution, regardless of the industry, is always a "last resort."

"There's still additional work to be done with eagles and other avian species, but we are working on it very hard," Salazar said. "We will get to the right balance."

Meanwhile, the Obama administration has proposed a rule that would give wind-energy companies potentially decades of shelter from prosecution for killing eagles. The regulation is currently under review at the White House.

The proposal, made at the urging of the wind-energy industry, would allow companies to apply for 30-year permits to kill a set number of bald or golden eagles. Previously, companies were only eligible for five-year permits.

In exchange for the longer timetable, companies agree that if they kill more eagles than allowed, the government could require them to make changes. But the administration recently said it would cap how much a company could be forced to spend on finding ways to reduce the number of eagles its facility is killing.

The Obama administration said the longer permit was needed to "facilitate responsible development of renewable energy" while "continuing to protect eagles."

A similar explanation was given when the Fish and Wildlife Service recently authorized the killing of a single California condor, an endangered species, by a proposed wind farm in California. It also authorized a real estate developer to disturb four birds for its project.

That's because without a long-term authorization to kill eagles, investors are less likely to finance an industry that's violating the law.

Typically, the government would be forced to study the environmental effects of such a regulation before implementing it. In this case, though, the Obama administration avoided a full review, saying the policy was nothing more than an "administrative change."

"It's basically guaranteeing a black box for 30 years, and they're saying 'trust us for oversight.' This is not the path forward," said Katie Umekubo, a renewable energy attorney with the Natural Resources Defense Council and a former lawyer for the Fish and Wildlife Service. In private meetings with industry and government leaders in recent months, environmental groups have argued that the 30-year permit needed an in-depth environmental review.

The tactics have created an unexpected rift between the administration and major environmental groups favoring green energy that, until the eagle rule, had often been on the same side as the wind industry.

Those conservation groups that have been critical of the administration's stance from the start, such as the American Bird Conservancy, have often been cut out of the behind-the-scenes discussions and struggled to obtain information on bird deaths at wind farms.

"There are no seats at the exclusive decision-making table for groups that want the wind industry to be held accountable for the birds it kills," said Kelly Fuller, who works on wind issues for the group.

The eagle rule is not the first time the administration has made concessions for the wind-energy industry.

Last year, over objections from some of its own wildlife investigators and biologists, the Interior Department updated its guidelines and provided more cover for wind companies that violate the law.

The administration and some environmentalists say that was the only way to exact some oversight over an industry that operates almost exclusively on private land and generates no pollution, and therefore is exposed to little environmental regulation.

Under both the Migratory Bird Treaty Act and the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act, the death of a single bird without a permit is illegal.

But under the Obama administration's new guidelines, wind-energy companies — and only wind-energy companies — are held to a different standard. Their facilities don't face additional scrutiny until they have a "significant adverse impact" on wildlife or habitat. But under both bird protection laws, any impact has to be addressed.

The rare exception for one industry substantially weakened the government's ability to enforce the law and ignited controversy inside the Interior Department.

"U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service does not do this for the electric utility industry or other industries," Kevin Kritz, a government wildlife biologist in the Rocky Mountain region wrote in government records in September 2011. "Other industries will want to be judged on a similar standard."

Experts working for the agency in California and Nevada wrote in government records in June 2011 that the new federal guidelines should be considered as though they were put together by corporations, since they "accommodate the renewable energy industry's proposals, without due accountability."

The Obama administration, however, repeatedly overruled its experts at the Fish and Wildlife Service. In the end, the wind-energy industry, which was part of the committee that drafted and edited the guidelines, got almost everything it wanted.

"Clearly, there was a bias to wind energy in their favor because they are a renewable source of energy, and justifiably so," said Rob Manes, who runs the Kansas office for The Nature Conservancy and who served on the committee. "We need renewable energy in this country."

The government also declared that senior officials in Washington, many of whom are political appointees, must approve any wind-farm prosecution. Normally, law-enforcement agents in the field have the authority to file charges with federal attorneys.

While all big cases are typically cleared through headquarters, such a blanket policy has never been applied to an entire industry, former officials said.

"It's over," Eicher said. "You'll never see a prosecution now."

Not so, says the Fish and Wildlife Service. It said it is investigating 18 bird-death cases involving wind-power facilities, and seven have been referred to the Justice Department. A spokesman for the Justice Department declined to discuss the status of those cases.

Ashe said his agency always made it clear to wind companies that if they kill birds they could still be liable.

"We are not allowing them to do it. They do it," he said of the bird deaths. "And we will successfully prosecute wind companies if they are in significant noncompliance."

But officials acknowledge that their priority is cooperating with companies before wind farms are built to encourage them to be put where they won't harm birds. Once they are built, there is little companies can do except shut down turbines or remove them — and that means reducing the amount of electricity they generate and violating deals struck with companies purchasing their electricity.

By contrast, there are easy fixes for oil companies and companies operating power lines to stop killing birds. The government often requests companies take such steps before it decides to prosecute.

"We just can't be bringing a criminal case against a company that is up and running if there is not a solution," said Jill Birchell, head of the Fish and Wildlife Service law enforcement office in California and Nevada. "We can fine them, but that doesn't help eagles."

In the meantime, birds continue to die. The golden eagle population in the West, prior to the wind energy boom, was declining so much that the government's conservation goal in 2009 was not to allow the eagle population to decrease by a single bird.

The reason boils down to biology. Eagles take five years to reach the age when they can reproduce, and often they only produce one chick a year.

In its defense, the wind-energy industry points out that more eagles are killed each year by cars, electrocutions and poisoning than by turbines.

Ashe noted that the government doesn't require other industrial facilities to disclose the numbers of birds they kill.

Documents and emails obtained by the AP offer glimpses of the problem: 14 deaths at seven facilities in California, five each in New Mexico and Oregon, one in Washington state and another in Nevada, where an eagle was found with a hole in its neck, exposing the bone.

Unlike the estimates, these are hard numbers, proof of deaths, the beginnings of a mosaic revealing the problem.

One of the deadliest places in the country for golden eagles is Wyoming, where federal officials said wind farms have killed more than 50 golden eagles since 2009, predominantly in the southeastern part of the state. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to disclose the figures.

At a different facility, Duke Energy's Top of the World wind farm, a 17,000-acre site with 110 turbines located about 35 miles east of Casper, 10 eagles have been killed in the first two years of operation. It is the deadliest of Duke's 15 wind power plants for eagles.

The company's environmental director for renewable energy, Tim Hayes, said Duke is doing all it can, not only because it wants to fix the problem but because it could reduce the company's liability. Two of the company's wind farms in Wyoming — Top of the World and Campbell Hill — are under investigation by the federal government for the deaths of golden eagles and other birds, according to a report the company filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission last week. The report was filed after the AP visited a Duke facility in Wyoming and asked senior executives about the deaths.

Duke encourages workers to drive slower so as not to scare eagles from their roosts. They remove dead animals that eagles eat. And they've removed rock piles where the bird's prey lives. They also keep internal data on every dead bird in order to determine whether these efforts are working. The company is also testing radar technology to detect eagles and is considering blaring loud noises to prevent the birds from flying into danger.

The only other option is shutting off the turbines when eagles approach. And even that method hasn't been scientifically proven to work.

At Top of the World, Duke shut down 13 turbines for a week in March, often the deadliest time for eagles. The experiment, the company says, paid off. Not a single eagle was killed that month.

Hayes says the company has repeatedly sought a permit from the federal government to kill eagles legally, but was told it was killing too many to qualify.

When an eagle is killed, Duke employees are also prohibited by law from removing the carcass.

Each death is a tiny crime scene. So workers walk out underneath the spinning rotors and cover the dead bird with a tarp. It lies there, protected from scavengers but decaying underneath its shroud, until someone from the government comes to get it.

___

Follow Dina Cappiello at http://www.twitter.com/dinacappiello

Contact the Washington investigative team at DCinvestigations(at)ap.org


Copyright 2013 The Associated Press.
]]> Ice from Minn. lake pushed ashore to doorsteps tag:prairiestateoutdoors.com,2013:/83.22395 2013-05-15T02:43:46Z 2013-05-14T21:43:46Z Chris Young sjroutdoors@comcast.net LAKE MILLE LACS, Minn. (AP) — Strong winds have pushed huge ice sheets ashore at a northern Minnesota lake and right up to people's doorsteps.

WCCO-TV reports that the ice from Lake Mille Lacs (MILL LAX) reached the doors and windows at the Izatys (eye-ZEHT'-ees) Resort on Saturday morning.

National Weather Service Meteorologist Shawn Devinny says 30 to 40 mile an hour winds pushed the water into the ice, driving it ashore. He says the winds were lighter Sunday and the shoreline got a reprieve.

The Department of Natural Resources says about 10 miles of shoreline are covered, with some reaching up to 30 feet high.


Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. ]]> “Links to the Future” festival this weekend tag:prairiestateoutdoors.com,2013:/83.22393 2013-05-14T21:20:35Z 2013-05-14T16:20:35Z Chris Young sjroutdoors@comcast.net The “Links to the Future” youth festival will be held Saturday, May 18 at Wolf Creek State Park near Lake Shelbyville.

Exhibits and activities include the Illinois Department of Natural Resources Conservation Police trailer, Illinois Trappers Association, National Wild Turkey Federation trailer, Delta Waterfowl, National Rifle Association, U.S. Army Corps of Engineer trailer, Buck Skinner Village, Whitetails Unlimited, Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation and a Civil War group will be there.

For more information, contact Richard Glazebrook at (217) 756-8260 or e-mail Richard.Glazebrook@Illinois.gov.
]]> Crappie fishing still excellent at Rend Lake tag:prairiestateoutdoors.com,2013:/83.22392 2013-05-14T21:08:07Z 2013-05-14T16:08:07Z Chris Young sjroutdoors@comcast.net
Largemouth bass

Fishing is good on worms, black and blue jigs and minnows.

Fish for bass in shallow bays near brush cover and bushes, around bridges and along the rocks. Fish are reportedly being caught around Jackie Branch and Sandusky cove.

There is a 14-inch minimum limit, six daily creel limit. In ponds, there is a one-fish daily creel limit with a 14-inch minimum length.

Crappie
Crappie fishing remains excellent.
Jigs are working well. Quarter-ounce pink and white tub jigs. Also small and medium minnows.

Fish are in flooded brushy areas. Set bait two-feet deep. Reports of fish being caught shallow in buck brush in any cover and also deep water around brush piles. From shore, fish near structures. Hot spot at the pond area off I57 North of Gun Creek.

There is a 25 fish daily creel limit with no more than 10 fish 10 inches or longer.

Bluegill

Fishing is good on crickets, worms, wax worms, red wigglers and minnows.

Fish in the back of necks in shallow water or along rocks. The hot spot is off the rocks under the sailboat harbor bridge in one to four feet of water.

There is a 10-fish daily creel limit in ponds.

Channel catfish

Fishing is excellent on Sonny’s stink bait, whole shad, shad gut, night crawlers, shrimp and leeches.

Fish in the back of necks in shallow water. Creeks running into the lake are hot spots after rain events. Set jugs in neck areas of the lake. Fish from the shore anywhere on the lake. Set line three to four feet from the shore over rocks.

Six-fish daily creel limit in ponds.

Jugs must be attended at all times while fishing.

White bass

Fishing is good on worms, black and blue jigs. Fish in shallow bays near brush cover and bushes. Fish around bridges and along the rocks. Reports of fish being caught around Jackie Branch and Sandusky Cove.

Twenty fish creel limit. No more than three fish 17-inches or longer daily.

Lake information:

Lake level: 409.98

Average pool for this date: 407.99

Water temperature: 65°F

Use of a minnow seine, cast net, or shad scoop for bait collecting within 1,000 yards downstream of the Rend Lake dam and spillway is prohibited.

Maps of the Fish Attractor tree locations along with GPS readings are available at the Rend Lake Corps of Engineers Project Office.

Contact Molly Rawlinson for more information at (618) 724-2493.

In order to maintain a cleaner recreation area, anglers and bow fishermen fishing below the dam are asked to return dead rough fish to the water.


]]> Schools building box blinds for disabled tag:prairiestateoutdoors.com,2013:/83.22391 2013-05-14T12:35:23Z 2013-05-14T07:35:23Z Chris Young sjroutdoors@comcast.net FLORENCE, Ala. (AP) — Coleman Patterson has hunted deer since he was a young man, but hip surgery and arthritis now make it impossible for the 74-year-old to hike into the woods and enjoy his hobby.

"I'm not in a wheelchair, yet, knock on wood, but I'm about two steps to it," Patterson said.

He said he was thrilled to learn there were hunting areas set aside for disabled hunters and even more thrilled to learn there will be two new hunting houses available locally for disabled hunters.

"There are a lot of people who are handicapped that like to hunt," Patterson said.

Mitchell Marks, a wildlife biologist for the Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, Wildlife and Freshwater Fisheries, Wildlife Section, said two handicapped-accessible shooting houses will be installed at the Cherokee Physically Disabled Hunting Area, bringing the total there to three.

Shooting houses — also called hunting houses, hunting blinds, box blinds or deer blinds — are small, often elevated, enclosed structures used by hunters to conceal themselves while hunting deer.

"We've tried to come up with a way of funding these two other shooting houses," Marks said.

Assistant Colbert County Engineer Jeremy Robison said the Road Department received a $5,000 grant from the Colbert County Community Development Committee to purchase materials for the project. Each house requires about $1,000 worth of materials.

The Road Department enlisted the assistance of students at Colbert County and Cherokee high schools and the Muscle Shoals Center for Technology to construct the shooting houses and duck blinds.

A duck blind is a structure duck hunters use to conceal themselves while hunting ducks. They can very in shape and size and made from a variety of materials, from natural items found in the hunting area or more elaborate structure made from wood. The duck blinds being fashioned by the students will be made of wood.

"Colbert County is going to build one of each," Robison said. "Muscle Shoals will build one shooting house and Cherokee will build one duck blind. Lowe's is going to sell us the materials at a discount."

Students at Muscle Shoals High School are building their shooting house, and lumber has been delivered to Colbert County and Cherokee high schools, Robison said.

Joel Retherford, building construction instructor at the Muscle Shoals Center for Technology, said about 40 students from freshmen to seniors have been working on their shooting house for a couple of weeks. He said the students have enjoyed working on the project, both because of the size of the project and the fact that they will be helping the community.

"That's the great thing about this," Retherford said. "They love it and they really enjoy getting in there on something big like this."

The students are enrolled in the center's carpentry class.

"A lot of them want to go into carpentry," Retherford said. "This will prepare them for a career."

Once the shooting houses are built, Marks said, they will be placed in the 240-acre Cherokee Physically Disabled Hunting Area, and will be ready for use by the time hunting season begins.

Marks said a road will be built to an area near a greenfield hunting area. Stumps will be cleared, a pad will be built from gravel and chipped concrete block material, and the house will be placed on the pad.

He expects the shooting houses and the new hunting locations to be ready for use by the beginning of hunting season. The duck blinds are being built, but officials are still working out the details concerning their location, Marks said.

Marks said a disabled hunter must submit an application to the state Department of Conservation and be approved before he or she can use the shooting houses. A doctor must sign off on the hunter's disability.

Once they're approved, hunters can reserve a shooting house for an entire day through the Colbert County Extension Office.

County Extension Coordinator Danny McWilliams said last season filled up in about 10 days.

There are 18 disabled hunting facilities located throughout the state. Some have one house and some have multiple houses, he said.

Marks said the one house at the Cherokee hunting area is available to physically disabled hunters from Nov. 1 to Jan. 31. He said it's booked throughout deer season.

Patterson said he has hunted at the Colbert County site and at the disabled hunting area in Jackson County near Skyline. The next closest place for disabled hunters is in Fayette County.

Patterson said his 19-year-old grandson accompanies him, helps him get in the shooting house, then parks the pickup out of sight and waits in the shooting house with his grandfather. If he shoots a deer, his grandson will take the truck and retrieve it.

"I think a lot of grandpas would like their grandkids to carry them," Patterson said.

Marks said the Colbert shooting house is available on Mondays, Wednesdays and Saturdays, and stays reserved through deer season. The popularity was one reason the wildlife division wanted to add additional houses. He said the first shooting house for the disabled was built by an Eagle Scout about six years ago.

"I think it's a very worthy thing," McWilliams said. "Just to see the joy and excitement of the thrill of the hunt from someone who is disabled or a disabled child is worth a million dollars."

Then added, actually, "you can't put a price on it."

___

Information from: TimesDaily, http://www.timesdaily.com/


Copyright 2013 The Associated Press.
]]> NM seeks court ruling on hunting license quotas tag:prairiestateoutdoors.com,2013:/83.22390 2013-05-14T12:33:56Z 2013-05-14T07:33:56Z Chris Young sjroutdoors@comcast.net SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — The state Game and Fish Department is asking a federal court to lift a decades-old order preventing the agency from providing New Mexico residents with more licenses to hunt bighorn sheep, ibex and oryx.

The department wants the U.S. District Court to lift an injunction in place since 1977. The court determined that New Mexico discriminated against out-of-state hunters by setting quotas on how many licenses would be issued to them.

A 1997 state law established license limits for out-of-state residents to hunt big game, including elk, deer and antelope. But the department can't give New Mexicans a preference for ibex, oryx and bighorn sheep licenses because of the court order.

The department said a 2005 federal appeals court ruling upheld license allocations in Wyoming similar to New Mexico's system.


Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. ]]> Gills and Thrills Fishing Adventure in Beloit June 1 tag:prairiestateoutdoors.com,2013:/83.22389 2013-05-14T12:22:57Z 2013-05-14T07:22:57Z Chris Young sjroutdoors@comcast.net
Attendees will learn fishing techniques including how to bait a hook and identify different types of fish as well as how to be an ethical angler. All equipment is provided.

The free event is limited to 60 participants. Registration is required: 608-364-2890.

]]> Monitoring for Asian carp to increase in Illinois tag:prairiestateoutdoors.com,2013:/83.22387 2013-05-13T12:03:38Z 2013-05-13T07:03:38Z Chris Young sjroutdoors@comcast.net CHICAGO (AP) — Federal and Illinois officials said Thursday that they will intensify efforts to find Asian carp in Illinois waterways this year but cut back on DNA sampling that has scored positive hits without resulting in the discovery of the invasive fish.

The $6.5 million plan released by the Asian Carp Regional Coordinating Committee "will focus on actions that have achieved tangible results," including removing Asian carp from the Upper Illinois River and other waterways below a set of electric barriers meant to keep them from reaching Lake Michigan, Illinois Department of Natural Resources Director Marc Miller said in a written statement.

"We believe removal efforts are working to reduce Asian carp populations in Illinois," Miller said.

The plan calls for intensive sampling of fish in waterways that connect the lake with the Mississippi River watershed to determine if any carp have breached those barriers, and two DNA sampling trips. But the discovery of environmental DNA will not automatically trigger a rapid response, as it has in the past.

Five response actions last year included 1,600 hours of surveillance over 27 miles of waterways with nets and "electrofishing," but no Asian carp were seen or captured above the electric barriers. Officials say they will forgo an automatic response until scientists can determine the significance of DNA discovery.

A federal study released in February found that Asian carp don't necessarily have to be present for their DNA to turn up in the environment. It is found in excrement, slime and scales from live fish, but also could be carried by storm sewers, fisheries sampling gear, fish-eating birds, dead fish carcasses, barges and sediments.

Scientists with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the U.S. Geological Survey are conducting a three-year study to try to answer questions raised by the repeated discovery of carp DNA in the Chicago area, hoping to refine how it's used for detecting the fish.

Officials say they also will test acoustic water guns that could scare away carp from crucial locations, and other control technologies this year.

Bighead and silver carp escaped into the Mississippi River from sewage treatment ponds and fish farms in the Deep South decades ago and have been migrating northward ever since.

Scientists fear that if the voracious eaters, which can reach 100 pounds, become established in the Great Lakes, they would out-compete native fish for food and threaten the lakes' $7 billion fishing industry.

Some state and local officials in the Great Lakes region want structures placed in the Chicago waterways to seal off Lake Michigan from the Mississippi watershed, although industry and local officials say that would hurt barge shipping in the Chicago area.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers says that at the end of the year it will present options to Congress to prevent invasive species from traveling between the two watersheds.

___

Online: http://www.asiancarp.us


Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. ]]> Wyo. Game and Fish to begin research-trapping wolves tag:prairiestateoutdoors.com,2013:/83.22386 2013-05-13T11:38:36Z 2013-05-13T06:38:36Z Chris Young sjroutdoors@comcast.net JACKSON, Wyo. (AP) — The Wyoming Game and Fish Department plans to begin trapping wolves for scientific purposes in the Gros Ventre Mountains next week.

Game and Fish officials say the trapping is set to begin Tuesday and continue through June 15.

All major access points where wolves will be trapped will be marked with warning signs. Game and Fish says it's important that hikers don't venture into these areas.

The trapped wolves will be immobilized, studied and released on site.

Trapping is required to monitor the state's wolf population under the terms for removing the animals from endangered species protection.


Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. ]]> Q and A: status of Illinois’ concealed carry law tag:prairiestateoutdoors.com,2013:/83.22385 2013-05-13T11:34:23Z 2013-05-13T11:45:24Z Chris Young sjroutdoors@comcast.net
There are fewer than 30 days to go before a judicial deadline for developing a framework on allowing public weapons possession in the only state that currently has a ban. Attempts at legislative remedies failed in the House late last month, including one endorsed by the National Rifle Association that could resurface. Senators may try a version of their own as early as this week.

Sen. Kwame Raoul, a Chicago Democrat, is refining an earlier concealed-carry proposal that drew gun owners' derision last month. Discussions with Senate Democrats could produce a consensus plan that could get a vote within days, spokeswoman Rikeesha Phelon said.

A federal court order in December that found the ban unconstitutional set a June 9 deadline for solving the problem. The question divides lawmakers along geographical and political lines and even splits the two chambers — both led by Democrats.

___

Here are some questions and answers about the issue:

Q: How has Illinois avoided the concealed-carry wave?

A: In a word: Chicago. For decades, it has been one of the nation's more violent cities. It's also a city dominated by Democrats, a party whose liberal wing has generally clung to strict restrictions on guns, at least in the half-century since gun control shot to the top of the national consciousness following the assassinations of President John Kennedy, Sen. Robert Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr.

___

Q: What's the feeling outside Chicago?

A: The gun-rights agenda is far less party-based. Democrats and Republicans alike, particularly in central and southern Illinois, represent thousands of hunters and sports shooters; they are more conservative with stronger views about Second Amendment liberties.

___

Q: If this has been going on for years, why all the hubbub now?

A: A lawful gun-owning woman in Union County, in southern Illinois, was brutally beaten and left for dead in September 2009 while at work as a church treasurer. Despite her firearms-safety training and permits to carry concealed weapons in two states, she was unarmed because of Illinois' law. She sued in federal court in May 2011. The case was combined with another when it went before the 7th Circuit appeals court. The ruling, issued on Dec. 11, overruled two lower courts and found the right to keep and bear arms applies beyond someone's front door.

"The right to 'bear' as distinct from the right to 'keep' arms is unlikely to refer to the home," Judge Richard Posner wrote for the majority. "To speak of 'bearing' arms within one's home would at all times have been an awkward usage. A right to bear arms thus implies a right to carry a loaded gun outside the home."

____

Q: What's the impact of the ruling?

A: The court gave Illinois 180 days — until June 9 — to enact a concealed-carry law.

NRA-backed legislation in the House would require concealed-carry permit to be issued to applicants who have a valid Firearm Owners' Identification Card, complete training and clear a background check. It fell seven votes short of passage last month but the proposal's sponsor, Rep. Brandon Phelps, D-Harrisburg, could recall it.

___

Q: What happens if no law is enacted by June 9?

A: Gun-rights advocates use the term "constitutional carry" to describe a state in which, with an obsolete, discredited law on the books, Illinoisans could carry any type of weapon anywhere, at any time, concealed or not.

Technically, only those defendants directly affected by the 7th Circuit's ruling — the attorney general and Union County law enforcement officials — would be prevented from enforcing the law. But it's likely anyone arrested for illegal weapons possession would have a strong case for having a conviction tossed out based on the 7th Circuit's ruling.

Phelps wants to avoid that scenario.

"A lot of gun owners don't want a lot of restrictions so they want to go off the cliff," Phelps said. "I'm worried about that because of the uncertainty that it brings."

___

Q: What are the other plans?

A: Raoul's Senate proposal initially required not only that state police review concealed carry permit applicants but that those who live in Cook County or Chicago would have to receive an "endorsement" from police in those in those jurisdictions to carry. Raoul has since removed the Cook County provision, Phelon confirmed.

Gun owners oppose a special endorsement for a certain part of the state.

Phelon said "a few constructive weeks of discussions" could put the legislation on a path for a vote as early as this week.

___

Q: Could the state still appeal the court ruling?

A: Yes. Attorney General Lisa Madigan has not decided whether to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court, but earlier this month, the court granted her request for more time to make that decision, until June 24.

That, of course, is after the court's deadline. If the General Assembly and Quinn agree to a law by then, the court case is moot and there could be no appeal.

___

Phelps's bill is HB997.

Online: http://www.ilga.gov

___

Contact AP Political Writer John O'Connor at https://www.twitter.com/apoconnor


Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. ]]> Proposals would change Ohio deer-hunting rules tag:prairiestateoutdoors.com,2013:/83.22384 2013-05-13T11:32:31Z 2013-05-13T06:32:31Z Chris Young sjroutdoors@comcast.net COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — The Ohio Wildlife Council will consider proposals next week allowing deer-gun hunting in early January.

Ohio's Division of Wildlife Chief Scott Zody says the proposal would result in a total of five days of January gun hunting.

He says Jan. 3-4 would be open to all legal firearms and Jan. 5-7 restricted to muzzleloaders.

The proposal would allow hunting from one half-hour before sunrise to one half-hour after sunset on both days.

The Wildlife Council also will consider a proposal to adjust the bag limits in Hocking, Perry and Ross counties from three to four deer.

The council approves all rules and regulations for the Division of Wildlife.

Wednesday's meeting will be open to the public.


Copyright 2013 The Associated Press.
]]> Out & About from the Peoria Journal-Star for May 12 tag:prairiestateoutdoors.com,2013:/83.22382 2013-05-12T17:12:33Z 2013-05-12T12:12:33Z Chris Young sjroutdoors@comcast.net
The Journal Star is interested in publishing your upcoming outdoor events or recent tournament results. Please email (sports@pjstar.com), fax (309-686-3205) or call (309-686-3214) us with outdoor items.

TODAY’S EVENT

Archery shoot

Pottstown 3D Range shoot, 7 a.m. to noon. (309) 696-8015.

UPCOMING EVENTS

Bass tournaments

May 13 — 12th Annual Law Enforcement Memorial Bass Tournament, from 6 a.m. to noon, at Banner Marsh. Check-in at 5 a.m. at main access. Team entry fee $50. Call (309) 253-9633.

June 29 — “Fishing to Remember” tournament to raise money for Alzheimer’s Association at Banner Marsh, big bass format. Six weigh-ins. Contact casting_memories@aol.com

Fishing tackle sale

May 18 — At Lake Camelot Sportsman’s Club, 9278 W. Lake Camelot Drive, Mapleton, 8 a.m.-2 p.m. No cost to the public. For information or $10 table to sell items, call (309) 697-9007.

Archery shoots

May 18-19 — Pottstown 3D Range shoot, 7 a.m. to noon. (309) 696-8015.

June 1-2 — Pekin Archers 3D shoot at Pekin Archery Range, registration 7 a.m., must be on range by noon. (309) 347-4445.

Retriever club hunt test

May 18-19 — Illinois River Hunting Retrievers annual hunt test at Banner Marsh, starting at 8 a.m. both days. Stop at Banner check station to find out locations of each test. http://www.illinoisriverhrc.com

Pimiteoui Trail Association events

May 19 — Pimiteoui Trail Association will lead hike at Jubilee State Park. Meet 2 p.m. at the park’s Bow Wood Glen picnic area. (507) 358-3981 or ptahike.org

May 25 — Pimiteoui Trail Association will lead hike at Fugate Woods Nature Preserve in Fairbury. Meet 10:30 a.m. at Russell’s Cycling & Fitness Center in Washington to caravan. (309) 688-7038 or ptahike.org

June 1 — Pimiteoui Trail Association will lead hike on Pimiteoui Trail from Grandview Drive to Forest Park Nature Center. Meet 9 a.m. at Tower Park in Peoria Heights. (309) 231-2190 or ptahike.org

June 8 — Pimiteoui Trail Association will assist with trail maintenance on Illinois River Bluff Trail. Meet 8:30 a.m. at Forest Park Nature Center. (309) 678-3827 or ptahike.org

Ducks Unlimited fish fry

June 2 — BCK Riverbottom D.U. chapter fish fry at the Brick in Bath, noon-5 p.m. Truck raffle drawing, auctions, games, raffles. Ticket information: (309) 546-2534 or (309) 538-4455.

Archaeology meeting

June 5 — Illinois Valley Archaeological Society meets 7 p.m. at Dickson Mounds Museum in Lewistown, (309) 547-3721.

Herpetology meeting

June 6 — Central Illinois Herpetological Society meets 7 p.m. at Forest Park Nature Center, (309) 682-6208.

Sporting clay shoot

June 6 — Peoria Rescue Ministries’ shoot at Oak Ridge Sportsman’s Club in Mackinaw. Registration 11:30 a.m. (entry fee discount if registered and paid by May 7). Includes live auction. http://www.peoriarescue.org or (309) 676-6416.

Free fishing Days

June 7-10 — Illinois free fishing days when anyone is allowed to fish without a license, inland trout stamp, or salmon stamp.

Orienteering meet

June 8 — Illinois River Valley Orienteering Club regular O-meet at Sommer Park in Edwardsirvocmail@gmail.com or http://www.irvoc.org

Prairieland anglers meeting

June 10 — at Dawson Lake, 6 p.m. Fishing, lake cleanup.

July 8 — at Dawson Lake,6 p.m. Fishing, fish fry.

Aug. 12 — at Dawson Lake, 6 p.m. Fishing, wiener roast.

Hunter safety classes

Aug. 9-10 — Wilmor Sportsman’s Club in Morton, 5-10 p.m. Friday, 8 a.m.-4 p.m. Saturday (dinner, lunch provided). (309) 266-6666.

Sept. 20-21 — Wilmor Sportsman’s Club in Morton, 5-10 p.m. Friday, 8 a.m.-4 p.m. Saturday (dinner, lunch provided). (309) 266-6666.

RESULTS

Bass tournament

Ray Richmond of Mapleton and Tom Dietrich of Chillicothe won the Presley’s tournament May 6 at Banner Marsh with two fish weighing 7.82 pounds. Rick Remelius and Steve Holingsworth of Bartonville placed second (1, 5.04) and earned big fish honors. Mike Cranford and Frank Reichereker of Bartonville finished third (1, 4.78).
]]> Second man killed in swinging death near Moab tag:prairiestateoutdoors.com,2013:/83.22381 2013-05-12T01:15:14Z 2013-05-11T20:15:14Z Chris Young sjroutdoors@comcast.net SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — The high-risk sport of swinging wildly on ropes through canyon and arch openings in southern Utah has left a second man dead in little more than a month.

Adam Jason Weber fell about 100 feet to a canyon floor after taking a swing. Weber, 32, of the Salt Lake City area, apparently was refastening his harness onto a separate rappel line from the swing rope when "something happened," Grand County Sheriff's Lt. Kim Neal said.

"All we can say is we have a lot of this — it goes with climbing and rappelling," Neal said Monday. "Some people are careful, but they need to be extremely cautious."

The stunt has been made so popular by YouTube videos that Utah has banned the activity by commercial outfitters on state trust lands, leaving so-called pendulum swingers on their own. The sport is unregulated on federal range lands.

Sunday's death occurred in Day Canyon, about seven miles west of Moab. It wasn't immediately clear where on Utah's checkerboard of state and federal lands Weber was swinging.

Neal said a group of experienced climbers spent days stretching an aircraft-grade cable 600 feet across Day Canyon, and that a handful of them had swung successfully from that metal cable before Weber and a woman took a plunge. The woman was left stranded by Weber's fall, but other friends helped her rappel to the canyon floor.

On March 19, Kyle Lee Stocking crashed into the sandstone base of Corona Arch near Moab only a few miles to the east of Day Canyon. Stocking, 22, of Moab, left too much loose rope when he clipped into his waist harness, Neal said.

Pendulum swinging is a relatively new form of recreation in Utah's canyon lands, which see plenty of injuries and deaths from rock climbing and BASE jumping, which involves leaping from a fixed object with a parachute. On March 13, another man, Zachary Taylor, was killed rappelling at Tear Drop Arch near Moab.

The sport has taken a boost from YouTube. One video titled "World's Largest Rope Swing" has racked up more than 20 million views since it was posted in February.

Rescue crews pronounced Weber dead on the floor of Day Canyon Sunday night.


Copyright 2013 The Associated Press.
]]> Utah hunters take 6,000 coyotes for bounty tag:prairiestateoutdoors.com,2013:/83.22380 2013-05-12T01:12:43Z 2013-05-11T20:12:43Z Chris Young sjroutdoors@comcast.net SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — More than 6,000 coyotes have been shot under a bounty program in Utah.

For more than seven months, the state has been paying civilians $50 for every coyote they kill.

KSL reports (http://bit.ly/10CT7Bo ) that some believe that any systematic killing of coyotes only increases the animal's population, and that Utah is wasting money.

It's one of the nation's largest hunter-based efforts to manage coyotes. John Shivik of the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources says it's too early to gauge the results. The agency is trying to protect mule deer.

___

Information from: KSL-TV, http://www.ksl.com/


Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. ]]> Wildlife Prairie Park now back in private hands tag:prairiestateoutdoors.com,2013:/83.22379 2013-05-12T00:10:39Z 2013-05-12T17:45:40Z Chris Young sjroutdoors@comcast.net
Gov. Pat Quinn signed legislation Saturday on-scene at the park, removing “state” from the name and returning the nature preserve to a private, not-for-profit group that will operate it again.

That ends the decade plus that the 2,000-acre park has spent operated by the Illinois Department of Natural Resources, which has struggled to provide funds for the maintenance and upkeep on the property because of ongoing budget cuts. The legislation transfers ownership of the park from the state to the Forest Park Foundation of Peoria, which had already been managing the park along with the Friends of Wildlife Prairie Park.

“This really has been a long time coming,” State Rep. Mike Unes, R-East Peoria, who co-sponsored the bill, said at the bill signing. “I think Governor Quinn recognizes that this is great news for the entire state. DNR for quite some time has been looking for more revenues, and this really takes a lot off (their) plate.”



Gov. Pat Quinn signs legislation Saturday transferring Wildlife Prairie State Park from the state to private ownership. Photo by Jesse O'Brien.


The measure, House Bill 1292, passed the Legislature unanimously in both chambers, and had been pushed by area legislators from both parties, including Unes and state Rep. Jehan A. Gordon-Booth, D-Peoria.

Quinn also announced the Peoria Park District will receive $217,500 as part of a $15.3 million statewide investment to improve local parks projects. The money will be used to develop the Tawny Oaks Nature Center adjacent to Singing Woods north of Peoria off of Illinois Route 88.

Quinn emphasized the importance parks play in the development of Illinois children.

“It’s special, I think, for all of our children and all of us to get in nature and we leave no child inside,” he said. “We want to make sure our kids get outside. We don’t want our children to become couch potatoes. We want to make sure our kids walk and see nature up close and so this bill is a really, really important move forward.”

Chris Kaergard can be reached at 686-3135 or ckaergard@pjstar.com. Follow him on Twitter @ChrisKaergard.
Jesse O’Brien can be reached at 686-3257 or jobrien@pjstar.com. Follow him on Twitter @jesseobrien.
]]> Mushroom Hall of Fame tag:prairiestateoutdoors.com,2013:/83.22378 2013-05-11T12:51:12Z 2013-05-11T07:51:12Z Chris Young sjroutdoors@comcast.net

Journal Star writers Phil Luciano and Danielle Hatch visit the legendary Schooners in Peoria Heights, home of the Mushroom Hall of Fame. ]]> Mushroom hunting season far from over in central Illinois tag:prairiestateoutdoors.com,2013:/83.22377 2013-05-11T12:36:07Z 2013-05-11T12:43:08Z Chris Young sjroutdoors@comcast.net
The timing of the spongy fungus’ appearance, instead, is the most unusual aspect, with the dry and earliest-ever season of 2012 in central Illinois followed this year by one of the latest and wettest in memory.

“This year, we’re at least two weeks, if not three weeks behind average, which is just the opposite of last year,” said Tom Nauman, owner of Morel Mania in Magnolia and one of the names most synonymous with morels in the Midwest. “We’re not even to the middle of the season yet.”

The period to find morels in the Peoria area normally ends around Mother’s Day, but Nauman said a rare possibility exists this year for mushroom hunters around the River City: a season that could last beyond the month of May.

“We’re going to go another week and possibly two … maybe into June,” he said.

Nauman’s hunts so far this year have yielded good results, he said, though the cool weather and high moisture levels have not generated large numbers of mushrooms in any single area.

A short hunt Friday morning on private property in Fulton County produced results that reflect Nauman’s findings.





Areas with several dead and dying elm trees that in more normal years could produce large finds instead yielded only a few mushrooms at a time. Small patches of larger yellow morels — some freshly peaking out from beneath leaf litter, others too decayed to bother harvesting — were found on steep hillsides near creek beds.

The winner of the Illinois State Morel Mushroom Hunting Championship last weekend near Ottawa found 79 mushrooms in two hours, most thumb-sized grey morels instead of the larger, later season yellow variety. Last year, the winner walked away with seven mushrooms, none edible because of their state of decomposition so late in the season.

The lateness of the 2013 season has been reflected in morel auction prices at festivals in Missouri and Illinois, Nauman noted. The fungus has been selling for as much as $100 per pound after being hauled in from areas farther south.

The immediate weather forecast calls for a cool down that could hamper mushroom growth, but Nauman said the temperatures won’t stop the season like a heat spell could.

“The rain we’re getting can only bring more,” he said. “This weekend should be really good for the entire area.”

Matt Buedel can be reached at 686-3154 or mbuedel@pjstar.com. Follow him on Twitter @JournoBuedel.
]]> Volunteers busy cleaning up flooded Hooked on Fishing facility tag:prairiestateoutdoors.com,2013:/83.22375 2013-05-11T00:19:14Z 2013-05-11T00:29:15Z Chris Young sjroutdoors@comcast.net
Its four ponds and the main building where equipment is stored and children learn basic techniques were flooded. The building was nearly rendered a complete loss.

“We put sandbags around the building to try to save it from the water,” said Mike O’Reilly, who owns Hooked on Fishing. “We had about 18 inches of water in the facility. We are in the process of cleaning it up. I don’t know if its going to be usable anymore.”

The four ponds are routinely stocked with fish that are caught by children and subsequently released. Many of the fish are now gone, swept away by the flood.

“We have trout, we have catfish, we have bass,” said O’Reilly. “We buy these fish and raise them, and people catch them. I’m afraid most of our fish may be gone. The river came over the levy and some of the fish just swam and left.”





O’Reilly hopes to reopen as soon as he finishes rehabilitating the facilities — reopening their doors to school groups, scouts, park districts, community groups, churches, special needs groups, nursing homes and other organizations that provide services for kids, senior citizens or disabled individuals.

Hooked on Fishing provides the equipment and bait and teaches the ins and outs of fishing for free — from safety, how to use a rod and reel, baiting a hook, fishing techniques, landing the catch, handling the fish, removing hooks and fish identification.

Once the waters are restocked and the debris cleaned up, O’Reilly said he envisions reopening in June — continuing to provide children with that sense of accomplishment and pride that comes from catching a fish.

“If you do catch fish, it’s the world’s greatest thing,” he said.

Helen Zhao can be reached at 686-3196 or hzhao@pjstar.com. Follow her on Twitter @HelenJZhao.
]]> Illegal bass stocking imperils trout in Maine pond tag:prairiestateoutdoors.com,2013:/83.22373 2013-05-10T22:43:59Z 2013-05-10T17:43:59Z Chris Young sjroutdoors@comcast.net VIENNA, Maine (AP) — Wildlife officials say a prime central Maine brook trout pond is under threat because of illegal bass stocking.

The Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife says biologists have confirmed the presence of smallmouth bass in Kimball Pond in Vienna.

Fisheries Director Mike Brown says Kimball Pond has a first-class brook trout fishery that is now threated by smallmouth bass, which will compete with trout for food and feed on small trout.

Officials say it may be impossible to eradicate bass from the pond, but that fishermen can do their part by removing any bass they catch.


Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. ]]> High school bass fishing new spring sport in NH tag:prairiestateoutdoors.com,2013:/83.22372 2013-05-10T22:37:07Z 2013-05-10T17:37:07Z Chris Young sjroutdoors@comcast.net MOULTONBOROUGH, N.H. (AP) — For the first time, bass fishing is a spring sport in some New Hampshire high schools.

It's part of a trial program being launched by the New Hampshire Interscholastic Athletic Association.

With help from the state Fish and Game Department, teams work with mentors to learn about the state's aquatic resources and the responsibilities of being anglers. Students are competing in a tournament Thursday on Lake Winnipesaukee in Moultonborough.

Individual medals are being awarded to the largest total catch — four fish maximum — and for the largest largemouth and largest smallmouth bass caught.

Schools would prepare for full implementation of the sport during the 2013-2014 academic year.

Officials say the tournament fits with the association's goal of adding more coed sports that are inclusive of all students.


Copyright 2013 The Associated Press.
]]> Missouri fisherman killed in accident on Kentucky Lake tag:prairiestateoutdoors.com,2013:/83.22371 2013-05-10T22:07:52Z 2013-05-10T17:07:52Z Chris Young sjroutdoors@comcast.net GILBERTSVILLE, Ky. (AP) — A fisherman has been killed in a boating accident on Kentucky Lake.

Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources spokesman Garry Clark told The Paducah Sun (http://bit.ly/134vYJX ) that 51-year-old Timothy Alan Clippard of Jackson, Mo., died after the motor on the fishing boat broke away and flew up into the boat where it hit him.

Clark said Clippard was fishing with a partner in a bass tournament. The two were on their way to the scales to have the catch weighed when the boat's motor hit an underwater structure that broke it.

Clark said the boat's operator, who was not identified, suffered no serious injury.

___

Information from: The Paducah Sun, http://www.paducahsun.com


Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. ]]> FL wildlife officials say they’ve found a new species of bass tag:prairiestateoutdoors.com,2013:/83.22370 2013-05-10T22:02:03Z 2013-05-10T17:02:03Z Chris Young sjroutdoors@comcast.net TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — Florida wildlife officials say they've discovered a new species of fish in the southeastern U.S.

Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission scientists say the fish they have found is a new species of black bass. They've proposed naming it the Choctaw bass, with the scientific name of Micropterus haiaka.

The discovery was revealed at a meeting of the Southern Division of the American Fisheries Society earlier this year.

The wildlife commission says scientists first noticed a new DNA profile while testing a bass specimen from the Chipola River in 2007 as part of a broader genetic study of bass.

"We didn't set out to find a new species. It found us," said Mike Tringali, head of the genetics laboratory at the wildlife commission's Fish and Wildlife Research Institute.

The new species later was found in coastal river systems in Alabama and the western Florida Panhandle.

The new fish's name was chosen because its range overlaps the historic range of the Native American Choctaw, Tringali said.

"Haiaka" is a Choctaw word meaning "revealed" or "manifest," he said.

The American Fisheries Society still must approve the proposed scientific name.

Scientists say the Choctaw bass is physically very similar to the spotted bass, and that's why no one had previously distinguished the two different species, in spite of decades of bass research.


Copyright 2013 The Associated Press.
]]> DNR no longer mailing boat registration renewals tag:prairiestateoutdoors.com,2013:/83.22369 2013-05-10T21:51:14Z 2013-05-10T16:51:14Z Chris Young sjroutdoors@comcast.net Watercraft renewal online or by phone:

The Illinois Department of Natural Resources is no longer mailing watercraft registration renewal notices.

Watercraft owners can renew their watercraft registrations by calling (866) 867-3542 or visit: http://www.dnr.illinois.gov/recreation/boating/Pages/RenewYourWatercraftRegistration.aspx .

Watercraft owners should have handy their Illinois registration number and hull identification number (located on the registration card) and pen and paper to record their confirmation number.

A confirmation number will authorize boaters to use of their watercraft on Illinois waters immediately.

Owners of canoes, kayaks and paddle boats in Illinois are no longer required to have those watercraft titled and registered in Illinois, unless the vessels have a motor or sail.

They are now required to purchase a stamp for $6 per year for the each of the first three vessels, and $3 each for any additional vessels.

All of the new stamps (also known as Paddle Passes) passes must be purchased at the same time to receive the discount.

The stamps are mandatory, and should be available over the counter beginning July 1.

Visit: http://www.dnr.illinois.gov/LPR/Pages/LicensePermitVendors.aspx ]]> Cache River Nature Fest set for Saturday tag:prairiestateoutdoors.com,2013:/83.22368 2013-05-10T20:02:42Z 2013-05-10T15:02:42Z Chris Young sjroutdoors@comcast.net
Cache River Nature Fest 2013 will feature a variety of programs and activities.

The event will include Cache River wildlife ranging from snakes, frogs, turtles and fish to eagles, owls and hawks.

Learn about bird banding, climb into a life-size eagle’s nest, or taste of Asian carp.

Guided canoe tours and hiking excursions will be offered throughout the day.

All activities are free.

For more information, call the Cache River Wetlands Center at (618) 657-2064 or the Cypress Creek National Wildlife Refuge at (618) 634-2231.

The event will be held rain or shine. ]]> Wait for late-morning toms tag:prairiestateoutdoors.com,2013:/83.22367 2013-05-10T13:04:00Z 2013-05-10T08:04:00Z Chris Young sjroutdoors@comcast.net
Getting one close enough to shoot at can be challenging, if not completely frustrating. Because I am unburdened with high expectations, this is my favorite time to hunt turkeys. A successful turkey hunt for me has little to do with plucking a turkey and a lot to do with just being out there soaking up some springtime.

I have no theory on how to hunt late-season birds. That makes me one of the very few hunters without one.

Many experienced hunters say turkeys get call shy late in the season, especially in areas where the birds have been pressured. It might be a good idea to hunt the call-shy bird with your call in your pocket.

Scout the area and pattern the birds just like a deer hunter. Make note of the strutting zones and travel routes, and what time Mr. Tom Turkey spreads his fan in these areas. Then, get out there the early the next day, use whatever natural cover is available and wait for him to show up. If you’re particularly proud of your calling ability, this approach probably isn’t for you.

Another radical late season tactic involves trying to separate Mr. Turkey from his favorite hens when they are all on the roost. Go to the roost area well before daylight, get under the roost and send up such a racket that the birds will scatter before they would normally fly down.

When it gets light and Tom gets lonely and starts to gobble, move toward him in hopes of getting there before a real hen finds him.

This is not a tactic to be used anywhere there are likely to be other hunters on public or private land. Frankly, I’d keep this one in the hunting bag. If anyone saw or heard you doing this, the best-case scenario would be looking really stupid in front of your fellow hunters.

I’m partial to experts who say late in the season is a good time to skip the dawn patrol and go out around 10 a.m. By mid-morning, the toms have had their eye-opener and are on the prowl again. They may come a’ runnin’ when they hear a call.

Besides that, I see big advantages to this approach. I’m not getting my feet tangled up in the dark, and dumping hot coffee on myself. I don’t have to dress as warm. It’s full daylight. I can look over likely spots from a high vantage point, spot the birds that are out and use the terrain to move toward them, without falling in the crik.

And maybe the best of all, I can see the morels I might have stepped on in the dark.

Contact George Little at CCMGlobal@aol.com. ]]> Late nature photographer’s memory inspires new generation tag:prairiestateoutdoors.com,2013:/83.22376 2013-05-10T12:25:44Z 2013-05-13T12:09:45Z Chris Young sjroutdoors@comcast.net
When he died in February 2012, his friends created a memorial award in his honor at North Mac High School to encourage a new generation to celebrate nature.

McKemie, of Cantrall, also was a regular presence at downtown Springfield’s Old State Capitol Art Fair (this year’s fair is May 18-19) for about 15 years from the early 1990s until about 2007, according to his family.

“He was always a huge lover of nature and animals,” said his daughter Stephanie McKemie. “He also liked to travel, so he made that his career.

“He worked in insurance but made a decision to follow his dream,” she said. “So he spent 20 years traveling the world seeing the animals and the places he always wanted to see and shared that with the people.”

McKemie graduated from Girard High School in 1967.

“We had to honor his memory, and inspire kids from small towns like Girard and Virden,” said Melissa Kribs, a friend of McKemie’s growing up in Girard. “Just because they are from a small town and a small school doesn’t mean they have to do small things.”

Kribs and a group of friends got together to create the Bob McKemie Award for Outdoor and/or Wildlife Photography. They raised enough money to establish a top prize of $250, and made the first award this spring.

Shelby Wynne, a sophomore at North Mac, took first place with a picture of a Monarch butterfly. In all, eight students submitted 32 photographs for judging.



The winning photograph in the first Bob McKemie Award for Outdoor and/or Wildlife Photography competition was submitted by Shelby Wynne titled "A Monarch Summer." Photo courtesy of Shelby Wynne.


Lori Leytem, who teaches art at the school, said there were some very good photographs in the contest.

“I talked to the kids about what (the judges) were looking for,” she said. “We talked about composition, rule of thirds and other common photography rules.

“When I announced the contest, they all said, ‘I love taking pictures.’” Leytem said. “But I told them that there is a difference between pictures and photographs.”

McKemie was a self-taught photographer who learned to appreciate nature during many hunting and fishing trips taken with his father.

In his later years, he traded the rod and gun for a camera.

“He traveled the world doing what he loved and made money doing it,” Kribs said. “How many people can say that?”

Donations can be made directly to the North Mac Public Schools Foundation.

“Right now, we have enough money for three prizes for three years,” Kribs said. “Next year, we’d like to not only give $250 to the first place but to also award $100 for second place.”

Chris Young can be reached at (217) 788-1528. Follow him at twitter.com/ChrisYoungPSO.
]]> Tanagers have bird watchers seeing red tag:prairiestateoutdoors.com,2013:/83.22366 2013-05-10T12:24:39Z 2013-05-10T12:34:40Z Chris Young sjroutdoors@comcast.net
That’s because spring migration has brought a pair of bright red birds back to central Illinois.

“Brilliant colored scarlet tanagers have begun to arrive here in Springfield from their wintering grounds in South America,” said Dennis Oehmke, who has been photographing central Illinois birdlife for many years.

“Today at Washington Park, I was lucky enough to see and photograph one at eye level,” he said. “Typically, they remain high in the tree tops where they are difficult to see, much less photograph.”

Male scarlet tanagers are bright reddish orange and have jet-black wings and tails. Females are yellow and olive green.



Male scarlet tanager. Photo by Dennis Oehmke.


A related bird, the summer tanager, is North America’s only all-red bird. Even male cardinals have a little bit of black on their faces.

“The summer tanager has also recently arrived from Central America,” Oehmke said. “I have seen several individuals at both Washington Park and Oak Ridge Cemetery.”

Female summer tanagers are yellowish in color.



Summer tanager male by Dennis Oehmke.


Oehmke said summer tanagers are particularly interesting because they feed regularly on bees and wasps, carefully working the insect around in their bill to remove the stinger.

For those wanting to see migrating birds, they can be found as close as a neighborhood park.

Islands of habitat, especially those places with mature oak trees like city parks and cemeteries, are good places to see migratory birds, especially early in the morning.

Many migrating birds, like warblers and vireos, are here for a short time as they make their way to the northern United States and Canada to breed. With such a short window of time, it is easy to miss the songbird migration.

Also, many of the birds are small and stay in the treetops where they feast on caterpillars that hatch just as trees begin to leaf out.
Oehmke said he hopes people take time out to see nature’s long-distance travelers.

“In my mind it is good opportunity to make the public more aware of their surroundings,” he said. “I learned from Dave Bohlen (assistant curator of zoology at the Illinois State Museum) years ago that you will not appreciate what you cannot see.”

The good news is both tanagers potentially can stay to nest, if the appropriate woodland habitat can be found.

The summer tanager’s breeding range includes the southern half of Illinois, while the scarlet tanager’s breeding range includes Illinois exception the extreme southern portion of the state.

For more information, visit the Cornell Lab of Ornithology’s Website: http://www.allaboutbirds.org.

For information about the scarlet tanager, including a recording of its voice: http://tinyurl.com/scartan.

You can find the summer tanager at: http://tinyurl.com/sumtanager.

Chris Young can be reached at (217) 788-1528. Follow him at twitter.com/ChrisYoungPSO. ]]> Central Illinois fishing report for May 10 tag:prairiestateoutdoors.com,2013:/83.22365 2013-05-10T11:51:43Z 2013-05-10T06:51:43Z Chris Young sjroutdoors@comcast.net What’s biting

With most lakes reopening after flooding, crappie are the catch in several areas. Bass are in all phases of the spawn right now.

Honey holes

Bluegills are moving up in strip mines and farm ponds and taking waxworms or crickets. Spinners, jigs and plastics have been working for bass.

Banner Marsh reopened earlier in the week and has been a good spot for crappie and bass. Crappie are on spawning beds and taking medium minnow. Bass are in pre-spawn mode and biting on jig-n-pig.

“Crazy” amounts of crappie being caught on jigs or minnows in 4-5 feet of water at Dawson Lake, according to Depot Bait & Tackle. Catfish are also biting on chicken livers.

Spring Lake “going nuts” says Lee at Riverside Bait in Pekin. Crappie are biting on both north and south ends on medium minnows. Jig-n-pig working for bass, with 71/2- and 81/2-pounders caught in tournament over the weekend. Big channel cats biting on nitro worms or nightcrawlers on the second and third pull-offs on the south end. Bluegill also starting to turn on.

Lake Bloomington and Evergreen have been good for crappie using medium minnows.

On the Illinois River, catfish are biting on dipbaits in the Peoria area up creek and flooded willow areas. Around Utica, the water level has gone down some and anglers are starting to catch striper, drum and catfish on worms and blade baits. Cats also biting in backwaters near Henry.

At Snakeden Hollow, good-sized crappie biting on minnows in most lakes. Bluegill, about one pound in size, and bass in 6-pound range being hauled in on waxworms and redworms at McMasters and the two new lakes.

Tip of the week

From larrysfishinghole.com: Big blue catfish feed mainly at night by moving in shallow from deep water to feed on baitfish and crawfish. ]]> Morel hunters having success tag:prairiestateoutdoors.com,2013:/83.22364 2013-05-10T03:37:45Z 2013-05-10T03:46:46Z Chris Young sjroutdoors@comcast.net
After a long, rainy weekend, a break in the weather seemed to set the stage for morel hunting. But Wickens said the rainy weekend didn’t deter morel seekers one bit.

“They were out in the rain,” he said. “It was raining Saturday and every parking lot was full. That rain didn’t slow them down at all. There were more mushroom hunters than turkey hunters. Most turkey hunters just gave up.”

Greg Regan, who lives just outside of Springfield, got out of his car at a favorite spot just after 1 p.m. Monday. Mushroom hunters are required to wait until after 1 p.m. at state sites where turkey hunting also is allowed.

The idea is to keep mushroom hunters safe and prevent them from interrupting turkey hunters. Wickens said mushroom hunters who tried to start early received a ticket from an Illinois Conservation Police officer.

Regan said he had been to Jim Edgar Panther Creek a few times already this spring, but had taken a few days off.

“I got some grays here in the last week,” he said. “I hear the yellows are up pretty good, now, so I am going to try my luck.”

Regan stayed with the tried and true strategy of looking for dead elm trees, patches of thorny bushes and other vegetation that might hide morels.

“You’ve got to have your right spot,” he said. “This is a good spot here.”



Greg Regan looks for morels at Jim Edgar Panther Creek.


Turns out it also was the favorite spot of at least two others, judging from the number of vehicles.

To get to Regan’s spot, he hiked along a creek and just past a bend where the “pancake turtles” like to sit in the sun.

He carried a special stick fashioned to help him sweep grass out of the way and lift up thorny canes to look inside thickets.

Panther Creek was high due to recent rains, and getting across did not look promising. Regan said he would bet on morels being plentiful on the less-accessible side of the creek.

Wickens said morel hunters were reporting good success — much better than turkey hunters.

“The turkey hunting has been pretty dismal,” Wickens said. “The birds are not gobbling after they leave the roost.”

He chalked it up to a late spring.

“I never heard a bird after they left the roost,” he said. “During the second season, I got one on the second day, but I knew where he was going and waited for him.

“You are hearing them in the trees, but they are just not gobbling after they fly down.”

Turkey hunters still have another week left in the season.

Chris Young can be reached at (217) 788-1528 or chris.young@sj-r.com. ]]> Iowa fishing report for May 9 tag:prairiestateoutdoors.com,2013:/83.22362 2013-05-09T22:51:09Z 2013-05-09T17:51:09Z Chris Young sjroutdoors@comcast.net The Iowa Department of Natural Resources issues a weekly fishing report compiled from information gathered from local bait shops, angler creel surveys, and county and state parks staff. For current information, contact the district fisheries office at the phone number listed at the end of each district report.

NORTHWEST
Brushy Creek Lake
The docks are in place at the west and south boat ramps. Largemouth Bass - Fair: Largemouth bass fishing was decent in the upper ends in shallow water. Crappie - Fair: Crappie fishing should start to pick up as the water warms.

Storm Lake (including Little Storm Lake)
Water clarity is poor. The east boat ramp and marina boat ramp are usable. Avoid the Bel Air ramp. Water levels are approximately 2 feet below crest. Anglers were catching a few walleye earlier in the week. Channel Catfish - Fair: Crappie - Fair: Some anglers were catching crappie in the marina earlier in the week. Walleye - Slow:

Swan Lake
Anglers have started to catch crappie from the piers and fish house at Swan Lake. Crappies are around 9 inches. Water levels are approximately 3 feet low.

Black Hawk Lake
Water level is 24 inches below crest. The fishery in Black Hawk Lake was renovated in fall of 2012 so there are no fish to catch at this time. Bluegills have been restocked and additional species will be stocked over the next several months.

Browns Lake
Anglers are catching catfish with cut up chubs.

Arrowhead Lake
Anglers are catching a few bluegill and yellow bass in the south end. Water levels are approximately two feet low.

Black Hawk Pits
No fishing reports have been received for Black Hawk Pits. However, anglers might try fishing for catfish with cut bait or shad guts.

For more information on lakes in the Black Hawk District contact the Black Hawk District Office at 712-657-2638.

Beeds Lake
No reports, yet, but catfish should be feeding in the shallower west end. Try fishing along the causeway when the wind is from the south or southwest. Anglers should also try by the cuts for bass or crappies.

Upper Pine Lake
A few northern pike have been caught but fishing is slow due to unstable weather.

Clear Lake
The lake is about 8 inches below crest. Water temperature is 60 degrees. Channel Catfish - Good: Catfishing is good right now as they are close to pre-spawn mode. If you find the fish, action is fast and aggressive. Try with some cutbait, worms, or stinkbait on a windward shoreline or near some of the water sources coming in. Anglers are picking some catfish up when fishing for yellow bass with cutbait. Walleye - Fair: Anglers are catching walleyes on the east and north shores. A few bigger fish have been caught but most anglers are catching a mix of sublegals and small legal walleyes. Most are caught on jig and a minnow. Muskellunge - Slow: A few fish have been reported but fishing is slow. Muskies have been showing spawning behavior and swimming close to the shoreline this last week. Yellow Bass - Fair: Yellow bass fishing has been slow, mostly due to the weather, but anglers are still catching some using bobbers and minnows or a small jig with a piece of crawler on bottom.

Lake Cornelia
Fishing has been good. Lots of fish are being caught. Channel Catfish - Slow: Cats should be biting on cutbait or stinkbait on a warmer day. Bluegill - Good: Bluegills are keeper size. Yellow Bass - Good: Yellow bass are small 7-7.25 inches.

Little Wall Lake
Crappie - Fair: Crappies (6-8 inches) and bluegills have been hitting on the north end off the lake on the jetty.

Crystal Lake
Northern Pike - Good: Northerns up to the mid 30 inches have been caught. Anglers may have success using presentations such as weedless spoons or bobbers with chubs. Bluegill - Slow: Great population of 7 to 9-inch bluegills. Largemouth Bass - Excellent: Anglers are catching lots of largemouth. Walleye - Good: Anglers are catching some 16 to 17-inch walleyes.
Blue Pit
Rainbow trout were stocked on Jan 19. Rainbow Trout - Fair: Crappie - Fair: Anglers have caught a few crappies on minnows this week.

Bluebill Lake
Largemouth Bass - Good: Largemouth bass are biting well along shorelines. Please remember the 15-inch minimum length limit on bass. Crappie - Fair: Some crappies are being reported.

Fin and Feather Lake
There has been some activity for panfish.

Iowa River (Iowa Falls to Marshalltown)
Water level in the Iowa River is on the rise from recent local rains. There is some activity below Steamboat Rock for walleye and northern pike.

Shell Rock River (above Greene)
Water levels are high. Northern Pike - Slow: A few Northern pike are being caught with a chub and bobber, or slow artificial presentation between Northwood and Nora Springs below dams, backwater areas and anywhere a creek feeds into the river. Walleye - Slow: A few small walleye being caught on jig/twister.

Winnebago River
Northern Pike - Slow: Northern pike are being caught in Fertile by the dam and the park point east of the dam. Anglers are using a slow retrieval with Mepps number 4 and 5 spinner baits or a Rapala three inch Countdown Minnow. Some pike are also hitting chubs presented below bobbers. Channel Catfish - Slow: Anglers should try below the dams or in backwater areas using cutbait, stinkbait, or minnows.

East Fork Des Moines (Algona to Humboldt)
The East Fork is running high right now. Walleye - Fair: Reports are few, but anglers were doing well in the Plum Creek area.

For lake updates and fishing information in the north central area contact the Clear Lake Fish and Wildlife office at 641-357-3517.



Big Spirit Lake
Water temperature has been in the upper 40s to very low 50s. Bullhead - Good: The grade is providing some good bullhead action and don't be afraid to fish the north side. Smallmouth Bass - Fair: Best angling during calm sunny days fish shallow rock piles and then work deeper. Crappie - Slow: As the water continues to warm the crappies will move inshore look for them around rock piles and in protected areas. Walleye - Slow: With the clear water fishing has been tough but the night bite seems to be a bit better than during the day. Slip bobbering, trolling crankbaits, spinners, and Lindy rigs all have produced a few fish.

East Okoboji Lake
Crappie - Good: Fishing off the trestle bridge has been good. Try minnows and small jigs near the pillars. A few bluegills are also being caught in the same manner. Walleye - Slow: With the cool water fishing has been slow but a few fish are being caught. Try trolling crankbaits, spinners, or Lindy rigs along drop offs and mudflats.

West Okoboji Lake
Bluegill, crappie, and bass fishing has been good in the canals. Try small jigs under a bobber for the bluegill and crappie. Walleye - Slow: The clear water has made the fishing tough during the day but the night bite is a bit better.

For more information contact the Spirit Lake Hatchery at 712-336-1840.

NORTHEAST
Volga Lake
More anglers have been out and many have reported catching fish near the new cedar tree piles. Fish activity should pick up with warmer water temperature. Bluegill - No Report: Crappie - Good: Fish are in shallower water this week especially to the north of the boat ramp and around the fishing pier. Try a jig tipped with imitation minnows.

Lake Hendricks
Water temperature is on the rise so try for fish in shallower water. Channel Catfish - Good: Catfish are biting on night crawlers or dead chubs fished under a bobber along the rockier shoreline. Largemouth Bass - Good: Anglers have been catching largemouth bass along the sandy beach using a jig and plastic worm.

Lake Meyer
Fish activity should pick up with warmer water temperature. Water clarity is excellent. Bluegill - No Report: Largemouth Bass - Good: Anglers have been picking up bass with jigs and plastic twister tails fished slowly along the shoreline. Crappie - Fair: Anglers have been picking quite a few small ones off the jetty using jigs with artificial baits.

Upper Iowa River (above Decorah)
Water levels continue to drop but flow is very high. Water temperature dropped to 56 degrees this week. The water is very muddy. Sucker - Slow: Sounds like the window for the sucker run is just about over especially now with the high flows. Use a worm, weighted with a sinker to bounce along the stream bottom. Walleye - No Report:

Upper Iowa River (below Decorah)
Water levels are slowly falling but the current is still fast. Water is muddy with low visibility. Sucker - Slow: Use a worm on a hook weighted to bounce along the stream bottom. Smallmouth Bass - No Report: Walleye - No Report:

Yellow River
Fish activity has slowed due to increased flows. Remember to get landowner permission to fish the Yellow River or fish out of a canoe or kayak.

Turkey River (above Clermont)
Water levels have dropped nicely and clarity is good. Water temperature is 54 degrees. Smallmouth Bass - Fair: Anglers are using jigs tipped with plastic twistertail with good success.

Cedar River (above Nashua)
Water levels are slowly declining with recent weather mix but are still very high. Channel Catfish - Slow: Anglers were catching cats on dead chubs in the impoundment above Nashua dam as the water levels dropped. Smallmouth Bass - Slow: Anglers should start catching smallmouth bass on jig tipped with minnows and crawlers as water clears and flows drop. Walleye - Slow: Try a jig tipped with a minnow and expect to catch a few smallmouth bass.

Decorah District Streams
Dark Hendrickson hatches are winding down for this year's early season. Light Hendricksons have begun appearing and should continue hatching well into May. A #14 Adams or similar pale mayfly pattern are good dry fly searching patterns. There have also been large afternoon caddis hatches on many northeast Iowa streams. Blue Wing Olives are always on the water. Call 563-927-5736 for current stocking information.

River and stream water levels are on the decline after last week’s wintry mix. Water temperature has dropped due to snow melt. For more on water levels, visit this website http://waterdata.usgs.gov/ia/nwis/rt All .Decorah area trout streams are in excellent condition. For more information, call the Decorah Fish Hatchery at 563-382-8324.

Plainfield
Anglers are catching bluegill and crappie. Crappies are not many in number but good in size. Bluegill - Fair: Small piece of crawler on a small hook under a bobber always works well for bluegill. Crappie - Fair: Try casting small colored tube jigs or minnow fished under a slip bobber for crappie as they move shallow to spawn.

Cedar River (Nashua to La Porte City)
The Cedar River is currently high and falling in Bremer and Black Hawk counties. Fishing has been limited with the recent rainfall and rise in river levels.

Shell Rock River (Greene to Shell Rock)
There has not been much angling activity with the rise in river levels.

Wapsi River (Tripoli to Troy Mills)
The river is currently at 7.98 feet and holding steady in Buchanan County. There have not been many reports due to the higher water levels.

Maquoketa River (above Monticello)
The Maquoketa River continues to fall and remains in good condition for fishing in Delaware County. Carp and sucker fishing has been good, concentrate below and near riffle areas. There have been good reports of smallmouth bass and channel catfish being caught. Sucker - Good: Use a heavy sinker to stay on bottom of river with a night crawler on a hook. Channel Catfish - Fair: Night crawlers fished on the bottom has been most productive. Smallmouth Bass - Good: Spinnerbaits or lead head jigs with a twister tail work well. A live crawler drifted under a slip bobber is effective for smallmouth bass, too.

Manchester District Streams
Area Manchester District trout streams are currently in excellent condition.

The interior rivers have all been impacted with the recent rainfall over the last week and little angling activity has taken place. The Maquoketa River remains in good condition, carp and sucker fishing has been good along with smallmouth bass and channel catfish. Black Hawk County lakes still remain slow because of the cool water temperature. Manchester District trout streams are in excellent condition, for further information call the district office in Manchester at 563-927-3276.

MISSISSIPPI RIVER
Mississippi River Pool 9
River level at Lansing will rise slightly to 13.1 feet and expected to remain steady this week. Channel Catfish - Good: Look for channel cats to be feeding aggressively on crawlers or cut bait in the eddies just off main channel borders and side sloughs. White Bass - Good: Fish for white bass along the flooded shorelines just off the current. Nice size fish are striking on larger in-line spinner baits. Bluegill - Excellent: Fish the shorelines close to the dams or rock structure out of the current. Smallmouth Bass - Fair: Smallmouth are feeding more actively along rocky shorelines this week. Try small crankbaits or inline spinners along the riprap. Yellow Perch - Excellent: This spring has been one of the best perch fishing seasons in years. Many large perch are being caught on minnows or jigs with worm.

Mississippi River Pool 10
River stage at Lynxville will raise slightly to 23.2 feet the end of this week and remain steady. Channel Catfish - Good: Look for channel cats to be feeding aggressively on crawlers or cut bait in the eddies just off main channel borders and side sloughs. White Bass - Good: Fish for white bass along the flooded shorelines just off the current. Nice sized fish are striking on larger in-line spinner baits. Bluegill - Excellent: Fish the shorelines close to the dams or rock structure out of the current. Smallmouth Bass - Good: Smallmouth are feeding more actively along rocky shorelines this week. Try small crankbaits or inline spinners along the riprap. Yellow Perch - Excellent: This spring has been one of the best perch fishing seasons in years. Many large perch are being caught on minnows or jigs with worm. Sauger - Fair: Sauger have spawned and have been actively feeding. Try jigs or minnows in the side channel areas of the locks and dams.

Mississippi River Pool 11
River stage at Guttenberg is expected to rise to 14.2 feet and then slowly recede. Fish are becoming more active as water temperature raises into the 50s. Channel Catfish - Good: Look for channel cats to be feeding aggressively on crawlers or cut bait in the eddies just off main channel borders and side sloughs. White Bass - Good: Fish for white bass along the flooded shorelines just off the current. Nice size fish are striking on larger in-line spinner baits. Bluegill - Excellent: Fish the shorelines close to the dams or rock structure out of the current. Yellow Perch - Excellent: This spring has been one of the best perch fishing seasons in years. Many large perch are being caught on minnows or jigs with worm. Sauger - Fair: Sauger have spawned and have been actively feeding. Try jigs or minnows in the side channel areas of the locks and dams.

Mississippi River levels remain high this week with many boat ramps still inaccessible. The fishing has been excellent for a variety of species despite the high water. Anglers are having success catching bluegill, perch and catfish this week. Water temperature is in the mid to upper 50s and expect fish to feed more aggressively as temperatures continue to rise.

Mississippi River Pool 12
Water levels at Dubuque Lock and Dam are at 14.8 feet and at the railroad bridge water levels are at 16.6 feet. Water levels are expected to rise. High water is hampering fishing in most places. Northern Pike - No Report: Northern pike are done spawning on the Mississippi and are now aggressively feeding. Use bright gaudy spinner baits for the best success. Smallmouth Bass - Fair: Smallmouth bass are showing up in the creel along rocky shorelines. Most anglers catching them on bright colored jigs. Largemouth Bass - Fair: Some being caught along rocky shorelines, very close to the shoreline edges. In this high water try to find eddy areas near rock piles. Yellow Perch - Fair: Some yellow perch are showing up around O'Leary's Lake. Yellow perch are also mainly done spawning and beginning to aggressively feed.

Mississippi River Pool 13
Water level at Bellevue is 15.0 feet and rising. Water is stained but fishable. Water levels are expected to rise a bit throughout the week. Northern Pike - No Report: Pike are done spawning in Pool 13. Recent DNR surveys show a very strong population of northern pike in the pool. Use gaudy spinner baits along the channel edge or backwater areas. Largemouth Bass - Good: Nice bass are being caught in the shallows of the large clear backwater lakes such as Spring Lake. Some bass also coming off of rocky shorelines very close to the shore.

Mississippi River Pool 14
Water levels at Fulton is at 14.6 feet and rising. The water is stained and fishing conditions are not ideal in most areas. Some clearer water can be found in the large backwater areas. Very little fishing reported in the Clinton area except in farm ponds.

Mississippi River Pool 15
We have received no information regarding fishing on this water body this week.

The Mississippi in Pools 12 to 15 is high and rising. Many ramps are under water so call ahead to the DNR or local bait shops if traveling to the River to fish. Water temperature is around 56 degrees.

Mississippi River Pool 16
Tail water stage at Lock and Dam 15 in Davenport has risen to 15.06 feet. Flood stage is 15 feet. Many of the ramps are not accessible due to the high water. There is water in the parking lot at the Marquette St. ramp and it is closed. Water clarity is fair and there is some debris floating in it. White Bass - Good: White bass are being caught between Lock and Dam 15 and the casino, below the Arsenal Dam in Sylvan Slough, and at the mouth of Sylvan Slough on the point of Arsenal Island. Some white bass are also being caught at the mouth of Sunset Marina. Try casting jigs and twister tails, or inline spinners and crankbaits. Crappie - Fair: Some crappies are being caught in Sunset Marina fishing with minnows under a bobber around the docks.

Mississippi River Pool 17
Tail water stage at Lock and Dam 16 in Muscatine has risen to 14.71 feet. Flood stage is 15 feet. Many of the ramps are not accessible due to the high water. Big Timber (The Breaks) is closed. Water clarity is fair and there is debris floating in the river. Fishing has been slow on the river due to the recent high water conditions. Most fishing reports are coming from area lakes and farm ponds.

Mississippi River Pool 18
River stage at Lock and Dam 17 at New Boston has risen to 16.46 feet. Flood stage is 15 feet. Many of the ramps are not accessible due to the high water. Toolesboro is closed. There is debris floating in the river. Fishing has been slow due to the high water conditions. Most fishing reports are coming from area lakes and farm ponds.

Mississippi River Pool 19
River stage at Lock and Dam 18 above Burlington is 12.41 feet. Flood stage is 10 feet. Many of the ramps are underwater. There is debris floating in the river. Fishing has been slow due to the high water conditions. Most of the fishing reports have been from area lakes and farm ponds.

Mississippi River Pools 16-19: River stages throughout Pools 16-19 are still at or above flood stage. Many of the boat ramps are not accessible due to the high water. Water clarity is fair and there is some debris floating in the river. Fishing has been slow due to the high water conditions. Remember to clean, drain, and dry your boat before going to another water body. If you have questions about fishing Pools 16-19 contact the Fairport Fish Hatchery at 563-263-5062.

SOUTHEAST
Lake Odessa
All the ramps on Odessa are still underwater.

Lake Geode
The water continues to clear up, but is still a little cloudy. Largemouth Bass - Good: Anglers are picking up some nice bass around the fish habitat and rock piles. Crappie - Good: Crappie fishing remains very good along the face of the dam. Jigs tipped with minnows seem to be working good.

Lake Belva Deer
The water is a little cloudy, at least by Belva Deer's standards. Channel Catfish - Good: Anglers using minnows for crappies shouldn't be too surprised if they pick up a few nice 2-3 pound channel cats along the way. Largemouth Bass - Good: bass fishing has been pretty good during the warmer weather. What the cold snap will do to it; don't know. Crappie - Good: Anglers have been picking up some nice crappies in about 6 feet of water using jigs and minnows.

Lake of the Hills
There's been plenty of boats on the lake with the Mississippi River conditions being what they are. Lake of the Hills is the only lake in West Lake Park that allows the use of live minnows as bait. Rainbow Trout - Good: Trout fishing remains good, work the rocks and where the waters enter the lakes. Worm and bobber seems to work the best. Largemouth Bass - Good: bass fishing has been good along the dams and other rocky areas of the lake. Jig and pigs or a slow moving crankbaits seem to be the best baits.

Railroad Lake
Remember the use of live minnows as bait is not allowed in Railroad Lake. Bluegill - Fair: Anglers are picking up bluegills along the area around the inflow from Bluegrass. Crappie - Fair: Anglers are also picking up crappies in the same area as the bluegills.

Wilson Lake
Rainbow Trout - Excellent: Trout fishing has been good depending on the trout's daily menu. Berkley Powerbait in a variety of colors seems to be the most dependable producer.

Skunk River (Coppock to Mississippi River)
The Skunk is back up again after 2+ inches of rain late last week. Doesn't seem to be coming down very fast either.

Iowa River (Columbus Junction to Mississippi River)
The Iowa River is about at minor flood stage and not forecast to move below that for a while.

Big Hollow Lake
Lots of people out fishing this week. Water temperature is 66-67 degrees. Crappies seem to still be in pre-spawn mode. Bluegill - Good: The bluegills are in shallow at least when it's not raining. Largemouth Bass - Good: The bass are in fairly shallow, work the rocky areas in the lake. Crappie - Good: Anglers are picking up a few crappies on minnows near the structure. The fish are down 6 to 8 feet. Only a few in shallow. Most of the keepers are around 11 inches.

For more information on the above lakes and rivers call the Lake Darling Fisheries Station at 319-694-2430.

Iowa Lake
Largemouth Bass - Fair: Crappie - Fair:

Kent Park Lake
Bluegill - Fair: Largemouth Bass - Fair:

Lake Macbride
Water temperatures are about 65 degrees. Water clarity is still murky with less than two feet of visibility. Many fish species have begun to move shallow. Largemouth Bass - Fair: Some fish are being caught shallow. Crappie - Fair: Fish around brush with bright colored jigs and/or minnows. Walleye - Slow: A few fish are being caught by trolling in depths less than 15 feet.

Central Park Lake
Water temperature is in the 50s. Largemouth Bass - Good: Crawdad colored baits are working best. Crappie - Good: Small purple jigs have been working best.

Pleasant Creek Lake
Water clarity is excellent and water temperature is around 60 degrees. Remember, largemouth bass must be 18 inches to keep and musky must be 40 inches to keep. Largemouth Bass - Fair: Some bass are being caught on rocky banks. Walleye - Fair: A few walleyes are being picked up along the dam at sunset.

Diamond Lake
The lake is still murky. Remember, no minnows are allowed here. Channel Catfish - Fair: A few fish are being caught on chicken liver. Crappie - Slow:

Otter Creek Lake
The fish cleaning station is now operational and the boat dock is in. Bluegill - Slow: Yellow Bass - Fair:

Union Grove Lake
Bluegill - Fair: Crappie - Fair: Yellow Bass - Good: Anglers are catching quite a few 10-inch fish.

Coralville Reservoir
The lake level on May 9 is 693 feet (normal 679 feet) and rising about a half foot per day. The water is fairly dirty and there has been very little fishing activity. Channel Catfish - Fair: Some fish are being caught on cut shad. Crappie - Slow: Fish shallow brush with bright jigs and/or minnows.

Iowa River (Coralville Lake to River Junction)
Outflow from the Coralville dam is 6,000 cubic feet per second. It will remain at this flow until normal water levels are reached in the Lake.

Cedar River (Cedar Rapids to Moscow)
The first ever Silver Carp was collected by a DNR sampling crew below the dam at Palisades State Park this week. Anglers are encouraged to report catching any Silver or Bighead Carp to DNR fisheries personnel and to keep the fish for identification and aging purposes. Channel Catfish - Fair: Some fish are being caught below dams in Cedar Rapids.

Wapsi River (Troy Mills to Oxford Junction)
Channel Catfish - Fair: Smallmouth Bass - Good: Fish are being caught below the dams on jigs, crankbaits, and live bait. Walleye - Good: Fish are being caught below the dams on jigs, crankbaits, and live bait.

For more information, contact the Lake Macbride Fisheries Station at 319-624-3615.

Red Haw Lake
Bluegill - Fair: Use small jigs along the shoreline. Target areas along the fishing jetties and the dam. Crappie - Fair: Use minnows fished under a bobber along the rock jetties and around the underwater structures.

Lake Sugema
Largemouth Bass - Fair: Use spinnerbaits fished along any areas with rip rock or other rock. Also try a jig n' pig combo in these same areas. Crappie - Slow: Some crappies have been biting in 6-8 feet of water on small jigs.

Rathbun Reservoir
The current lake level is 916.82 feet with normal pool being 904 feet. The water temperature is 58 degrees. Don't forget Lake Rathbun contains zebra mussels so make sure to clean, drain, and dry boats before transporting to another water body. Spray boats and trailers with high pressure hot water (above 104 degrees) or let them dry for at least 10 days (5 days in the sun). Channel Catfish - Slow: Try cut bait in coves with the wind blowing into them. Crappie - Slow: Crappie fishing remains slow. They should move shallower as the water temperature increases. Use jigs in 8-10 feet of water.

If you have other questions call the Rathbun Fish Hatchery at 641-647-2406.

SOUTHWEST
Don Williams Lake
Crappie - Fair: Some good size 10 to 12-inch crappies can be caught using minnows under a bobber fished tight to wood habitat, especially on the upper half of the lake.

Rock Creek Lake
Crappie - Fair: Anglers are beginning to pick up some crappie from shore using minnows under a bobber on the south half of the lake.

Big Creek Lake
Bluegill - Fair: Bluegills are starting to be caught near shallower brush and along the rock jetties using small pieces of crawler.

Red Rock Reservoir
Crappie - Good: Crappies are moving shallow. Fish the marina near the docks and along the riprap in the dredged area, and near any rock or wood structure in the warmer bays, especially up the Whitebreast arm. Use live minnows under a bobber.

Saylorville Reservoir
White Bass - Good: Flow over the Big Creek spillway is attracting white bass. Anglers are doing will casting jigs or fishing minnows under a bobber. Crappie - Fair: Now is a good time to target spring crappies near riprap and the docks in the marina using small tube jigs or live minnows under a bobber. Best access is from a boat, but shore fishing is possible. Crappies are also being caught in the riprap below the Big Creek spillway. Walleye - Fair: Flow over the Big Creek spillway is also attracting walleye. Anglers are picking up decent numbers of 14 to 16-inchers casting jigs.

Ada Hayden Heritage Park Lake
Rainbow Trout - Fair: Good numbers of trout left from this winter's stocking, as well as previous year's stockings, can be caught in both sections of the lake. Cast flashy inline spinners, small crankbaits, panfish tube jigs or live minnows under a bobber.

Banner Lake (south)
Rainbow Trout - Excellent: Trout were stocked April 6. They can be caught through May on inline spinners, small crankbaits, and live minnows.

Des Moines River (Saylorville to Red Rock)
White Bass - Good: Even with higher flows anglers are still doing fairly well fishing for white bass. Good areas to target right now are creek inlets that have water backed up into them. Crappie - Fair: Anglers fishing below Red Rock that are targeting walleye with jig presentations are also getting into some crappie.

Warmer water is returning, and with it, better fishing. The central Iowa crappie spawn should be going well by May 15. For questions on central Iowa lakes and rivers contact Ben Dodd or Andy Otting at 515-432-2823.

Greenfield Lake
The crappie fishing should pick up during the next warming trend. Greenfield also has a good channel catfish population with many fish in that 2 to 3 pound range. The boat ramp is usable. Channel Catfish - No Report: Shad sides fished around the jetties will catch fish in the 2 to 3 pound range. Crappie - No Report: Try minnows under a bobber along the dam and in the upper end of the lake where water warms quickly.

Nodaway Lake
A few crappies are being picked up with minnows. The lake is about full and the boat ramp is useable. Crappie - Slow: Small jigs and minnows are catching crappie around shallow brush piles and along the dam.

Lake Anita
Crappies are moving into the pontoon area of the lake. Crappie - Fair: Fish a minnow two feet under a bobber in the pontoon arm of the lake. Sorting will be necessary for 9 to 10-inch crappie.

Viking Lake
Viking has a good population of crappie. Channel catfish is another species to target while at the lake. Crappie - Slow: Fish minnows in coves and around structure for crappies up to 10 inches.

DeSoto Bend
Desoto Bend opened for fishing on April 15. The lake has a good catfish and crappie populations. Channel Catfish - No Report: Crappie - No Report:

Lake Manawa
Crappie fishing will get better with the next warming trend. Manawa has a good channel catfish population which can be caught with shad sides this time of year. Channel Catfish - No Report: Fish the windy shoreline with shad sides for catfish of all sizes. Crappie - Slow: Crappies up to 12 inches can be caught with minnows in the canals.

Cold Springs District Farm Ponds
Pond fishing has picked up this week. Crappies will begin their spawn as weather conditions improve. Remember to always get permission before fishing private farm ponds. Bluegill - Fair: Wax worms under a bobber is a good presentation now for bluegills. Crappie - Fair: Fish minnows and small jigs around structure to catch crappies.

The crappie spawn should begin as weather conditions improve. Lakes to target crappies are Anita, Nodaway, Greenfield, Manawa and Desoto Bend. For more information on lakes in the southwest district call the Cold Springs office at 712-769-2587

Lake Icaria
The water level is near full. The ramps are accessible. Water clarity is normal for springtime. Channel Catfish - Good: The channel catfish are biting on shad bait and crawlers. Largemouth Bass - Good: A lot of nesting largemouth bass are being caught near shore. Crappie - Fair: Several mid-sized crappies are moving close to shore. Walleye - Slow: A few walleyes are being caught from the dam and the old roadway.

Little River Watershed Lake
The lake has filled. All ramps are accessible. All fish have been restocked but they are small.

Badger Creek Lake
Water levels are near full and clarity is average for spring. Bluegill - Slow: A few very large bluegills can be caught from the structure in 4 to 6 feet of water. Crappie - Slow: A few very large crappies are being caught from structure near shore and from around the jetties.

Fogle Lake S.W.A.
The water level have risen to within six inches of full. Clarity is typical for spring. Largemouth Bass - Fair: Several largemouth bass are moving to structure near shore. Crappie - Fair: Some mid-sized to large crappies are being caught next to shore near the spawning beds around the jetties.

Mt. Ayr Old Reservoir
Water clarity is moderate. Crappie - Good: A lot of crappies are being caught from the face of the dam during the evenings.

Lake of Three Fires
Water levels are full and clarity is average for springtime. Largemouth Bass - Fair: A few mi-sized and big largemouth bass can be caught from near-shore. Crappie - Good: Crappies are near-shore and the bit has picked up a lot.

Sands Timber Lake (Blockton Reservoir)
The lake has been drained to allow completion of shoreline work and a wetland at the upper end.

Wilson Park Lake
Water levels are full and clarity is average. Crappie - Good: A lot of crappies are being caught from near-shore and off the tops of the rock piles.

Green Valley Lake
The water level has risen to within six inches of full. Clarity is moderate. All boat ramps are easily accessible. Largemouth Bass - Good: A lot of mid-sized largemouth bass are being caught from the shoreline structure. Crappie - Good: The crappies have moved into the spawning areas an can be caught on small jigs in three feet of water.

Summitt Lake
Water levels are full. Boat access is easy from the main ramp. The fishery has been restocked.

Three Mile Lake
The water level is full. Boat access is easy. Water clarity at mid lake and the dam is good. Crappie - Fair: A few crappies are moving to the near-shore structure and bays. A few remain off-shore around the tree piles and the old roadway. Walleye - Slow: A few walleyes are being caught from the face of the dam and some of the larger points.

Twelve Mile Creek Lake
The water levels are full and boat access is easy. Largemouth Bass - Fair: Several largemouth bass are hanging around the flooded cedar tree piles and nearby shoreline areas. Crappie - Good: Several crappies can be caught from the rock and rubble areas around the jetties, spawning beds, and armored points. Walleye - Slow: An occasional walleye is being caught from the dam and the old roadway.

Walnut Creek Marsh
The water levels are full. Boat access is normal.

The water temperature is in the upper 50s. The water levels at most lakes near full but not overflowing excessively. Water clarity varies with most lakes having at least 12 to 20 inches with some over 30 inches. The crappies and largemouth bass are starting moving shallow.

Missouri River (Sioux City to Little Sioux)
Channel Catfish - Fair: Anglers have had some success with worms and stinkbait in side channel areas around logs, river and stream inlets, wing dykes and revetments. Sauger - Slow: Fishing has been slow for sauger. Walleye - Slow: Fishing has been slow for walleye.

Missouri River (Little Sioux to Council Bluffs)
Channel Catfish - Fair: Anglers have had some success with worms and stinkbait in side channel areas around logs, river and stream inlets, wing dykes and revetments. Sauger - Slow: Fishing has been slow for sauger. Walleye - Slow: Fishing has been slow for walleye.

Missouri River (Council Bluffs to Missouri State Line)
Channel Catfish - Fair: Anglers have had some success with worms and stinkbait in side channel areas around logs, river and stream inlets, wing dykes and revetments. Sauger - Slow: Fishing has been slow for sauger. Walleye - Slow: Fishing has been slow for walleye.

The Missouri River at Decatur, Neb., is at 22,114 CFS. Water levels are predicted to rise slightly over the next week. Fishing has been fair to slow overall with variable weather conditions and cooler water temperature.

]]> “Moderate” fish kill occurring on Lake Decatur tag:prairiestateoutdoors.com,2013:/83.22361 2013-05-09T22:32:54Z 2013-05-09T17:32:54Z Chris Young sjroutdoors@comcast.net
Species affected include small freshwater drum and gizzard shad.

Due to the limited number of species involved, the kill likely is disease-related, according to DNR.

Possible causes include bacteria, fungus or a virus.

Disease-caused fish kills have not been reported in recent years, but according to DNR, it is “not an unusual occurrence for lakes in central Illinois.”

This explanation is from a notice sent by e-mail from DNR spokesman Chris McCloud:

“Gizzard shad often do not survive prolonged winters, and may still be stressed due to the prolonged cold/cool spring weather. Young freshwater drum are often in poor condition, and are often the victim of naturally occurring disease outbreaks in spring and late summer.

"A combination of quickly warming water and heavy rains that have flushed large amounts of organic debris into water bodies can result in heavy bacteria loads that can stress fish, resulting in extensive fish kills.”

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