Features from February 2020
Most boating accidents can be avoided by putting safety first. Take a few precautions and make your fishing trips accident-free.
If two fishing rods are better than one, how about 12. Learn the two most-popular techniques for trolling using multiple rods.
Slow down and fish the right baits, and February can be lunker city for bass fishermen on a handful of Mississippi lakes.
Okatibbee Lake is a winter crappie haven for Mississippi anglers. Slab crappie are getting ready for their big move and are there for the taking.
Squirrels are a great way to finish out hunting season once deer are off the menu in Mississippi. Here’s some tips on where to hunt and what to use.
Columns - February 2020
- On cold days, it’s nice to come inside and have a meal that is tasty, filling and warms you all over. This seafood/sausage chowder will do just that.
- Anglers can get information on the hottest fishing holes and lures from a variety of sources, but it rarely beats their own intuition when it comes to catching fish.
- Largemouth bass can recover from catastrophic events, and wild fish do better than their expensive, hatchery reared brethren.
- Channel catfish are known as the smallest of the “big three” species of catfish, but they occupy a huge place in freshwater fisheries in the U.S.A.
- By always wearing a safety harness in elevated stands, checking equipment and exercising many accidents can be prevented.
- At this time of year, you can catch a very big bass at Bogue Homa. Most fish there will spawn from the first to the middle of February, weather permitting.
- Rig a Yamamoto 4.5 XL Tiny Ika for bass or speckled trout. It’s the perfect artificial for finesse fishing, as well as power fishing.
Outdoor Updates - February 2020
- Fight against giant salvinia causes drawdown at Barnett Reservoir. Officials at Pearl River Valley Water Supply District urged boaters to use caution.
- Double Purple Heart medal recipient Cody Armstrong killed a monster 17-point buck, with three drop tines on a main-frame 6-point rack, in Montgomery County.
- Chris Gann killed over 332 inches of gross antler measurements with two trophy bucks he took right before Christmas in Adams County.
- Rabbit hunters rule Mississippi’s roost when February arrives. It is a southern tradition that takes off once deer seasons end and land becomes available.
- As is often the case after an election year, no wildlife bills are under way early in Mississippi’s 2020 legislature session.
- Mississippi squirrel hunters can’t wait for February to arrive. Mississippi’s season runs through Feb. 28. The limit is eight per day, per hunter.
- The number of CWD-positive deer from Mississippi has nearly doubled with part of the 2019-2020 season remaining. The number had increased to 37.
Field Notes - February 2020
- When you’re trapping this season, avoid these common mistakes when using foothold traps, and you’ll catch more coyotes than ever.
- Here are the steps for hunters to easily, quickly and cleanly making quick work of prepping squirrels for cooking.
- When it comes to catching bass in February, things are pretty clear to bass pro David Fritts — clear, as in clear water.
- It took Nick LeBrun only a few casts to decide that Bill Lewis’s new SB-57 crankbait was going to be a fixture in his tackle box this year.
- As soon as duck season ends, a choice few waterfowlers will pack away their duck decoys and layout boats and unload masses of white decoy shells for the snow goose conservation season.
- Growing big fish begins with creating the right environment on the molecular level. The food chain in ponds begins with the microorganisms and ends with the top predators, such as largemouth bass and catfish.
- The Slab Runner, a collaboration between TTI-Blakemore and Bobby Garland, is a dream match for anglers and a nightmare for crappie.