Articles by Hal Schramm

About Hal Schramm
Hal Schramm is an avid angler and veteran fisheries biologist.
Bass Fishing

Long-distance feeling

January 1, 2012 Hal Schramm

Fish have the same five senses people do — sight, touch, taste, smell and hearing — but their ability to detect water movement is like a sixth sense. The ability to detect water movement helps fish avoid collisions, find prey and avoid predators. […]

Bass Fishing

Winter bass

December 1, 2011 Hal Schramm

If you like to catch big bass, appreciate solitude on the lake, and know how to dress for cold weather, good bass fishing awaits you in Mississippi’s waters. December signals the end of fall fishing and the start of winter fishing throughout the northern two-thirds of the Magnolia State. And there are bass to be caught. […]

Freshwater Fishing

Essential ecosystems

November 1, 2011 Hal Schramm

Ecosystems provide ecological services. Although the concept of ecological services has been recognized for a long time, lately I am hearing the term a lot. While ecological services may ring of something academic, one of the many services ecosystems perform is providing the fish and wildlife we enjoy as sportsmen. […]

Freshwater Fishing

Of fish and frustration: The flood of 2011

September 27, 2011 Hal Schramm

May 2011 will not be forgotten by anyone connected with the Mississippi River. While a few historians claim the lower Mississippi River has been higher, the 2011 flood set a new high-water record on the Vicksburg gauge, and was just inches shy of record highs on the Greenville and Memphis gauges. The social and economic damage were huge. […]

Freshwater Fishing

Fish Wars: Do sport fishes compete

July 27, 2011 Hal Schramm

It’s the time of the year when white bass, striped bass and hybrid striped bass group up and chase shad, often corralling them near the surface where they have nowhere to escape. “Schooling” whites, stripes and hybrids can make for some exciting fishing on late afternoons in the summer. Catching these schooling, lure-crushing fish has salvaged more than a few of my black bass outings after sweating through a long Mississippi summer day for only a couple of bites. […]