Columns Archives - Page 125 of 128 - Mississippi Sportsman

Okatibbee is just a hair over 4,000 acres, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t hold big bass. Soft-plastics will deliver plenty of lunkers this month.

Don’t pass up Okatibbee this month

January 23, 2008 Paul Elias

To catch February bass, fish 4,144-acre Okatibbee Lake, near Meridian. You’ll catch plenty of 12- to 14-inch fish at Okatibbee, and 5-pounders aren’t uncommon. […]

When fisheries managers release bass fry and fingerlings into area waters, only a small percentage of them survive.

Pellet-fed bass will replace fingerlings

January 23, 2008 Hal Schramm

Mississippi may soon join the ranks of states like California, Florida, South Carolina and Texas as a good place to catch trophy largemouth bass. […]

George Smith and Andy Anderson, both of Laurel, made a fine catch of “river-rising” crappie on Chotard/Albermarle in late December. Master caster Smith caught most of their fish from the back of the boat throwing a two-jig set-up on a Zebco 33. The lake level was rising over 2 feet on the day they caught 46 slabs.

Rising river doesn’t cancel bets

January 23, 2008 Paul Johnson

It’s been a year since we began this column. I wondered aloud 12 months ago how long it’d take me to run out of words or ways to talk about crappie fishing. […]

There is still some rut activity going on in portions of the state, but hunters may need to rethink unsuccessful strategies.

Last-ditch efforts can pay dividends

January 2, 2008 John J. Woods

It’s panic time in the deer woods. The palms of the hands go damp like they did on prom night. A chill runs down the back causing shivers to ripple up and down the spine. This makes one think a Nor’wester is about to blow in just to spit ice in the face for an insult. […]

Anglers are always happy to catch kicker fish during tournaments, but what happens to these fish after they’re released near weigh-in sites?

Do tourney bass disperse after weigh-in?

January 2, 2008 Hal Schramm

EDITOR’S NOTE: Hal Schramm, a resident of Starkville, is a professor at Mississippi State University and leader of the USGS Mississippi Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit. He has done fisheries research for 30 years, and has been an avid multi-species angler longer than that. His column on freshwater fisheries will appear monthly. […]

Can’t catch slab crappie in the wintertime? Then you’re not really trying. The author helped fill this box during a January trip to Chotard while fishing 27 feet of water.

Get colorful and go deep this month

January 2, 2008 Paul Johnson

Well, are you about all “holidayed” out? Had enough of those out-of-town, “I-thought-they’d-never-leave” relatives? Have you eaten all the smoked turkey and sugar-cured ham you care to for a while? […]

The bullets were Federal Fusion, .270 Winchester Short Magnum in 150-grain weight. This is a ½-inch, 100-yard group. Firing a group like this at 100 yards is exceptional from a rifle that allows interchangeable barrels.

Merkel KR-1 approaches the ultimate

December 28, 2007 Gordon Hutchinson

The hottest news in rifles as we approached and entered the 21st century was the proliferation of “short-fat” cartridges, and rifles to shoot them. […]

Some units include features making it easy to travel a plot trail in reverse, save a trail or save a route automatically constructed from a trail.

Track plotters don’t get respect

December 28, 2007 Allan Tarvid

Early GPS units were pretty clunky by today’s standards — and approximately 30 times more expensive. Today’s units are faster, more accurate, and most importantly, have a lot more memory. Now, we can look at a detailed on-screen map of the area around us and see ourselves on it. We can also see the locations of places we visited and saved as waypoints, and getting between them is as simple as selecting one with a cursor and hitting a Go-To button. […]

Attendees at the Gun Rights Policy Conference took home a library of pro-Second Amendment books.

SAF, GRPC — alphabet soup for gun lovers

November 28, 2007 Gordon Hutchinson

In the middle of the frenetic activities of finishing a book and getting it ready for the printer, my publisher answered the phone to find the director of the Second Amendment Foundation on the line. […]

Muzzleloaders have gotten substantially less primitive in the last decade, but that only serves to give deer hunters more opportunities afield.

New rules mean less smoke, more thrill

November 28, 2007 John J. Woods

Deer hunting with primitive weapons has been radically redefined. Actually the new ruling took effect in the 2005-06 hunting season, so this will be its third year in force. Hunters are still just learning what the provision is and what it means to deer hunters looking for an alternative to blackpowder rifles for our two special primitive weapons seasons in December and January plus on into February in the Zone 2 southeast section of the state. […]

LED trailer lights are illuminated by clusters of tiny light sources that deliver colors sharp and brilliant enough to make conventional incandescent lights look pale in comparison.

Time to consider changing to LEDs

November 28, 2007 Allan Tarvid

The lights on your trailer are your boat’s first line of defense against collisions. Running lights show other drivers that you have a boat behind you when towing in the dark. Brake lights and turn signals can help keep tail-gating drivers from turning your stainless steel prop into a hood ornament, night or day. That is, of course, if your trailer lights work. […]

During stable weather on Bay Springs Lake, largemouth will be easy to catch, but if temperatures this December go on a roller-coaster ride, spotted bass will be more aggressive.

Up-and-down weather makes Bay shine

November 28, 2007 Paul Elias

December is a great month to catch spotted bass in Mississippi. Cool and often unpredictable weather means spotted bass will be the most-dependable fish you can catch now. […]