January 2015 Archives - Page 3 of 7

Andy Wicker’s go-to bait for Lake Monticello’s winter bass is a drop-shot rig with a Zoom trick worm.

Get the drop on bass with a drop-shot rig

Andy Wicker said that his go-to lure when conditions are tough on Lake Monticello in January is a drop-shot rig with a green-pumpkin Zoom trick worm. […]

Spinning-wing decoys are an effective use of motion to help convince ducks to make decision to drop into a spread of decoys.

Add motion to your decoy spread for more ducks

Jeff Burleson

Hunters using clever decoy spreads can increase their odds of taking home more feathered fowl by incorporating Isaac Newton’s Laws of Motion to make their hunting spot more attractive. […]

GPS tracking units allow hunters to keep track of the location and direction their hounds are running, a huge help in staying ahead of the pack, gathering dogs up after a race and keeping them off roads.

Here, kitty, kitty

Walt Bowen

While running coyotes and foxes with dogs is a year-round sport in Eastern North Carolina, bobcats are only in season from Oct. 13 through Feb. 28. There are no daily bag or season limits. […]

With most Lake Monticello bass in deep water during the winter, knowing how to locate them on your boat’s electronics is of paramount importance.

Plug in to the latest in marine electronics

Terry Madewell

Being a civil engineer for the S.C. Department of Transportation has more than a work impact on Andy Wicker. […]

Prescribed burning of stands of pines is a primary tool for managing wildlife habitat, including quail.

Recipe for quail-habitat management is complicated

Mike Marsh

John Henry Harrelson, a biologist with the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission, helps coordinate the Columbus County Quail Co-Op’s habitat-management efforts. […]

Rob Beglin tries to set up a cast away from redfish, and long, lighter rods allow him to make longer casts.

Lighten up, shape up and gain distance

Jeff Burleson

Often, new anglers casting to wintering schools of reds in shallow water will disturb the fish on the first cast by throwing heavily rigs into the middle of the school. […]

This prime quail habitat was created by the excavation of an irrigation pond because the area could not easily be farmed and became overgrown by all kinds of vegetation.

Wastelands are not wasted on quail

Mike Marsh

The excavation of an irrigation pond created some prime quail habitat. The spoil from the pond excavation became a mound at the water’s edge, creating an area that farming equipment cannot easily enter. […]

Johnson Silver Minnows are lures that have caught redfish in all seasons for years.

Find ’em with the gold standard

Jeff Burleson

Finding the schools of winter redfish can be easy much of the time, since fish typically frequent the same flats each season. However, they will move from tributary to tributary or from one end of a flat to another during the course of a few tide sequences. […]

For the best red drum fishing the winter has to offer, seek out creeks with dark bottoms that get a lot of sunlight.

Why go to school in the winter?

Dan Kibler

Lee Paramore, a biologist for the N.C. Division of Marine Fisheries who specializes in red drum, said said they are a schooling fish for a variety of reasons and will school year-round, but they’re not as noticeable as in the winter. […]

Shotguns in the smaller gauges are about all a hunter needs to kill woodcock, a small, fast-flying upland gamebird.

It’s in the bag

Pete Rogers

Like hunters who target different gamebirds and small-game species, woodcock hunters have bag limits and possession limits to think about during the season. […]