January 2016 Archives - Carolina Sportsman

A good headlamp and a GPS-enabled depth finder are great tools for a night-fishing kayak adventure.

Take care after dark – Winter kayak trips can be great, but be safe

It is winter. It is cold. Fishing is likely not the first activity that comes to mind. Fishing from a kayak is likely a step or two below that on the list. […]

January: inventory time

Davy Hite

January is tackle month around my home in Ninety Six. Deer season has ended, there aren’t any tournaments to fish for another month or so, and boat shows and fishing shows are getting cranked up. All that combines to make it inventory time for me and my tackle. […]

The BUZZ Bug, a versatile soft plastic made by Mister Twister, hits the market this month.

Mister Twister BUZZ Bug available in stores starting this month

Don Shoopman

Mister Twister’s BUZZ Bug, which the Louisiana company plans to introduce at the beginning of 2016, was in the right place at the right time to make a name for itself before it ever hit the market. […]

Garmin’s new echoMAP 4 series units have 4-inch screens with 482 vertical pixel resolution.

New Garmin combo units CHIRP and draw their own maps

Allan Tarvid

Garmin bills its new echoMAP CHIRP models as a series of “entry-level” combination sonar/GPS units with built-in CHIRP sonar technology, but I think the term “affordable” fits better. […]

The author has learned to catch bass the way they want to be caught, not forcing them into a box.

Take advantage of the bass bite

Dustin Wilks

Usually I write about seasonal approaches to bass fishing this time of year, but all too often we tend to get caught up in what the fish should be doing instead of what they are actually doing. […]

Crappie and bream can often be caught together when fishing shallow cover in January.

Don’t give up on January

Terry Madewell

January may be the coldest month, but it does put some fish into definable patterns that enable anglers make the most of the cold weather that usually greets the new year. […]

Berries like crabapples (above) and smilax are prime foods for grouse during the winter.

Grouse: Thanks berry much

Mike Marsh

Grouse enjoy eating berries above all else, so hunters should keep a sharp eye out for them. Early in the season, grapes are a mainstay, but many types of berries remain edible all winter, even after a hard freeze. […]

Cast a soft-plastic shrimp far enough in front of a school of reds that it doesn’t spook them, then let them find it.

Learn your lessons for Charleston’s January redfish

Brian Cope

The schools of redfish you’ll see in January can literally number in the hundreds, and you’ll find out quickly that they like sticking close together. […]

Disking between rows of pines after prescribed winter burning will generate plenty of new growth and wildlife habitat.

Disk between rows of pines after prescribed burning

Jeff Burleson

On average, pine plantations comprise nearly 25 percent of the forested cover in the Carolinas. Since a quarter of those are in homogeneous stands with uniform rows, the rows left empty after thinning can be manipulated through disking or harrowing to create corridors of beneficial wildlife habitat. […]