September 28 marks the 52nd National Hunting and Fishing Day, an annual event first proclaimed by President Nixon in 1972. Hunting and fishing and target shooting were then, and remain, lifestyle choices enjoyed by millions of Americans from all walks of life on every rung of the economic ladder.
Form follows function for a fusiform shoal bass, and its common and scientific name are most fitting. This little-known member of the black bass family, kin to the familiar largemouth bass and smallmouth bass, is found only in Georgia, Florida, and a small segment of Alabama in the Apalachicola River basin. Scientists know it as Micropterus cataractae and that says it all. It’s a bass most at home in the eddies around frothy falling rocky rapids, or shoals.
National Fishing and Boating Week is a time to remember the sources of conservation funding.
Excise taxes paid by fishing tackle manufacturers and a tax on motorboat fuel yield reliable and steady funding for the state agency fish biologists to research and manage the fishery.
Sport Fish Restoration dollars fund creel surveys, in-person interviews of anglers, that yield information to better manage fisheries.
In this the 50th anniversary year of the Endangered Species Act, it is worth noting that Rio Grande cutthroat a decade ago were considered for listing—and potential restricted angling. Thanks to fishery management endeavors already underway, that didn’t happen. A conservation strategy backed with much data guides work today and into the future.
I’m standing knee deep in the cold crystalline waters of a narrow gravelly stream in the highest headwaters of the White Mountains of southeast Arizona. Apache trout live here.
The Bass Anglers Sportsman Society’s Bassmaster Classic is to professional bass fishing as the Super Bowl is to professional football. Large cheering crowds, lights, and blaring music. It’s a spectacle to behold.
Each year, Aquatic Resource Education grants support education opportunities for nearly 1.5 million people including the hundreds of students learning through microfishing clinics hosted by Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD) and their partners.
One look at a golden trout and you will be captured by its beauty. General Chuck Yeager caught golden trout—or should we say this colorful fish, native only to the high southern Sierra Nevada Mountains, caught him.
April can be a cruel time of year in northern-tier states; it’s not quite spring, not quite winter. But it brings with it opening day of fishing seasons.
