NL Outdoors

Outdoors newsletter (May 24)

Hey,

OK, now I have a serious case of envy going against my friend, Tom Turner. I’d have walked from Newton to be where he was Tuesday afternoon.

UPCOMING COVERAGE

Sunday’s Outdoors page, which will be inside the Sports section, is dedicated to Steve Green’s quest for big flathead and channel catfish in Kansas lakes.

The eastern Kansas angler has developed a way to consistently catch the fish on top-water sets, using a system that lets him attach a “limb” line to any significant piece of standing timber.

Going into our trip he’d been averaging about 80 pounds of fish per night and had gone 69 straight nights without drawing a blank.

How’d we do?

Let’s just say my knack for turning off a fishery was working pretty well. Still, we caught fish, and two nights later one of our partners pulled a real doozie off one of Green’s sets.

Today’s Eagle has a story on how the state parks are looking going into the Memorial Day weekend. Thanks to this year’s mild weather, most are geared up and ready for business.

Thanks to last year’s insane heat and toxic blue-green algae outbreaks, all the state parks are in need of a lot of business to make up for last year’s losses.

I’m still waiting for a phone call to jump into the story about the prairie plant with compounds that have been proven to fight cancer. The main delay is waiting for the plants to grow enough for good photography.

UPDATES

Fishing has been about the same. Walleye and wipers are moving at most local lakes.

If you want great crappie, and you’re not opposed to some driving, head to Glen Elder Reservoir.

I’ve had a few reports of tiny turkeys and pheasants but it looks like the early wheat harvest could destroy a lot of nests and/or young this year.

That means some places that had poor pheasant hunting last season, could be noticeably worse this season.

Fun thought, huh?

Recent high winds have probably helped avert some blue-green algae outbreaks by no letting the algae gather in large amounts.

It can really be at its worst when it’s super hot and dead calm.

We’ll see how things go this summer.

MICHAEL’S WORLD

I’ve officially removed the rain gauge I put on our deck this spring. That should make it rain, right?

Heck, when we had storms in the forecast, and dark clouds and thunder to the west Saturday evening, I went ahead and watered the garden.

That always makes it rain, right? Not this time. We were totally blanked again.

I spent a couple of half days at our farm in northeast Kansas, checking on food plots, and it’s as dry there as I’ve ever seen it in a spring…and I’ve seen a whole lot of springs.

Somehow I ended up with good wheat on my food plots. I may let them stand and then till them under for seed this fall or burn them in late August and go with something else.

It wouldn’t hurt my feelings if some doves were coming to burned fields about Sept. 1, either.

Friday afternoon and Sunday morning, I enjoyed teaching a fly-fishing class for the Becoming an Outdoors Woman program at Rock Springs 4-H Camp.

There were four students per class, which was good, and most were really interested in learning about fly fishing.

Unfortunately the wind was absolutely howling, even down in the timber. That always complicates casting, especially for beginners.

We got a lot done, though, and I found a nearby pond for Sunday’s group to try for some fish. Fortunately the bluegill were big, bedded and hitting well.

It’s always fun to see someone catch their first fish on a fly rod. Several women commented that fighting a fish on a fly rod had a lot more feel than on spinning gear.

A few weeks ago I mentioned I was moving bass and bluegill from a pond that’s going dry to one that went dry last summer and didn’t have any fish.

It’s owned by a friend with a close group of adult kids and grandkids that put a lot of stock in fishing in Grandma’s pond.

Sunday evening Kyle Redger, a friend who helped move some of the fish, and I were working around the receiving pond and decided to make a few casts.

My first cast was met by a bass of three or four pounds. In all, we made eight casts and caught four bass of varying sizes.

Unlike when we caught them in the drying pond, the bass now had great color and their bellies were full. Kyle noticed none had the red streaks in their fins or gums that showed the stress of living in their past home.

I’m hoping to get some channel cat added to the pond in a few days. Kyle and I put up a feeder so the new catfish won’t take a lot of food away from the bass and bluegill in the pond.

I’d love to figure out a way to float the feeder out in the pond. Hopefully things continue to work.

As for my bad case of envy.

When I checked my cell phone Tuesday afternoon, I noticed that Tom Turner had tried to reach me twice.

That told me it was something pretty important because Tom’s super busy, and wrongfully thinks he’s being a bother when he calls.

So, I called and he said, “I think I just saw something you’ve never seen.”

My first thoughts were fear that a mountain lion story was coming. Nope.

Tom and some others were looking for signs of prairie chickens in a big prairie pasture south of Greensburg. One of the flushed birds gave the old broken wing act trying to lure the group away.

Instead of following the bird, Tom went to the sight of the flush, parted a few clumps of little bluestem and looked down at a brood of fuzzy, thumb-sized lesser prairie chicken chicks that couldn’t have been more than about two days old.

Even seeing fist-sized young prairie chickens is pretty rare because of where they’re raised amid the prairie. I know Flint Hills ranchers who have only seen young broods a few times in their lives.

Man, I so would loved to have been there to have taken a few photos of the tiny birds.

As I told Tom, I’d have traded five good duck hunts for that few minutes seeing those little birds.

Someday, maybe.

Bests,

Michael Pearce

mpearce@wichitaeagle.com

COUNTRY PAN-FRIEND CATFISH

½ cup all-purpose flour

½ cup white cornmeal

1 tbs. crushed, dried rosemary

½ tsp. cayenne pepper

1 ½-2 lbs. catfish fillets, skin removed