http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dD1Conyl4OA

Great VIDEO!!!!!

Although I am a fan of the cedar strip and canvas canoes of old. New-tech has made it practical and affordable to go hi-tech.

Sportfishing Industry Applauds Senate Passage of Historic Conservation Legislation
The RESTORE Act provides critical funding for Gulf Coast restoration and land and water conservation estimated to be the largest boost for conservation funding in American history

Alexandria, VA – March 8, 2012 – The American Sportfishing Association (ASA), along with the country’s leading conservation and sportsmen’s and women’s organizations, applauds the Senate for passing the RESTORE the Gulf Coast Act (S. 1400) as an amendment to the Senate transportation bill. Introduced by Sens. Mary Landrieu (D-La.), Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) and Richard Shelby (R-Ala.), RESTORE represents extraordinary bipartisan consensus among lawmakers in the Gulf of Mexico region and beyond and is a crucial measure that ensures that 80 percent of the funds from the Clean Water Act and other penalties assessed in the wake of the April 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill are used to pay for economic and environmental restoration projects in Florida, Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas. Due to Senator Nelson’s leadership, of particular importance to the sportfishing industry, is funding provided in RESTORE to establish a research, science and technology program aimed at improving Gulf fisheries management and monitoring.

This amendment also includes a major, much needed increase in funding for the federal Land and Water Conservation Fund. The fund provides money to federal, state and local governments for the acquisition of land and water to benefit conservation and recreation. The provision would double current funding levels for the fund to $700 million for each of the next two years and reauthorize it until 2022, for a total of $1.4 billion.

Taken together, if the transportation bill with the RESTORE amendment attached should win final passage, these two doses of conservation funding would represent, by some estimates, the largest boost in conservation funding in American history.

“The entire sportfishing community thanks Senators Landrieu, Nelson and Shelby not just for taking a huge step forward to help ensure the long-term health of the Gulf Coast ecosystem and coastal economies, but also for infusing significant, and essential, conservation dollars into the Land and Water Conservation Fund,”  said ASA Vice President Gordon Robertson. “Sportsmen and women, and the businesses they support, rely on clean water to ensure an enjoyable and productive day on the water. Consequently, anglers have consistently advocated for the conservation of our nation’s waters and wetlands. America’s 60 million anglers should celebrate this truly historic vote.”

Robertson also recognized the efforts of Senator Max Baucus (D-Mont.) for his leadership in ensuring that not only the Gulf, but the entire country benefits from RESTORE and the funds now available for the Land and Water Conservation Fund.

Saltwater recreational fishing contributes more than $8 billion in economic output in the Gulf Coast region annually and supports approximately 82,000 jobs. The Gulf of Mexico is one of the most popular areas for recreational fishing in the United States with 3.6 million saltwater anglers spending more than 42.5 million days on the water each year. Beyond recreational fishing, the Gulf is a strong engine of commerce.  It produces roughly 40 percent of all the seafood in the lower 48 states. The region is home to 10 of the nation’s 15 largest ports, while over 25 percent of the nation’s waterborne exports pass through Louisiana ports alone.

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The American Sportfishing Association (ASA) is the sportfishing industry’s trade association, committed to looking out for the interests of the entire sportfishing community. We give the industry a unified voice speaking out when emerging laws and policies could significantly affect sportfishing business or sportfishing itself. We invest in long-term ventures to ensure the industry will remain strong and prosperous as well as safeguard and promote the enduring economic and conservation values of sportfishing in America. ASA also gives America’s 60 million anglers a voice in policy decisions that affect their ability to sustainably fish on our nation’s waterways through KeepAmericaFishing™, our angler advocacy campaign. America’s anglers generate more than $45 billion in retail sales with a $125 billion impact on the nation’s economy creating employment for more than one million people.

by Outdoor Hub on February 15, 2012

submitted by: American Sportfishing Association

I have a collection of select trout flies currently available on Ebay:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/190640261119?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1555.l2649

These are all tyed by me…. tested by me and among my personal favorites for fishing in Northern Maine.

Included: Trout Candy/Devil Bug/ Madam X/ Maple Nymph/Partridge Tail Nymph/Hornberg

More to come……….

In the minds of many of the most successful ice-anglers, the best fishing of the season is quickly approaching. The last few weeks of ice-fishing are here, and the fishing action is picking up. Several species of fish are particularly active under the ice right now, but perch are what many folks are fishing. Here’s how you can get in on the action.

There are several reasons to go ice-fishing late in the season. For one, the weather is generally milder. There will still be some cold days, but odds are good the fishing will be comfortable.

The days are longer so you get to fish more. For perch, mid-day can be really good, but if the sun is still up, you might as well stay a little longer.

Best of all, the fishing is good, and the fish are fattening up. You can catch some real jumbos this time of year.

So, now that we know that ice-fishing for perch is a good idea this time of year, how do we go about it? That’s the fun part: Lots of different bait styles will work. What we need to do is find the one that works best.

You can employ a very simple hook/splitshot, bobber rig, and it will work well. Put a small minnow on the hook, and if there’s a perch down there, it will probably eat the minnow. However, most hard-core perch anglers prefer a faster approach. This is when a Buck-Shot Rattle Spoon, a Forage Minnow Spoon, or a Puppet Minnow tipped with a Gulp! Alive Minnow Head or Maggots will really shine.

This is a time of year when you really want to be mobile. If you can find the perch, most of the time they’ll bite. The more area you cover, the more fish you’ll be showing your bait to. Don’t spend more than a couple of minutes at a hole if you’re not seeing fish. Load up a portable shelter, a Frabill Commando is about the best, put in an auger, depthfinder, some baits, and just take off walking. Move into an area that should hold perch, drill some holes, come back and fish them. If you see or catch some fish, hang around. If you don’t, keep moving. I like the Commando because it has room for the needed gear, it pulls easily, and it’s comfortable to fish from.

A few years ago we were on Lake Winnibigoshish in north central Minnesota. We were catching the perch really good in about twenty feet of water. We were using eighth ounce spoons, and the perch were hitting them as soon as they got to the bottom. We discovered that if we went to a larger spoon, the spoon would get to the bottom quicker, so we’d get bit faster than if we were using a slower falling spoon. When the bite is fast, you’ll catch more fish if your bait is in the fish zone more. Larger spoons that fall quickly will often catch more fish and bigger fish when the bite is hot.

There’s still lots of ice-fishing to do across ice-fishing country. Watch the ice, make sure it’s safe, then get out there. Some of the best ice-fishing of the year takes place at the end of the season.

–Bob Jensen

OK, let’s admit it, we have a tendency to make fishing more complicated than it really is. Successful fishing is really nothing more than convincing a fish that whatever you’re using to tempt them to bite a hook is, well, worth biting.

So you’d think getting a Boy Scout merit badge in fishing would be pretty simple, right?

Wrong.

Just before Christmas, our friend J.R. Absher forwarded several outdoor writers copies of the Boy Scouts’ Fly Fishing Merit Badge Workbook. It came with a simple question: could you pass this one?

I’m no fly fisherman, so I knew I was in trouble. The responses from “real” fly fishing experts were surprising. At least three of these folks write regularly about fly fishing. At least one has written a definitive book on fly fishing in the south.

They were equally impressed with the requirements. “I’m not exactly a novice fly fisherman,” one wrote, “but I’ll be danged if I could answer the questions on fly tying. I’ve never really tied a lot of flies, so it was stuff I can’t pretend to know.”

OK, by now those of you who are fly fishermen are probably laughing out loud. But I’d suggest your holding your guffaws until you see some of the questions required by the Scouts.

For example, can you quickly explain the the “prevention and treatment for the following health concerns that could occur while fly-fishing”: scratches, puncture wounds, insect bites, hypothermia, dehydration, heat exhaustion, heatstroke, and sunburn.

Can you quickly explain how to remove a hook that has lodged in your arm?

OK, how’s about demonstrating how to match a fly rod and leader to achieve a balanced system? Or demonstrate how to tie a backing to a fly reel spool -with an arbor knot? A nail knot? Needle knot or loop-to-loop connection?

Use the blood knot to add tippet to a leader or tie a fly onto aforementioned leader using the improved clinch knot?

Don’t get cocky….if you can do all that, you should then be able to explain when to use wet flies, dry flies, nymphs, streamers, bass bugs poppers and saltwater flies- and then tie at least two of them for your leader.

If you’ve shown that knowledge, you’re now ready for the physical parts of the test. Cast a fly -consistently- 30 feet using both overhead and roll cast techniques. Take a trip to a “suitable fishing location” and observe- and demonstrate your knowledge of what the fish are eating above- and below the surface.

Then explain “Leave no trace” “catch and release” and demonstrate how to safely release a fish.

Now, catch at least one fish. If it’s permitted, you should then clean and cook your catch. If not “acquire fish” and cook it.

I can go with the Scouts when it comes to cleaning and preparation, but I’m afraid I might be found lacking in some of the other areas.

Looking over their exam, I realize there’s really only one thing I need to prepared to go fly fishing: a Boy Scout with the Fly Fishing merit badge.

At that point, I’m good-to-go.

– Jim Shepherd

Well here’s his link……..please go see a master streamer tyer!!

http://donbastianwetflies.wordpress.com/category/fly-tying-dvds/traditional-streamers-and-bucktails/

You will be the better for it!

Fifty years and millions of lures ago, Fort Smith, Arkansas, angler George Perrin established a lure company that would lead the industry in innovation. In 1962, demand for Perrin’s Floating Minnow prompted him to create Rebel Lures and shift his company’s manufacture of plastic parts for refrigerators and air conditioners to creating some of the most dependable and popular fishing lures in history.

Several years earlier Perrin grew frustrated with the wooden minnow lures on the market. They were inconsistent, dove to different depths and ran to the left or right, and with use they took on water, which killed the action. He reasoned that he could make a better one out of plastic. He knew if he got it right, each lure would be identical, run correctly at the right depth, and most importantly, catch more fish.

The Rebel F10 Minnow was born out of frustration, but has come to be a staple in many anglers’ tackle boxes.

After experimenting and testing the prototypes at Arkansas’ Lake Ouachita, he hit on that right design and established Rebel Lures, named after the mascot of the high school his daughter attended. That lure is still available, and still catches fish. It’s the Rebel F10 Minnow.

It wasn’t long before anglers everywhere began asking for other sizes and styles…models that would sink, or run deep, topwater poppers, and later, new shapes and crankbait designs. A host of Rebel Lures are legendary…lures like the Broken Back (jointed) Minnow, the Super-R, the Pop-R, Wee-R, the Critter Series and the Rebel Crawfish crankbaits.

Rebel wasn’t limited to lure making, though. In 1970 the company entered the bass boat market, and furnished the boats for the very first Bassmaster Classic. Bobby Murray won that tournament, and the gentleman angler still works for the company as a seminar speaker and fishing instructor. Rebel branched out further, producing the first tackle boxes to depart from the basic metal boxes of the day. Rebel produced the first double-sided tackle box (lids and storage areas on both the top and the bottom). Designed by anglers, these boxes led the industry with adjustable storage areas, spinnerbait holders and molded areas for pork frog jars.

Even while producing boats and tackle boxes – and even trolling motors – Rebel always kept lure-making the main staple of production. Literally millions of lures were manufactured. Some remain in the line today and are joined by new lures sure to set the standard once again. One thing that is certain is that Rebel Lures has never been afraid to be the innovator in fishing tackle.
“It was nothing to make 10,000 lures a day,” said Danny Stoner, a longtime Rebel employee. “We made enough Rebel Lures in the 1980s to outfit every man, woman and child in the United States. Perrin was very innovative in production – we were the first to use pad printing and a heat-transfer process of decoration.”

Rebel continues in the tradition of innovation even today with the new Frog-R, Rebel Raider and Crappie Crank-R trolling crankbaits. With constant input from professional anglers and a dedication to providing high-quality fishing lures at a reasonable cost, Rebel Lures remain among America’s favorites.

Part of the fiftieth celebration is Rebel’s giveaway of a 2011 Skeeter FX21 with a 250 SHO Yamaha engine at this year’s Bassmaster Classic. Entry is through the company’s facebook page at facebook.com/FishingLures.