Fishing Shallow Rivers

Recently I've started fishing the local Haw River at different spots and the adjoining creeks, such as the Great Alamance Creek.  And when I went looking for tips on shallow water fishing, and even specifically the Haw, I came up with little.  So I've been exploring and fishing and experimenting different spots along the river, trying to learn about this local resource. While fishing in rivers is still new to me and I have plenty of room to perfect my performance, here are some of the things I have noticed that may come in handy for those who fish the Haw.  And it's likely that some of the things here apply to other small/shallow water bodies as well.

Fish the pools, not the main current
While trout may enjoy the main current of a stream or river, many fish simply do not.  Target calmer areas of the water made by rocks or sandbars.  Those calm pools and eddy's will generally house more fish.  This is especially true when the faster moving water, as is the case with the Haw, is particularly shallow and does not allow bigger fish to swim in those areas.

Try smaller lures
When fishing the shallower water, a surface lure can do the trick.  I like to use a Heddon Teeny Torpedo and I catch decent brim.  The smaller fish are especially fun on light tackle.
Another lure I like to use is a minnow with a spinner blade, such as Mepps Comet.  This will especially attract the smaller fish, such as brim or pumpkinseed.
One thing I would tell you?  Give fly fishing a try on smaller rivers, it's a blast.

Different spots for different fish
May sound a little obvious but hear me out.  Depending on what you want to catch, how much you want to catch, or in some cases WHO you bring with you (such as little ones) you need to try different spots to suit your desires or audience.  Smaller pools generally house the brim, which are fun for fishing newcomers and kids especially.  Those fish are fun, don't discount them.  AND, it provides an experience different than a cliche lake or pond to take new fisherman to (not saying in any way lakes or ponds is bad, they're a blast, it's just different than the norm).
If there are islands in the river, try the downstream side where there is generally a much bigger area of calm water.  That is where you will find fish such as bass or catfish.
If there is a slower moving creek (or if the river splits) with features such as big rocks or logs, try in those areas because bass be in the slower moving water and cover.

Caught this Pumpkinseed on a minnow jig

Wildgame Innovations Mirage 14

Last year I decided to buy a new game camera because the ones I have are wearing out.  After shopping around a little at Dicks, and with the help of a sales associate, I decided to buy the WGI Mirage 14.  In brief, I am very pleased with this camera.

Excuse my cell phone being reflected by camera

User Interface

The camera is very simple to operate, you use up, down, and enter keys to make selections.  And you see what you select on the screen.  Normally at the top of the screen the camera will show many pictures have been taken and the time, but with no SD card inserted when the above image was taken, nothing was shown.
You can set it to take pictures day and night, or just day or night.  You can select the quality of the pictures, the higher quality, the fewer pictures that can be stored on the SD card.  The tradeoff is better quality pictures allow you to pick out details of individual animals and just better viewing quality.  However, if you were just planning on leaving your camera out for weeks at a time without checking it, say in the spring and summer at a food plot, then for just scouting and deer census, lower quality/more volume of pictures might be more useful.
On top of that, you can adjust camera light exposure, how sensitive the motion sensor is, and how often it takes a pic, even set it for (soundless) video.  The customization of the camera is one of the big selling points for me.

Performance

The performance is very good in my opinion.  It is a 14 MP camera with less than a 1/2 second trigger speed with an illumination range of 75 feet, and an invisible flash (specs from WGI website).  I've already shown some pictures taken by this camera on the blog, but here's a few more just to show.

The video is bright (and sped up!), yes.  I don't know whether it's the camera's fault or my own.  Facing the camera angling down toward the ground might have caused the light to reflect back towards the camera, making it really bright.  I'll have to experiment more to find out.  However, having the capability of video is always a nice feature.

 

This owl seemed to like this perch

And this fox likes the mineral block

So, theres a little taste of the camera.  I'd highly recommend it to anyone looking for a new game camera.  Right now it's about $70, but you might be able to find it cheaper.  Until next time!

Happy Birthday SCO!

Snow Camp Outdoors has been up and running for 6 years!  It's crazy to see how far things have come since I first started writing.  Back then, I wrote about anything from hunting techniques and equipment to survival, a lot of which I honestly never used myself!  Deer drives, Dakota firehole, minnow traps, and so on.  Ok, I did try the Dakota firehole, once.  Now I try to stick more to stories or some tips and strategies...that I actually use.  When I first started writing in 2011, I had yet to shoot a deer.  I had gone squirrel hunting before, but I would not shoot a deer until 2014.  I found out writing this that I don't think I posted a pic of the deer, or even a story about it, so, here's the pic:

If you want to hear the story of my first deer, let me know in comments!  Afterwards, I got deer each year, but I wouldn't shoot a big buck till 2016.  If you want to see that story, go here.

This year, I tagged another big buck, named Prince.  So far that's been a highlight of mine for the year, other things include fly fishing fairly often in the spring and summer, and having my blog post, "A Six Year Wait" put on the RMEF web page.  You can see that here, along with a lot of other cool stories! 

Here's to another great year!

A Prince of the Forest, Part 3

Where had he gone?  How could he?  Did I just miss somehow and get a flesh wound?  Nothing made sense.  A few hours before, I was so happy to get Prince.  Now, after two hours of searching and nothing much to show for it, the guys; Justin, Caleb, and I headed home.  I would return in the morning and look some.

I planned to get up fairly early Thursday because I had somewhere to be later in the morning, so getting an early start was imperative.  I had planned to wake up a bit before 7, but restlessness woke me an hour before my alarm, I couldn't go back to sleep.  It was just impossible.

I went out that morning, expecting to find him in a particular area where we had heard crashing the night before.  Unfortunately, though I found blood, I didn't find him.  The trail stopped, and I didn't know where to search.  After an hour and a half, I headed out of the woods.  That afternoon, the guys dad, Mark, came out to help me look some more, still nothing.  There was one last area to look at before I called it quits, the woods across the field from where I shot him.  However, it was going to be Saturday afternoon before I got the chance.  Who knows what could have happened to him by then?  Can I even find him?  The answer from the search that afternoon was no.  I couldn't find him.

Now is when questions and replays of the encounter start going through your mind.  Was my shooting technique bad?  Was I not holding steady on the shoulder?  I told myself: "I know I got buck fever, but I've dropped deer before, I'm not a bad shot."  Did coyotes get him?  And this sounds weird, but is he still alive?  Who knows if he's still alive? The camera will have to tell me. 

Heavy hearted, I grabbed the SD card from my funnel camera and headed back home.  As I pulled out of my grandparents driveway and pulled into mine (we live next door), my grandpa's tractor came out from behind me and headed towards my cousins cow pasture.  Hmm, he doesn't head that way often, whatever.  I got home and started checking photos.  Nothing.  Is this really how it was going to end?  A huge deer just, wasted?  Sure, the meats bad by now, but having some token that said "you shot this deer" would be nice.  But he had just vanished.

Then mom gets a phone call, it's from Grandpa.  He had gone to help with something in the cow pasture, and my cousins son, who was with him, had spotted him while in the tractor.  This deer had ran well over 300 yards from where I shot him. 

Finally, the search was over.  I could see him up close, look at his size, hold his antlers.  All the questions, while still largely unanswered, didn't matter anymore.  All I wanted to do was savor the moment.  We got his antlers off, thanks to my cousin.  Could I have mounted him?  Yes, but my last buck mount was my Christmas present last year.  Kinda wanted something different this year, not to mention limited wall space, haha!  But, I think an antler mount might be in order. 

This buck give me a lot of twists and turns, highs and lows, but in the end, it was worth it.

A Prince of the Forest, Part 2

Recently, I've had a father and his two sons start hunting on the property along with me, they had heard about Prince and they agreed not to shoot him because I had been watching him. 

The evening of November 15th was calm.  Very little wind, maybe a slight breeze.  The two sons had come out that night to hunt and after coming up with a game plan for hunting spots and exit times, we started out towards our spots.  I went to a blind at the edge of a field, they went to a stand around 150 yards from my spot (give or take distance).

In my blind, I prayed we would have a successful hunt, that the guys could get a deer, and that I could get Prince, well any good deer really, but especially him.  After a while, about the time the deer start moving around this area, I hear movement.  At first I thought it was a squirrel, given how rapid the footsteps seemed to crunch the fall leaves.  But, it sounded, bigger.  I looked to my right, and I see a deer walking just inside the woods bordering the field.  Ugh, it's just a doe.  She walks parallel to the field through the woods and into the clearcut and disappears.  Guess I just have to sit and wait some more.

At this point, I was hoping to have seen more deer enter the field, but it was 5:20 pm and light was about to start fading fast.  I sent a text to the guys and said I would get out of my blind at 5:30 if nothing showed up in the field.  Put down my phone, and hear crunch, crunch, crunch.  It's coming from behind me now, the one place I can't see while in my blind.  I knew it was a deer, no mistaking that.  It had come down a path behind my blind that deer have come down in the past, an old logging road through the clearcut leading to the top of a hill.  I leaned over to see through the window on my left.  I saw a big deer, with antlers shooting skyward.  It was Prince.  A stroke of luck to see a buck come out so early when all I had were night pictures and the fact that there were no does in the field to "attract him".  My guess is he was hungry.  Quickly, I put on my ear muffs and cocked the hammer on my Winchester and aimed.  He was now about 45 yards away, and walking down the edge of the field.  The gun was pulled up, I made a "MEH" sound, at he stopped broadside.  Perfect.  Crosshairs landed on his shoulder, the hammer came down, BAM!  He hunched his shoulders and ran up into the woods.  Thank you Lord, I got him!

The easy part was over.  The guys came and helped me blood trail, but we only found little splotches of blood on the ground.  Sometimes we'd lose the trail, but we'd pick it back up again.  In the end, after two hours of searching, we couldn't find him.  Where was this buck?  How could he run this far?  Didn't I get him with a heart shot?  Just, how?!?