Chester Moore, Jr
CNHI
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This week there are lots of things on my mind as well as going on in the outdoors world. I will do my best to touch on the most important.
I got an email asking what the most practical skill a parent can teach their children to benefit them during their life as a saltwater fisherman.
My answer was learning to throw a castnet.
Casting a rod and reel is a prerequisite to fishing but many people do not know how to throw a castnet and this in the long run can costs them lots of money and opportunity.
Live mullet, shad, croaker and other baits can be expensive and hard to come by and there are times when that is all the fish seem to want to bite on. By learning to properly throw a net a child throughout his or her life will rarely lack for bait and have lots of fun in the process.
My parents got me a cast net for my 10th birthday and I will never forget learning to throw it in our yard and soon after using it catch bait for our many fishing trips.
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There have been rumors flying around about money from British Petroleum (BP) being used to flood rice fields in Southeast Texas and Southwest Louisiana as a way to curtail ducks for hitting oil affected marshes.
I spoke with Mike Checkett, media relations biologist with Ducks Unlimited (DU) and got the straight scoop.
“DU received a $2.5 million grant from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF). NFWF's Recovered Oil Fund for Wildlife was made possible with proceeds from BP's share of net revenue from oil recovered from the Deepwater Horizon site. The fund will support immediate actions to safeguard wildlife at risk from the Gulf oil spill, including waterfowl and shorebirds,” Checkett said.
He noted the funds received by DU from NFWF will be used to flood alternative habitats in the critical rice region of coastal Louisiana and Texas. The areas to be flooded will provide crucial migration and wintering habitat within the Gulf Coast region.
“This will be especially important if oil from the Deepwater Horizon spill is pushed into fresh and intermediate salinity marshes by storms later this summer and fall.”
Checkett said many have misconstrued this as a “stopping” birds from getting to the oil when it is actually providing an “alternative” to oiled habitats.
“Many of these species are going to make it to the Gulf no matter what. They are hardwired to migrate and winter there or refuel there on migrations to Mexico and Central America. I think the better way to describe this effort is that if the freshwater marsh habitat is oiled and birds reach the oiled areas they will find unsuitable habitat or limited food because of the oiling then they must leave if they have not been oiled themselves.”
“Certainly you would not think they could continue south without refueling so the alternative is to move west or back north. The exact places these habitats are being provided. They may actually have stopped at some of these on their way south and would migrate back to these areas remembering their successes there.”
“Again, DU chose to work in areas as close to the oil as possible with programs and infrastructure that were essentially already in place that would allow for immediate implementation.”
# Anglers should remember that even if they have a Louisiana fishing license they cannot bring Louisiana limits of fish or the smaller fish you can keep across the line back to Texas boat docks. There has reportedly been some confusion over that lately. If you launch in Texas you have to respect Texas limits.
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The “River Monsters” series on Animal Planet has got lots of people talking about bull sharks in our local rivers. Host Jeremy Wade has done a few episodes dealing with this aggressive species, which can live in totally freshwater.
Do bull sharks dwell in the Sabine and Neches Rivers north of the saltwater line?
I have absolutely no doubt they cross into that area and know of several small bull sharks caught just south of it on the Sabine in the last few years. Lots of bull sharks enter Sabine Lake every year and with their ability to live in freshwater, their range is limited only by land and dams.
Chester Moore, Jr. is The News Outdoos editor. To contact Chester Moore, e-mail him at cmoore@fishgame.com. You can hear him on the radio Fridays from 6-7 p.m. on Newstalk AM 560 KLVI or online at www.klvi.com.
