The river has finally straightened out and settled down. The best walleye action has been after dark, but the big smallmouth will keep you busy during the daylight hours.
This is a great time to throw jerkbaits. I like a shorter rod, about 6 feet, with braided line and a flourocarbon leader. A jerk-jerk, pause retrieve will bring some hard strikes from both smallmouth and walleye. Experiment with length of pause until you find the sweet spot. If that doesn’t work, slowly drag a tube on the bottom or swim a twistertail just above the bottom. I like to use regular monofilament for jigging and tubing. It is less sensitive than braid, but the stretch allows for some “forgiveness” in the presentation. The big girls are on the hunt, fattening up for winter.
By the time this hits print, another archery season will be in the books. There were a couple of huge bucks taken in the Valley. The antler restrictions seem to be producing bigger racks, but I’m not sure it’s just about antler restrictions. There are other factors at work. With the lower deer numbers, a lot of hunting landowners have posted their land. You can’t blame them. If they want to have deer on their property, they can’t have droves of hunters marching through with two or three tags in their pocket. More posted land means more deer are going to survive to get the larger racks. A 2 1/2-year-old buck around here can have a 20-inch spread, and bucks that make it through another couple seasons look more like they came from Kansas than Pennsylvania.
Supposedly the larger bucks do most of the breeding, but I have seen areas where there are only a couple of “scrub” bucks left, and some question the merit of killing the larger bucks while allowing the inferior racks to survive.
Turkey hunters are having a good year. I have heard of quite a few fall turkey tags filled. Fall turkey hunting is a blast because there are a lot of turkeys in these hills. You do have to do some legwork to find them. A flock of turkeys scratching in the dry leaves makes a tremendous amount of noise. Enough so that you can often get close enough to bust them up. Just run at them, and fire a shot or two and they will usually go in all directions. Then settle in against a tree and start calling. Nothing fancy, just some pleading yelps and most of the time you will have action. Sometimes they fly back in, sometimes they sneak back quietly, but often they come in talking.
A turkey’s eyesight is superb. Often while archery deer hunting, I have had turkeys come by and most of the time, one of them will spot you. I have been waiting for a shot at a turkey with the bow for a long time. When a flock comes in, the chances are not good simply because there are too many eyes. If there are only one or two, you stand a better chance of getting to full draw.
I nearly got a shot off this past week. Two jakes came to about 30 yards, then one went over the top and the other continued toward me. He needed to take a couple more steps, but he drifted over the top and out of sight. If I don’t have any luck in the next day or two, I’ll trade in the bow for the shotgun next week, the dust needs blown out of the barrel anyway.
-- Ken Maurer, Herndon, is a licensed fishing guide and a regular contributor to the Outdoors section. E-mail at kenrose@tds.net
Sports
River settling down
- Sports
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H.S. softball: A great team by any other name
For the longest time, Warrior Run softball history could be summed up with one name: Laura Harris.
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H.S. Track & Field notebook: Better late than never
As soon as the Class AA boys javelin throwers were finished Friday morning, Lewisburg’s Brandon Smith left his fellow competitors at the throwing area and took off for Seth Grove Stadium track, trying to hurry while negotiating the heavy foot traffic of fans, coaches and athletes.
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Keller runs to his first victory
Amazing. That was the simple reply from Cody Keller after capping the long comeback from injury win his first sprint car race Saturday night at Selinsgrove Speedway.
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Zaktansky: Life lessons learned from an earthworm
On my hands and knees, I slogged forward.
The steady rain had long before soaked through my clothes and turned the ground underneath me into a slick film of runny mud. My back hurt, my fingers were caked with brown goop and my mouth was aching from holding a small flashlight as I slowly scanned the backyard. -
Indigo buntings grace the Valley
Summer is the best time for viewing a spectrum of colorful birds.
Like most bird species, it is the male who exhibits bright coloration. From the orange and black patterns of the northern oriole to the scarlet tanager and yellow warbler and the rose-breasted grosbeak — all make a spectacle of themselves. -
Don Steese column: Counting the days
Memorial Day weekend is traditionally the start of the summer vacation season. Kids are out school, the weather is beautiful and all is well with the world ... except for folks like myself, who find themselves counting the days until fall.
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Hartley, Billas fight off heat
Melanie Hartley was drained, a puddle of nerves and perspiration after a brutal 400-meter dash. While the official thermometer at Shippensburg University flirted with 90 degrees on Saturday, the heavy dose of humidity had the packed house at Seth Grove Stadium sweltering.
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Moore bags two medals
Matt Moore is a hard guy to please. Or at least, he finds it hard to take pleasure in his own track and field performances.
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Ken Maurer column: More talk about bass
This past week I attended 2 meetings involving the PFBC.
The first was in Harrisburg where fish commission officials explained to the state senators why they want the DEP to place the Susquehanna River on the “impaired” list. DEP has refused once, and the PFBC has reapplied. -
Scott Dudinskie's high school baseball column: Reich still going strong
Bryan Reich feels it with every pitch he throws. Some would call it pain, maybe discomfort. The Milton right-hander chooses "annoyance."
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H.S. softball: A great team by any other name
