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Of The Outdoors | Gary Howey

Mayfly Hatch A Great Time To FishOUTDOORS DIGEST

TROPHY SPOTLIGHT

Become A Certified Nebraska Youth FishingInstructor

LINCOLN, Neb. — The NebraskaGame and Parks Commission will certifyyouth fishing instructors April 27 in Scotts-bluff. The free workshop will be held atFirst Presbyterian Church, 101 E. 20thSt., from 2-5 p.m.

Youth fishing instructors will receivetraining and tools to conduct fishing clin-ics. These volunteers will have access toGame and Parks' loaner fishing equip-ment and educational materials forevents and will receive program incen-tives. They also are encouraged to volun-teer for such Game and Parks programsas Family Fishing Nights and OutdoorExpos.

To reserve a spot in this workshop,contact Larry Pape by April 25 at 402-471-5447 or larry.pape@nebraska.gov.

Bowhunter EducationClasses Coming Up

The 2014 Bowhunter Educationclasses will be held in Yankton June 22,Aug. 10 and Sept. 14. All classes are onSundays from 8 a.m.-6 p.m. You must be12 years of age or turn 12 in 2014 to takethe class.

There is no charge for class or mate-rials. Portions of the class will be con-ducted outdoors, so dress appropriately.

Register at the NFAA Easton YanktonArchery Complex, 800 Archery Lane,Yankton, SD or online at www.yanktonar-cherycomplex.org. Phone number is 605-260-9282.

HuntSAFE Courses Ongoing In Yankton

The 2014 HuntSAFE Courses will beheld at in Yankton April 19-20, June 7-8,Aug. 16-17, and Sept. 6-7. SaturdayClasses run from 8 a.m.-2 p.m. Sunday.Classes run from noon-4 p.m.

The 10-hour course is taught by certi-fied instructors at no cost to participants.Successful completion of this course isrequired by law of every person under theage of 16 who wishes to hunt in SouthDakota and Nebraska. Residents of ei-ther state must be 11 years of age orolder to take the course. Parents are en-couraged to attend.

Pre-registration is required. Registeronline atwww.yanktonarcherycomplex.org or atthe NFAA Easton Yankton Archery Com-plex, 800 Archery Lane, Yankton, SD.Phone number is 605-260-9282.

Winter Bird-WatchingOffered at Lewis &Clark Recreation Area

Lewis and Clark Recreation Area is of-fering a chance to experience winter birdwatching. A “self-guided hike” leads parkusers to many different species of winter-ing birds.

Brochures and a registration book arelocated outside the Welcome Center parkoffice door. Bird/suet feeders have alsobeen placed in areas of the park along thebirding trail to attract the wintering birds.

Bertsch also reminds park visitors thata park entrance license is required year-round for all vehicles entering the park andmay be purchased at the self-pay stationat the entrance booth if the park office isclosed.

For more information, contact Lewis &Clark Recreation Area at (605) 668-2985.

GFP Commission Final-izes Waterfowl, Mourn-ing Dove Season

PIERRE — The South Dakota Game,Fish and Parks Commission finalized sev-eral waterfowl hunting seasons at theirApril meeting in Oacoma.

Hunters will be able to have three timestheir possession limit of sandhill cranesand mourning doves in 2014. The mourn-ing dove hunting season will be Sept. 1-Nov. 9 and the sandhill crane hunting sea-son will run from Sept. 27 - Nov. 23.

Commissioners did not propose anychanges in the number of waterfowl li-censes available to nonresidents from2013. There will be 4,000 special water-fowl licenses; 2,000 early fall Canadagoose temporary licenses; 2,000 fall 3-daytemporary licenses and 10,000 springsnow goose licenses available for nonres-ident hunters.

The number of special Canada gooselicenses will also be unchanged from lastyear. The Bennett County season will runfrom Oct. 18 - Dec. 21 and will have 800 3-tag licenses available for residents and 252-tag licenses available for nonresidents.

The 2014 South Dakota tundra swanhunting season will run from Oct. 4 to theend of the light goose hunting season andwas finalized with 1,100 resident and 200nonresident single tag licenses available.

BY GARY HOWEYHartington, Neb.

Well, spring is finally here and withthe wind blowing as it has; it is tough todevelop any consistent patterns forcatching fish.

As spring rolls along, making its wayinto summer, our weather should stabi-lize and give us better fishing condi-tions and more time to spend on thewater.

If you’re a walleye fisherman, this isthe time of the year when fishing reallystarts to pick up.

The walleyes have come throughthe cold-water period where they haveeaten just enough to survive.

Now they have finished spawning,they will be on the bite, trying to gainback the weight and energy lost duringthe long winter and the spawning rit-ual.

They’ll move from their slow lethar-gic routine wherethey had to be en-ticed to bite with aslow moving pres-entation like a jig orlive bait rig intotheir more activeperiod wherethey’ll chase baits.

It’s this time ofthe year that you’llfind walleyes work-ing the mud flatslooking for an easymeal including theemergence of in-sects that havespent most of theirlife buried in the mud at the bottom ofthe river or lake.

In the Midwest, the Mayfly hatch isthe primary hatch that all anglersshould know about.

These insects will begin to hatchout in late April into May depending onweather conditions continuing to hatchon into the early summer.

Triggered by warmer weather andwave action, the larvae stage of theMayfly will emerge from the bottom.They will wiggle their way out of thebottom and make their way to the sur-face. On this trip they become easymeals for all species of fish.

Once on the surface, the Mayflieswill spend its short life, at times only acouple of days, mating and then die.

Once this is accomplished, theireggs will fall back into the water: sink-ing to the bottom to begin the entireprocess all over again.

I’ve been fortunate or unfortunate,depending on how you look at it to hit acouple of Mayfly hatches at the righttime, one on Merritt Reservoir, the an-other on Lewis & Clark Lake and caughtsome excellent fish.

Unfortunately, it took us the betterpart of a day to nail down a presenta-tion allowing us to take advantage ofthe situation.

When fish, all species are feeding onMayflies, they really do not need to lookfor anything else as they have all theyneed coming off the bottom. In order totake advantage of the hatch, you aregoing to have to figure out a plan, imi-tating Mayflies, making their way to thesurface.

Mayfly hatches generally occur inthe shallower dark bottomed bays first,since they warm up more quickly, al-

though I have seen them occur out inthe middle of a lake.

Some hatches are over in just a fewhours while others may last the betterpart of a day.

These hatches are easy to locate be-cause of the floating husk, which oncewere the insects’ underwater home willbe floating on the surface and the hun-dreds of thousands of large Mayflies fill-ing the air.

Since the hatch occurs on windydays, it can be tough to present yourbait effectively 100 percent of the time.

I’ve found that the best presentationto be a slip bobber rig baited with a“tiny” leech.

I know, this is just the opposite ofwhat you’ve heard when it comes tofishing leeches, since bigger is alwaysbetter.

When fishing an insect hatch, thefish are zeroed in on small insect sizebait and will ignore a larger leech.

You’ll need to use your locator todetermine the exact area where theflies are coming off the bottom. Thisisn’t too complicated as the number offlies moving up from the bottom will re-ally light up or black out your locatorscreen.

Once you’ve zeroed in on the hatch,tie on a slip bobber rig with a smallsplit shot, the smaller the better and a

small hook In order to keep you bobber from

hanging up against your split shot andnot working properly, you’ll want to adda tiny bead just above the split shot.

Tip the hook with a small leech andadjust the depth so your bait suspendsjust above the fish, which can be a footor so off the bottom or half way to thesurface.

The wave action will make yourleech rise up and down imitating aMayfly as it is making its way to thesurface.

Depending on how windy it is, youshould not need much weight on therig, only enough to allow your bait toget down and to keep your bobber up-right. If your line doesn’t slidethrough the bobber smoothly, youmight want to replace your plain hookwith a tiny jig to get your bait down alittle faster.

Once you’ve cast the rig where youwant it, feed line until your slip bobberstands upright.

I prefer to fish these rigs with anopen face-spinning reel the same way Iwould fish a Northland Roach Rig.

By leaving the bail open and havingmy finger on the line, I can detect theslightest bite and feed the fish line ashe moves off with my bait.

Once you feel the pick-up with the

fish moving off with your bait, aim therod tip at the fish, reel up the slackline and feeling the weight on the line,set the hook hard.

One thing you don’t want to do isto think that because you’re using atiny leech that the fish you’ll catch willbe tiny.

We have taken walleyes over tenpounds using this rig during the heightof the Mayfly hatch.

By knowing what to do when aMayfly hatch occurs, you will be readyto catch fish and not waste a lot oftime tying on different lures hoping tofind one that the fish like.

Gary Howey, Hartington, Neb., is aformer tournament angler, fishing andhunting guide. He is the Producer/Hostof the award winning Outdoorsmen Ad-ventures television series, seen on Foxaffiliates throughout the upper Midwest.In the Yankton area, it airs on localchannels 2 & 98 Saturday at 6:30 pmand Sunday at 7:00 am as well as onMIDCO Sports Network Thursday at 5:30pm and Sunday at 10:00 am. He andSimon Fuller are the hosts of the OutdoorAdventures radio program Monday-Satur-day at 6:45 am on Classic Hits 106.3 andESPN Sports Radio 1570. If you are look-ing for more outdoor information, checkout www.outdoorsmenadventures.com.

OUTDOORSMEN PRODUCTIONS PHOTOWalleyes, such as this nine-pound fish, caught by columnist Gary Howey can be taken taken during an early Mayfly hatch usingmethods mentioned in this column.

SUBMITTED PHOTOLexie Lais of Yankton shot herfirst turkey on April 17 in Yank-ton County while hunting withher father, Ray. The turkeyweighed 22 pounds and had a 9-inch beard. To submit your pho-tos to the P&D, email the image(along with relevant information)to jeremy.hoeck@yankton.net.

PICKSTOWN — The fourthannual South Dakota BirdingFestival will be held May 2-4 atPickstown.

Herons, eagles, owls andhawks, to mention a few, areready to sport their finestspring plumage for yourwatching enjoyment. And, youmight even get to check a newbird off your list.

Birding enthusiasts willgather to hopefully catch siteof hundreds of migrating birdspecies returning to SouthDakota or heading to otherparts of the country. The com-munities of Wagner, Pickstownand Lake Andes stand ready to

welcome you for the weekend.There are many unique

birding opportunities in thisregion. The Fort Randall loca-tion along the Missouri River,includes the Lake Andes Na-tional Wildlife Refuge, the KarlMundt National WildlifeRefuge, and the Missouri Riveritself; which are all major fly-ways for migrating birds.

The South Dakota BirdingFestival offers a full scheduleof activities beginning at 6p.m. on Friday, May 2, at theRainbow Room in Pickstown.

Registration, a social andrefreshments are on tap with apresentation at 7:30 p.m. by

Dr. Dave Swanson from theUniversity of South Dakota on“Identification of the Warblersof South Dakota.”

The events will continueon Saturday, May 3 beginningat 6:20 a.m. at the Lake AndesNational Wildlife Refuge with

birding field trips beginning at6:30 a.m. — including a birdbanding workshop. The bird-ing field bus trips will beginonce again at 12:30 p.m. Thefestival continues at 4:30 p.m.at the Wagner National GuardArmory where Lynn Barber

will do a book signing for herpublication “Extreme Birder,One Womanπs Big Year.”

For an event schedule andregistration form, visitwww.sdmissouririver.com/fol-low-the-river/the-great-out-doors/birding/.

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South Dakota Birding Festival Set For Pickstown May 2-4

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HOWEY