SIGNS OF SPRING

LUKE CLAYTON Columnist

I’m coming to you from my little writing station at home today, very early in the morning. I’m pushing deadline for my weekly column this week in hopes of getting a ‘fresh’ wild turkey photo for you. While out in the woods near my home yesterday morning, I heard a distant rifle shot which triggered the gobble of a wild turkey only a few yards back in the brush. I was packing in some corn to a feeder I have set up for hogs but when I heard the gobble I forgot all about wild porkers and quietly slipped out of the woods in hopes of calling the bird in for photos today! The Rio Grande subspecies of turkey were stocked not far from my home a few years ago and the birds appear to be doing well. Hopefully there will be a hunting season in a few years but until then, I will continue hunting them with my cameras. I’ve discovered this is almost as much fun as hunting with a gun or bow but I dearly love chicken fried wild turkey breast and fajitas made from the drumsticks and thigh meat. In a few weeks, I will be heading down to the Hill Country to hunt turkey on the famous Y O Ranch near Kerrville. In my opinion, there is no place on earth that is more beautiful during the spring than the rolling hills and bluebonnets this time of year than down in the Texas Hill Country.

There are many signs that spring is here, regardless the ‘official’ date is March 20 this year. The wild turkey gobble I heard yesterday is an indicator that winter is about done. Turkey begin to break off from the big flocks of winter to spread out, the hens looking for nest sites and the gobblers in hot pursuit of the hens.

White bass are also beginning their annual spring ‘run’. My good friend, Jeff Rice, owns land adjacent a feeder creek above Lake Fork. Jeff tested the waters over the weekend and caught a few heavy egg laden females. In a few days, the water will clear from the heavy rains of last week and fishing should be red hot. There is something very special about walking a creek bank this time of year tossing small spinners and soft plastics parallel to the bank line in hopes of connecting with the makings of a shoreline fish fry. White bass just fight harder during the spawn, possibly because they lay in ambush around deeper pools and catch baitfish that the current brings within their strike zone. I’ll make a day trip to Jeff’s place soon with some dry wood, cast iron skillet, cooking oil and cornmeal. A can or two of pork n beans, a big onion and two or three potatoes will complement our noon time meal along the creek. We have developed a system of setting up a site for lunch downstream and then walking a quarter mile or so up the creek, fishing our way back to camp. To my way of thinking, nothing is tastier than freshly caught white bass or catfish fillets cooked in the deep woods along a creek bank when dogwoods are in bloom!

Largemouth bass are moving shallow; some are already locking down on nests, usually on the north end of lakes where the water warms a bit quicker, but in the farm ponds around home I fish, I’ve already found bass in the shallows on nests. I usually don’t fish for the ones on nests but target the fish staging in a bit deeper water, honestly they are usually a bit easier to catch. Once they are on nests guarding their eggs, I leave them alone. The future population of bass depends upon a good spawn and to my way of thinking, the spawning fish has all it can do to keep sunfish and other bass away from those tasty eggs!

I love to watch what I call ‘carry over’ ducks and geese this time of year. It seems more and more waterfowl nest here in Texas these days. It’s becoming a common sight to see mallard hens with a clutch of baby ducks, especially in some of the remote farm ponds I fish. Right now, the hens are in the egg laying process and when you spot a hen near her nest site it’s a good bet her mate will be nearby. Greater Canada geese also live in many areas of Texas year around; I’ve watched a mated pair near my home for the past several years. They become very reclusive this time of year during their nesting season, I’ve yet to find their nest but by mid to late April, it’s common to see then with goslings paddling around in one of the remote ponds or old gravel pits in the area. Mexican whistling ducks have also become common during the past couple of decades. I have a big dead oak where I live and a pair of whistlers has already taken up residence in a hollowed out spot near the top of the tree. Each year, the tree is used as a nest site. I’ve often wondered if it’s the same pair that comes back each year. I’m afraid this might be the last year the old tree serves as a nursery, some of the bigger dead limbs are breaking off and a strong wind will someday cause the entire tree to topple over. Let’s hope it stands long enough for the ducklings to hatch.

Well, it’s time for me to put on my camo, grab my cameras and attempt to call in that old turkey gobbler that sounded off about this time yesterday morning. Wish me luck!

Contact outdoors writer Luke Clayton via his website www.catfishradio.org.

Why are my trees dying?