This was me when I was little getting the fishing scoop from my high chair!

Oh, and I should have kept talking to you, mom had sweet pea custard for me,
I would have told her I really wanted some grilled halibut but she might have
freaked, she doesn’t know I can talk yet!

They take me fishing and put me in a jumper seat in a nearby tree and force me to watch while they haul in loads of fish. Then when we get home my mom cooks them up and I have to drool about the fish while I get sweet potato mush.

I bet I can bait a hook good as anybody, well, I think I can, the last bug that crawled to close I ate, I know I though of saving him in my diaper for bait later, but that was an after thought. He was really tasty, that’s why fish really love them I guess. My dad almost handed me some worms one day but my mom hollered “He’ll Eat Them”, she was right you probably, they looked
cool and tasty too.

OK, I better go, my moms coming and I’m supposed to be staring at the TV like that’s any fun, they don’t know I use the internet either.
One day I had a close call though, my cracker broke while I was typing but luckily Sparky came by and licked up the crumbs. Dad was sure mad at him though,
he left the keyboard all wet, he’s a basset hound you know, see ya, tight lines my friends.

Hey next week I will tell you some of my parents secret spots if
dad leaves the laptop open on the couch again.

Check this video out, one boat caught over 300 of these squid.

Talk about weird, I came to my site on day and it was gone? Gary’s Fishin’ News had fallen into the abyss with all those giant sharks, red demons and giant squid.

I still had categories and a header but all the contents were lost. We looked in the files and everywhere but the was no clue where thay went.

Whatever happened, the day after Christmas it all magically reappeared. So I will try to catch up on some of the big fishing stories we have missed in the next few weeks.

I’m glad to be back. Looking forward to A Happy New Year! Gary

The economy has sent more Americans back to nature in record numbers. With unemployment levels reaching almost 11 percent in Georgia it’s no wonder more people are camping, fishing, trail riding and other outdoor activities instead of the usual expensive vacations. The sluggish economy has turned many budget-minded Americans toward the great outdoors. Across the nation it seems to be the same.

Most campgrounds in the Apache-Sitgreaves National Forests were full this summer, said Trisha Spear of Recreation Resource Management of America Inc., a private company that operates campgrounds in the forests.

“I’ve been doing this for 17 years, and I’ve noticed that every time the economy goes down, we notice an increase in visitation because it’s a cheaper vacation,” Spear said.

She saw this on Fourth of July weekend, which she spent at Big Lake in the White Mountains.

“I was out camp-hosting, and it was chaos. It was crazy,” she said.

The trend continued through Labor Day for the most part, she said, although some high-country storms kept people away from the White Mountains.

“We were busy,” she said. “The areas that are close to Phoenix, we did really well.”

“It’s really quite encouraging,” said Christine Fanning of the Outdoor Foundation. “In these days and times, not many industries are seeing a silver lining.”

Fanning said her group, which monitors trends in the outdoor industry, was seeing increased participation in tent camping, backpacking, trail running and mountain biking in 2008. And although combined retail sales for the outdoor industry declined slightly, sales of camping gear were up this spring, the foundation reports. Chain retailers reported sales of basic items like tents and low-end sleeping bags increasing more than 70 percent.

Those numbers changed to declines as the summer progressed, but clothing sales have increased, Fanning said.

“Camping is somewhat seasonal, like skiing and other things,” she said. “I think some of the trend is still there.”

Recreational Equipment Inc. reported that sales of family tents were up 10 percent for the summer. Camp stoves were up 16 percent, and camp furniture was up 11 percent.

At the Grand Canyon, requests for backcountry permits are up compared with last year.

“I think anyone you talk to at this office would say there’s an increase in the number of people asking for backcountry permits,” said Michael Schramm of the Grand Canyon backcountry office. “We’re definitely seeing an increase.”

Tent camping at the Canyon campgrounds was up in the spring, as well, said Jim O’Sickey of the Grand Canyon’s fee-management office.

“I would say that things picked up during the spring,” with an increase of about 10 percent, he said. During the summer, campgrounds are always full, and this year is no different.

Changing attitudes may also have contributed to this trend. Fanning wonders if a shift in values is taking place as people simplify their lives while cutting costs.

“We’ve been plugged in and on the grid for so long that I think people are using this as an excuse to jump off the grid and jump into some natural activities,” she said.

Charles Kurre of Arizona Hiking Shack in Phoenix said, “The one thing about being in the backcountry . . . is that it’s a stress reliever. The health benefits of getting out there and just going for a walk are phenomenal.”

He said he has been seeing customers who haven’t been backpacking in 20 years.

Kampgrounds of America, a chain with locations across the country, posted a record year in 2007. In 2008, its numbers were down slightly, said Mike Gast, a spokesman for the company. The drop was not surprising in light of $4-a-gallon gas last summer.

This spring, however, the company started noticing an interesting trend: Many visitors were within a day’s drive of home. They also were staying longer.

“Our numbers are remarkably strong this year,” Gast said. By the July 4th weekend, visitation had increased nationwide, compared with the same time last year, and they had a good showing on Labor Day.

“We’re having a strong finish,” Gast said. “We’re doing better than we were doing last year.”

KOA campgrounds are not for the rugged-outdoors family. They have swimming pools, trampolines, nature walks, arts-and-crafts classes for kids and ponds with paddleboats. They have cabins and cottages, which the company can’t build fast enough.

“Folks that would have rented a beach house in Cape Cod are giving us a try instead,” Gast said.

KOA also has noticed that people aren’t making reservations very far in advance anymore.

“They are holding off and holding off and holding off,” Gast said. “We just have to get used to the fact that they’re coming, they’re just not coming till the last minute.”

Increased interest in the outdoors is not confined to camping and hiking. Bass Pro Shops has been doing fine during the recession, said Larry Whiteley, manager of communications for the chain. Bass Pro carries camping gear as well as hunting and fishing equipment.

“Ever since the economic downturn started, we started to be proactive rather than reactive,” Whiteley said. “We’ve probably spent more on marketing than in years past,” he said, adding that the emphasis has paid off.

“It’s bringing new people to our stores,” he said.

Whiteley said a store survey also indicated that people who camp, hunt and fish say they plan to keep doing those things no matter how bad the economy gets.

Speaking of Bass Pro Shops, the store I can get lost for hours in, I can’t really remember a day I have been there that they weren’t busy. It’s the Wal-Mart of the fisherman and hunting crew.

I spoke with Georgia Fish and Wildlife and although Fishing license sales are not up it is only down slightly. With all the new fishing license options introduced this year maybe they are up through the combination of sales.

I will try to do a post soon on the New Georgia Licenses and how to stack them to save you more money.

Get out there and enjoy the great outdoors.

Tight Lines and Squealin’ Reels

Gary “Gone Fishin” Turner

Gone Fishin Club

A new invasive crawfish species has been discovered in Wisconsin.

Wisconsin’s waters have a new invasive species. A red swamp crawfish was found last month in a Washington County subdivision pond.

The crawfish is considered a danger to native fish, crawfish and frogs.

The red swamp crawfish is native to Louisiana and often sold to restaurants.

Wildlife officials are concerned about the discovery because the crawfish reproduces prolifically and can move overland to spread in nearby waters. The pond
where it was found is near the Menomonee River, a tributary of Lake Michigan.

Since this is a Louisiana species of crawfish the proper terminology for it would be a crawdad or “MuddBugg” and my advice to people in Wisconsin is to get out there and catch you a mess of them, they make great catfish bait or even better put’em in a pot with some Zatarain’s and boil’em up. Throw in a few new potatoes and some corn on the cob and you have got yourself some good eatin’ cajun style. Enjoy!

Gary “Gone Fishin” Turner

Gone Fishin Club

As many fishing enthusiasts in the United States try everyday to break George Perry’s 77 year old record for the largemouth bass, someone in Japan may have done just that.
 Documentation for a much talked about 22-pound, 4-ounce largemouth bass, caught from Japan’s largest lake in July, has arrived into the International Game Fish Association headquarters for world record recognition.

Late Monday, the IGFA, the 70-year old non-profit fisheries conservation, education and record-keeping body, received the application for the largemouth bass caught July 2,  by Manabu Kurita, 32, of Aichi, Japan.

IGFA rules for fish caught outside the U.S. allows anglers 90 days to submit their applications from the date of their catch.

IGFA conservation director Jason Schratwieser said the World All-Tackle application is currently under review after it was received through the Japan Game Fish Association.

Schratwieser said the application stated the bass weighed 10.12 kilograms and was pulled from Lake Biwa, an ancient reservoir northeast of Kyoto.  Photos and video were also submitted with the written documentation.

Kurita’s fish would tie the current record held for over 77 years by George Perry caught on Georgia’s Montgomery Lake June 2, 1932, near Jacksonville, Ga.

In North America, the largemouth bass, and especially the All-Tackle record, is considered by millions of anglers as the “holy grail” of freshwater fish because of its popularity and the longevity of Perry’s record.

Largemouth bass have also been introduced in many countries and in Japan fisheries officials consider it an invasive species. In addition, because bass are not native and are stocked in Japan, many speculated that the big bass was a sterile triploid.  

However, when biologists in Japan examined the ova of the big female they concluded that the fish was not triploid.

IGFA World Records Coordinator Becky Wright reported Kurita’s fish measured 27.20 inches in length and an almost equal girth of 26.77 inches. She said Kurita was using a blue gill as live bait trolling through a canal.  

A decision by the IGFA of whether Kurita’s fish will tie Perry’s record may take up to a month.
— Pete Johnson, IGFA.

A decision will be made soon enough, in the meantime I’m sure there is another “Doty” somewhere swimming in  a lake in California and Georgia still has its own monster bass just like the one George Perry caught so long ago for supper.

Tight Lines and Squealin’ Reels

Gary,

Gone Fishin Club

Tom Head with his 103 Pound Flathead Catfish

Now that is a catfish, 103 pounds, 16 inch wide mouth, man what a fish, ok well here’s the story.

Tom Head, a Warner Robins man caught a 103-pound catfish in the Ocmulgee River in Central Georgia this week.

According to a state Department of Natural Resources news release, 76-year-old Tom Head caught the flathead catfish near Warner Robins.

The fish’s dimensions:

Length: more than 57 inches;

Girth: 41 inches;

Head: 16 inches wide.

Although it’s more than 20 pounds heavier than the state’s record, it’s not eligible for the record because Head caught it while jug fishing .

The state Department of Natural Resources says flathead catfish have a flattened head, yellowish mottled with brown and green coloring, small eyes, a lower jaw that extends beyond the upper jaw and an unforked tail.

Melissa Cummings of the DNR says they estimate the catfish is about 20 years old.

The department’s naturalists will try to determine its age Friday by cutting open its pectoral fins and counting the spines, like the rings of a tree.

It will interesting to see how old this fish really is, it would be nice if they grow out that big in 20 years and I could be wrong but I’m bettin we find out he is a little older than that. Anyway, it is an awesome catch, I will be trying to reach Mr. Head to see what baits he was using and a little better idea of where was fishin’ if he is willing to release that spot, better yet I will see if I can go fishing with him. He may be on our next video, who knows. Till then  TIght Lines and Squealin’ Reels,

Gary “Gone Fishin” Turner

The following is the story about  3 men who capsized at sea, with only a little food and water they lasted 8 days.

Read the article,   you will see that boat safety is something not to be taken lightly. Some of you that follow my writings on facebook (gary turner) or on twitter, http://twitter.com/catfishin_man , know that I recently spent a month in Alaska. In that month I went boating several times on several different boats. We went halibut fishing 17 miles out in a 16′ Hewes Craft and another day it was a 20′ custom Willie,  a few days on 21′ and 25′ Bayliners here and there. I boated out of Deep Creek, Anchor point, Whittier, Seward, and Homer. Some days when we went out it was like glass, others it was rough, 10′ seas in the 21′ Bayliner was a little spooky.

When you go out on a boating trip with friends do you ask where the life jackets, inflatable raft, flares, whistle, air horn, food, rope, water and tons of other stuff is or do you just get in and go hoping all will go well?

After you read this article I think we may all rethink some things about our boating habits.

Five days into their eight-day ordeal adrift in the Gulf of Mexico, their lives sustained by bubble gum and crackers and their flagging hopes by prayer, the three men on the capsized fishing boat had wearied of talking to each other. So they started talking to people who weren’t there.

“We got tired of being on the boat all the time and wanting to do other things, wanting to talk to other people,” Tressel Hawkins told TODAY’s Meredith Vieira Monday from Fort Worth, Texas. “At times it just seemed like it was real, when you think about them so hard that it seemed like it was just reality — like you walked up on somebody and started talking to them. That’s just the way it is. You just looked at it like it was reality.”

As the days went by, with the men constantly wet even as they were frying in the harsh sun, Hawkins said the three friends kept talking each other back to reality. But during the eight days, each went mentally overboard at times.

“It was on a day-to-day basis everybody actually had their breakdown,” he said. “The power of prayer had us feeling … we were going to make it out of this, but we didn’t know how long we were going to have to endure this.”

Capsized catamaran
For Hawkins, 43, and his Texan pals, Curtis Hall, 28, of Palacios, and James Phillips, 30, of Blessing, hallucinations were preferable to the reality they found themselves in. On Friday, Aug. 21, they had set out on an overnight fishing trip on Phillips’ 23-foot catamaran.

That night, Hawkins was awakened when he felt water in the boat’s cabin. For some reason, a switch that was supposed to automatically turn on the boat’s bilge pumps malfunctioned, and they were in danger of sinking.

The three tried unsuccessfully to start the pumps, then tried to bail the boat out, but they soon saw it was a hopeless task. Their boat, now low in the water, was about to capsize.

“I’m running around trying to get everybody up, and we’re trying to get the water out as fast as we can,” Hawkins said. “Within a minute, five seconds, the boat just tumbled over. It capsized right there.”

The three men had the presence of mind to grab what food and water they could. In addition to bubble gum, Hawkins told Vieira, “We managed to salvage two bags of chips, a six-pack of crackers and three gallons of water. That’s what we lived on for the eight days.”

When the bottled water ran out, they ran a hose from a 30-gallon “washdown” tank that fishing boats use to wash down fish and decks. That water had a taste of diesel, but it kept them alive.

Stroke of luck
Their families had reported them missing over the weekend, and the Coast Guard launched a massive search. On Tuesday afternoon, two search helicopters flew over the boat, but somehow the crews didn’t see the three men.

“They didn’t see us. I have no idea how they didn’t see us,” Hawkins said.

They drifted within sight of oil rigs, but couldn’t draw anyone’s attention. It was the same with boats they saw that didn’t see them.

By last Friday, after the three had been missing a week, the Coast Guard called off its search and told the families of the men that it was unlikely they would be found alive. That’s when another fishing boat, the Affordable Fantasy, happened by on its way from Louisiana to Texas.

Hawkins, Phillips and Hall saw the new boat before the Affordable Fantasy’s skipper, Eddie Yaklin, saw them. In fact, Yaklin told Vieira from Rockport, Texas, “We went right by ’em. They saw us on the boat.”

Yaklin and two friends were looking elsewhere, at a nearby oil rig where they decided to tie up and get in some fishing. “We went on the rig and fished for an hour, an hour and a half, before I spotted them,” Yaklin explained.

It was a bit of pure luck that he saw the stranded boaters at all. For some reason, Yaklin said, the capsized craft was invisible from his boat’s tall flying bridge. But when he went down to the stern to fish for marlin from a couch, he spotted something a couple miles away on the water.

“I was sitting on the back of the boat and I said, ‘I’m gonna get ready to catch a blue marlin or something,’ ” Yaklin told Vieira in a Texas drawl. “I think it was just the horizon was just right, and I saw something about two miles out there. I saw something just bobbing. I was back there by myself.”

When one of his friends came down, he said, “There’s something over there. Let’s go check it out.”

Yaklin climbed back to the top of the boat, and again couldn’t see anything. But he knew he’d seen something out on the Gulf, nearly 200 miles from the nearest land. He was determined to find out what it was.

“I said, ‘Turn the boat around and head back that way. I think there’s something over there.’ I knew it was an inner tube or something,” Yaklin told Vieira. “When we turned the boat around and got the binoculars out, then we could see a guy standing up there waving,”

‘Is this really real?’
By that point, Hawkins and his friends were no longer sure if anything they were seeing was real.

“My first reaction was, is this really real?” Hawkins said of seeing Yaklin’s boat. “You kind of set back and say, ‘Is this real or is this hallucination?’ You have to wake yourself up three or four times to make sure it is real, and that it was.”

Yaklin said he got on the radio with the Coast Guard to report that he was approaching a capsized boat. He hollered to the three, asking who they were. When he relayed the information to the Coast Guard operator, he was told, “They’ve been missing for eight days.”

Yaklin turned his boat around to back up to the three men. “Then I said, ‘Hey, we’re gonna come get y’all. C’mon.’ And when I started motioning that we were backing up to them, man, they jumped in the water. There wasn’t no stopping them. They were swimming to the boat.”

Hawkins, Phillips and Hall were all in remarkably good shape after eight days adrift, thanks to the water they had. They were severely sunburned, and Hawkins’ legs were swollen from jellyfish stings, but video Yaklin shot in the salon of his boat shows the three men smiling broadly.

They had reason to smile. When Yaklin learned how long the three had been on the water, he ordered his crew to cook up a big steak dinner. Remarkably, the video shows the three using the serving forks and spoons and filling their plates politely, manners prevailing over ravenous hunger.

Yaklin transferred the three to a Coast Guard boat, which took them back to Texas. They elected not to stay in the hospital and went to their homes; Phillips has five children. Hawkins went to Fort Worth to recover at his sister’s house.

Meanwhile, the three inveterate Texans were already planning their next outing.

“We kind of made a pact,” Hawkins told Vieira. “We’re going to have to put down the poles for a little bit and try to find something else to do.”

They were lucky, real lucky! When the Coast Guard calls it off you aren’t usually coming home alive.

When is the last time you checked your bilge pump to see if its working properly? When I was in Alaska we actually did check the bilge pumps on the 2 25′ Bayliners we fish off of often.

Well guess what, thats right the automatic float switch had gone bad and nobody knew it. That’s why you test things like that. We fished and slept on those boats for 3 days on our trip out of Whittier and I can tell you that you sleep better knowing the bilge is working properly.

A large black bear standing on the bank looking at your boat is a kind of different morning wake up though.

I love fishing and boating but remember boating can be very dangerous and can happen very quickly so make sure you are prepared. Make Boating Safety a priority.

Be Safe and catch some Big Fish,

Gary

We started the week out in Charleston South Carolina, I went  down to the pier at Folly Beach. There were plenty of black tip sharks to go around. Those little guys were attacking people baits. One fishermen managed to catch a nice 7 pound black drum amid all the shark attacks.

Later in the week me and 2 friends went to one of my favorite fishing spots, Santee Cooper, to fish for catfish. We arrived at Goat Island around 8:30 pm and caught a quick cheeseburger at the Goat Island Restaurant. After that we loaded the pontoon and headed out for the night. The fish were really biting slow, the water temp in the coves was 90 degrees .

We tried a few spots with no success the moved over near the old river bed and anchored up for the night. 
Around 2:00 am we had a hit on a large live 10″ gizzard shad, he hit it hard. After Brandon battled the beast in the dark we got a glimpse of him before he dove again, it was a blue catfish and it looked like a nice one. When he landed it ,we weighed it at just over 30 pounds, a very nice blue catfish and Brandon’s first over 10 pounds. Upon inspecting the blue while removing the hook we could see some serious damage on the inside of this fishes mouth, its mouth had a large wound and the body had several line scrapes. This is indicative of escaping from a trot line. After pictures we looked it over and made the decision that the fish would survive and released him back into the lake to grow and be caught another day.

Gone Fishin Club member Brandon Kohler with a nice 30 pound blue catfish.

I always encourage releasing catfish over 20 pounds unless they have been hooked in a life threatening manner or in this fishes case had other wounds, make a good evaluation and if it is doubtful that the fish will survive by al means take the fish otherwise let him go and grow.

Around 2:45 we had our next bite on a live 3″ bream, it was a solid hook up and the line was running off the spool. Tonia picked up the rod and started trying to turn the fish as she started cranking down on the reel. We scrambled to get the other lines out of the way or out of the water as she drew the big fish closer to the boat. Finally when the fish was landed we got to see the nice flathead. It weighed in at 22 pounds and after pictures we put it back also.

Gone Fishin Club Member Tonia Harbin holds a 22 pound flathead.

Time for a quick nap and at 3:30 another rod went down, I reeled in the 17 pound flathead, took pics and released him back to grow up.

Gary Turner with a nice 17 pound Flathead Catfish.

We caught several more fish that night, including another 20 pound flathead Tonia caught and a 9 pound gar that I caught just after sunrise, that wrapped up 5 lines and made a real mess of things.

Tonia Harbin with another good 20 pound flathead catfish.

We had a great time catching catfish on Santee Cooper in June even if it was pretty hot.

I’m looking forward to going to Santee again in July.  Look for Gone Fishin Club’s Video’s on YouTube or click here  to go there now.

Have Fun Fishing!!!  Gary

A 3-year-old  girl from Billings has entered the State of Montana Fishing Records Book.

Bette Schmieding landed a nine-inch, 0.84-pound green sunfish from Hickson’s Pond near Acton while fishing with her grandfather, James Bender of Billings.

The big green sunfish was caught on a worm and young Bette battled her catch and landed it on the bank on the privately owned pond.

The private-pond record fish was allowed because the landowner allows public fishing with permission.

The record displaces a 1991 record by Roger Fliger of Billings at Castle Rock Lake at Colstrip, his sunfish was .56-pound, 8.6-inch green sunfish.

 Well there you have it, now a 3 year old girl has caught a State Record Fish. That’s awesome and I bet she is hooked on fishing for life. Teaching kids to fish is a great thing.
Take a kid fishing, the memories will be great for both of you.

Please fish responsibly!

Enjoy the summer and get out there and Go Fishin’  

Tight Lines and Sinkin’ Bobbers,  Gary