One thing I’ve learned in all my years as an outdoors writer is that you can’t go wrong writing about snakes.

Whether people love them or hate them, everyone seems to be fascinated by them - and for that reason, stories like the one I published May 11 are always well-read.

Personally, I hate snakes - and I have for a very long time.

I know they’re good for the ecosystem, and they play a positive role for the environment. But I get shaky at the mere thought of snakes because of several incidents that took place when I was a child.

When I was seven or eight years old, my grandfather used to let me swim in the Cahaba River that flows through the heart of Birmingham, Ala. We also did some trotline fishing for catfish on the river, and one night he put out a minnow trap to catch small fish for catfish bait in the same spot where I had always swam.

When we came back the next morning, the trap was filled with small bluegill. But it was also holding a giant banded water snake.

The snake had swam into the trap and swallowed one of the bluegill whole. But with the big lump in its mid-section, it couldn’t get back out of the trap and it drowned.

Needless to say, that was the last time I swam in that spot - and that incident was the source of many snake-related nightmares.

A few years laters when I was about 10 or 12, I went blackberry picking with my grandfather. Snakes were a common occurrence on blackberry-picking trips because they like to sit near the bushes and catch birds that come to eat the berries.

On our way to the blackberry bushes one day, we encountered a snake so big that it stretched completely across the dirt road we were riding on. It had to be at least 10 to 12 feet long, and I’ll always believe it was someone’s pet python or boa constrictor that they had just released into the woods.

My grandfather ran over it with his Volkswagen, and the snake didn’t even slow down. When we rolled over the giant reptile, it was like rolling over a concrete speed bump. But the snake kept going. It crossed the road, crawled into the woods and disappeared. Even four tires and the weight of a car weren’t enough to stop it.

I demanded that my grandfather take me home right then - and now, more than 20 years later, I never take a bite of blackberry cobbler without thinking of the incident.

Like I said, I know snakes serve a purpose. I would never kill one just for the sake of killing it.

But every time I see one, I get chills.

Even as a seasoned outdoorsman, they are one of my greatest fears.

They have been for a long time - and they probably always will be.

Hey folks,

Sorry I’ve been off the blog for a while. But I had some surgery in late April, and the recovery was a bit tougher than I expected.

Anyway, I’m back near full strength now, and I wanted to update you on a couple of things.

Since my May 4 story on tilapia, I’ve gotten a lot of calls from people wondering where they can find these truly fascinating fish. The company I mentioned in the story, Southeastern Pond Management, can be reached at (888) 830-POND.

I haven’t heard about any public stockings of tilapia in Arkansas or Tennessee yet. But when I do, I will certainly publish an update.

Meanwhile, the Arkansas Game & Fish Commission did recently stock 180,000 pounds of other fish species into public lakes around the state.

Courtesy of the AGFC, here’s a complete breakdown of the species they stocked:
Read the rest of this entry »

After photographing the albino raccoon for Sunday’s outdoors story, I’ve added one more animal to a growing list of albino and/or strangely colored things that I’ve seen in person.

Here’s my latest count:

1. Albino ruby throat hummingbird (Manchester, Ga.) - It was solid white, and I actually got to hold it while the biologists banded its leg.
2. Albino bluebird (Columbus, Ga) - A really strange sight, considering its parents were normal bluebirds.
3. Piebald whitetail deer (Eufaula, Ala.) - I actually shot at it from a tree stand and missed. It was a stunning sight.
4. Albino corn snake (Fort Benning, Ga.) - I watched several of them hatching from their eggs, and they came out striking at everything in sight.
5. Melanistic spotted gar (LaGrange, Ga.) - It was solid black and looked like some kind of dinosaur.
5. Blonde mallard (northern Missouri) - I saw this bird during the snow goose conservation order. It really stood out among the normal mallards.
6. Albino raccoon (Cordova, Tenn.) - Super cool, especially sitting right next to a regular raccoon.

Since Sunday’s column on the yellow bass problem at Herb Parsons Lake in Fayette County, I’ve gotten several calls and e-mails from people wondering what is the best way to catch yellow bass.

It’s been my experience that anyone with a hook in the water at Herb Parsons has a chance to catch a yellow bass. But there are ways to increase your chances.

Right now, the yellows are spawning just like everything else. You’re most likely to find them around some kind of cover. For example, I caught more than 30 one evening last week while fishing around the pilings of the old fishing pier on the main body of the lake. Almost all of the fish were suspended in about 4 feet of water and clinging tightly to the old wooded pilings.

I was using Jiffy Jigs for bait, and the color didn’t seem to matter. But with the water stained right now, I’d stick with bright colors like hot pink, chartreuse or electric blue. If you can’t find Jiffy Jigs, any old jig will do as long as it’s no larger than 1/16th of an ounce.

As the water temperature rises and the spawn comes to an end, the yellow bass will begin schooling in the deeper water on the lower end of the lake. Sometimes you can actually see them chasing bait along the surface during the evening hours.

These are the times when you have a chance to catch insane numbers of fish on one trip. They’ll hit the same jigs we just talked about. They’ll also hit small crankbaits like the Bitsy Pond Minnow from Strike King and almost any kind of live bait you put in front of them (especially red worms and live minnows).

A lot of e-mailers also want to know if Herb Parsons will actually follow through with my idea for a yellow bass tournament. I can’t answer that question for sure. That is totally up to them.

But if they decide to do it, I’ll be the first one to pay my entry fee.

Earlier this week, Allan Ranson of Strike King Lure Company sent me a picture of a “strange-looking bluegill” that was caught in California on one of Strike King’s swim baits.

The “bluegill” was actually a green sunfish - and it was easily the biggest one I’ve ever seen. It measured more than 11 inches and weighed exactly 2 pounds.

It would have been the new California state record if the angler had gone through all of the proper channels to certify it. Instead, he just took some photos and released it back into his pond.

That happens a lot these days. People catch fish they don’t recognize, and they fail to realize they have a chance to enter their names in the record book.

If you’re fishing in the Mid-South, I would suggest that you familiarize yourself with the records for your respective state.

You can find them at these links:

Arkansas

Mississippi

Tennessee

I know the floods have caused some real problems in parts of Arkansas, and I really feel for the folks who live and hunt in those areas.

But the truth is, many other areas needed the water after a long, dry summer in 2007.

One of the places that needed it most was Herb Parsons Lake in Fayette County. The state-managed lake was far below normal pool for much of last year, and one of its boat launches was unusable at one point.

The lake is back near full pool now, and the environment over there seems very healthy.

The vegetation that grew up around the shorelines while the water was down is all flooded now and playing host to a wide variety of minnows and predator fish.

As the vegetation breaks down it will supply food for the organisms at the bottom of the food chain, and that will be good for everything that swims in the lake.

Areas that were 2 feet deep last year are now 7-8 feet deep and easily navigable with a boat. Wading birds like blue herrons (pictured here) were walking bare shorelines last year. But now they’re hunting from wood piles and log jams near the original shoreline of the lake.

Let’s just hope we don’t have another long, dry summer that allows the lake to fall into bad shape again.

I hope we keep getting rain - just in moderation, for a change.

With water temperatures pushing into the high 60s, largemouth bass are bedding all over the area - and they’ll never be easier to catch than they are right now.

Some people don’t like sight-fishing for bedding bass, but I’ve always enjoyed it. Maybe because it’s so easy.

You just cruise the shallows, looking for light spots on the dark lake bottom. Those are usually beds, and sometimes you can actually see the fish sitting on them.

In either situation, I like to start casting toward the bed with a four-inch Texas-rigged lizard. I use the smaller four-inch variety because it’s easier for the fish to get the whole bait in its mouth. I use bright colors like tomato or bubble gum, so I can see it more easily.

Unless you can actually see the fish hit the bait, you have to pay close attention or you’ll miss the strike. They’re usually not hitting the bait to eat it. They just want to pick it up and spit it out of their bed, so your window of opportunity for a hookset is sometimes small.

Just remember, when you’re retrieving a bait across the bottom, any variation in the path of your line is likely to be a bite. If you’re using those brightly colored baits I mentioned, you might just see the bait suddenly disappear. That often means a fish has inhaled it.

Sometimes when you find bedding bass, there will be two per bed - a small male and a larger female. You can often catch both fish if you’re willing to stick with them.

One thing that’s awfully important for a sight-fisherman is a good pair of polarized sunglasses. You can see much farther under the water with glasses than you can with your naked eyes.

When looking for spawning fish, try to key on fish that are willing to stand their ground.

If you come across a fish that spooks away from the bed and comes right back in just a few seconds, you can almost always catch that fish. If you come across a bass that spooks off the bed and stays gone more than a few seconds, you’re in for a bigger challenge.

The spawn won’t last very long, so get out and take advantage of a good situation while you can.