Trash to treasure
Overlooked Mid-south species can help anglers avoid dull summertime trips
Last Saturday evening, three hours before sundown, more than a dozen boats crowded below Pickwick Landing Dam as fishermen presented a variety of lures to big striped bass that were being less than cooperative.
Meanwhile, just around the bend downstream, thousands of gar were popping the top of the water as if asking to be caught — and going unnoticed by anglers heading to join the bevy of boaters at the dam.
It happens every year about this time.
Determined anglers continue to pursue game fish that have become sluggish in the summer heat while ignoring other socalled “trash species” that seem to get hungrier when the mercury pushes into triple digits.
But some have decided to turn trash into treasure.
“I have as much fun fishing for gar in the summertime as a lot of people have fishing for crappie, bluegill and bass any other time of year,” said Jackson, Miss., angler Mark Beason. “I always tell people the best days to go are the days when it’s so hot you can barely stand it.”
Beason uses homemade lures crafted from nylon cord. Though they have no hooks, they work well for gar because the prehistoric-looking fish get their teeth tangled in the nylon.
Considered a nuisance by many, gar in the Mid-South often reach 10 pounds or more. On the end of a rod-and-reel, they put up a fight that includes zigzagging runs and surface tail-walking that often catches anglers by surprise.
“I don’t think I’ve ever had anyone in my boat who wasn’t blown away by it,” Beason said. “A lot of people can’t believe gar put up the kind of fight they do.”
Beason said his homemade nylon lures will work wherever gar are present, and there are numerous websites with instructions for making and using your own lures.
OTHER ‘TRASH FISH’
If big, toothy fish caught on hookless lures aren’t your idea of a good time, Mid-South waters are teeming with other socalled “trash species” that are easy to catch in summer.
Though catfish have moved far beyond trash-fish status in most anglers’ minds, skipjack herring, the baitfish most often used to catch catfish, are one of the most entertaining species from the trash-fish world.
Skipjack congregate by the millions below the dams on the Tennessee River, and they feed so voraciously that anglers can sometimes catch as many as three and four with one cast on the right equipment. Though they rarely top 1 pound, their hard strikes and highflying acrobatics after the hook is set make them a blast on light tackle.
“We catch a lot of them to use as bait for stripe fishing, and I have customers sometimes who don’t want to stop fishing for them when it’s time to start Landon Wilson (left) and Jackson, Miss., angler Mark Beason hold a gar caught on one of Beason’s homemade nylon rope lures. Gar are one of many overlooked species that can provide a good fight in the summer heat. looking for stripe,” said Clagett Talley, a longtime fishing guide on Pickwick. “Kids, in particular, have a lot of fun catching them and seeing them jump.”
Though special Sabiki rigs are available that allow anglers to catch three and four small skipjack at once, anglers targeting larger skipjack often tie on two small, white crappie jigs with a split-shot or egg sinker at the bottom of the rig to make it easier to cast.
Another silvery-white trashfish species that often lives below hydroelectric dams is the freshwater drum. It bears a striking resemblance to a saltwater redfish and will inhale just about any bait it swims across in a tailrace.
Unlike the diminutive skipjack, drum routinely reach 15 pounds or more — and they’re often more than an angler can handle on light tackle.
“The biggest one I ever caught weighed better than 20 pounds,” said Robert Callaway, an avid Tennessee River angler who has fished Wheeler, Wilson, Pickwick and Guntersville Lakes. “I thought for a few seconds I was just hung on the bottom. Then it started moving, and it took me 20 minutes of hard fighting to land it.”
MOUNTAINS OF CARP
The Mid-South is blessed with a solid population of native and helpful carp and cursed with an unwanted population of Asian carp that have worn out their welcome in less than two decades.
Common carp, which are sometimes referred to as “redhorse” carp, can be congregated into an area when large amounts of dry whole-kernel corn are dumped into the water for several days in a row. The fish can then be easily caught on dough balls crafted with water and dry oatmeal.
Grass carp, also known as “white amurs,” are often stocked into private ponds for weed control. They feed along the surface and make easy targets for skilled fly fishermen on calm days.
Some people even collect dry grass clippings to spread along the top of the water and lure the carp into casting distance. They use lures for them shaped like floating fish food.
Then when it comes to silver carp and bighead carp — the massive Asian species that have spread across the Mid-South in recent years — some anglers rely on hooks that aren’t baited with anything.
“We just snatch them,” said Ron Wong, an avid Memphisarea fisherman and co-host of the “Outdoors with Larry Rea” radio program on WMC-AM 790. “We use an open hook with a weight and snatch until we get a hook in one.”
Though die-hard bass anglers might argue that “snatching” is less than sporting, it can certainly be a thrill — and few outdoorsmen will argue about anything that removes the troublesome fish.
“When you hook a 20-pounder in the back or in the tail, you’re in for the fight of your life,” said Wong, adding the best time for snatching carp is after a big rain when current is flowing into a lake where the fish are present. “And it’s one more Asian carp gone. That’s always a good thing.”