Monthly Archives: July 2014

Rock Creek High School Wins Kansas State High School Fishing Championship on Wilson Lake

Reprinted from:  FLW Outdoors OutdoorHub

The RockCreekHigh School team of Travis Blenn and Bryce White brought a five-bass limit to the scale July 13 weighing 8.34 pounds to win the 2014 Kansas State High School Fishing Championship on WilsonLake. The win earned the team the title of state champions and qualified the team to compete in a High School Fishing conference championship on the Red River in October.

The top five teams on WilsonLake were:

1st:       RockCreekHigh School – Travis Blenn and Bryce White, five bass, 8.34 pounds
2nd:      StocktonHigh School – Christian Hamel and Holden Jones, five bass, 8.26 pounds
3rd:       Kansas Student Angler Federation – Cameron Pappan and Dayne McNutt, five bass, 8.16 pounds
4th:       Northwest High School/Goddard High School – Brock Miller and Dakota Driskill, four bass, 8.04 pounds
5th:       Nickerson High School/Hutchinson High School – Conner Barret and Keil Orrison, one bass, 1.72 pounds

Complete results can be found at HighSchoolFishing.org.

The 2014 Kansas State High School Fishing Championship was a two-person (team) event for students in grades 9-12. The top 10 percent from each TBF/FLW state championship field will advance to a High School Fishing conference championship along with the top 3 teams from each of the six 2014 High School Fishing Opens that coincide with the 2014 Walmart FLW Tour. The top 10 percent of each conference championship field will then advance to the High School Fishing National Championship, coinciding with the TBF National Championship and an FLW Tour stop in the spring of 2015. The High School Fishing national champions will each receive a $5,000 college scholarship to the school of their choice.

In addition to the High School Fishing National Championship, all SAF members nationwide automatically qualify for the world’s largest high school bass tournament, the 2014 High School Fishing World Finals, held on LakeDardanelle in Russelville, Ark., on July 15-19.

At the 2013 World Finals more than $40,000 in scholarships and prizes were awarded. Visit HighSchoolFishing.org for details.

Floatline Fishing Season July 15-Sept 15

Anglers can have up to eight floatlines, special permit required.

Floatline fishing season is just two-months long, and open to only 12 select areas within the state, but for channel cat anglers looking to get an edge out in the water, this season is the highlight of summer.

Also referred to as jug fishing, floatline fishing consists of placing a floating device in the water that has been fitted with a line, hook, and weight. The float drifts freely, suspending the baited hook in the water. When the floating device, or jug, moves, you’ve got a bite.

In Kansas, floatline fishing is allowed from sunrise to sunset from July 15 through Sept. 15 at the following reservoirs: Council Grove, ElkCity, Fall River, Glen Elder, Hillsdale, John Redmond, Kanopolis, Lovewell, Pomona, Toronto, Tuttle Creek and Wilson.

Anglers are allowed up to eight floatlines, which must all be under immediate supervision of the angler, and removed from the water when fishing ceases.

All float material must be constructed only from plastic, wood, or foam and shall be a closed-cell construction, meaning a solid body incapable of containing water. A floatline permit is required and available for $2.50. For more information, visitwww.ksoutdoors.com and click “Fishing.”

Firefly

Firefly (Photinus pyralis): Photo by Terry Priest. http://www.frfly.com/tutorial/firefly-photography.htm

Firefly photo by Terry Priest

Fireflies or lightning bugs are nocturnal, winged beetles that produce a yellow, green, or pale red light from light-emitting organs in their lower abdomen by a process called bioluminescence. Even their larva emit light, hence the name glowworm is occasionally used but should not be confused with another distinct beetle family. Larval bioluminescence is a warning to predators that fireflies are distasteful and may be toxic. In some fireflies, even the eggs are bioluminescent. After mating, a female will lay her eggs on the ground amongst leaf litter, for example, or just barely below the surface of the ground. Three to four weeks later the eggs hatch and the young larvae feed all summer on slugs, snails, worms and other insects. Firefly larvae hibernate during the winter and emerge

in the spring to feed for a few more weeks before pupating into adults that we see during darkness. Firefly populations seem to be declining probably from loss of natural habitats like meadows and woodland edges by homes with landscaped lawns. Pesticide use on lawns and gardens as well as the use of DDT to kill mosquitoes has also had a damaging effect on fireflies.

USFWS Launches Greater Sage-grouse Website

The unprecedented effort to conserve greater sage-grouse and sagebrush habitat is a complicated process that encompasses 11 states, six federal agencies and numerous non-governmental groups. To help journalists, stakeholders and the interested public stay informed about this effort, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has built a new greater sage-grouse website and assigned three public affairs officers to lead the agency’s communication’s effort.

The new website,http://www.fws.gov/greaterSageGrouse, is one way the Service hopes to better communicate the breadth of the ongoing conservation actions underway to support greater sage-grouse and the sagebrush habitat the bird and 350 other species need. The new site aggregates the on-line information resources that were once found on the Mountain-Prairie, Pacific Northwest and Pacific Southwest agency websites, providing original stories, photos and images for non-commercial reproduction.

The Service recognizes that it is one player in this broad landscape of conservation partners. Our goals are to highlight the effective work that is being done at the federal, state, NGO and even the individual level, to direct visitors to our sage-grouse conservation partners and to ensure the public understands the Service’s role under the ESA as the September 2015 listing deadline approaches.

Greater sage-grouse photo from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greater_sage-grouse

The Service has also assembled a team of public affairs specialists to answer questions about greater sage-grouse conservation from journalists and others. Members of the media who are working on stories about this issue are encouraged to contact the members of the team for assistance.

Theo Stein [email protected] joined Mountain-Prairie Region’s External Affairs team from the State of Colorado, where he served as Manager of the External Relations section for ColoradoParks and Wildlife and Communications Director for the Colorado Department of Natural Resources. In addition, Theo brings insights learned during a 17-year career as a journalist, including five years as the Denver Post Environment reporter. He will be the point of contact on both greater sage-grouse and Gunnison sage-grouse.

In the Pacific Northwest Region, Portland-based Public Affairs Officer Brent Lawrence,[email protected], is available to field inquiries originating from Washington, Idaho and Oregon.

In the Pacific Southwest Region, Nevada State Director Ted Koch,[email protected], will be available as the point of contact for inquiries from Nevada and California.

Chuck-will’s widow (Antrostomus carolinensis)

Chuck-wills-widow copyrighted photo by Mike Danzenbaker.

In the 1900s, observations of this bird had been made in the southeast corner of Kansas, still its only apparent range in Kansas where it breeds in the summer. It’s an unusual appearing bird when you first see it. During daylight, they roost on tree branches or even on the ground camouflaged by their elaborately mottled brown plumage. It is most active at dusk and dawn feeding on insects. Their gapping mouths can easily consume many insects. They can often be found among livestock for this purpose. Pesticide use limits their useful habitat. The Chuck-will’s-widow is a member of the nightjar family, so named because their songs “jar” the nighttime quiet. They lay eggs on the ground among natural debris and litter instead of in constructed nests. When incubating eggs, their mottled plumage creates excellent camouflage. The Chuck-will’s widow winters in lowland forests in the Caribbean, Mexico, and Central America. It is the American Bird Conservancy’s “bird of the week”. You can listen to their beautiful song by visiting the Cornell Lab of Ornithology http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/chuck-wills-widow/sounds.

Fort Riley to Host Angler Instructor Course

Course will help those who want to teach basic fishing skills!

There may be no more rewarding experience than to help a youngster catch his or her first fish, which is why so many experienced anglers love to pass on their knowledge of fishing. Now, Fishing’s Future and the Kansas Department of Wildlife, Parks and Tourism want to help those anglers become better teachers by offering angler instructor courses around the state.

Anyone interested in becoming a volunteer angler instructor can participate in the instructor course being offered at FortRiley on Saturday, July 12. The course will be conducted at the Fort Riley Environmental Division Office, Building 407, Pershing Court on FortRiley. Anglers will learn about working with children, sample curriculums, fishing regulations, species identification, ethics, knot-tying and more. The course begins at 9 a.m. and concludes at 1 p.m. All students must pass through an access control area and must present a driver’s license or other photo ID and proof of insurance for their vehicle. No firearms are allowed, open carry or concealed carry.

To learn more about the fishing instructor certification program and to register for the FortRiley course, go to www.fishingsfuture.org, click on “Upcoming Events”, then “Kansas Angler Education Training Program.”

For more information on Fishing’s Future in Kansas, contact Kevin Reich at[email protected].

Kids Catching fish in the Catch, Photograph & Release Program

The Kansas Department of Wildlife, Parks & Tourism is sponsoring  this fishing event running from June 20 through August 22, 2014.

If you’re 15 or younger and have caught a largemouth bass, crappie, bluegill or any species of catfish, you could win some new fishing gear through the first ever “Catch, Photo and Release” contest, which starts June 20. Fishing’s Future, the Kansas Department of Wildlife, Parks and Tourism, Cabela’s and KVOE Outdoors want to hear about your most memorable fishing adventure.  Winning entries for each week can be viewed at  www.kvoe.com/on-air/what-s-in-outdoors, www.fishingsfuture.org, and on Facebook at facebook.com/fishingsfuture. Meanwhile here are a few photos of kids and their fishes.

Max Bauer with Sunfish

Troy with Catfish

Susanna with Bass