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Show Wednesday, April 12, 2006 CI Two UHS football players head to tournament in Australia By Janine Shannon Express Writer All-state football players play-ers Tyler Peterson and Tony Casillas from Uintah High School will travel to the Australian Gold Coast in June to play in a Down Under football foot-ball tournament. Both boys were invited to play on the team representing the state of Utah and are currently trying to raise the necessary funds to be able to attend. The Utah team will begin practice with a two-week camp in Ogden in May. By that time, Peterson and Casillas each need to raise $4,000. Each boy has raised about half of that sum through donations and by selling T-shirts, water bottles, and hoodies with the Down Under tournament logo. These items are still available for purchase, and they are planning plan-ning other fund raisers. In the next few weeks, Peterson's mother, Janna Peterson, will be selling tickets at Wendy's and Wal-Mart in Vernal to win a queen-sized quilt she made. Only a few players from the Vernal area have ever received an invitation to participate in the Down Under Sports Tours. Those invited were either nominated by a coach from Utah or listed on an honor list. Notables like quarterback Jake "The Snake" Plummer from " the Denver Broncos have participated par-ticipated in the Down Under football tournament. "I am honored to be an ambassador of not only our community and state, but also More hunters will be hunting big game in Utah this fall More hunters will have' a chance to take a big bull elk in Utah this fall. At its April 6 meeting in Salt Lake City, the Utah Wildlife Board added additional permits to many of Utah's 2006 big game hunts. Board members upped limited entry bull elk permits by 281 and increased pronghorn antelope ante-lope permits by 268. The only permits that were decreased were bison permits, which fell from 28 in 2005 to 17 in 2006. It won't be long before hunters hunt-ers learn whether they drew a permit in this year's Utah Big Game Draw. Draw results will be available by April 28. More hunters will be hunting some of the biggest bull elk in the country after board members mem-bers voted to increase the number num-ber of Utah limited entry bull elk permits to 1,835. In 2005, a total of 1,554 were offered. "The average age of the bull elk hunters hunt-ers took on limited entry units last fall was way above the objective on most of the units, and that's why more hunters wiH be able to hunt bull elk this fall," said Craig McLaughlin, big game coordinator for the Division of Wildlife Resources. "Each elk unit in Utah is managed man-aged with an age objective," he explained. "If the average age of the bulls taken on a unit is above the objective, then the Wildlife Board can offer more permits for that unit." At the request of the Utah Elk Management Plan Advisory Committee, in 2004 the Wildlife Board lowered the age objectives objec-tives on many of Utah's elk hunting units. Units that had been managed so hunters would take a bull that averaged aver-aged between 7 to 8 years of age are now managed so hunters will take a bull that averages between 5 and 6 years of age. Units that had been managed for 5- to 6-year-old bulls were also changed and are now managed man-aged for 4- to 5-year-old bulls. The 15-person elk committee included representatives from sportsman's groups, including includ-ing the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation and Sportsmen for Fish and Wildlife; the Utah Farm Bureau; land managing agencies; and Utah's Regional Advisory Councils and Wildlife Board. Jim. Karpowitz, who now serves as the director of the DWR, was the committee's facilitator. "The committee was looking Tony Casillas and Tyler Peterson, pictured respectively, are hoping to attend the Down Under footbal tournament in Australia in June our country," Peterson said. Both Peterson and Casillas plan to attend Snow College in the fall and want to continue to play football at the college level and beyond. "It's always been their goal to play football at least at the college col-lege level, if not professional," Janna Peterson said. She added that the boys grew up together, dreaming about one day being on TV. "They eat, drink, and sleep football," she said. The 11-day tournament will include teams from the United States, New Zealand, and Australia. After playing in Australia, teams will travel to Hawaii to participate in more games. This football tournament is one of several Down Under Sport Tours sponsored by the International Sports Specialists, Inc. (ISSI). New Zealander George O'Scanlon founded the program in 1989 for a way to allow more hunters hunt-ers to hunt bull elk, but to still allow those hunters to take a nice, mature bull," McLaughlin said. The age objectives were lowered in November 2004. Lowering the objectives allowed 283 more limited entry bull elk permits to be offered in 2005 than were offered in 2004. More hunters will be hunting hunt-ing pronghorn antelope in Utah this fall too. Board members mem-bers approved 855 permits for this fall's hunts. A total of 587 were available in 2005. Most of the permits are for the Plateau unit in southwestern Utah. "The buck to doe ratio on the Plateau unit is more than 80 bucks per 100 does, so there's plenty of bucks for hunters to take," McLaughlin said. "The goal for the unit is 1,500 pronghorn. prong-horn. About 3,100 pronghorn are on the unit now, so the herd is doing great." One group of permits that board members decided not to increase is general season buck deer permits. The total number of general season buck deer permits in Utah will stay at 95,000 in 2006. In 2005, general gener-al season buck deer permits in the Central and Northeastern regions were cut by 1,000 permits per-mits each. The permits were cut because the three-year buck to doe ratio in each region had fallen below the minimum of 15 bucks per 100 does called for in Utah's Deer Management Plan. As a result, the total number of Utah general season buck deer permits was reduced from 97,000 (the level where permits had been since 1994) to 95,000 permits. After hunts this past fall, DWR biologists found that the Future Jr. Jazz Uintah Recreation announces the finish of the spring Future Jr. Jazz program. Coach Kristy Putnam, along with high school basketball player, Amy Parkinson as the assistant coach, taught this session. Kristy and Amy kept the kids involved and made the four week clinic fun for the kids. Two sessions were offered, one at 5:30 and one at 6:30 on Thursday evenings. The clinic was packed with a total of 25 kids in each session between the ages of 5-8. rV J to promote athletics, especially American football (called gridiron), grid-iron), in his home country and in Australia. According the ISSI website, the goal is to "continually "con-tinually provide athletes who excel in their sport the opportunity oppor-tunity to experience the culture, cul-ture, beauty, and grandeur of the land Down Under through spirited and intense competition competi-tion in a variety of sports." The ISSI also sponsors events for volleyball, golf, soccer, track and field, and wrestling. To make a donation or to purchase pur-chase T-shirts, water bottles, or hoodies, please call Chad or Janna Peterson at 789-9484 or 790-9723, or Salvador or Sheila Casillas at 789-9654. The boys and their parents would like to thank the coaches that have helped to make all this possible, possi-ble, including head coach Mike Petersen and assistant coaches Browning, Peacock, Mansfield, Monsen, and Johnson. three-year buck to doe average in the Northeastern Region had increased to 15 bucks per 100 does, the minimum number called for in the management plan. In the Central Region, the three-year average increased to 14 bucks per 100 does. Based on the findings, the DWR recommended rec-ommended returning. 1,000 permits to the Northeastern Region. Citizens representing the Northeastern Regional Advisory Council (RAC) voted against the DWR recommendation, recommenda-tion, however. They expressed concerns that allowing 1,000 additional hunters in the region this fall could cause the buck to doe ratio to fall back under 15 bucks per 100 does. Board members agreed with the RAC and voted not to return the 1,000 permits to the region. Board members also approved revisions to Utah's 30 deer unit management plans after learning that the long-term long-term goal of having more than 426,000 deer in Utah may take more time to reach than originally origi-nally thought. "Since the plans were written in 2001, Utah has lost some of its winter ranges and we've learned that some of the winter ranges we have can't support the number of deer that we first thought they could," McLaughlin said. The new plans propose a short-term goal of about 412,000 deer in Utah by 2011. A list showing the total 2006 permits for each unit in the state will be available at the DWR's Web site by April 10. The deer management plans approved by the board will also be available on the DWR's Web site by April 10. program ends Uintah Recreation would like to congratulate each of the participants par-ticipants in the clinic and wish them the best of luck as they continue to develop their basketball bas-ketball skills. Each participant recieved a certificate and a medal along with a free frosty coupon to Wendy's. Uintah Recreation District will be doing the next session of Future Jr. Jazz or Basketball 101 in the Fall of 2006. Watch for information in the fall brochure. 1 J r r- v- ' .7-1 r f i W Logan Johnson holding a nice Brown. Fishermen go out for Browns With the ice melting off from Red Fleet, Starvation and Steinaker Reservoirs, anglers who like big fish, are out for browns. "The first few weeks after ice-off ice-off are one of the best times to fish for brown trout, big brown trout," said Ron Stewart, outreach out-reach manager for the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources (UDWR). "It might not be the fastest action, but it can be worth thewait to hook into a 5 to 10 pound, fish. Browns up to 26 pounds have been taken from these Uinta Basin reservoirs reser-voirs in recent years." . While Stewart recommended trying Steinaker, Red Fleet and Starvation reservoirs for big browns, he said there are other good waters scattered around the state that offer great early spring fishing for big browns, rainbows, cutthroat and wall eye. "Almost every big water has the potential to produce a big fish so just look for a big lake or reservoir near you," he said. In the early spring, there is cold water at all levels of the lake or reservoir. This brings these big fish up to where anglers can reach them by trolling or casting from the shore. These large predators are feeding actively after being dormant throughout the long winter. Trolling for big browns has the advantage; an angler can reach additional areas and cover more water. However, some big browns are caught every year by shore anglers, they just need to be more selective selec-tive in where they fish. "Look for two types of places; one with water flowing in or one that has underwater structures struc-tures such as ledges or rocks," Stewart said. "Inflowing streams are a real attraction attrac-tion for browns as they move into the inflow searching for spawning fish and their eggs. A rocky point is ideal as the fish often follow the shoreline and the point brings them in close. Graveled slopes are also attractive during the spring as some rainbows and cutthroats try and spawn in these areas. Their efforts attract other fish including the fall-spawning brown." Still, trolling is the method of choice. "There are a variety of ways to try trolling," Stewart said. "Some anglers prefer trolling with just a lure while others swear by flashers and other attractors. Try a medium to 'large-sized flatfish, rapala, spoon or crank-bait. In the early spring, a monofilament line usually works, as the fish are higher in the water column. col-umn. As the spring progresses, try adding weights or a weighted weight-ed line to get the lure down deeper." According to Roger Schneidervin (UDWR fisheries fisher-ies manager), the technique (: . ."''' :; . . "J h ) I fli , v- -.0 ) . i Browns up to 26 pounds have been taken from Uintah Basin reservoirs in recent years (this one is about 10 pounds). used for most of the big browns caught during the glory days at Flaming Gorge was to troll a rapala or crankbait 100 to 200 feet behind the boat on a monofilament mono-filament line. This technique is called long-lining. , Schneidervin gave out a few other secrets. "The time of year is critical criti-cal for ' long-lining browns," Schneidervin said. "There are two slim windows for most waters, just after ice-off ice-off and just before it freezes again. . This is usually April to early May and late October - November. Second, time of day plays a role. Browns are most active at low light levels, lev-els, around sunrise or sunset Some serious brown anglers even continue fishing after it gets dark. This is when the browns move in shallow to feed on smaller fish." "Trollers need to get in dose to the banks and really work the points, over channels and around areas where streams enter. Trolling speed can also be a factor. Troll a bit faster than you would normally. This gives the lure more action, which can help in low light situations. sit-uations. The predator browns may also think their prey is trying to escape so they hit harder." To most, trolling means puttering put-tering about with a boat and motor, but you can troll from non-motorized craft as well. "I like to fish from, a canoe and kayak fishing is also getting popular," Stewart said. "A couple years ago, I traded my boat in for a couple of kayaks," kay-aks," said Ed Johnson, UDWR fisheries biologist. "The kayaks kay-aks are outfitted for fishing and my son and I have caught some big fish trolling behind the kayak as we paddle along. We can also stop and jig or cast toward the shoreline. I don't think the kayak scares the fish as much as a larger boat with a trolling motor does. Not only do we catch a lot of fish, we get some good exercise." j |