| Show s ' can Rea Sciipps Howard News Service By Larry Fbr a male turkey one of life’s sweetest spring sounds is that of a lonely hen clucking and purring But is that really a lonesome hen or some shotgun-totin- g camouflage- covered hunter who has mastered the ability to mimic a wild turkey? If that’s not enough to confuse a gobbler he’s also got to deal with e looking decoys For spring is courting time — not only for die wild turkey but also for those companies trying to coax hunters into buying love-smitt- en life-lik- some sweet And turkey hunters certainly love gadgets Why else would a turkey hunter’s vest have so many pockets including one big enough to hold a decoy? ' Decoys have been among this spring’s hottest selling products including two types that have drawn a lot of national publicity : 'One’s an polyvinyl decoy that can be inflated in less than eight seconds The other is a decoy that may be the most talked about device in industry history We’re talking about a decoy that features a gobbler having sex with a henS - The Herald Journal Logan Utah Friday May 12 2000 — Page 15 v “Don’t laugh: it works" says Brad Harris of Feather Flex Decoys in Neosho Mo whose company Out-lan- d Sports sells True Position Breeders ' It works Harris said because the real gobbler thinks the fake gobbler is moving in on his territory His company has videos of an irate gobbler attacking the fake turkey In a national advertising campaign Feather Flex said these decoys arc for mature hunters only" ' That’s ‘R as in revenue for stores like Buck & Bass Sports Centre in Memphis which has sold about two dozen of the deroys v “R-rat-ed “We sell them as fast as we get them” store buyer Jeff Weisbcrger said "Decoys overall have been hot sellers this spring We’ve already sold more than we sold through the middle of May last year” Delta Industries of Reincck Iowa has also come out with a similar decoy — Breeding Tom The Breeding Tom must be used in conjunction with another Delta product the Hot Hen Delta spokesman Jen Kresscr said it was only a matter of time before someone started man- -' ufacturing sexy decoys "We've had guys for years who rigged up their own (decoys)" - Kresscr said “Ours we believe is the first to incorporate their ideas and put the product on the market" Kresscr said she has received only one "negative" call about the Breeding Tom “Someone asked me if it was legal to use the call” Kresscr said with a laugh “I told them it's a natural act It's what turkeys do" Hunters have used decoy's for several years but until this spring most were made of soft polyethylene foam Two companies have inflatable decoys on the market this spring — Scecry Decoy Co of Santa Fe NM and Lynch Outdoor Products of Thomasvillc Ga an adventure at Powell WAHEAP Utah (AP) — Wayne Gustaveson wasn’t surprised The pattern he'd so carefully mapped out yesterday wasn't working today But that's the way Ashing goes at Lake Powell The fish are deep one day and shallow the next swimming in clear water one day and turbid water the next One day they' like blue the next gray and the day after that orange with streaks of green- “You work until you And the pattern and then stick with it" he offered as he reached intp box of lures for another old standby a chartreuse-colore- d grub on a quarter-ounc- e : head jig “That’s the secret of fishing Lake Powell Today it’s clear ' water in areas with some brush in the water Find areas like that and you’ll catch fish today anyway” That’s what fishermen will face during the month of May as they anxiously watch for the $1 million tag to show up on the back of a hooked striped v bass Lake Powell Resorts and Marinas will be holding a mil- lion dollar fishing event between sunrise on May 1 and sunset on May 24 In all 20 Ash have been caughttagged and released at various points over the entire lake One of the fish will have a tag worth the $1 million The other side of the event focuses on fish management at Lake Powell For years lake biologist from Utah and Arizona have tried to make fisher-men more aware of the striped bass fishing opportunities and the recurring population problems they routinely face If more striped bass could be caught and kept the better off all the Ash in the lake would be And ultimately the better fishing would be On a cloudy day last week Gustaveson lake biologist for the past 26 years for die Utah Ts f si V :i Get a Maximum three cards per purchase : Wildlife Division of Resources called on all his experience to And Ash This required that he Ash areas he hadn't fished before and fish in ways he hadn't planned The results were that we caught Ash all kinds of Ash striped bass largemouth crap-pi- e even a green sunfish but mostly smallmouth bass Most Three Days Only! This Thursday- - Saturday May 1 1-- 13 of them smaller little more than a pound apiece Larger ones he said were deeper “But if you fish deeper you usually don’t catch as many It’s a trade off Personally 1 like to catch fish any size fish But pay attention to what you were doing when you caught a Ash and then simply do the same thing" The day’s catch was a perfect printout of current conditions of the lake's fishes That is we caught more smallmouth than largemouth and crappie Most of the Ash JO o Next week May 15-2- 1 were caught casting grubs toward the shoreline into brush and broken rock and jigging out All three Ash are currently wrapping up their spawn Gustaveson believes the next three weeks will be the best fishing for largemouth and crappie “The smallmouth Ashing will be good all summer When everything dies down you'll still be able to catch smallmouth" he added The striped bass fishing will peak during the fishing event with could have both good and bad results Fishermen should be able to catch a lot of striped bass but it may not always be the tagged fish breaking through the crowd to reach the hook TfcTwrt It ImwI kr mcS ewii i W eedwaw ledWHl 11 Sn (I) "W SSI tacmwl t mmkm&m pockm to i i Dmt H lotmwd'rtNmdprtitfFiff-rt tt wmtmOm pwctai nqant vtf ocMng ten Ito ctagt te pm Cm te pM fe rw mrtiwi Dura A CwiMaUfagnnKlo!iACoilKMfCfflnMfDinmtogcfEmSpnrEiftonf'iNiiitrCititosinrtitf aMStwH attSaiius —— rnltfinit-niirrirrwrti— f IMi1lMaMMlcviUMUatS-llimNlLCaidRUlkinMatniiolpiKii- p 01 Ion Im SUN S’C iMitnwn W N00N-5PMON-F10AM-9P- M RI M SAT 10AM-7P- M Cache Valley Mall |
