Page 12, The Estill County Tribune, March 18, 2015

IhavewrittenabouttheEstill County Longbeardsin the past. The EstillLongbeardsisachapterofthe NationalWildTurkeyFederation (NWTF). TheEstill chapter does a lotmorethanturkeys. What is The NWTF — “a national nonprofit organization — is the lead-er in upland wildlife habi-tat conservation in North America. Founded in 1973, the NWTF is headquar-tered in Edgefield, S.C., and has local chapters in every state. The NWTF is dedicated to the conservation of the wild turkey and the preser-vation of our hunting heri-tage. Through vital partner-ships with state, federal and provincial wildlife agencies, the NWTF mem-bers have helped restore wild turkey populations throughout North America — from a mere 30,000 in the entire United States to more than 7 million across the United States, Canada and Mexico. Who is the NWTF made of? We are sports-men, women and children who care deeply about our natural resources and the wild places we love to hunt. We cherish the memory of the ridge top gobbler we hunted last spring and fondly remember the corn-field where we saw that big buck at sunset two years ago. Collectively, we come from all walks of life to en-gage in conservation and preserve the hunting heri-tage we all hold dear.” TheEstillchapterdoesalotmorethanwildturkeys.ThechapterisahugehelpwiththeWoundedWarriorhunt.Thechapterputsona Jakes day for kids.The

chaptergivesoutbutterballturkeystothemisfortunateduringThanksgiving.Thechapter has a great groupof folks and could usemorepeople. I have been a memberoftheEstillChapterforacoupleofyears.Ifyouareahunter;thenIurgeyoutogetinvolvedwiththeEstillCounty Longbeard chap-ter.It’sagreatwaytogetinvolved with conserva-tion in our community. Ifyouwant toget involved,giveTeddyHuntashout.

Turkey Time It was just a few daysago, there was snow andcold. Now the tempera-tureiswarmingupandthegrassisgettinggreen.Theturkeys are gobbling andI’vegotbirdflu!Theonlycure for the bird flu I’vegot is “hurry up and gethereturkeyseason!” Youth turkey season isjustaroundthecornerandregularseasonwillbeherebefore you know it. So,don’t wait until the lastminute!Don’twait‘tillthelast minute to get shells,pattern gun, and get gearready! Get prepared nowto jelly head a big springgobbler! Untilnextweek,getoutandenjoyGod’screation!

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_______________________________________________Thursday,Friday,Saturday,March26th, 27th&28th_____________________________________________Hunter’s Education Class (Orange Card) TherewillbeaHunter’sEducationClass(orangecard)at the Estill County Extension Office. The 3-day classwill beThursday andFriday,March26th&27th from6-9p.m.,andSaturday,March28thstartingat9a.m.atthe Estill Co. Sportsmen’s Club.You must attend all 3classestoobtainyourorangecard.Ages9andolder(asofMarch28).Effective March 1, 2014, KY Dept. of Fish & Wildlife requires online pre-registration for all hunter education courses statewide. Following is the registra-tionlinkfortheEstillCountyclass:http://www.register-ed.com/events/view/57999 Formoreinformation,calltheEstillCountyExtensionOfficeat606-723-4557. Educational programs of the Cooperative Extension Service serve all people regardless of race, color, sex, re-ligion, disability or national origin.

USDA Finalizes Procedures for Sorghum Referendum The U.S. Department ofAgriculture (USDA) is an-nouncing procedures for the upcoming referendum re-gardingthecontinuationof theSorghumCheckoffPro-gram and is announcing the dates it will conduct thereferendum. The Sorghum Promotion, Research, and InformationOrder requires thata referendumbeconductedno laterthansevenyearsafterthestartofassessments,whichbe-ganonJuly1,2008.Fortheprogramtocontinue,ama-jorityofthosevotingmustfavorthecontinuationoftheorder. USDA will conduct the referendum beginning onMarch23,2015,throughApril21,2015,atcountyUSDAFarm ServiceAgency (FSA) offices for producers andtheAgriculturalMarketingServiceoffice for importers.Ballotsmaybeobtainedinperson,bymailorfacsimileatcountyFSAoffices,orviatheInternet. Anyeligiblepersonengagedintheproductionorim-portationofsorghumfromJanuary1,2011,toDecember31,2014,iseligibletoparticipate.Individualsarerequiredtoprovidedocumentationsuchasasalesreceiptorremit-tanceformthatshowstheyengagedintheproductionorimportationofsorghum. The Sorghum Checkoff Program, and its 13-mem-ber board, is authorized by the Commodity Promotion,Research, and InformationAct of 1996. The SorghumCheckoffisintendedtobeanational,coordinated,self-helpmarketingprogramdesignedtostrengthentheposi-tionofsorghuminthemarketplace,maintainandexpandexistingdomesticandforeignmarketsandusesforsor-ghum,anddevelopnewmarketsandusesforsorghum. The finalprocedureswerepublished in theNov.18,2010,FederalRegister.Thenoticeannouncingthedatesof thereferendumwerepublishedintheFeb.19,2015,FederalRegister. For more information, contact Craig Shackelford,MarketingSpecialist,ResearchandPromotionDivision,Livestock, Poultry, and Seed Program, AMS, USDA,22JamesportLane,White,GA30184;Telephone:(470)315-4246; craig.shackelford@ams.usda.gov. Proceduresandadditionalinformationaboutthereferendumcanbefoundat:www.ams.usda.gov/SorghumReferendum..USDA is an equal opportunity provider, employer and lender.

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byLEEMcCLELLANKy. Dept. Fish & Wildlife

Resources Small creeks across Ken-tuckythatnormallyrunplac-idcurrentlyragewithbrownfroth. Reservoirs now covermarinaparkinglotsandlake-sidecampgrounds. Most Kentuckians arepunchdrunkfromtheblowsofthelatestsalientofthePo-larVortexfollowedbydreary,coldrain. Soon, anglers can allevi-ate thisgloombyhitting theheadwaters of Nolin RiverLake, Taylorsville Lake andHerringtonLaketocatchma-rauding white bass as theymake their annual springspawning runs. They don’thave toownaboat toenjoyfishingasgoodasanyinKen-tucky. Water temperature is themaindriverofthewhitebassruns.WithmostwatersacrossKentuckyhoveringinthelow40s, theyare likely still sev-eralweeksaway.However,aprolonged warm front, simi-lartotheonewearenowen-joying,canbringthegorgingbandsofwhitebassupstreamfairlyquickly. “In spring, look for thatwarm rain,” said Mike Har-din,assistantdirectoroffish-eries for the Kentucky De-partmentofFishandWildlifeResources. “The river tem-peratures can increase dra-matically from warm rains.Theywarmupeightdegreesormorequickly.Theheadwa-ters are often much warmerthanthemainlake.” The U.S. Geological Sur-vey streamflow gauges forKentucky streams tell thestory of how much water iscoming into a lake. Whenyou click on a gauge for aparticular siteona stream,aboxatthetopofthepageal-lows users to select param-eters todisplaysuchasflowrate incubic feetper second(cfs),gaugeheightandwatertemperature.Youmayaccessthis important informationatwww.waterdata.us.gov. “Itryandlookatthegaug-esforsurroundingstreamstoestimatewhatthewatertem-peratureisintheriverabovealake,”Hardin,anavidwhitebass angler said. “When thewatertemperaturegetsnear50alongwiththeincreasedflowandlongerdays,thesefactorstriggerthewhitebasstomoveupstream. Soon after thatcomes the peak of the run.” White bass aggressivelystrike practically anythingthat flashes silver in thewa-ter or resembles a shad orotherbaitfish.“Youcandropdowntoaboutanyflashylureandcast itout, reel it inandcatch white bass in spring,”saidJeffRoss,assistantdirec-torof fisheries forKentuckyFishandWildlife.“Theyareagreatfishforfamilies,kidsand beginners because theystrikesoaggressively.” Hardin said an angler cancarryall theyneedforwhitebassinashirtpocket.Buyacoupleofbagsof3-inchwhiteor chartreuse curly-tailedgrubsalongwithsome1/8th-ounceleadheadsandgo.

White bass also strikewhite, grey, pink or char-treuse in-line spinners, smallsilvercastingspoonsandtinyshad-coloredcrankbaits. Rosssaidanotherpleasantaspect of white bass fishingis theability tocatcha slewofthemfromthebank.Argu-ablythebestwhitebassruninKentuckyoccursinthehead-waters of Nolin River Lake.Bank anglers have good ac-cess at Bacon Creek BoatRamp and at Broad FordbridgeonKY1214. Nolin River Lake holds aburgeoningpopulationof13-to15-inchwhitebass,bruis-ersbyanyone’sstandards. The headwaters of Tay-lorsville Lake in AndersonCounty upstream of the KY248 bridge offer excellentwhitebassfishing.Thesefishrun as far upstream of thehistoricrivertradingtownofGlensboroinspring.Anglersmay access the bank of thisstretchofSaltRiverthatflowsthroughtheTaylorsvilleLakeWildlife Management Area(WMA) from River Road.Thisoldroadparallelstheriv-erandisopentypicallyfrommid-Marchtotheopeningofthespringturkeyseason,de-pendingonweatherandroadconditions. Datafromlastfall’spopula-tionsamplingrevealedanim-proving population of whitebass in Taylorsville Lakewhich portends good fishingthisspring. Thewhitebass running intheheadwatersofHerringtonLakeproducedaclarioncallforanglerswhotraveledfromallovertheupperSouthinthedecadesfollowingWorldWarII tofish the legendaryruns.The fishery bottomed out inthe 1990s and early 2000s,butthewhitebassarebegin-ning to shade into the statustheyhadbackintheday.Thelakecontainsmanywhitebassin the 12- to 14-inch rangewithsometrophyfishover15inchespossible. Anglershaveexcellentac-cesstooveramileoftheDixRiverinRankinBottomsjustabove Herrington Lake viathe Dix River VPA, locatedattheendofRankinBottomsRoad off KY 52 in BoyleCounty.RankinBottomswasonce ground zero for springwhitebassfishingduringtheglory days. This stretch isonce again a highly produc-tivespottocatchnumbersoffatwhitebass. Getoutthisspringanden-joythefastandfuriousnatureof white bass fishing. Whenwhite bass are running, noother fishing offers as muchactionandexcitement,perfectforhookingayoungsterintoalifetimeoffishing. Author Lee McClellan is a nationally award-winning associate editor for Kentucky Afield magazine, the official publication of the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wild-life Resources. He is a life-long hunter and angler, with a passion for smallmouth bass fishing. Get the latest from Lee and the entire Kentucky Afield staff by following them on Twitter: @kyafield.

Kentucky Afield magazine editor Dave Baker holds a white bass he caught on an in-line spinner in the Salt River above Taylorsville Lake in April 2013. With warm rains coming, the white bass will make their spawning runs into the headwaters of Taylorsville, Nolin River and Herrington lakes. (Photo courtesy of Kentucky Fish & Wildlife Resources)

Kentucky Dept. of Fish and Wildlife Resources NewsKentuckyAfieldOutdoors:Although it seems unlikely now, white bass runs around the corner

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