Cleveland Advocate (Cleveland, Tex.), Vol. 69, No. 27, Ed. 1 Friday, July 8, 1988 Page: 9 of 26
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CLEVELAND ADVOCATE, Friday, July 8,1988, Section A - Page9
Outdoors
B
Now Thru Sept
BUILDERS TOOLS
f^OMING NEXT WEEK”
WAL-MART
Victureland brtraitG§tudk)
UMMERTIME
AVINGS
on our 13-piece portrait package
one 8x10, two 5x7s* and 10 wallets
on your choice of a traditional,
nursery, spring or fall background
(reg. 9.95)
10 wallets
Bring in any lower-priced advertised offer and we’ll match it! We welcome everyone ... babies,
children, adults and family groups. No appointment is ever necessary. Satisfaction guaranteed!
Poses our selection. Black and White Backgrounds, Double Exposure and other Special
Effects Portraits not available in advertised package. $1.50 for each additional person in portrait.
Minors must be accompanied by an adult, “approximate size
Studio Hours: 10 a.m. until one hour prior to store closing
Sunday (where open): store opening until one hour prior to store closing
Swamp rabbits rely on territorial savvy
Reader’s photo
Bassin’
with the pros
What we refer to as a swamp
rabbit is actually the American
equivalant of a European Hare.
Swamp rabbits are usually larger
than a cotton tail and considerably
more brownish dark in color.
Whereas the ordinary cotton tail
relies on camouflage, cunning and
speed for survival, the swamp rabbit
relies on knowledge of terrain, dense
underbrush and camouflage for
survival. A sprinter or distance
runner, the swamp rabbit — well
he’s not. Also, the swamp rabbit has
matted furry pads between his toes,
" which enables him to comfortably
I move around in marshy areas.
Can you hunt swamp rabbits
without dogs? Yes, but it’s difficult,
because the swamp rabbit lives in
incredibly dense grassy, swampy
underbrush areas.
To bag a rabbit in such terrain
without dog, you must be able to
quickly shoulder a shotgun and get
off a quick blast ’cause the crafty
rabbit will expose himself for only a
couple of seconds, before he vir-
tually disappears down one of his
well-known well-traveled rabbit
trails under the brush. On more than
one occasion, I’ve bagged a darting
swamp rabbit with two rapid-fire hip
shots from my side-by-side double-
barrel 20 gauge shot-gun. OF swamp
rabbit simply doesn’t give you much
time to shoulder a gun, draw a bead,
and shoot.
The best gun to use is a short-
barrel shotgun loaded with Mag.
number 6 shot. A side by side is OK.
An over and under is OK. To carry
around a semi-automatic with four
or five shells in the magazine is
largely a wasted effort, ’cause most
likely you’ll only get a ‘lucky’ second
shot, and even then both had better
be quick.
What is the best way to hunt
swamp rabbits? With dogs. Beagle
dogs are good. Bassett hounds are
great. In Europe one of the favorite
‘rabbit’ dogs used in the dachshand.
(Yes, Virginia, the same little low
slung brown dog which we oc-
casionally call the ‘weenie dog’).
Why the dachshund? Because of
his low profile and sturdy short legs,
he can run through the same rabbit
trails and keep up with the fleeing
rabbit and thereby, eventually run
him out into the open area. Once in
the open area, the hunter can get off
a clean and certain shot. Also, the
dachshund has incredible endurance
and stamina. It will truly surprise
many readers to learn that poodles
are excellent rabbit huntin’ dogs. On
one occasion I bagged a swamp
rabbit shooting over my little white
toy poodle, Pierre.
Incidentally, the aforemen-
tioioned dogs require very little — if
any — training. Instinctively, they
know what to do and exactly what is
expected of them once afield,
especially beagles, bassets and
dachshund.
Where to go to hunt swamp rab-
bits7 Try hunting along the grassy
coastal marshy area and around the
dense, marshy underbrush along
most Southern Midwestern streams
or large lakes. Find a place, which is
so dense that you’d expect a mouse
to have a difficult time traversing it,
then kneel or lay down and look
under the brush. It will undoubtedly
to interlaced wih myriad well
traveled swamp rabbit ‘runs.’
Outdoors
with
O'
The term ‘deep water’ im-
mediately brings doubts to bass
fishermen. It’s more difficult to
catch bass in deeper water, the
fishing is normally not as in-
vesting, and there is frequently the
fmibt about actually being in
productive water.
^Randy Fite, a member of the
Tpssin’ with the pros staff and
recognized as one of the nation’s
most knowledgeable deep water
bass anglers, offers some tips on
overcoming these difficulties. He
firmly believes some bass live in
deep water year-round, and not
many anglers ever fish for them.
“The first thing I try to do on a
lake is locate what I call an ‘activity
zone’,” says the Lake Conroe guide.
“This is a basic depth where I see
the most fish activity. Once I
determine the depth, I try to locate
cover at that depth and begin
fishing.”
An activity zone, explains Fite, is
most easily found by studying a
depthfinder. Right after an angler
launches his boat, he should turn on
^§e depthfinder, regardless of
whether he uses a flasher, LCR, or
chart recorder, and idle away from
the launching ramp toward deeper
water.
Somewhere along the way to the
closest river channel or major
dropoff, Fite continues, he will begin
to notice a certain depth range that
seems to hold more fish. These fish
can be bass, crappie, or even
baitfish; it is simply a depth range
the fish seem to be preferring at that
particular time.
“This basic activity zone level is
not absolute,” Fite emphasizes. “In
fact, it will be different on opposite
ends of a large impoundment,
simply because of differences in
water clarity, temperature, and
basic lake depth. It can also change
during the course of a day, but it’s a
good general starting point for
summer bass fishing.”
Once this general depth of fish
|£tivity is established, Fite feels the
Hsiest way to catch those fish is to
iind the nearest extending point and
■fish where its bottom corresponds to
that fish activity depth.
A number of variables can and do
enter into this simple formula, but
generally speaking, this is how the
pros attack deep water fishing.
Gradually sloping points form
natural structure in most im-
poundments, and provide a variety
of depth options that attract bass.
* During the heat of the day, bass
can move down the points into
deeper water for cooler tem-
peratures and protection from
sunlight. At night, the bass swim up
the points into shallow water to feed.
On some impoundments, too,
points provide excellent day-time
fishing, even during the hottest
hours. This occurs primarily on
lakes where water is pulled through
a dam to generate electrical power.
The water movement, most
noticeable on points, seems to
generate baitfish activity, and the
bass quickly move up from deeper
channels and begin feeding on the
points, often in water less than 10
feet deep.
It is actually possible to see bass
on a depthfinder as they hover in
deep channels 18 to 20 feet deep, and
watch them begin to move shallow
as the current flow begins. The
movement is fairly rapid, and on
some lakes anglers time their
summer fishing to coincide with the
hours of power generation.
Fite recommends fishing summer
points by positioning his boat in
deeper water and casting shallow.
He retrieves his lures down the
slope, rather than up it. This ap-
proach keeps him from spooking any
fish that may be shallow, and it
allows him to easily move deeper if
he needs to.
On points where current is being
generated due to water releases at a
dam, lure retrieves will be more
productive if made in the direction
of the current pull, which is down
and slightly across the slope of the
point.
Summer point bass like crank
f)fz
LM
baits, plastic worms, jigs and
spoons. Crank baits are the easiest
to use because they can be retrieved
quickly. The most effective diving
plugs will be those that actually dig
along the bottom eight to 12 feet
down.
On deeper points, Fite prefers to
use a four to six-inch plastic worm,
usually rigged with a three-
sixteenths to one-half ounce slip
sinker, depending on the depth and
the mood of the fish. His retrieve is a
slow, simple crawl along the bottom.
Jigs can be fished the same way,
again depending on the mood of the
bass. For active fish, a faster,
hopping retrieve may be more ef-
fective, but for inactive fish, a
slower retrieve should be tried.
Many summer anglers like to use
jigging spoons to fish deeper points.
These lures, usually one-half to
three-quarter ounce in size, can be
cast up the point and slowly hopped
down in short jumps, or jigged
vertically if bass are seen on dep-
thfinder.
“When jigging spoons vertically,
the important thing is to try to
establish a rhythm to the jump and
fall of the lure,” notes Fite. “Try
different jigging methods, such as
making the spoon jump 12 or 15
inches each time, and then slow it
5 Days Only!
Wednesday, July 13 through Sunday, July 17
CLEVELAND, TEXAS
HIGHWAY 321
How to hunt? Find an open area.
Release the dog. Sit on a stump or
lean against a tree. Wait. Once on a
trail, the barking and baying will tell
you to be alert (especially, barking
beagle hounds). The dog will in-
stinctively pursue the rabbit through
the maze of ‘trails’ and ‘runs,’
eventually circle the rabbit around
and ultimately run the rabbit out
into the clearing near you. Bang!
One more rabbit bagged.
Because the swamp rabbit isn’t a
‘runner’, the meat is tender, juicy
and delicious — even more so than a
cotton tail. Once dressed and
quartered, cook the rabbits along
the Nemaha River. We cooked them
as you would chicken’ dumplings
and invited neighbors over for the
meal. We didn’t tell anyone what it
was. After the meal every single
person querried remarked ‘chicken
‘n’ dumplings.’ They were
astonished too larn that it was, in-
deed, swamp rabbit ‘n’ dumplings!
Receipe for ‘Rabbit ’N’ Dum-
pling.’:
Boil one pound of Rabbit in two
quarts of water, until tender but not
so long that the meat falls off the
bones.
Pour one cup of water into mixing
bowl. Stir in all purpose flour until
you make a thick dough. Roll out on
floured board (kneeding in flour too
See RABBIT, Page 18A
Anthony Colvin of Cleveland won the Cleveland Bass
Club's latest tournament at Toledo Bend. Colvin and
third-place finisher Jimmy Turner used June bug
colored plastic worms to catch their winning stringers.
Prices Are So Low,
Sales Are So High,
Everywhere You Look
You See A Dodge Go
By July 15th & 16th
At
6
down so the lure moves only six or
eight inches.
“Once you determine how the fish
want the lure presented, keep doing
it that way steadily. Let the spoon
fall on a tight line by lowering your
rod tip slowly, since most strikes
will come as the lure is falling.”
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Dodge
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w
WITH A HOME IMPROVEMENT LOAN
from
^ First Bank & Trust
WE WILL PROVIDE THE MONEY
and
A TOOL OR ACCESSORY
FOR YOUR BUILDING PROJECT OR IMPROVEMENT
FOR DETAILS
COME BY OR CALL TODAY
FIRST BANK & TRUST
200 E. Crockett
592-4661
Member F.D.I.C.
Cleveland, Texas
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Lowe, R. T. Cleveland Advocate (Cleveland, Tex.), Vol. 69, No. 27, Ed. 1 Friday, July 8, 1988, newspaper, July 8, 1988; Cleveland, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth982015/m1/9/: accessed April 17, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Austin Memorial Library.