THE FLIP SIDE: Decisions Abound In Swing Of Spring

APRIL SERVES UP PLATTER OF CHOICES

The last paragraph my tomcat, Boat Dock, penned in his fine outdoors column last week was, “April in Arkansas. You gotta love it.”

Actually it was an OK column, but if I don’t say it’s fine I get a full-claw swipe across the ankle.

About the only thing not to like about April is there are 30 days, not 31.

Everything about spring happens in April. Even snow seems to be out of our weather forecast, finally.

Check today’s Northwest Arkansas fishing report and you’ll see that everything is biting. It’s spawning time for crappie and white bass.

Word from Beaver Lake is that black bass are starting to make spawning beds in the gravel.

Wild turkeys are gobbling and spring turkey season is in full swing. Morel mushrooms are popping up all over. Float streams across the Ozarks, including the Buffalo, Mulberry, Kings and Elk, are at perfect levels for canoeing and kayaking.

Campgrounds have opened and the weather is pleasant for camping. The forests are lovely right now, cloaked in the short-lived bright green that gives way to the darker, lusher green when leaf-out is complete.

How about those dogwoods?

All that’s good news, but it can drive a person bananas deciding what activities to enjoy. So much to do, so little time.

If delicious morel mushrooms are your thing, that could be priority No. 1. On Wednesday I joined mushroom sleuth Sheila Edwards of Farmington for a hunt at one of her prized spots. She didn’t even blindfold me on the drive there. We bagged up a mess of morels.

That is, Sheila bagged ‘em up. A miracle happened and I found one or two. Sheila is kind enough to let your faithful outdoors reporter tag along with her on a hunt most Aprils. That way we can pass along tips to you readers to help you hunt your own morel mushrooms.

The trouble I’ve had with turkey hunting is that it happens right when fishing breaks loose. I did both many moons ago at Hobbs State Park-Conservation Area, back before Hobbs was closed for spring turkey season.

I’d launch my canoe at the back end of Van Winkle Hollow at daybreak and paddle quietly along, listening for a tom to gobble.

If a gobbler sounded off , I’d beach the canoe and head for the bird.

When the turkeys were silent, I’d fish for bass with top-water lures. Van Winkle Hollow is a great spot for black bass surface action in April.

The closest I came to killing a gobbler at Hobbs, or anywhere, was having a good conversation with one. It was some turkey talk I won’t forget.

A turkey gobbled near sunrise in Van Winkle Hollow. I climbed a ridge toward the magic sound and sat down next to an oak tree.

I clucked like a wild turkey hen. The tom would answer in full-throat gobble. I got impatient and moved one tree closer. That’s the last I heard from that turkey. I should have stayed put.

Hobbs is closed for spring turkey hunting. So is Beaver Lake Wildlife Management Area, the islands and federal public land that rings the lake. Turkey zone 1A, in western Benton and Washington counties, is also closed.

If the white bass run fl oats your fishing boat, consider going after these hard fighters with a fly rod. You’ll think every white bass on your line is a 5-pounder, they pull so hard.

Any fly that looks like a minnow will do. Most fly rodders swear by the Clouser minnow. White woolly buggers will work.

So should small white or chartreuse jigs. Wade, or fl y fish, from your boat.

I got the white-bass fl y-fishing bug about three years ago and haven’t looked back. No doubt that trout fight hard on a fly rod. Wait until you tangle with a white bass.

Wake up on a fine April morning and the decisions are tough. Go fishing or turkey hunting. Float the river or crappie fish at the lake. Go to work or call in well.

Like the tomcat said, April in Arkansas. You gotta love it.

FLIP PUTTHOFF IS OUTDOORS EDITOR FOR NWA MEDIA. FOLLOW HIM ON TWITTER AT TWITTER.

COM/NWAFLIP

Outdoor, Pages 6 on 04/25/2013

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