No justification for duck slaughter
By Hookemharry

Posted: December 25, 2003

In last Thursday’s Missoulian, I was very disappointed to read about the 35 ducks that were killed and then dumped on the side of the road east of Missoula.

During the past week, that has been the number one topic for discussion among fellow hunters. Irate is the one word that described most of their reactions to this bad news.

It is hard to imagine what was going through the mind of the culprit or culprits to pull a stunt like this one. Not only is it a waste of game, but probably just as important, it is the negative publicity that it generates against hunters.

Understand, the person who did this is no hunter. Hunters respect the game they seek. They don’t waste game. They don’t go out of their way to violate the law. The person or persons who did this can be described only as criminals.

If anyone has any information that may be used to turn these people in that were involved and successfully prosecute them for their crime, please call 329-3000.

On a brighter note for this holiday season, Dick Zimmer e-mailed a fishing report to me and I thought it might be a good idea to pass some of it along.

Zimmer wrote, “Mack fishing has been excellent on the lake in both deep and shallow water. Fishing from Polson docks has produced some large lake trout as well as a steady catch of smaller fish.”

Zimmer goes on to suggest that if you use a piece of Johnsonville Link Sausage on a large snelled hook above a bottom weight, that is the best approach.

Whitefish fishing in the Polson Bridge area is still phenomenal and should continue to be hot well into next month. The best fishing time is from sundown till midnight.

It might be a great chance to spend a little time with your kids during the holidays. Just make sure they dress warm.

George Hoover from Missoula fished the North Point of Blue Bay. It was the kind of hot fishing just perfect for kids.

“If we didn’t have a fish on within 45 seconds, we assumed there was something wrong with our bait,” Hoover told Zimmer. So Zimmer went a few days later with Missoula’s Brent Hammernick and Bill Stack. They did okay using an all-glow #0 1-oz Trilobite or a 1 ½ oz Green Chartreuse and glow lead-a-gator baited with cutbait below a pink and glow LMR special. The LMR special baited with maggots seemed to work best. Fishing in 160-180 feet seemed to be the hot depth.

The point at Woods Bay, Painted Rocks, the north side of Wild Horse Island (especially near the Old Lodge), Rocky Point and Gravel Bay are also good bets at this time of the year.

Zimmer also says that Lone Pine Reservoir, Lake Mary Ronan, and Crow Reservoir all have a solid five inches of ice. Crow Reservoir has been producing some nice perch. Zimmer fished the southwest corner, using a ¼ oz all-glow Jig-A-Bigun with a green chartreuse glow hook above it and used a fisheye/maggot combo to catch perch from 3 inches in length to 12 inches. Ice fishing is fair for perch and northern pike at Lone Pine Reservoir.

Reports out of Georgetown Lake say the trout are biting pretty well. Salmon fishing is slower, with the best time to be on the ice is before sunrise for salmon. Browns Lake trout fishing is slow but when you do catch one, they are usually pretty good sized.

With so many places to choose from, take a family member fishing this holiday and have a Merry Christmas.

New Podcast!

Riley's Meats - Butte Wild Game Processing