Leaving ‘combat fishing’ pier yields good results

The fish-stocking truck had just left when I arrived at Boulder Harbor on Friday morning, but the fishing pier already was packed with anglers who were casting assorted hardware and other trout baits. Many were stacked up at the end of the pier, while others were spread out between there and the shoreline.

The scene was something you might see in a reality television show titled "Combat Fishing." Not inviting to me, but everyone else seemed to be having a good time, and most were reeling in fish.

One angler who had been fishing at Hemenway came to the harbor with hopes of finding a scale on which to weigh the 29-inch striped bass he had caught. When the man finally found a scale, the fish weighed in at 10 pounds. The fish had hammered his trout-imitating LA Slider earlier that morning following a trout plant.

A few other stripers were caught that day, but most of the action was for stocked rainbows. What I couldn't understand is why so many anglers insisted on fishing from the pier because many of the trout stocked that morning wasted little time finding somewhere else to be. While throwing a swimbait along the shoreline well south of the pier, I saw several small schools of trout as they explored their new surroundings, and a friend saw trout on the far side of the launch ramp north of the pier.

Why battle for space in the combat fishing arena?

While Monday's storm kept many people home, my friend Roger loaded up his kayak and headed to Lake Mead. Despite the wind and cold temperatures, he was on the water by sunup and had the area between Boulder Harbor and Hemenway to himself.

"The stripers started hitting about 6:15, and they hit everything -- shad imitations, trout imitations. Then they just shut off about 8," said Roger, who landed 10 fish between 2 and 4 pounds each.

• DUCKS ON THE MOVE -- With most waters in the upper Great Basin either frozen or getting there, larger ducks are moving south, and hunters looking to shoot at the Overton Wildlife Management Area should have a good chance to take something home for the freezer. Reports are that Overton is full of birds, mostly mallards, widgeon and a few teal.

"Patience is the key," said lifetime waterfowl hunter Brock Perry of Henderson. "Wait on the birds and let them circle. Let them work all the way into your decoy spread."

That means no sky busting, a problem at Overton. Most shots on waterfowl should be within 25 to 45 yards. Anything farther does little more than waste money spent on nontoxic shot and educate the birds so they are difficult to decoy. Waiting on a good shot benefits everyone and makes for more effective kill shots with fewer lost birds. Perry said he thinks most people who shoot at distances of 60 to 80 yards do so because of a lack of knowledge and experience.

Perry recommends using a motorized decoy or a jerk string to add motion to your spread. This will help bring birds in on days with little wind.

"Use light mallard chuckles and light widgeon whistles," he said.

Freelance writer Doug Nielsen is a conservation educator for the Nevada Department of Wildlife. His "In the Outdoors" column, published Thursday in the Las Vegas Review-Journal, is not affiliated with or endorsed by the NDOW. Any opinions he states in his column are his own. He can be reached at dougnielsen@att.net.