This is really the time to be night fishing. This became apparent to me on last Friday when Brooke and I took the grandbabies to the spillway at Spa to do a little fishing.

We had a ball, but it was certainly hot. The catfish were biting well on strawberry (powder) laced chicken chunks. There is something about that strawberry koolaide that just really seems to attract them. We had a lot of fun with the bluegill as well. We caught several that were hand size or better.

By the way, Brooke is now the proud owner of a small boat. She had been looking around for one for a little while, and out of the blue, a neighbor of mine had a pretty nice one to sell. I imagine she’ll be on the lakes quite a bit in the next few weeks. Once she goes back to school, though, I imagine that will get cut into quite a bit.

I recently talked ‘fishing’ with an old Sergeant Major of mine. He lives over in Christian Vounty and we were talking about the Red River, and the different fishing available to us all in different parts of the river. He has fished that river for several years now, from Adairville all the way to the mouth where it spills into the Cumberland in Clarksville. He states that from Adairville to as far as Port Royal is one of the most overlooked small mouth fisheries in both states. He went on to say that starting at a point about a mile below Port Royal is some of the best catfish fishing he has ever done, catching a lot of flathead cat in the 15 pounds or better class. He further stated that on a number of occasions he has caught some huge Rockfish in those holes.

He also cautioned that the closer you got to Clarksville on the river, the more hazardous your travel became. Numerous logs and ‘drift’ big enough to do some serious damage to your boat will become more frequent the closer you get to the mouth.

Too early for Ginseng prices
I have talked to a lot of Ginseng dealers from around the country over the past several days in that already people are calling me asking what I thought prices were going to open at. My stock answer is that we are still two months away from the legal digging season, and it is just too early to tell. The folks I talk to pretty much tell me the same thing. Remember, we ended the digging and buying seasons last year in a sharp downturn in price. Most are saying that it should be around $350 a pound and could advance as time goes forward, but all I spoke with said that the best advice they could give was to sell often and sell it as you dry it.
Right now Yellow Root (Goldenseal) is bringing around %15 or so a pound. These must me well cleaned, and completely dried root. That is certainly an improvement over last year when it brought about $10 on average. Properly dried tops are worth about $2.

Gulf oil spill could affect us
We all realize that the gulf is a “pretty tall Hickory” from Logan Vounty, but what a lot don’t realize is that the oil leak could well have some effect on us up here. Keep in mind that what effects the fish in the lower Mississippi Tiver could well effect us, as fish tend to migrate up river. If you follow our waterways, all end up in the Cumberland, spill into the Ohio, which in turn winds up in the Mississippi. I am not all that convinced that those effects will be that far reaching, but stay in
touch with this column for updates on hazardous consumption type warnings, as I will post them as I get them.