Still plenty of family fun this Spring Break

Still plenty of family fun this Spring Break

LITTLE ROCK — Unplug from the electronics and take your kids on an outdoor adventure this Spring Break at an Arkansas Game and Fish Commission nature or education center. All eight AGFC-operated centers will be open with special programs and events this weekend to keep families entertained with wholesome outdoors fun. The AGFC operates four nature centers and four education centers across the state, with a new one currently being built in Northwest Arkansas. Each center offers a variety of experiences from archery, kayaking and canoeing, bb gun shooting and naturethemed arts and crafts for people of all ages. Each center boasts excellent hiking trails with interpretive signs to teach hikers about some of their surroundings, and indoor displays offer visitors the opportunity to get their outdoors fix when the weather takes a turn for the worse. Tabbi Kinion, chief of the AGFC’s Education Division, says each center tries to offer a variety of programs each day, so visitors can get a new experience each time they come.

“Even if you’ve been to one of our centers before, we are always adding new exhibits, trails and programs to keep it exciting for everyone,” Kinion said. “And during spring break, we try to make sure there’s something for everyone, so you can spend the day or just drop in during the programs that interest you most.”

Best of all, admission to the centers and regular programs are absolutely free thanks to Amendment 75, which created a 1/2-cent Conservation Sales Fund to help the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission, Arkansas Parks and Tourism, The Arkansas Natural Heritage Commission and Keep Arkansas Beautiful.

Each center has its own website and Facebook page to keep you up to date on the latest programs going on and a profile of the many exhibits and trails you will find during your trip. Visit ww.agfc.com/naturecenters to learn more about each center, view their calendar of events and link to their Facebook page.

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AGFC and Arkansas Tech team up to track secretive sauger on Arkansas River

RUSSELLVILLE — Researchers at Arkansas Tech University are working with the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission to learn more about the habits of sauger swimming in the Arkansas River. And if you just had a curious look on your face after reading the word “sauger,” you’re probably not alone.

The sauger is a species of fish that is a cousin of the walleye, which is known for its fantastic flavor. While sauger and walleye have followings as large as crappie and bass angling up North and in the Midwest, they are pursued by a relatively small group of anglers in the southern states they inhabit. The Arkansas River holds the largest population of sauger in the state, but few anglers know much about the species.

“I occasionally get photos from anglers asking what the fish was that a person caught in the river while fishing for crappie and bass,” says Frank Leone, fisheries supervisor at the AGFC’s Russellville regional office. “Most of the time, people will ask if it’s a snakehead, and I have to explain to them that it’s not only a native fish, but a good one at that.” The comparison may be a fair assessment to people who have seen neither but only heard descriptions of the invasive snakehead. Both have a mottled brown and bronze coloration and both have teeth, but that’s where the similarity stops. Sauger are much more streamlined than snakeheads, have peglike teeth instead of the snakehead’s sharper triangular teeth.

Perhaps the reason for the lack of the species’ popularity comes from the relatively short window when anglers are truly able to pursue them. Each winter, sauger move upstream in the Arkansas River to find rocky, shallow areas to spawn. The many dams along the river that keep navigation open for commercial and recreational traffic hinder their progress, forcing most to congregate and spawn along the rocks just below each lock and dam. Grizzled old-school anglers have learned this pattern, and will walk to these riprap-covered areas to cast crappie jigs, minnows and other offerings when the current is right to collect some sauger for a midwinter fish fry. But outside of the spawning cycle, no one really knows what happens to these mysterious fish on the Arkansas River.

That’s where Arkansas Tech Graduate Student Peter Leonard comes in. He has been working under John Jackson, Ph.D, head of the Department of Biological Sciences and professor of Fisheries Science at Arkansas Tech University to track Arkansas River sauger throughout the seasons to learn more about the species. Leonard has worked with Leone on two studies concerning the species to help fill in the voids regarding the species’ use of habitat throughout the year and angling effort directed at sauger.

“The exploitation study was conducted using tags on fish collected during the spawning run of 2017,” Leonard said. “We caught sauger when they were concentrated, placed reward tags on the fish and released them. Anglers who caught the fish later could call the phone number on the tag and receive a cash prize for their catch.”

Leone says tag/recapture studies are used fairly often in fisheries work to determine how many fish anglers catch and keep from a population.

“If you have a certain amount of tags on fish, and anglers turn in a certain percentage, then you can use that to figure the rate of fish being caught,” Leone said. “While they are on the phone, we ask a few questions about where it was caught, if they kept the fish and if they were targeting that species, in particular, to give us a better picture of what’s going on out on the water.”

According to Leonard, 340 tagged fish were released below the dam that separates Lake Dardanelle and Pool 9 of the Arkansas River and below Ozark dam at the upper end of Lake Dardanelle early last spring.

“We have had very few tag returns so far, telling us that the exploitation rate for sauger last year was very low,” Leonard said.

Leone added that although the last two years saw high flows that could have disrupted angling effort, the results of the tag returns reinforce much of the anecdotal evidence he has had over the years that recreational fishing pressure has very little impact on sauger populations in the river. “Flow rates are just something you have to deal with any time you study an aspect of a river fishery,” Leone said. “It’s part of the natural world, so you have to be prepared for events that are outside of your control.”

One interesting finding during the tag returns was the extreme distance from the release point in which some anglers found tagged fish.

“Most of our tag returns have come from below Barling dam above the next pool upstream from Dardanelle,” Leonard said. “In some cases the fish moved through two lock and dam systems to get to that destination.”

The second part of Leonard’s research reinforced some of those findings. In addition to fish with reward tags, researchers implanted special acoustic transmitters into sauger caught below Ozark dam and tracked the signals throughout the year to keep an eye on where the fish spent their time outside of the spawn.

“You rarely hear about people targeting sauger, but never hear about it any time other than winter,” Leone said. “So we wanted to learn where these fish went during the rest of the year to see if there were any habitats they relied on that we needed to keep in mind for conservation work.” The telemetry equipment used in the research is very similar to sonar, but keys in on a specific frequency unique to each transmitter.

“We tracked individual fish as they moved around in the system,” Leonard said. “Most would stay within about 15 miles of where they were released, but a few travelled more than 100 miles upstream during the course of the year.”

Leone and Leonard agreed that, for the most part, sauger remained in the open river habitat, relying on current breaks in deeper, fast-moving sections when they are not concentrated for the spawn, which explains why few anglers find them outside of that window.

“Bass, crappie and other species most anglers are targeting will move to areas out of the current, so most of our anglers aren’t fishing where the sauger live long enough to have an appreciable catch rate.”

Leonard still has some data to compile for the study, and hopes to complete his thesis work on the project soon.

“We will go back and analyze the findings to determine fine-scale habitat types to recreate and protect once the study is complete and has been reviewed,” Leone said.

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LITTLE ROCK — The Arkansas Game and Fish Commission’s Family and Community Fishing Program and Arkansas Game and Fish Foundation will celebrate the end of the winter trout stocking season with a bang at 6 p.m. this evening. A live drawing will be held on KTHV’s regularly scheduled Outdoor Report and will be streamed live at www.thv11.com.

Nearly 70,000 13- to 14inch long rainbow trout have been stocked in FCFP ponds since November to offer anglers access to this exceptional sportfish while water temperatures would enable them to survive. Three hundred of these fish were outfitted with pink fluorescent tags when they were stocked to help biologists measure angling effort and promote the added opportunity.

“Anglers from around the state have sent in tags and won prizes all winter long simply by fishing at one of our stocked locations,” said FCFP coordinator Maurice Jackson. “Prizes ranged from a shopping gift card to tackle boxes and other fishing gear.”

In addition to individual prizes, each person who turned in a tag is eligible for the grand prize, a two-night stay for up to 14 people at the Rick Evans Conservation Education Center courtesy of the Arkansas Game and Fish Foundation. Winners will be able to enjoy fishing, canoeing, archery and trap shooting during their stay at the center.

“A continuing mission of the Foundation is supporting AGFC initiatives aimed at getting families unplugged and engaged in Arkansas’s Outdoors,” said AGFF President Deke Whitbeck. “The Family and Community Fishing Program helps do exactly that with their events and programming. We are happy to help with this effort.”

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Ducks Unlimited honors Boozman, Ronquest for achievements in wetland conservation

DENVER, Colorado — Two Arkansans were honored at Friday’s North American Wildlife and Natural Resources Conference by Ducks Unlimited for their work in promoting and conserving North America’s wetlands and waterfowl. Senator John Boozman and Jim Ronquest, producer of Rich-N-Tone videos, were recognized with two of the six awards DU presented.

Sen. Boozman received the annual Wetlands Conservation Senior Federal Official award for his continued commitment to wetlands conservation and its impact on not only the natural resources but the communities that thrive from the watchable wildlife, hunting and tourism dollars associated with waterfowl and wetland species. Jim Ronquest received the annual Wetlands Conservation Communications award for his efforts in influencing youth education and conservation efforts. In addition to his many videos capturing the thrill of waterfowl hunting in Arkansas and other states, Ronquest organizes free duck-calling classes and many other hunting- and conservation-oriented events for youths interested in the outdoors.

“Every year dedicated conservation professionals are nominated for these awards. Nominees and those selected for recognition represent how people with a shared passion can achieve great things for wetlands and waterfowl conservation,” Ducks Unlimited Chief Conservation Officer Nick Wiley said. “Ducks Unlimited is pleased to recognize these efforts that serve as an inspiration for others to follow. Conservation requires teamwork and only by working together can we achieve effective and lasting success.”

Visit www.ducks.org/wetlandawards to read more about the Wetland Conservation Awards and the individual winners.

Tagged trout giveaway live on KTHV Thursday