Hunters under the age of 18 will have a chance to hunt 22 Indiana Department of Natural Resources (DNR) properties for the reserved turkey hunts during the special youth wild turkey hunting season April 23-24.

The youth hunts will be at Atterbury, Chinook, Crosley, Deer Creek, Fairbanks Landing, Glendale, Goose Pond, Hillenbrand, Hovey Lake, Jasper-Pulaski, Kankakee, Kingsbury, LaSalle, Minnehaha, Pigeon River, J.E. Roush, Sugar Ridge, Tri-County, Willow Slough and Winamac Fish and Wildlife Areas (FWA), as well as at Mississinewa and Salamonie lakes.

Young hunters wanting to sign up for the Chinook, Deer Creek, Fairbanks Landing or Hillenbrand hunts may do so at Minnehaha FWA. A youth hunter may be drawn for either or both hunt days, depending on the number of applicants.
Youth hunters, or an adult representing them, must register in person at the property they wish to hunt from March 21-April 1, 9 a.m.-3 p.m. local time. The drawing will be held April 4, and all applicants will be notified of drawing results by mail.

A limit will be placed on the number of youth hunters allowed to hunt a property each day, to provide quality hunts. Each property will hold local early registrations and drawings for the half-day hunts.

Hunts will run one-half hour before sunrise until noon at properties in the Central Time Zone, and one-half hour before sunrise until 1 p.m. on properties in the Eastern Time Zone. Applicants may sign up for only one property, and they must possess a valid 2011 Youth Hunting and Trapping License, Lifetime Comprehensive Hunting or Lifetime Comprehensive Hunting and Fishing License. An Apprentice Youth Hunt/Trap license may also be used.

Youth hunters selected for the hunt may check in at any time each day until the end of legal hunting hours for the property. Properties not filling their quotas during early registration may fill remaining spots during regular office hours until the youth season opens. The properties will use a drawing each morning of the hunt, or first-come, first-served each morning of the hunt.
Properties will not have a daily “no-show” drawing because there is no set time selected for youth hunters to check in during the morning hunts. Hunters interested in possible unfilled quotas at a property should contact the property for more information before showing up on the opening morning of the youth season.

During youth wild turkey season, youth hunters may only take a bearded or male wild turkey and must be accompanied by an adult at least 18 years of age. The youth hunter may use any legal shotgun, bow and arrow or crossbow. The adult accompanying the youth hunter must not possess a firearm, bow and arrow or crossbow while in the field.

The adult does not need to possess a turkey hunting license unless the youth is using an apprentice license. A youth hunter may take only one bearded or male wild turkey during both the special youth season and regular spring season combined. The youth must be properly licensed to take a wild turkey and comply with all tagging and check-in requirements.

Five Indiana Fish of the
Year from Lake Michigan

If you wanted to catch an Indiana Fish of the Year winner in 2010, Lake Michigan was the place to cast, and apparently it also helped if your name was Kotfer. Hoosiers pulled five winners from the Indiana portion of the Great Lake during the year-long contest.

The annual Fish of The Year recognizes the person catching the longest fish of each species tracked by Indiana’s Fisheries Division. Ron Kotfer caught a 24-inch lake trout in the Porter County waters of the lake, using a jig and grub. He also caught a 33-inch steelhead trout using a J-plug.

His 13-year-old son Michael caught a 31-inch Chinook salmon in the Porter County waters of the lake using a J-plug. Michael also caught a seven-inch green sunfish from a private lake in Fountain County, using a jig and plug to earn Fish of the Year for the species.

Steve Fiorio of Dyer and David Kniola of Michigan City landed the other Lake Michigan fish. Fiorio caught a 16.6-inch yellow perch while fishing Lake Michigan in Lake County, using a minnow. Kniola caught a 31.5-inch brown trout in the LaPorte County waters of Lake Michigan, but didn’t report a bait or lure used.
As successful as Ron and Michael Kotfer were, 16-year-old Danny Kotfer owned bragging rights for the most Fish of the Year, with three. Danny’s biggest Fish of the Year was a 29-inch Coho salmon he took from Porter County’s portion of the Little Calumet River using a Blue Fox spinner. He also caught a 12-inch rock bass from the same waters using the same type of lure, and a 13-inch bullhead from a private lake in Fountain County using a jig and grub.

The longest Fish of the Year was a 48-inch blue catfish caught by David Ben Mullen, a Central resident, in the Ohio River. The catfish was caught using skipjack herring as bait.

Other notable fish were caught in smaller waters. Fiorio caught a 47-inch muskie from Tippecanoe Lake in Kosciusko County, using a Toppy Crappie. Kelly Williams, an Indianapolis man, caught a 42-inch striped bass in Cecil M. Harden Lake in Parke County – also known as Raccoon Lake – using a bluegill as bait.
Patrick Ross of Mishawaka caught a 32-inch walleye in the St. Joseph River in Elkhart County, using a bass minnow as bait. Mark Nance of Greenfield caught a 26-inch saugeye out of Huntingburg Lake in Dubois County, using a jig.
There were 56 entries for Fish of the Year; 30 were recognized as winners. River and stream fishing accounted for 12 of the 30 entries. Eight came from inland lakes, and five came from private ponds.

To view other Fish of the Year honorees and their information, see www.fishing.IN.gov/files/fw-Fish_of_the_Year_Winners_2010.pdf

Two state record fish
angled in 2010

Jonathan VanHook of Rockville caught a 39.08-pound striped bass in Cecil M. Harden Lake in Parke County using a live bluegill as bait. His striper surpassed the previous state record, caught in the Ohio River in 1993, by almost four pounds.

Lindsey Fleshood of Wabash established the first state record for a shortnose gar in 2010. Her fish weighed 1.58 pounds and measured 24.25 inches. She caught the fish in the Wabash River in Wabash County, using a live creek chub as bait. She also caught the winning white bass and grass carp in the Indiana Fish of the Year competition.

The views and opinions expressed in this column are those of the author and not necessarily those of Farm World. Readers with questions or comments for Jack Spaulding may contact him by e-mail at jackspaulding@hughes.net or by writing to him in care of this publication.