Home///Vol. 129, No. 1 - Waters - 2024/In This Issue
Field & Stream|Vol. 129, No. 1 - Waters - 2024You Make the CallSTEP 1: Choose and cut the block.A nail call starts with a simple, solid block of wood, cut to roughly 1½ inches tall by 2 inches wide by 3 inches long. “You can customize the dimensions to fit your hand, but this is a good starting point,” Herman says. Initially, he used only solid oak but found over time that just about any wood will work. “You can use a scrap of two-by-four if you want.” One caveat: “Make sure the grain runs horizontally and not vertically; you want the nail going through the layers of grain rather than between them, otherwise the block might crack.”STEP 2: Drill a pilot hole for the nail.Choose which side of the block will be the top of the call. “Whichever is the prettiest,”…3 min
Field & Stream|Vol. 129, No. 1 - Waters - 2024THE STREAMTHE FACT THAT I make a high percentage of casts from my knees ought to give you a good idea of the size of the streams where I do most of my trout fishing. Sometimes it’s because the fish are rising in such tight, backcast-punitive places that I can’t present the fly from any other position; sometimes it’s because wading is ill-advised, and to cast from the bank standing up would be to trigger a kind of mass panic not seen since Godzilla rampaged through the streets of Tokyo, flinging buses around.The main exception to the kneeling rule comes when I’m fishing the hatch of giant Hexagenia limbata mayflies, which typically emerge from their silty dens about 20 minutes after sunset on the first warm nights of summer. When the…3 min
Field & Stream|Vol. 129, No. 1 - Waters - 2024TAP’S TIPSBY H.G. “TAP” TAPPLY FROM THE ARCHIVES OF FIELD & STREAMNo. 1A GOOD HABIT: When you stop fishing to rest or eat lunch, put your hat or cap on the ground and set the butt of your fly rod in it. This keeps sand and dirt out of the reel. Always lean the rod against something; never lay it down.No. 2ICE CUBES MAKE sporty plinking targets. They shatter as explosively as glass when you hit them but create no litter that must be picked up later. They also encourage careful marksmanship, because every time you miss the target, it melts down a little smaller.No. 3CAN COWS TELL you whether or not the fish are biting? Some folks think so. They claim that cattle graze actively at times when the fish…1 min
Field & Stream|Vol. 129, No. 1 - Waters - 2024Nail Your Next GobblerDOUG HERMAN was guiding turkey hunters in Nebraska in 2009 when he got wind of another client in camp calling to birds with a nail set into a block of wood. “I thought, No way, and had to see it for myself,” Herman says. When he did see it, and played it, he plunked $100 on the table, offering to buy the call on the spot. No dice, the man told him; it wasn’t for sale. On the last night of the hunt, after a few drinks, Herman asked to play the strange call again—and plunked $200 on the table. Nope, the man insisted. But the next morning, the hunter gave the call to Herman as part of his tip.“I used that nail call for the next 14 days straight,…1 min
Field & Stream|Vol. 129, No. 1 - Waters - 2024The LakeIN MY DREAM, I’m standing on the deck of a camouflage johnboat that’s sitting idle on a mudflat because the motor won’t start. On the floor of the boat is an open toolbox, a broken fishing rod, a bow and arrow, a 22 rifle, and an empty bucket of fried chicken. Since it’s a dream, some of it is weird; for example, I am juggling a carp, a catfish, and a dead squirrel. A videographer wearing skinny jeans is squatting in the mud and pointing a GoPro at me, asking if I could maybe toss the catfish a bit higher, and when the motor is fixed, can we go bluegill fishing, throw poppers for bass, and put out a spread of teal decoys?It may sound like an anxiety dream, but…4 min
