Synopsis of Episode 66:

This week we start off by visiting with our old buddy- Lake Fork Guide Heath Hardwick. My dad and I had the pleasure of fishing with Heath on Monday. It was a humbling experience for us both! Heath was whackin’ em all day- but the bite was so subtle that dad and I were having a heck of a time knowing when a fish actually picked up the bait. It was still a great day on the water as I did manage to catch my first Lake Fork largemouth. Heath proved to be a great and patient teacher. We get into what worked and what didn’t and a whole lot more. Heath did landthe biggest bass I have ever seen in person- 8 lbs easy!

Photobucket

We then check in with Tioga Retrievers’ Angie Becker for Part II of our mini-series “The Progression of a Gun Dog“. My 9 month old female- Belle, has two months of Basic Gun Dog training under her belt and we’ll find out how she is coming along. With force fetch, delivery to hand and steadying already taken care of, what will she be working on during the last month of her training? If you are thinking about adding a retriever to the family then this is something you don’t want to miss. Belle doing work:

Photobucket

We round out the show by chatting with Ducks Unlimited’s Director of Governmental Affairs- Scott Sutherland. Scott has his finger squarely on the pulse of what is going in Washington D.C., and he has some great news to share with all waterfowlers as the federal government just announced they will be contributing 37.5 million dollars to NAWCA (North American Wetlands Conservation Act) in 2011. There was a real possibility that NAWCA was going to be completely shut out of federal funding in 2011 and with private donations matching federal dollars to the tune of 4 to 1 – this was set to be a loss of about 120 million dollars towards watefowl conservation in 2011. Since 1995, NAWCA related projects have seen over 110 million dollars go towards projects in Texas alone! Without this program scenes like the one below would become less and less common:

Photobucket