Saginaw Bay Lands Three Summer Bassmaster Events

Three Bassmaster tournaments will be held on Saginaw Bay June 16-19. Photo courtesy of Michigan Department of Natural Resources

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — Michigan’s massive Saginaw Bay will host three regular-season events this June, B.A.S.S. officials announced today. College bass anglers will head north for the Carhartt Bassmaster College Series presented by Bass Pro Shops, which will be held June 16-17. Meanwhile young anglers will get their opportunity to weigh in a giant Saginaw smallmouth during the Mossy Oak Fishing Bassmaster High School Series presented by Academy Sports + Outdoors and Mossy Oak Fishing Junior Series tournaments, both on June 19.

“We’re excited to give young anglers an opportunity to compete on Lake Huron and Saginaw Bay,” said College and High School Series Senior Manager Hank Weldon. “B.A.S.S. is always looking for opportunities to let college and high school anglers compete on a diverse range of water. Many of these teams might be experiencing a northern fishery for the first time, but it also gives teams who can’t travel to events in other parts of the country a chance to qualify for 2021 National Championship tournaments.”

Weldon credits local host Bangor Charter Township along with strong partners from the Michigan B.A.S.S. Nation and Great Lakes Bay Area Convention & Visitors Bureau with bringing these large tournaments — and their boost to the local economy — to Saginaw Bay. Due to overwhelming interest in the series, B.A.S.S. will once more cap the College and High School Series field sizes at 250 boats. Each high school event will also include a field of up to 50 boats for competitors ranging from second to eighth grade as part of the Junior Series.

At more than 1,100 square miles, Saginaw is not only the largest of Lake Huron’s bays but is also the largest freshwater coastal wetland in the United States. While the fishery hosts healthy populations of both largemouth and smallmouth bass, the area has been known traditionally for walleye fishing. Read more

Fishing

You Have Until May 14 to Think of a Better Way to Recycle Fishing Line, Soft Bait

BoatUS Foundation and Berkley Recast & Recycle Contest seeks new ideas, concepts

ANNAPOLIS, Md. – You’ve likely seen the fishing line recycling bins in many marinas and boatyards, but what really happens after that line is collected? Recycling it into new products is labor-intensive, requiring a series of workers to comb through, sort, clean, remove hooks and weights, and separate out encrusted debris from miles of entangled fishing line. There also aren’t any recycling programs for fishing-related materials like soft baits.

The BoatUS Foundation for Boating Safety and Clean Water and Berkley have teamed up with the Recast and Recycle Contest to offer $30,000 in prize money ($15,000 first place, $10,000 second place, and $5,000 third place) for new and innovative ideas that could improve the process, increase the amount of fishing line and soft baits that can be recycled, create new recycled products, or offer a technology breakthrough in the way line is recycled and reused. Read more

Fishing

ELR Shooter Ryan Cheney Hits 2.35-mile Shot with Hornady A-TIP Bullet

(Grand Island, Nebr.) — Hornady® congratulates Ryan Cheney on his record 2.35 mile shot on March 27 at the Spearpoint Ranch in Barnard, Kansas.

Cheney’s shot is the longest impact ever shot and recorded in competition.

Cheney was shooting Hornady .338 cal. 300 gr. A-TIP® bullets in his custom-built GA Precision rifle chambered in 33 XC.

“Half the battle in ELR is seeing your impacts and correcting” said Cheney. “These bullets have incredible splash and in 20+ mph winds, A-TIP bullets performed phenomenally,” added Cheney.

Cheney, a 41-year-old competitive ELR shooter from Conway Springs, Kansas was able to hit a plate at 3,592 yards – which itself was a record hit for a .33 caliber projectile, but then managed to drop a shot on a piece of 6-foot-by 6-foot steel at 4,134 yards, which is 2.35 miles. Read more

Ammunition, Firearms

Fin-Finder’s F-31 Compound Bowfishing Bow Now Available

Fin-Finder is excited to announce the launch of their brand-new F-31 compound bowfishing bow. Fin-Finder is continuing on their foundation of supplying the bowfishing community with all the gear they need to get wreckin’.

The F-31 replaces their beloved Fin-Finder Poseidon bowfishing bow with some exciting new features, functions, and upgrades.

The F-31 fuels bowfishing trips on a 31″ axle-to-axle platform, 8″ brace height, and is powered by 25-40lb. adjustable limbs.

Deep-well cam grooves keep the string from derailing when shooting at odd angles and quick draw scenarios. The bow’s anti-slip grip is perfect for wet environments and stays steadfast in the hand under any condition. Read more

Archery

Old Mossberg Rimfire Sings a New Tune

Looking at all the new firearms and calibers that have sprung up over the recent past, it’s incomprehensible to imagine where it will all end.  While those in power determine for us which guns are bad – and by omission, which are good – I haven’t bought into the idea that newer is always better.  Over the years I’ve latched onto some well-crafted old-timers that can keep up with anything in the accuracy department currently manufactured.

One of them is an O.F. Mossberg model 152 made in New Haven, Connecticut in .22 rimfire caliber.

Mossberg Model 152 (Red marks indicate shots already on this target before sight-in

It employs a detachable box magazine, sports an 18-inch barrel and weighs a scant 5 pounds.  The Monte Carlo stock is of straight-grained black walnut that subtly conveys quality.  But, here’s where good guns go evil:  It has a hinged forearm that pulls down to form a stabilizing hand grip, and it too is walnut.  Made in year 1948 it shoots only .22 long rifle ammo – no shorts or longs.  It also has sling swivels on the left side of the stock for the sling.

When I began testing the diminutive game-getter, it wasn’t feeding properly, so I took it to a local gun shop offering gunsmithing service.  When I got the call to pick it up, I was happy to learn the bill was only $40 and the employee of the shop said it worked fine now.

Eager to give it a go back home, I loaded and fired.  Immediately, it jammed just like before.  Feeding it different ammo didn’t help, either.  Although the shop didn’t tell me how they repaired the malfunction, it wasn’t difficult to see.  The lips of the magazine had been filed in an attempt to solve the feeding issue, but removing material certainly was not the solution.  I now owned a single-shot semi-auto rimfire that was essentially useless.

Before giving up on the notion of bringing the little pea shooter back to its original form, I contacted Numrich Gun Parts, which remanufactures parts for old guns.  The firm showed that the particular magazine I needed was not in stock.  However, sometime in the future, when demand for the part was great enough to warrant manufacturing some of them, they’d have some available.  The good news was that the slick little Mossberg used the same action as other rimfire models the company produced over time and apparently other folks must have had similar issues.  Numrich finally received enough orders to make a new magazine for me for a mere $28.  Heck, that was less than the “gunsmith” bilked me.

Still not knowing if it would solve the feeding issue, I fed it various .22 rimfire ammo and it spit them out like the machine it was over 70 years ago.

Now to make it pretty.  The stock was refinished and coated with Minwax spar urethane and the metal work was cold-blued.  Without a scope, it would still be of no practical use for me, so I installed an inexpensive fixed 4-power Bushnell rimfire scope with a 1-inch tube.

One thing I’ve learned about these old rimfires is that they are extremely accurate with sub-sonic ammo – those that fly below the speed of sound at 1120 feet per second.  I don’t recall what ammo I settled on for the newly revised version of the old classic, but it was then put back into storage until last week.

A target was set up at 25 yards and the old Mossberg was stoked with Federal Gold Medal target ammunition.  With my pal, Joe, spotting over my shoulder, the gun was rested on sand bags and I squeezed off three rounds to see where they were striking the paper.  The first was less than ½-inch from the center and the next two rounds touched each other in the tiny center ring.  The next 3-shot string found all shots touching in the center-X ring measuring a miniscule .245 of an inch!  Unbelievable – and, with absolutely no adjustment to the scope.

Newer is not always better.  Who knew?

Firearms ,

Michigan: DNR Announces Annual Tree City USA Honorees

Two new communities – the city of Madison Heights and Orion Charter Township – recently have been designated with the Tree City USA honor for promoting and caring for trees within the community.

They are among 124 Michigan communities, nine campuses, one healthcare institution and one utility recognized with a Tree City, Tree Campus, Tree Campus Healthcare or Tree Line USA designation for 2020.

“Michigan ranks eighth nationally in the number of communities with Tree City designations,” said Kevin Sayers, urban and community forestry specialist with the Michigan Department of Natural Resources. “Trees are a very important part of the landscape in our cities, towns and villages. They add beauty to college campus and hospital settings, making them more inviting, while also helping to cool sidewalks and clean the air. Properly maintained trees in the spaces around power lines helps improve safety and service, too.” Read more

Wildlife

New CMP Pistol Marksmanship 101 Class and M9 EIC Match Debut at Talladega Spring Classic

Talladega, AL – The Civilian Marksmanship Program introduced its first Pistol Marksmanship 101 class and accompanying M9 EIC pistol match on Wednesday, 17 March at the CMP Talladega Marksmanship Park ahead of rain and thunder later in the day.

At the match, Michael Cameron, 65, of Baton Rouge, LA, earned his four introductory Excellence-In-Competition pistol points toward 30 required to earn a Distinguished Pistol Shot badge. With a score of 244-1X, Cameron was tops among the points-eligible shooters. He was followed by LTJG Brandon Critchfield, USCG (219) and CPT Jennifer Creasy, USAR (209).

Arthur Rubin, 61, of Lincolnwood, IL, led all 16 competitors in the three-stage match with a score of 249-1X. Rubin earned his introductory EIC pistol points in 2013. The match course of fire includes 10 shots slow-fire, 10 shots timed-fire and 10 shots rapid-fire, all at a distance of 25 yards. Read more

Firearms

Burris Optics Introduces Oracle 2 Rangefinding Bow Sight

Provides exact distance to target and exact aiming points

GREELEY, CO – Burris Optics changed the compound bow hunting game with the introduction of the Oracle Rangefinding Bow Sight in 2018 by taking the guesswork out of pin placement to give hunters the needed edge while in the field. Burris has built upon that success and incorporated positive consumer feedback for improvements in the overall design to enhance performance, bolster ruggedness and improve ease of use.

Knowing exact distance to target is critical when bow hunting. A few yards can be the difference between filling a tag or going home empty handed. The Oracle 2 eliminates unknown distances with a built-in IR laser rangefinder that automatically provides the correct aiming point for any distance and shot angle.

The Oracle 2 features increased functionality of the auto-brightness sensor to allow the pin brightness to be lower in ambient light conditions. Hunters can also use the easy-to-reach buttons to manually override the sensor to adjust to their desired brightness. The laser rangefinder adjustment mechanism also received improved usability by allowing users to adjust the laser’s point of aim without the use of special tools. The point of aim can now be adjusted much like a rifle scope and employs a more precise clicking mechanism. Read more

Archery

Walther PDP 5″ Series

Building off of the Incredible Success of the Performance Duty Pistol (PDP), Walther is proud to announce it’s now available in 5” versions for both Full Size and Compact models.

Walther, a company, defined by over a century of engineering passion, precision workmanship, and innovation, has entered a new manufacturing era with its flagship elite handgun. The PDP has been painstakingly designed by Walther to perform no matter what so the shooter can focus on being READY.

With revolutionary Red Dot Ergonomics engineered into the pistol, the PDP platform has been designed around making the switch to the popular red-dot sight system easier for the new RDS shooter and faster for the RDS veterans. The SuperTerrain serrations are uniquely shaped to protrude above the surface of the slide, allowing for quicker and more responsive hands-on engagement with the pistol. Walther’s brand new Performance Duty Trigger shortens the length of travel and increases the tactile definition of the trigger break making the best striker-fired trigger on the market even better. The PDP is the most modular and versatile pistol ever designed by Walther, and every PDP model comes red dot READY. Read more

Firearms

Chapuis Faisan Over/Under Shotguns: Exquisite Aesthetics and High Performance

ACCOKEEK, MD – French gun maker Chapuis delivers high performance in the field while boasting exquisite aesthetics with the Faisan Classic and Artisan over-and-under shotguns. The two shotguns infuse classic lines with modern technology to deliver a unique look of prestige. Chambered in 12, 20 and 28 gauge, both shotgun models are now available to dealers and consumers.

“Pheasant hunting is one of the time-honored traditions of gentleman hunting,” said Chapuis Product Manager Tom Leoni. “Faisan is French for ‘pheasant,’ and these two shotguns honor the classical beauty associated with upland shotguns from the days of yore along with providing great in-field performance with modern technology. Anyone who goes afield with a Faisan will surely be proud to show it to others.”

Built from a single block of forged steel, the action of the Faisan shotguns provides maximum resistance and durability. The action’s low profile also allows the support hand to be very close to the bore axis for instinctive pointability. Modern updates such as an automatic safety, ejectors and the convenience of current chokes round out the features of both guns. Read more

Firearms
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