Merry Christmas: good luck with right gift

Ho, Ho, Ho oh no, it’s time to get that last-minute gift for your favorite hunter and fisher.

It’s a challenge, if only because most of these folks are particular about the things they use to pursue game and fish — “persnickety” was the way old folks described this trait decades ago.

What it means is unless you know — and really know — your outdoors recipient then don’t presume the guy or gal at the local or big-box store will know anything more about them than you do.

What it means is don’t buy fishing line, or lures, or shotgun shells, or bullets, or rods, or reels, or firearms cases, or those silly T-shirts with a stunned-looking bass and “Fish Fear Me” written underneath.

That T-shirt thing only makes your favorite angler the target for his sharp-tongued fishing buddies, who will tell him the thing he feared most was being afraid to tell his gift-giver that the T-shirt was going to be a target for barbed comments. Oh, he’d wear it for you, but not around his buddies.

So, what’s left?

Size matters, and it’s important when trying to make a gift of the just-right hunting jacket, warm boots, cooling fishing shirts and shorts, warm gloves and hats.

And don’t buy that tackle box because it “looks big,” unless you were with your fishing-frenzied, Christmas-present target and he or she admired it with piscatorial lust in their eye.

That leaves us with gift cards. Sure you can go shopping and make a reasonably good guess about hunting things and fishing things, and here’s where you find prices and buy a gift card for that amount.

It’ll send them to a store where they can get the just-right fit, the just-right style, the just-right camo pattern, the perfect handle, weight and length for a fishing rod, and things like the fishing line, lures and boxes they want.

What’s best is you’ll send them to a Christmas-night rest with all kinds of sugared thoughts that will turn into dreams of that hopefully marked-down shopping spree.

Merry Christmas!

Under the tree

An important bill awaits President Biden’s signature to take hold for our country’s anglers, and another is moving forward after passing a committee vote.

ACE — America’s Conservation Enhancement Reauthorization Act — passed a U.S. Senate vote last week and sits on the president’s desk.

This act continues the National Fish Habitat Partnership, a voluntary, non-regulatory, and locally driven program that has funded more than 1,300 on-the-ground aquatic habitat improvement projects throughout the country.

“The $230 billion sportfishing industry and America’s 57.7 million recreational anglers applaud Congress’ efforts to advance fish habitat restoration and conservation,” American Sportfishing Association spokesman Mike Leonard said.

Included in its many pages is reauthorization of the North American Wetlands Conservation Act and a provision that traditional tackle will not be banned by the Environmental Protection Agency for five years.

The second bill, EXPLORE — Expanding Public Lands Outdoor Recreation Experiences — had the backing of more than a dozen hunting and recreational organizations. This new bill is designed to expand recreation opportunities, improving infrastructure and removing barriers to allow more access to federal lands for hiking, camping, fishing and hunting.

Striped bass

Yes, Louisiana waters, mostly from the Mississippi River east into the Pontchartrain Basin and to the Pearl River, has an annual fall-winter run of sea-run striped bass.

Now, Wildlife and Fisheries wants fishermen taking to those waters to help collect striped bass samples.

More than 20 years ago, a mid-fall trip to the Mississippi River produced three striped bass among the largemouth, spotted and white bass and redfish caught near Fort Jackson.

This project is one of four main items currently listed on the agency’s website.

To get details, description of this species and instructions, go to the LDWF website: wlf.louisiana.gov

Expertise needed

The Committee on National Statistics has a call-out for nominations for “experts” to review the standards and evaluate the survey and data standards of the Marine Recreational Information Program, the long-debated federal fisheries data collections and reporting plan.

The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine has formed the committee and has a Dec. 31 deadline for nominations. Google this organization for details.