Got this forwarded to me about a week ago. Remebered Casper telling me he was going to try and see the buffalo spawning run and realized I had this email.


http://www.wbir.com/...=...d=47558&bw=

Got this forwarded to me about a week ago. Remebered Casper telling me he was going to try and see the buffalo spawning run and realized I had this email.
http://www.wbir.com/...=...d=47558&bw=

Wow... a very nice video report. Ive got the raw footage from CFI but its nice to see a slicked up TV report and have some verbage from Jim H and David Et along too. I think that was snorkeling Pat at the end.
I would hate to see people start spearing them from the banks like they use to. People in some parts of the country put tree stands out in the water to rifle shoot from. Dang thats mean but some folks consider it fun.
There are arial photos showing fish weirs that American Indians built to force these runs into narrow channels where they could spear from. Massive weirs with big boulders, a major undertaking.
Makes me glad Buffalo are considered rough fish nowadays and too bony to eat but some of you know different.
I have yet to witness this spawning run phenonema and that it surely is, a wonder of spring. 2 years ago behind the house it occured on April 1 for 3 days and then quickly dispersed. I caught the tail end of it, just a few scattered thrashings out below a long riffle run. This year 2 of us walked it every day and it did NOT occur in that same place. There are lots of variables ( moon, depth, flow, temp, etc ) and it surely must have occured up or downstream somewhere. Citico Creek is probably the best place nearby to witness it because of the clarity, but the timing is seemingly impossible to predict. One would just about have to camp streamside for 2 or 3 weeks to be there at the right time.
Here is a pic of Buffalo that were gill netted from Reelfoot Lake. I had met these fellas the day before as they were leaving the bank to set their nets. Returning the next morning they treated myself and my father to a Mohawk Fish House Fry of Fresh Buffalo. I thought is was pretty good but they like it best in the cold winter. Summer tends to yield a fishier algaeish taste they said but i did not detect it.
The 2nd pic is of the fellas and my dad.
Very hard to top an experience like that, i will always remember their hospitality and the fish and snake stories they told.
Casper