Upcoming youth fishing tournament can teach a lot

    The weather has been superb for the green thumbed people I suppose. With the high humidity, misting rains and relatively cool nights, you’d almost have to kill plants before they stop growing under those conditions. I’m just waiting for the other shoe to drop and all that oppressively hot and sticky weather to arrive.

    I still haven’t heard a lot from the local fishermen. I do know all the bridges along the estuarian creeks and guts do seem to keep a constant flow of people at them. I’m not sure I’d want to eat anything that I caught there unless they were blue crabs.

    Speaking of fishing let me plug the Division of Fish and Wildlife’s hosting the 23rd Annual Youth Fishing Tournament. As part of National Fishing Week (June 6 to June 14), DFW will host a special tournament for kids 4 to 15 Saturday, June 6, at three different sites. Those sites will be Ingrams Pond in Millsboro, Wyoming Pond at the park area in Wyoming and Lums Pond State Park at the dog handling area in Bear.

    Entry is free and awards will be given at each location to kids 4 to 7, 8 to 11 and 12 to 15. Events will start at 10 a.m. and run until 1 p.m. Catch and release will be discussed and encouraged for participants.

    For more information, call 739-9913 or go to www.fw.delaware.gov/Pages/FWPortal.aspx to find entry forms and additional information.

    The division also will recognize the importance of contributions made by fishermen by designating Saturday, June 6, and Sunday, June 7, as free fishing days. On those two days, anyone can fish the waters of Delaware without having to purchase a fishing license.

    Since I mentioned catch and release many of you know that I’m not a big proponent of the practice. I understand it with the big saltwater species, but I suppose there’s just too much “hunter” in me to understand the rest. If I didn’t want to keep a fish then why would I jerk it out of the water to begin with? Still, if that’s your enjoyment, you certainly aren’t depleting the resource by returning it. Sadly, others don’t feel that way.

    News this week from the European Union suggests that animal rights groups (which are wielding tremendous power over on that side of the pond) are actively pursuing governments to make catch and release fishing illegal. Their contention is that the fish are shocked and the exertion kills them even after being returned to the water. This would mean that if you had a creel limit of three fish and you caught an undersized fish, you couldn’t release it. By that you see that it’s just a blatant attempt by these misguided souls to make fishing illegal. They’ve already destroyed gun ownership and public hunting there and, as I warned years ago, they’re only increasing their options to eliminate any consumptive sport outdoor activity. You guys who’ve enjoyed spreading a blanket on the grass for picnics might well be next. You have no idea of the trauma this places on earthworms.

    And speaking of earthworms, I made a strange discovery the other morning. As I went to get my paper, I noticed a small fur ball in my driveway. I knew it was far too small to be a roadkill and assumed it was just a mouse that might have run out of gas on my asphalt. Closer examination revealed it was a shrew.

    Shrew are not rodents. Instead of chisel incisors like rats, rabbits, beavers and groundhogs, they have full sets of teeth. They are omnivorous and are, fortunately for us, small enough to live in an unseen world usually. They are voracious little critters with a nasty disposition. (I suppose that having to eat at least 80% to 90% of your body mass each day wouldn’t make us real sociable either.) If they were the size of a bear, the grizzly would hold no quarter to this animal. They are highly territorial and very protective of their areas. Females have up to 17 litters of young per year. Although they do not hibernate, they do go into torpor when bitter cold strikes.

    I can only assume this little guy was on my driveway scarfing up the earthworms that coat it during rainy days. It may have died of old age, starvation (remember the 90%?) or may have been killed by another shrew in a territorial battle. Either way, it’s sometimes quite amazing to realize the plant and animal life that exists right in our yard that we’re often not privy to.

    I suppose in the grand scheme of things, man is often just too selfish to appreciate the beauty of the world around him. As a kid in South Carolina, Bob Talbert was one of my favorite columnists for The State newspaper. Perhaps he summed it up best when he penned: “Butterflies count not months, but moments; and yet, have time enough.” Perhaps we should be paying more attention to our moments.