Just the other week, we received a desperate call at the naturalist desk informing us that numerous Canada geese were caught in fishing line at the Winton Woods campground. Not only were the geese caught, but children were getting pretty upset about it. So I gathered gloves, a big net, a blanket, food and googles […]

Panfish Cup Panfish Cup Standings – FINAL (pdf) Sharon Woods Bass League Bass League Standings – FINAL (pdf) Bass Series Tournament Bass Series Standings – FINAL (pdf) Colossal Fish Contest Click here to learn more about the new Colossal Fish Contest at Lake Isabella

There is still time to catch one of the colossal fish sitting at the bottom of Lake Isabella. Now that the water has gone back down to its normal level, and the temperature of the lake is hovering somewhere around 78-degrees, we are starting to see anglers catch those big cats again. The weekly big […]

On Sunday, August 9, we hosted a special Kids’ Mystery Fish Challenge at Miami Whitewater Forest, and all participates won! All 38 kids who signed-up for the free tournament got to go fishing, and most of the young anglers caught fish. Thanks to sponsor Bass Pro Shops, every kid received a trophy and prizes. The […]

Presented by Bass Pro Shops, the Great Parks’ Bass Series is a series of six fishing tournaments that concludes with a series championship. Anglers earn points at each event, and the top 20 qualify for the championship. The winner of that tournament is awarded a $1,000 shopping spree to Bass Pro Shops! The fifth tournament […]

Have you noticed any small emerald green beetles flying around? You are likely seeing the emerald ash borer (EAB), a non-native, invasive insect pest. These insects, whose adults begin emerging in mid-May, are infesting native ash trees throughout much of the Midwest and are causing more than 99% mortality in untreated ash trees. EAB is […]

Whether you call them crawfish, crawdads, mudbugs or by their slightly more formal name of crayfish, “freshwater lobsters” illicit some sort of visceral response. Fear is one I often see when I show visitors how to catch crayfish. This reaction makes sense. For one, crayfish look formidable – they’re a virtual underwater tank. Their hard […]

Lake Isabella hosted its third tournament of the year: the new Rod Busting Tournament. Six teams tested their luck against some of the biggest catfish in any of Great Parks’ lakes. Not even two weeks prior to the tournament, Lake Isabella was stocked with 350 pounds of shovelhead and blue catfish, with the biggest one […]