THE MILK RUN
Edited by
Justin Onslow
Phoenix Becomes Official Boat Sponsor of FLW
In December, FLW and Phoenix
Boats reached an agreement for Phoenix
to become the official boat sponsor of
FLW. The Tennessee-based boat compa-
ny is also the new title sponsor of the
Phoenix Bass Fishing League presented
by T-H Marine.
“The partnership with FLW and the
Bass Fishing League is a perfect fit for
Phoenix Boats,” says Gary Clouse, presi-
dent of Phoenix Boats. “I know from per-
sonal experience from fishing my first BFL
in 1981, and many more since, that the
FLW platform delivers a great angler experi-
ence at each of their 128 tournaments. That
alone makes this a perfect fit for Phoenix.”
Throughout the course of the 2020
season, FLW anglers will have opportuni-
ties to compete for 39 new Phoenix bass
boats as part of FLW’s lucrative tourna-
ment prize packages. Phoenix Boats
Damage Control
plans to roll out an enhanced Phoenix
First Flight contingency program in 2020.
Details about the program were not yet
finalized at press time, but the information
will be available soon at FLWFishing.com.
For more about Phoenix Boats, or to
see the company’s line of bass boats, visit
phoenixbassboats.com.
One Weird Catch
Debbie Geddes of Plattsburgh, N.Y., likes to do what many area anglers do so often in
her part of the country: take advantage of the tremendous fishing opportunities Lake
Champlain has to offer. What it offered on one fateful fishing trip, however, isn’t something
most anglers can expect to experience more than once in a lifetime.
While catching two fish on the same cast isn’t prohibitively uncommon, catching one
fish with two mouths is. Geddes caught this unusual lake trout back in August, and, realiz-
ing how heavy the fish felt, believed she had a giant on the end of her line. It wasn’t quite
a giant (or a mythical creature like Champlain’s Loch Ness Monster equivalent, “Champ”)
– just a run-of-the-mill mutant trout with two sets of chompers.
14
It may be impossible to ever fully repair
the damage done to the lake sturgeon
population in North America. Despite sur-
viving everything nature threw their way
for roughly 200 million years, it took a little
over a century for man to decimate the
population to within one percent of what it
used to be. Between massive harvesting
in the 20th century, habitat destruction and
general disruption of spawning areas for
native sturgeon, the lake sturgeon faces
an uphill battle to avoid extinction.
Minnesota may soon take a massive
step toward repairing the damage, though,
led by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service,
which is exploring the possibility of adding
the lake sturgeon to its list of endangered
species to provide additional federal pro-
tection for sturgeon in the Land of 10,000
Lakes and the Great Lakes region as a
whole. While conservation groups have
been clamoring for these protections for
some time, there may still be time to repair
some of the damage done and create a
clearer path for the rejuvenation of one of
the oldest species of fish on the planet.
Nature & Nurture
According to recent research done
at the University of Exeter led by Dr.
Mat White, spending any less than two
hours per week in the great outdoors
could be detrimental to your health.
The research, which utilized data
from 20,000 English participants, clearly
suggests that the threshold for better
health and overall well-being is 120 min-
utes in nature per week, either all at
once or cumulatively.
And that’s just what every angler
needs: another reason to get out on the
water.
FLWFISHING.COM I WINTER 2020