DOM INATE
The all-new ZXR SE—crafted to elevate your fishing experience without elevating your expenses. Whether you’re a weekend warrior, part of a high school or college fishing team, or simply chasing your passion, the ZXR SE is designed to deliver exceptional performance in a streamlined package. Redefining what “entry-level” can be, with a spacious front deck, generous storage capacity, and ergonomic performance seats, the ZXR SE isn’t just budget-friendly, it’s boundary-breaking –proving that greatness doesn’t have to come with a hefty price tag.
ZXR SE. Simplicity, performance, and purpose—refined. Visit your nearest dealer to discover your future on the water today!
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FROM WORK TO PLAY
WHATEVER YOUR ADVENTURE IS, WE'VE GOT YOU COVERED.
CCA San Antonio Celebrates its
Conservation Association San Antonio chapter’s 46th Annual Banquet is scheduled for Thursday, May 1 at the Freeman Coliseum Exposition Hall. Doors open at 5pm. Our banquet is one of the largest fundraisers annually in San Antonio and your support plays a huge part in the success of CCA San Antonio. All money raised in Texas stays in Texas!
The San Antonio chapter of the CCA is one of the oldest and largest chapters in the country and is a great contributor to CCA Texas. All guests receive their annual CCA membership. Our banquet is catered by Don Strange of Texas, and includes an open bar featuring beer, wine and premium liquor, and a variety of food stations.
We have many ways of raising money including table sales and sponsorships.
stuffed ice chest sales, $10 raffle items, silent auction, two 10-gun raffles including pistols and long guns, and large raffles including a new boat, motor & trailer, Kawasaki Mule & trailer, 2 kayaks on a trailer, and twin e-bikes. The big event of the night is our live auction featuring hunting and fishing trips from all over the world, plus artwork, custom guns, family trips and much more.
We anticipate a sellout, so please help protect our coastal resources by attending. Visit us on Twitter, Instagram or Facebook. Please use code LSON.
CCA SAN ANTONIO
☎ (210) 289-8821
✉ REATON@EATONCONTRACTING.COM CCATEXAS.ORG/SAN-ANTONIO
ADDING SALT
Learning with the new bay boat
By Craig Nyhus Lone Star outdoor newS
After years of working and saving, you’re ready. You rent (or buy) a place near the coast, you’ve fished the bays a few times with guides, but you want to do it on your own.
You’ve just pulled the new Skeeter SX2550 Fish bay boat into the driveway and are ready to take it out. You’ve taken your boater education course. You have experience on the water, but it’s all been on Texas lakes. You’re not worried about driving from the center of the boat, but you’re a little uneasy about navigating the bays — and finding fish — on your own.
Capt. Nathan Beabout has guided for years and also runs some navigation trips, teaching anglers how to read and use electronics in saltwater. But you’re more concerned with the shallow water depths, obstructions and numbers of people on weekends.
Beabout said you can learn a lot just by looking at the water.
“Even though you’re unfamiliar with the area, you still need to know how to read the area,” he said. “Water color tells you about the depth — green is deeper, white and dark is shallower.”
A few of Beabout’s tips are obvious, but not always remembered in the excitement of running a new craft.
“Don’t run wide open, at least right away,” he said. “Take your time — pay attention out in front of you and just cruise.”
When in the shallows or over reefs, more care is required.
“If you’re unsure about the safety of the depth, put your trolling motor down and creep through or, if you’re able, get out and walk in the water.”
On a tip from experienced guides when he started, Beabout said this was “the smartest thing I did” for both fishing and duck hunting.
“After a cold front, when there’s not a cloud in the sky, you have sunshine so you can see the bottom,” he said. “Go out in low tides, anchor at the end of a reef and walk it. You’ll see and feel little areas with guts and troughs. It’s a 3-D feel, not just a look from the top. You’ll learn where the edges of the reef are — and you’ll learn the best areas for fish, areas to go and areas not to go when you return and the water is higher. Then mark those areas on your electronics for when you come back and you’ll know where you are.”
Beabout said picking the days to go might be the most important advice.
“Pick and choose the days you go fishing, and skip the bad days,” he said.
Chuck Nasier is a former longtime fly-fishing guide and the president of FlatsWorthy, an organization that promotes respect for fellow bay users, the resource and the law.
Nasier said it’s important, as a new bay boat owner, to ask yourself a few questions before heading out.
“Where are you going to go, what is your target and how are you going to fish are a few,” he said. “My recommendation would be to find a guide and be honest with him or her on what you want to do. Then really learn the particular bay where you are going to focus — that’s a good start. Fish only that area during differences in seasons, water levels and wind directions. Then you can apply those things when you go somewhere else.”
The extra time spent in one area will pay off, Nasier
said.
“You have to put the effort into it yourself,” he said. “But there are a multitude of resources if you invest the time in it.”
Nasier said boaters new to saltwater bays need to learn to deal with crowds while being courteous to others, especially in prime fishing areas.
In some areas, you’ll find a number of boats drifting with the wind, requiring the knowledge of which direction they are headed so as not to cut them off. If you do, you may well hear about it from the fishermen on the drifting boats.
As the years have gone by, Beabout prefers to simply avoid those areas and find fishing spots that receive less pressure.
When making a long run, visibility is key, despite the electronics.
“A Garmin is not a radar,” Nasier said. “It won’t show approaching vessels. And learn there are days you just don’t go. Be aware of weather systems and wind switches.”
A pet peeve of anglers up and down the coast is “burning the shoreline,” often done on windier days. If you do it while wade-fishermen are moving slowly toward the bank, you might hear their yells over the sound of your Yamaha 300hp 4-stroke.
“All of the boats can run just fine in a 3-foot chop,” Beabout said. “There’s no reason to run the bank anymore.”
Nasier said it’s a matter of courtesy.
“A boat burning the shoreline alters the fishing in that area for everyone for the rest of the day until everything resets,” he said.
Skeeter Boats
REGISTER NOW FOR WCYF TOURNAMENT
The 2025 Willacy County Young Farmers “Bullet’ Bob Austin Memorial Fishing Tournament is just two months away.
And guess what? Anyone can register online now by going to the organization’s website. The annual event is slated for May 24, or the Saturday of the Memorial Day Weekend, in Port Mansfield. Its proceeds go to award scholarships to graduating high school students from Willacy County, to a number of nonprofit organizations and to those who enter show animals in the county’s Livestock Show and Fair. The tournament will have its three divisions - Piggy Perch, Bay and Offshore.
WCYF “BULLET” BOB AUSTIN MEMORIAL FISHING TOURNAMENT ✉ BYRANTSOENDKER5@GMAIL.COM. WILLACYCOUNTYYOUNGFARMERS.GODADDYSITES.COM
Shallow Sport & SCB Owners Tournament to celebrate 25 years
May 9-10 marks the 25th anniversary of the Shallow Sport & SCB Owners Fishing Tournament, presented by Suzuki Marine and Visit South Padre Island. This traditional opener to the South Texas tournament season has always set the gold standard. What started as a competition among a handful of local fishing guides has grown into one of the nation’s largest saltwater owners’ fishing tournaments, drawing thousands of participants from several different states.
This event has a well-earned reputation as one of the biggest and best tournaments on the Gulf Coast, and this year is even bigger with a Texassized celebration in honor of the anniversary.
The official event kicks off with the Registration Party on Friday, May 9 at the South Padre Island Convention Centre. Enjoy hors d’oeuvres, beverages, and visit vendor booths while your team completes their registration, purchases raffle tickets and browses new custom Shallow Sport merchandise. At registration, each participant will collect their coveted “swag bag,” which includes a custom long-sleeve Dri-fit event shirt, tournament bag, neoprene event koozie, bag of custom KWiggler lures and various other goodies. Also this year there will be live country music by The Brody Rivers Band and a mechanical bull-riding competition as well as other games and chances at winning prizes. The energy and anticipation of the tournament fills the room as new and old friends catch up before an amazing day on the water.
Saturday morning before dawn, boats begin to trickle past Louie’s Backyard to join in what feels like the world’s coolest boat parade. Hundreds of boats gather to await the signature ‘BOOM’ of the longest-running cannon take-off blast. Seeing 250 boats take-off at once is quite the spectacle as the competition begins. Each team is allowed to weigh in one slot redfish, one speckled trout and one flounder per boat.
In 2021, the tournament created a popular
scavenger hunt competition, where lucky anglers who come across one of the many bright green floating buoy balls distributed throughout the fishing grounds are awarded a guaranteed prize at weigh-in. This year the scavenger hunt is expanded to also take place on land, allowing family members and friends who aren’t fishing to have some fun around the island and win prizes.
Participants and guests head to Louie’s Backyard for a live-streamed on-stage weigh-in to show off their catch and take team photos from 1-3 p.m. before getting ready for the night’s festivities at the Convention Centre.
The Awards Banquet is unlike any other in South Texas, with the banquet hall transformed into an unforgettable night of entertainment with professional lighting, audio shows and a video recap of the tournament, while Bill Miller BBQ serves the participants dinner. More than 40 handcrafted trophies will be awarded to the day’s top catches in Guided, Amateur, and Youth divisions before the highly anticipated drawing for the winner of the 2025 Tournament Raffle Boat; a brand new 22-foot Sport with a 200hp Suzuki motor and McClain trailer. This year’s raffle boat will feature unique and one-of-a-kind details that match the tournament theme.
With more than $250,000 in prizes given away, everyone has a good chance of going home a winner. The 2025 Shallow Sport & SCB Owner’s Tournament will be an event you and your family do not want to miss. Make sure to register early as registration is capped at 250 boats, with the next price increase happening May 1.
Nearly 27 million fish were stocked in Texas public waters in 2024, with more than 400 different waterbodies stocked.
Texas Parks and Wildlife Department’s Inland Fisheries Division stocked 17 different species, sub-species or hybrids in 2024, with 7.9 million of the fish stocked in rivers, ponds and lakes associated with 50 state parks.
In 2022, licensed anglers spent an estimated $9.2 billion on food, lodging, transportation and equipment while fishing Texas freshwater and coastal waters, and sportfishing supported an estimated 78,040 Texas jobs.
Sportfishing provides a statewide economic impact of $14 billion in Texas annually. Meanwhile, the local economic value of Texas’ top largemouth bass fisheries ranges from $10-$37 million annually. The striped bass fishery at Lake Texoma is valued at $47 million annually, while river fishing in the Hill Country for species such as Guadalupe bass, white bass, rainbow trout and Rio Grande cichlid was recently estimated at $74 million over a 16-month period.
Texas’ oldest state fish hatchery currently in operation, Heart of the Hills, in Mountain Home, was constructed in 1925 and celebrates its centennial this year. The Inland Fisheries Division operates and maintains five additional state fish hatcheries: Dundee located in Electra (built 1927), A.E Wood in San Marcos (1949), Possum Kingdom in Graford (1950), Texas Freshwater Fisheries Center in Athens (1996), and John D. Parker in Brookeland (2012).
Highlights of the state’s fish production and stocking efforts during 2024 included the production of 5.7 million striped bass and hybrid striped bass fingerlings, 6.3 million Lone Star Bass (Pure Florida ShareLunker lineage bass), and 189,117 ShareLunker fingerlings.
Typically, 2-inch fingerlings of species such as striped bass, largemouth bass, smallmouth bass and blue catfish are stocked from April through July. Channel catfish ranging from 2-12 inches are stocked from March through November while rainbow trout are stocked from late November through early March.
Lone Star outdoor newS
PHOTO : GUY HARVEY
Classic winner a Skeeter/Yamaha pro
Easton Fothergill became the 2025 Bassmaster Classic Champion on Sunday, March 23, on Lake Ray Roberts in Fort Worth, bringing in a threeday total weight of 76 pounds, 15 ounces, and setting a new record for the biggest winning weight in the 55-year history of the prestigious fishing tournament. It was all done while fishing from his Skeeter boat and powered by his Yamaha outboard.
The 22-year-old rookie sensation from Grand Rapids, Minnesota, is a two-time Bassmaster Classic Qualifier and first-year Bassmaster Elite Series Pro Angler who joined the Skeeter/Yamaha Pro Team in January. The $300,000 championship trophy is the top prize in bass fishing.
“For all the kids out there dreaming about competing in the Classic, this is proof that it can happen,” said Fothergill. “The college bracket is why I am here today. Dream big, work hard and anything is possible.”
In August 2023, Fothergill underwent surgery to remove an infected brain abscess. Just weeks later, he won the Bassmaster College Bracket on Milford Lake in Kansas, where he qualified to fish the 2024 Bassmaster Classic on Grand Lake O’ the Cherokees in Oklahoma. His hot streak continued with two Bassmaster Open wins last year, which earned him an invitation to fish the Bassmaster Elite series as well as a berth in this year’s Classic on Ray Roberts.
Fothergill fished with confidence on Lake Ray Roberts, catching 24 pounds, 15 ounces on day 1 to secure third place. He followed that with a
tournament high of 29 pounds, 6 ounces on day 2, giving him a commanding lead of 8 1/2 pounds going into Championship Sunday. He caught 22-10 on day 3. Rising temperatures started the spawn on Ray Roberts, too, and bass were scattered across the 23,950-acre reservoir as they began moving to shallow water. His most important catch of the week came mid-afternoon Championship Sunday and with only four bass in his livewell.
“I was scared (of losing) at 1 o’clock and with only four fish, but that was the fish that got it for me,” said Fothergill. “Running a Yamaha gave me the absolute confidence I’ll make it back to weigh in. I was able push it to the very last minute to get that fishing time I needed, and it showed with that crucial 8-pounder bite at 2:30.”
In addition to Fothergill’s win, Yamaha-powered pro Lee Livesay placed third with 66 pounds, 10 ounces while Yamaha Pro Patrick Walters and 2024 Bassmaster Classic Champion Justin Hamner placed ninth and 10th with 55 pounds, 2 ounces and 53 pounds, 3 ounces respectively.
As part of the Yamaha Power Pay program, Fothergill earned an additional $20,000.
Yamaha Pro Anglers kicked off 2025 with a strong winning streak. Leading up to Fothergill’s Classic victory, Bill Lowen won the first Elite event on the St. Johns River in Palatka, Florida, and Brandon Palaniuk captured first place at the second Elite event on Lake Okeechobee in Okeechobee, Florida.
ELEVEN LUNKERS WEIGHED IN THIS YEAR
Texas lakes have been
Jason
Easton Fothergill. Photo by Seigo Saito, B.A.S.S.
SEE THE UNSEEN WITH PROFESSIONAL LAKE MANAGEMENT
There’s a lot going on under the surface of a lake or pond, and when the body of water is the centerpiece of your rural retreat, unseen changes can catch you off-guard.
Some think once a lake or pond has been built, it will naturally take care of itself. But that is simply not the case if you want a thriving fishery or a landscape water feature that will maximize the aesthetics and recreational possibilities for a property.
“Pond and lake management is best not left to chance,” said John Jones, president of Lochow Ranch Pond & Lake Management. “A properly maintained pond or lake will grace your ranch or farm with natural beauty and endless recreation options for generations to come.”
Lochow Ranch’s certified team of biologists and water maintenance experts provides the full range of lake and pond management techniques, including water quality and clarity testing and improvement, vegetation control and removal of pond weeds, liming and fertilizing, algae control, erosion and sediment control, identification and control of predators and much more.
If a fishery is your goal, Lochow Ranch’s experts bring state-of-the-art techniques and expertise to maximizing your environment for game fish to thrive. The team is known across the South for its electrofishing surveys that yield the most accurate inventory of a lake’s fish population. The company also provides fish stocking,
including a full range of game and forage fish, as well as supplemental fish feeders that help spur growth.
“We’re growing some really big fish,” Jones said.
New technologies and management techniques are at the forefront.
“We’re using drones to help analyze lakes and fisheries, and we’re constantly working toward solutions on otter deterrence and trapping — they can wipe out a lot of your best and biggest fish,” Jones said.
Everything starts with the property owners’ goals for the lake, whether swimming, boating, or a fishing hotspot for family and friends.
“Many property owners like some combination of all three,” Jones said.
Lochow Ranch provides turnkey pond and lake management and maintenance services to landowners across Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas and Oklahoma. The company also works in partnership with its affiliated company, Shoreline Consulting, to design and build new lakes and expand or renovate existing ones.
These professional techniques take the guesswork out of maintaining your body of water and ensure you can make faster progress toward your goals.
“We can establish fundamental management practices,” Jones said. “Having that solid foundation can help your lake thrive despite seasonal disturbances and
PALACIOS ESCAPE TO
broader environmental conditions.”
Lochow Ranch’s biologists and fleet of trucks are based in Bryan, Texas. They manage more than 6,000 lakes across the region — and they are offering their services into the southeastern states.
“Our aim is to help you reach your goals so you can sit back, relax and enjoy your beautiful body of water,” Jones said.
