Largest Hunting and Fishing Newspaper in Texas
May 26, 2017
Volume 13, Issue 19
Favoring the single hook
Outdoor bills closer to becoming laws By Darlene McCormick Sanchez Lone Star Outdoor News
By Craig Nyhus
With the Texas Legislature’s 85th regular session winding down, anglers and hunters could see several new laws impacting their sports or wallets. Notable bills that have made it out of the Texas House or Senate respectively and have a chance of becoming law before the session ends May 29 include: • Senate Bill 722, authorizing the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department to charge a fee for the Managed Lands Deer Permit program; • House Bill 3535, legalizing hunting select varmints from hot air balloons; • House Bill 550, requiring a sound producing device for self-propelled boats; • House Bill 1988, mandating motorized boat operators to engage kill switches. Senate Bill 722 would allow TPWD to recoup costs associated with the popular MLDP program, which has stretched the resources of the wildlife division staff. Proposed fees range from $30 to $250, according to Matt Dowling, chief of staff for Sen. Charles Perry, R-Lubbock, who sponsored
Lone Star Outdoor News Lower Laguna Madre anglers have been switching to single hooks on shallow-water and top-water lures for years, especially in summer when the treble hooks seem to immediately find the grass floating on the surface. “I make the switch when there is lots of floating grass,” said Capt. Ruben Garza of Port Mansfield. Garza attaches short-shanked hooks to his lures, to avoid the problem of the hooks catching each other. Debates regarding the hookup rate range from anglers preferring either the treble or the single hooks. “There’s a little difference in the hook rates, but it’s not a significant amount,” Garza said. “I caught at 34-inch snook on a single hook top-water.” Garza and Port Aransas guide Dean Thomas both use Gamakatsu 1/0 live bait hooks. Once the fish is hooked, Garza and many anglers believe the catch rate improves with a single hook. Some saltwater lure manufacturers, aware of the trend, have stepped to the plate. Rapala’s Single Hook Series includes the Skitter V, Magnum X-Rap, Twitchin’ Mullet and Please turn to page 11
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CONTENTS Freshwater Fishing Report . Page 10 Saltwater Fishing Report . . Page 11 Game Warden Blotter . . . . Page 12
Attaching single hooks to shallow-running lures like the Rapala Twitchin’ Mullet or top-water lures, normally equipped with treble hooks, is commonly done along the coast. However, few freshwater anglers have made the switch. Photos by Craig Nyhus, Lone Star Outdoor News.
Heroes . . . . . . . . . . . Page 16 Sun, Moon & Tides . . . . . Page 18 Crossword . . . . . . . . . Page 20
Historic fish records still stand
Products . . . . . . . . . . Page 23 Classifieds . . . . . . . . . Page 24 Outdoor Datebook . . . . . Page 26
LSONews.com
PRSRT STD US POSTAGE PAID PLANO, TX PERMIT 210
Drum, snook, Lake Medina bass live on By Mark England
Despite the odds, the oldest water body fishing record in Texas is approaching its centennial. On Jan. 1, 1924, Asa Short of Fort Worth, an amateur baseball player who later played professionally for the Dallas Steers in the Texas League, stretched a trotline with a whopping 680 hooks across White Rock Lake.
Short’s catch still stands as the state record for a freshwater drum caught with “other methods.” His catch tops the rod and reel record, set in 2011, by 11 pounds. Texas Parks and Wildlife Department biologist Rafe Brock said freshwater drum are no longer prevalent at White Rock Lake. A few North Texas lakes, such as Lake Arlington, have good populations of drum as far as quantity, he said. “Every now and then, in our surveys, we’ll see one around 25 pounds,” Brock said. “But I’ve never seen anything that size.” The next two oldest water
Photo by LSON
By Darlene McCormick Sanchez Lone Star Outdoor News
Deer hunting remains king in Texas, but the number of dove hunters has soared over the past 15 years. According to the most recent state game
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Lone Star Outdoor News
Short told reporters that it took two 5-gallon cans of bait to fill the hooks. He credited his buddy, Roy Johnson, with helping set the line, although Short got the record when they pulled out almost 250 pounds of fish — including a record 55-pound freshwater drum. News of Short’s catch excited the community. “We had that big fish frozen in a block of ice, and it was just about as long as the ice,” Short told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram in 1954. “Then we put it on display at Cullum and Boren, where just about everybody in Dallas came to see it.”
Dove hunters on the rise across Texas
HUNTING
Hunting with air guns
Rattlers and quail
More than a novelty. Page 4
Birds infrequent prey for opportunistic snakes. Page 4
FISHING
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Artist gets start from Chuy’s
Surf fishing clinic
Unique creations outside the norm. Page 8
Saturday events growing in popularity. Page 8