Saltwater Fishing Report

TEXAS SALTWATER FISHING REPORT

SABINE LAKE: 74 degrees. Redfish are good along the ICW on shrimp under a popping cork and 5-inch plastics. Speckled trout are fair on gold spoons, top-waters and soft plastics.

BOLIVAR: 77 degrees. Redfish are fair on shrimp. Flounder are good on nuclear chicken plastics.

TRINITY BAY: 74 degrees. Redfish and black drum are fair on live shrimp and soft plastics.

EAST GALVESTON BAY: 76 degrees. Redfish and speckled trout are fair to good on soft plastics and shrimp under a popping cork.

WEST GALVESTON BAY: 77 degrees. Redfish, black drum and speckled trout are fair over bay reefs on live shrimp. Flounder are good on scented plastics.

TEXAS CITY: 72 degrees. Bull redfish are good at the Texas City Dike on live shrimp, live croaker and sand trout, or cut mullet and whiting. Flounder are fair on artificials tipped with mullet.

FREEPORT: 80 degrees. Redfish are good on scented plastics under a popping cork. Flounder are fair on scented plastics. Speckled trout are fair under birds on soft plastics.

EAST MATAGORDA BAY: 80 degrees. Redfish are good on shrimp and soft plastics. Speckled trout are slow. Flounder are good but small on soft plastics.

WEST MATAGORDA BAY: 80 degrees. Redfish are shrimp and scented plastics. Flounder gigging is excellent at night.

PORT O’CONNOR: 80 degrees. Redfish are good at the jetties on Spanish sardines and dead shrimp. Oversized black drum are good on dead shrimp.

ROCKPORT: 86 degrees. Redfish are good on artificials and cut bait. Speckled trout are good on soft plastics. Black drum are good on dead shrimp near inlets on outgoing tides.

PORT ARANSAS: 81 degrees. Speckled trout are slow. Redfish are fair on shrimp.

CORPUS CHRISTI: 82 degrees. Redfish and speckled trout are slow to fair on shrimp. Black drum are fair on live and dead shrimp.

BAFFIN BAY: 91 degrees. Speckled trout are fair to good on live shrimp under a popping cork. Redfish are fair on shrimp.

PORT MANSFIELD: 84 degrees. Redfish are fair on gold weedless spoons and top-waters. Speckled trout are fair wadefishing over potholes, following the mullet on soft plastics.

SOUTH PADRE: 83 degrees. Speckled trout are fair under birds on shrimp. Redfish are fair on shrimp.

PORT ISABEL: 83 degrees. Speckled trout are fair on shrimp and soft plastics. Redfish are fair on shrimp.

—TPWD

SANTA ANNA HUNTING AREA

S A N T A A N N A , T E X A S

SANTA ANNA HUNTING AREA (SAHA) IS A FAMILY-RUN SHOOTING PRESERVE. WE HUNT ON 600 ACRES OF THE PRESERVE FOR PHEASANT, CHUKAR, HUNGARIAN PARTRIDGE AND QUAIL HUNTS.

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bull so fired up was incredible.”

Greg Simons, General Manager of Wildlife Systems, has years of experience in guiding and outfitting elk hunters in Texas. This year has been different from years past due to the timing of rainfall the Texas elk country experienced.

“Average antler size has been down this year due to a severe drought during the height of antler growth, but our hunters have nonetheless enjoyed outstanding results.” Simons said.

Since the middle of August, rainfall amounts have been generous and Simons attributes good rutting activity to the precipitation.

“With the generous rainfall over the last 90 days in the Trans-Pecos, the lush conditions are favorable in allowing pheromones to linger longer in the air due to the added moisture and humidity, which in turn stimulates rutting behavior,” he said.

When father and daughter Matt and Ashlyn Frazer booked their hunt, they weren’t sure what to expect considering most of their experience consisted of hunting whitetails from a box blind. However, once in the Texas elk country glassing and calling from ridgetops and subsequently interacting with wild elk on an intimate level, the Frazer’s quickly found their stride.

Ashlyn was up first, and on the morning of the second day the hunting group located a 6x6 bull with a handful of cows. After sticking with the group all morning and into the afternoon, Ashlyn’s persistence paid off as the bull finally gave her a presentable opportunity.

While Ashlyn’s hunt was one of patience, Matt’s bull was that of fury.

“My bull closed a lot of distance very quickly,” Matt said. “We glassed him up a long way off and started the stalk with not

Ashlyn Frazer took this 6x6 bull while elk hunting. Photo by Texas Hunting Resources.

much light left thinking it was probably too far, but as we moved in the bull was actually moving toward us. He made it all the way to 15 yards, came out of the brush and he was ready to fight.”

As special as it is to hunt free range elk in Texas during the rut, Simons and the two teens said there is something special about doing so in Texas.

“I was surprised when my dad told me we would be hunting wild elk in Texas, but one thing I was really not expecting was how beautiful the sunrises and sunsets were out here,” Bennett said.

“There is something about desert bulls in Texas that carries a nostalgia, and especially for Texas residents.” Simons added.

“Dad, this was awesome,” Ashlyn told her father. “Can we please come back next year?”

South Texas dove

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“Most of the whitewings seem to have left our fields, but we are covered up in mourning dove,” he said. “Even with the cool fronts passing through around the middle of the month, the mourning dove have remained consistent. Most hunters who can handle a shotgun have been able to harvest their limits.”

Near Eldorado, Tyler Petoskey said mourning dove have been diving into and over tanks and water troughs during the afternoon and evening hours, providing steady action.

“If you’ve got access to a water source in that area of the state right now, you can probably have a great shoot,” he said. “There’s just not a lot of water on the property I hunt, so the birds tend to congregate heavily around water troughs and any other available water sources.”

Mitchell Stephenson hunted over sesame and peanut fields with a group of buddies in Frio County where they shot limits of mourning dove.

“There were a ton of birds in the area during the three days we hunted,” Stephenson said. “The morning hours seemed to produce a little bit faster action, while afternoon flights came in waves. We apparently timed it just right, because from what we heard, there were not many dove in the area prior to when we arrived.”

James Meissner has been seeing more dove than ever during the past couple of weeks on his family’s property near Stockdale.

“I’ve never seen the amount of birds we’ve had recently like this before,” he said. “They’ve been feeding in fields with dove weed, and they’ve also been hitting tanks during the evening. It has resulted in some fast-and-furious hunts.”

Nathan Brooks enjoyed three straight days of action for mourning dove near Kosciusko, in Wilson County, on a friend’s property.

“The early afternoon hours were the best,” Brooks said. “The birds were hitting a croton field nonstop and flying in groups of five to 15. There were times where you couldn’t load your shotgun fast enough.”

First dove

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a magazine. This time, she was on deck and harvested her first dove.

Rob Gowan, who handles veteran affairs for the senator, frequently hunts and had been asked many times by his coworkers to get them out in the field. That’s when he reached out to Bobby Thornton with TDHA to see what their options were.

Cornelius was outfitted in his old army gear, and was also lucky enough to harvest his first dove. He joked, “I went from M16s to shotguns. It’s a big jump.”

After the hunt, the crew headed back to the lodge where they learned how to clean their birds and then gathered around the kitchen for their first taste at dove poppers prepared by Poco Loco Paloma staff.

Now, Sen. Campbell plans to get her daughter shooting lessons and plans to purchase a shotgun of her own to practice.

Cornelius was excited about trying something new. He plans to purchase a shotgun and shells to practice and hopefully go out again next season. Everyone donated their dove meat to Chapa-Weber and her son for them to cook up a special meal at home to celebrate their harvests.

Thanks goes to Bobby and Susan Thornton of Texas Dove Hunters Association, Madison Wilkerson of Wilkerson’s Gun Shop and A Place to Shoot for her assistance, and Red Sand Ranch/ Poco Loco Paloma.

LSONF strives to continue bringing more people out into the field, “recruiting hunters and anglers for a lifetime.” For more information on LSONF and TDHA visit www. lsonews.com/foundation and www.texasdovehunters.com.