Saltwater Fishing Report

TEXAS SALTWATER FISHING REPORT

SABINE LAKE: 70 degrees. Redfish and black drum are good on live shrimp on a Carolina rig, or a popping cork with live shrimp. Speckled trout are fair to good on shrimp under a popping cork, suspended baits, crankbaits and soft plastics.

BOLIVAR: 63 degrees. Speckled trout are fair on live shrimp. Redfish are good on shrimp and split tail plastics.

TRINITY BAY: 62 degrees. Speckled trout and redfish are fair on live shrimp.

EAST GALVESTON BAY: 62 degrees. Redfish and bull reds are good on live shrimp under popping corks. Speckled trout are fair on soft plastics and live shrimp under corks. Black drum are good on the bottom on shrimp.

WEST GALVESTON BAY: 63 degrees. Schools of bull reds are good under diving gulls on soft plastics. Black drum are fair to good on shrimp. Speckled trout are fair on soft plastics.

TEXAS CITY: 61 degrees. Bull redfish and black drum are good on shad, live crab, shrimp and cut bait. Speckled trout and slot redfish are fair on artificials.

FREEPORT: 52 degrees. Black drum and redfish are good on shrimp. Redfish and speckled trout are fair to good under birds on live shrimp and scented plastics under a popping cork.

EAST MATAGORDA BAY: 65 degrees. Speckled trout and redfish are good on shrimp, artificials and scented plastics under a popping cork.

WEST MATAGORDA BAY: 65 degrees. Redfish are fair to good for wade-fishermen on artificials and scented plastics.

PORT O’CONNOR: 65 degrees. Speckled trout are slow. Bull redfish are fair to good on Spanish sardines and shrimp. Black drum are good on dead shrimp.

ROCKPORT: 65 degrees. Redfish are good on artificials, cut mullet and shrimp. Speckled trout are good on top-waters and shrimp under popping corks. Black drum are good on dead shrimp.

PORT ARANSAS: 60 degrees. Redfish are good on cut or live mullet and shrimp. Black drum are good on live shrimp.

CORPUS CHRISTI: 60 degrees. Speckled trout and redfish are fair to good on live shrimp. Black drum are good on live or dead shrimp.

BAFFIN BAY: 70 degrees. Speckled trout and redfish are fair but small on live shrimp. Black drum are very good on dead shrimp.

PORT MANSFIELD: 54 degrees. Speckled trout are fair over potholes on ball tails, willow tails under popping corks.

SOUTH PADRE: 55 degrees. Speckled trout are fair on shrimp and scented plastics. Redfish are fair on cut mullet.

PORT ISABEL: 55 degrees. Redfish are fair on scented plastics and cut mullet.

—TPWD

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NATIONAL

FLORIDA Zakon honored

Nancy Zakon will receive the 2023 Izaak Walton Award from the American Museum of Fly Fishing in March 2023 in Key Largo.

Zakon was the past president of the International Women’s Fly Fishers, an instructor in Orvis’ first women’s flyfishing schools, a designer of Orvis’ first women’s flyfishing gear, the founder of Juliana’s Anglers and Sporting Club of New York City and Bonefish Bonnies of Key Largo.

—AMFF

NEBRASKA Deer harvest down

Preliminary Nebraska deer check-in numbers indicate 2022 statewide harvest is down 9 percent compared to 2021 for the November firearm season. During the nineday season, which was Nov. 12-20, 33,866 deer were harvested, compared to 37,053 in 2021.

The mule deer buck harvest decreased 10 percent, with 4,875 taken, compared to 5,407 in 2021. Whitetail buck harvest was down 12 percent, with 18,942 taken compared to 21,070 in 2021.

Officials cited an increased antlerless deer harvest in previous years and an outbreak of Epizootic Hemorrhagic Disease over the last two years as potential reasons for the decline.

—NGFP

CALIFORNIA Dams to be decommissioned

Four dams straddling the California-Oregon border were approved to be decommissioned to restore habitat for endangered fish, the largest dam removal in U.S. history.

Dam removal is expected to improve the health of the Klamath River, the route that Chinook salmon and endangered coho salmon take from the Pacific Ocean to their upstream spawning grounds, and from where the young fish return to the sea.

The project has long been a goal of several native tribes whose ancestors have lived off the salmon.

The dams on federal land, which at full capacity provide enough electricity for 70,000 homes, will be surrendered by power utility PacifiCorp, a unit of Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway.

Faced with costly new regulations that included building fish screens and ladders, the company instead entered an agreement with the tribes and the U.S. government to decommission the dams.

—Staff report

COLORADO Wildlife crossing completed

The completion of a wildlife crossing on U.S. Highway 160 between Durango and Pagosa Springs is expected to reduce collisions involving vehicles and wildlife by 85 percent.

The new wildlife crossing was designed primarily to allow mule deer and elk safe passage across Highway 160, said Tony Cady, planning and environmental manager for the Colorado Department of Transportation.

In 2021, 75 deer and three elk were involved in wildlife-vehicle collisions where the new wildlife crossing was constructed. Sixty percent of reported crashes in the area are attributed to wildlife collisions.

Cady said research indicates that as many as five times that number, 20,000, go unreported each year at a cost of $80 million in property damage, medical costs and other economic impacts.

The wildlife crossing stands at 23 feet high, 72 feet wide and 100 feet long.

Contributors included the Mule Deer Foundation, the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, Colorado Parks and Wildlife Department and the Southern Ute Indian Tribe.

NORTH CAROLINA Female record speckled trout

Cathy Jones, of Belhaven, caught a giant speckled trout on a juvenile menhaden she had retrieved from a cast net. The trout weighed 11 pounds, 3 ounces and was 33.5 inches long.

Fifteen minutes later Cathy reached down and hoisted a 33.5-inch, 11-pound, 3-ounce speckled trout onto the dock.

The big speck was close to the North Carolina state record of 12 pounds, 8 ounces. It has been submitted it to the International Game Fish Association for record consideration for the largest speckled trout caught by a female.

—Staff report

INTERNATIONAL

FRANCE Monster “goldfish”

An English fisherman became the envy of anglers everywhere after reeling in a nearly 70-pound monster goldfish.

Andy Hackett, 42, landed the behemoth, aptly nicknamed The Carrot, while fishing at Bluewater Lakes in Champagne, France, one of the world’s premier carp fisheries.

Not a goldfish, the orange-colored fish is actually a hybrid species of leather carp and koi carp, ornamental fish commonly found in ponds. This fish, reportedly 20 years old, was apparently introduced to the lakes 15 years ago “as something different for the anglers to try to catch.”

—Staff report

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