5 minute read
Saltwater Fishing Report
TEXAS SALTWATER FISHING REPORT
SABINE LAKE: 54 degrees. Redfish are fair to good on red shad plastics. Speckled trout are fair on soft plastics and shrimp under a popping cork. Flounder are fair on soft plastics.
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TRINITY BAY: 61 degrees. Speckled trout are fair on soft plastics and live shrimp.
EAST GALVESTON BAY: 56 degrees. Speckled trout and redfish are fair on slow-sinking lures, scented plastics and shrimp.
TEXAS CITY: 57 degrees. Redfish and black drum are fair on shrimp. Oversized black drum and redfish are fair on live crab and cut mullet. Speckled trout and flounder are fair on live shrimp fished slowly.
FREEPORT: 60 degrees. Redfish and speckled trout are slow. Flounder are slow.
EAST MATAGORDA BAY: 58 degrees. Speckled trout are slow. Redfish and black drum are fair to good on shrimp.
WEST MATAGORDA BAY: 58 degrees. Redfish and black drum fishing are good on shrimp and cut mullet.
PORT O’CONNOR: 52 degrees. Speckled trout are good on the outside of the jetties with live shrimp or soft plastics. Redfish are good on Spanish sardines and dead shrimp.
ROCKPORT: 60 degrees. Redfish are fair on live mullet and soft plastics. Speckled trout are fair to good on soft plastics and slow-sinking lures. Black drum are good on dead shrimp.
PORT ARANSAS: 60 degrees. Speckled trout and redfish are fair on live shrimp at end of jetties and Fina docks. Flounder gigging is good in Aransas Bay.
CORPUS CHRISTI: 59 degrees. Speckled trout are fair on live shrimp. Black drum are fair on dead shrimp.
BAFFIN BAY: 58 degrees. Black drum are good on live shrimp under a popping cork. Speckled trout are fair to slow on soft plastics.
PORT MANSFIELD: 65 degrees. Speckled trout are slow to fiar on soft plastics and top-waters.
SOUTH PADRE: 55 degrees. Redfish are fair on shrimp under a popping cork. Speckled trout are fair along the Intercoastal on soft plastics.
PORT ISABEL: 55 degrees. Speckled trout are slow. Redfish are fair on flats on shrimp.
—TPWD
This bud’s not for you
Continued from page 1
The whole point of sticking something in your ears before hunting or shooting is protection. So, do the AirPods actually protect your ears?
“No, they aren’t helping their hearing,” Jack Homa, owner of Electronic Shooting Protection (ESP) said.
AirPods or Google Pixel Buds are as Homa likes to say, “one-size-fits-all-fitsnobody.”
“They are a fixed shape and don’t have a good enough acoustic seal to the ear canal, which (the seal) is what makes hearing protection actually work since it helps filter the sound of a gunshot,” he said.
Audiologist Dr. Grace Sturdivant, of Ottopro, sees people wearing AirPods as hearing protection all the time. Not only with bird shooters, but there are a number of people in the competitive sporting clays world.
“As a doctor of audiology, I just cringe,” she said.
But they are noise-canceling headphones. Wouldn’t that work?
Gun shots are short, abrupt and high intensity. It’s so abrupt in fact, that it’s too fast for the noise canceling to make that much of a difference. Sturdivant noted that people’s perception of loudness or muffled sound might cause them to believe the AirPods are blocking the sound of gunshots.
“People might perceive that it (the gun shot) was more muffled with an AirPod in, but that’s because of the rest of the noise that the AirPod is canceling out around them,” she said. “You can’t rely on your subjective perception of how loud something is to judge it’s true sound pressure level. Sound pressure level is how we objectively measure the loudness of something. Just because it sounds like you are getting some protection from it doesn’t mean you truly are.”
The most important factor when it comes to hearing protection is the fit, making sure the eardrum is sealed.
“If there is any air leakage around the product that is in your ear, you are not getting the full protection rating,” Sturdivant said. “The AirPods are not even a hearing protector product, they are intended to be personal audio. If we were to do a study where we put a probe microphone down by your eardrum and put an AirPod in there while you are shooting and take actual sound level measurements, you would not see a level of suppression that correlates with your perception.”
Sturdivant understands that some people might still be determined to wear AirPods. For those, she recommends using the size ear tip that they feel the most confident is completely sealing their ear.
“But they have to understand, the way the AirPods are designed, we can’t guarantee there is no air leakage. I’d opt for a custom-fit, Bluetooth-enabled product for the best overall protection while giving you the same capabilities, if not better, as the AirPods,” she said. “For a low-cost option, I love a muff since you can see the ear is completely covered, leaving no room for air leakage.”
Trees for fish
Continued from page 8
of bringing light and beauty into a home, many trees end up in a landfill.
Leighton Chachere, of Texas A&M AgriLife, suggests checking with your local waste management company, a nearby garden center that might offer Christmas tree recycling or take it upon yourself to reuse the holiday staple.
Trees also can be used around the yard or ranch as mulch placed around the base of trees and gardens as an insulator to help plants withstand cold temperatures and prevent soil erosion and compaction.
“Tree limbs are a great way to insulate garden plants, and some cities even have free mulch available after the holiday season,” Chachere said.
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2/17/20 3:37 PM
