Texas’ Largest Hunting and Fishing Newspaper Since 2004
January 22, 2021
Volume 17, Issue 11
Ducks inconsistent down south
Winter anglers finding fish
Pressure moving birds to unusual spots By Nate Skinner
For Lone Star Outdoor News Duck hunters in southern portions of the state are experiencing everything from barn-burner shoots to empty skies. In coastal bays, back marshes, inland ponds and cattle tanks, the birds haven’t been predictable. Capt. Todd Grubert said duck hunting out of Port Mansfield along the Lower Laguna Madre has been hit or miss, depending on the day. “It seems like the days following the arrival of a cold front have produced the best hunts,” Grubert said. “Each front tends to bring us a new influx of birds.” Grubert has been mostly seeing puddle ducks like pintail, teal, shovelers and wigeon. “We are encountering very few diver ducks, especially redheads,” he elaborated. “There just aren’t large numbers of redheads crashing into the decoys like we usually have. We’ve seen a few big rafts of them on the east side of the bay, but for the most part they just aren’t around, at least not in big groups.” Ryan Welch duck hunted out of Port Mansfield for two days recently, and had two morning hunts that were completely different from one another. “The first morning was overcast, with a moderate southerly breeze and kind of warm,” he explained. “We only harvested two ducks during that hunt. Most of the birds that we saw were pintail, and they all were landing in open water in the middle of the bay. They didn’t want to fly along the bank where we were set up on.” On the second morning hunt, his group changed tactics and hunted a back marsh slough rather than a main bay shoreline. “A front had blown in overnight, and the skies were clear, the temperature was much
The hybrid striper action on Lake Conroe has been steady in areas where there are swarms of bait holding in 20-40 feet. Photo by Michael Richardson.
By Nate Skinner
For Lone Star Outdoor News Freshwater anglers willing to bundle up and hit the water are finding enough fish to produce some fillets for the dinner table. Crappie have been the staple on Lavon, Fork and Palestine lakes, and white bass are starting to move northward up creeks and the Trinity River on Lake Livingston. The sandies also are on the move along the Colorado River on the north end of Lake LBJ. Hybrid stripers are schooling in deep water on Lake Conroe. Guide Greg Nechamkin has been targeting
crappie on Lake Lavon and Lake Fork, where he’s been experiencing varied results, depending on the weather. “Since the last major cold front, the crappie have begun staging in fairly deep water on both lakes,” the guide said. “Most of the fish are hanging down in water depths of 35 to 40 feet.” The action has been better on warmer days that fall in between cold fronts. “Right after a front passes, the dip in water temperature has been shutting the bite down,” Nechamkim said. “Once the water begins to warm up, the fish are back to feeding aggressively.” Targeting deep timber has been the key on Fork. “On Lavon, the trick has been finding the Please turn to page 17
Some duck dogs on the lower Texas coast have been enjoying long sits in the blind waiting on birds to decoy. When the ducks do come in, hunters have reported mostly puddle ducks and not divers. Photo by David J. Sams, Lone Star Outdoor News.
Please turn to page 6
PRSRT STD US POSTAGE PAID PLANO, TX PERMIT 210
End of season dove By Craig Nyhus
Finding places to hunt dove during the late season can be difficult. The birds group up, and not many outfitters are running dove hunts in January. Mark Katzfey, of Katzfey Ranches in George West, though, has been running hunts and remains busy. “We’ve had a lot of hunters,” he said. “And the birds are really cooperating.”
Katzfey has been hunting both sesame and sunflower fields. “Over the sunflowers, it’s been about half whitewings and half mourning dove,” he said. “The sesame fields have been 100-percent mourning dove.” The outfitter said the weather has mostly cooperated, and plenty of hunters have bagged their limits of birds. “We had one group of
15 hunters from Georgia,” Katzfey said. “They had a great time.” With the last day of the season being Jan. 23 in the South Zone, Katzfey has been pleasantly surprised. “I’m really happy how things turned out this year,” he said. “I thought COVID was really going to hurt us, but it turned out to be one of the best years we’ve had.” Near Pleasanton, Jim Wheeler spent time look-
ing around and found a spot with some birds. When the hunters got there in the early afterPlease turn to page 6
CONTENTS
Time Sensitive Material • Deliver ASAP
Lone Star Outdoor News
Saltwater Fishing Report . . . Page 9 Freshwater Fishing Report . Page 10 Game Warden Blotter . . . . Page 12 Heroes . . . . . . . . . . . Page 14 Sun, Moon & Tides . . . . . Page 16 Products . . . . . . . . . . Page 18 Classifieds . . . . . . . . . Page 19
INSIDE
Crappie, white bass, hybrids cooperating
Good numbers of mourning dove have been found during the second split of the dove season in South Texas. Photo by Lone Star Outdoor News.
HUNTING
FISHING
Processors busted (P. 4)
Best specks (P. 8)
Hunters lose spoiled meat.
Successful trip for trio.
From first hunt to full-time (P. 4)
40-pound limit (P. 8)
LSON Foundation hunters buy ranches.
After cool-down, other events fail to follow.
