Saltwater Fishing Report

TEXAS SALTWATER FISHING REPORT

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SABINE LAKE: 67 degrees. Redfish are good along the ICW live shrimp under a popping cork and gold spoons. Speckled trout are good drifting over shell on soft plastics.

BOLIVAR: 66 degrees. Redfish are fair to good along grass on shrimp under popping corks. Black drum are fair at the jetties on cut mullet, crab and live shrimp.

TRINITY BAY: 69 degrees. Speckled trout are slow to fair on soft plastics and shrimp. Black drum and redfish are fair on live shrimp.

EAST GALVESTON BAY: 68 degrees. Speckled trout are fair drifting live shrimp and soft plastics.

WEST GALVESTON BAY: 69 degrees. Speckled trout and black drum are fair on live shrimp.

TEXAS CITY: 67 degrees. Speckled trout and redfish are fair to good around rocks on soft plastics. Black drum are fair on live halved crab along the North Jetty.

FREEPORT: 66 degrees. Speckled trout and redfish are fair free-lining live shrimp. Black drum are good on big live mullet on the bottom.

EAST MATAGORDA BAY: 66 degrees. Redfish are good wade- and drift-fishing on shrimp. Speckled trout are slow.

WEST MATAGORDA BAY: 66 degrees. Speckled trout are fair between fronts on scented plastics and live shrimp. Redfish are good on shrimp.

PORT O’CONNOR: 66 degrees. Speckled trout are good on live shrimp and artificials. Redfish are good on sardines. Black drum are good on dead shrimp.

ROCKPORT: 64 degrees. Redfish are good on scented plastics, spoons and paddle tails. Speckled trout are fair on top-waters and soft plastics. Black drum are good on dead shrimp.

PORT ARANSAS: 67 degrees. Black drum and redfish are fair on dead shrimp. Speckled trout are good drifting with live shrimp under a popping cork.

CORPUS CHRISTI: 66 degrees. Speckled trout are slow. Black drum are good on cut crab and shrimp. Redfish are good on cut mullet.

BAFFIN BAY: 62 degrees. Speckled trout and redfish are fair to good on live shrimp under a popping cork.

PORT MANSFIELD: 74 degrees. Speckled trout and redfish area fair on paddle tails.

SOUTH PADRE: 72 degrees. Speckled trout are fair on the flats on live shrimp or scented plastics under a popping cork. Redfish are good on cut mullet.

PORT ISABEL: 72 degrees. Redfish are good on cut mullet. Black drum are slow. Speckled trout are good on scented plastics or shrimp under a popping cork.

—TPWD

Spawning slabs

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“We are catching a lot of large crappie right now,” Gonzales said. “There aren’t many undersized fish up shallow at all.”

Minnows rigged under a cork have been doing the trick for Gonzales’s anglers and most of the crappie being caught have been averaging about 1.5 pounds or better.

“The fish are so thick, that we aren’t staying in one place for very long,” he said. “If you don’t get a bite on a minnow in less than a minute, then you need to cast to a different spot. Areas with cypress tree roots and aquatic vegetation have been the most productive.”

On Lake Somerville, guide Joey Ferro said there are good numbers of crappie hanging tight along the creeks. “There are quite a few fish pulling out deep over brush piles, too,” Ferro said. “These fish are suspending throughout the water column in 15 to 20 feet of water.”

Any jig that mimics a minnow has been working.

On Lake Ray Roberts, standing timber is holding a lot of hefty crappie.

“Trees in about 14 feet of water have been the ticket,” said guide Daniel Koberna. “The fish have been suspended about 4 to 6 feet below the surface, and they are fairly spread out. There seems to be just one or two crappie per tree, so covering a lot of water is key.”

Koberna said the best stretches of timber are near the main creek channel along bends where there is a gradual sloping depth change.

“The anglers that drop jigs over the most trees are going to catch the most fish,” he explained. “If you’re not getting bit, then move on to the next area with standing timber.”

Black/chartreuse and white/chartreuse 1/8-ounce jigs have been Koberna’s baits of choice.

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pounds. That was in the river.

For the most part, Talasek said he’ll be running the bays and gigging on the shallow, clear-water flats of West Matagorda Bay. And some nights he’ll venture as far as Pass Cavallo on Matagorda Island.

“We get some pretty good-sized flounder in the pass,” he said. “This time of year they are coming in from the Gulf. And when the water is clear, the pass can be a good spot to be gigging.”

One thing makes for a good night of floundering — clean water. That’s why the guide scouts for shorelines with lots of gin clear water.

“You never know where the really clear water is going to be from one night to the next,” Talasek said. “A hard sand shoreline can hold clean water. The backwater lakes can be really good on calm nights. Something else that sets up a good flounder trip is an incoming tide on the flats. Or, an outgoing tide at the mouth of a bayou. That’s where flounder will set up and ambush baitfish and shrimp.”

A typical gigging trip involves leaving the dock about 30 minutes before

Gigging flounder provides a new level of excitement for both adults and kids. Photo by Mark Talasek.

sunset and getting settled in on one particular area to start the night.

“Once we are on a location that looks promising, I’ll see that everybody gets in a little practice in gigging,” Talasek said. “Many of my customers have never even held a gig. But they catch on real fast. The main thing is to be on the bow of the boat and be ready to stick a flounder when we come up on it. A head shot is best. But that’s not always what happens. I make sure they know there is a 15-inch minimum limit, and to be sure the fish they are about to gig is legal.”

When everything goes as planned flounder gigging is a blast.

Talasek said a big boat is a must, especially when you have folks swinging long gigs around. He runs his trips out of a boat that’s custom made for floundering. It’s 8 feet wide and 22 feet long, and when it’s dark and he flips a switch the water around the boat lights up like a Christmas tree.

“The kids really love it,” he said. “They get to a see whole new world in that clear water. The adults get just as excited as the kids.”

Fight over reefs

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cases filed by game wardens,” he said. “We set up large-scale operations, but they weren’t enough. The number of vessels overwhelmed the resource.”

Oyster fisherman Mario Rodriguez, who operates 30 boats in the Port Lavaca area, told the commission that fresh water after hurricanes killed 80 percent of the oysters in Copano Bay and 90 percent in Aransas Bay.

“These three bays weren’t hit by all the fresh water,” he said. “Why close the areas with more oysters?”

Rockport fly-fishing guide John Van Zandt said there aren’t enough oysters left to support the level of commercial fishing.

“The reefs have been scraped down to parking lots,” he said. “There is nothing left.”

Several oyster fishermen said they have made more than their share of sacrifices over the years.

A moratorium on oyster license began in 2007. Other regulations set rules on the number of fishing days allowed (120), the hours (sunrise to 3:30 p.m., five days per week); size limitations and when bays would close if certain parameters were met. In 2015, HB 51 established a buyback program of licenses. However, it didn’t restrict oystermen from purchasing additional licenses before its effective date, and the license numbers jumped from 360 to 770. Now, the total number of licenses is 546.

Rep. Middleton asked that a decision on the closures be delayed.

“TPWD is required to consult members of the industry,” he said. “The estimates of economic impact have inconsistent information and HB51 targets the problem of undersized oysters.”

Other oysterman told the commission that working the reefs help, since the dredging cleans the top layer and spreads the oysters, allowing the reef to grow. They also felt not putting rule proposals out in Spanish kept them, many Spanish speaking, from responding, allegedly in violation of federal rules if federal funds are involved, with some feeling the proposal was racially motivated. Their primary focus, though, was the 2,000 family members who depend on the oyster fishery for their livelihood, and the assertion that the commercial fishermen are being blamed for hurricanes and floods that damaged the bays.

Robby Byers, the executive director of the Coastal Conservation Association, said the group’s intent is to put the resource first, in front of all user groups.

“We have promoted sacrificing our harvest to protect the resource in the past,” he said. “I’ve been in the Rockport area more than 40 years and have seen the change. We believe this is one of those times.”

Dr. David Yoskowitz, and economist with the Harte Research Institute, said there will be an adverse economic impact to the oyster fishery, and said there are nontraditional values to the reefs in the forms of storm protection, water filtration and recreation.

“The combined value of these may outweigh the monetary value,” he said. “Solutions can be developed that take both into consideration.”

The TPW Commission decided to hold off on a decision to close the three bays and requested a task force be established consisting of people from all affected groups to help reach a consensus on how to move forward. The commission asked the department to submit recommendations by Nov. 1.

Puzzle solution from

Page 18 NATIONAL

ALABAMA Red drum fish kill

Reports of dead adult red drum in late March are puzzling Marine Resources Division biologists. Reported locations of the dead fish ranged from Point Clear and other locations on the Eastern Shore to Fort Morgan, Dauphin Island and Grand Bay. Water samples indicated low counts of organisms, like algae blooms, which have been known to kill fish. The fish floating in the water or washing up on area beaches are in advanced stages of decomposition which makes it challenging to conduct any pathological examination. The dead fish do not show signs of entanglement in fishing gear.

A fish kill consisting primarily of red drum is not unusual as Alabama has previously experienced red drum mortality events in the spring, but those have typically occurred in late April or early May.

—AWFF

Kimber donates guns to Ukraine

Kimber Mfg., Inc. donated 200 handguns and 20 rifles to the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense and Armed Forces of Ukraine, to bolster their capabilities in this time of conflict.

Kimber provided 200 R7 Mako 9mm subcompact pistols with 800 extra 13-round magazines, 10 Advanced Tactical rifles in .308 Win., and 10 bolt-action rifles in .308 Win. Each rifle contains 2 magazines and a matched replacement firing pin assembly.

Mission First Tactical donated holsters and tactical rifle magazines.Leupold & Stevens, Inc. donated 20 Mark 4 LR/T 3.5-10x40 riflescopes, which were and installed on each of the 20 Kimber rifles.

—Kimber

CONNECTICUT Economic impact of guns, ammo

The total economic impact of the firearm and ammunition industry in the United States increased from $19.1 billion in 2008 to $70.52 billion in 2021, a 269 percent increase, while the total number of full-time equivalent jobs rose from approximately 166,000 to over 375,819, a 126 percent increase in that period, according to the National Shooting Sports Foundation.

On a year-over-year basis, the industry’s economic impact rose from $63.5 billion in 2020 to $70.52 billion. Total jobs increased by over 33,000 in the same period, from 342,330 to 375,819.

—NSSF

IOWA DNR head cited for fishing without license

Iowa Department of Natural Resources Director Kayla Lyon was cited by her department for fishing without a license. She said it was an honest mistake to let her license expire before a fishing excursion on the Mississippi River.

Lyon was with Iowa DNR staff doing a combination of touring and paddlefishing on March 18 when she was informed she didn’t have a valid license.

“I caught and released two paddlefish; one of which was 22 pounds,” she said. “I truly enjoyed the experience to snag such a unique, prehistoric species of fish.”

On March 21, Lyon asked the agency’s law enforcement chief to cite her for fishing without a license. The ticket cost $135.50. —IDNR

Turkey poaching case expands

An investigation that began as a turkey poaching case last fall concluded with five individuals pleading guilty to 48 wildlife charges and assessed nearly $83,000 in fines and liquidated damages.

State conservation officers were executing a search warrant at the home of Devon Lewis, 26, of rural Washta, when they discovered evidence of other poaching activity. Once an additional search warrant was secured, investigators uncovered evidence of a year-round poaching network involving at least 70 deer, four turkeys, ducks, raccoons and red fox dating back to at least 2018.

Evidence from the investigation showed these individuals would shoot wildlife out of season, over bait and from vehicles, often without the proper tags. The deer were primarily bucks with antlers.

The judge condemned five rifles, three shotguns and three bows used to commit the crimes.

NEW MEXICO No trapping

Legislation passed in 2021 making trapping on public lands illegal, with few exceptions, went into effect April 1. The statute, titled the Wildlife Conservation and Public Safety Act, makes the use of “a trap, snare or wildlife poison for the purposes of capturing, injuring or killing an animal on public land…” unlawful.

—NMGFD

Still no TTT

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should be shut down permanently or felt the movement of deer was too risky or premature. Others felt the 5- and 10-mile buffer zones were arbitrary. Deer breeders felt the testing should be to the same parameters required of them, including ante-mortem testing before release with its increased costs. Finally, some felt the new rapid ante-mortem tests should be utilized.

Of the 191 total comments received, 96 percent opposed the rule changes.

Some groups and several commissioners expressed interest in rapid ante-mortem tests being developed, hoping the tests could be used at the time of capture. However, the rapid tests are in the experimental phases and are at least a few years from being approved.

The commission sent TPWD back to modify the proposals, and they will be presented at the commission’s May meeting, with public comment received prior to that time. The commission also recommended adding some level of ante-mortem testing to the TTT program.

The losers? The release sites, like those in the Edwards Plateau where TTT was used to restore herds after losses to anthrax, may not have that option for another year or more. And trap sites could find themselves being tested at higher rates than deer breeders, if post-mortem testing continues to be required prior to trapping and antemortem testing is added to the deer they trap, causing them to rethink whether to participate in the program that has moved about 1,500 deer each year.