REAL ESTATE SECTION INSIDE Largest Hunting and Fishing Newspaper in Texas
April 26, 2019
Real Estate texas 2019
OWNING
A PIECE of
Texas
Advertising Section
Volume 15, Issue 17
Fly-fishing the name of the game for 83-year-old Carl “Bud” Rowland has been teaching others to fly-fish for decades. At 83, he still fishes several times each week. Photo from Bud Rowland.
By Robert Sloan
a fly rod and a fly that he made specifically to catch big trout. Rowland grew up in Wyoming and Kansas, started flyfishing as soon as he could hold a fishing rod and has taken it upon himself to teach
For Lone Star Outdoor News Carl “Bud” Rowland is still living the dream at 83. He’s the man that not only caught the current Texas state record speckled trout, but did it with
hundreds of kids, men, women and seniors how to catch fish on the fly. “It’s been a good run,” laughed Rowland. “I just turned 83 a few days ago, and feel like I’m going on 50. It’s a fact that you are as young as
you feel.” Most of his life has centered on fly-fishing. “I like to tie my own flies, then take them out on the water and catch fish,” Rowland said. “Even better than that is when I can teach a person all Please turn to page 20
Chasing the record Texan seeking to raise largest bass ever caught By Dustin Catrett
For Lone Star Outdoor News Corey Knowlton had already landed four bass weighing more than 10 pounds each by the third morning of his trip to the La Perla Ranch when he cast a 12-inch worm into the tea-stained pond teeming with bluegill. Lifting his rod, he felt the familiar thump and quickly set the hook. Seconds later a monster-sized bass thrashed to the surface, too heavy for its entire body to become airborne. After a tense tug of war, he eventually wrestles it to shore where lake owner Dr. Gary Schwarz is waiting. “Eleven and a half pounds,” shouted Schwarz, after the hefty bass was weighed, measured then released. “This place is like the Thunderdome of bass fishing,” Knowlton said between breaths of excitement. Schwarz smiled, knowing the gargantuan bass that measured a mere 21 1/2 inches in length is just 5 years old. Another indication
he may be on pace to grow the next worldrecord bass. Just south of Laredo, the 5,000-acre La Perla Ranch is home to monster whitetail bucks and hulking largemouth bass, and the ranch’s famous La Perla Lakes are a bass fisherman’s Shangri-La. “I wanted to create the ultimate outdoor experience,” explained Schwarz, who also serves as the co-host of The Bucks of Tecomate television show. Over the past decade, Schwarz has carved out more than 250 acres of premium manmade bass fishing lakes on his ranch, each constructed with strategically placed timber, rocks, islands and beneficial vegetation to enhance the angling experience. Taking a page from his Tecomate playbook, he’s constructed a network of supplemental forage ponds where shad, fathead minnows, bluegill and prawns are grown on a daily regimen of high protein feed, and then released into the lakes stocked with genetically superior pure Floridastrain bass. “To grow giant bass, you must have only pure Florida genetics,” explained retired biologist Allen Forshage, who serves as Schwarz’s Please turn to page 21
Corey Knowlton shows an 11.5-pound largemouth he landed recently at La Perla Ranch, where Dr. Gary Schwarz is determined to grow a world-record bass. Photo by Dustin Catrett, for Lone Star Outdoor News.
By Craig Nyhus
Shed hunting is a spring tradition for many deer hunters — often as an excuse to head to the ranch, with the added benefit of some antlers to set on end tables, and others to give to the dog. Wildlife managers say there are some things to be learned from hunting sheds, though. Casey Carringer, who organized a shed hunt for the public last spring at the Sierra Mesa Ranch in Hamilton
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County, said the result of the hunt helped identify food and water sources and normal travel corridors the deer were using. Kip Adams of the Quality Deer Management Association said finding sheds at least tells you the deer made it through the season. In Texas, 90 percent of adult deer that make it through the season will be around the following year, so shed hunting can help you learn your bucks and watch them grow. Adams indicated you also
might learn something about that buck’s health. If the shed feel heavy, that’s a good sign. A concave base of the shed indicates stress, a possible sign of poor health. Where the shed is found is important, and shed hunters believe there is a reason you find more sheds in certain areas, especially if you find the same buck’s sheds in the same area year after year. If so, you’ve just identified In addition to being fun, shed hunting can produce some your hunting spot for that valuable information for hunters. Photo by Lili Sams for buck. Lone Star Outdoor News.
Freshwater Fishing Report . Page 10
HUNTING
FISHING
Game Warden Blotter . . . . Page 12
Custom turkey call maker (P. 4)
Meredith walleye (P. 8)
Palo Pinto man builds box, slate calls.
Fish back after restocking.
Deer blinds stolen (P. 4)
Fish cleaner (P. 8)
Thefts at Chas-Mac in Houston.
Man fillets catches at dock.
Heroes . . . . . . . . . . . Page 14 Sun, Moon & Tides . . . . . Page 16 Products . . . . . . . . . . Page 17 Classifieds . . . . . . . . . Page 19 Saltwater Fishing Report . . . Page 20
INSIDE
PRSRT STD US POSTAGE PAID PLANO, TX PERMIT 210
Learning from sheds