7 minute read
Heroes
Scott (Slick) Schick Jr., 6, had a great 2020 deer season with his family near Fairfield. He started the season with a doe and then connected on his first buck with his .223.
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Jenna Jones, 7, of Bedford, caught her first blacktip shark in Matagorda Bay, while surffishing with her father, David. Bailey Fulbright caught this pending youth record 2.14-pound black crappie at Buffalo Creek Reservoir near Iowa Park.
Matt Blevins caught this bass fishing at Como Lake in Fort Worth using a LT Jig by Lance Tyree with Strike King Craw. Cooper Swift, 7, hunted in Goliad County with his dad, Chris, and shot this turkey at 25 yards with his new .410. Henry Bryarly, 15, of Dallas, caught this Hill Country bass while fishing Cibolo Creek in Kendall County.
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them on the San Antonio River, Medina Lake, Canyon Lake and smaller city park ponds. During this time of the year, I have much more success fishing around dusk and through the night than I do during the daytime hours.”
On Canyon Lake and Medina Lake, Wesolowski fishes from the bank, choosing areas with a peninsula or a point, allowing him to cast to both shallow and deep water.
Wesolowski has found success by switching up the types of flavored baits he’s been using on different water bodies until he discovers which one the carp like the best.
Reagan Thompson, recently landed his first carp while fishing with Wesolowski along the San Antonio River near The Pearl.
“We got set up before sunset and casted out a few rods with bottom rigs that were baited with some homemade dough bait, and waited for the carp to come through and eat,” the San Antonio resident said. “The first fish took one of the baits about 30 minutes into the evening and the action remained steady from sunset into the night.”
Thompson said they landed several carp in the 8-11 pound range throughout the night.
Perryton resident, Kennith Klopper, has been targeting carp in Lake Fryer. Klopper, who is originally from South Africa, grew up fishing for carp with his father.
“I have been fishing for carp since I was a young boy, and when I moved to Texas, I wanted to continue pursuing this style of fishing,” he said.
Klopper recently caught several carp up to 20 pounds on Lake Fryer, all while fishing from the bank with dough bait.
“I’ve been using a dough that I create from chicken feed or scratch grain to lure the fish in,” he explained. “I cook the grains in a pot until they become soft, and then I mash them together. Then I allow this grain mixture to dry out. As it dries out, it becomes sticky, and I will apply it to the sinker on my line. This attracts the carp into the area I am fishing.”
Klopper then uses a sweetscented dough bait on his hook to draw a strike.
“Fruity flavors have been working the best,” he said.
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He prefers 20- to 30-pound braided line.
Hudson makes his own rattles with clear tubing that holds a rattle that make a distinct tick, tick, tick noise.
“I think the crisp noise my rattle makes draws in more and better fish,” he said.
About 60 percent of Hudson’s customers prefer to wade. The others opt to stay in the boat.
“Port O’Connor is all about wade-fishing,” he said. “You can cover a lot of water and generally catch more fish. One of the best things you can do is tie on a Super Spook Jr. well before that sun comes up and go after reds and trout. Some of the better colors are hot pink and blue/chrome. And it’s a fact that the smaller top-water lures will catch more and bigger fish. Reds will absolutely crush a top-water lure.”
Stocking specks
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DNA. In collaboration with a University researcher, we submitted a proposal to study this question this year, and we are optimistic it will be funded in October.”
Red drum fingerlings survive at a rate between 1 and 17 percent.
“The importance of producing robust fingerlings and stocking them carefully into the best habitat possible should not be underestimated and this is how we give the fingerlings the best chance for survival in the wild,” Mace said.
While the location of spotted seatrout stockings will focus on the Laguna Madre, there are some limiting factors.
Last year, spotted seatrout were stocked into the Lower Laguna Madre, Aransas Bay, San Antonio Bay, Matagorda Bay, Galveston Bay and Sabine Lake.
“Over the last several years, hatchery managers have been increasing spotted seatrout broodstock inventory from each of the eight major bays, and we hope to have production from all systems next year,” Mace said.
On average, it takes a fingerling between 2-3 years to reach harvestable size. For trout, females tend to grow faster than males and can reach 15 inches by year two.
