Largest Hunting and Fishing Newspaper in Texas
July 27, 2018
Volume 14, Issue 23
Caddo Lake enjoying open water The summer night-fishing for speckled trout has been good in East Matagorda Bay. Photo from Capt. Peyton Arrison.
Going dark for midnight trout By Robert Sloan
For Lone Star Outdoor News
Anglers are enjoying more open water on Caddo Lake this year. A combination of a hard freeze, flooding and control of giant salvinia has improved fishing access. Photo by Erich Schlegel, for Lone Star Outdoor News.
Freeze, floods, weevils help control invasive salvinia By Craig Nyhus
Lone Star Outdoor News Caddo Lake received a break this winter and spring, as a sustained freeze and spring flooding helped knock back the
giant salvinia invasion to its lowest level since the plant arrived in 2006. Anglers saw open water where they hadn’t in years. The fishing improved, or at least the ability to access prime fishing areas did. “I’m still shocked about how the lake looks; the fishermen couldn’t get to the areas to fish,” said Laura Speight, a for-
mer Texas Parks and Wildlife Department biologist who retired and took over the Morley Hudson Weevils Greenhouse in Uncertain. “The lake looks great right now, but the salvinia is still out there.” Ted Barrow is a volunteer, and ran the greenhouse before Speight was hired. “We actually had a hard time finding salvinia this year until recently,” he said. Please turn to page 23
PRSRT STD US POSTAGE PAID PLANO, TX PERMIT 210
Port Mansfield deer culled By Tony Vindell
A total of 100 deer were killed in Port Mansfield as part of an effort to control cattle fever ticks. Photo by David J. Sams, Lone Star Outdoor News.
The numbers of white-tailed deer in Port Mansfield have been reduced, but residents don’t seem to notice a difference. A culling of deer was held recently in an effort to control the cattle fever tick that has been spreading in several South Texas counties. The killing was done by the United States Department of Agriculture after the agency consulted the Port Mansfield Navigation District about the plan to reduce the white-tailed herd from the Please turn to page 14
Please turn to page 21
Freshwater Fishing Report . Page 10
HUNTING
FISHING
Game Warden Blotter . . . . Page 12
An early start (P. 4)
Quite the double (P. 8)
Dove starts week earlier in S. Texas.
Guide, customer land lunkers at same time.
A tough year (P. 4)
Red in Trinity Bay (P. 8)
Trans-Pecos pronghorn fawn crop down.
Salinity up, and so is fishing.
Heroes . . . . . . . . . . . Page 16 Sun, Moon & Tides . . . . . Page 18 Products . . . . . . . . . . Page 24 Classifieds . . . . . . . . . Page 25 Outdoor Datebook . . . . . Page 26
INSIDE
CONTENTS
Time Sensitive Material • Deliver ASAP
For Lone Star Outdoor News
One way to beat the heat of summer in Texas is to go nocturnal, and in the world of fishing that means leaving the dock when the sun goes down. That’s the tactic that Matagorda Bay guide Peyton Arrison has been using for the past four months and racking up some good numbers of solid trout. “It’s a type of fishing that I love,” said Arrison. “It’s a good way to escape the heat for sure; there are no boats and the fishing is very good. So far this summer we have been catching some impressive numbers of big trout — fish in the 27- to 29-inch class.” The drill is simple. Arrison tries to have his customers in the boat and moving right around sunset. “That gives me time to run to where I plan on fishing right at last light,” he said. “We’ll return around 2:30 a.m.” The trip can wipe a person out the following day. But Arrison said his customers are both young and old, with most being in the 25- to 30-year-old bracket. And many have made return trips. Arrison uses both live and artificial baits. The live baits are all croaker. His top lure is a top-water, with a pink and gold Super Spook One Knocker being his favorite. Bone is a good backup color. “When we’re fishing croaker I’ll rig them on a 4/0 live bait hook. My reel is spooled with 30-pound braid that’s tied to a weighted croaker rattle. For the leader I use a 12-inch, 30-pound-test fluorocarbon leader. The short leader is easier to work with in the dark.” Arrison said once the sun goes down the trout tend to move up shallow. And his favorite time to be on the water is during a new moon when it’s pitch black, followed by three to four nights prior to a full moon. That’s when he fishes the stronger tides with a predominantly southeast breeze. Night fishing with top-water lures is a new