Page 20
August 28, 2020
LoneOStar Outdoor News
NATIONAL
TEXAS SALTWATER FISHING REPORT SABINE LAKE: 88-89 degrees. Speckled trout are good on live bait and top-waters. Redfish are good in the on live shrimp under a popping cork and scented plastics. TRINITY BAY: 87-88 degrees. Speckled trout and redfish are good on live shrimp under a popping cork near structure. Flounder are fair on mud minnows around rocks.
EAST GALVESTON BAY: 88 degrees. Speckled trout and redfish are good on soft plastics and live shrimp near shorelines, jetties and granite reefs. Black drum are fair around vegetation on crab. WEST GALVESTON BAY: 87-88 degrees. Redfish, speckled trout and flounder are good around the jetties on live shrimp. TEXAS CITY: 87-88 degrees. Redfish and speckled trout are fair to good along the shoreline on shrimp under a popping cork or soft plastics. Black drum are good on blue crabs. FREEPORT: 87 degrees. Speckled trout are good around San Luis Pass on shrimp, MirrOlures and soft plastics. Redfish and black drum are good on live shrimp on the reefs in Christmas Bay and Bastrop Bay. EAST MATAGORDA BAY: 87 degrees. Speckled trout and redfish are fair to good drifting the big mud flats on live shrimp under a popping cork. WEST MATAGORDA BAY: 87 degrees. Speckled trout are fair to good wading grass beds on top-waters and soft plastics.
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MASSACHUSETTS
PORT O’CONNOR: 87 degrees. Speckled trout are fair to good along the shoreline and near the ICW on top-waters and soft plastics. Redfish are good on shrimp under a popping cork. Black drum are good on crab around structure or vegetation. ROCKPORT: 87-88 degrees. Speckled trout and redfish are fair near the ship channels on shrimp under a popping cork. PORT ARANSAS: 90 degrees. Speckled trout and redfish are good on shrimp under a popping cork. Black drum are good on crankbaits or crab around deep structure. CORPUS CHRISTI: 85 degrees. Redfish and speckled trout are fair to good in shrimp and soft plastics in shallows and over structure. BAFFIN BAY: 91-92 degrees. Speckled trout and redfish are fair to good on live bait and top-waters. Black drum are good on live shrimp just off the shoreline in the deeper water.
Expanded striper season opposed The Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries proposed adding open fishing days to the commercial striped bass fishing season. The agency said the extension would provide more opportunities for participants in the fishery to fill the annual quota of 735,240 pounds. When the proposal was announced, approximately 25 percent of the quota had been filled. Stripers Forever opposes the proposal, based on findings by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission that declared the population of wild Atlantic striped bass as overfished. The group said Massachusetts’ failure to catch its full commercial quota is an indication of the declining quality of the fishery, noting in past years the entire quota of over 1 million pounds of striped bass was caught within a few weeks. —Stripers Forever
WISCONSIN PORT MANSFIELD: 86 degrees. Speckled trout are good on the flats on ball tails in red and red/white. Redfish are good at the Land Cut on scented plastics. SOUTH PADRE: 87 degrees. Speckled trout and redfish are good in off-colored and dirty colored water adjacent to grass beds on shrimp and soft plastics. PORT ISABEL: 85 degrees. Speckled trout are fair to good on shrimp under a popping cork over shallower flats. Redfish are good in deeper water on shrimp or soft plastics. —TPWD
Ruffed grouse fighting off West Nile virus The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources has received the test results from the second year of the ruffed grouse West Nile virus surveillance project. Results from the blood samples collected from harvested ruffed grouse in 2019 indicate that 20 percent of the Wisconsin submitted samples had antibodies consistent with WNV exposure. None of the 188 samples had evidence of the virus present in their hearts. “These findings indicate that while ruffed grouse are being exposed to WNV, there are birds that are surviving and clearing the virus from their bodies,” said Alaina Gerrits, Wisconsin DNR assistant upland game ecologist. This multi-year study aims to provide biologists with more information about WNV exposure and infection in ruffed grouse in the western Great Lakes region. —WDNR
UTAH
Wild game meat available to needy A program of the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources allows anyone experiencing economic difficulties to be able to sign up to receive wild game meat throughout Utah. This program has been in effect for several decades as a way to use the meat from wild animals that are euthanized to help reduce conflicts with ranchers and farmers in rural areas. Wildlife, such as elk and deer, can cause property damage and economic hardship to ranchers and farmers by grazing
on their hay fields or crops. When these conflicts occur within town limits, on private land or outside of a hunting season, hunters aren’t in a position to legally harvest these animals. So, in some cases, DWR employees respond to these incidents and remove the wildlife. Some of the meat donated through this program also comes from wildlife that is poached and then seized by DWR conservation officers. —UDWR
COLORADO
River trout fishing curtailed due to warm water, low flows Because of the low flows and warm water temperatures on some southwest Colorado rivers, Colorado Parks and Wildlife Department is asking anglers to curtail their fishing activity early in the day and to observe a voluntary closure. Recently, conditions at several rivers in CPW’s Southwest Region that receive a lot of fishing pressure have deteriorated to critical levels for trout survival. Water temperatures have approached or exceeded 71 degrees and daily flows are far below normal at less than 50 percent of average. Consequently, anglers are being asked to stop fishing activity at noon on portion of the Animas, San Juan, Conejos, Rio Grande and South Fork of the Rio Grande rivers. —CPWD
INTERNATIONAL SOUTH AFRICA
Hunting’s economic impact numbers Trophy hunting is worth R1,98 billion to the South African economy, according to a new study headed by Prof Peet van der Merwe of the North-West University’s research unit Tourism Research in Economic Environs and Society, in collaboration with the Professional Hunters of South Africa (PHASA). The research aimed to determine the profile of trophy hunters in South Africa, their spending patterns and reasons for hunting, their hunting patterns as well as the economic impact of trophy hunting on South Africa. “Our research, which was mainly focused on foreign tourists or hunters, showed that hunters spend an average of $10,300 U.S. dollars per hunting trip,” said Van der Merwe. “This is about R134 500. The previous study we conducted in 2013 was not nearly as extensive and showed that that trophy hunting contributed R1,3 billion to the economy. Although a lot, we underestimated the value.” —NWU
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