Texas Fish & Game October 2014

THE Texas Outdoor Authority

www.FishGame.com Phil Robertson, Before

Duck Dynasty

October 2014 | VOL. 31 • NO. 6 | $3.95

Fixed or Mechanical:

How Trophies are Scored

Best Broadheads for Bowhunting?

Texoma Topwater:

Urban Bowhunts

Plus:

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Flatfish Jigs:

Flounder Football

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www.FishGame.com Published by Texas Fish & Game Publishing Co., LLC. TEXAS FISH & GAME is the largest independent, family-owned outdoor publication in America.

Owned by Ron & Stephanie Ward and Roy & Ardia Neves.

ROY NEVES PUBLISHER

CHESTER MOORE EDITOR IN CHIEF

C O N T R I B U T O R S JOE DOGGETT DOUG PIKE TED NUGENT LOU MARULLO MATT WILLIAMS CALIXTO GONZALES LENNY RUDOW STEVE LAMASCUS DUSTIN ELLERMANN KENDAL HEMPHILL WILL LESCHPER REAVIS WORTHAM TOM BEHRENS GREG BERLOCHER PAUL BRADSHAW CAPT. MIKE HOLMES DUSTIN WARNCKE STAN SKINNER LISA MOORE JOHN GISEL

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SENIOR CONTRIBUTING EDITOR SENIOR CONTRIBUTING EDITOR EDITOR AT LARGE HUNTING EDITOR FRESHWATER EDITOR SALTWATER EDITOR BOATING EDITOR FIREARMS EDITOR SHOOTING EDITOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR CONSERVATION EDITOR HUMOR EDITOR CONTRIBUTING EDITOR CONTRIBUTING EDITOR CONTRIBUTING EDITOR CONTRIBUTING EDITOR CONTRIBUTING EDITOR COPY EDITOR CONTRIBUTING PHOTO EDITOR STRATEGIC ADVISOR

A D V E R T I S I N G ARDIA NEVES VICE PRESIDENT/ADVERTISING DIRECTOR DAVID BECKLER • NATIONAL ADVERTISING SALES TONISHA SHIELDS • ADVERTISING COORDINATOR 1745 GREENS ROAD HOUSTON, TX 77032 PHONE: (281) 227-3001 • FAX (281) 227-3002

C R E A T I V E ELLIOTT DONNELLY DIGITAL PUBLISHER ANNA CAMPBELL MELINDA BUSS WENDY KIPFMILLER-O’BRIEN

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TEXAS FISH & GAME (ISSN 0887-4174) is published monthly by Texas Fish & Game Publishing Co., LLC., 1745 Greens Road, Houston, Texas 77032. ©Texas Fish & Game Publishing Co., LLC. All rights reserved. Content is not to be reprinted or otherwise reproduced without written permission. The publication assumes no responsibility for unsolicited photographs and manuscripts. Subscription rates: 1 year $19.00: 2 years $34.75; 3 years $48.50. Address all subscription inquiries to Texas Fish & Game, 1745 Greens Road, Houston, Texas 77032. Allow 4 to 6 weeks for response. Give old and new address and enclose latest mailing address label when writing about your subscription. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to: TEXAS FISH & GAME, 1745 Greens Road, Houston, TX 77032. Address all subscription inquiries to TEXAS FISH & GAME, 1745 Greens Road, Houston, TX 77032. Email change of address to: dhruzek@fishgame. com Email new orders to: dhruzek@fishgame.com Email subscription questions to: dhruzek@fishgame.com.

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Paid Distribution of over 90,000 Verified by Independent Audit

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Table of

OCTOBER 2014 Volume 31 • NO. 6

Contents Features

STRIPED EXPLOSIVES Lake Texoma is well-known for its striped bass fishery. But the giant lake’s topwater striper action is hotter than a firecracker—for most of the year.

ON THE COVER: Hunter Mark Lee of Crosby shows off the new state-record non-typical buck he killed last fall in Houston County. See the full story in the TF&G Report on page 12.

Photo by Cullen Lee

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by Greg Berlocher

FLOUNDER BALL Targeting flounder is an iffy proposition for most anglers. One coastal guide limits-out with a playbook that includes a ground game of jigging the bottom with football jigs.

ALSO IN OCTOBER:

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by Calixto Gonzales Mechanical or Fixed?

STORY:

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Which style of broadhead blade works best for bowhunting?

by Lou Marullo

WHAT DOES THAT BUCK SCORE? An inside look at how the official record scoring works for whitetails, mule deer, elk and other popular big game animals.

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by Matt Williams

URBAN BOWHUNTING

A Wild Year in Texas

Hunting usually means a deer camp way off in the boonies. But there are a surprising number of opportunities for bow hunters within easy commutes of Texas’s biggest cities.

A look at some of STORY: the cool wildlife encounters our Editor-in-Chief has had thus far in 2014.

by Chester Moore

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by Dustin Warncke

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Contents (continued)

Inside Fish&Game

Columns

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by Roy & Ardia Neves | TF&G Owners

Editor’s Notes

by CHESTER MOORE TF&G Editor in Chief

Attaboy, Reavis

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NE OF THE TRULY GREAT THINGS ABOUT publishing Texas Fish & Game is that we have built longstanding relationships with the many talented writers whose works grace each issue of the magazine, our website, and the dozen-plus books that we have published.

Reavis Wortham has been a regular columnist in Texas Fish & Game longer than just about any other writer on our staff. His humor column, “Open Season,” first appeared in August 1997. Since that debut issue, Reavis has authored 200 original columns—almost a quarter-million words, every one them arranged for maximum humorous effect.

In 1999, we had the honor of publishing Reavis’s first book, the hilarious “Doreen’s 24 Hour Eat-Gas-Now Café,” which is still in print and is available from our online store, FishandGameGear.com, or Amazon.com, and at Academy Sports + Outdoors and other retail locations.

In 2011, after retiring from the Day Job that had enabled him to pursue his passion for writing, and while still young enough to stay in hot pursuit of his passion, Reavis embarked on a new career as a novelist.

He got off to a strong start and now four of his novels have been published, in a series Reavis calls the Red River Mysteries.

The first novel, “The Rock Hole,” introduces readers to a rich world of characters and places that Texans—especially those active in the outdoors—will quickly recognize and relate to, all artfully woven into a rip-snorter of a murder mystery.

The series, published by Poison Pen Press, is set in the 1960s. It is told, in part, from the point of view of a youngster who must be Reavis’s 10-year-old alter ego. The action is thrilling and suspenseful, but is paced by intricate character sketches of life in rural Texas from a half-century ago.

After garnering national acclaim for his first novel—Kirkus Reviews listed “The Rock Hole” among their Top 12 Mysteries of 2011—Reavis wrote a sequel, titled “Burrows.” Next in the series was “The Right Side of Wrong.” This summer, he released the fourth title in the Red River Mysteries, “Vengeance is Mine.” Even if you are not much of a fiction reader, you’ll enjoy these novels.

To fully capture the flavor and texture of Reavis’s books—even if you’ve already read them in print—we recommend the audio versions, available on CD and downloadable at Audible.com. Narrated—or, rather, performed—by Traber Burns, the audiobooks breathe life into all of the characters and provide more than a hint that these stories would make great movies.

Listening to them has shortened many a commute and road trip for us.

We are proud to have recognized Reavis’s creative potential early on, and look forward to the amazing things that no doubt lie ahead for him—and for his growing audience. Attaboy, Rev.

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Doggett at Large

by JOE DOGGETT

TF&G Senior Contributing Editor

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Pike on the Edge

by Doug Pike

TF&G Senior Contributing Editor

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TexasWild

by Ted Nugent TF&G Editor At Large

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Commentary

by Kendal Hemphill TF&G Politcal Commentator

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Texas Saltwater

by Calixto Gonzales TF&G Saltwater Editor

33 Bare Bones Hunting

by Lou Marullo TF&G Hunting Editor

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Open Season

by Matt Williams TF&G Freshwater Editor

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Texas Boating

by Lenny Rudow TF&G Boating Editor

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8 LETTERS 12 TF&G REPORT 34 TEXAS DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE

40 TRUE GREEN 58 TEXAS TESTED 59 INDUSTRY INSIDER

60 FISH AND GAME GEAR

62 HOTSPOT FOCUS

Texas Guns

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TEXAS HOTSPOTS

TF&G Firearms Editor

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TIDES & PRIME TIMES

by Steve LaMascus

Freshwater 56 Texas

by Matt Williams TF&G Freshwater Editor

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Departments

Texas Tasted

by Bryan Slaven

83 SPECIAL

HUNTING SECTION

94 TF&G PHOTOS

The Texas Gourmet

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Letters to the Editor Godzilla Bass THE STORY ON “GODZILLA” BASS was interesting. I know Texas has been working on a world record for a long time, and while it is my opinion we will never produce such a fish due to the difference in the depth and temperatures in our lakes compared to California and Japan, it is cool to know we may at some point cross the 20-pound threshold. Makes me want to flip a jig.

Colton Williams

Making Chupacabra WOW, I CAN’T BELIEVE HOW COOL the chupacabra looked in the Wild in Texas story. Mr. Otten did an amazing job, and I appreciate what Chester is doing for the kids with such a cool piece. Please let us know when or if you do any seminars and bring out that bad boy.

Jason Adams CHUPACABRA! I HAVE ALWAYS thought those things were simply mangy foxes. I am just glad I don’t have to run into the mount Chester has in the woods. That thing not only looks cool, but it is scary.

Suzanne Force WILL MATT OTTEN BE PRODUCING more of those chupacabras? I would love to get one done for my collection as a conversation piece.

Pat Ableson Mine is a one of a kind but he is willing to build others. You can reach them online at www.ottenbrotherstaxidermy.com or call 210-875-7391.

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The editor’s daughter Faith with a cottomouth at Reptile World Serpentarium in St. Cloud, Florida.

Mystery Rattlers CHESTER I ENJOYED THE STORY on the mysterious rattlesnakes and the true story of the so-called “stocking” in East Texas. Have you ever heard of an albino rattlesnake and if so have you ever actually seen one?

Andy Jakes I have seen albino western diamondbacks on a couple of occasions in captivity so they exist. Seeing one in the wild would truly be something and maybe it will happen one day.

I just hope I see it first and have my snake grabbers with me.

—CM GOOD STORY ON RATTLESNAKES and awhile back on snakes in general. Since you seem to be a serpent fan, I have a question. What is the biggest cottonmouth you have seen?

Two years ago I had a cottonmouth in my snake grabbers (at night) that was at or very close to five feet in length. It was as big around as a coke can and I could not keep hold of it or else I would have had a photo

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with that thing to show you.

This was in Texas in a coastal marsh and was by far the biggest I have ever seen here. Two years ago I caught and filmed with one that was three and a half feet long, and that was the biggest I have caught or worked with. The biggest I have ever seen however was in St. Cloud Fla. at the Reptile World Serpentarium where there is a five foot plus Florida cottonmouth on display that is absolutely massive in girth. The picture included shows my daughter giving it a stare down through the glass.

—CM

Send your Comments to: Mail: Editor Texas Fish & Game 1745 Greens Rd Houston TX 77032 Email: editor@fishgame.com

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Editor’s Editor’s Notes

by Chester Moore | TF&G Editor in Chief

The Strange Past of Texas Hunting & Fishing

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OGS MAY NOT BE USED TO HUNT MINK except in Camp, Delta, Hopkins and Rains Counties.”

Those words jumped off the page and into my mind, inspiring a confused stare and an audible “Huh?” Digging through a box of junk at my parent’s house, I found an old Texas Parks & Wildlife Department regulations manual from 1976.

Upon opening it, my eyes went directly to the furbearer rules and read the quirky statute listed above.

I wondered if anyone ever really hunted minks with dogs and why it was prohibited.

Minks with dogs?

Weird.

As I delved further, the manual became a virtual time machine, allowing me to travel back to a far different era in wildlife and fisheries management. The information contained within was eye opening and in some case shocking.

For example, did you know at the time there was a black bear season in 33 counties?

Yes, just over 30 years ago black bears were legal game in many parts of the Lone Star State. And the seasons were all over the place from Angelina County in the Pineywoods to McMullen County down near Mexico. Then there was Delta County north of Dallas and Winkler along the New Mexico state line.

Strangest of all, however, was Galveston County, which had a bear season of Nov. 16-Dec. 31 and a bag limit of one.

The definition of archery equipment was unique as it called for very specific requirements.

“In taking game animals and game birds, a bow must be capable of shooting a hunting arrow equipped with a broadhead hunting point for a distance of 130 yards…”

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It goes on to say, “Arrows may not be poisoned, drugged or explosive.”

That was probably written for high tech outlaws who figured the dynamite they were using for fishing would make bowhunting equally effective. Admit it; we all know some of these people.

Going back to the furbearers, fox could only be taken in Shelby County if they were found destroying domestic stock or unless the State Health Officer declared rabid foxes to be a menace to the public’s health.

Apparently, minnows (it does not say which kind) were a precious commodity at the time because many counties had restrictions on the number you could have in possession.

Dozens of municipalities allowed no more than 200 at a time.

Bell, Coryell, Falls and Johnson Counties had 125 minnow limit while Wichita County only allowed someone to possess 50.

I use more than that on a good crappie trip.

The freshwater fish limits section was wild because apparently we had rainbow and brown trout as well as Coho salmon and the bag limit was five daily. I know Texas has stocked rainbows off and on but salmon? We also had a three fish daily limit for northern pike and muskellunge.

Yes, I am confused as you are.

Bow and arrow, spear guns and spears were legal for rough fish only in freshwater but all fish in saltwater.

In the Gulf of Mexico, seines and (gill) nets up to 2,000 feet with no less than 1 ½-inch square mesh could be used. They were prohibited only within one mile of a pass and one mile of Horace Caldwell Pier on Mustang Island or Bob Hall Pier on Padre Island and within 1,000 feet of the Gulf shoreline of Padre Island in Nueces County.

License fees were quite different and

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showed just how much inflation has had an effect on our pocketbooks.

A fishing license for both residents and non-residents was $4.25.

A resident hunting license was $5.25 while a non-resident had to pay a whopping $37.50.

A trapper’s license was $5 while a whitewinged dove stamp was $3, which seems expensive considering the price of a general hunting license back then.

Even more interesting than the price of licenses were the types of licenses available.

There was the duck blind license, which was required for constructing blinds in Harrison and Marion Counties. The nonresident retriever dog training or field trail license was mandatory for all out of staters visiting areas where captive reared chukar, mallard duck and pheasant were killed.

The hunting boat license was a requirement for guides using boats to transport their hunters. My personal favorite however was the beaver-otter trapping license, which had a price tag of $50. It was required for a resident of Texas to trap or take beaver or otter outside their county of residence.

It is almost hard to imagine a time when such regulations were in place. Black bears are now a protected species, gill nets were eventually banned and you can trap beaver in any county you like.

The discovery of this manual brought me back to a time when the life of an outdoors lover was much different. Seeing practices like trapping fall by the wayside in such a short time made me ponder how a regulations manual might look 30 years from now.

How much of what we do now will be illegal? And on the other side of the coin, what new opportunities might arise if for example hatcheries technology perfects captive rearing of snook or if the bear populations of today increase to huntable numbers?

The possibilities are intriguing.

E-mail Chester Moore at cmoore@FishGame.com.

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The TF&G Report New State Record Buck Revealed IF YOU LIKE GOOD DEER HUNTING stories, you’re going to love the one Mark Lee of Crosby finally shared with me a couple of weeks back. It’s one of those fascinating cat and mouse tales built around a tireless father/son team, Friday night lights and a host of foiled opportunities born smack in the middle of a 1,000-acre crop field in Houston County. At the epicenter was a freak-of-a-whitetail buck that was just as evasive as he was captivating to look at.

Lee should know. He and his son, Cullen, dedicated the better part of two years to killing the world class buck, which is truly one for the ages.

I say that in a literal sense, because there is nothing common about this spectacular animal. In fact, the buck crushed all the previous Texas Big Game Awards Program records and ranks as highest scoring nontypical ever taken on open range in Texas by rifle or bow since the program began in 1991. It also is the biggest free ranging Texas whitetail reported in nearly a century.

The amazing set of antlers tally an official Boone and Crockett gross score of 278 5/8 and a net score of 268 4/8. A main frame 10 pointer, the buck grew 31 scoreable points, 117 7/8 inches of abnormal bone and carried more than 43 inches of mass atop main beams measuring 18 7/8 and 20 2/8 inches, respectively. The inside spread on the rack is 20 1/8 inches, according to B&C scorer Homer Saye of Cypress.

There have been a couple of larger free range bucks reported in Texas in the past, both recorded by B&C long before the inception of TBGA. Those deer, as listed in the B&C record book, include the 284 3/8 inch “Brady Buck” taken in 1892 in McCulloch County by an “unknown hunter” and a 272 inch whitetail that was 12 |

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Mark Lee of Crosby displays Texas’ newest state record free ranging nontypical whitetail. Taken last September in Houston County, the 31 pointer nets 268 4/8 B&C and is the largest open range buck reported statewide in nearly a century.

found dead near Junction in 1925.

I initially learned about the deer last February, soon after Lee’s name suddenly showed up at the top of the Region 6 leaderboard on the TBGA website. I tried reaching out to the hunter through TBGA, but the program does not give out contact information without the hunter’s permission.

TBGA passed along my invitation to Lee to share the story when he was ready.

His call finally came in late July, and the conversation quickly shifted to a hot, sultry day in June 2012. That’s when the two men first laid eyes on a buck that would ultimately consume their lives for next 15 months.

The Initial Sighting “I’ll never forget the first time I saw him,” recalls Lee. “Cullen and I were out setting cameras and putting out corn when a bachelor group of bucks jumped a fence about 50 yards in front of us and took off across a freshly disced field. They weren’t messing around, either. Their heads were down and there was nothing but a smoke trail behind them.”

As the bucks sped away, Lee said his son commented about the antler spreads on a couple of the bucks, and how tall one of the others was. Lee, meanwhile, was more interested in the buck bringing up the rear.

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“I told Cullen, look at the other deer,’ and I handed him my binoculars, and he said, ‘Dang, dad, he looks like he’s got a big knot on his head!’,” Lee said.

A life-long deer hunter, Lee, 51, said he knew right away the buck was way more special than any he had ever seen.

“We watched them run for probably 2,000 yards and maybe 2-3 minutes,” Lee said. “I couldn’t tell exactly what he was, but guessed he had probably 18-20 points.

His rack looked like a big crown on top of his head. That’s when I nicknamed him “King.”

Coming To Corn During the weeks that followed, King became a fixture at the Lee’s three bait sites. The bait sites were placed at strategic locations in relation to three different stand set-ups. Each set-up consisted of an enclosed rifle stand, a bow stand and a game camera.

Lee’s preferred stand, a 15-foot tower, also has an automatic feeder nearby.

“King was all over us that summer,” Lee recalled. “We had hundreds of pictures of him, but never at the feeder. We’ve never gotten a picture of a mature buck at that feeder, but they are very comfortable around our baited spots.”

Three stand set-ups on a 1,000 pasture PHOTOS COURTESY MARK LEE

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may not sound like many until you consider the geography. According to Lee, their pasture and much of the surrounding land is wide open and used for growing cotton, wheat, hay, corn and other crops.

The rectangle-shaped pasture is dissected by a dry creek bed and a narrow belt of timber about 40 yards wide and 880 yards long. He estimates the woods cover about 50 acres. It’s basically a travel corridor with stand/bait sites scattered throughout.

“We do the very best with what we have,” Lee said. “Under the right conditions we have a pretty good scenario, but overall it has always been tough hunting since we got on this ranch in 2010. It’s the kind of a place that will make you quit deer hunting. We’ve spent many days on the stand without seeing an animal. Our trail cameras are what kept our interest up. Cullen and I knew King was out there, and he was our target buck.”

Something else Lee has learned over time is their deer are prone to scatter during the pre-rut and tend to go nocturnal by midOctober. They also do not respond well to pressure, as evidenced by what happened two weeks prior to opening day of the 2012 archery season. A drilling rig set up along their fence line and stayed in place for two months, spoiling Lee’s hopes that his son might get the opportunity take the buck with his bow.

“My intention all along was to put Cullen in position to have the chance to take that deer with his bow,” Lee said. “I honestly think he would have gotten that chance if the conditions had been right on opening day in 2012. We had King patterned really well, but he left when that rig moved in.”

King eventually showed back up, but it wasn’t until late December when Lee saw him running a doe on an adjacent pasture, about 800 yards away.

Coming Home Party Shift to June 2013. The Lees were back at their lease setting cameras and dumping corn when they experienced some real life déjà vu. They jumped a bachelor group of four bucks in almost the exact spot as the summer before, and King was among them.

As the summer wore on, it was obvious that his antlers had become much larger, too.

“It was amazing to watch him grow,” Lee said. “He probably grew 20 more inches than the summer before. We knew he was truly a special deer, and he was comfortable.

We were very excited about the possibility of him staying there.”

The Lees played it smart and didn’t tell many people about the buck, either. Only two other people on the ranch knew about the buck — the ranch manager and a close friend who hunted a 200-acre pasture adjacent to theirs.

Going MLD III For years the property had been under Level II MLD management, but Lee got word from the ranch manager in mid-August saying they had been approved for Level 3 permits. That provided the option to rifle hunt beginning on Sept. 28 (opening day of archery season), which Lee felt might be their best chance yet to take the buck before bachelor groups busted up.

“He told us to go kill that buck, and we were excited about our chances,” Lee said.

“Then, about two weeks before opening day, we quit getting pictures. King moved on us, but I wasn’t sure why. I knew he hadn’t been pressured. I had a hunch he’d just moved into the little motte of trees next to our pasture — that maybe there was a little pre-rut going on.”

—by Matt Williams

“King,” pictured here while still in full velvet last August, was a regular at the Lee’s bait stations during the summer growing season.

Friday Night Lights His hunch was right.

The father/son made it to their lease well before daylight on opening morning following a long night of high school football that saw Cullen’s Crosby Cougars lose a heart breaker to Summer Creek. The 17-year-old wide receiver was admittedly bummed about the loss, but pumped about thought of crossing paths with King at first light.

The King Comes Calling The game plan was to set up at opposite ends of the travel corridor and wait. Cullen set up at the funnel point were the buck was most likely to enter the pasture, while Mark manned the tower stand so he might get a shot in case the deer slipped by his son.

It was just after dawn — with barely light enough to see — when Cullen heard a noise from the nearby creek bed.

“I knew it was a deer coming under the fence, so I put my gun out the window and got ready,” he said. “I saw movement in the ditch about 40 yards out but I couldn’t tell it was him until I caught a glimpse of all those points in a patch of sunlight. By then it was too late. I wasn’t going to take the chance of T E X A S

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wounding that buck. He was headed straight for my dad, so I let him go.”

Moments later, the elder Lee spotted movement about 400 yards down the tree line.

“I was able to make out the legs of a deer and that’s it,” he said. “Then he went back inside the tree line and I lost him for a few minutes until he stepped out at 175 yards.”

There was no mistaking that rack, so Lee squeezed the trigger on his Ruger No. 1-300 Win-Mag. The shot was a good one and King went down, but not before Lee’s phone started to ring. Not surprisingly, the caller was Cullen.

“Please tell me you got him… please tell me you got him!!” he said.

“Yes, King is down,” Lee said. “It’s over, son. Finally.”

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“KING’S” KEY STATS: County of Harvest: Houston County Gross Score: 278 5/8 Net Score: 268 4/8 No. of Points: 31 Abnormal Growth: 117 7/8 inches Mass: 43 1/8 inches Main Beams: 18 7/8 in. & 20 2/8 in. |

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Doggett at Large

by Joe Doggett | TF&G Senior Contributing Editor

Dress Up for Dove

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HREE MOURNING DOVES ZIPPED LOW, following the sandy creek bed across a fallow field near Sealy. I sat by a clump of brush near the rim and waited.

I squinted against the low sun. The glare was harsh even through the amber shooting glasses.

The trio of long-tailed mourners weaved and twisted, incoming with the gusting wind.

Sixty yards, now 50, now—Oh, no!

I watched with lowered pump gun as they veered to the left. They didn’t spook and flare; they just sort of angled away from the flight line of the creek. It was a classic case of SDLR. “Something Doesn’t Look Right”—most likely my hungry face shining in the sun.

The hunt occurred last October. The South Zone doves probably had been popped at a few times and correctly suspected I was preparing to hatch some devilment on their behalf. The incident underlines the value of concealment and camouflage—factors that some dove hunters fail to take seriously.

The “dove shoot” is a Texas tradition, a casual gathering of friends and family.

Members in the group laugh and talk and mill around. But it’s still a hunt. The savvy sportsman hoping to maximize in-range opportunities should dress for success. This means blending with the available cover.

Admittedly, some days your choice of garb makes little difference. This especially is true early in the season or in fields in proximity to urban areas. Resident doves are accustomed to seeing random people. Same thing with routine ranch or farm traffic. No big deal.

But once those birds are subjected to a week or two of shooting pressure, once a few puffs of white and gray feathers start drifting

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in the September breeze — well, the beady eyes become increasingly wary of pedestrian movement. Under skittish flocks, blending in and remaining still are the foundation for good hunting.

I prefer wearing a lightweight set of warm-weather camouflage when dove hunting. Long pants may not be necessary (since you presumably are sitting) but they offer a measure of bug-proofing. Same thing with long sleeves—if it’s hot, roll ‘em up, but if the setting sun is a-buzz with mosquitoes button ‘em down.

Drab solid colors certainly work; however, I would favor olive over khaki. Some faded khakis can appear almost white. They can really pop out against the green/brown brush the early-season hunter often utilizes.

If you want to test this, look at two hunters on the far side of an open field. The one in light khakis is hulking around like a snowman; the one in dull olive - well, where the hell did he go?

Rounding out, a camo or dark cap should be mandatory and an inexpensive mesh face mask is a great accessory. If you don’t need the mask, no problem. It rides unnoticed around your neck. But if birds seem extra wary, simply pull the shroud up over your nose.

There are days when the mask can make a real difference but, in my experience, few dove hunters bother to tote them.

Camo gloves are unnecessary. The dove hunter waiting in ambush is low and still, most likely holding a shotgun in his lap or tight to his torso. He is not flashing his hands back and forth, up and down, like a deer hunter repeatedly raising binoculars.

As a big advantage, blending in allows you to use minimal natural cover. All you need is enough foliage or clutter to diffuse your image. This can be a real asset if you need to relocate—say, into the middle of a cut grain field—to station under a reliable flight of birds.

An isolated clump of waist-high stalks or a single fence post can provide a sufficient “hide” for the low-profile shooter wearing full camo. If possible, scrunch into any

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splash of available shade. You might not fool all the incomers while huddled in the open, but you should get your share of shots.

Conversely, the casual dove shooter wearing blue jeans and a white T-shirt needs to burrow under a profusion of branches and limbs to remain even semi-hidden. On that note too much overhead foliage can be a negative. The canopy makes spotting odd-angle birds difficult. For that matter, swinging the gun can be awkward. And “awkward” usually doesn’t help your shellsper-bird average.

Maintaining an open field of view is an important aspect of take-’em-as-they-come dove hunting - and the camo allows you to make the most of sparse cover and limited chances.

Of course, no amount of tricked-out camo can help if you are caught in the open - say, while moving from one station to another, or perhaps when walking back to your spot after retrieving a downed dove. You can make a good case for being the 600-pound gorilla in the room. Or at least the 200pound hunter on the plowed ground.

The best reaction to an incomer just beyond range is no reaction. Just keep shuffling as if nothing is happening (remember the old innocent ranch-hand ploy). If the dove takes a few more wing beats in your direction, plant your feet, raise the gun and take care of business.

A frantic dive for a ditch or a sudden and dramatic crouch almost certainly will cause an otherwise indifferent bird to flare.

And the violent motion serves no advantage.

You are not in a fast-draw contest with the Clanton Gang at the O.K. Corral.

On each dove hunt, much discussion among friends is given to the best gauges, chokes and loads to cover the existing circumstances. But, regardless of choice, the best way to look good back at the tailgate is to convert a high percentage of “iffy” 40- and 50-yard birds to creampuff 20- and 30-yard birds. Dressing for success is an excellent way to do this.

Email Joe Doggettl at JDoggett@fishgame.com

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Pike on the Edge

by Doug Pike | TF&G Senior Contributing Editor

Cuckoo Correctness

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N ADDITION TO MISSING CHILDREN, THE sides of milk cartons also should be used in this nation to relocate common sense.

It’s lost, gone, vanished in fogs of political correctness and zero tolerance used by the spineless and lazy so they never have to think for themselves.

There used to be gray areas, places where a little digging and talking might turn up a reasonable explanation for something that looked suspicious on the surface. No more.

Now, in many places outside Texas, you’re either angelically innocent or in big trouble.

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And if onlookers don’t report perceived infractions, they’re guilty too.

Less than a week into the new school year, in South Carolina, a 16-year-old boy became the latest victim of bad policy (which I define as any policy that doesn’t include open, patient discussion of the facts).

The young man was assigned to write a story about anything he liked. (I’ll paraphrase here and in examples to follow, because rereading the originals only irritates me more.)

He wrote about killing his neighbor’s pet dinosaur with a gun. And somewhere in the text, for reasons unknown – but innocent of ill will toward anyone, according to his mother – he wrote about “taking care of business.”

A pet dinosaur. That pretty much establishes the story as fiction except among those who believe The Flintstones was an animated

documentary.

The teen wrote words that his teacher didn’t like. First Amendment, anyone? He didn’t yell “Fire!” in a crowded theater, and he wasn’t instructed to avoid certain words or phrases in the assignment. He threatened nobody.

But the teacher marched the essay to the principal. And the principal, instead of sorting it all out sensibly, called the police.

And when the dust settled, the dinosaur hunter was arrested, charged with disorderly conduct, and suspended from school for a week. For something he wrote about prehistoric animals.

Anybody recall the elementary-school child who chewed a toaster pastry into what his teacher perceived as the shape of a gun?

I saw a photograph of that pastry – thought it looked more like a stealth bomber, which

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would have been way cooler. Either that or maybe a saliva-soaked breakfast leftover.

I’d be more concerned with the nutritional value of that pastry than in anyone thinking it might resemble a firearm. Which leads me to wonder whether that child’s teacher had ever seen a real gun.

Every bit as cuckoo, from a few years ago, was the case of a California high-school student who was an avid duck hunter. So enthusiastic was he over duck hunting, in fact, that he hunted one morning before school – and had a decision to make.

He’d stayed a few minutes too long in the blind and realized he couldn’t get home, drop off his shotgun and make it to school on time.

Either he’d be tardy, which wasn’t his style, or he’d have to think on the fly.

Knowing it wasn’t lawful to bring his shotgun onto campus, he parked two blocks away, secured his hunting gear and hustled quickly to class. Either someone he told about hunting that morning or someone who overheard the story told a teacher, and the teacher told the principal, and here we go again.

The boy was suspended from school – for doing exactly the right thing. He’d broken no school rule or law, and he’d worked hard to avoid being tardy. Ultimately, someone smarter than that school’s administrators stepped into the mix and righted that wrong.

And if none of that convinces you that we hunters and recreational shooters are surrounded by anti-gun fanatics, and if you think the craziness is confined only to our country, allow me to share my favorite airport story.

This one comes all the way from London’s Heathrow Airport, where a brain trust of security agents huddled and made what could be one of the most embarrassing decisions in the history of aviation.

The conversation – add a British accent if you like – went something like this: “Excuse me, sir. Is that your doll?”

“Yes, it’s Woody, from Toy Story. I’ve carried him all over the world. I take pictures of him in faraway places and send them to my son.”

“Woody appears to have a gun, sir, and we’ll have to confiscate that.”

And security personnel relieved toy Woody of his toy sidearm, which was so small that the rootin’, tootin’ cowboy could have concealed it beneath his tiny toy hat.

Not to be outdone, a member of our own TSA – although I’ve found most of them to be well meaning and good at their jobs – took

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issue with a woman’s monkey-like sock puppet, specifically the revolver on its monkey-like hip.

Like Woody, Rooster Monkburn was packing – a toy gun no longer than seventyfive cents worth of quarters. And that “gun” was confiscated.

Now, in addition to a handful of Leatherman Micra tools I’ve forgotten to drop into checked baggage over the years, a few thousand nail clippers and nose-hair scis-

sors the TSA also has two trinkets.

I don’t blame TSA security officers or school principals or teachers. They’re all following rules made by lawmakers we put in office.

Political correctness won’t end, it seems, until we’re smart enough to vote the correct people into political office.

Email Doug Pike at ContactUs@fishgame.com

9/9/14 11:49 AM

Ted’s TexasWild

by Ted Nugent | TF&G Editor-at-Large

Happy Fall 2014 to All My Hunting Bloodbrothers

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KNOW I’M NOT THE ONLY GUY THAT literally goes nuts at this time of year.

In fact, I would wager rather confidently that nobody nowhere at no time hangs out with more gungho, die hard hunters than I do.

I also know that that is quite the bold, brazen statement, but facts and statistics just don’t lie.

You see, in the summer of 2014, I not only performed my 6500th rock-n-roll concert during my summer long SHUTUP&JAM! tour, but I also celebrated my 6500th roundtable meeting in every city that I have ever performed in, and that represents an enormous number of people and more importantly, what I believe is an unprecedented number of bull sessions with like-minded dedicated hunters, fishermen and trappers and just all around outdoor lifestyle enthusiasts.

And when I say enthusiasts, that is truly the understatement of the century.

Though there is nothing wrong with casual hunting, and even the take it or leave weekend warrior who may or may not put forth the effort to get out there, in my gregarious highly mobile adventurous touring and hunting life, the vast majority of hunters I know live it to the fullest by any scale of measurement.

Heck, I actually know guys that hunt Africa, Asia, Australia, New Zealand and beyond each summer, hunting nonstop throughout the year while the rest of us are hard at work preparing for the fall/winter rituals.

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My buddy and hunting legend Jack Brittingham travels all over the globe in pursuit of critters I can hardly pronounce, then come late summer, he is already heading for Nevada, Colorado, New Mexico

and Alaska before the Texas deer season even kicks in!

Hunting addict and BloodBrother Razor Dobbs of Razor Dobbs Alive on Outdoor Channel is back in Africa with his Mathews bow and CZ rifle after dangerous and plains’ game yet again. The guy is bonkers for hunting adventures.

And why not? The reasoning predator DNA is a force to reckon with in our species, and those who can maneuver their lives to maximize such fun need not make any excuses whatsoever. For a hunter to hunt to his or her natural desires is as pure an

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instinct as there is.

Me, I hit it pretty hard as well, running a year round trapline on our sacred SpiritWild Ranch homegrounds in Texas, hunting small game, hogs, varmints and exotics literally everyday I am home. Even while on tour across the country, I get after the woodchucks, starlings, blackbirds and whatever is legal when hubbing out of our beautiful hunting grounds in Michigan.

It is not unheard of to find time here and there while touring to hook up with some hunting buddies for some kind of legal critter pursuit no matter what part of the country I may find myself.

Then of course it all comes magically together as summer winds down, I put my poor, abused Gibson guitars in temporary and well-earned rehab, and unleash the meat hungry predator within for what can only be described as a nonstop hunting orgy of insane fun, challenge and meat gathering from late summer through late winter.

Since I do 95% of my hunting with bow and arrow, the engineered restrictions of this closerange weapon is regulation enough to keep me bright eyed and bushytailed every day. I experience many long dry runs where the critters booger me and I get skunked way more often than I bag game, but it is this archery hunting challenge that so wildly turns my crank.

And when the planets finally align and my arrow finds its mark, the joyous celebration is exciting beyond words. I cherish every intensely stimulating minute of every day afield.

Contact Ted Nugent at TNugent@fishgame.com

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Commentary

by Kendal Hemphill | TF&G Political Commentator

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ENNIS DUNN, A WRITER FROM Washington state, shares my love for hunting, and for bowhunting in particular. Further, we are both fond of hunting with bows without any sighting mechanisms attached. This is what is known, among people like Dennis, as “shooting barebow.” Among people like me, it’s usually known as “missing.”

There are probably several reasons why some archers prefer to hunt with bows that don’t have sights. Some, like Dennis, would probably tell you they hunt that way because of the freedom, or simplicity, or the fact that, when they’re successful, the feeling of accomplishment is greater.

They’re probably right. Or maybe they’re just tightwads, and don’t want to spend money on sights.

Others, including most traditional archers, might say it seems wrong to put a sight on a longbow or recurve, and they’re right, too. Sights have been used on bows for centuries, but bows without sights have definitely been around longer. (Incidentally, so has “missing”) If an archer depends on a sight, and it gets damaged during a hunt, a whole new set of problems arises. When I bought my first (and last) compound bow in 1983 I tried to use sights, but I had a hard time getting accustomed to them, and consequently I missed a lot. I decided I could miss just as much without sights, and I would also have a built-in excuse when I came home emptyhanded, so I gave them up.

Without sights, a bow must be shot by pure instinct. Lest I get a spate of letters written in anger from people who know better, I will point out here that there are methods of shooting without sights that are not purely instinctive, such as ‘string-walking,’ but people who use them rarely succeed to

“ Without sights, a bow must be shot purely instinctively.

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Shooting Barebow

any great extent. Besides, string-walking, and other methods of ‘sighting’ without sights, are illegal at most traditional archery tournaments.

Shooting a bow without sights is pretty much the same as throwing a ball, and trying to make it go through a tire. Depending on the distance to the tire, the ball thrower adjusts the force and trajectory of the toss the farther the tire, the harder the throw, and the higher the angle.

Shooting a bow is based on the same principle, and obviously requires a great deal of practice to become even marginally

proficient. I hate to brag, but after shooting a compound for four years, and then recurves and longbows for another 27 years, all without sights, I have honed my skill to the point where I can be fairly confident of shooting an arrow without hitting myself in the foot most of the time.

Dennis has evidently done a little more honing than I. Not only does he avoid hitting his feet, but he’s managed to take a wide variety of game animals shooting bows without sights. As a matter of fact, on September 17, 2004, Dennis accomplished the landmark feat of taking all 29 North American Big Game Animals, in Fair Chase, with sightless bows.

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Chuck Adams accomplished that feat in 1990, except he used sights, and there were actually only 27 official, legal-to-hunt species of big game in North America at the time,.

Not many people have done that with guns, so Dennis, making a Super Slam (a term Chuck Adams copyrighted) shooting barebow is quite impressive. The only way it would have been more impressive to me would be if I’d done it without hitting myself in the foot.

Dennis decided to put a coffee table book together to commemorate his Super Slam, and he chose to make sure the book weighs approximately the same as the grizzly bear he shot in Alaska. This is a hefty book. It’s a coffee table book that could be used as a coffee table. The title of the book is Barebow! with an exclamation mark.

Barebow! is a chronicle of Dennis’s quest to complete the Super Slam with sightless bows, which makes it a unique tome to begin with. It is also the only book about hunting I’ve ever seen that contains NO pictures of dead animals.

The book is liberally illustrated with beautiful artwork of North American big game animals by Hayden and Dallen Lambson, a father/son team of overachieving artists. I think Dennis figured a unique book deserved unique illustrations that would complement his stories far better than photographs could.

He succeeded.

I recommend few books, but I have to say Dennis Dunn’s “Barebow!” is a fantastic testament to a remarkable accomplishment.

No one has yet matched Dennis’s hunting success, and even if they do, it’s doubtful their deed could be commemorated half so outstandingly. You need this book.

Not to get anyone’s hopes up, but I happen to working on a Super Slam, myself. I’m getting pretty close. Only 28 more species to go.

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Striper Express client Raymond Sewell with a big Texoma topwater striper.

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Lake Texoma’s Topwater Striper Action is Hotter than a Firecracker by greg berlocher THE SHINY PLUG SAILED THROUGH THE THIN, GRAY LIGHT AND landed with a loud, awkward splat. After the lure enjoyed a moment of repose, I began my retrieve.

The lure’s concave mouth found purchase in the chop, spitting water with every twitch of the rod tip. As the lure chugged its way back to the boat, a violent explosion shattered the pre-dawn tranquility.

Water frothed as a hungry striped bass detonated on the weaving surface plug.

Cranking down quickly to remove any slack, I set the hook and was fast to a large fish.

The lure’s rear treble hook was pinned

solidly in the fish’s jaw, and the angry striper surged for the Oklahoma border. My graphite rod bowed deep into its backbone, and I took note of the rapidly diminishing diameter of the spool as my drag gave up line at an alarming rate.

The streaking torpedo eventually slowed and a game of tug-of-war broke out.

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sives slid to hand.

Lake Texoma is blessed with a naturally spawning population of striped bass, and the lake is one of the top striper fisheries in the United States. The state record, caught by Terry Harber in 1984, tipped the scales at 35.12 pounds.

Morone saxatilis is a handsome fish, featuring a streamlined silver body and marked with horizontal stripes from its gills to its

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tail. With a fondness for open water and a taste for shad, stripers are often compared to white bass, but that isn’t a fair comparison.

White bass are small and scrappy, and better suited for light tackle, while stripers are tackle busters, better suited for trout and redfish gear. Best of all, stripers like to feed on the film for much of the year, and their explosive strikes rival those of their largemouth brethren.

I was the guest of Striper Express Guide Service, co-owned by old friend Bill Carey. I had finally taken him up on his longstanding offer to show me Texoma’s striper fishery.

“You simply won’t believe the outstanding topwater action we have up here,” Carey stated enthusiastically. OK, I was hooked.

Before the trip, Carey whetted my appetite explaining that they enjoy topwater action seven months of the year. Surface action cranks up around mid-April depending on the weather, with guaranteed action

by May 1st.

Later in the summer, action shifts from the shorelines to schooling action in deeper areas of the lake. After the first few cold fronts in the fall and water temperatures moderate, the stripers move back into shallow areas near shorelines.

Carey’s son and full partner, Chris, was my guide. As we motored out of Mill Creek Marina, we talked seasonal

will drive bait to the surface and boil the water for the first hour to hour and a half of daylight. These schools can be over a mile long and half a mile wide. The sight and sound of all those fish boiling the surface is inconceivable. Our customers will often sit and stare.”

“Then in the fall, when things cool off, we head back and fish shallow shorelines again.”

The younger Carey suggested that anglers concentrate on three major areas of Texoma for stripers: the dam; Washita Creek, and the Soldiers Creek Marina area.

Chris favors large surface plugs, like Chug Bugs and magnum Zara Spooks, but his “go to” bait is a six-inch Cotton Cordell Pencil Popper. The big plug is equipped with two heavy-duty trebles, and the face is concave, allowing the lure to get a good bite of water every time you twitch it.

Chris keeps it simple when it comes to colors: a silver foil belly with a black back at first light, and the same plug with a blue back after the sun comes up.

“The wind is your friend on Texoma because you always want a little chop on the surface,” Chris continued. “The chop breaks up the

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strategies. “We pound the shorelines pretty hard during the first part of the year,” Chris explained. “The stripers will be up in the shallow water, just like largemouth bass.”

“Then around July 1st, the fish move out into deep water and chase bait balls.

Incredible schools of fish

sunlight and allows the stripers to stay up on top longer. When it gets too bright, they head down deep until late afternoon. Chop helps oxygenate the water and also moves the bait around, which in turn, moves the fish around.’

When the sun gets too bright, the stripers sound and head for the comfort of deeper water.

“The absolute best conditions are overcast days with good cloud cover and a 10-15 mph wind to kick up a little chop. The fish stay up on top for hours at a time when you get the right conditions, and you can absolutely slay the fish.”

Catches of 50 -80 fish are common,but one nice twist to fishing on the film is the size of your catch. “The largest fish of the day are caught on topwaters,” the elder Carey explained. “Largemouth fishermen fall in love with these fish. They have a legitimate chance to catch a double-digit fish anytime they go out.”

Texoma was built as a flood control lake, and the water level has held steady for the last several years. While other Texas lakes were as much as 80-feet below pool level, Texoma never dipped more than five-feet below the norm.

Because of the economic challenges our nation has faced over the last few years, fishing pressure on Texoma has dropped.

Consequently, four year old fish that previously weighed 10 pounds, or so, have bulked up and are now 15-pound five-year-olds.

Images of the lake’s surface exploding with attacking fish are stored in my cortex.

I am already making plans for another trip to Lake Texoma to fish with the Striper Express team (www.striperexpress.com). A double-digit fish is out there waiting for me with my name on it.

One word of caution Never handle explosives, unless they are of the striped variety.

Texoma striper anglers enjoy seven months of topwater action.

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CAPTAIN LARRY CORBETT WAS the man who mentored me during my nascent years as a saltwater angler. He taught me how to successfully fish with artificials, guided me to my first big trout on a topwater (a 29-inch pig on a red/white 7MR Mirrolure), and instructed me on his myriad tricks for using soft plastics for Texas inshore species.

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could trick them into eating his artificials.

His lure of choice was a four-inch Gambler Flappin’ Shad. When fishing was especially tough, Larry had a secret weapon: the same Flappin’ Shad, usually in Root Beer or Pumpkinseed, pinned on a football-headed bucktail jig off of which he stripped the hair He fished the jig s-l-o-w-l-y along the bottom,

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The one thing Larry could catch in great numbers, perhaps more than any Lower Laguna Madre guide I’ve ever known, were flounder. Simply put, the man could flat catch flatties. Where most anglers could latch into a flounder or two, Larry would limit out on flatfish practically every time out. Even when the fish were in a persnickety mood and not actively feeding, Corbett

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In the Flats, if a Flounder Finds a Football, Does he Play with it?

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STORY BY CALIXTO GONZALES T E X A S

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Ball Control The days of loading the boat with multiple limits of flounder may not be long gone, but conditions have changed enough to mean that it takes more effort than in the red-hot ’80s and ’90s. The flounder are still there, and commercial giggers do well enough to show the numbers are high.

For various reasons, ranging from increased boat traffic on Texas bay systems to changes in the platter-shaped predators’ migrations, make boxing more than one or two flounder per trip a tougher proposition.

Using a football head jig dressed with the appropriate plastic (more on that later) is an effective technique for enhancing your chances at scoring a few flounder for a meal or two.

The football jig is a crossover from bass fishing. The lead head of the jig, is shaped like a football with the hook eye sticking out of the side where the laces would be.

It was originally designed for fishing in deeper water over gravel where crawfish and bottom-dwelling baitfish such as gobies, madtoms, and sculpins serve as the primary forage for smallmouth bass. The football jig’s shape enables the lure to scuttle along the bottom much like the forage it simulates.

With the right dressing, the jig is extremely effective.

These funky-shaped jigheads are designed to work in deeper water. Their design enables anglers to maintain better contact with the bottom and control the bait as it knocks up puffs of mud and sand and attracts a predator’s attention. They also are available in heavier weights than round jigheads, ranging up to two ounces in some cases.

Ground Game Flounder are active predators and have been known to chase down and hit topwaters, twitchbaits, even lipless crankbaits and spinnerbaits. However, by nature they are ambush predators that sit and wait for some hapless finger mullet, shrimp, or killifish to happen by. Then they explode from the bottom and crunch it in a cloud of scales, shell, and death.

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dragged (or dredged) along the bottom, the lure is right in front of the fish’s nose.

A hungry flounder will find it very, very hard to pass up. Even if a flounder is not in an active mood, the opportunity to score an easy meal may be beyond any predator’s capacity to resist.

Going Deep Football jigs are most effective in deeper water. Unlike shad heads and round heads, which tend to swim down through the water column, a football head drops straight to the bottom. Most anglers let the bait fall on a free-

q

dragging it rather than hopping it. Flounder killed it over and over.

StrikeKing and Gulp! shrimp tails (top, bottom) and the Norton Sand Eel Jr. (middle) are effective soft plastics.

Most saltwater bottom dwellers are crustaceans such as shrimp and bottom dwellers, so it stands to reason that shrimp tails such as the Gulp!

Line or shrimp tails by Strike King, Kelly Wigglers and Norton are the natural choices. Another good choice for a football head is a four-inch tube bait such as the Bleeding Tube or Berkley’s Power Tube.

The skirted end of the tube flutters as the jig drags across the bottom and presents an attractive target for any flounder in the area.

A nifty trick that Corbett used if flounder were being reluctant was to give the lure a quick hop after dragging the bait along the bottom. He’d slowly raise his rod from nine o’clock to 11 then “hop” the rod tip to high noon. More often than not, a flounder zapped the lure after the hop.

One of my favorite memories of Larry was during a filming of a local outdoors show. The image of him sitting, a lit cigarette between the fingers on his reel hand, setting the hook on another flounder while explaining the “hop” technique to the show host was hilarious.

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spool so that it falls directly to the bottom at the end of the cast, rather than swinging like a pendulum on a tight line. It allows an angler to fish the maximum amount of water and distance on a cast. Lowering the rod tip as the bait closes the distance to the boat, allows it to continue working deep until the end of the retrieve.

Football jigs also work really well with eel-style tails such as the Norton Sand Eel and Sand Eel, Jr., the Kelly Balltail Shad, and the MirrOlure Li’l John. These baits are excellent facsimiles of sand eels, which emerge in the spring in deeper bay systems and become a popular forage for flounder and other predators. The sharper taper and “do nothing” action of the Li’l John is especially lethal in this application.

In Texas, football is first in the hearts and minds of many a saltwater fisherman. It never hurts to be willing to go deep with a little ball control.

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Texas Saltwater

by Calixto Gonzales | TF&G Saltwater Editor

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N THE PRECEDING FEATURE ARTICLE IN this issue, (“Flounder Ball,” page 24), you’ll find mention of my old mentor, Captain Larry Corbett. I can safely say that I am the saltwater angler I’ve become, largely from Larry’s influence. He taught me to fish with artificial lures at a time when I used primarily live bait (except for the Speck Rigs I used under the lights). I have developed a preference for bait-casting tackle and braided lines because of Larry, and I’m a huge fan of soft plastics such as the Kelly Wiggler and Down South Lures, too, all thanks to Larry.

Another fisherman also left his influence on me in one other aspect: I carry way too much tack with me on the boat. Corbett was a tournament bass fisherman in a previous life, and he carried the amount of tackle that bass fishermen of the ’80s and ’90s did. I never realized how much I was like that until I went fishing with Captain Jeff Neu, and he chided me about the mini-footlocker I was toting.

The joke was that I never even opened the damn box. I used one of Jeff’s favorite soft plastics the entire day. I realized at that point that I had a real problem: My name is Cal, and I’m a tackle hoarder.

The only solution was to go through my tackle bag and start thinning out all the excess tackle that I’m herniating myself by carrying.

Where to begin?

First thing I need to get rid of is the box of MirrOlure 7 MR topwater twitchbaits. I have at least a couple of dozen in that box, and they take up a lot of space. They’re outta here…

On second thought, that’s not such a good idea. The first big trout I ever caught on a topwater was on a 7MR. I may not use them very often, but they do put fish in the pot when I fish with them, especially when trout

“ My name is Cal, and I’m a tackle hoarder.

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Bag of Tricks

are short-striking at bigger plugs. I think I’d better leave them where they sit.

I know, I’ll ditch all those jigheads. I must have over 100 of them in varying sizes.

There’s gotta be at least a pound, pound and a half of lead.

Talking about giving me a hernia! I’m surprised that my guts haven’t popped out of my navel from all that weight. I should know better than having so many of them.

Wait a minute…those jigheads are in a variety of shapes and sizes. If I have them, it’s because they each have a different applica-

tion. I have some for swim baits, others for shrimp tails, football heads for fishing for flounder on the bottom and shadheads for swimming shad and curlytails.

I have light jigheads for fishing shallow, and heavier ones for fishing in deeper water.

There is a purpose for every single jighead in my tacklebox. I’d better leave them alone.

You never know when I’m going to be looking for just the right head just after I got rid of it.

Can you believe that I have some many different spools of leader material? Who on earth would have so many of them?

Me, that’s who.

The 30-pound test fluorocarbon is for those times when I’m fishing for big bruiser redfish around the Mansfield or Brazos Santiago jetties, so I can’t get rid of it. I use the 20 pound test the most, so I can’t lose that (it also explains why I have such a big spool of it).

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so the 15- and 12-pound are necessities (and the lighter stuff will do as reel-filler in a pinch). I’ve got a use for all of them, so I better hang on to each.

I need those braid scissors because I do use braid so much. Not only that, but it does a good job cutting leader line, trimming down soft plastics, and cutting nose hair. I got to hand onto the needle-nose pliers just in case I have to replace a split ring (and they have wire cutters built in; what if I lose or break my scissors?).

Every fisherman has at least one knife.

AND, you never know when I’m going to need that spare.

I guess that means I need to get rid of some those soft plastics. I have so many I could open my own section at Academy.

But which ones?

I don’t want to get rid of the classic color patterns. Red and white has always done me right. I’m not too keen on the SEC, but LSU is a very effective color pattern. Chartreuse also goes well with white and with red for that matter. Those are some of the best colors I’ve got, so it also stands to reason I’d have all my favorite tails in those patterns. They work so well that I HAVE to keep as many spares on hand as I can.

And you know, those color patterns don’t always work, so it stands to reason that I’d have a few other color patterns to experiment with when the old reliables fail to produce.

The astute fisherman is a versatile one, you know? I can’t have them in just one length, either, y’know? I need three-inchers for when fish are feeding on young of the year bait. Four inch tails are my default size, so I’ve gotta keep them around. Big fish like big baits, so I better keep those six- and eight-inch plastics handy.

I did find an old jerkbait that I could never get to swim straight. After years of experimenting and tweaking, I’m giving up on it and tossing it into the dead lure box.

I feel better. Maybe Jeff won’t razz me so much.

G A M E ®

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How Record Scoring Systems Work

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S

KILL A GOOD WHITETAIL BUCK these days and sooner or later someone is going to pop the question: What does it score?

The same could be said for mule deer, elk and pronghorn antelope and other popular big game animals. Turkey hunters in general aren’t near as fanatical about scores, but there are some hardcore trophy buffs around who are equally interested in learning how their gobblers rank on paper, based on a series of pertinent measurements.

Not surprisingly, there are scoring systems designed to accommodate all of these animals, as well as bear, moose, sheep, mountain lion and numerous exotics.

Although there is more than one way to score a set of antlers, the Boone and Crockett scoring system is the most widely accepted method for evaluating native North American big game animals such as white-tailed deer, elk and pronghorn antelope. The records program includes trophies taken by rifle, bow, handgun and other methods.

The B&C system takes into account a variety of antler characteristics to tally a score. Among them are the number score-able points (one inch or longer), beam length, tine length, circumference and inside spread. After performing a series of measurements, the figures are tallied to reach a “gross” score.

Calculated differences between the left and right antler are deducted to determine the “net” score.

Texas Big Game Awards, a popular hunter/ landowner recognition program jointly run by the Texas Wildlife Association and the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, utilizes the B&C scoring method to rank qualifying entries in eight geographic regions. The program has scored categories for white-tailed deer (typical and non-typical) mule deer (typical and non-typical), and pronghorn antelope. There also is a first harvest category.

Minimum net green Boone & Crockett scores for program eligibility are as follows: pronghorn - 70, typical mule deer 145, non-typical mule deer - 160, typical white-tailed deer - 125 to 140 (depending on region), and non-typical white-tailed deer - 140 to 155 (depending on region).

All entries must be scored by a certified TBGA scorer and are subject to re-scoring. Regional and statewide rankings are based on the net “green” B&C score.

Ben Bartlett has been a certified as a TBGA scorer since the program’s inception in the early 1990s. He has since taped well over 100 animals. The Lufkin insurance agent also is an official scorer for Pope and Young, a well-known bowhunting organization that recognizes trophy class animals using the B&C scoring system.

TBGA certified scorer Lee Richards

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Scoring a typical 10-pointer is relatively simple compared to a non-typical trophy.

Measuring point and main beam lengths are a significant part of a buck’s final score.

Four circumference measurements are taken from each side.

Bartlett says scoring big game animals is somewhat of a labor of love that runs handin-hand with his passion for hunting. Not surprisingly, he pointed out some racks are more difficult to score than others.

“Anything that deviates from the basic structure of a whitetail rack can be a problem, Bartlett said. “Without a doubt nontypical growth gives you the most challenge,” The most difficult rack Bartlett ever scored came from the Finley Flat area north of Lufkin.

“It was what I call a nuclear waste buck,” he said. “Its main beams came out and just exploded, sort of like a star burst. It’s not uncommon to spend as long as two hours scoring a set of antlers that are extremely difficult.”

Bartlett says a typical 10 pointer is much easier, because the formula is pretty much cut and dried.

“It basically consists of four circumference measurements on each side, main beam lengths, length of each point and inside spread,” Bartlett said. “It’s not that difficult. Where people run into problems is when there is some sort of deviation from the norm.”

The B&C website (boone-crockett.org) offers a wealth of information on scoring, including downloadable scoring sheets that are accompanied by easy-to-follow instructions for more than a dozen animals.

There are dozens of TBGA scorers around the state. You can get a complete list according to city at texasbiggameawards.org.

Making the Book Both B&C (boone-crockett.org) and P&Y pope-young.org) maintain all-time record books dedicated to recognizing a wide variety of North American big game animals meeting minimum scores. Both organizations adhere to strict “fair chase” 32 |

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policies and do not recognize animals taken inside escape-proof fenced enclosures.

Minimum scores vary from one animal to the next. For whitetails, B&C calls for a 170 minimum on typicals and 195 on nontypicals after 60 days drying. The minimum P&Y score for typicals is 125 and 155 for non-typicals after 60 days drying.

Other Scoring Systems SAFARI CLUB INTERNATIONAL: SCI maintains records for typical and non-typical North American big game animals. It also scores trophy species from other parts of the world. This includes categories for animals taken on free range or behind a high fence.

Unlike B&C and P&Y, the scoring system does not assess deduction penalties for lack of symmetry. scifirstforhunters.org.

BUCKMASTERS: Buckmasters is another “full credit” scoring system that does not penalize a final score due to lack symmetry between antlers. Interestingly, the system does not take into account inside spread, because that is considered “a measurement of air, not antler.”

There are four classifications of antlers including: Perfect, Typical, Semi-Irregular and Irregular. The minimum score accepted for firearm kills is 140; 105 for bow kills.

There are multiple categories for each harvest method. buckmasters.com.

TROPHY GAME RECORDS OF THE WORLD: Formerly known as the Burkett scoring system, TGR scores are recorded in centimeters and tenths of centimeters as opposed to inches, reportedly because it is provides a more accurate final tally. Like SCI and Buckmasters, TGR issues no penalties for lack of symmetry. The method’s

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founding principle is that “animal should be given full credit for what it has produced.”

Scores to “Gobble” About

The official keeper for state and world records on wild turkeys is the National Wild Turkey Federation. NWTF began compiling records in 1982. They have registered more than than 19,000 gobblers.

Records are maintained in several categories for Rio Grande, Eastern, Gould’s, Merriam’s, Florida and Oscillated turkeys. Three of those sub-species are found in Texas: Easterns, Rio Grande and Merriam’s.

Birds are ranked according to spur length, beard length, weight and total points. There are divisions for turkeys taken by modern firearm, archery and muzzleloader, and two “types” of turkey - typical and atypical.

A typical turkey is classified as one having one beard and two spurs. A turkey with more than one beard and/or more than two spurs is considered atypical.

Scoring a turkey is much easier than scoring the rack on a whitetail buck, because there are fewer components to consider. You can view the easy-to-follow formula on the NWTF website, www.nwtf.org. It is listed under the turkey records link.

It is worth noting that measurements should be taken in 1/16-inch increments and then converted to decimals using the NWTF’s scoring calculator.

There are several Texas birds that rank high among the national records. In 2007, Cody May of New Boston shot an eastern gobbler in Bowie County ranks No. 1 overall in the beard length category for eastern gobblers. May’s bird had a 22.500-inch beard.

PHOTOS: MATT WILLIAMS

9/9/14 11:58 AM

Bare Bones Hunting

by Lou Marullo | TF&G Hunting Editor

The Measure of Success

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CTOBER BRINGS WITH IT SOME FOND memories of years gone by. Not only family memories, but some of my best hunts that happened back when I wore a younger man’s clothes. In the state where I hail from, October meant bow season, and opening day was always on the 15th.

Those early hunts are so vivid in my mind that it is like watching a 3-D movie over and over again. And, I might add, with the same enthusiasm and excitement of each and every kill.

Back in the day, compounds were not invented yet. My friends and I would spend hours trying to group our arrows the best we could with our old recurve bows. I can remember that grouping your arrows back then, meant hitting a 12-inch pie plate from 20 yards out. Much different today with the modern technology that is available now for the archer.

My first bow-kill whitetail found me perched in a tree with just a “tree-belt” wrapped around me (Hey, that was the state of the art back then). I remember it well.

I was hunting the edge of a standing corn field. It was a work day, but I thought I could get a few hours of hunting in before I had to report to work. The deer sign was plentiful, and I thought then, like I think every time I am out there, that “today is the day.” To my surprise, it really was on this day.

I watched as a nice big doe worked her way closer and closer to me along the edge of the standing corn. She had come 15 yards away from me when I decided to draw my bow back. She stopped and looked right at me.

I was so careful about movement that she

must have heard my heart beating as she came closer to her doom. I might be wrong about that.

She might have seen this novice bow hunter move? Naw! My arrow found her lungs with a perfect hit, and she ran off in the corn. I was alone, on a work day, having never field dressed a deer before. What the heck was I out there for? I stayed up in my stand for about 45 minutes longer before finally climbing down and following an easy blood trail.

To make a long story short, I ended up going back to town, calling my boss (who was nice enough to give me as much time as I needed to get my first deer home), called a friend to help with the field dressing and dragging and was back to work within two hours just as proud as I could be.

Gun season opened, and I still was a virgin to bringing down a whitetail buck with a shotgun. I had played in a band the night before my hunt and was so tired I forgot most of my gear back home.

Yep! Just a young pup trying to hunt with the big boys.

We were about 50 miles from home when my friend and I left the vehicle. I searched hard in every pocket I had, but was finally forced to ask my friend if he had any extra 12 gauge bullets that I could use. He was kind enough to oblige.

Once in my spot, I loaded up and waited for sunrise. I was on the edge of a ridge looking down a small ravine. I could see the other side of the ravine easily and thought that this was a pretty good spot to see a deer.

I was right.

Thirty minutes into daylight, I heard a deer on the other side of the ravine. There it was, and it was a buck!

“Here it comes”, I thought to myself. I started shaking like a dead maple leaf in a strong wind buck fever!

As the buck disappeared in the bottom of the ravine, I anxiously awaited his appearance again. My gun was up and ready.

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for the deer to walk into my sights.

The boom was heard by all of my hunting buddies, and the spike horn did not go far. Of course, I had to ask my friend for his knife, a pen, a deer drag I think I even might have asked him for any extra toilet paper that morning.

Talk about being unprepared. The only thing I brought with me was my shotgun and my license, but I left the woods that day with a game bag full of pride. Again, this was a hunt that I will never forget. No one ever forgets the first deer they took. I had taken my first twice first, with a bow and then with a gun.

I mention these two hunts not because the deer were massive. Quite the contrary.

Both of these deer were just legal animals that brought a lifetime of love for the sport of hunting for this child.

Were they trophies?

You bet they were. At least they were to me.

Today, too much emphasis is placed on taking only a mature whitetail that has already survived many hunting seasons. I do agree it is important to let younger bucks walk if you want a herd that produces massive racks.

On the other hand, would you not congratulate a new hunter about any deer they take? Believe me, to them, this is their trophy. This is their prize for being successful.

As the novice hunter grows and matures he or she will naturally move on to bigger deer. They will need a bigger challenge and trying for a mature whitetail will provide it.

Until then, I feel that as fellow hunters, we should embrace the younger hunters with a sincere attitude. Welcome them in our family and let them see that the camaraderie among fellow hunters is infectious.

Have fun and hunt safe out there.

G A M E ®

Email Lou Marullo at ContactUs@fishgame.com

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Texas Department of Defense Why Didn’t You Shoot?

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Y FRIEND, THE LATE BILL WALDROP, A Texas Game Warden, was working on the Nueces River in Uvalde County. I don’t remember whether it was deer season or dove season, and it doesn’t matter.

Bill had walked a few hundred yards down the dry river bed when he discovered a man who was in violation. Bill took the man’s driver’s license and told him to go to his vehicle, which was parked where the road met the river, and that he would come in a few minutes and write him a citation. After this Bill walked a bit farther, but found no other violators, so he retraced his steps.

When he reached the bluff where he had parked his cruiser and had started to climb to

The Popular AR15 ‘Pistol’ SINCE 1934 THE ATF HAS FOUND it necessary to restrict and regulate the minimum length on a rifle barrel because well, actually it doesn’t make much sense at all because a shorter rifle is actually less powerful then its full length version. Nevertheless we subjects are only allowed to have rifles if their barrels are over 16 inches in length.

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the top, he was met by the man he had found in the river. The man was boiling mad. The worst part, however, was that he was now wearing a gunbelt on which was hanging a Ruger Super Blackhawk .44 Magnum.

At that time Bill was carrying a Smith and Wesson Model 29 .44 Magnum as his duty gun. The man was almost vibrating he was so angry, and he yelled down at Bill: “Okay law dog, you’ve got a .44, and now I’ve got a .44. Let’s see if you are as tough as you think you are.”

I have no doubt that Bill could have killed the man before he ever got his hog leg out of the holster, but he didn’t. Instead he started talking to the man and eventually talked him out of the gun, and wrote the citation.

Later, when some of us were talking to Bill about the incident, one of the questions was, “Why didn’t you shoot him?” Bill’s answer was one I have heard several times over the years from other law officers: “I just didn’t feel I had to.” I have said the same thing a time or two during my career. son to shorten barrel length because it decreases your velocity. That results in a loss of ballistic power and more bullet drop.

But when you start adding accessories such as a 10-inch-long sound suppressor, a shorter barrel starts to look very attractive.

Although it is a common misconception, barrel length does not have any measurable improvement in accuracy.

So you can go the $200 tax stamp paying, FBI background checking, nine-month ATF paperwork waiting, Short Barreled Rifle registration route, or simply go the AR15 pistol route. AR15 pistols have been gaining in popularity, and the introduction of the ATF approved Sig Arms SB15 Pistol Brace has only increased the demand for compact rifle caliber packages.

An AR15 rifle and pistol differ only by a technicality on the gun shop’s form 4473

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| Self Defense | | Concealed Carry | | Tactical |

by Steve LaMascus & Dustin Ellermann Bill would have been perfectly justified in drawing his .44 and shooting the man. He had been threatened with death by a man who was armed and capable of doing him harm.

However, something about the manner of the man told him the guy was just angry and really didn’t want to kill anyone. He thought he could disarm the man without gunplay, and he did. That man is very lucky that it was Bill Waldrop he was threatening, because a lot of officers would not have had the intestinal fortitude to take that chance.

You can never really tell when a person is going to take that final step and pull the trigger. Sometimes, however, there is an indefinable something, call it intuition or gut instinct, or whatever, that tells you the guy is just letting off steam.

Sometimes it’s that you feel the person hasn’t got the guts to go through with his threat. Whenever it happens, you are taking A 10-inch AR15 pistol with suppressor is just a tad longer than a regular 16-inch barreled rifle. The SB15 pistol brace is mounted on a KAK Industries pistol buffer tube.

PHOTOS: HANNAH PHOTO CREDIT ROYER

9/9/14 12:00 PM

a big chance by trying to talk an armed and threatening individual out of his gun. It has cost more than one officer his life when he guessed wrong.

One such instance occurred when a sheriff was called to a farm house where a man was barricaded with a .30-30, holding several officers at bay. The man had fired several shots at the officers, but no one had been hit, as yet.

The sheriff knew the man and didn’t think he was really dangerous. He and a deputy walked up to the house to talk the man out, and the man shot both of them graveyard dead.

What that sheriff did was absolutely stupid. We have discussed in these pages the need for distance and cover. In this instance the sheriff had both and gave them up to walk straight into the muzzle of a rifle. He could have just as easily talked to the man from behind a vehicle or other cover. There was no reason to take the chance that cost him and his deputy their lives. Never voluntarily give up your cover and distance.

Another thing to remember is, never, ever, give up your weapon to an antagonist. If you give up your gun, you are completely in the hands of a person of very questionable morals. He has the option of killing you now or killing you later.

Back in the 1960s a pair of Border Patrol officers named Newton and Azrak were working a checkpoint in California. They were somehow disarmed by a group of drug smugglers. They were handcuffed and taken to an abandoned house where they were

handcuffed to an old stove and then killed with one of their own weapons.

We will never know what would have happened had they refused to be disarmed.

It is possible they would have been killed anyway, but it is absolutely certain they would have had a better chance than they did after they were disarmed. At that point they were completely at the mercy of their attackers, and their attackers had no mercy, at all.

I made myself a promise many years ago.

I will, under no circumstances, give up my gun. If I am covered by a gun in the hands of a criminal, I will go for my gun and hope for the best. If your antagonist has not already decided to shoot, there will be a moment of time in which he has to decide to pull the trigger.

That moment may give you the time to pull your gun and shoot. That is the primary reason you should practice constantly drawing your weapon. The faster you can get your own gun out and shoot, the better the chance that you will survive such an encounter, especially if the gunman is distracted in some way.

If the gunman is holding my partner at gunpoint and demanding I give up my gun, I am just sorry for my partner. I will not give up my gun. If I do, then both of us are probably going to die.

I discussed this event with each of my partners over the years. I made them understand that in such a situation, I would go for my gun and that he was to do whatever he could to distract the bad guy and get out of the way. If the reverse was the situation, I

expected him to do the same.

If you carry a gun, you may, someday, be faced with such a situation. I strongly suggest that you decide, right now, what you are going to do. If the man or woman has a gun, but it is not pointed at you, you may be justified in trying to talk him out of shooting you.

However, if that gun even begins to move in your direction you need to be ready to move and fire. Remember that a moving target is much harder to hit than one standing still.

In the case of Bill Waldrop, the man with the .44 never touched the gun at this belt, and Bill was confident he could beat the man to the draw if he did try to draw his gun. The late sheriff, however, walked into the muzzle of a gun t in the hands of a man who had already proved he was ready to shoot.

Only you, in each situation, can make the call. Only you are the one in jeopardy. If I were you, I would give some serious thought about such situations and what you would do when you are faced with such things.

If you are smart you will even discuss it with your family. Why? Because you will not have time to think or talk about it when the time comes. Over the years I have carried a gun, I have spent many hours contemplating what I would do in such and such a situation.

I still do. It is a habit I have not been able to break. In fact, I don’t want to break it. It could save my life some day.

noting whether the receiver is equipped with a pistol buffer tube or rifle stock.

Please remember this: do not mount a barrel shorter than 16 inches on an AR lower that was initially transferred as a “rifle.” You would be guilty of a felony.

An AR15 pistol is not the easiest to shoot because of the weight of the firearm and the short buffer tube itself. But the addition of the SB15 pistol brace on the pistol tube allows the shooter to regain control of the weapon. Sig designed the pistol brace to strap on to your forearm in order to shoot one-handed, but the ATF has officially clarified that shouldering an AR15 pistol like a rifle is legal. Therefore, we can now build shootable short-barreled AR15 pistols without having to ask the government permission every time.

My favorite pistol build is a .300

Blackout with an 11-inch barrel because the cartridge is designed for short barrels.

The powder burns within 10 inches so it’s perfect for this application. Hunting in a small box blind, clearing corners in home defense, or scouting for hogs on an ATV is much more practical with a short barreled package, and it even breaks down into a backpack if needed.

Although the Sig brace does make the gun easier to shoot, I still think I’ll apply for an SBR tax stamp in the near future because it’s still

not quite as stable as a rifle. The brace is a little floppy and likes to spin on the buffer tube even after putting tape underneath it for extra traction. I also think I would be the butt of jokes if I showed up at a tactical training course or Three Gun competition with it in tow. But it’s an excellent way to get through those months waiting for the government paperwork to clear.

—Dustin Ellermann

An AR15 pistol is so compact it can be broken down and carried in a small package. Here the author easily fits his .300BLK build with Aimpoint Micro, GEMTECH suppressor, Elzetta light and SB15 arm brace into a 5.11 Tactical MOAB backpack.

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9/24/14 7:32 PM

Which Broadhead Works Best?

BY LOU MARULLO HAVE YOU EVER FELT LIKE YOU HAVE been bombarded with way too much information about the selection of broadheads that are available today?

I know I have, and I suspect that I am not alone. They all claim to be the best blades on the market. They all advertise to have the very best penetration value. They all say that their brand is the one that should be used if you want to bring home the game. What are we to think?

I can tell you from my own personal experience, I know what I prefer. I’ll let you in on my big secret in a little while.

First, we should understand what the pros and cons are of a fixed-blade broadhead and a mechanical one. Fixed blades as well as replacement blade broadheads, I feel, fall in the same category. Mechanical broadheads, on the other hand, are entirely different and, at least to this writer, are not for all hunting situations.

Regardless what animal you are trying to take, ethically, you want to do your very best to have a nice clean shot that will bring the game down quickly and humanely. Above all, you need to make sure that whichever broadhead you choose, it absolutely must have razor-sharp blades.

Penetration is a big issue especially for those who shoot a bow with a low draw weight. Although it may be enough to kill the animal you hunt, the arrow itself needs to be able to penetrate your target sufficiently.

If you shoot a “low poundage” bow, you must use a broadhead with a very sharp chisel point. This will ensure a clear path for those razor-sharp blades that follow and consequently have the best penetration possible.

Having said that, if I want to hunt hogs with my bow, I am going to use a fixed blade broadhead instead of a mechanical one.

Hogs are tough-skinned animals. Unlike a whitetail deer, a shot just behind the front

shoulder will have a hard time penetrating.

Why is that?

Hogs are lean, mean, fighting machines that will fight with anything or anybody, including you. They have no problem picking a fight with another wild pig. As a matter of fact, they fight so much they have developed layers of scar tissue and fat right behind the front shoulder. This scar tissue acts as a shield and protects them from the sharp tusks of another hog.

This shield makes it tough for an arrow to penetrate. This is why when we hunt pigs with a bow, the shot we look for is while the hog is quartering away from us. The arrow is placed farther back on the animal and penetration is no problem at all. As a matter of fact, with a shot like I just described, you will hit many vitals, and the animal will expire quickly.

So—why do I use a fixed-blade broadhead?

I have found that a mechanical broadhead will not penetrate as well as a fixed blade. There is a reason for that.

When you release an arrow from your bow, the energy from pulling back the limbs of your bow is now transferred to the arrow itself. The kinetic energy lost as a mechanical broadhead opens on impact is enough to make good penetration on a hog difficult at best.

For hogs, choose a fixed blade like the NAP Thunderhead, or the G 5. Muzzy broadheads are also great for hogs. As a matter of fact, Bass Pro offers a great broadhead under their Redhead brand called the Black Out. It has proved to be a winner White-tailed deer, however, are a different animal entirely. It is not uncommon to T E X A S

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have a double lung pass-through shot on a deer standing broadside. Excellent shot placement should be behind the shoulder, being careful not to hit the shoulder bone.

As with hogs, a quartering away shot is the golden one because your arrow will do more damage to more vitals in the animal, which would, in turn, cause a more humane and quick kill.

The short answer as to which broadhead you should use on the white-tailed deer is whatever flies the best out of your bow. With practice, and plenty of it, you will be able to group your arrows with your field tips not so easy with broadheads.

You should never attempt to shoot more than one arrow at a time when practicing with broadheads. The reason is, if you are shooting well, you run the risk of hitting the shaft of an arrow already in the target.

I like to use fixed or replacement blade broadheads on whitetails. However, I will admit there are very good mechanical broadheads that will do the job nicely. Among them is the Grim Reaper. I have used this on turkeys with much success.

I have to say, however, that for me, it is tough to beat the Rage mechanical broadheads. They really do fly great out of my bow, and I have used them on turkeys as well as deer. I have never had a broadhead leave such a good blood trail as when I used the Rage. Wow! Deer hunters who are looking for a shot that causes massive hemorrhaging, the Rage will oblige.

Before deciding which broadhead works best for you, take the time to shoot a few and then decide. Each one is different and may not fly well out of your set up. To sum it all up, I would use a fixed or replacement bladed broadhead for those mean—and they ARE mean—hogs. Save the mechanicals for deer or turkeys.

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ETWEEN Texas Fish & Game and our Kingdom Zoo project, it has been a truly wild year out in the field.

The great passion of my professional career is sharing with you the amazing wildlife of our state. The following photos show serious biodiversity on our quest for encounters.

I HAD THE amazing opportunity to photograph Florida panthers at Bear Creek Feline Center near Panama City, Florida back in July.

This is a unique subspecies. If you look at the nose you can see it looks quite a bit different from the cougars we have in Texas, although they are very closely related.

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 CANADA GEESE are becoming increasingly common in Texas. Here’s a shot of a beautiful family on a friend’s property in Orange County. These great fowl nest there every year. They leave soon after and return a couple of months later.

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DID YOU know foxes can climb? This is a gray fox in a pine tree.

In some areas they are called “cat foxes” for their climbing ability.

MORGAN ELLIS of Kingdom Zoo captured this awesome cottonmouth photograph while filming for our new Kingdom Zoo television program. The iconic white mouth usually gives a warning but this one is simply stretching its jaws or “yawning.”

PHOTO ESSAY BY CHESTER MOORE

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PHOTOS: COTTONMOUTH, MORGAN ELLIS; ALL OTHERS, CHESTER MOORE

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MY FRIEND Nolan Haney and I were going out snake hunting one night, and this beautiful barred owl flew low across from us.

I was able to snap this photo as it looked us over.

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9/24/14 7:35 PM

TRUE GREEN

Edited by Will Leschper

Antler Restriction Dividends IT’S ABOUT TO BE BIG BUCK time across Texas, something that should have you spending as many hours in the field as possible, no matter where you call home.

The Lone Star State has long had the largest population of white-tailed deer in the country, but the only thing that surpasses the quantity in our state is the quality.

This year again has shaped up to be a fantastic year for big deer. This is mostly due to the conservation of a variety of vital age classes, which has increased as population management has become the norm.

Chief among the conservation measures is antler restrictions, which had a huge impact in producing larger deer for hunters in some of the most heavily frequented areas of the state. The antler frameworks define a legal buck as one with at least one unbranched antler or an inside spread of 40 |

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13 inches or greater. The inside spread requirement does not apply to any buck that has an unbranched antler, however, the restrictions do not apply to properties for which Level 2 or Level 3 MLDPs have been issued.

Alan Cain, white-tailed deer program leader with the Texas Parks & Wildlife Department, said the age structure appears to be improving in those areas that are under antler restrictions, shifting the average age of bucks, which exactly is what they were designed to do. He has said that in some regions, including the Post Oak area where the restrictions have been in place the longest, as many as 70 percent or more of the bucks are at least 3½ years old.

The Piney Woods area, where restrictions have been in place not quite as long, has experienced the same general trend when it comes to the age structure of bucks, Cain has described something that’s easy to quantify when you look at the number of monster Big Game Awards entries from that part of the state in recent seasons.

Cain also said that present and future hunting success rests mostly on fawn production, setting the stage for bigger and better bucks.

“While most hunters don’t typically har-

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vest fawns,” Cain said. “Fawn production each fall is extremely important since that translates into adult deer, more specifically adult bucks in future years,” “In years with poor fawn production hunters should expect to see fewer bucks in that particular age class in each of the future years as that group matures,” Cain explained. “Looking back into the culmination of deer survey data over the years we see statewide fawn crop estimates were good in 2007, 2010, 2012 and 2013.

Those good fawn crops, above 45 percent, means a good number of young bucks in the 1½- and 2½-year-old age classes and a good number of 4½- and 7½-year-old bucks as compared to other age classes.”

Cain also said that it’s easy to predict the size of racks based on the scientific approaches he and other biologists use regularly.

“For the most part, average B&C scores and overall quality don’t fluctuate too much within an age group or age class,” he said. “Lack of adequate nutrition often related to drought or too many deer on the range, causing competition for forage resources have the greatest impact on antler quality from one year to the next.

“While any area of the state can produce quality deer, hunters would likely improve their odds of bagging a trophy quality bucks by hunting in South Texas and the Rolling Plains which on average produce the highest scoring bucks in the state.”

Cain pointed out that Texas Parks and Wildlife Department biologists collect age and antler survey data annually, and the figures from 2005-2013 underscore the overall outlook. Statewide, the gross Boone & Crockett score for 2½- to 3½-yearold bucks is 102 6/8, while it’s 121 3/8 and 127 3/8, respectively, for the 4½- to 5½-year-old and 6½- and older age groups. The Edwards Plateau, the most heavily-hunted area of Texas actually has the lowest estimated big buck outlook, with the numbers being 93 3/8, 113 3/8 and 119 4/8 for the corresponding age classes.

The top area of the state, without even having to look at the data is South Texas, with figures of 104 2/8, 129 4/8 and 136 for the same age groups. One area that

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TRUE GREEN certainly can’t be overlooked is the Rolling Plains, with the eastern portion having B&C figures of 108, 125 3/8 and 133 3/8, respectively, and the western portion nearly identical at 107 1/8, 125 2/8 and 133 4/8.

The Piney Woods, which also features high hunter densities, remains another solid big-buck spot, with averages of 104 2/8, 124 3/8 and 123 2/8.

Cain noted that the data is likely to hold up for a number of years. It’s also possible that the figures could rise across entire ecoregions, especially with the increased emphasis on quality deer management practices.

—by Will Leschper TG Contact Will Leschper at willleschperoutdoors@gmail.com

WF Brigade Graduates Third Cadet Battalion THE TEXAS BRIGADES’ MISSION is to educate and empower youths with leadership skills and knowledge in wildlife, fisheries, and land stewardship to become conservation ambassadors for a sustained natural resource legacy. In July, the Waterfowl Brigade graduated their 3rd battalion of cadets.

Twenty cadets received a five-day crash course in hands-on waterfowl and wetland ecology and management that also developed their team building and leadership skills. The youths were hosted by long-time Ducks Unlimited Major Sponsor Dr. McFarlane at his Big Woods on The Trinity.

Top resource professionals in the state covered a variety of subjects, including basic biology, wetland habitat management, watershed functions and values, waterfowl population dynamics, ecology, plant identification, photography, journalism, firearm safety, skeet shooting, hunter education and ethics, and dog training. Cadets developed new skills in communication, critical-thinking, team building and leadership.

The day begins with early morning “wildlife sits,” where cadets rise in the predawn to observe and record wildlife observations at a wetland. At the end of the day, cadets participate in late night group team building activities.

The days can be an 18-hour blur of activities that rivals many college level wildlife courses. Squeezed in between the daylight and dark are skeet shooting, duck calling, and a wide array of other

waterfowl-related activities. Trivia games in a Jeopardy-style format encourage participation by the cadets throughout the camp, with the Top Flock winning a waterfowl hunt opportunity.

“It is an intense, fun, rewarding, and exhausting experience,” said DU Manger of Conservation Programs Todd Merendino. “It is quite rewarding to watch the cadets go from being apprehensive about being in an unfamiliar setting with strangers to being confident and developing friendships as they learn and have fun together throughout the camp.”

The Waterfowl Brigade graduates are now out in their home communities educating people about what they’ve learned.

There are six other Brigade camps in Texas, and chances are there is a Brigade graduate from your community. If you need a speaker for a meeting, contact the Texas Brigades office at 855-TX BRIGS. The Brigades would not be possible without the commitment of many dedicated folks who volunteer their time to provide instruction and supervision. A dedicated cook staff ensures that both cadets and instructors are well fed to make it through the five-day camp.

Ducks Unlimited provided a sponsorship, donated a supply of caps, duck calls, and soft-sided coolers, and participated in field activities at the Brigade. Several DU and Delta Waterfowl chapters also donated tuition scholarships and give-away informational materials.

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Stamp Action THE FEDERAL DUCK STAMP Act of 2014, bipartisan legislation that would raise the price of the annual stamp to $25 from $15, has been introduced into each chamber of Congress. It has been 24 years since the last duck stamp increase, which raised the price to $15 — the longest period without a price increase in the program’s history.

The duck stamp program has protected nearly 6 million acres of habitat through expenditures of more than $900 million since being enacted in 1934. The price of the stamp has been raised only seven times, and officials noted that land values have drastically increased since the last increase. The Congressional Budget Office found that because the federal duck stamp is a user fee, such a price increase would have no net impact on federal spending.

—by Will Leschper TG all of the participants and volunteers.

Academy donated gift cards for project rewards. The East Texas Woods & Water Foundation provided financial support, and Hobby Lobby out of Flower Mounds provided tri-folds, construction paper and glue.

Dartco provided the eating utensils.

The Texas Brigades program has been going strong for 22 years. The Texas Brigades is a 501c3 organization supported by a diverse group of partners who donate their time, financial resources, and facilities, including state and federal agencies, individual resource professionals, private landowners, businesses, and other conservation groups, such as Ducks Unlimited.

Visit www.texasbrigades.org.

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WHEN MOST PEOPLE THINK OF DEER HUNTING, VISIONS OF deer camp, stands, gun blinds, or a trail in the woods come to mind. When I think of deer hunting, I think of neighborhood streets and nicely manicured lawns.

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behind a house against a greenbelt and an old creek that runs through central Texas.

This area looks like it’s in the middle of the city by the landscape around it, but the property sits just outside of the city limits.

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A regional city park is across from the creek less than 100 yards away where the sounds of people running on the hike and bike trail or kids playing on the ball fields can be heard.

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The author set up this pop-up archery blind just 15 minutes from his house in Austin.

bring some processed meat in trade. Or, if they do not care for venison, offer to make a meat donation to a charitable organization such as Hunters for the Hungry.

For this approach, I always dress in my Sunday’s best clothes instead of my normal camouflage hunting gear, and drive my SUV instead of the hunting truck. You want to put your best foot forward when meeting people and present yourself as professionaliy and respectfully as possible.

The key to hunting in urban areas is to make friends with neighboring landowners after you have found your spot to hunt. This approach is similar. Just make sure you have the blessing of neighboring landowners to access their land if and when you need to retrieve a downed deer from their property.

Essential Hunting Gear Urban bowhunting for deer has been made popular through hunting shows and even some reality TV shows on major TV networks.

I have embraced this unconventional style of hunting for many years. The reason?

Hunting in urban areas is a healthy way to control low-pressure deer populations and fill the freezer with meat.

Many urban areas, such as large acreage subdivisions, are over-populated with deer; and landowners are happy to have respectful hunters take some deer off their property.

Add to that the fact that many homeowners consider deer a pest as they graze on expensive landscaping, and you have a great combination. As a hunter, you are participating as the dominant predator in the ecosystem while also ensuring the health of the deer herd in that area.

Many people ask me how I can hunt an area so close to civilization. One of the reasons is convenience. Both of my urban deer stands are less than 15 minutes away from my house in the northwest suburbs of Austin.

Deer season tends to be one of the busiest times of the year for my day job, so being close to my family and not leaving my wife as a “deer widow” for a weekend or more is important since I don’t see her much during the week during deer hunting season.

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for putting the hammer down on a trophy buck are not far away from home. Some of the best deer I have taken in the last few years have come from one of my urban hunting spots and the hunting pressure on most deer in urban areas is relatively low.

Finding Areas to Hunt Before you start prospecting areas to hunt, check with your local game warden to make sure that hunting is legal in the area.

Some homeowners associations may also have issues with hunting in the area so check that out as well.

Start by driving around areas with large acreages and low fences. These are prime urban hunting areas. You want to make sure deer can access you and you can easily track deer so I target five-acre or larger parcels of land. Sometimes you can get away with smaller properties, but the fewer landowners you have to involve in hunting and tracking your deer after the shot, the better.

Do a little scouting and press the flesh with some homeowners in the area after you find a prime spot. If you don’t know anyone in the area, plan a Saturday sometime before deer season and knock on a few doors.

What you are simply asking is whether homeowners would mind if you set up a small pop-up blind on their property and hunt a few months out of the year. In return, offer some of the meat from your deer, or

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If you’re a bowhunter, chances are you have everything you need for a successful urban hunting adventure. A gun hunter will want to invest in a crossbow if he doesn’t already own one. They are usually easy to use and you can become proficient with one in a short amount of time.

I personally prefer crossbows for urban hunting since the pop-up blinds I hunt out of are small. I prefer to use a trail camera to pattern deer, so I know the prime times to hunt. For instance, my creek stand blind has deer coming by it like clockwork every evening and my other stand is better for morning hunts.

Set up your blind about 20 yards from your feeder or other food source such as a small food plot so you can make the best shot possible.

It’s important to make every shot count in an urban hunting situation. I prefer to use a three-blade mechanical broadhead with a large 1 ½-inch to 2-inch cut radius such as the ones made by Grim Reaper Broadheads.

Most all of the deer I have taken in my urban areas have dropped within 100 yards.

A nice benefit of urban deer hunting is that the cost to hunt is much cheaper than traditional hunting ranches or seasonal leases, and the benefits to your freezer and homeowners are great.

To see some of my urban hunts, visit my website at www.dustinsprojects.com.

Hunt hard and have fun.

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Open Season

by Reavis Wortham | TF&G Humor Editor

City Squirrels

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AY BACK WHEN, NOT TOO FAR from the house I grew up in, there were probably two hundred acres of undeveloped land that was a kid magnet. Woods were a wonder to city kids in Dallas, and these were no different.

That’s why we went to the Woods. It was wild, untamed, and raw. We spent days there, building tree houses, forts and lean-tos in the heaviest thickets we could find.

One bright October Saturday morning four other outlaws and I decided we’d take our pellet guns to the Woods and hunt squirrels. We knew it was illegal to hunt within the city limits, but, we reasoned, we’d never seen a cop within the boundaries of the Woods.

Well, maybe once we saw cops, but they were in pictures in an interesting little publication called The Police Gazette. Someone had dumped about a hundred of the tabloid-style papers just over the fence, giving elementary school age boys something to think about for a loooong time.

But once again, I digress.

With loaded pellet guns, six of us slipped through the trees after unwary squirrels. I was the expert, therefore the Leader of the gang, because I’d been squirrel hunting many times with the Old Man. I led the way through the damp woods, searching the trees for bushy-tails.

“All right. This is where we’ll wait,” I said with authority. “This little gully right here has a lot of boardark and pecan trees on it.

Scatter out, sit against a tree, and we’ll shoot ‘em when they come by.”

An intense observer of life, I wanted the hunt to be absolutely perfect. For several years I watched the Old Man settle against a tree, cut off a thick chew of Days-O-Work tobacco, and eventually fill a ‘toe sack with squirrels.

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I’d snitched half a plug from his dresser that morning. As the guys milled around in the falling leaves, I cut a chew with my pocket knife, then offered one to anyone else who wanted to hunt the proper way.

“Here, stick this in your cheek and spit every once in a while.”

Garry, held the sticky chunk between two fingertips. “What is it?”

“It’s made from tobacco, like a cigarette, only you don’t smoke it. You chew it. It’s a little hot at first, but it’s really sweet.”

I passed out chews like a nurse distributing pills, putting one into each grimy hand they held out. In no time we were hiding from squirrels, chewing, and spitting.

About five minutes later, I had a small head spin. Attributing it to hunger, I chewed harder to fool my stomach. I leaned over, spat, and saw a squirrel run across a limb barely twenty yards away. None of the other guys saw it, mostly because two of the four were already sick and laying on their backs.

Unaffected by the chewing tobacco, Merle and Leonard watched with interest as the brothers turned an interesting shade of green, so I aimed and fired.

The squirrel fell, tumbling through the limbs and landing in the bottom of the deep gully below.

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A cheer went up.

Then we stood up.

The cheers changed tone, and began somewhat liquid…and guttural.

Garry and Larry leaned over and made their breakfast public.

Head spinning, I dropped to my knees.

Despite their dizziness, Merle and Leonard jumped up with a yelp of joy and raced into the gully after the squirrel. It had never occurred to any of us that a rain the night before had soaked deep into the ground, turning the black clay of east Dallas into a thick gumbo.

They shot down into the gully and instantly bogged up to their thighs. “Help!

Quicksand!”

Being the Leader, I felt it was my duty to save them. I stood and staggered downhill, bouncing off trees like the steel orb in a pinball machine. By the time I reached the bottom, I was covered in leaves, mud, and part of my own breakfast.

They were struggling in the mud. I crawled to the gully’s edge, and extended a hand. The taller of the two, Merle managed to grab on and I helped pull him to a tangle of limbs.

Gaining leverage with a strong root, he tugged Leonard to safety.

For the next hour we lay in the colorful fall leaves, heaving up everything we’d eaten since the first grade. I was down to sediment when the Old Man showed up, summoned by our two confederates, Merle and Leonard who still hadn’t tried the chewing tobacco.

He looked at the muddy, moaning bodies scattered around under the trees and grunted.

Then he settled against a trunk , opened his pocketknife, cut off a solid chew, and tucked it into his cheek.

“What a bunch of city squirrels.”

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Contact Reavis Wortham at RWortham@fishgame.com

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A Before-They-Were-Household-Names Interview with the Duck Commander

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“DUCK DYNASTY” DID NOT EXIST IN JANUARY 2006. THE RATINGS JUGGERNAUT FEATURING THE ROBERTSON FAMILY WAS NOT EVEN CONCEIVED AND YOU HAD TO BE A DUCK HUNTER—A HARDCORE DUCK HUNTER—TO REALLY KNOW THIS FAMILY. I was one of those hunters and had the honor of spending a day and a half with the family. I got to eat Mrs. Kay’s duck gumbo, talk Jesus with Phil, swap fishing stories with Jep and accompany them on a hunt.

It was an amazing experience.

The following is from the interview I conducted with Phil after the hunt and provides truly unique insight into the Duck Commander, pre-“Duck Dynasty”.

It was easy to see that Robertson shoots straight and pulls no punches, whether he is speaking on hunting techniques or political issues in the outdoors.

“The biggest mistake most duck hunters make is a lack of concealment,” Robertson said.

He and his hunting team, “The Duck Men,” all wear face paint whether hunting in hardwood bottoms or on the prairies.

“We go to great efforts to conceal ourselves, and having our white faces looking up at the ducks would send most birds away,” he said. “I highly recommend hunters wear paint and brush out their blinds really good because it will make a difference.”

A prime case in point is the challenge of concealing all of the cameras and cameramen that go into the production of the long-running video series with catchy titles such as “For a Few Ducks More” and (at the time) their television show, Duck Commander.

“Doing the television show was a real challenge because we had to do certain things for the kind of show they wanted to produce. We had multiple cameras in the field and it made hunting much more challenging and problematic,” Robertson said.

The show was based in a reality type format, but Robertson said that is nothing new to him: “We were doing reality TV before anyone ever heard of such a thing.

The Duck Commander videos are about as real as you can get.”

Robertson’s lifetime of waterfowling experience and decades of traveling throughout the country to hunt have given

him unique insight into problems facing waterfowlers. He believes one of the biggest problems is the federal refuge system.

“It sounds great that the ducks will have a place to rest and all, but in reality it makes hunting very difficult, as it does not take them long to figure out where they are being shot and where there is no pressure,” he said.

By law, hunting and fishing are considered “priority” uses of refuge land, but that leaves vast tracts of the 110 million acres of refuges off limits to hunting.

Robertson, who hunts all around the country, said when scouting locations to film hunts for his videos, he goes as far away from refuges as possible.

“You can literally watch the ducks pile into the no-hunting areas. A lot of guys will get excited because they get a duck hole near a refuge, but soon learn that it works against them in most cases,” he said.

Most of the refuges are in the flyways and wintering areas, not in the prairie pothole or “duck factory” region where the birds nest.

This is a fact the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service spoke of on its website: “Most of the more than 520 National Wildlife Refuges and additional Waterfowl Production Areas managed by the Fish and Wildlife Service are located along the migratory flyways, serving as breeding and wintering grounds and as ‘rest stops’ for these birds.

“For example, in the ‘duck factory’ of the upper Midwest, the National Wildlife Refuge System manages just two percent of the landscape, yet 23 percent of the region’s waterfowl breed there.”

Robertson said it doesn’t make sense to have all of this refuge land in areas where the ducks winter if you’re trying to do something about duck production.

“They keep telling us we are losing crucial breeding grounds, but they keep buying refuge land down in the wintering areas. I think they have good intentions, but T E X A S

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should be buying up more nesting grounds to protect.”

Just as frustrating for him as the presence of so much refuge land off-limits to hunting, is the lack of predator control programs in the prairie pothole region.

“Pretty much everyone agrees we are losing about 85 percent of our ducks before they ever fly down due to predation in the nesting areas,” Robertson said. “Think about that for a second. What we get to fly down is around 15 percent of the potential ducks. If you have a total flight of 100 million ducks, decreasing predation by only five percent would add 30 million ducks to that. If you could ever get predation down to around 70 percent, you could pretty much double the fall flight every year.”

Robertson said he believes if hunters knew just how much of a role raccoons, foxes, minks, and other predators played in duck production, they might support paying more for federal duck stamps to support predator control.

“No one wants to wipe out the predators,” he said. “God put them here to do their role, but he also put ducks here for us to hunt and to eat, and we can balance things out if we put the effort into it. With fur being out of fashion because of the animal rights people and [therefore] very little trapping, you have a situation where you have more predators on the breeding grounds than ever, and we are seeing the results every fall.”

Robertson said even after all these years, he remains amazed by what he sees in the field: “The good Lord created some awesome stuff and really outdid himself with the duck. We are blessed to live in a country where we have, at least for a while, the freedom to pursue happiness—and in my case, that happiness involves taking out a mallard at 30 yards.”

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9/25/14 1:42 PM

Texas Boating

by Lenny Rudow | TF&G Boating Editor

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F YOU’RE READING THIS DURING DAYlight hours on a weekend, there’s a fair chance you’ve been kept indoors by lousy weather. Wind and rain are the bane of boaters, trapping us on shore when we’d much rather be out there on the water.

When it comes to weather, of course, discretion is the better part of valor—decide to go out when there are 30 knot gusts and lightning strikes, and you will not be a happy camper. That said, if you cancel your day of fishing every time your friendly local schizophrenic weatherman claims there’s a risk, you may well never leave the dock.

Fortunately, you have gobs of options when it comes to making an educated decision about the weather. In fact, in the past

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Fair- and Not-So-FairWeather Boating couple of years those options have rapidly multiplied, thanks to the internet, apps, and new inventions. Here are some of the latest and greatest ways to figure out what’s in store.

Fishweather.com

Webucation

Getting on the web is a whole new experience these days, weather-wise. Sure, you still have those old stand-bys, like weatherchannel.com, weatherunderground.com, and your local news. But some newer sites that focus purely on marine forecasting have taken it a step farther.

Buoyweather.com, for instance, includes not just forecasts but also real-time weather buoy data, wave charts, sea temperature

and chlorophyll charts, and tide data. And since the forecasting is based around a chart (choose Texas from the Gulf States list, put the cursor over your specific area, and click), it’s incredibly easy to use. Another good one is Fishweather.com. In fact, I’ve become so accustomed to using this site that I almost never leave the dock without checking it first. Fishweather overlays wind forecasts over a detailed NOAA chart, allowing you to choose the exact location and see all the wind, wave, and sea condition data. What’s even better is the ability to break down the forecasts into three hour increments. For those of us who are sick and tired of NOAA’s overly-broad and unspecific marine forecasts, Fishweather is a hands-down winner.

Another nice thing about using the web for your weather is that you can continue checking it throughout the day, if you have a smart phone. Added bonus: you can set your phone to give you alerts, in case of deteriorating weather. Which leads us to…

Weather Apps

Since that smart phone is in your pocket, why not take full advantage of it? You can choose from countless weather apps these days, although you should recognize that some are a lot better than others.

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Texas Boating Weatherbug, Weather Underground, The Weather Channel, Bluefin, and Lightning Finder. All have their own strengths and weaknesses.

Here are some key things to look for when you choose which weather app is best for you. Obviously, you’ll want to make sure it covers the areas where you regularly go fishing and boating. Remember, some apps only cover specific regions for free, and you’ll have to pay extra to get complete coverage.

Another important item is the availability of current Doppler radar images.

Many apps (or free versions of apps which can be upgraded for a fee) only provide text forecasts. These are usually based on those same NOAA predictions (sometimes they appear verbatim), which really doesn’t help much. On the other hand, real-time animated Doppler lets you see storms to track their direction and speed of travel. This is a great help in deciding when you need to

head back to the dock.

Graphic lightning displays are another great feature to look for. Lightning is one of those things we boaters really want to avoid. So, seeing when and where strikes are occurring can help you make much more intelligent go/no-go decisions.

Some apps also include wind speed data, either in an updated or forecasted form.

Generally speaking, forecasts don’t do you much good unless you’re on the water for an extended period of time. But real-time wind updates are great for helping you identify trends, the approach of fronts, or changes in the current conditions.

Other Tools

Now, let’s say you don’t have a smart phone. Or more likely, you don’t get service in some of the areas you go boating. There are still some weather tools you can utilize.

The first and best is satellite weather, such

as Sirius/XM satellite. In most cases it can interface with your chartplotter/GPS, and put those weather maps and forecasts right up on the helm. This is a more expensive option than most others. A receiver costs between $100 and $500 depending on brand, and you’ll also have to pay a monthly access fee which ranges from about $10 to $50/month (depending on what level of service you choose). But that expense gets you everything those apps and web sites offer, and then some.

Finally, for the lightning-averse among us, you can also get a dedicated lightning detector. These don’t cost much ($50 to $100) and are simple to use. Just turn them on, and a series of blinking lights and/or tones will alert you to lightning strikes within range (which varies from unit to unit but covers at least 50 miles) as they take place. It also shows how far away they are.

Aside from all of these goodies and gadgets (technology be damned) you still have those old weather rules that mariners have lived by for centuries. So, no matter what gear and goodies you may or may not have on board, always remember: —Red sky at night, sailor’s delight.

—Red sky in morning, sailors take warning.

—When grass is dry at morning light, look for rain before the night.

—Sound traveling far and wide, a stormy day it does betide.

—When clouds look like black smoke, the smart man puts on a cloak.

—When wind blows from west, fish bite the best; when it blows from east, fish bite the least.

—When clouds look like rocks and towers, you should expect frequent showers.

—Seagulls, seagulls, sitting on sand, it’s never good weather when you’re on land.

Email Lenny Rudow at ContactUs@fishgame.com Get more boating tips in LENNY RUDOW’s Texas Boating Blog at www.Fishgame.com/blogs 50 |

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Texas Guns

by Steve LaMascus | TF&G Shooting Editor

Hunting the Brush

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Y BROTHERS AND I USED TO HUNT a ranch that was choked with every kind of brush you could think of.

In addition to the brush, it had areas of low hills, with canyons and running water. Springs could be found in some of the canyons, and the water was sweet and cold.

This ranch was made to order for three boys (and later our baby sister) to learn to hunt.

The ranch owner had at one time done

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some clearing on the north end, but the south end of the ranch was so rugged it was, as far as I could tell, just as it was when God made it. The exception was one or two roads that had been forced through to the back end. The roads were so rough that the dizzying speed of three miles an hour was really moving. We did most of our hunting on foot.

We could start our hunt in the morning in the heavy brush, where a long shot was 50 yards, and end up in the evening in the hills where it was possible to shoot several hundred yards.

When we first began hunting this junior grade Eden, I believed in the truth of brush busters. That is, guns of large caliber and moderate velocity, shooting heavy round-

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The so-called “brush buster” calibers are still only effective at relatively close range in the dense cover of a thicket.

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Texas Guns

Winchester Model 71 .348

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nosed or blunt bullets.

I did a bit of hunting with a .35 Remington, but gradually came to believe 1) that the brush busting ability I had been lead to believe these guns had, was mostly bunk, and 2) that whatever ability they had in busting through brush was overshadowed by their lack of

range and accuracy.

I eventually went to a high velocity caliber for most of my deer hunting. Generally I used either

a .25-06 or a .270 Winchester, and did not find either was much of a disadvantage in hunting the brush, and was a huge

advantage when the shots were long. This is a view I still hold today, almost 40 years down the road of time.

However, I have in the last few years come to enjoy hunting with some the old brush-busters, just for fun, not because I believe they really offer an advantage. The truth is that most of the deer we shoot are shot at ranges not exceeding 150 yards.

Properly sighted, the big bullet pushers will do just fine at this range. A .30-30, .35 Remington, .348 Winchester, .35 Whelen,

a n d others of this class have some advantages, even if it is not in busting though thickets to kill deer on the other side.

The most obvious, I think, is that the round- or flat-nosed bullets transmit energy to the animal much more instantaneously than do the spitzer bullets of the high velocity cartridges. Because they are larger in caliber they make larger holes. Also, because they are heavier and slower, they generally penetrate better, thus leaving a big, leaky exit wound that aids in tracking.

I recently acquired a really sweet, old Winchester Model 71 in .348 Winchester caliber. The M71 is little more than an improved Model 1886, which shot the huge buffalo cartridges like the .45-90 and .50110. The M71 is the only gun that was ever chambered for the .348 and the .348 was the only cartridge ever offered in the M71.

The .348 Winchester is a real powerhouse, perfectly capable of cleanly taking moose and the big bears. However, ammunition for it is hard to find and very expensive.

Bullets, bullet molds, and new Winchester brass are still available, so reloading is the way to go with this big beast.

I bought a bullet mold that makes a beautiful 210-grain gas-check bullet, got some brass and gas-checks, and started working up a load. Surprisingly, I managed to reach a velocity of 1,850 feet per second, with the lead GC bullets, without undue leading in the barrel. The gun shoots them into about three or four inches at 100 yards, using the Lyman aperture sight that came with the gun. Now all I have to do is wait for cooler weather and try this old cannon out on hogs and deer in a brushy place I know. I feel certain it will do just as well today as it did 75 years ago. I don’t believe it is a bit better for hunting the brush than modern high velocity rifles, but I will bet you it will be fun to relive the old days.

I’ll let you know.

Email Steve LaMascus at ContactUs@fishgame.com 54 |

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Texas Freshwater

by Matt Williams | TF&G Freshwater Editor

The Birth of Deep Grass Fishing

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EXAS BASS PRO TOMMY MARTIN OF Hemphill likes to remember the Bassmaster Texas Invitational bass tournament on Toledo Bend Reservoir.

Martin crushed the field in that event with a three-day total of 21 bass weighing 81 pounds, 10 ounces. On day one, he brought in a seven-bass limit weighing 35 pounds 2 ounces, which at the time ranked as the BASS single day record catch of all time.

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The tournament was special, not just because it ended with his first major win on his home lake, but because the way he went about pulling it off.

Martin caught his fish by dropping a jig vertically in the grass. It was a technique that not many anglers knew anything about, and the few that did were reluctant to learn much about it.

“I had probably won 15 smaller tourna-

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ments before that one doing the exact same thing,” Martin said. “Fishing a jig in the grass was something new, and nobody else was doing it because they hadn’t figured it out yet or they just didn’t like it.”

But Martin had the technique down pat, and he performed it to the best of his ability, which in looking back, was seriously handicapped by the equipment he had to use.

“Everything was primitive compared to what we have today,” he said. “All we had back in those days were 6 to 6 1/2 pistol grip rods and monofilament line, so you pretty much had to rely on your wrist and hand to fight the fish,” he said. “The heaviest jig you could find was a 9/16 ounce, and that wouldn’t go through thick grass very well at all. When I won the Bass Invitational on Toledo Bend I was using a 9/16 ounce Stanley Jig. I added a 1/4 ounce slip sinker ahead of it, so it was heavy enough to get through the mats.”

Martin’s experience with punching grass dates back to the early 1970s, when hydrilla first took hold in 181,000-acre Toledo Bend and Sam Rayburn. Interestingly, he said most anglers saw the arrival of the grass in both lakes as more of a burden to fishing than a boon.

“At one time we had grass as deep as 35-37 feet, some of the prettiest stuff you have ever seen,” Martin said. “But just about everybody cussed it back then, especially on Toledo Bend. They said it was ruining their worm holes, because it made it impossible to fish them the only way they knew how casting.”

Martin didn’t see things that way. In fact, he found gold in the grass once he figured out he could probe it straight up and down. Missouri angler Ralph Giessow had shown him to catch bass the same way around flooded pine trees years earlier on Sam Rayburn.

“When the grass showed up, I approached it the same way as standing timber and I caught tons of big bass doing it. It was so easy it was unbelievable.”

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PHOTO: MATT WILLIAMS

Like the tackle Martin uses to fish deep grass, jigs have evolved in design and performance.

As time passed, Martin refined his grass fishing skills even more. He also learned how to identify potentially good spots in a grass bed by simply looking at it. Edges were especially promising, as were little points, guts or indentions.

But the lessons didn’t learn there. At one point Martin actually donned a scuba mask and went down for an underwater look. He

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described what he saw as an aquatic jungle that closely resembled a flooded forest of all trees.

“Hydrilla forms a canopy on the surface, but underneath it is pretty void except for the roots,” he said. “The fish have plenty of visibility under the canopy and they can move freely about.”

As earlier mentioned, the tackle that

Martin used to pioneer grass fishing has since been replaced by all sorts of “specialty” stuff geared specifically with punching and flipping in mind.

The evolution of lightweight modulus graphite rods in longer lengths with longer handles and stiffer actions has definitely made it easier to get good hook sets and ultimately wrestle large fish from the muck.

Plus, we have braided line as strong as well rope that slices through grass like a knife. We also have super stout, wide-gap hooks, tungsten weights that are smaller and heavier than lead, and heavyweight jigs fashioned with tapered heads for optimum penetration.

However, the grass still fishes the same as it always did, except that it’s growing in more lakes. Today, an army of anglers have mastered an art that evolved right here in Texas nearly 40 years ago, thanks to one of the sport’s greatest living legends.

Email Matt Williams at ContactUs@fishgame.com

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Texas Tested Carolina Skiff 198 DLX TARGETING BACK-COUNTRY reds and specks means running shallow— very shallow—and few boats can get as skinny as Carolina Skiff’s new 198 DLX. In fact, this boat can coast across a mere three inches of water.

How is this possible? a combination of a tunnel in the hull, along with a relatively wide beam.

The tunnel feeds clean water back and up, allowing the motor to be mounted much higher than normal. It also reduces wetted surface and acts somewhat like a cat’s compression tunnel, packing air and providing additional lift to help the boat ride high in the water.

Now add in the beam. Remember, this boat is 19 feet long, yet it has a beam approaching eight feet. This allows the hull to spread more weight over a larger area, again reducing draft. Another tweak Carolina Skiff made to decrease draft was changing the weight distribution from their standard-issue DLX series, by shifting the fuel tank forward.

Put it all together and this boat can run shockingly shallow.

The 198 DLX is built with Carolina Skiff’s standard methods (a box-beam construction pumped full of foam floatation, a solid glass bottom, zero wood, and hand-laid matt and tri-directional fiberglass).

It weighs in at 1,970 pounds, and its finish has come a long way from the “old” Carolina Skiff. In fact, the foredeck has integrated stowage with two locking hatches, and the rear deck houses a 12-gallon lighted live well, plus more locking stowage.

A range of fishing features also come standard. The console holds six rods in vertical racks, and the console live well (which is also lighted) holds another 10 gallons of capacity. The seat incorporates a 70-gallon cooler. And you can jazz up your options by adding bow or aft deck swivel seats, a T-top, bow trolling motor plugs and panels, or a raw water washdown.

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Carolina Skiff 198 DLX Tunnel.

flat-bottom Carolina Skiffs used to throw a lot of spray? Don’t let this deter you, because that trait is ancient history. The 198 DLX comes with Carolina Skiff’s patented Bow Splash Guard, which does a great job at knocking down the spray.Learn more at www.carolinaskiff.com.

Humminbird 360 FISHFINDERS CONTINUE IMPROVing at warp speed, and one of the latest and greatest new ways to spot fish beneath the surface of the water is with Humminbird 360 Imaging. This system is based on a uniquely-mounted transducer, which can make a sweep from 10 to 360 degrees. The mount is deployed via a dedicated transom mount that extends down into the water when the boat’s either moving slowly or stopped.

Or, at least, it was.

Now there’s a second option, for anglers who want to fish from the front of the boat and control it at the bow.

This mounting option clamps onto your trolling motor, so it can be raised and lowered without the sheath-like transom mount. And the motor mount is on a quick-disconnect, so you can remove it during travel or long-term storage.

The system can see out to 150 feet, and the beam’s refresh rate can be set from four different settings. In practice, the images it provides on-screen look more or less like those of a side-imager—just presented in a different direction. That direction can change on a whim. You can set your own sweep area, or use one of four factory pre-set sweeps that scan fore, aft, port, or starboard in a 180-degree arc.

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The really cool stuff happens when you spot something unusual on-screen. You can mark it as a waypoint—even though your boat isn’t actually over the spot—then bring it up on your chartplotter screen and go directly to it.

It should be noted that Humminbird has toyed with similar all-around viewing units in the past, but the transducer has always been an issue because you need to get it down completely below the boat’s hull. In this case, the ease of use gets a boost from Humminbird’s MFDs (Si-able units only, 798ci HD Si and up).

The controls for the transducer are actually incorporated into the chartplotter/fishfinder’s menu, so you don’t have to worry about manually deploying the transducer from its mount at the stern or spinning the

motor to change its view from the bow.

360 Imaging works up to about seven mph. It’s zoom-enabled, can be viewed in eight color palettes, and can capture screen shots. Visit www.humminbird.com.

—by Lenny Rudow

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Industry Insider Sixty-Two Years of Boating Service BERNIE’S BOATS AND MOTORS was established in 1952 by Bernie and Joyce Stumfoll and was originally part of Bernie’s Sinclair service station in Victoria.

With customers looking for boats, Bernie started building kit boats from Chris Craft Boats and selling Mercury Outboards. In 1954 Bernie acquired the Evinrude Outboard motor line and continued to expand.

By 1957 Bernie made the decision to leave the service station business and become involved full time in the boating industry. At that time he built his new boat dealership located on 2102 N. Navarro St., Victoria.

He added the wooden boat lines of Holmes and Helton, and joined the move to the new fiberglass technology with Glastron boats. In 1973 Bernie’s son, Dennis, joined the family business full time and helped continue what his father had started years earlier. In 1977, Bernie’s Boats and Motors, expanded with larger and better facilities located at 5001 N. Navarro St. In 1983, Bernie’s took on the Yamaha motor line. He is one of the very first dealers to sign on with Yamaha outboards when they came into the USA. The Evinrude outboards are no longer carried.

Bernie’s is a full line Yamaha dealer, meaning they can sell a boat motor package, or sell a motor separately to be rigged on a customer’s boat.

In 1994, Dennis bought his father out and became the sole owner of Bernie’s.

Bernie’s boat line now offers Xpress aluminum boats, Veranda pontoon boats, Gulf Coast boats, Freedom boats and Desperado bay boats.

The Desperado bay boat is Bernie’s signature boat. Dennis Stumfoll and David Lemke designed the original in 2003, and brought it to the boating market in 2007.

“We started with a clean sheet of paper and built the boat from the ground up,” says Dennis. “We wanted a boat that had a smooth ride and better stability than a

v-bottom hull.”

The Desperado features a catamaran hull design that features a smooth, stable, dry ride and extreme shallow water capability.

“The craft can operate in five inches of water and offers better speed and fuel efficiency than tunnel-v boats,” says Dennis.

The Desperado is available only in the 22 foot model, and Bernie’s will custom rig each boat to the customer’s wants or needs.

“When we sell a boat, we test run every boat on the water with our customers. We based our business on taking care of our customers in sales and service,” says Dennis.

“We regularly earn about 98.5 percent on customer satisfaction in sales and service in any of the customer surveys that Yamaha has.”

Bernie’s Boats & Motors is now located at 5001 North Navarro-Hwy 77 in Victoria, 77904. Bernie’s Boats & Motors Inc has been in business since 1952. Boating lines include Desperado, Gulf Coast, Veranda, Xpress, and Freedom. In addition to sales and service of boats, Bernie’s is an authorized sales and service for Yamaha outboard motors. For more information on Bernie’s Boats and Motors, check out their website: www.berniesboats.com or call 361-5737809.

For more information on Desperado Boats, visit desperadoboats.com.

—by Tom Behrens

Xpress Boats Teams with Lew’s INDUSTRY LEADER XPRESS Boats of Hot Springs, Arkansas has T E X A S

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announced a collaborative marketing agreement with Lew’s Reels, makers of the iconic Lew’s Speed Spool, which launched the low-profile craze more than 40 years ago. Today’s Speed Spools were totally redesigned in 2009 to incorporate the latest in materials and features. Mike Eustler, Field Promotions Manager said “Xpress Boats long history as an innovator in the boating industry as the original all-welded aluminum boat manufacturer parallels and complements our company’s story and we are excited to be collaborating with Xpress.”

“Xpress Boats is equally excited about the synergy between our two companies,” said Vice President, Rory Herndon of Xpress Boats. “Lew’s Reels has been in our family boats as a trusted fishing partner for many years and the BB1 is my personal choice. We work and live the outdoor experience and Lew’s Reels is another great addition to our collaborative marketing team.”

Xpress Boats is family owned and operated by the Herndon family since 1966.

Nearly 50 years ago in an old schoolhouse in Friendship, AR Kermit Bryant’s dream was to develop the original “all-welded” aluminum boat. Today Xpress operates out of a state of the art manufacturing facility in Hot Springs, Arkansas producing top of the line boats for just about any application.

For more information, check out both websites: www.xpressboats.com www.lews.com

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Fish and Game Gear Marine Protection TODAY’S MARINE ENGINES ARE more sophisticated and costly than ever.

These engines have unique lubrication needs that typical oils fail to deliver.

For more than 50 years Bel-Ray has manufactured high performance marine lubricants for extreme environments including for the U.S. Navy and some of the world’s leading marine engine manufacturers.

If you’re buying OEM lubricants, chances are they were made by BelRay. Your engine is the biggest investment in your boat so give it the best lubricants to extend the life and improve the performance. Bel-Ray marine engine oils provide maximum extreme pressure, anti-corrosion and anti-wear protection while improving performance and extending engine life in two and four-stroke outboards, Inboards, Diesel and PWC’s engines. These products are NMMA certified and meet or exceed industry warranty requirements.

Bel-Ray marine gear oils combine superior oxidation and corrosion protection with extreme pressure additive technology to protect gears and bearings from shock loading and micro-pitting fatigue even with up to 25 percent water contamination. BelRay’s Synthetic and Semi-Synthetic Gear Oils are first in the industry with environ60 |

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mentally friendly “antimony free” formulations.

The complete line of marine service products includes waterproof grease, biodegradable lubricants, silicone spray, rust preventative, and more.

Check out the Bel-Ray “Lubricant Advisor” at www.belray.com an exclusive tool to identify the correct products, change intervals, and capacities for your application.

Texas boaters can buy BelRay products at Palmer Power Corp. in Houston at 1-800-ENGINES (3644637) or 713/644-6410.

Call us for a retail outlet in your area.

Dealer inquires welcome.

Bel-Ray’s products are made in the USA. Keep your engine running longer, faster, stronger. Choose Bel-Ray and “Flex Your Engine.”

Scooptail Broadheads HARTCRAFT INTRODUCes line of “Scooptail” broadheads, the most accurate flying, fixed-blade broadheads ever made.

Hartcraft Broadheads are the most accurate broadheads you can buy. Three scoops on the tail end of their ferrule channel wind, which stabilizes the head in flight. This revolutionary “Scooptail” design also expands the wound channel upon entry acting like a snowplow to hurl tissue aside, which results in explosive blood trails.

Designed by an aerospace engineer, Hartcraft Scooptail Broadheads are an aerodynamic marvel. Independent tests show their unmatched accuracy and remarkable resistance to

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wind drift. Hartcraft offers five different models: Deep Cut—A 100-grain, 1 1/8-inch diameter big game head that gives you maximum penetration.

Deep Cut Wide Cut—A 100-grain, 1 ½-inch diameter big game head for bigger cutting diameter.

Treestand—A 100-grain, 1 1/8inch diameter head with solid core notched blades that stretch, then cut an exaggerated entry hole for better blood trails on down-angled shots from a treestand.

Turkey Body Shot—A 100-grain, 1 1/8-inch diamWide Cut eter head with reverse-angle blades that funnel, then cut the ultraelastic tissue of a turkey (the only broadhead designed specifically for turkey body shots).

Turkey Lopper—A 125-grain, 2 7/8-inch diameter head for turkey head shots.

The base on the Hartcraft ferrule is also unique. Its diameter is slightly larger than the arrow shaft and it reams open a hole that allows the arrow Treestand to penetrate with less friction. This means you’ll get more pass-throughs.

The blades on the Hartcraft broadTurkey head are hardened to 52-56 Body on the Rockwell scale. This means they stay sharp far longer. In fact, you can shoot your Hartcrafts into a foam target, and they’ll still be plenty sharp for hunting. Also, the Hartcraft ferrule is universal so you can buy other Turkey Hartcraft blades and Lopper use them interchangeably.

And, Hartcraft Broadheads come with a performance guarantee. Learn more online at

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www.hartcraftbroadheads.com.

P-LINE XTCB P-LINE XTCB IS A NEW BRAIDED line which features DuPont’s Teflon Surface Protector. The benefit to the angler is a line which has more abrasion resistance, flows through the guides with less friction and allows for longer casts. Fishermen can also expect better knot strength than ordinary braids. XTCB has been created with an extremely tight weave and increased body which makes it perfect both for spinning and for bait casting reels. XTCB has an amazing strength to diameter ratio with virtually zero stretch. XTCB will be available in a standard version that is predominately 4 carrier (in the smaller sizes) and a deluxe version known as XTCB-8.

XTCB-8 has all of the same great features as XTCB and more, by using eight strands of fiber during the braiding process, P-Line has made a braid that is extremely tight and compact, the benefit to the angler is an ultra-smooth finish and the ability to

retain its round shape while having a smaller diameter.

P-Line has used a number of guides and professional fishermen to field test this product over the past three years, including five-Time FLW Champion Scott Martin. “The new P-Line X-Braid beat my expectation. It really stood out in several categories, including color retention, abrasion resistance, quietness, casting consistency and the ability to make long casts,” Scott said.

John Klar is a renowned West Coast salmon and steelhead guide who has also been instrumental in testing the product for P-Line. ““I have been putting the 50-, 65-, and 80-pound test X-Braid through the rigors of salmon fishing for almost two years,” he said. “The stuff is tough as nails, and it has retained its shape and color better than any braid I’ve fished.” With over 250 guidedays a year John knows how to test product.

Wal-Mart FLW 2010 Angler of the

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Year and three-Time Wal-Mart FLW Tour Champion Bryan Thrift said “I’ve been using the 30-pound test XTCB Braid for throwing topwater. What’s nice about XTCB is how smooth it is. I have never had a line shoot off a reel so far and so consistently. You will catch more fish with a longer cast, and P-Line XTCB Braid will cast farther than any braid I have fished.”

XTCB will begin shipping in November of 2014. The retail for XTCB will start at $14.99 for a 150yard spool, and XTCB-8 has a MAP of $18.99 for a 150-yard spool.

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Hotspots Focus: Upper Coast

by Capt. Eddie Hernandez | TF&G Contributor

Sabine Octoberfest

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CTOBER IS ARGUABLY THE BEST month to consistently box trout, redfish and flounder on Sabine, and this month has always held a special place in my heart. What’s not to love about a time of year when significant seasonal changes bring much anticipated cooler temperatures and send all predators and prey (humans not withstanding) into high-alert survival mode?

Dove and teal have figured out that dodging BBs is going to have to be a part of their daily routine. Bowhunters are applying the war paint and heading for the tree stands, and drops in water temperature for the first time in months has given the rejuvenated bait fish and predator fish new life. After a grueling past several months with temperatures well into the 90s this change is more than

welcome.

Once the big winds begin to calm down a few days after a front, and the fish and bait have had time to adjust to the sudden change in water temps, the bite should be on big time.

Hungry and aggressive trout, redfish and flounders will roam the shoreline, bayous, lake and passes and anglers should have no problem intercepting them.

The mouths of Bridge and Willow bayous should hold big numbers of trout and flounders. Any tidal movement will be to your advantage, but for best results, try to fish the tail-end of an outgoing tide if possible.

Large amounts of shrimp and bait fish will ride the falling tide from the marsh into the open bay where trout and flounders will be eagerly awaiting their arrival. Soft plastics in Morning Glory, Red Shad, Texas Roach and glow with chartreuse rigged on 1/8-ounce lead heads are excellent choices.

CT Shad, Zoom Super Flukes and Paddletailed Assassins will get the job done.

If you are targeting flounders specifically, the eastern bank from East Pass to Madam Johnson’s Bayou should keep you on the fish. Also, the S curves and points in Blacks and Johnson bayous should be holding lots of flatties when there is tidal movement.

Dual-tailed or curl-tail grubs in glow, chartreuse or smoke-tipped with fresh shrimp and dragged slowly on the bottom should be the ticket.

Don’t forget your Louisiana fishing license if you plan on fishing in any bayou on the Louisiana side of the lake.

Large schools of trout and reds will also be holding under working gulls and terns from one end of the lake to the other.

Glow and Morning Glory soft plastics on ¼-ounce lead heads, topwaters, RatLTraps and Hoginars should be all you need to fill the ice chest with solid trout and upper end slot reds.

October is also a great time to catch reds at the jetties. Hoginars and darker soft plastics fished deep should provide you with lots of action on slot fish as well as a few oversized ones. Fishing the deep holes and washouts will bring the best results.

If it’s the big boys you’re seeking, break out the big rods and fish these same areas.

Live or cut croaker and mullet is almost impossible for these big bulls to resist.

THE BANK BITE LOCATION: Keith Lake HOTSPOT: Keith Lake Cut SPECIES: Flounder, Reds BAITS: Live mud minnows, curl tail plastics tipped with fresh shrimp BEST TIMES: High tides

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Hotspots Focus: Galveston

by Capt. Mike Holmes | TF&G Contributor

Seeing Red

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NE OF THE MOST ENJOYABLE EVEnings of inshore fishing I have ever experienced came on a nice October evening on Chocolate Bayou, one that started out to be just a boat ride with an old friend.

Ray Buffington had been one of our football coaches my junior year in high school, and we had reconnected not long before because his wife and I discovered we worked for the same company. Ray had called saying he had an afternoon off during the week, and wanted to try to catch a fish or two from the boat I had bragged so much about.

My problem was I mostly fished the surf and offshore, using my “bay boat” more for bait shrimping than fishing trips. With a short amount of time in which to produce

fish, I headed us for a little cove off Chocolate Bayou where I had usually been able to scratch out a couple of reds every trip and that was about as far as my planning went.

As many spur of the moment trips begin, I had limited bait, but I didn’t expect to fish very long, either. A sign that our luck might not be all bad was when we gave a tow to a fisherman whose outboard had refused to crank, and he gave us all his left-over bait shrimp for our help.

They were dead shrimp, but fresh and on ice. When I eased the boat into the cove, I brought it to a stop within easy casting distance of a sort of small “point” that extended a short distance into the cove where it split into two smaller fingers of water that went farther in.

I knew from other trips this small point was gravel-covered, and on the shore just to the left of it was the outlet of a freshwater ditch.

Most of the fish I had caught here had been where the right hand split of the cove pushed farther into the shore, but the first red we hooked this trip took the bait Ray cast just on

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top of the submerged point. So did the next dozen or so.

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Hotspots Focus: Matagorda

by Mike Price | TF&G Contributor

Finding the Fish

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T WAS LATE OCTOBER WHEN MY SON, Andy, and I set out from Matagorda Harbor at sunrise. We went through the Diversion Channel to the south shore of West Matagorda Bay, and then west for about four miles.

After thoroughly wade-fishing the area for about an hour without finding any fish, we decided to move 11 miles west to Airport Lake. Andy waded up one bayou and I headed up another. Before long, he called me on the two-way radio and said that he had caught 15 redfish under 20 inches, and had finally caught a 24-inch keeper.

In the meantime, I hadn’t caught anything, so I asked him what lure he was using. He said, “A red and white Norton Sand Eel.” So I switched to that lure and soon after, I saw bait fish jumping out of the water, a sure

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sign that predator fish are after them, and then I started catching fish.

Last October I went to the south shore of East Matagorda Bay and the water on the shoreline was muddy, so I paddled my kayak into a bayou that led to a lake where the water visibility improved to a fishable 12 inches.

To my delight, I found flounders in the lake. A couple of days later the wind was blowing at about 18 mph from the northeast.

Again the water in East Matagorda Bay was murky, so I went to the same back lake, and the flounders were still there. Since I had truly found the fish, I decided to try that lake a third time in the same week. The flounders had left, but large trout were there, and I caught 23-inch and 26-inch trout.

I like to fan cast an area that is holding fish. I cast in an arc starting at one side and working the lure about eight feet from my last cast. October is when flounders bite aggressively because they are feeding up for their journey offshore to spawn. Flounders tend to move and feed in schools, so if you catch one, stay in that spot and fan cast, but slow the presentation down and hop the lure on the

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bottom if you are not over oyster reefs.

Matagorda flounder fisherman, Ronny Stillwell said, “I like to use chartreuse/silver Berkley Tsunami Swimbait soft plastics, but most eel or fish imitations will work.” He fishes with two soft plastics in tandem, one with a ¼-ounce jig head and one with a 1/8ounce jig head.

After Stillwell casts his soft plastic lures, he waits until he feels the lures hit the bottom before tightening the line. He said “You never want slack in your line.” He points his rod at the 10 o’clock position and then slowly raises it to the 12 o’clock position. Then he lowers his rod back to 10 o’clock and reels in the slack.

Stillwell always keeps a tight line so that he can feel every bump of the weighted lure on the bottom, a crab pinching off the tail of his lure, or the startling smack of a flounder.

“Flounders are lazy, they are looking for something easy,” he said. “I’ve lost them and picked them up again, especially when they get on a feeding frenzy.”

The limit on flounders in October is five, but in November the limit goes down to just two. Texas Parks and Wildlife Department instigated this regulation to protect flounders in their most vulnerable month, November, which is when they go off shore to spawn.

The regulation seems to be helping the flounder population recover as I have caught more flounders in 2014 than in 2013.

October is when you will find gulls, terns, and pelicans squawking, screeching, and diving in concentrated areas. They are after white shrimp. Shrimp move out of the bays and go offshore when the water temperatures cool and the days shorten. Trout, redfish and sometimes gaff-topsail catfish attack the shrimp from below, pushing them within easy reach of the birds.

This phenomenon happens in both East and West Matagorda Bays, but East Matagorda Bay tends to yield more and bigger trout. I was kayak fishing late one October afternoon on the south shore of East Matagorda Bay when I looked out into the bay and saw birds working about a half-mile

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GALVESTON FOCUS away. I paddled as fast as I could and then put my drift anchor out on the upwind side of the activity and then eased into it. I had a blast. Every cast was a hit or a catch. I missed six trout and caught six before the fish, birds, and shrimp dispersed.

Fall brings cool weather from the north that lowers water and air temperatures, stimulating the fish to feed. It makes fishing on the bays a very pleasant experience.

THE BANK BITE MATAGORDA LOCKS: You can drive up to the northeast corner of the confluence of the Colorado River and the Intracoastal Waterway, park your vehicle, get out your lawn chair and have a pretty good shot at catching flounder, gaff-topsail catfish, trout, hardhead catfish, and redfish using minnows, live shrimp, or dead bait. Go west on Matagorda Street past Stanley’s grocery and then turn left at the levee.

Contact Mike Price at ContactUs@fishgame.com

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 CONTINUED FROM PAGE 63 A cast to either side would be ignored, so we began to take turns casting to the “sweet spot.” This short trip produced quick limits for both of us, and seemed to convince Ray that I was a redfish wizard who had been holding out on him.

Looking back, our results were not that surprising. We were using a bait that had a bit more scent than a live shrimp – which is just fine with redfish. The bayou was well known for an influx of reds in the fall, and the combination of the small bit of freshwater influx with the small gravel bed was a good bet to attract redfish.

This spot never paid off as well for me after that, but continued to be my go-to “hole” when I needed a quick and almost guaranteed fish or two. Reds can be found all over in October bays, surf, jetties, even around some offshore oil rigs. However, the many bayous and coves off the main bays in the Galveston area are easy to reach, economical to fish, and will usually pay off with

keeper-sized redfish.

Unfortunately, Ray Buffington (originally of Nederland) is no longer with us, but I have always been glad we were able to team up for that last fishing trip.

THE BANK BITE LOCATION: Shore-bound anglers can fish tidal bayous from piers and areas of public access around boat ramps or county parks.

SPECIES: Redfish are the main attraction, but with a bonus mix of speckled trout, flounder, pan fish – even some “puppy” black drum.

BEST BAITS: For most of these fish – even specs – in off-color water a “fresh” dead bait that gives off scent might work as well as a live bait.

Soft plastics used with an attractant scent might work as well of better.

BEST TIMES: Early and late are usually best, but watch the tide tables, remembering that tides will be later than the published tables the farther away from the Gulf you plan to fish.

Contact Mike Holmes at ContactUs@fishgame.com.

9/25/14 1:42 PM

Hotspots Focus: Upper Mid Coast

by Capt. Chris Martin | TF&G Contributor

Autumn’s Coastal Changes

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OW THAT OCTOBER IS HERE, THE brief cool fronts we tend to get during this period of the year have placed the fishing in somewhat of a springtime pattern as of late. The sometimes cool mornings are still able to be overwhelmed by the warmth of the afternoon sun.

This being the case, and in conjunction

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with the higher tides that we anticipate seeing this month, coastal bend anglers in search of a good chance for repeated success will learn that they may very well prosper by focusing a good percentage of their efforts in locales set deep within the back lake areas that populate the more secluded avenues of Matagorda Island.

Placing emphasis along those lake shorelines constructed of thick grass beds has often turned out to be a proven practice for locating active schools of baitfish. Some of the larger horse mullet tend to be chased by trout and red fish this time of the year when the otherwise secluded, grass-lined banks become flooded during brief high-tide periods.

Historically, the back lake areas that populate the coastal bend region contribute to the production of some considerably nice trout and red fish. This coincides with the onset of higher tides generally associated with the arrival of October.

As previously stated, hot action for both trout and red fish shall be realized along newly flooded back lake real-estate. Finding these conditions will provide a savvy angler with an advantage over others.

Here, the red fish bite is quite often located in some of the extremely murky and disturbed water covering grass and mud found directly next to the shoreline.

Because the air and water temperatures will not have fallen too significantly this month, the amount of heat that becomes absorbed by the mud will not have yet become a contributing factor. Anglers should continue to search for the trout bite in areas where the bay floor is made-up primarily of sand that’s covered by some decent green and clear water.

The oncoming fall conditions offer artificial bait enthusiasts ample opportunities for practicing what they love to do most in life. For a lot of us this means tossing either top-water baits, slow-sinkers, of plastic tails all day long while chasing our goal. But even though things seem to be cooling-off considerably, we still are not into the absolute

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“cold” months of the year, so anglers might wish to keep their tactical adjustments to a minimum for now.

Some of the more successful artificial bait anglers may still need to fish shallow during the early part of the day. They will then need to follow the bait out to deeper water as the day, as well as the water, warms considerably beneath the heat of the afternoon sun.

Back lake anglers might also consider tossing smaller baits this month so as to be able to better “match-the-hatch” of the small silver shad that are often prevalent in the bay systems at this time. The orange back with chartreuse belly Skitter Walker Jr. has previously proved to be a good choice for top water action in clear water for trout and redfish alike. Bright-colored sand eels rigged with a 1/8 or 1/6-ounce jig head have been adequate plastic substitutes.

As we head into October, other factors should be considered for those wishing to be proactive. Anglers should pay special attention to the fact that the days will be getting shorter, resulting in less sunlight hours each day. Anglers should possibly transition to dark-colored lures and present some of the typical suspending baits like the Corky, and its cousin the Fat Boy. It’s also important to keep in mind the imagery of the bait’s silhouette. These darker, suspending lures usually portray a silhouette more symbolic of that of a mullet vs. other bait fish. The darker silhouette, most often means better reflection of the bait against the upward sunlight.

When using these baits, the bite will primarily come during the very early and very late sunlight hours, so anglers should anticipate these changes and plan accordingly in order to take advantage of these time periods.

Contact Capt. Chris Martin at bayflatslodge@gmail.com or visit bayflatslodge.com

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Hotspots Focus: Rockport

by Capt. Mac Gable | TF&G Contributor

Bragging Rights

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E WASN’T THE NICEST CLIENT I’D ever had on my boat. Matter of fact he was loud, rude and crude and at the time he hired me, I had second thoughts about the trip.

He wanted a trophy trout and didn’t care how we went about catching it, be it live bait, lures or dynamite. I queried him on the final disposition of such a fish: did he want to keep it and mount it, or take photos and exact measurements for a casting of the trophy trout?

I told him his goal of a 30-plus inch trout was admirable but that such fish were indeed rare these days in the Rockport area and required fishing hard and long to catch.

Further, I asked that we determine up front what our action would be should we boat one of these beauties. My goal was to get the trout back in the water as quickly as possible, if he decided not to mount the trophy.

His response was, “Whatever works for you is okay, I just want to catch one and show my fishing and hunting buddies!”

Hmmm...

It was late October and a very welcomed cold front had made its way into the Rockport area a few days prior. The conditions were right for the beginning of winter feeding, where “gator” (big) trout are concerned.

We would be fishing a variety of offerings: live shrimp, some very large croakers, and an arrangement of lures (topwaters, broken backs, super spooks and finely-tuned spoons).

It wasn’t cold enough yet to fish the black mud honey holes I knew, and we would not be fishing school trout, as really big trout are mostly loners.

The man wanted a 30-inch trout. For some reason, in his mind, that was the distinguishing mark for a trophy. I again schooled him that a trout of that caliber was rare and even rarer to get from a boat, and that the

odds were not in our favor.

The key, I explained, was a four-factor rule, none of which resulted in a lot of fish being caught. Then again, we were after just one fish in particular.

The four factors include: 1) areas that have deep water (six feet or better) 2) shell or sand bars, 3) grass lines and 4) at least some dark mud in the area, as these environments can hold gator trout.

These large, spotted, scaled beauties are experts in energy efficiency and hang pretty much to themselves, mostly because there is less competition when feeding.

Fishing these areas can be dull and downright boring. It requires much patience and a lot of effort put into bait or lure presentation.

I had about 10 spots in mind that have at least three of the factors, and we would be hitting them all, more than likely. In talking to some seasoned kayak fishermen, I learned they often see very large trout, and the trout respond to certain noises and actions.

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So much as a paddle in the water can make a big trout lock its jaws. Trolling motors, while better than running outboards, can still cancel your best efforts at a gator trout. (The term “gator” stems from their appearance being thick and full to the tail, with a huge mouth and large teeth. They don’t look much like their smaller counterparts, but rather some steroid rendition thereof).

The best approach is drifting in where these big gals hang out. Most hang out within short distance of deeper water, as it offers much protection from man, temperature changes and predators.

Unless I have really large croakers, I use a variation of a rig I saw some fishermen from Vietnam using. The rig entails something that looks like a tandem trout rig but with heavier line and the opposing leaders are of equal length. I use Khale hooks from 3/0 to 6/0, and put a croaker on each line so that the two croakers line up—irresistible to a large trout.

Back to the guy and his trophy.

As is often the case, no big trout took our offerings and I could tell the man wasn’t

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Rockport Focus happy that we had been at it for close to six hours and had thoroughly fished my best spots.

As I turned out of the ICW on my way back, I saw some bait working at the mouth of Dunham Bay and as a last chance effort decided to give it a try.

The tandem croaker rig hadn’t hardly hit the water when I heard the fellow say “Hey, I think I have another redfish on, and it’s a good one!”

The line was headed for the deep water of the ICW, my 2000 Shimano drag screaming, when in a flash it surfaced with a big shake of its head. I knew it was a good trout, and I told the man, “if you get him close to the boat, keep the rod tip down and the pressure on, even it if requires you to stick the rod down in the water.”

Unlike reds or black drum, this is not a fish you want to wear down. Trout are masters at throwing a hook and most trophy trout are lost at the side of the boat.

I could tell it was somewhere in the range of 30 inches and my pucker factor had set in: I was nervous.

To his credit, the man kept his rod down, but just as I went to net the fish (you usually only get one chance) the client lifted his rod tip with all his strength to help, and the big trout did a tail leap off the water, hit the client in the leg with the tandem hook rig suspended in midair bending and shaking from side to side, almost in slow motion while I muttered, “No! No! No! No! Please No!” The trophy trout did a gymnastic maneuver, including a nose dive right into my outstretched net!

“Damn,” the man said, “Captain you are good! I was beginning to doubt you, but what a net!”

My net just happened to be at the right place at the right time to save a bad landing technique.

“How long is he?” the client kept asking as I carefully put the trout in my live well to revive it while I got my Official TPWD ruler.

“How long is he?”

“Just a second sir,” I said, letting the trout take in some oxygen-infused water. It was a gator for sure, and I thought, man what a trophy!

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29-5/8 inches. “@#$!,” the man said, “He ain’t big enough.”

“Sir,” I said, “this is by every definition a trophy trout and is one of the best trout ever landed on this boat. I don’t think I’d get too caught up in 3/8ths of an inch. You did a good job catching it and played it like a pro.”

He bent over and looked again and then grabbed the trout by the gills and shook it hard and then said, “I caught you you son of a @#$@!”

His actions and words hit me like a slap in the face. I simply took the fish from him and said “it’s not a male it’s a female, and this trip is over.”

After 10 minutes of reviving, I took another measurement, three pictures, and let the fish go—relieved that it slowly switched its tail making its way from my boat.

This happened many years ago. To this day I have yet to catch or help catch a fish that was such a trophy. I still measure all fish against it and few have been as perfect.

What that man did that day in handling the trout was negligent and irresponsible.

After a tense and silent boat ride to the dock, I gave him the measurements and his camera and sent him on his way.

But the client learned nothing from my response to his actions. It was my job to help educate him on the proper handling of fish and to point out why such a fish was a trophy and not to just focus on its length.

In my life, I’ve learned that a kind action is a better teaching tool than a terse or violent reaction, so I’ve adjusted my course to conduct myself that way. After all, a guide’s job is about more than just catching fish.

••• I love October, and I wait with bated breath to see the first real cold front blow its way down St. Charles Bay. Many grab soft plastics and head for the water, but my preferred choice is topwaters such as Super poppers, Zara spooks, Chug Bugs, Danny Plugs, or spoons like the Huntington Drone spoon. I fish about 8 to 10 hours after a front, as the wind stagnates, giving the fish time to acclimate to temperature changes.

COPANO BAY: Top waters thrown in the area of Turtle Pen are a good bet for

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reds. A silent approach is needed. I always start out with slow retrieves and slowly speed up as the day goes forward. I like cut bait here as well, especially for lethargic feeding action.

ST. CHARLES BAY: Good flounders back in Cavasso Creek using bottom-fished, tandem rig shrimp. Slowly drag the shrimp along the bottom and set the hook at the slightest tap. A few keeper reds at the mouth of Little Devil’s Bayou using finger mullet on a light Carolina rig or a bubble cork with a Berkley Gulp crab. Approach as silently as possible and be patient.

ARANSAS BAY: I love the pot holes off Mud Island for reds and nice trout. Try finger mullets for reds and piggies or croakers for trout, although I have caught a lot of trout in this area on finger mullet. Yes, trout will hit a mullet. Wade for trout on Jaybird Reef, especially on a very strong falling tide.

You will be surprised what a quart of live shrimp will get you here. The edges of the ICW are overlooked this time of year, and if water temperatures drop drastically, the deep edges close to Deadman’s reef are a good place to fish.

CARLOS BAY: If the water temperature drops, Carlos Dugout is a good spot. The deep water and shell in this area can hold some good fish. A rattling, deep-running lure works well here in silver and blue or bone and red colors. The shallow shell just off the Dugout is good for topwater. A Badonk-A Donk in natural croaker is hard to beat here.

MESQUITE BAY: This is a hit or miss bay right now, as a lot of activity is going on in this area, but if you must fish here, the east shoreline close to East Pocket is still good for some trout and some just-legal black drum using free-lined shrimp. On colder days fish the sand pockets close to Rattlesnake Reef.

AYERS BAY: Black drum are good on the northwest shoreline just off the shell. A light Carolina rig works here, or a silent cork with peeled shrimp is the preferred bait. Gaff tops are still plentiful in the deeper water 100 yards or so off of Ayers Reef with cut eel or fresh dead large shrimp.

Contact Capt. Mac Gable at Mac Attack Guide Service, 512-809-2681, 361-790-9601

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9/25/14 1:42 PM

Hotspots Focus: Lower Coast

by Calixto Gonzales | TF&G Saltwater Editor

Blue Fall

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S OCTOBER SETTLES ONTO THE Texas Coast with mild weather and friendly prevailing winds, a major selling point of the Lower Texas Coast is the relatively close access to some great offshore angling.

Anglers can make a quick morning hop to a variety of nearby rigs and reefs to have an intense tussle with snappers, groupers, kingfish, bonitas, dorados and a variety of other blue water species. If they are genuinely lucky, they might even have the man in the brown suit, the ling, make a late-season visit to investigate, then, as we used to say in the pro wrestling world, it gets real real, real fast.

Autumn means two things on the lower Texas Coast first, high school football is in full swing, and fans of Bobcats, Yellow jackets, Tarpon, Bulldogs and Lions flock to stadiums every Thursday and Friday nights to scream their lungs out for sons and brothers, cousins and best friends.

Second, it means that fewer boats are on the water because many people are recovering from the previous night’s football game, are out on the deer lease getting ready for opening day, or are out dove hunting. An angler can get downright lonesome with the dearth of boats on the water during an October weekend. All that’s left is finding a few game fish to stretch your line.

According to Captain Richard Bailey (956-369-5090), the easiest way to locate fish is to find the food, such as the free meals that are provided by shrimp boats culling their catch.

“You’ll find some ling, dorado, bonito, kings and even blackfin tuna sniffing around the shrimp boats,” said Bailey. “You’ll be out there catching bonitasand blackfins, and all of a sudden a couple of lingswill pop out from under the boat to see what’s going on.”

It isn’t that hard to tempt these big, brown suckers, either. A chunk of the same

bait that makes up the shrimper’s cull will suffice. Pin the bait on the hook, toss it in front of the ling’s nose, and watch him slurp it down. Set the hook, and hang on.

“It can be simple as that,” said Bailey.

If there are no ling around the shrimp boats, it may take a little effort to track one down. The best bet is to hunt down some fixed structure, such as buoys, and oil rigs that sit just beyond the nine-mile state water boundary. Anyone who has been to the state aquarium in Corpus and viewed the oil rig habitat knows the diverse environment that exists under the body of one those industrial behemoths. They not only make an attractive spot for amberjacks, snappers, groupers, and pelagics such as wahoo and tuna, but for ling as well.

The maddening thing about ling is that they are sometimes surprisingly finicky. I’ve been in situations where they will turn up their broad brown noses at almost anything you throw at them: menhaden, cut bait, live hardtails, and dynamite. My old mentor, Captain Larry Corbett showed me a little getup he called a “ling thing” that seemed to work even on the most discriminating cobia.

A “Ling Thing” was nothing special, really: it was a sized 8/0 O’Shaughnessy hook (yes, the same hook used on catfish trotlines) with a white plastic skirt rigged onto it (Corbett explained that the oversized eye on the O’Shaughnessy prevents the skirt from coming off and riding up the leader).

Onto the hook, he also threaded a large squid, much like you would a soft plastic.

The rubber skirt provided both buoyancy and some added action, while the squid provided the pre-requisite scent and flavor. The setup would land in the water with very little sound—a plus when fish are spooky—and sank slowly. The skirt would flare out with a twitch of the rod, which made the squid seem alive and ready to flee. Any ling that came up to inspect the bait couldn’t pass it up.

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Mr. Big could bite.

If the ling don’t seem to be cooperating, the kingfish usually are. Kingfish may be the largest biomass of pelagic gamefish on the Texas Coast, and these speedy marauders stay within easy reach of the “Mosquito Fleet” of small center consoles until the big cold fronts of November and December push them farther offshore. On flat calm days, the passes and jetty points around Brazos Santiago and Mansfield are dotted with small boats drifting for the big mackerel.

Most of these boats drift or troll with ribbonfish rigs and catch plenty of kings. If you are interested in a true smoker, however, you may want to try and get yourself a large live mullet or a hardtail and drift them on a rig with a balloon or stick float above it.

The bigger fish seem to prefer baitfish over ribbonfish (don’t think for one moment that there aren’t some monsters lurking within sight of the shoreline; readers Anibal Gorena and State Judge Oscar Garcia report hooking into a monstrous kingfish within the Brazos Santiago jetties that they estimate to have been more than five feet long and weighed in the high 40 pound range).

Autumn may mean the end of summer, but it also means that fishing heats up for anyone who wants to give it a try.

THE BANK BITE HOTSPOT: Padre Island Shoreline, North Side of Causeway SPECIES: Speckled Trout, Redfish LURES/BAITS: Live shrimp or soft plastics under a Mauler or Popping Cork, topwaters early.

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Texas Hotspots

UPPER GULF COAST

Crabby Reds at Matagorda

by TOM BEHRENS LOCATION: Matagorda Bay HOTSPOT: Crab Lake GPS: N 28 40 11 W 96 03 00 (28.6700, -96.0502) SPECIES: Redfish BEST BAITS: Topwater lures or live shrimp under a popping cork CONTACT: Capt. Ken Marshall 713-560-6000 captken@fishmatagorda.com www.fishmatagorda.com TIPS: Marshall says soft plastic don’t normally work that well in the back lakes. “Water is generally a little off color.” Capt. Ken Marshall LOCATION: Sabine Lake HOTSPOT: Black’s Bayou GPS: N 29 59 51 W 93 45 10 (29.9978, -93.7530) SPECIES: Redfish BEST BAITS: 1/4 oz. jig heads with soft plastics in glow, glow/chartreuse, or chartreuse CONTACT: Capt. Eddie Hernandez 409-673-3100 www.goldenhookguide.com TIPS: Sometimes birds will be working in the middle of the bayous. “For the most part I’m just beating the banks, bouncing plastics off the bottom, catching redfish.” Capt Eddie Hernandez LOCATION: Sabine Lake HOTSPOT: Madame Johnson Bayou GPS: N 29 50 51 W 93 47 22 (29.8477, -93.7896) SPECIES: Redfish BEST BAITS: 1/4 oz. jig heads with black or darker colored soft plastics in off-colored water

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GPS COORDINATES are provided in two formats: “Decimal Degrees” (degrees.degrees) and “Degrees and Minutes” sometimes called “GPS Format” (degrees minutes. minutes). Examples (for Downtown Austin): Decimal Degrees: N30.2777, W97.7379; Degrees and Minutes: N30 16.6662, W97 44.2739. Consult your manual for information specific to your GPS device.

CONTACT: Capt. Eddie Hernandez 409-673-3100 www.goldenhookguide.com TIPS: When the trout go down after topwater schooling action, let the lure settle down to the bottom. Also, fish the outskirts of the school. Bigger fish will be down deep.

LOCATION: Galveston Trinity Bay HOTSPOT: Smith Point GPS: N 29 32 34 W 94 46 58 (29.5430, -94.7830) SPECIES: Speckled trout BEST BAITS: Soft plastics in Limetreuse, plum or Chicken-on-a-Chain CONTACT: Capt. Paul Marcaccio 281-788-4041 captpaul@gofishgalveston.com www.gofishgalveston.com TIPS: Dropping water temperatures should trigger a feeding frenzy on the deep water reefs between Smith Point and Robinson Bayou LOCATION: Galveston Trinity Bay HOTSPOT: Jack’s Pocket GPS: N 29 44 04 W 94 45 51 (29.7346, -94.7642) SPECIES: Speckled trout BEST BAITS: Baby Spooks and She Pups in chartreuse, black/chrome or bone colors CONTACT: Capt. Paul Marcaccio 281-788-4041 captpaul@gofishgalveston.com www.gofishgalveston.com TIPS: Depending on the wind, you might find some bird action.

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LOCATION: Galveston Trinity Bay HOTSPOT: Exxon C Lease Wells GPS: N 29 40 26 W 94 45 34 (29.6741, -94.7597) SPECIES: Speckled trout BEST BAITS: Soft plastics in Limetreuse, plum or Chicken-on-a-Chain CONTACT: Capt. Paul Marcaccio 281-788-4041 captpaul@gofishgalveston.com www.gofishgalveston.com TIPS: “Don’t attempt to anchor at the wells; you are going to loose an anchor. Drift, using your trolling motor to control your drift.” Capt. Paul Marcaccio LOCATION: Galveston East Bay HOTSPOT: Pig Pen GPS: N 29 25 10 W 94 44 10 (29.4196, -94.7363) SPECIES: Speckled trout BEST BAITS: Baby Spooks and She Pups in chartreuse, black/chrome or bone colors CONTACT: Capt. Paul Marcaccio 281-788-4041 captpaul@gofishgalveston.com www.gofishgalveston.com TIPS: “If you can get a southerly flow for a day or two, the Pig Pen should be excellent to wade.”

Capt. Paul Marcaccio LOCATION: East Matagorda Bay HOTSPOT: Three Beacon Reef GPS: N 28 40 46 W 95 53 22 (28.6795, -95.8896) SPECIES: Speckled trout BEST BAITS: Popping cork with live shrimp or Gulp CONTACT: Capt. Ken Marshall 713-560-6000 captken@fishmatagorda.com www.fishmatagorda.com TIPS: Marshall says the pattern should be pretty much stay the same as it was in September…drifing deep shell.

LOCATION: West Matagorda Bay HOTSPOT: Mad Island Reef

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GPS: N 28 37 12 W 96 05 46 (28.6202, -96.0964) SPECIES: Speckled trout BEST BAITS: Soft plastics in Limetreuse, plum or Chicken-on-a-Chain CONTACT: Capt. Ken Marshall 713-560-6000 captken@fishmatagorda.com www.fishmatagorda.com TIPS: Working the birds: “We generally pull up wind of them and drift through them.” Capt. Ken Marshall LOCATION: Matagorda Bay HOTSPOT: Oyster Lake GPS: N 28 36 53 W 96 10 59 (28.6150, -96.1833) SPECIES: Redfish BEST BAITS: Topwater lures or live shrimp under a popping cork CONTACT: Capt. Ken Marshall 713-560-6000 captken@fishmatagorda.com www.fishmatagorda.com TIPS: As the water cools the redfish action picks up in the back lakes.

MIDDLE GULF COAST

Port Aransas Super Specks

by TOM BEHRENS LOCATION: Port Aransas HOTSPOT: Super Flats GPS: N 27 53 32 W 97 02 27 (27.8922, -97.0410) SPECIES: Speckled trout BEST BAITS: Boogie Walker or Tie Stick topwater lures in black/chartreuse or orange CONTACT: Capt. Billie Kocian 361-688-8859 billiekocian@yahoo.com sportfishingtexas.com TIPS: “You want to go to smaller topwaters in October.” Capt. Billie Kocian LOCATION: Redfish Bay HOTSPOT: Lighthouse Lakes GPS: N 27 52 58 W 97 04 26 (27.8830, -97.0741) SPECIES: Redfish

BEST BAITS: Boogie Walker or Tie Stick topwater lures in black/chartreuse or orange CONTACT: Capt. Billie Kocian 361-688-8859 billiekocian@yahoo.com sportfishingtexas.com TIPS: Capt. Kocian says as the water begins to cool, begin slowing down the speed of your retreive.

(27.8482, -97.2520) SPECIES: Redfish BEST BAITS: Paddle tail plastics, spoons CONTACT: Capt. Chris Evans 361-774-3098 csevans11@gmail.com TIPS: Water depth plays a big part in what weight jig head to use. “If the schools are pretty shallow, I use a 1/8 oz head.”

LOCATION: Corpus Christi Bay HOTSPOT: Oso Bay GPS: N 27 42 22 W 97 18 54 (27.7061, -97.3151) SPECIES: Redfish BEST BAITS: Boogie Walker or Tie Stick topwater lures in black/chartreuse or orange CONTACT: Capt. Billie Kocian 361-688-8859 billiekocian@yahoo.com sportfishingtexas.com TIPS: Kocian likes the Tie Stick because of the noise the lure puts out. “It has smaller, estra BBs, which put out a super loud noise, even louder than the bigger topwaters.”

LOCATION: Port Aransas HOTSPOT: Hog Island GPS: N 27 53.59 W 97 6.08 (27.8998, -97.1025) SPECIES: Redfish BEST BAITS: Live finger mullet or a gold spoon CONTACT: Capt. Frankie Eicholz 361-701-7711 captfrankie@just1moreoutfitter.net www/kist1moreoutfitter.com TIPS: In October Capt Eicholz concentrates on the flats between Port Aransas and Aransas Pass looking for schooling redfish.

LOCATION: Rockport HOTSPOT: Live Oak Point GPS: N 28 06 12 W 97 01 06 (28.1035, -97.0184) SPECIES: Redfish BEST BAITS: Free lining live mullet or live pin perch CONTACT: Capt. Marvin Engel 361-658-6674 CaptMarvinEngel@yahoo.com www.texasfishingguides.org TIPS: Capt. Engel says he switches from croaker to mullet or pin perch. “The redfish seem to prefer a change of bait at this time of the year.”

LOCATION: Corpus Christi Bay HOTSPOT: Indian Point Reef GPS: N 27 51 W 97 20.55 (27.8502, -97.3488) SPECIES: Redfish BEST BAITS: Paddle tail plastics, spoons CONTACT: Capt. Chris Evans 361-774-3098 csevans11@gmail.com TIPS: Evans likes the TTF soft plastics best as they stand up really well. “You can catch several fish on the same plastic and not tear it up, plus it has good tail action.” Capt. Chris Evans LOCATION: Corpus Christi Bay HOTSPOT: Donner Reef GPS: N 27 50.53 W 97 15.07 T E X A S

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LOCATION: Redfish Bay HOTSPOT: Dagger Island GPS: N 27 50.06 W 97 10.15 (27.8350, -97.1711) SPECIES: Redfish BEST BAITS: Live finger mullet or a gold spoon CONTACT: Capt. Frankie Eicholz 361-701-7711 captfrankie@just1moreoutfitter.net www/kist1moreoutfitter.com TIPS: If using the gold spoon, reel fast to keep the spoon out of the grass.

LOCATION: Upper Laguna Madre HOTSPOT: East Flats GPS: N 27 24.57 W 97 20.37 (27.4160, -97.3438) SPECIES: Redfish BEST BAITS: Bass Assassins soft plastics CONTACT: Capt. David Pena 361-765-0388 captaindavidpena@yahoo.com www.captaindavidpena.com TIPS: “When the redfish are schooling you can throw just about anything at them and they will hit it.” Capt. David Pena LOCATION: Upper Laguna Madre HOTSPOT: Beacrofts Hole GPS: N 27 33.01 W 97 19.18 (27.5503, -97.3219) SPECIES: Redfish BEST BAITS: Berkley Gulp on a 1/16 oz jig head

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Texas Hotspots CONTACT: Capt. David Pena 361-765-0388 captaindavidpena@yahoo.com www.captaindavidpena.com TIPS: October is a time when you don’t have to be on water before daylight. Pena says the bite is better about mid morning.

LOCATION: Upper Laguna Madre HOTSPOT: Humble Channel GPS: N 27 38.37 W 97 16.32 (27.6434, -97.2758) SPECIES: Redfish BEST BAITS: Bass Assassins soft plastics CONTACT: Capt. Cliff Webb 361-949-0707 fishing@cliffwebb.com www.cliffwebb.com TIPS: “In late October the white shrimp will be moving through. Fish a glow/chartreuse Bass Assassin on a 1/8 or 1/16 jig head.” Capt. Cliff Webb LOCATION: Upper Laguna Madre HOTSPOT: Pita Flats GPS: N 27 35.03 W 97 17.39 (27.5844, -97.2943) SPECIES: Redfish BEST BAITS: 1/2 or 3/4 oz gold spoon CONTACT: Capt. Grant Coppin 254-913-8122 captgrant@backlashcharters.com www.backlashcharters.com TIPS: Coppin likes to anchor on the drop offs and then cast up to schooling redfish on the flats.

LOCATION: Upper Laguna Madre HOTSPOT: Packery Flats GPS: N 27 37.46 W 97 12.47 (27.6296, -97.2131) SPECIES: Redfish BEST BAITS: 1/8 or 1/4 jig head with white or New Penney Gulp CONTACT: Capt. Grant Coppin 254-913-8122 captgrant@backlashcharters.com www.backlashcharters.com TIPS: A 1/16 jig is the best weight to throw in the colder months when you don’t have to make a long cast.

LOWER GULF COAST

Laguna Trout Put Out to Pasture

by CALIXTO GONZALES LOCATION: Lower Laguna Madre HOTSPOT: The Pasture GPS: N 26 6 W 97 11.1 (26.1000,, -97.1850) SPECIES: Speckled trout BEST BAITS: Live Bait, Soft plastics in red/ white, Nuclear Chicken.

CONTACT: Captain Jimmy Martinez 956-551-9581 TIPS: Rig live bait or shrimp tails under a noisy float. Shad tails are good, too, but you can fish them sans float. Use 4 inch plastics for best results.

LOCATION: Lower Laguna Madre HOTSPOT: Brownsville Ship Channel GPS: N 26 3.061 W 97 12.542 (26.0510,, -97.2090) SPECIES: Redfish BEST BAITS: Live bait, cut ballyhoo, gold spoons.

CONTACT: Captain Laune Levens 281-705-5537 TIPS: Fish along the mangroves on the leeward side of the of the island. Redfish cruise along the edges of mangroves during high tide.

LOCATION: Lower Laguna Madre HOTSPOT: Port of Brownsville GPS: N 26 2.124 W 97 13.108 (26.0354,, -97.2185) SPECIES: Snook BEST BAITS: Live shrimp, finger mullet, topwaters.

CONTACT: Catpain Jimmy Martinez 956-551-9581 TIPS: Big snook patrol the drop-offs and near dock pilings and are suckers for a free-lined shrimp or live mullet. Topwaters are a good option on calm days.

LOCATION: Lower Laguna Madre HOTSPOT: Long Bar

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GPS: N 26 8.349 W 97 14.194 (26.1392,, -97.2366) SPECIES: Speckled trout BEST BAITS: Live Bait cut ballyhoo, soft plastics in red/white, purple/chartreuse CONTACT: Captain Jimm Martinez 956-551-9581 TIPS: Work around potholes at high tide. Use live bait under a popping cork or soft plastics under a Mansfield Mauler. Use a short leader.

LOCATION: Lower Laguna Madre HOTSPOT: The Killing Fields GPS: N 26 5.217 W 97 9.93 (26.0870,, -97.1655) SPECIES: Redfish BEST BAITS: Cut Bait, Gold spoons CONTACT: Captain Jimmy Martinez 956-551-9581 TIPS: You can see redfish tailing near the boat channel near the condos. Put a live bait or piece of cut bait in their path and hand on tight. These redfish are hungry after a lean winter, and nothing is safe. Fish the edges of the channel with a gold spoon early in the morning. Kayakers can fish this area effectively LOCATION: Arroyo Colorado HOTSPOT: Cullen Bay GPS: N 26 13.421 W 97 16.773 (26.2237,, -97.2796) SPECIES: Speckled trout BEST BAITS: Live bait, topwaters, soft plastics in red/white, Tequila Gold CONTACT: LG Outfitters 956-371-0220 lgonzales@lgoutfitters.com lgoutfitters.com TIPS: A topwater like the Super Spook, Jr. is a good choice to use early in the morning near the shoreline. As the sun gets higher, fish the flats with Gulp! Shirmp under a popping cork or weightless.

LOCATION: Port Mansfield HOTSPOT: Fred Stone County Pier GPS: N 26 34.329 W 97 25.642 (26.5722,, -97.4274) SPECIES: Speckled trout BEST BAITS: Live bait, speck rigs.

CONTACT: Harbor Bait and Tackle 956-994-2367 TIPS: Fish at night under the lights for trout. Most will be schoolies, but there are some big fish lurking in the shadows around the lights.

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PINEY WOODS

Topwater Bass Action at Conroe

by DUSTIN WARNCKE LOCATION: Lake Conroe HOTSPOT Main Lake GPS: N 30 26.229 W 95 35.510 (30.437143,, -95.591826) SPECIES: Largemouth Bass BEST BAITS: Pop’r, spinnerbaits, Bass Assassin shad CONTACT: Richard Tatsch 936-291-1277 admin@fishdudetx.com www.fishdudetx.com TIPS: The bass will begin to feed on shad in preparation for the cold weather when they will begin to selectively feed. This is good for us fishermen who enjoy the top water bite and the aggressive strikes that a spinnerbait can bring. If you’re on the water this time of year immediately after a cold front (up to the 3rd day after) and it is at daylight or an overcast day locate the rip rap rock around the lake and start by throwing a small single blade spinnerbait at the rocks then retrieving it back at a very fast rate where the bait is waking the surface. This is a very productive and very fast way to catch a number of fish that will attempt to pull the rod out of your hand. The next thing to try would be a Pop’r. Work this bait in the same areas and alternate between the spinnerbait to determine which lure they want on that particular day.

Another tried and true method is the Bass Assassin shad.

LOCATION: Caddo Lake HOTSPOT: Ames Spring Basin GPS: N 32.708141 W 94.090562 (32.708141,, -94.090562) SPECIES: Largemouth Bass BEST BAITS: flukes, V&M swim jigs, buzzbaits CONTACT: Caddo Lake Guide Service/Paul Keith 318-455-3437 caddoguide1@att.net www.caddolakefishing.com TIPS: Fish the grass, pads, and trees in this area.

Watch for schooling bass.

LOCATION: Toledo Bend North HOTSPOT: Buzzard Bend GPS: N31.668994, W93.816289

SPECIES: White Bass BEST BAITS: Slab spoons, tail spinners, & Rat-L-Traps CONTACT: Greg Crafts, Toledo Bend Guide Service and Lake Cottages 936.368.7151, gregcrafts@yahoo.com, www.toledobendguide. com, TIPS: October is always a great time to be on the lake. The days are getting shorter and the water temperature is starting to fall signaling that winter is on its way. The fish will start feeding heavy bulking up in anticipation for the coming winter season.

The White bass will start migrating to the north end main lake river channel sand bars. Concentrate on the inside river channel bends. Use your electronics to locate the bait fish. There will usually be plenty of schooling activity in these same areas.

LOCATION: Lake Livingston HOTSPOT: The Pocket GPS: N 30 55.661 W 95 15.053 (30.927682,, -95.250891) SPECIES: Largemouth Bass BEST BAITS: Soft plastics and jigs such as Charlie’s June Bug 6 inch Gecko, Charlie’s 1/4 oz.

Green Pumpkin Swimming Jig tipped with Charlie’s Chunk Green Pumpkin in Blue Flake CONTACT: David S Cox - Palmetto Guide Service 936-291-9602 dave@palmettoguideservice.com www.palmettoguideservice.com TIPS: Flip docks, lay downs, boat houses and rocks with jigs and soft plastics. BANK ACCESS: Public boat ramp at Hwy 19 bridge or Bethy Creek Resort. Like us on Facebook @ Lake Livingston Palmetto Guide Service!

PRAIRIES & LAKES

Hubbard Harbors Hybrids & Whites

by DUSTIN WARNCKE and DEAN HEFFNER LOCATION: Lake Ray Hubbard HOTSPOT: I-30 corridor/Harbor Bay Marina GPS: N 32 53.094 W 96 29.940 (32.884893,, -96.499003) SPECIES: Hybrid Striped Bass/White Bass BEST BAITS: Lipless crankbaits in shad or perch like the H2O series, one or two ounce Rooster Tail inline spinners CONTACT: The Cajun Guide/Johnny Procell (972) 814-8942 T E X A S

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cajunguide@att.net www.johnnyprocell.com TIPS: Hybrids and sandbass will be in the same area as largemouth bass this month. All the lures that will catch one will catch both and each will fall for the same techniques. Cast lipless crankbaits like the H2O series up against the rocks on the lake side of the hot water jetty. Both species will readily hit these lures so it is possible and likely to catch the two on back-to-back casts. It is also possible to catch a lunker black bass [the lake record was caught in this spot]. The area to the south and north of Rush Creek on the east side of the lake will hold large schools of voracious sandies and hybrids. Get into this area and cut the big motor and it is likely that the two species will surface and present the opportunity to catch several dozen fish from the school before the actions stops. My clients throw big one- or two-ounce Rooster Tail inline spinners into the melee of feeding fish. The larger baits mimic the threadfin shad that the fish are gorging on and will often reward the angler a fish on every cast.

LOCATION: Lake Aquilla HOTSPOT Deep Humps GPS: N 31 54.204 W 97 12.177 (31.903407,, -97.202954) SPECIES: WHITE BASS CONTACT: RANDY ROUTH, 817-822-5539, teamredneck01@hotmail.com, www.teamredneck. net BEST BAITS: 1 OZ CHARTREUSE SLABS from www.rsrlures.com and Tail Spinners CONTACT: Randy Routh 817-822-5539 teamredneck01@hotmail.com www.teamredneck.net TIPS: Watch your graph along humps and you will see the White Bass stacked up on the edges of the humps. Drop slabs down and bounce off bottom making contact with bait as it falls. Carry binoculars and glass the lake occasionally watching for the herons and cranes that land on the water. The white bass push the bait to the surface and the cranes will drop down and feed. Keep a good distance and make long casts with slabs or tail spinners.

LOCATION: Lake Belton HOTSPOT: Main Lake GPS: N 31 08.609 W 97 29.773 (31.14349,, -97.49622) SPECIES: Largemouth Bass BEST BAITS: Crank bait, topwater lures, jigs, large U-Tail Worms, and Trick Worms CONTACT: Henry Niemiec 254-368-0294 surestrikeguideservice@yahoo.com www.surestrikeguideservice.com

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Texas Hotspots TIPS: Here in Central Texas fall has arrived.

Weather is cooler, the water is cooler and the Bass have started feeding, preparing themselves for winter. Early morning and later in the evening are great times to be on the water. Bass are schooling and it’s every fish for himself. Pick your favorite crank bait or top water bait and hold on. And let’s not forget those Bass that have their heart set on cruising the shallows. Jigs and large U-Tail Worms or Trick Worms will do the trick. Lake levels here are still low, take care while on the water.

LOCATION: Cedar Creek Lake HOTSPOT: Main Lake Boat Docks GPS: N 32 13.529 W 96 06.752 (32.225481,, -96.112532) SPECIES: Hybrid striper/White Bass and Largemouth Bass BEST BAITS: Rat-L-Traps, Bucktail jigs and swim baits CONTACT: Jason Barber 903-603-2047 kingscreekadventures@yahoo.com www.kingscreekadventures.com TIPS: Fish throughout the lake after dark looking for the many bright lights on the hundreds of boat docks lining the lake. The brighter the better.

Throw your baits past the light and retrieve them back at a slow but steady pace.

LOCATION: Fayette County Reservoir HOTSPOT: Mud Bank GPS: N 29 55.21 W 96 43.051 (29.9202,, -96.7175) SPECIES: Catfish BEST BAITS: Punch Bait, Shrimp CONTACT: Weldon Kirk 979-229-3103 weldon_edna@hotmail.com www.fishtales-guideservice.com TIPS: Fish Lake Point and timber edge, night is good.Use slip cork to prevent hook ups on submerged timber.

LOCATION: Lake Granbury HOTSPOT: Striper Alley GPS: N 32 23.994 W 97 41.460 (32.3999,, -97.691) SPECIES: Striped Bass BEST BAITS: Live Shad and Jigging slabs in silver and chartruese.

CONTACT: Michael Acosta, Unfair Advantage Charters 817-578-0023

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www.unfairadvantagecharters.com TIPS: Down lining live bait offerings on Carolina live bait rig. Look for striper schools around 15 to 25 feet down right near channel ledges. Surface feeding fish are good on Mepps #2 spinners and Little Georges.

LOCATION: Lake Granbury HOTSPOT: DeCordova Bend GPS: N 32 25.259 W 97 41.602 (32.420984,, -97.69337) SPECIES: Crappie BEST BAITS: minnows, jigs CONTACT: Michael Acosta, Unfair Advantage Charters 817-578-0023 www.unfairadvantagecharters.com TIPS: Crappie reports continue to be mixed, but some good reports are being reported around timber in front of Decordova subdivision and near the old Hot Water Outlet.

LOCATION: Lake Granbury HOTSPOT: Indian Harbor GPS: N 32 24.873 W 97 45.92 (32.414545,, -97.76541) SPECIES: Largemouth Bass BEST BAITS: soft plastics, crankbaits CONTACT: Michael Acosta, Unfair Advantage Charters 817-578-0023 www.unfairadvantagecharters.com TIPS: Black bass are still close to structure and are good to 6-pounds on soft plastics rigged texas style and shallow running crankbaits. Blacks are also being caught near creek entrances on the lower end.

LOCATION: Gibbons Creek Reservoir HOTSPOT: Eagle Point, South Side GPS: N 30 37.922 W 96 2.792 (30.6320,-96.0465) SPECIES: Catfish BEST BAITS: Punch bait, Shad CONTACT: Weldon Kirk 979-229-3103 weldon_edna@hotmail.com www.fishtales-guideservice.com TIPS: 6-8 foot deep, submerged timber. Blues and Channels come to chum here. Larger fish late evening, early morning.

LOCATION: Lake Ray Hubbard HOTSPOT: I-30 corridor/Harbor Bay Marina GPS: N 32 53.094

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W 96 29.940 (32.884893,, -96.499003) SPECIES: Largemouth bass BEST BAITS: Single silver bladed spinner baits in blue/ white or blue/green in half ounce size, lipless crankbaits in shad or perch, Zara Spooks in silver/black or clear or white CONTACT: The Cajun Guide/Johnny Procell (972) 814-8942 cajunguide@att.net www.johnnyprocell.com TIPS: Thankfully the “dog days’ are just a distant memory and the heat of summer has given way to the cooling fronts of fall. This is my favorite time of year for several reasons. I am tired of wearing short pants and sandals and I can take a little “me time,” as in bow hunting. But the main reason I love this time is that the fish go on a feeding binge.

No, I do not believe that they do it to put on fat for the coming winter. They eat because prey is more abundant and is more easily caught. The cooling upper layer is much to the liking of the shad and other small species that fish feed upon. I know that as the cool fronts slowly morph into cold fronts that species that have hugged the deepest parts of the lake are now shallow and hitting crankbaits and topwater offerings.

LOCATION: Lake Ray Hubbard HOTSPOT: South of the I-30 corridor GPS: N 32 51.753 W 96 29.679 (32.862554,, -96.494642) SPECIES: Catfish BEST BAITS: Cut bait, shad, or punch baits CONTACT: The Cajun Guide/Johnny Procell (972) 814-8942 cajunguide@att.net www.johnnyprocell.com TIPS: Catfish will follow the shad towards the shallows as the lake “turns over” and will hit drifted shad or punch baits on or near all the exposed sandbars. The area on the south side of I-30 near the Rockwall City Limits is especially good at this time. For those who will not let a few trees stand in the way of good fishing I suggest that you try the tree line immediately north of I-30 on the Bass Pro side of the lake. Cut bait will trigger bigger blue cats but punch bait is hard to beat. The fish may be as shallow as two feet or as deep as ten feet along this tree line which sits on top of an old levee.

LOCATION: Lake Ray Hubbard HOTSPOT: Middle to North of Geo. Bush bridge GPS: N 32 52.383 W 96 33.180 (32.873057,, -96.552994)

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SPECIES: Crappie BEST BAITS: Minnows and small jigs in black/ green, blue/pearl, and orange CONTACT: The Cajun Guide/Johnny Procell (972) 814-8942 cajunguide@att.net www.johnnyprocell.com TIPS: Crappie will begin to move towards the shallow end of all the bridges and will take minnows or small jigs. Good colors will be black and green, blue and pearl and orange. On a given day the finicky crappie will change their preferred bait in the middle of a good bite and it will be necessary to change colors to appease the paper mouths. A spot that is seldom fished but is a real sleeper is the middle to the north end of the George Bush bridge. There is a wide range of depth changes and the bridge supports provide plenty of cover. Be patient and cover each support and at some point the persistent angler will be rewarded with a large school of feeding crappie that he or she has all to themselves!

LOCATION: Joe Pool Lake HOTSPOT: Shorline south of Lake Ridge Marina GPS: N 32.622497,, -97.025310 SPECIES: Largemouth Bass BEST BAITS: Carolina rig with four inch red metal flake Trick Worms, buzz baits and spinner baits, Chugbugs or Zara Spooks frog or bream CONTACT: The Cajun Guide/Johnny Procell (972) 814-8942 cajunguide@att.net www.johnnyprocell.com TIPS: Many folks do not understand the fall turnover but it can be a critical factor in how and where one fishes for whichever species the angler is targeting. Simply put, the fall turnover occurs when the cooling breezes cause the top of the water column to weigh more than the lower strata that is supporting it. At some point the top area is more than the bottom layer can support and the turnover occurs. Many people believe it starts in shallow water but I believe it starts in the deeper areas of the lake and move shoreward. As the water advances it is much like a wave but not nearly as noticeable. Shad that have been hidden in the depths are now forced toward the shore and the awaiting game fish. With this in mind it may be easier for the average angler to plan a successful fishing trip. Black bass can be found on just about any point that juts out toward the main lake but a few places seem to hold bass on a yearly basis.

As you come out of Lakeridge Marina headed south, go across the open water and hit the south shoreline.

LOCATION: Joe Pool Lake HOTSPOT: Lake Ridge Park GPS: N 32 38.158 W 97 01.091 (32.63596,, -97.018187)

SPECIES: Crappie BEST BAITS: Minnows, tiny jigs in orange/black or blue/pear CONTACT: The Cajun Guide/Johnny Procell (972) 814-8942 cajunguide@att.net www.johnnyprocell.com TIPS: Crappie will move from the deepest water of the main lake and can be caught in eight to twelve feet of water in the area of Lake Ridge Park. This is also an area where the bank angler can often out produce those with a boat. There is some deep water near the boat launch that at times produces a good mixture of crappie, catfish and the occasional bass. All the bridge supports on Lake Ridge Parkway will hold fish. Start near the creek channels and then work slowly north.

Minnows will catch these specks but tiny jigs in orange and black or blue and pear will often catch more crappie in a quicker time than the minnows.

LOCATION: Lake Lavon HOTSPOT: Main Lake Brushpiles GPS: N 33 03.324 W 96 28.063 (33.055394,, -96.46771) SPECIES: Crappie BEST BAITS: Black and chartreuse/white and chartreuse on a 1/16th to 18th ounce jig head with a pink head, medium-size minnows or 3”-4” live shad.

CONTACT: Carey Thorn 469-528-0210 thorn_alex@yahoo.com www.TexasOklahomaFishingGuide.com TIPS: If you’re a diehard Crappie fishermen, come to Lake Lavon. Fish 12 to 18 foot depths brush piles and ledges. There are brush piles surrounding the entire lake out of the south wind in 12 to 15 foot. There should be ones and twos hanging out in timber in 15 to 18 foot on the east side of the lake.

LOCATION: Lake Palestine HOTSPOT: Flat Creek Blue Bus Hole GPS: N 32 12.660 W 95 31.609 (32.210993,, -95.526816) SPECIES: Largemouth Bass BEST BAITS: Texas Top Shelf Spinnerbait Top Shelf chartruse/white, Shimmy Shakers, frogs and The Big Eye Jig CONTACT: Ricky Vandergriff 903-561-7299 OR 903-530-2201 ricky@rickysguideservice.com www.rickysguideservicecom TIPS: Bass fishing is good right now. Fish slow and work the pockets and stumps along the creeks and main lake. Fish pads with your frogs up on top the pads and along side of the pads. Fish your Top Shelf Spinner bait and Shimmy Shakers alongside the pads and also fish the Big Eye Jig, spinnerbait T E X A S

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and Shimmy Shaker alongside the pads and any stumps you can find in these areas best depths will be 3 to 5 foot. I work out of a Ranger 520 bass boat on Lake Fork for bass, white bass and bar fish. I have been a licensed professional guide on Lake Fork since November of 1980 and on Lake Palestine since 1976. If it swims, I will fish for it!

LOCATION: Lake Ray Roberts HOTSPOT: State Park Area GPS: N 33 22.177 W 97 01.975 (33.369624,, -97.03291) SPECIES: Largemouth bass BEST BAITS: Topwaters, buzzbaits, lipless cranks CONTACT: Danny Golden 817-228-5999 getbit@sbcglobal.net TIPS: Black bass will be starting to gang up in mouths of creeks and still on main lake flats with grass (near the creaks). Spook type topwaters and buzzbaits early, then switch to chrome/blue Rat-L-traps.

LOCATION: Lake Ray Roberts HOTSPOT: Main Lake Ridges GPS: N 33 22.008 W 97 03.502 (33.366807,, -97.058372) SPECIES: White bass BEST BAITS: Slabs CONTACT: Danny Golden 817-228-5999 getbit@sbcglobal.net TIPS: The white bass will be on main lake deep ridges. 25-35 feet of water. 1oz slabs on the bottom. If gulls are present you may be able to get on a shallow trap bite over those same ridges. The fish won’t quite be on top, but will be very near the surface.

LOCATION: Richland Chambers Lake HOTSPOT: Hwy 309 Flats GPS: N 31 55.080 W 96 20.597 (31.917999,, -96.343279) SPECIES: Striper/White Bass BEST BAITS: Silver/Blue Rat-L-Trap, 1 oz.

Silver Glitter RSR Slab CONTACT: Royce Simmons, Gone Fishin’ Guide Service 903-389-4117 www.gonefishin.biz TIPS: I’ve always said “Fall is my Favorite Season of the Year” and one of the reasons is that the BIG Ol’ Hybrid Stripers and some of the Best White Bass Fishin’ of the year occurs on Richland Chambers. The Gulls arrive, the shad are hoppin’ and the fishing gets so much better as the weather and water temperature cools. Check out the Hwy 309 Flats for early morning action. Watch for the

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Texas Hotspots baitfish being chased to the surface and the Gulls and herons will be above them. Tie on a Silver/ Blue Rat-L-Trap and hang on! When the fish go deep a 1 oz. Silver Glitter RSR Slab is my go to bait!

LOCATION: Richland Chambers Lake HOTSPOT: Main Lake GPS: N 31 57.439 W 96 14.760 (31.95731,, -96.246) SPECIES: Largemouth Bass BEST BAITS: Square bill crank baits in shad colors and crawfish colors, 7 inch Zoom baits in Motor Oil Chartreuse, Watermelon Red worms, Watermelon Green worms, and creature baits for Texas rigging and Carolina rigging, white and chartreuse spinner baits CONTACT: Carey Thorn 469-528-0210 thorn_alex@yahoo.com www.TexasOklahomaFishingGuide.com TIPS: The black bass fishing is very good.

Fishing anywhere there are rocks such as the damn protruding into the water. In the morning throw square bill crank baits and shad colors and crawfish colors. Stay in 2 foot of water right up against the rocks contract the crank bait back to the boat while you’re sitting in 18 foot. It drops rapidly so about 15 to 20 foot out from the rocks.

You’re fishing dead water now. Use your depth finder to see where the rocks are. I would almost say the magic depth right now is 7 to 12 foot when the sun is it its highest.

LOCATION: Lake Somerville HOTSPOT: Brushy Point Shoreline GPS: N 30 20.56 W 96 33.611 (30.3427,, -96.5602) SPECIES: Catfish BEST BAITS: Punch biat, Shad, Shrimp CONTACT: Weldon Kirk 979-229-3103 weldon_edna@hotmail.com www.fishtales-guideservice.com TIPS: 2-3 ft deep, near cane, use tight line within 20 foot of the cane. Longer leader could give more hook ups.

LOCATION: Lake Whitney HOTSPOT: STRIPER POINT GPS: N 31 54.833 W 97 23.086 (31.913891,, -97.384765) SPECIES: Striped bass BEST BAITS: Redfin and Live Shad CONTACT: Randy Routh

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817-822-5539 teamredneck01@hotmail.com www.teamredneck.net TIPS: Early morning run the shoreline of Striper Point down along all the Willow Islands and make long cases with a redfin. Retrieve it back to the boat and make it wobble on the surface. When the Striper blows up wait until the rod doubles up with the weight of the fish and THEN set the hook! After the sun gets up back off the points, drift the same area in 20 foot of water. Fish live shad about 12 to 15 feet down.

PANHANDLE

Possum Stripers for Peanuts

by DUSTIN WARNCKE and DEAN HEFFNER LOCATION: Lake Alan Henry HOTSPOT: Main Lake Creeks GPS: N 33.043454 W 101.064203 (33.043454, -101.06420) SPECIES: Largemouth Bass BEST BAITS: Crank baits in shad color, Senkos, and Shaky Head jigs, drop shots with blue worm.

CONTACT: Norman Clayton’s Guide Services 806-792-9220 nclayton42@sbcglobal.net www.lakealanhenry.com/norman_clayton.htm TIPS: The bass fishing in October depends on the cold fronts that roll through at that time of the year. Usually the fronts in October are not too bad, but it should lower the water temperature so that the bass will move up to the shallow water where crank baits, senko’s, and shaky head jigs will be the order of the day. The bass will start moving up the creeks following the shad as this cool down of the water happens. Looking back in my log books on some of the best days the bass were caught on drop shots with some sort of blue worm on the hook. Also, crank baits played an important role in putting bass in the boat. These usually have been in some sort of shad color. In October, Rocky Creek, Gobbler Creek, Little Grape, and Grape Creek have been the most productive, but don’t forget to try the small coves along the Brazos River or creek channels.

LOCATION: Lake Alan Henry HOTSPOT: Mid-Lake to the Dam

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GPS: N 33 03.585 W 101 02.991 (33.059752, -101.049843) SPECIES: Stripers and White Bass BEST BAITS: Live bait - 3-6 inch shad CONTACT: Clancy Terrill 512-633-6742 centraltexasfishing@yahoo.com www.centraltexasfishing.com TIPS: Concentrate on 30 to 40 ft ridges in the early morning until noon. Fish from 20 feet to just off bottom.

LOCATION: Lake Graham HOTSPOT: Center East GPS: N 33 08.348 W 98 37.101 (33.139132,, -98.618345) SPECIES: Crappie BEST BAITS: minnows CONTACT: Jason and Lorie Rohloff Brush Creek Bait, Hubbard Creek Lake 254-559-0605 TIPS: Cool mornings mean great fishing. Call ahead for boat ramp information. Crappie are hard to coax out of cover but they love a good medium minnow, so you may just have to work it at different depths to get them to thump it.

LOCATION: Lake Leon HOTSPOT: North Point GPS: N 32 21.414 W 98 41.483 (32.356908,, -98.691387) SPECIES: Largemouth bass Best Bait: crankbaits, soft plastics CONTACT: Jason and Lorie Rohloff Brush Creek Bait, Hubbard Creek Lake 254-559-0605 TIPS: Lake level is still holding steady at 3-5’ low.

Bass are mingling in the early-mid mornings and liking the fall weather too. Throw some mid-depth cranks and some blueberry plastics.

LOCATION: Hubbard Creek Lake HOTSPOT: Dam Ledge GPS: N 32 49.652 W 98 58.035 (32.827529,, -98.967247) SPECIES: Largemouth Bass BEST BAITS: Crankbaits, lipless cranks CONTACT: Jason and Lorie Rohloff Brush Creek Bait, Hubbard Creek Lake 254-559-0605 TIPS: Bass are moving around liking mid depth cranks and white rattle traps. Hanging out around ledges during the day and early mid morning coming up in around 10 feet. Call us for the boat ramp

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info. In August you could unload, but could not get your boat trailer in the water over the fender wells.

LOCATION: Possum Kingdom HOTSPOT: Peanut Patch GPS: N 32 53.267 W 98 30.998 (32.887783,, -98.516633) SPECIES: Striped Bass BEST BAITS: Live bait, topwaters, jigs, crankbaits, slabs CONTACT: Dean Heffner 940-329-0036 fav7734@aceweb.com TIPS: This time of year, live bait is king—but also have a topwater tied on, because things were so late this year. Next choice is downrigging with jigs and stickbaits, trolling with traps and cranks and slabbin & jiggin’. Any days that are mostly cloudy will be great days, as the fish will be more active.

In October, we are watching the birds to help hone in on baitfish are and then find the fish, sometimes without the sonar. Otherwise fish in 20-30 feet of water along the edges of the patch for jigging & slabbin fish. Shad is your best bet, but jigs in white and chartreuse and silver and red are the colors for all baits this time of year. Sassy shad also works well. The fish also have natural highways they pattern this time of year and once you find them, you can capitalize on that. If you mark fish around 20 feet, then stay at that bottom depth as you move down the lake and you will see that they are traveling that depth specifically.

HILL COUNTRY

Austin Bass Under the Weather

by DUSTIN WARNCKE LOCATION: Lake Austin HOTSPOT: 360 Bridge GPS: N 30 20.986 W 97 47.829 (30.34976,, -97.79715) SPECIES: Largemouth Bass BEST BAITS: Pacemaker jigs, Picasso Shakey Heads, Picasso Spinnerbaits, and V&M plastics CONTACT: Brian Parker 817-808-2227 lakeaustinfishing@yahoo.com www.LakeAustinFishing.com TIPS: October and November are months of transition for many of the fisheries in Texas because of the weather changes and feeding cycles. With this in mind, be prepared by throwing the right

baits. My success has been with Pacemaker jigs, Picasso Shakey Heads, Picasso spinner baits, and V&M plastics around deep docks and other cover close to deep water. Persistence will reward the patient in October. Tightlines Premium Fishing Tackle and Fisherman’s Corner (aka www.texasbasstackle.com) carry an extensive line of Picasso Lures and V&M baits that have brought me success at Lake Austin.

LOCATION: Lake Buchanan HOTSPOT Main Lake Humps and Ridges GPS: N 30 45.297 W 98 25.726 (30.754951,, -98.428766) SPECIES: Hybrids and Stripers BEST BAITS: Zara spooks and pencil poppers CONTACT: Ken Miliam (325) 379-2051 kmilam@verizon.net www.striperfever.com.com TIPS: Hybrids and Striper are on the humps along the river channel and along the tree lines.

The stripers are feeding early in the mornings on the humps and over the trees. In the month of October and November there will be some AWESOME top water fishing in the main body of the lake. Throw anything that will stay on top and will make a splash! Fishing top water stripers is like feeding half starved Alligators!

LOCATION: Lake Buchanan HOTSPOT Main Lake GPS: N 30 45.297 W 98 25.726 (30.754951,, -98.428766) SPECIES: Catfish BEST BAITS: Cut shad or cut carp CONTACT: Ken Miliam (325) 379-2051 kmilam@verizon.net www.striperfever.com.com TIPS: Catfish fishing reports are good along the slopes of the ridges in 20 to 28 feet of water. They will be along the sides of points and humps near trees as well. Fish on the bottom or a few feet off the bottom for best results. Use any thing that is bloody for bait such as cut shad or perch as well as carp.

LOCATION: Lake Buchanan HOTSPOT Shaw Island GPS: N 30 49.261 W 98 25.649 (30.821015,, -98.427477) SPECIES: White Bass BEST BAITS: Top water lures like the Tiny Torpedo CONTACT: Ken Miliam (325) 379-2051 kmilam@verizon.net www.striperfever.com.com T E X A S

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TIPS: White bass will be on the upper end of the lake around Shaw and Garrett Islands.

Watch for some top water action!

LOCATION: Canyon Lake HOTSPOT: Across from Cranes Mill Park Point GPS: N 29 54.465 W 98 17.361 (29.907743,, -98.289356) SPECIES: Largemouth bass BEST BAITS: ¼ oz Shakey Head, Carolina rigged Watermelon flukes (1/2 oz or ¾ oz), Senko type baits like Cremes’ Whaky stick Texas rigged w/ ¼-3/8oz Picasso Tungsten weights, spinner, baits in chart/white 3/8th oz, Power Worms in black CONTACT: KC’s Bassin’ Guide Service 210-823-2153 kandie@gvtc.com www.kcbassinguide.com TIPS: Be sure and fish the main lake point up river from the pipeline near the drop off of the river channel. Work the shallows early and then move into the deeper depths. Bass are in there transitionally and with the weather cooling off they are not opt to be aggressive. Use a good rod like KC’s Rodz in Heavy Wt 7’ for Carolina rigging or the 6’9’” in a medium for spinnerbaiting. Theses rod can handle anything you get into and then some! Good colors to use this time of year include Watermelon Red, Green Pumpkin Candy, and don’t be afraid to throw a black Power Worm now and then.

LOCATION: Lake Granger HOTSPOT: Fox Park & Main Lake Brush Piles GPS: N 30 41.296 W 97 20.991 (30.688264,, -97.349854) SPECIES: Crappie BEST BAITS: Minnows and Jigs CONTACT: Tommy Tidwell (512) 365-7761 crappie1@hotmail.com www.gotcrappie.com TIPS: For most of the year, the lake has been full of undersized crappie but now a big part of those are keepers. These fish are very fat after feeding all summer on the abundant shad population. They are very aggressive and will hit a jig as well as minnows. It is good to have both because sometimes the larger crappie will go for the minnows when they will not hit jigs. Remember, the dead mangled up minnows will always catch the largest fish. Just make sure they are fresh and change to a new bait when the minnow turns white and loses its smell. These crappie are in water from 4 to 15 feet deep. The Fox Park shoreline is a good place to start. There are numerous brush piles along that area. Good luck and good fishing.

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Sportsman’s Daybook OCTOBER 2014

Tides and Prime Times

USING THE PRIME TIMES CALENDAR

The following pages contain TIDE and SOLUNAR predictions for Galveston Channel (29.3166° N, 94.88° W).

T12

T4

T11

T10

TIDE PREDICTIONS are located in the upper white boxes on the Calendar Pages. Use the Correction Table below, which is keyed to 23 other tide stations, to adjust low and high tide times.

T9 T8 T7

SOLUNAR ACTIVITY is shown in the lower color boxes of the Calendar pages. Use the SOLUNAR ADJUSTMENT SCALE below to adjust times for points East and West of Galveston Channel.

T17

TIDE PREDICTIONS are shown in graph form, with High and Low tide predictions in text immediately below.

SOLUNAR ACTIVITY data is provided to indicate major and minor feeding periods for each day, as the daily phases of the moon have varying degrees of influence on many wildlife species.

T13 T5

T14

T15 T16

T6

T3 T2 T1

AM & PM MINOR phases occur when the moon rises and sets. These phases last 1 to 2 hours.

T18

AM & PM MAJOR phases occur when the moon reaches its highest point overhead as well as when it is “underfoot” or at its highest point on the exact opposite side of the earth from your positoin (or literally under your feet). Most days have two Major Feeding Phases, each lasting about 2 hours.

T19

T20

PEAK DAYS: The closer the moon is to your location, the stronger the influence. FULL or NEW MOONS provide the strongest influnce of the month.

PEAK TIMES: When a Solunar Period falls within 30 minutes to an hour of sunrise or sunset, anticipate increased action. A moon rise or moon set during one of these periods will cause even greater action. If a FULL or NEW MOON occurs during a Solunar Period, expect the best action of the season.

T21

TIDE CORRECTION TABLE

Add or subtract the time shown at the rightof the Tide Stations on this table (and map) to determine the adjustment from the time shown for GALVESTON CHANNEL in the calendars.

KEY T1 T2 T3 T4 T5 T6

PLACE Sabine Bank Lighthouse Sabine Pass Jetty Sabine Pass Mesquite Pt, Sab. Pass Galveston Bay, S. Jetty Port Bolivar

HIGH -1:46 -1:26 -1:00 -0:04 -0:39 +0:14

LOW -1:31 -1:31 -1:15 -0:25 -1:05 -0:06

KEY PLACE HIGH Galveston Channel/Bays T7 Texas City Turning Basin +0:33 +3:54 T8 Eagle Point +6:05 T9 Clear Lake +10:21 T10 Morgans Point T11 Round Pt, Trinity Bay +10:39

LOW +0:41 +4:15 +6:40 +5:19 +5:15

KEY T12 T13 T14 T15 T16 T17

PLACE Pt Barrow, Trinity Bay Gilchrist, East Bay Jamaica Beach, W. Bay Alligator Point, W. Bay Christmas Pt Galveston Pleasure Pier

HIGH +5:48 +3:16 +2:38 +2:39 +2:32 -1:06

LOW +4:43 +4:18 +3:31 +2:33 +2:31 -1:06

KEY T18 T19 T20 T21 T22 T23

PLACE San Luis Pass Freeport Harbor Pass Cavallo Aransas Pass Padre Island (So. End) Port Isabel

HIGH -0.09 -0:44 0:00 -0:03 -0:24 +1:02

LOW -0.09 -1:02 -1:20 -1:31 -1:45 -0:42

SPORTSMAN’S DAYBOOK IS SPONSORED BY:

NOT TO BE USED FOR NAVIGATION T22 T23

KEYS TO USING THE TIDE AND SOLUNAR GRAPHS TIDE GRAPH:

Yellow: Daylight

12a

Tab: Peak Fishing Period

6a

12p

6p

AM/PM Timeline

12a

Light Blue: Nighttime

BEST:

5:30 — 7:30 AM

Green: Falling Tide

Gold Fish: Best Time

Blue: Rising Tide Red Graph: Fishing Score

Blue Fish: Good Time

MINOR Feeding Periods (+/- 1.5 Hrs.) Time Moon is at its Highest Point in the Sky

SOLUNAR ACTIVITY:

12a

AM/PM Timeline

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AM Minor: 1:20a

PM Minor: 1:45p

AM Major: 7:32a

PM Major: 7:57p

Moon Overhead: 8:50a 6a

12p

12a

Moon Underfoot: 9:15p

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MAJOR Feeding Periods (+/- 2 Hrs.) Time Moon is Directly Underfoot (at its peak on opposite side of the earth)

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SYMBOL KEY

 = New Moon  = First Quarter  = Full Moon  = Last Quarter  = Good Day  = Best Day SUNDAY

NOT TO BE USED FOR NAVIGATION = Peak Fishing Period

BEST:

7:45-9:40 AM

= FALLING TIDE = RISING TIDE = DAYLIGHT HOURS = NIGHTTIME HOURS

Fishing Day’s Best 2nd Score Graph Score Best

29

TUESDAY

30

Sunrise: 7:10a Set: 7:08p Sunrise: 7:10a Moonrise: 12:04p Set: 11:02p Moonrise: 1:01p

Oct 1 

Set: 7:07p Sunrise: 7:11a Set: 11:56p Moonrise: 1:55p

2

Set: 7:05p Set: None

THURSDAY

Sunrise: 7:11a Moonrise: 2:47p

3

FRIDAY

Set: 7:04p Sunrise: 7:12a Set: 12:55a Moonrise: 3:36p

4

Set: 7:03p Set: 1:57a

SATURDAY

Sunrise: 7:12a Moonrise: 4:22p

5

Set: 7:02p Set: 3:01a

Sunrise: 7:13a Moonrise: 5:06p

Set: 7:01p Set: 4:07a

AM Minor: 9:58a

PM Minor: 10:25p

AM Minor: 10:56a

PM Minor: 11:23p

AM Minor: 11:54a

PM Minor: -----

AM Minor: 12:21a

PM Minor: 12:49p

AM Minor: 1:14a

PM Minor: 1:42p

AM Minor: 2:05a

PM Minor: 2:33p

AM Minor: 2:54a

PM Minor: 3:21p

AM Major: 3:45a

PM Major: 4:11p

AM Major: 4:42a

PM Major: 5:10p

AM Major: 5:40a

PM Major: 6:08p

AM Major: 6:35a

PM Major: 7:03p

AM Major: 7:28a

PM Major: 7:56p

AM Major: 8:19a

PM Major: 8:47p

AM Major: 9:08a

PM Major: 9:35p

Moon Overhead: 5:34p

12a

WEDNESDAY

6a

12p

6p

Moon Overhead: 7:24p

Moon Overhead: 6:28p 12a

6a

12p

6p

12a

6a

12p

6p

Moon Overhead: 8:20p 12a

6a

12p

6p

Moon Overhead: 10:12p

Moon Overhead: 9:16p 12a

6a

12p

6p

12a

6a

12p

6p

SOLUNAR ACTIVITY

SOLUNAR ACTIVITY

MONDAY

Tides and Prime Times for OCTOBER 2014

Moon Overhead: 11:06p 12a

6a

12p

6p

12a

FEET

FEET

Moon Underfoot: 5:07a

+2.0

0 -1.0

TIDE LEVELS

+1.0

BEST:

Moon Underfoot: 6:01a

Moon Underfoot: 6:56a

BEST:

9:00 — 11:00 AM

BEST:

10:00A — 12:00P

11:00A — 1:00P

Moon Underfoot: 7:52a

Moon Underfoot: 8:48a

BEST:

Moon Underfoot: 9:44a

BEST:

12:00 — 2:00 PM

Moon Underfoot: 10:39a

BEST:

2:00 — 4:00 PM

BEST:

3:00 — 5:00 PM

+2.0

4:00 — 6:00 PM

+1.0 0

Low Tide: High Tide: Low Tide: High Tide:

1:16 AM 5:18 AM 2:02 PM 10:56 PM

ALMANAC-Oct.indd 79

1.50ft.

1.61ft.

0.37ft.

1.68ft.

Low Tide: 2:06 AM High Tide: 5:14 AM Low Tide: 3:02 PM

1.60ft.

1.65ft.

0.33ft.

High Tide: Low Tide: High Tide: Low Tide:

12:17 AM 3:40 AM 5:00 AM 4:10 PM

1.72ft.

1.67ft.

1.67ft.

0.32ft.

High Tide: 1:16 AM Low Tide: 5:22 PM

1.75ft.

0.32ft.

High Tide: Low Tide: High Tide: Low Tide:

1:54 AM 8:14 AM 10:25 AM 6:32 PM

1.75ft.

1.50ft.

1.52ft.

0.36ft.

High Tide: Low Tide: High Tide: Low Tide:

2:24 AM 8:02 AM 12:32 PM 7:36 PM

1.73ft.

1.34ft.

1.55ft.

0.43ft.

High Tide: Low Tide: High Tide: Low Tide:

2:50 AM 8:30 AM 2:00 PM 8:35 PM

1.69ft.

1.11ft.

1.62ft.

0.55ft.

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Sportsman’s Daybook

SYMBOL KEY

 = New Moon  = First Quarter  = Full Moon  = Last Quarter  = Good Day  = Best Day SUNDAY

NOT TO BE USED FOR NAVIGATION = Peak Fishing Period

BEST:

7:45-9:40 AM

6

Fishing Day’s Best 2nd Score Graph Score Best

MONDAY

Sunrise: 7:14a Moonrise: 5:49p

Tides and Prime Times for OCTOBER 2014

TUESDAY

7

Set: 7:00p Set: 5:12a

Sunrise: 7:14a Moonrise: 6:32p

WEDNESDAY

8

Set: 6:58p Set: 6:17a

Sunrise: 7:15a Moonrise: 7:16p

THURSDAY

9

Set: 6:57p Set: 7:22a

Sunrise: 7:15a Moonrise: 8:01p

FRIDAY

10 

Set: 6:56p Set: 8:27a

Sunrise: 7:16a Moonrise: 8:47p

SATURDAY

11 

Set: 6:55p Set: 9:29a

Sunrise: 7:16a Moonrise: 9:36p

12

Set: 6:54p Sunrise: 7:17a Set: 6:53p Set: 10:30a Moonrise: 10:25p Set: 11:27a

AM Minor: 3:43a

PM Minor: 4:10p

AM Minor: 4:32a

PM Minor: 4:59p

AM Minor: 5:24a

PM Minor: 5:51p

AM Minor: 6:20a

PM Minor: 6:47p

AM Minor: 7:18a

PM Minor: 7:45p

AM Minor: 8:18a

PM Minor: 8:45p

AM Minor: 9:17a

PM Minor: 9:44p

AM Major: 9:56a

PM Major: 10:23p

AM Major: 10:46a

PM Major: 11:13p

AM Major: 11:38a

PM Major: -----

AM Major: 12:06a

PM Major: 12:33p

AM Major: 1:05a

PM Major: 1:32p

AM Major: 2:04a

PM Major: 2:31p

AM Major: 3:04a

PM Major: 3:30p

Moon Overhead: None

12a

6a

12p

6p

Moon Overhead: 12:54a

Moon Overhead: None 12a

6a

12p

6p

12a

6a

12p

Moon Overhead: 1:49a

6p

12a

6a

12p

Moon Overhead: 3:37a

Moon Overhead: 2:43a

6p

12a

6a

12p

6p

12a

6a

SOLUNAR ACTIVITY

SOLUNAR ACTIVITY

= FALLING TIDE = RISING TIDE = DAYLIGHT HOURS = NIGHTTIME HOURS

12p

6p

Moon Overhead: 4:30a 12a

6a

12p

6p

12a

FEET

FEET

Moon Underfoot: 11:34a

+2.0

-1.0

High Tide: Low Tide: High Tide: Low Tide:

3:14 AM 9:06 AM 3:15 PM 9:29 PM

1.65ft.

0.86ft.

1.70ft.

0.71ft.

MONDAY

13

3:39 AM 9:46 AM 4:23 PM 10:19 PM

1.63ft.

0.61ft.

1.77ft.

0.90ft.

14

BEST:

4:03 AM 10:28 AM 5:29 PM 11:08 PM

1.62ft.

0.40ft.

1.81ft.

1.09ft.

High Tide: Low Tide: High Tide: Low Tide:

WEDNESDAY

BEST:

4:27 AM 11:12 AM 6:34 PM 11:55 PM

16 

Sunrise: 7:19a Set: 6:49p Moonrise: 12:08a Set: 1:52p

Moon Underfoot: 4:04p

1.62ft.

0.25ft.

1.82ft.

1.26ft.

Sunrise: 7:20a Moonrise: 1:00a

17

1.62ft.

0.17ft.

1.80ft.

Low Tide: High Tide: Low Tide: High Tide:

FRIDAY

Sunrise: 7:20a Moonrise: 1:52a

4:00 — 6:00 PM

12:44 AM 5:15 AM 12:46 PM 8:50 PM

1.41ft.

1.62ft.

0.16ft.

1.77ft.

Low Tide: High Tide: Low Tide: High Tide:

SATURDAY

18

Set: 6:47p Set: 3:10p

Sunrise: 7:21a Moonrise: 2:43a

19

Set: 6:46p Set: 3:46p

1:39 AM 5:32 AM 1:38 PM 10:05 PM

Sunrise: 7:21a Moonrise: 3:35a

Set: 6:45p Set: 4:20p

AM Minor: 11:09a

PM Minor: 11:33p

AM Minor: 11:59a

PM Minor: -----

AM Minor: 12:22a

PM Minor: 12:45p

AM Minor: 1:05a

PM Minor: 1:28p

AM Minor: 1:46a

PM Minor: 2:07p

AM Minor: 2:24a

PM Minor: 2:46p

AM Major: 4:02a

PM Major: 4:27p

AM Major: 4:56a

PM Major: 5:21p

AM Major: 5:47a

PM Major: 6:11p

AM Major: 6:34a

PM Major: 6:56p

AM Major: 7:17a

PM Major: 7:39p

AM Major: 7:57a

PM Major: 8:18p

AM Major: 8:35a

PM Major: 8:56p

6a

12p

6p

Moon Overhead: 7:01a

12a

6a

12p

6p

12a

6a

12p

Moon Overhead: 7:48a

6p

12a

6a

12p

Moon Overhead: 9:17a

Moon Overhead: 8:33a

6p

12a

6a

12p

6p

12a

6a

12p

6p

Moon Overhead: 10:00a 12a

6a

12p

6p

12a

FEET

FEET

Moon Underfoot: 5:48p

+2.0

BEST:

-1.0

3:41 AM 5:07 AM 2:34 PM 11:26 PM

1.58ft.

1.58ft.

0.30ft.

1.70ft.

Add or subtract the time shown at the rightof the Tide Stations on this table (and map) to determine the adjustment from the time shown for GALVESTON CHANNEL in the calendars.

KEY

0.41ft.

1.68ft.

0.51ft.

High Tide: Low Tide: High Tide: Low Tide:

1:23 AM 8:48 AM 9:36 AM 5:56 PM

HIGH

LOW

KEY

T1

Sabine Bank Lighthouse -1:46

-1:31

Galveston Channel/Bays

T2

Sabine Pass Jetty

-1:26

-1:31

T7

T3

Sabine Pass

-1:00

-1:15

T4

Mesquite Pt, Sab. Pass -0:04

-0:25

T5

Galveston Bay, S. Jetty -0:39

T6

Port Bolivar

+0:14

PLACE

1.65ft.

1.39ft.

1.39ft.

0.61ft.

HIGH

Moon Underfoot: 9:38p

BEST:

8:00 — 10:00 PM

High Tide: 12:37 AM Low Tide: 4:47 PM

PLACE

Moon Underfoot: 8:55p

BEST:

11:00A — 1:00P

Low Tide: 3:37 PM

TIDE CORRECTION TABLE

Moon Underfoot: 8:11p

BEST:

10:00A — 12:00P

TIDE LEVELS

Low Tide: High Tide: Low Tide: High Tide:

Moon Underfoot: 7:25p

BEST:

9:00 — 11:00 PM

High Tide: Low Tide: High Tide: Low Tide:

LOW

1:52 AM 8:33 AM 11:39 AM 6:56 PM

1.62ft.

1.30ft.

1.38ft.

0.70ft.

Moon Underfoot: 10:21p

High Tide: Low Tide: High Tide: Low Tide:

2:12 AM 8:39 AM 1:01 PM 7:45 PM

1.59ft.

1.20ft.

1.42ft.

0.79ft.

10:00P — 12:00A

High Tide: Low Tide: High Tide: Low Tide:

2:29 AM 8:48 AM 2:07 PM 8:25 PM

KEY

PLACE

HIGH

LOW

KEY

PLACE

HIGH

T12

Pt Barrow, Trinity Bay +5:48

+4:43

T18

San Luis Pass

-0.09

-0.09

Texas City Turning Basin+0:33 +0:41

T13

Gilchrist, East Bay

+4:18

T19

Freeport Harbor

-0:44

-1:02

T8

Eagle Point

+3:54

+4:15

T14

Jamaica Beach, W. Bay +2:38

+3:31

T20

Pass Cavallo

0:00

-1:20

T9

Clear Lake

+6:05

+6:40

T15

Alligator Point, W. Bay +2:39

+2:33

T21

Aransas Pass

-0:03

-1:31

-1:05

T10

Morgans Point

+10:21 +5:19

T16

Christmas Pt

+2:32

+2:31

T22

Padre Island (So. End) -0:24

-1:45

-0:06

T11

Round Pt, Trinity Bay +10:39 +5:15

T17

Galveston Pleasure Pier -1:06

-1:06

T23

Port Isabel

-0:42

+3:16

+2.0

BEST:

9:30 — 11:30 PM

+1:02

1.57ft.

1.08ft.

1.48ft.

0.88ft.

TIDE LEVELS

0

Moon Underfoot: 6:37p BEST:

9:00 — 11:00 AM

+1.0

0

SUNDAY

PM Minor: 10:40p

Moon Overhead: 6:13a

+1.0

-1.0

1.52ft.

1.60ft.

0.21ft.

1.73ft.

AM Minor: 10:15a

Moon Overhead: 5:23a

+2.0

BEST:

1:30 — 3:30 AM

High Tide: 4:52 AM Low Tide: 11:58 AM High Tide: 7:40 PM

Set: 6:48p Set: 2:33p

Moon Underfoot: 4:57p

BEST:

1:00 — 3:00 AM

THURSDAY

15

Set: 6:51p Set: 1:08p

Moon Underfoot: 3:10p

11:30P — 1:30 A 12:00 — 2:00 AM

High Tide: Low Tide: High Tide: Low Tide:

TUESDAY

Sunrise: 7:18a Set: 6:52p Sunrise: 7:18a Moonrise: 11:16p Set: 12:20p Moonrise: None

12a

BEST:

11:00P — 1:00A

High Tide: Low Tide: High Tide: Low Tide:

Moon Underfoot: 2:16p

SOLUNAR ACTIVITY

SOLUNAR ACTIVITY

BEST:

10:30P — 12:30A

TIDE LEVELS

0

BEST:

Moon Underfoot: 1:21p

TIDE LEVELS

+1.0

Moon Underfoot: 12:27p

+1.0 0 -1.0

LOW

NOT TO BE USED FOR NAVIGATION 80 |

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Sportsman’s Daybook

SYMBOL KEY

 = New Moon  = First Quarter  = Full Moon  = Last Quarter  = Good Day  = Best Day SUNDAY

NOT TO BE USED FOR NAVIGATION = Peak Fishing Period

BEST:

7:45-9:40 AM

= FALLING TIDE = RISING TIDE = DAYLIGHT HOURS = NIGHTTIME HOURS

Fishing Day’s Best 2nd Score Graph Score Best

20

Sunrise: 7:22a Moonrise: 4:26a

TUESDAY

21

Set: 6:44p Set: 4:54p

Sunrise: 7:23a Moonrise: 5:19a

WEDNESDAY

22 

Set: 6:43p Set: 5:29p

Sunrise: 7:23a Moonrise: 6:12a

Set: 6:42p Set: 6:05p

THURSDAY

23 

Sunrise: 7:24a Moonrise: 7:07a

Set: 6:41p Set: 6:43p

FRIDAY

24 

Sunrise: 7:25a Moonrise: 8:04a

SATURDAY

Set: 6:40p Set: 7:25p

25 

Sunrise: 7:26a Moonrise: 9:01a

26 

Set: 6:39p Set: 8:10p

Sunrise: 7:26a Moonrise: 9:59a

Set: 6:38p Set: 8:59p

AM Minor: 3:02a

PM Minor: 3:24p

AM Minor: 3:40a

PM Minor: 4:02p

AM Minor: 4:21a

PM Minor: 4:43p

AM Minor: 5:04a

PM Minor: 5:28p

AM Minor: 5:52a

PM Minor: 6:17p

AM Minor: 6:44a

PM Minor: 7:10p

AM Minor: 7:40a

PM Minor: 8:07p

AM Major: 9:13a

PM Major: 9:34p

AM Major: 9:51a

PM Major: 10:13p

AM Major: 10:32a

PM Major: 10:55p

AM Major: 11:16a

PM Major: 11:40p

AM Major: -----

PM Major: 12:29p

AM Major: 12:31a

PM Major: 12:57p

AM Major: 1:27a

PM Major: 1:54p

Moon Overhead: 10:43a

12a

6a

12p

6p

Moon Overhead: 12:11p

Moon Overhead: 11:26a 12a

6a

12p

6p

12a

6a

12p

6p

Moon Overhead: 12:57p 12a

6a

12p

6p

Moon Overhead: 2:37p

Moon Overhead: 1:46p 12a

6a

12p

6p

12a

6a

12p

6p

SOLUNAR ACTIVITY

SOLUNAR ACTIVITY

MONDAY

Tides and Prime Times for OCTOBER 2014

Moon Overhead: 3:30p 12a

6a

12p

6p

12a

FEET

FEET

Moon Underfoot: 11:04p

+2.0 TIDE LEVELS

0 -1.0

High Tide: Low Tide: High Tide: Low Tide:

27

2:46 AM 9:01 AM 3:03 PM 8:59 PM

1.56ft.

0.94ft.

1.54ft.

0.98ft.

MONDAY

Sunrise: 7:27a Set: 6:38p Moonrise: 10:56a Set: 9:52p

High Tide: Low Tide: High Tide: Low Tide:

BEST:

5:00 — 7:00 AM

3:02 AM 9:20 AM 3:54 PM 9:31 PM

1.56ft.

0.80ft.

1.60ft.

1.07ft.

TUESDAY

High Tide: Low Tide: High Tide: Low Tide:

3:19 AM 9:44 AM 4:44 PM 10:04 PM

1.57ft.

0.65ft.

1.66ft.

1.17ft.

29

High Tide: Low Tide: High Tide: Low Tide:

Moon Underfoot: 1:21a

Moon Underfoot: 2:11a

BEST:

6:00 — 8:00 AM

WEDNESDAY

28

3:35 AM 10:13 AM 5:33 PM 10:38 PM

1.58ft.

0.51ft.

1.71ft.

1.26ft.

THURSDAY

30

Set: 6:35p Set: None

High Tide: Low Tide: High Tide: Low Tide:

Moon Underfoot: 3:03a

BEST:

6:30 — 8:30 AM

Sunrise: 7:28a Set: 6:37p Sunrise: 7:28a Set: 6:36p Sunrise: 7:29a Moonrise: 11:51a Set: 10:49p Moonrise: 12:44p Set: 11:50p Moonrise: 1:33p

3:49 AM 10:46 AM 6:24 PM 11:14 PM

1.58ft.

0.39ft.

1.75ft.

1.36ft.

FRIDAY

31 

Sunrise: 7:30a Moonrise: 2:19p

High Tide: Low Tide: High Tide: Low Tide:

4:00 AM 11:22 AM 7:19 PM 11:53 PM

1.60ft.

0.29ft.

1.77ft.

1.46ft.

Nov 1

Set: 6:34p Sunrise: 7:31a Set: 12:52a Moonrise: 3:02p

3:00 — 5:00 PM

High Tide: 4:07 AM Low Tide: 12:03 PM High Tide: 8:20 PM

SATURDAY

SUNDAY 2 End DST

Set: 6:33p Set: 1:56a

Sunrise: 7:31a Moonrise: 3:45p

Set: 6:33p Set: 2:59a

AM Minor: 9:41a

PM Minor: 10:08p

AM Minor: 10:41a

PM Minor: 11:09p

AM Minor: 11:40a

PM Minor: -----

AM Minor: 12:11a

PM Minor: 12:35p

AM Minor: 1:00a

PM Minor: 1:27p

AM Minor: 1:49a

PM Minor: 2:15p

AM Major: 2:26a

PM Major: 2:53p

AM Major: 3:27a

PM Major: 3:55p

AM Major: 4:27a

PM Major: 4:55p

AM Major: 5:26a

PM Major: 5:54p

AM Major: 6:22a

PM Major: 6:49p

AM Major: 7:13a

PM Major: 7:40p

AM Major: 8:02a

PM Major: 8:28p

6a

12p

6p

Moon Overhead: 6:15p

12a

6a

12p

6p

12a

6a

12p

6p

Moon Overhead: 7:11p 12a

6a

12p

6p

Moon Overhead: 8:58p

Moon Overhead: 8:05p 12a

6a

12p

6p

12a

6a

12p

6p

Moon Overhead: 9:51p 12a

6a

12p

6p

FEET

Moon Underfoot: 3:57a

+2.0

-1.0

TIDE LEVELS

BEST:

BEST:

3:30 — 5:30 PM

Low Tide: High Tide: Low Tide: High Tide:

12:36 AM 4:10 AM 12:48 PM 9:26 PM

Moon Underfoot: 4:52a

BEST:

9:00 — 11:00 AM

1.55ft.

1.64ft.

0.16ft.

1.78ft.

Low Tide: High Tide: Low Tide: High Tide:

1:31 AM 4:12 AM 1:39 PM 10:32 PM

Moon Underfoot: 5:48a

BEST:

10:00A — 12:00P

1.61ft.

1.65ft.

0.16ft.

1.78ft.

Low Tide: High Tide: Low Tide: High Tide:

3:10 AM 3:51 AM 2:37 PM 11:30 PM

Moon Underfoot: 6:43a

Low Tide: 3:42 PM

Moon Underfoot: 8:32a

BEST:

11:00A — 1:00P

1.63ft.

1.63ft.

0.21ft.

1.76ft.

Moon Underfoot: 7:38a

BEST:

12:00 — 2:00 PM

0.29ft.

High Tide: 12:16 AM Low Tide: 4:52 PM

Moon Underfoot: 9:25a

1.72ft.

0.41ft.

High Tide: Low Tide: High Tide: Low Tide:

12:51 AM 7:18 AM 11:29 AM 6:05 PM

1.66ft.

1.18ft.

1.34ft.

0.56ft.

+2.0

BEST:

1:00 — 3:00 PM

9:00 — 11:00 PM

High Tide: Low Tide: High Tide: Low Tide:

1:20 AM 6:41 AM 12:12 PM 6:15 PM

1.61ft.

0.92ft.

1.41ft.

0.72ft.

TIDE LEVELS

0

0

12a

FEET

+1.0

+1.0

-1.0

1.62ft.

0.21ft.

1.78ft.

PM Minor: 9:07p

Moon Overhead: 5:20p

+2.0

BEST:

2:00 — 4:00 PM

AM Minor: 8:40a

Moon Overhead: 4:24p

12a

BEST:

4:00 — 6:00 AM

Moon Underfoot: 12:34a

SOLUNAR ACTIVITY

SOLUNAR ACTIVITY

BEST:

11:00A — 1:00P

Moon Underfoot: None

TIDE LEVELS

+1.0

BEST:

Moon Underfoot: 11:48p

+1.0 0 -1.0

SOLUNAR ADJUSTMENT SCALE

SOLUNAR ACTIVITY is shown in the lower color boxes of the Calendar pages. Use the SOLUNAR ADJUSTMENT SCALE (right) to adjust times for points East and West of Galveston Channel.

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PRESENTED BY A.G. Russell Knives

90

CZ-USA

85

KT Coolers

Active Tuning Solutions

89

DeSantis Holsters

87

Texas Mobile Shrink Wrap 90

Black Hills Ammunition

89

Hallmark Cutlery

88

Trophy Tools

91

CORBON/Glaser

86

Trulock Chokes

88

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Special Hunting Section

THE

State OF

Hunting IN

Texas A FEW YEARS AGO, crossbows became legal for hunting in the whitetail-only archery season.

With the crossbow issue behind us, Texas has officially in my opinion officially become the most forward thinking state on hunting issues and rights.

Take the issue of youth hunting for example.

Young Guns

by Chester Moore

Many states like Massachusetts have a minimum age, which by the way is 15 there and runs from 10 to 17 84 |

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in other states.

By that age, I had been hunting a decade and had a number of game animals under my belt. The passion to hunt burned deep in my youth was fueled by real hunting experiences with my father and uncle. We take it for granted that parents can make the decision on when to take their youngsters hunting here in Texas while other states face ridiculous age requirements.

And if you look at statistics, you will see these states are the ones with the lowest hunter recruitment and

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T E X A S

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greatly sagging license sales.

The right time to instill a love for hunting is when kids are young and impressionable and before they have been

Youth hunting is big in Texas.

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Special Hunting Section lured away by the man negative forces in society. I truly believe these laws in other states were placed there by animal rights minded people who are able to convince complacent bureaucrats that kids hunting is a bad idea.

Bait and Switch The same goes for anti-baiting laws that are put in place all around the country in the name of “ethics.�

Somehow luring game animals into a known area where distance can be easily calculated and therefore effective shot placement made is unethical and harmful to the game. Yet, here in Texas we have the largest population of whitetail deer and wild turkey in the nation when hundreds

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Texas has more whitetails than any other state, despite the widespread use of feeders.

T E X A S

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9/25/14 1:43 PM

of million of pounds of corn are spinning out of feeders annually.

We must be doing something right.

But wait, there is Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) to worry about. According to states like New York, baiting deer is a surefire way to spread that dreaded disease that has been the darling of the outdoor media in recent years.

How many cases have you heard of in Texas?

That’s right none so far and although this disease has likely been here for eons if it were the threat the media is making it don’t you think the state with 4.5 million whitetails, 250,000 mule deer

and hundreds of thousands of exotic deer would have all kinds of outbreaks, especially since we dare…gasp...bait them?

Our state has done the wise thing and taken precautions against CWD but have recognized we have found no link here between it and baiting deer with corn and standard protein feeds.

Rights Minded In comparison to other states we are doing a magnificent job of preserving hunter’s rights and keeping our resources healthy. While there are bumps in the road (antler restrictions) we are far better off than any other state.

The poor hunters in California

Texas has dodged the CWD bullet so far.

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Special Hunting Section essentially have to hit the field accompanied by a surveyor and a lawyer. The surveyor will make sure they have not crossed one of the hundreds of imaginary hunting zone lines the state have laid out and the

lawyer is to represent them in case the state changed their mind during the course of the morning’s hunt.

When you live in a state that literally makes it illegal to kill mountain lions when

The unpopular antler restriction in some Texas counties—which would make this monster a “questionable” shoot—is one of the few limitations imposed on the rights of hunters in Texas.

in the act of attacking you or your livestock you know you’re in trouble.

I am all for conserving mountain lions and in fact would never shoot one myself but good management considers all wildlife.

Big Shot Syndrome Truly the biggest thing we must watch for is elitism in our own ranks.

I have met elitist rifle hunters who think bowhunters are unethical and elitist bowhunters who think rifle hunting is not challenging enough to be legal (seriously).

There are tournament bass anglers who look down on mom and pop in the aluminum boat and saltwater anglers who think if you catch anything on live bait, you are scum. These people are rare in the above circles but their impact on the sport is unfortunately great and over the years is what I consider to be the greatest obstacle for new angler and hunter recruitment, but we will get to that later.

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My first experience with this kind of thinking happened many years ago when

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a man was giving my Dad a hard time about shooting a deer with a rifle. This

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Special Hunting Section was a guy he worked with who was a new bowhunting convert and was determined to only kill animals with his bow.

“It’s just too easy with a rifle, you should do it with a bow,” the man said.

To which my Dad replied with a question, “How far can you shoot with that bow?”

“Out to about 40 yards,” he said.

“Well, I can shoot my .243 out to

300 yards and that means the big buck you could never take will end up on the skinning rack at camp,” Dad said.

The man had no answer to that.

The point is we all have our reasons for doing what we do and as long as we are not hurting the resource and acting within the law, that should be enough.

Another issue we need to address is hunter access.

Despite our state’s common sense approach to game management and hunt-

Keeping deer hunting affordable is a challenge for Texas wildlife stewards.

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However, the fact is middle to lower income people are getting pinched.

Maybe the next time the legislature meets they could pass a bill giving tax credits to landowners who offer affordable access to low income families who want to hunt so everyone gets a chance to enjoy our amazing outdoors resources.

I believe we are doing great things in the Lone Star State and can do even better if we continue looking to the future and hold tight to the values of our past.

PHOTOS: Pg. 84, Bigstock; Pg. 86, Boss Buck Feeders; Pg. 87, Wisconsin DNR; P88-89, CanStock; Pg. 90-90 (top), CanStock; Pg. 90-91 (bottom), TF&G Graphic.

The state’s common sense approach to game management has given Texans the most robust deer population in the world.

er’s rights, one area we do need work on is affordable hunter access.

Deer hunting has become so expensive that many hunters simply cannot afford to and we risk losing a rich tradition here in coming decades. Well, let me put that a little differently. Rich was a bad choice of words.

You see, rich people will always have a place to deer hunt and I am all for that.

Heck, I want to be rich and I am sure you do as well.

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Texas Tasted

by Bryan Slaven | The Texas Gourmet PHOTO: BRYAN SLAVEN

Pan Seared Duck Breasts

W

HAT TO DO WITH ALL THOSE teal you collected last month?

You did bag some, right? The familiar smells of cattails, mosquito repellant, and mouth-watering hot kolaches from the Bay City Shipley Donuts were part of your outing, no doubt.

Three coffees and 90 miles down the road, we strapped on our gear, grabbed the decoys, and lifted the pin out of Old Jack’s kennel. As we sat on dry timber listening to the buzzing insects and imposter divers, a gentle breeze from the south carried a faint noise from a distance. Cutting wings sliced through the breeze as the birds circled and descended upon the open slough.

“Take ‘em, boys!”

It’s all over but the searing:

Ingredients Served with a mandarin orange serrano and sherry sauce.

4 breast fillets, skin off, brined for 3-4 hours 1 cup dry sherry 2 Tbs Texas Gourmet Mandarin Orange Serrano Jelly 1 cube chicken bouillon 1 tsp rosemary leaves, chopped 2 Tbs butter 2-3 cloves garlic 1/4 cup chopped onions 1/4 cup dried apricots, chopped 92 |

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Preparation Remove breasts from brine and pat dry with a paper towel. Rub breasts with crushed garlic. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and set aside.

In a small mixing bowl, combine sherry and Mandarin Orange Serrano Jelly and set aside. In a 10-inch, seasoned skillet, melt butter over medium heat. Add breast halves and sear for 3-4 minutes.

Turn over and add onions. Cook 2 to 3 minutes or until meat is lightly browned.

Remove from skillet. Add sherry grilling mixture to the pan, gently scraping browned bits off the bottom to blend.

Add garlic, apricots, and rosemary.

Bring to a boil and then reduce to a simmer for 3-4 minutes. Return breasts to skillet and cook for 5-7 minutes or until meat is desired doneness and liquid slightly reduced. To serve, carve breast halves crosswise into slices.

Fan slices out slightly on a plate. Top with pan sauce. Serve with wild rice and favorite sides. Serves four.

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Be sure and check out our web site at www.thetexasgourmet.com for other wild game and spicy food recipes and our fine family of products. Or give us a call @ 888.234.7883.

Email Bryan Slaven, “The Texas Gourmet,” at bryan@thetexasgourmet.com

CHECK OUT OUR ONLINE STORE for many of the seasonings and other ingrdients used in TEXAS TASTED recipes.

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REDFISH

MIXED STRINGER

San Luis Pass

Port Aransas

Five-year-old (going on 25) Grayson Dittman, also known as “G$” got a “little” excited when he caught this 28-inch, 10-pound red at San Luis Pass. “G$” was fishing with his Uncle Lance, Aunt Leah, Doug and Lo.

Heather Jureks had a successful first deep sea fishing trip, out of Port Aransas, catching a black tip shark and a kingfish.

REDFISH

SPECKLED TROUT

Rockport

Galveston Bay

Steven Godwin, 8, of Katy caught his first redfish while fishing in Aransas Bay out of Rockport.

Mandolyn Matlock, with her first trout, a 22-incher out of Galveston Bay.

ALLIGATOR GAR Matagorda Roy Ramirez caught this six-foot, 130-pound alligator gar on a 6-inch chunk of piggy perch, while fishing at Matagorda Island State Park with his dad and a friend.

ATLANTIC CROAKER South Padre Island Four-year-old Nathan Riley of Alamo caught his first fish, an Atlantic croaker on the Osprey Bay fishing boat at South Padre Island.

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WHITING

CATFISH

South Padre Island

REDFISH

Lake Tawakoni

Seven-year-old Samantha Pena caught her first whiting while fishing at South Padre Island.

No guarantee can be made as to when, or if, a submitted photo will be published.

Port O’Connor

J.R. Solomon with 20-pound blue catfish he wrestled into the boat after a jug line chase on Lake Tawakoni.

Chris Spooner, 12, caught this 30-inch redfish at Port O’Connor while fishing with his dad.

WHITETAIL Undisclosed Chloe Kusenberger, 20, of Portland shot her first deer last season with a 30-06. She missed the first six deer she shot at (buck/ doe fever), but the seventh time was the charm! Her hunting guide was Chris French.

BLACK DRUM Seadrift Holden Janysek caught this 44-inch black drum in Seadrift, Texas using cut crab while on a family fishing trip. It was his largest fish so far.

REDFISH Keith Lake Reyna Kibbe shows off his first redfish caught at Keith Lake using Gulp shrimp.

TURKEY

Lake Texoma

Mike and Karen Vaughan with Rio Grande Turkey shot while hunting in Gonzales County.

T E X A S

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SMALLMOUTH BASS

Gonzales

F I S H

Eleven-year-old Austen Hall caught this smallmouth bass while fishing at Lake Texoma.

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