Texas Fish & Game May 2019

May 2019 | $3.95

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Fishing at the Speed of Bass

Pirates!

Bad Guys On and Off the Water

www.FishGame.com

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Inside FISH & GAME 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.

by ROY and ARDIA NEVES TF&G Owners

ROY AND ARDIA NEVES

The First Thirty-Five Years

PUBLISHERS

CHESTER MOORE EDITOR IN CHIEF

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T’S HARD TO BELIEVE WE’VE BEEN AT THIS FOR THIRTY FIVE YEARS NOW. ALONG the way, since that first issue rolled off the presses of the local newspaper in Marble Falls, Texas, in May 1984, we have worked with a remarkably long list of talented and resourceful individuals, and with some great organizations vital to the future of the outdoors. First among those were fellow TF&G founders Bill Bray, Dan Alvey, and Marvin Spivey. Bray owned the Highland Publishing Company, on whose presses those first issues were printed. Alvey, who we wrote about a couple of months back after his untimely death, was FISH & GAME’s first publisher. And Spivey was its founding editor. We’ve said this often, but without those three guys, this magazine would not exist.

Bray not only provided the financial support needed to create, and then grow, a statewide publication, but drove much of that early growth with his keen marketing instincts and accounting prowess.

Alvey was only on board for the first two years, but made important early contributions, including gaining access to the State of Texas’s lists of registered boaters, hunters and anglers—something never before shared with the public.

Those lists were what Bray used to recruit our first subscribers—more than 20,000 of them in our first full year.

Spivey not only established the editorial personality of the magazine—much of which is still there today—he also Early column headshots of Spivey, brought on board an amazing roster of talented contributors: Tinsley and Doggett Russell Tinsley, Joe Doggett, Bob Hood, Ray Sasser, Hal Swiggett—a legendary line-up of nationally recognized outdoor writers that gave TEXAS FISH & GAME instant credibility and helped us gain a foothold in both the circulation and advertising markets.

Subsequent editors have also left their marks. Larry Bozka inaugurated our book division, which now totals more than a dozen titles in print. Don Zaidle, another talented spirit gone too soon, elevated the journalistic tone of our content. And now, Chester Moore has furthered our commitment to excellence in outdoor journalism, while increasing our profile as a voice of leadership in conservation.

One of the first organizations that we teamed with was the Vocational Agriculture Teachers Association of Texas (VATAT). More than 25 years ago, this group of ag teachers pioneered one of the most innovative new classes in high schools across Texas—a Wildlife Management course. And we got involved with them almost at the start, exposing our content to the most important asset the fishing and hunting communities have: our youth.

We’ve also worked with Texas chapters of Ducks Unlimited and the National Wild Turkey Federation.

These organizations shape the future for hunters and all outdoorsmen through their relentless efforts to maintain and build habitat, not just for the namesake birds of their organizations but for the benefit of all wildlife, and we have been proud to have worked with them and supported their programs.

One of the most significant partnerships we have enjoyed has been with Coastal Conservation Association (CCA). Just as we are celebrating our 35th year in business, CCA is marking the 30th anniversary of its popular and wildly successful State of Texas Angler Rodeo (S.T.A.R.) Tournament, which kicks off again this month. Guided with energetic, genius-level marketing and recruiting skills by Bill Kinney, the S.T.A.R. Tournament has drawn an ever-increasing number of members to CCA and has been a major factor in turning the Texas-based group into a national force for conservation. In addition to keeping the floodgates of new membership open, S.T.A.R. has also awarded tens of millions of dollars in scholarships to participating kids over the years. We have been involved with S.T.A.R. and CCA for more than two decades and count Bill, tournament services director Peggy McMillan and CCA president Pat Murray as good personal friends.

After spanning three and a half decades, existing in two centuries—heck, in two millennia—we’ve definitely been around a long time. But we plan to be around a long time yet, enjoying every minute.

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

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ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER SENIOR CONTRIBUTING EDITOR SENIOR CONTRIBUTING EDITOR EDITOR AT LARGE HUNTING EDITOR FRESHWATER EDITOR SALTWATER EDITOR BOATING EDITOR FIREARMS EDITOR SHOOTING EDITOR HUMOR EDITOR CONTRIBUTING EDITOR CONTRIBUTING EDITOR CONTRIBUTING EDITOR CONTRIBUTING EDITOR CONTRIBUTING EDITOR CONTRIBUTING EDITOR DIGITAL CONTRIBUTOR CONTRIBUTING PHOTO EDITOR

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TEXAS FISH & GAME (ISSN 0887-4174) is published monthly by Texas Fish & Game Publishing Co., LLC., 247 Airtex Dr. Houston, TX 77090. ©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 $24.95; 2 years $42.95; 3 years $58.95. Address all subscription inquiries to Texas Fish & Game, 247 Airtex Dr. Houston, TX 77090. 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, 247 Airtex Dr. Houston, TX 77090.

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Contents May 2019 | Vol. 36 • No. 1

FEATURE ARTICLES

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PIRATES OF THE TEXAS COAST Bad guys on and off the water and how to protect yourself and your boat.

by Lenny Rudow

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COVER STORY

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FISHING AT THE SPEED OF BASS

For hard-biting action, hit the road and fish the top five lakes in Texas for striped bass.

Slow, medium and fast strategies for catching huge bass.

story by Matt Williams photo by John N. Felsher

by Chester Moore

COLUMNS

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by CHESTER MOORE

TEXAS OUTDOOR NATION

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Doggett at Large

by JOE DOGGETT

Nugent in the Wild

by Ted Nugent

WEST TEXAS AOUDAD!

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Coastal Focus Columns

Round Two of our Whitetail Editor’s gruelling hunt for aoudad in the far West Texas back country.

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Texas Hotspots

story and photos by Larry Weishuhn

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Sportsman’s Daybook

Texas Freshwater

by CALIXTO GONZALES

Texas Whitetails

by LARRY WEISHUHN

Texas Guns

by STEVE LAMASCUS

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Tides & Prime Fishing Times

DEPARTMENTS

by MATT WILLIAMS

Texas Saltwater

One of your best offshore tools is your own eyesight. Here’s how to enhance it.

by Lenny Rudow

TEXAS STRIPER TRAIL

Editor’s Notes

OFFSHORE OPTICS

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Letters

by TFG Readers

Special Section

by TFG Staff

Outdoor Directory Fish & Game Photos

by TFG Readers

Fish & Game Gear

by TF&G Staff

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LETTERS to the Editor Turkey Talk

there is huge potential for turkey hunting to grow in popularity in Texas, especially with hunters who have deer leases in prime turkey country. It’s just a matter of education, and we will lead that charge on that issue on these pages.

IT WAS GREAT GETTING THE NEWSletter with the turkey information. Turkey hunting is vastly overlooked in Texas and I like what you are doing for these magnificent birds.

Do you think turkeys will ever get the attention they deserve here in Texas? In places like Georgia turkey are on par with whitetail.

DO YOU THINK THE WHITE TURkeys that you put in the newsletter could be hybrids with domestics?

Carter Jones

Travis Page Editor: No, I think they are wild birds.

Albinism and just simply cool color phases happen. Scientists say all the colors that domestic birds have can show in wild birds because turkeys have not been domesticated all that

Editor: Thanks for the kind words. The Turkey National is a labor of love and a concept I had to raise awareness to turkey conservation. Glad to see it’s connecting. I believe

long in comparison to say chickens. In other words if it shows up in captivity the genetic potential is there in the wild.

HAVE YOU HAD ANY SUCCESS YET on your quest to get good photos of the Grand Slam?

Crissy Roth Editor: Yes, I have been able to photograph Rio Grandes and eastern birds at the time of this writing. Much more to come. Keep an eye on these pages at at fishgame.com.

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Email your comments to: editor@fishgame.com

Editor-In-Chief Chester Moore was busted by this gobbler as he tried to sneak up near a tree for a better shot on his belly. “These were free-ranging birds on a farm and they didn’t know whether they were tame or wild or in between but this one was the boss,” Moore said. His wife Lisa shot this photo and caught an unforgettable moment. Photos of this bird obviously does not count for Chester’s Grand Slam but he said it was a blast.

“I got great photos of the turkeys eyes which was my mission. I am just glad I didn’t get spurred! He was very unhappy. and I had to share with the readers to show some of the crazy stuff that happens in the field.”

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EDITOR’S Notes

by CHESTER MOORE :: TF&G Editor-in-Chief

The Higher Calling

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HE HIGHER YOU CLIMB, THE farther you can see.

I learned this as a 12-year-old visiting Lookout Mountain near Chattanooga, Tennessee.

The claim is that seven states are visible from the summit. Although I’m not sure about that, I will never forget looking out and seeing the world from a mountain perspective.

This month marks 35 years of publication for Texas Fish & Game, a testament to hard work, vision and quality content. At this juncture of celebration it is time we climb even higher to get a better look at the big picture.

The world of wildlife, hunting, and fishing has never faced more threats, experienced quicker change, and collided with a world more confused and confounded than now.

It would be easy to dive into pessimism and join the chorus of people calling the younger generations clueless. This only spawns division and hate, while accomplishing zero for the cause.

We see today’s world as an opportunity to make positive strides forward. We can take wildlife conservation to a new level.

Under the North American Model, this involves hunting and fishing and consumptive engagement in the outdoors.

We also believe we can influence enough people who neither hunt nor fish, but who love wildlife, to join our cause. We can do this by going where no publication has gone with our coverage of important issues here in Texas Fish & Game and at a national level at fishgame.com.

We are in a deep investigation of teen poaching and root causes that has been incredible challenging and interesting. When is the last time you saw anything on this topic?

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The author, sharing the widllife experience with Kassi Creamer, one of the children in his Wild Wishes program.

If you did, it was in one of my columns here. The corporate wildlife media have ignored the problem. We won’t, and promise an eye-opening series of stories.

How about the border wall and wildlife?

Ever thought of the impact? This is not as simple as it seems. We’re not just talking about wildlife movement access but other issues such as commercial poaching from the Mexican side and wildlife trafficking. It’s all tied in.

Then there are the dangers being faced by landowners in certain areas. You will see reports on this here. There is much more including the future of the southern flounder, seagrass habitat issues, and the growing problems of hogs in urban and suburban areas.

You noticed I didn’t promise tales of some mid-40s guy with his pretty blond, 15-year-younger wife and their miraculous deer hunt— a hunt that produced a buck bigger than the legendary Hole in the Horn buck, and which cost more than most of our net worth to shoot. |

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Turn on any outdoor television network if that’s your flavor.

We heed a higher calling to give a look at the great outdoors that is not only information but inspiring. We will always have hot spots, “how-to” articles and engaging columns, but the feature space is more and reserved for cutting-edge articles and investigations to let you know what’s really going on in the great outdoors.

You deserve it, and it’s our promise to deliver.

“This Higher Calling” has become a slogan for my life this year on a personal level, and it’s exciting to see Texas Fish & Game headed upward.

Thirty-five years is a long time to cover the great outdoors but in my opinion you ain’t seen nothing yet.

« Email Chester Moore at cmoore@fishgame.com PHOTO: LISA MOORE

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DOGGETT at Large

by JOE DOGGETT :: TF&G Contributing Editor

B-Team Trout

speck’s lesser relative an editorial bone.

On occasion, other outdoor scribes have written specifically about sand trout, but such articles are scarce and seldom-touted—certainly not promoted front-and-center to help sell publications.

Come to think of It, I do not recall ever seeing a cable fishing show devoted to sandies, That’s a shock, given how many shows are out there and how hard-up some of them are for material.

Sand trout are B-team game, no question, but they deserve more credit. According to a scientific text, Fishes of the Gulf of Mexico, two strains are available—the sand seatrout (Cynoscion arenarius) and the silver seatrout (Cynoscion nothus). The latter, also known as the Gulf trout, typically is found in the open water off the beachfront.

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HE TEXAS PARKS AND WILDlife Department’s old monthly magazine, Texas Game and Fish, did a remarkable thing for the cover of the August 1961, issue. They ran a fullpage image of a sand trout.

Even more impressive, the image was not a photograph. It was a fine painting, an underwater scene of a predatory “sandy” turning with open mouth to grab a free-lined live shrimp.

According to the cover credits, the illustration was done by Henry Compton, a marine biologist stationed in Rockport.

Along with compiling marine statistics, Compton obviously had a talent for wielding a watercolor brush. The long-ago painting easily stands alongside similar works by established sporting artists. Also, it promoted Compton’s feature article, “Salt Water Sandies.”

To the best of my knowledge that is the only time, before or since, that the lowly cousin to the speckled trout received star billing on the cover of any outdoor publication in Texas.

During my 35 years on the Outdoor Desk of the Houston Chronicle, I recall only once writing a major feature devoted entirely to sand trout.

Back in the mid ’70s, several friends and I heard of a winter run of big sand trout at the Galveston Jetties. We took two boats and fished on the channel side of the North Jetty and used “fresh dead” on the bottom. We killed ‘em, filling two 48-quart Igloos with oneto two-pound fish.

I documented the trip with several photos.

We strung the fish on long surf stringers for a staggering group grip-and-grin. Thanks to a tolerant Bob Brister (the outdoor editor) and probably because not much else was going on, I had the top of our full Thursday page.

I doubt the exposure created a mad rush to the jetties that weekend, but at least I threw the 8

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Cynoscion arenarius, a.k.a. sand trout.

The sand seatrout is the one most inshore light-tackle anglers encounter. On the upside, they are plentiful and easy to catch, especially near the bottom in deeper water along jetties and channels and off surf piers.

Dead shrimp works well, an inexpensive alternative to costly quarts of kicking brownies. This makes them a great target for casual family-type outings, and no length or bag limits are imposed on the lowly sandies.

The downside is that sand trout are small.

A decent keeper weighs a bit either side of one pound, and anything pushing an honest two is exceptional. They do get larger (the state record is a bit over six pounds).

Years ago, I topped a box at the Galveston Jetties with a brace of four pounders. I don’t expect that to happen again anytime soon.

They were weighed at Tucker’s Camp on the South Jetty.

Many sand trout are downright puny.

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flocks of gulls chasing shrimp in the Galveston Bay complex. Often they are mixed with “jug specks” of similar size.

Sand trout are fine to eat, with white, flaky fillets, but the flesh is soft. They should be iced as soon as possible and do not freeze well. In truth, a big haul of no-limit sandies (as glorified by my long-ago article) constitutes shameful waste. However, a short string of keeper-sized sandies is a totally legitimate source for several fresh meals.

In recent years, fellow TF&G contributor Doug Pike and I have enjoyed scattered success with sand trout while “walking the rocks” of the Surfside Jetty. Frankly, they have been an appreciated reward more than once; especially when their spotted cousins were loathe to cooperate.

Pike and I usually chunk lures off the rocks, and the go-to choice for sandies is a 1/4-ounce shrimptail jig worked slowly near the bottom in the channel. Off surf piers, dead shrimp is excellent, especially if the surf is sandy. It’s not for nothing they are called “sand trout.”

As Compton’s long-ago painting suggested, the sand trout is an aggressive predator. Lure or bait, a decent fish usually hits with a surprisingly solid pull. Whoa! Here’s a good one!

The light rod bends with authority, but sadly, the subsequent fight doesn’t amount to much. Unlike the speck, a hooked sand trout seldom shows at the surface.

But a “keeper” is a worthy fish. Despite the haughty attitude of some hardcore pluggers, a one- to two-pound sand trout is not much different weight-wise than the typical speckled trout, based on sport fishing catch surveys.

No, it’s not as special as a big speck. But when you think about it, a five- or six-pound speck isn’t so hot when stacked against a 10- or 12-pound snook.

It’s all relative. Given the resource that the sand trout represents for average anglers, it certainly deserves more positive exposure than it receives.

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Email Joe Doggett at ContactUs@fishgame.com

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NUGENT in the Wild

by TED NUGENT :: TF&G Editor-at-Large

Kids, Kids and More Kids!

parents track down good old Uncle Ted and rave about their own thrilling “Spirit of the Wild” adventure joyfully sharing all the amazing details of their magical hunting moment with mom, dad, or other family members. You can feel the happiness and glowing energy as if you were right there at their side just by looking at the pictures of them grinning ear to ear with some handsome dead critter.

Most of their stories include the ultimate FUN exaltation of “whack ‘em and stack ‘em” or any number of the unambiguous battle cries coined by old happy go lucky Ted FUN Nugent. More proof of course that fun is and always has been and always will be the defining carrot for youngsters to take up our beloved hunting lifestyle.

That is so cool I can hardly stand myself.

If you are one of the many millions of Facebookers that chime in on my Ted Nugent Facebook electronic campfire each and every day, you can witness the onslaught of happy children that love to hunt as much as any of us.

Some of these little hunting kids are as young as five years old, and miracle of miracles, even teenagers are hard at it honing their pure reasoning predatorship touch and skills.

With the long running propaganda ministry of hateful, anti-hunting fake news media, vicious anti-hunting Hollywood insanity and a soulless academia for the most part, busy filling America’s youth’s minds with nasty anti-hunting, anti-gun, antinature drivel, it is nothing short

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NOTHER DAY, ANOTHER kid! Just how lucky can an old bowhunter get than constantly receiving one of the greatest joys available in life; hearing from kids from all over America every day celebrating hunting and the great outdoor lifestyle in this otherwise crazy day and age!

Not a day goes by that I don’t receive a letter and photo from a young boy and or a young girl with exciting celebrations of a successful hunt.

Think about that one for a minute. In 2019 in the bizzarro goofy world turned upside down with our purest American cultures and heritage being attacked from every angle every day, I get photos and stories from young Americans absolutely thrilled to have whacked their first deer, turkey, bear, rabbit, dove, duck, squirrel, pheasant, raccoon or any of the various species of big and small game in North America.

Boy, if that’s not the ultimate statement of politically incorrect, I’m a gay one-eyed socialist banjo player in an all transgender vegan country band.

One way or another, these kids and their

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of phenomenal that we continue to recruit new hunters in this country at all.

But lo and behold, I witness it every day and wish to salute and thank all those great parents out there that continue to educate and nurture their children to the truth, logic and commonsense of the essentiality of hunting, fishing and trapping as the only real wildlife conservation that has always produced healthy, thriving wildlife and wild grounds.

Somebody shout “Hallelujah!” out loud like ya mean it!

Let this be a lesson to all hunting families out there, that genuine effort should always be put forth to include our children, grandchildren and extended family and neighbor’s kids in our outdoor fun.

If we don’t do it, nobody else will and the dishonest negative powers that be will win the culture war against us.

Let us all vow in 2019 to try harder, push harder and strategize as cleverly as we can to get the young’uns out there with us.

As we throttle forward with our 31st year of Ted Nugent Kamp for Kids, the jury is not still out! The kids love it, the kids need it, and the kids will pursue it as long as we put forth that extra effort to make it happen.

2019 is the year! Take the kids with you. It will cleanse their souls and make America great again one future sporter at a time.

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Email Ted Nugent at tnugent@fishgame.com

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a topwater plug, or experienced the agony of catching double-digit numbers of fish until their arms beg for some relief.

Carey is a former largemouth junkie who turned striper freak more than four decades ago. That’s when he hired a guide and took his first trip to Lake Texoma in North Texas.

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LARGEMOUTH BASS HAVE had a stranglehold on freshwater popularity polls in Texas for as long as I can remember.

To hear Bill Carey of Pottsboro tell it, that may be because many of the state’s 400,000-plus bass fishermen have never witnessed the thunder of a 20-pound striper hammering

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Director based in Waco.

“Texoma is undoubtedly the state’s No. 1 striper lake,” he said. “Populations in other lakes supported entirely by stocking simply cannot match the numbers maintained through the natural reproduction that occurs at Texoma.”

To put those numbers into perspective, Van Zee pointed to gill net surveys Texas and Oklahoma fisheries biologists use to keep tabs on striper populations in Texoma and other lakes. He said typical catch rates in most stocked lakes are two to three fish per net. At Texoma, the number is normally about 18 fish per net.

“That 18 fish per net is just the average catch rate at Texoma,” Van Zee said. “This year, our catch rates are roughly 30 stripers per net, suggesting the overall number of striped bass in Lake Texoma is almost double what it is in a typical year. What makes that even better is that growth rates have also been well above average the last few years. It is not uncommon to catch multiple stripers between 10 and 20 pounds each day right now.”

Van Zee said he believes the spike in striper numbers at Texoma can be attributed to a 2015 super spawn combined with timely rains that have helped maintain water levels critical for recruitment and optimum growth.

“Texoma is typically known as a good lake to catch a 10-fish limit of “box” fish, about 12 to 19 inches,” he said. “But lately it has been tough to find groups of fish under 20 inches, of which you can only keep two fish per person. Though some anglers are disappointed about taking fewer fish, it’s certainly hard to complain about catching bigger fish. If you’ve had a striper fishing trip to Texoma on your bucket list, 2019 is the year to take that trip.”

As good as the striper fishing is at Texoma, Van Zee says there several other lakes across the state that are producing good numbers of quality-sized fish while offering anglers a good shot at catching a big one. Here they are ranked in numerical order.

It turned out to be a pretty expensive trip.

Carey, who earned his fishing stripes chasing lunker largemouths on lakes Bob Sandlin and Monticello, wound up going back to Texoma 33 more times before the year was out.

To say Carey was bitten by the striper bug is an understatement. It might be more accurate to say the silver-sided titans stole his fishing soul.

In 1983, he moved to Texoma and started what has since become one of the premier striper guide outfits on the 89,000-acre reservoir. It’s called Striper Express.

Today, the multi-boat operation employs nearly a half dozen guides. Striper Express caters heavily to thrill-seeking anglers who enjoy the challenge catching the brawny sport fish on artificial lures. Among tgese are the Cordell Pencil Popper, Rat-L-Trap, swim baits and bucktail jigs.

The 67-year-old guide isn’t bashful about sharing his affinity for fooling stripers on artificial baits, either. “Unlike some, we won’t bottom-fish you with live bait for an hour and then NASCAR your butt back to the dock,” he says.

Carey couldn’t have picked a better spot to set-up camp. Not in Texas, anyway. Texoma’s striper fishery is recognized as one of the best in the South and by far the best in Texas.

Anglers come from all over to catch Texoma stripers, and they spend a considerable amount of money. Economic studies indicate striper fishing pumps around $20 million annually into local businesses.

Texoma’s road to success is built largely around gifts from Mother Nature. Striper populations in most lakes are maintained by regular stockings using hatchery-raised fish.

However, that’s not the case on this Texas/ Oklahoma border lake.

Oklahoma biologists jump-started the population with generous stockings from 1965 to 1974. Since then, the fishery has been 100 percent self-sustaining thanks to timely spawning runs that occur during the spring of the year.

Texoma is fed by two major rivers, Washita and Red River. These are big, long, free-flowing waterways that allow the fish to migrate 60 to 80 miles upstream to spawn each spring.

Translation: Texoma is nothing short of a striper factory. It cranks out mega numbers of fish when current and other conditions are right during the spawning season, according to Brian Van Zee, Texas Parks and Wildlife Department Inland Fisheries Regional 14

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greatly from increased inflows that have kept the reservoir near or above conservation pool, increased prey availability and greatly reduced the threat of golden algae blooms,” Van Zee said.”

Those factors combined with an aggressive approach to stocking over the past few years has resulted in an incredible striper fishery—as good or better than anytime in the past.”

Van Zee added that Whitney is best known for its big numbers of four to eight pounders, but does crank out an occasional whopper in the 15- to 20-pound range. The best fishing typically occurs from mid-lake at the Katy Bridge to the dam. Known hotspots include the mouth of Cedron Creek, Bee Bluff, Walling Bend Park Island and main lake areas near Whitney and Towash Creeks.

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POSSUM KINGDOM

Size: 15,588 acres Lake Record: 34.19 pounds Comments: “Like most lakes Possum Kingdom has also benefited from increased water levels and stocking the past several years,” Van Zee said. “It has good numbers and a good size distribution of legal-length fish. It’s not a cookie cutter fishery. You could end up on a school of fast action decent fish that just wear you out, a school of chunky eaters or a school of fish you never thought you’d have the pleasure of fighting. In general, a school of stripers is relatively easy to locate, and there are quite a few guides available to put you on fish if you don’t know the lake well.”

Van Zee said surveys show an abundance of three- to six- pound fish along with good numbers in the seven- to elevenpound range and 15- to 20-pound class. He ranks it right up there with Texoma in terms of big fish potential.

“To me that’s a lot of the fun, knowing you have a great chance of getting on the fish, but still having the mystery of not knowing what

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size class you’re going to be getting into,” he said.

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LAKE BUCHANAN

Size: 22,211 acres Lake Record: 27.80 Comments: Van Zee says the scenic Hill Country impoundment ranks as the best in the San Marcos/Austin district and cranks out tall numbers of fish in the three- to five-pound range for fun-loving anglers and fishing guides who go there to chase them.

“The dissolved oxygen and temperature profile on Buchanan is conducive to survival and growth during the ‘summer pinch,’” he said. “There also is abundant forage in the form of gizzard shad.”

Van Zee also notes the lake’s abundant population of sunshine bass as a second-

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ary option. The white bass/striper hybrids have been stocked annually in big numbers since 2006 through an ongoing partnership between TPWD and the Lake Buchanan Conservation Corporation.

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LAKE TAWAKONI

Size: 37,879 acres Lake Record: 22.50 pounds Comments: Van Zee said Tawakoni’s abundant forage base supports strong cohorts of quality and box-size stripers as well as big numbers of hybrid stripers and outsize blue catfish. The lake is heavily stocked with striped and hybrid bass each year to keep up with intense fishing pressure from locals and the nearby Dallas area. It also so maintains an excellent white bass fishery.

Anglers often score fast limits by keying on flocks of birds that gather just above the surface to feed on fleeing shad.

Runner Up: Lake Granbury Size: 8,300 acres Lake Record: 20.03 Comments: “Granbury has seen a dramatic resurgence in its striper population with most of the fish in the four- to sixpound class with a few big fish,” Van Zee said. “Overall striper densities are lower in Granbury when compared to Whitney, and anglers do have to contend with a lot more pleasure boaters. Experienced anglers who don’t mind working a little harder and putting up with boat traffic will be rewarded.”

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UST HOW WELL CAN YOU PROTECT your boat–and yourself?

There hasn’t been a documented case of maritime piracy in Texas waters for generations. You’re much more likely to be a victim of porch pirates or have your music pirated than be held at gunpoint by pirates at sea.

Unfortunately, you’re still at risk of scofflaws and dirt bags once you shove off the dock. And there are even bigger risks when you’re still at the dock, since the recent surge in the theft of electronics from boats means that you may be boarded while tied up in your slip and napping in the cabin.

Texas has a long and colorful history of boats flying the Jolly Roger dating back to the 1600s. South Padre Island and the Laguna Madre were once considered pirate territory, frequented by the likes of Jean Lafitte and Cornelius Holz (better known as Peg Leg).

So the question remains: just how well can you defend your boat?

All At Sea First, let’s touch on the legalities or running a boat, armed. In the United States, the legal right to carry firearms extends beyond state waters, and state law at nine nautical miles from shore, into federal waters. According to the NRA, “Firearms and armed citizens can be as effective a criminal deterrent at sea as they are on land.”

Your rights beyond state lines are affirmed by the Coast Guard Authorization Act, signed by President Obama in 2010, which in section 912, “shields an owner, operator, time charterer, master, mariner or individual who uses, or authorizes the use of force to defend a vessel of the United States against piracy, from liability for monetary damages for any injury or death caused by such force to any person engaging in an act of piracy if such force was in accordance with standard rules for the use of force in self-defense of vessels.”

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Although it’s clear that you’re within your rights to carry while aboard your boat, and we certainly can’t think of a better defense mechanism than a loaded gun, one important point should be noted: the corrosive salt environment can wreak havoc on a firearm.

As a result, it’s wise to keep firearms well protected and in an airtight case while on a boat. They should be cleaned back on land regardless of use, and closely inspected for corrosion.

Some factors related to being on a boat must be in the forefront of your mind if you ever need to use a firearm. First and foremost—as you well know—boats rock.

This can make aiming a firearm exceedingly difficult so choose your weapon accordingly.

Secondly, remember a firearm in your hand has the ability to put a hole through the fiberglass that’s keeping you afloat.

More than one boat has had to rush back to the dock after a shark was brought onboard and dispatched with a bullet through the head— which then traveled down

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through the deck and hull.

Another form of defense at sea that is well worth consideration is enhanced communications. In this day and age, satellite communications that work across the globe have become incredibly affordable. Obviously, this has the added benefit of allowing you to send out an SOS not only for incidents of piracy or aggression, but also in case of mechanical or weather-related problems.

Text messengers such as the Garmin inReach and SPOT satellite messengers cost just a few hundred dollars, though monthly subscription fees can add a couple hundred bucks per year. This allows for text messaging as well as sending out an SOS. GOST Systems’ “Cloak” releases a fog to disorient intruders.

Security at the Dock

Unfortunately, in recent years thieves have taken to entering marinas by water and ripping the electronics out of a boat’s helm station or stealing the boat altogether.

Strictly speaking this isn’t piracy, but the problem has grown so bad in Florida, that social media groups such as “Stolen Boats and Motors in Florida” have begun cropping up.

“The bad guys go where the opportunity is,” says BoatU.S. Special Investigations Unit director Rich Carroll. “This is a sad problem, but it’s not going away. Much of this battle is making your boat less attractive to thieves and making them go elsewhere.”

To that end, nothing’s better than installing a security system on your boat. This offers you protection for your property. Also, if you’re onboard and asleep when a nefarious character steps aboard, it can scare them off before your firearm becomes necessary.

To that end, at least one company, GOST Systems, has evolved to provide marine security systems designed specifically for boats.

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Along with the usual strobe lights, cameras, and sirens, they’ve developed invasion prevention devices such as “The Cloak,” which fills the cabin of your boat with a glycol fogging solution to confuse and disorient any intruders.

They also have infrared beam sensors, deck pressure sensors, and door and hatch sensors that can set off the alarm when an unexpected visitor tries to enter your boat.

There’s even a canvas snap sensor that triggers when a boat’s cover is removed. These items are designed specifically for boats, unlike home alarm systems, which may not be able to stand up to the marine environment.

Another option is the Siren Marine MTC, a cellular-based unit that monitors your boat and communicates with you via an app.

These systems have similar motion- or pressure-based sensors, which can be set up to send you a text alert.

Added bonus: you can wire in bilge water level monitors, battery charge monitors, and similar sensors that allow you to constantly monitor the status of your boat. All of the above systems include GPS tracking devices,

Siren Marine monitors your boat and sends alerts to your cell phone.

so if someone makes off with your boat when you’re not around, you can pinpoint it and notify the authorities.

Aaaaargh!

So, just how worried should you be about buccaneers along the Gulf coast—not very.

But setting the dictionary definition of piracy

aside, you have plenty to think about concerning how to defend yourself and your boat—both in the marina and while at sea.

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HEN YOU’RE FISHING OFFSHORE, what’s the best fish-finding instrument aboard your boat?

You might immediately think of your fishfinder, but if you carefully contemplate the question, you might realize that your own eyes probably find more fish than the screen at your helm.

When you’re fishing offshore, being able to spot rips, flotsam, shrimpers, working birds, and feeding frenzies are all things that can turn a slow day into rod-bending havoc. But in all of these cases you need to be able to see these things from afar, often in distances measured by miles.

In this case, the naked eye needs some assistance. The best way to get that assistance is with a good marine binocular.

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A shrimper and a flock of birds is a sure sign of solid fishing potential. The question is will you spot them without a good binocular?

Good quality binoculars have coated lenses to prevent reflections in the marine environment where we’re constantly fighting glare. Also, they are filled with an inert gas (commonly nitrogen or argon) to make them fog proof. Look for rubberized armor on your binocular so it’s protected Quality binocu-

A standard marine binocular generally offers 7X magnification and a field of view of either 30 or 50 degrees. A less powerful binoc isn’t as helpful, but more magnification is problematic because the motion of your boat makes it impossible to focus on anything.

An internal compass in your binocular can be very helpful for getting a bearing to call out to the helmsman when you spot something of interest, and obviously, you’ll want to choose a model that’s waterproof.

lars should have coated lenses and be water proof.

from those inevitable drops to a fiberglass deck.

A big step up is image stabilization. Image stabilization mitigates any rocking and rolling, which makes much more powerful magnification practical. In fact, with a gyroscopically stabilized binocular you can get a usable image with as much as 14X or even 18X magnification even when the boat is in rough water.

The bottom-line difference?

With a regular marine binocular you may be able to ID a handful of birds diving from a couple of miles away.

However, with one of these more potent units you might spot them from seven or eight miles out. That can make the difference between a day of boredom, and a day of rod-bending havoc offshore.

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Texas FRESHWATER

by MATT WILLIAMS :: TF&G Freshwater Editor

Bass Eats Bass–What if It’s a Record?

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IG BASS ARE WELL KNOWN for their voracious appetites when the dinner bell rings. That’s why anglers who are serious about catching them frequently use big swim baits upwards of eight inches long, 12-inch worms and other super-size lures to tempt them.

Lake Athens fisherman Jim Brack is a firm believer in the theory that big baits catch big bass.

He recently shared a whale of a fish story that puts some proof in the pudding’.

In late January, Brack and Bryan Lewis of Crandall were fishing at the 1,800-acre East Texas Lake when Lewis felt a bite on a Carolina-rigged soft plastic Baby Brush Hog. He was dragging the lure around a hydrilla bed in about 10 feet of water. Lewis set the hook and the fight was on.

The angler told Brack it felt like a fairly decent fish, but nothing they might need the net for.

Moments later, an ordinary battle turned into an all out war.

“The fish had just come off the outside grass line and was almost to the boat when all of the sudden it stopped and just took off in the opposite direction,” Brack said. “Bryan worked it to the surface, and that’s when I saw what looked like two tails facing in opposite directions. I thought it was a big catfish at first, but then I saw it was two bass—one with the head of the other jammed five to six inches inside its mouth. One of bass was huge.”

Brack doesn’t know for sure how big the larger of the two fish was. Just as he was about to grab the line, the big bass shook its head just below the surface, lost its grip on the smaller fish, and swam away.

The smaller bass was still attached to Lewis’s hook. Brack said it weighed about five pounds.

“I don’t know how much the bigger one weighed, but there is no doubt it was in the double digits,” Brack said. “I’ve caught doubledigit fish before. I know what they look like, and I 24

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got a really good look that this one.”

Brack said he already knew big bass were eating machines, but this experience took the belief to a new level.

“I’ve heard of four pounders trying to eat one pounders, but I’ve never heard of another bass trying to eat a five pounder,” he said. “I’ve been

bass fishing for 56 years, and I’ve never seen anything like that. We were both dumbfounded.

It was nuts.”

The bass-eat-bass incident was bizarre in a number ways. Some may be wondering what the outcome may have been had the angler landed the bigger of the two bass before it got away.

What if it had turned out to be a Toyota ShareLunker candidate? —or a new state record?

Would it have qualified for either award?

Not so, says Craig Bonds, director of inland fisheries with the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department.

According to Bonds, when the smaller bass

Bryan Lewis of Crandall was reeling in this five pounder at Lake Athens when a much larger bass attacked the fish and engulfed its entire head. The bigger fish, estimated to be in the “double digits” by Lake Athens fishing guide Jim Brack, released the smaller fish in plain view at the side of the boat.

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ate Lewis’s soft plastic it became the bait that enticed the bigger fish to strike. A black bass is a game fish, and it is illegal to use a game fish, or any part of one, as bait in Texas.

“Bass caught intentionally or inadvertently on a game fish would not be eligible for angler recognition or ShareLunker program entries,” Bonds said. “We have to protect the integrity of those programs, and it’s difficult to prove intent.”

Junior Thomas of Alba knows the situation all too well.

In Fall 2010, Thomas was fishing for crappie around the FM 515 Bridge at Lake Fork when he hooked a crappie on 1/16-ounce jig rigged on ultralight gear. Thomas was reeling the crappie to the boat when a big bass gobbled it up and took off.

The angler landed both fish 40 minutes later.

The bass, which weighed 15.69 pounds on uncertified scales, likely would have ranked among the Top 50 heaviest bass ever reported in Texas had it been caught on a lure or minnow instead of a crappie.

Like bass, the crappie is a game fish and cannot be used as bait. Any fish caught on crappie—even if it happens unintentionally—is not

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a legal catch.

Interestingly, Thomas was already aware of the scenario when the prize bass ate his crappie.

The angler had caught and released two fish over 10 pounds the same way the month before.

Thinking there was a chance he might catch a bigger one, he contacted TPWD’s law enforcement headquarters ahead of time to ask about the legalities.

“I was curious to learn what the ruling would be if a sure-nuff ShareLunker -sized bass grabbed hold of one these crappie, and you were lucky enough to get it in,” he said. “It is well-known around here that big bass love crappie.

You hear about fishermen getting crappie ripped off their hooks or getting their lines broke by big bass at Lake Fork pretty frequently. If you spend much time fishing for crappie around the bridges, sooner or later it is going to happen.”

Thomas received a reply from Robert Goodrich, now retired from duties as TPWD’s assistant chief of fisheries enforcement. Goodrich explained that it is not legal to retain any fish that is caught using game fish for bait, even if it is unintentional.

“The bottom line is you can’t use game fish for

bait,” Goodrich said. “It was ultimately a crappie that attracted that fish, not the artificial jig. When the crappie ate the jig, it became the bait.”

Although Thomas is thankful he checked on the ruling ahead of time, he said it didn’t ease the pain of turning a fish loose that ultimately would have won him $10,000 in cash had it been caught legally.

Thomas was pre-registered in the 2009-10 Lake Fork Bounty Bonanza. The now-defunct promotional program was run for several years by the Lake Fork Area Chamber of Commerce.

It offered cash rewards to pre-registered anglers who caught whopper bass from the 27,000-acre lake. The bounty on a Top 50 fish was $10,000.

“It’s one thing to conquer a 10-pound bass and put it back in the water, but to catch a Top 50 fish worth $10,000 and kiss it goodbye—now that will put a knot in your stomach,” Thomas said. “I was sick about it, but I really didn’t have a choice.”

« Email Matt Williams at ContactUs@fishgame.com

4/14/19 10:31 AM

Texas SALTWATER

by CALIXTO GONZALES :: TF&G Saltwater Editor

Peanuts for Elephants

“Big baits, big fish” is usually the ticket, but sometimes even big fish eat small.

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NE OF THE MOST COMMON mantras among inshore fishermen who have their eyes set on trophy-sized gamefish has been, “Big baits, BIG FISH!!!”

For the most part, that premise is true. A trophy speckled trout or a bull red prefers a sizeable meal and focus on prey that fits that bill. It only stands to reason that lures that present a similar size profile would be the choice to fool these bruisers. Put a Super Spook or a six-inch soft plastic in front of a giant that is actively feeding, and good things will probably happen.

In some cases, such as during spring, smaller fish and crustaceans are the only available forage. If you wanna eat, you eat small.

Other times, such as in late summer and fall, smaller bait are very plentiful, and fish target them to gorge themselves. When shrimp begin their migrations out of shallow systems to head out to the gulf, trophy class trout and redfish gorge themselves on the sudden crustacean bonanza.

That does not mean that the fisherman hoping to hook and land the fish of a lifetime should dump out all the sub-four-inch tails and plugs in his tacklebox and replace them with industrial-sized lures. Even anglers dedicated to catching the larger gamefish in a given bay system can have a use for smaller lures.

In fact, there are times where even the biggest fish will exclusively prefer smaller baits and lures. Like the idea to which this column’s title alludes, even elephants prefer to eat a peanut now and again.

It would seem counter-intuitive for a big

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fish to eat small prey. It takes a lot of calories to sustain the metabolism of a large critter, and it would seem to make no sense to expend those calories for anything but larger meals to net the most nutrition from the effort of chasing, catching, and eating it.

However, in the right conditions, large fish will consume small stuff. The most coveted state record, Bud Rowland’s 15 pound 5 ounce speckled trout, slurped in a fly the size of a quarter, Rowland’s vaunted “Numero Uno.” You would figure that a beast like that would’ve been waiting for a hand-sized pinfish or foot-long mullet to swim by, but it nailed a fly a little bigger than a thumbnail.

Like I said, peanuts for elephants.

In the fall, areas such as Sabine Lake undergo a migration of shrimp from the marshlands into the lake proper, and every predator in the system puts on the feedbag.

You’ll see shrimp jumping and fleeing unseen fish trying to bust them.

In a situation like this, you have to match the hatch not just in appearance, but in size.

An excellent choice for this situation is the three-inch DOA Shrimp or three-inch CAL Shad.

You can either swim the bait, or work it |

under a noisy float (DOA also offers a rig known as the “Deadly Combo,” which is a DOA Shrimp set up under a popping cork so you can just take it out of the package, tie it on, and get to fishing.

Another great choice for this sort of fishing opportunity is a small popper such as the Rebel’s Pop’R or Yo Zuri’s Popper. Both of these plugs are around three inches long. The combination of the plug’s size and the noise of the popping will get the fish’s attention and usually stimulate a strike.

There are times when predators are in a negative mood because of conditions, such as in the Dog Days of summer, when a lack of wind and increase water temperatures put trout into a profound case of lockjaw.

This is the sort of situation where not even live bait can get many strikes. The fish are simply not feeding. When this happens, a small lure such as a DOA Shrimp, or a MirrOlure MirrOdine are good choices.

There is some work that comes with the approach, however.

Gamefish, trout especially, will be holding around reefs, spoil banks, and potholes.

You’ll have to work to spot these holding fish.

When you do locate one (and sometimes PHOTOS: DOA LURES

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pickings they present. It’s quite a sight to behold when these apex predators tear into one of these schools of fry and decimate them in clouds of red foam.

The two-inch DOA Terroryez or a MirrOdine are good selections for these chaotic scenes. However, Live Target has created an entire line of plugs designed just for these scenarios. The Bait Ball series is a line of plugs that are made to simulate the schools of small bait that these fish devour by the mouthful. Each plug has a holographic image of the fry that comprise these baitballs. When a bonito, tarpon, or kingfish focuses on the plug, it doesn’t see a singular target; it sees a pod of baitfish trying to flee the maelstrom.

Another feature of the Bait Ball plugs is that they allow an angler to use heavier tackle, which comes in handy when you latch onto a rampaging 50-pound tarpon or 48-inch kingfish.

Remember, these ARE elephants we’re talking about.

A three-inch DOA Shrimp does does the job on a nice big speck.

a pair), cast your offering past the fish and work it right back to them.

When you get the bait in front of the fish, stop and let the lure suspend in front of the fish. Right. In. Front. Usually, when the trout sees an easy target that won’t take too much

effort to consume, it’ll inhale it.

The late summer Texas surf is dotted with baitballs of rain minnows, pilchards, and other smaller species. All sorts of predators, including big tarpons, jacks, redfish, bonito, and kingfish strafe these schools for the easy

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GROWING UP IN THE LATE ’70S AND early 1980s, I lived the pursuit of big bass vicariously, watching bass television legends such as Bill Dance, Jimmy Houston, Roland Martin and Orlando Wilson slugging it out with lunkers on top lakes across the country.

At age nine, I first tasted actually hanging into a bass on an old Devil’s Warhorse topwater worked along some shallow timber on Toledo Bend reservoir. By my late teens, I had learned much more about bass and was learning about working the grass on Sam Rayburn.

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At this point, it was obvious anglers who wanted to catch really big bass did things differently. Over the years that has become even more evident.

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A Small Reel that Packs a Huge Punch THE TATULA 100 IS THE SMALLEST AND LIGHTEST REEL IN THE popular series from Daiwa. It is the most comfortable and palmable reel seen in many years. With a featherweight 6.9 ounces it may be the lightest, most fatigue-free, reel Daiwa has ever built.

The Zero Adjuster spool setting and T-Wing System level wind, casts longer and more accurately. The comfort is enhanced by redesigned Soft Touch Handle Knobs. The reel is also well suited for junior anglers with smaller hands. The bones of the reel are strong with an Aluminum Frame providing rigidity and a smooth performance.

• • • •

Zero Adjuster T-Wing System Redesigned Soft Touch Handle Knobs Aluminum Frame for strength, rigidity and smooth performance • A Light Line Baitcaster well suited for finesse applications • Matte Black Finish with Custom Spider Graphics • Available Gear Ratios (6.3:1) (7.1:1) (8.1:1)

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FEATURES • Compact 38mm Size • Feather Weight of 6.9-ounces • Magforce®-Z cast control

The Daiwa Tatula 100, smallest and lightest in the series.

One of the absolute best ways to catch huge bass is to slowly fish swimbaits in areas where few fish see them.

Swimbaits are essentially soft plastic crankbaits that allow anglers to cover lots of water and fish with a simple retrieve to target big fish. Most major tackle companies have some sort of swimbait on the market, ranging from foot-long $40 trout-mimicking works of art to more affordable fare.

There are many different styles of bass fishing, and some suit some anglers better than others. I have picked my favorite slow, medium and fast strategies for catching big bass. I think they will help you improve your game by connecting you with the right lure for the right time, with the right reel.

Slow

PHOTOS: JOHN N. FELSHER

Slow is not my forte. I am an intense, bull in a China shop. I have to really work hard at anything that can even be loosely construed as slow or finesse. However, many times that is exactly what is required to catch big bass.

“Swimbaits have been invaluable for me fishing on Lake Falcon in particular,” said 2008 Bassmaster Classic winner Alton Jones.

“They will get big fish when other baits don’t seem to get the job done. I have seen big fish get up and follow a big swimbait when they seemingly get lockjaw in clear water.”

I, too, have had good luck getting big bass to come out of hiding with swimbaits when nothing else seemed to work. This is particularly true when it comes to clear water.

One particular set of private lakes I fished had super clear water. Everyone threw small, delicate lures and caught few big fish.

However, throwing a big swimbait in natural

Swimbaits, fished slowly, can catch huge bass.

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colors and slowly swimming it adjacent to cover seemed to draw more strikes.

Rigged on a casting reel with a little slower gear ratio such as 6.3:1 or similar is a great way to get those big fish to come out. The gear ratio describes how many revolutions the reel makes per turn of the handle. The higher the number, the more line gets pulled at once and vice versa.

I like to simply reel the swimbait at about the rate of speed it takes to keep it from sinking. Just swim it on an even, steady keel and be patient. You won’t get many strikes, but the ones you do get will most like be better than average fish.

plugs after hours.

These techniques require different gear ratios to coincide with the diverse lures and speeds required. The Daiwa Tatula 100 comes in 6.3:1, 7.1:1 and 8.1:1 ratios and is incredibly light, allowing for a very comfortable angling experience.

“This is by far the best reel they have come out with including the Steez”, said Brent Ehrler, Major League Fishing Bass Pro. “I had the fortunate opportunity to use it when it was in the prototype stage, and I was asked

multiple times to return it so they could check the wear and tear.

“I refused to return it. That’s how much I like it.”

No matter which reel you buy or where you fish these techniques can help you find big bass and at the end of the day that’s what matters, right?

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Medium This is my favorite pace to fish because I can use medium depth crankbaits to fish the end of boat ramps, piers and docks.

Most anglers fish right against the bank, along the bulkheads and all around the pilings.

If you look closely at how all of these structures are designed, there’s much more than the eye can see. With a good depth finder you will notice boat docks extend out much farther than you think. Piers sometimes have concrete padding or support beams underwater that go out from the main structure. These spots are rarely fished, so if you chunk a medium diving crankbait on a casting reel with a ratio somewhere in the 7.1:1 category, you can quickly cover these locations. You can also pick away at the normal spots on the visible structure.

Fast Bass see many topwaters worked over their lairs, but how many times do they see lures walked quickly?

Topwaters are great for catching big bass.

When you have a falling barometer and the fish are in heavy feeding mode, try “walking the dog” as fast as you can in transition zones between deep and shallow water. Any spot where the water drops immediately from say three feet, to eight or 10 feet is a killer place to find a monster bass.

You will need a reel with a higher ratio of at least 7:1 or up to 8:1 for this technique.

Topwater fishing creates a lot of slack in the line, and a higher gear ratio helps you take up that slack quickly for hookset.

This technique works great, but for added fun try it at night. Big bass like hitting surface

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TEXAS WHITETAILS

by LARRY WEISHUHN :: TF&G Contributing Editor

May There Be Fawns

S

HALL WE SAY, I WAS A BIT shaken—perhaps better described as shaking!

Moments earlier I had stepped on a cottonmouth moccasin. Cottonmouths scare me! It had been lying right next to several dark oak limbs and blended in perfectly.

Admittedly, I had not really been watching the ground. I was slipping quietly through tall grass and weeds next to the normally dry creek, which winds through my property looking for whitetails.

I was thankful I had been wearing “snake leggings,” which I don religiously whenever on my property spring to early fall because of the possibility of snake encounters and because of briars and brambles. The slithery, aggressive serpent had struck my legging just above my ankle before making good an escape into dense ground cover. My leggings had protected me from the snake’s bite.

Too, before leaving home I sprayed the leggings and my boots thoroughly with Sawyer’s Permethrin. I knew doing so would help me avoid being eaten upon by chiggers or red bugs. As my friend Jim Zumbo says, “I’d rather face a mad mother grizzly than get bitten by chiggers!”

I had all but forgotten about the three does and their five less-than-two-weeks-old fawns. While the fawns nursed, the does munched on Smilax leaves from vines I had fertilized in February. Among other things that morning I planned to check where to plant spring and early summer Tecomate forages. Throughout the rest of the day I used one eye to look for deer, the other to look where I stepped.

I also wanted to check on some other plantings I had done. Throughout the hunting season I carried a walking stick and a bag filled with persimmon seeds, pecans, and

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In order to have bucks like this four or more years from now, we need a high fawn survival rate this spring.

white oak acorns. As I walked throughout my property I poked holes in the ground dropped in one of the three different “seeds”.

Then I took a few steps and repeated the process. I wanted to see if any had sprouted.

Many had.

In time, those seedlings would produce a tremendous amount of food and cover, not only for whitetail deer but also many other wildlife species. I know it might take many years for my efforts to produce mast crops.

However, I have always believed one should leave any property where one is involved to be better because of having been there.

I glassed the does and fawns. I hoped the majority of them would survive. During February and March, I had removed four coyotes from my and adjoining property. My combination of Ruger rifles, Trijicon scopes and Hornady ammo had proved deadly on the potential fawn killers. |

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Three of the coyotes had responded to my hand-blown call made by Chris Treiber. The fourth—or actually the first one—I had shot while it chased four does in early January.

That one was a big male which weighed 62-pounds on our ranch scales.

The work of a wildlife manager/hunter is never really done. More coyotes need to be taken, possibly a bobcat as well. Recently I have seen tracks of three different spotted feline predators. It’s time to ensure fawn survival. The future of the deer herd and quality hunting depends on fawns surviving and living into the older age classes.

Are you doing your part?

« Email Larry Weishuhn at ContactUs@fishgame.com

PHOTO: LARRY WEISHUHN

4/10/19 4:04 PM

Texas GUNS

by STEVE LAMASCUS | TF&G Shooting Editor

The .45 Automatic Colt Pistol

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CCORDING TO MY CURrent edition of the Hornady Handbook of Cartridge Reloading: “The .45 ACP was adopted by the United States Ordinance Department in 1911, six years after its introduction by John Moses Browning, a singularly American firearms genius.”

The reason for the adoption of the .45 ACP as the American military combat pistol was rooted in the past, when the U.S. had tried to trade up (or down?) from the old .45 Colt Single Action Army to a new .38 caliber double action handgun.

This seemed a good idea at the time, but when the .38 was used in combat, it was found to be lacking in knockdown power. During the Philippine Insurrection (1899 to 1902) it was used against Moro fighters who were hopped up on drugs. It was found that a U.S. soldier could empty his .38 into a Moro, and the enemy would just keep coming, to hack the soldier to pieces with a machete.

The .38 performed so poorly, that the old .45 Colt SAA revolvers still in serviceable condition were quickly shipped to the Philippines.

There, they served as admirably, and as effectively, as they had on the American frontier.

This started the search for a semi-auto handgun firing a powerful cartridge. The end result was the famous Model 1911 .45 Automatic Colt Pistol and the .45 Auto cartridge. Not surprising, the .45 Auto was ballistically very similar to the black powder load for the .45 Colt.

The old .45 Auto was never found to be wanting, and it was in fighting hands all across the world in WWI, WWII, Korea, and Vietnam.

It was a Colt 1911 .45 that Sergeant Alvin York used to win his Medal of Honor in the trenches of WWI, not a Luger as portrayed in the movie

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The load the .45 Auto is famous for is the 230-grain, round-nosed, full-metal jacket bullet at 850 feet per second. This is undoubtedly a good manstopper, but there are better rounds available for the civilian. I prefer a 230-grain Federal Hydra Shok hollow point, but there are many good rounds on the market today.

These days I use a .45 a lot for concealed carry. My current .45s are a Kimber Pro Carry and a Kimber Raptor, but I have used a number of different 1911 models over the years, including full-sized commercial models, a couple of military 1911A1s, one a custom-built target gun, Colt Commanders, and a little Kimber Ultra Carry. All served their purpose, and I never had one that didn’t function perfectly.

In years past this was not always true. At one time the 1911, except for specially built target guns, was thought to be inaccurate and hard to shoot. This was mainly because the tolerances of the older 1911s were very sloppy and most of them had been shot to pieces by the military before they hit the civilian market.

Today almost any commercial 1911 is as accurate as the “full-race guns” of years past and as dependable as any semi-auto made. You can, probably, thank Kimber for that.

When they first began to produce their fine series of 1911s, the other manufacturers, which at that time were very few, being primarily Colt, had to make better guns or sink. They followed suit and today almost every major handgun manufacturer makes a very fine 1911.

The .45 Auto is more popular today than it has ever been, and it deserves its popularity. As a fighting handgun, it is in a class by itself.

Now, I understand the Navy SEALs are contemplating a new handgun in .45 Auto to replace the more common SIG Model P226 9mm that has been their standard sidearm for years. It will be a double-action semi-auto that will hold more rounds than the 1911. It is, I think, a step in the right direction. Maybe the rest of the U.S. military will follow their lead, but don’t hold your breath.

with Gary Cooper. It also found much use in the Pacific Campaign of WWII and accounted for many Japanese soldiers during banzai charges when the Marine using it ran out of ammo for his primary weapon. I have read many of the old stories and they are awe inspiring, both for the courage of the Marines and the lethality of the old .45.

The U.S. military has mothballed the old 1911 and last I heard, was issuing Berettas in 9mm. The reason for this is not because there is anything wrong with the .45, but to conform to the calibers used by the NATO forces.

I guess the U.S. military can’t learn from past mistakes. The 9mm fires a .355-inch bullet, very much like the .358- to .360-inch bullet used in the military .38 that had failed so miserably in the Philippines. However, some of the Special Forces operators who can choose their own sidearm are now packing .45 autos because they found the 9mm with the required hardball ammo to be a poor manstopper.

In my opinion, the .45 ACP, and the 1911 pistol, is the finest fighting semi-auto cartridge/ handgun ever invented. I doubt seriously that anything will ever be invented that is better, but some of the new .45s are very good.

Anything more powerful is too difficult to shoot well and anything much less powerful is a poor manstopper. It is true the 9mms hold more ammo, but that only means that you can shoot the bad guy more times before he goes down.

I would rather have fewer rounds and only have to shoot him once. I guess the Special Forces guys agree with me.

A friend of mine, a customs agent in the 1980s, had reason to sing the praises of the 1911 .45. When I went to the Border Patrol Academy I needed money, so I sold him the Ithaca-made 1911A1 that I had carried off duty as a police officer in Uvalde. He carried it on duty in plain clothes. When he had a shooting encounter with a group of drug smugglers in the jungle along the Rio Grande below Falcon Lake, his shotgun froze up after the first shot.

Jim threw down the shotgun and pulled the old 1911A1, finishing the fight with the .45, accounting for at least one of the smugglers.

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4/11/19 5:30 PM

E WERE SET UP TO GLASS LONG before first light. As black turned to gray we spotted two bull elk. One had antlers and the other was in velvet about a quarter of the way developed.

Moments later we spotted what we assumed were the same young ram herd we had stalked close to earlier in the hunt. The older mature rams we saw the evening before apparently had drifted into a hidden canyon or left the country.

We decided to crawl to the top of the ridge where we had last seen the older rams, there to sit and watch.

If the rams were bedded on top of the ridge, we hoped we could slip in and spot them before they saw us.

An hour later we set up where we had a commanding view of the ridge top. An hour passed before we spotted three rams, all big. They moved back and forth between two stands of cedar and oak, along the ridgetop about 500 yards away.

When they disappeared, we quickly moved to get closer. Much to our surprise and theirs, we did get closer, like within 20 yards!

Jackie urged, “Shoot!” the moment we saw the biggest of the three. But I didn’t. I waited, knowing my cameraman, Dustin Blankenship, needed to get footage before I shot. I waited for him to tell me to shoot.

We had seen them first, but immediately upon being discovered the rams bolted and were gone. Both Jackie and I shook our heads. Initially, the three rams had acted like they had never before seen a human. Quite frankly they probably had never before encountered a human, at least not at such a close range.

Having spooked the rams, we headed off the mountain in hopes of finding more, and we did right before dark. Again, upon closer inspection Jackie proclaimed them, “Not what we’re looking for!”

34 u TEXAS COASTAL FORECAST

by Capt. Eddie Hernandez Capt. Mike Holmes Mike Price Capt. Chris Martin Capt. Mac Gable Tom Behrens Capt. Sally Black Calixto Gonzales

43 u TEXAS FISHING HOTSPOTS

SALTWATER

by Tom Behrens FRESHWATER

by Dustin Warncke and Dean Heffner

50 u SPORTSMAN’S DAYBOOK Tides and SoLunar Data

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Wildlife Systems guide, Jackie Murphy glasses for distant aoudad.

Next morning, first light, we were back glassing for aoudads. After seeing only young rams, we decided to drive to another series of ridges. Doing so, we spotted several rams in the low country. We drove past them without slowing down to get out of their sight, hoping we would not spook them.

Pickup stowed in a canyon, we peered over the ridge, and we counted a total of 43 rams. The huge bachelor herd was feeding their way upslope. Quickly we dropped behind the ridge and plotted a stalk, which would intersect their travel up the mountain.

What followed was truly great fun.

Slipping and sliding, we crawled up the steep mountain’s slope. My Kenetrek boots once again proved their worth, traversing rocky and extremely steep terrain.

We crawled hand over heel, or vice versa, to within about a hundred yards of the unsuspecting rams. What a fabulous stalk and sight!

After much glassing, Jackie turned to me, smiled shaking his head in a negative manner, “Not what we’re looking for.”

We backed down and left the rams feeding undisturbed on the rugged slopes. Back at the vehicle Jackie suggested we have a bite to eat and go check some remote waterholes, knowing full well that aoudads do not usually regularly come to water.

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their entire lives and never taste freestanding water. They get their moisture from vegetation.

We glassed distant slopes, then drove in a westerly direction toward the lower country.

We planned to check a couple of water holes, just in case some were coming to water, but all the while glassing distant slopes as well.

“Aoudad ram!” said Dustin, Jackie and I in unison when we spotted two rams just beyond a water hole.

The two initially were on open ground where they had been dusting themselves.

Smooth surface on Weishuhn’s ram indicates age.

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One of the rams, the larger of the two, ran, but then stopped partially hidden behind cedar bushes.

I jumped out of the vehicle, grabbed my Ruger No. 1, quickly loaded a 180-grain soft-point Hornady round, then looked for a solid rest. Dustin, upon seeing the ram, had jumped out and was quickly getting footage.

Through my Trijicon scope, I could see the partially hidden ram was dark in color and the surface of his horns were almost worn smooth, indicating age. From what I could see both horns were present and were easily 30-inches or more in length.

Behind me I could hear Jackie say, “Shooter!”

In so much shorter time than it takes in the telling, I pushed the Ruger’s safety to fire, settled crosshairs on the ram’s shoulder and squeezed the trigger. At the shot, the ram rocked just a little then turned to run up slope.

I reloaded, found the ram in the scope and was just about to squeeze off a second shot when he fell. I stayed on him until I was certain he was not going to get up again for an aoudad can be tough and tenacious.

No movement!

We headed toward the downed ram. Each step we got closer, the bigger the ram seemed to grow. At his side, there was no doubt the ram had horns longer, considerably longer than 30 inches. His bases, too, looked massive, probably more than 13 inches.

His body was huge, and he had luxurious long mane and chaps. I knew just where the mount (prepared by Double Nickel Taxidermy) would hang once I got him back home to my office.

While admiring the ram’s horns I counted his annual rings and came up with a minimum of twelve. I was near beside myself with my joy. What a fabulous hunt with an exciting, last day encounter!

After photos we caped my ram, quartered him, and started back to the pickup. That night over a delicious dinner, we toasted Wildlife Systems, the rugged terrain we had hunted, aoudads and the grand ram we had taken.

« PHOTOS: LARRY WEISHUHN

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4/11/19 5:31 PM

The NATIONAL

TPWD Commission Changes Trout Regs, Adjusts Gar Proposal

News of TEXAS

• Requiring the use of non-offset, nonstainless steel circle hooks when fishing for sharks in state waters, except when fishing with artificial lures.

• Increasing the minimum size limit to 40 inches total length for Cobia.

• Closing oyster restoration areas in Galveston Bay, Matagorda Bay and Copano Bay for two harvest seasons.

The TPWD Commission adopted the following changes to the 2019-20 Statewide Recreational and Commercial Fishing Proclamations for freshwater.

• Lake Lakewood: Implement an 18-inch minimum length limit and three-fish daily bag for largemouth bass.

• Mill Creek Lake: Change from a 14- to 21-inch slot length limit and five fish daily bag limit for largemouth bass to a 16-inch maximum length limit and five-fish daily bag

THE TEXAS PARKS AND WILDLIFE Department (TPWD) Commission approved all the proposed changes to the saltwater fishing regulations at their recent meeting in Austin.

The following changes to the 201920 Statewide Recreational Fishing Proclamation, details of which will be incorporated into this year’s Texas Parks and Wildlife Department Outdoor Annual, have been adopted by the Texas Parks and Wildlife Commission: • Extending the five fish bag limit for spotted seatrout to the upper coast, creating a coast-wide five fish bag limit.

with an exception allowing for possession and weighing for bass 24 inches or greater for possible submission to ShareLunker program.

• Southeast Texas: Expand the area in Southeast Texas currently covered by the 12-inch minimum length limit for largemouth bass to include Hardin County, Newton County (excluding Toledo Bend Reservoir), and Liberty County south of U.S. Highway 90.

• Alan Henry Reservoir: Modify the harvest regulations for largemouth and Alabama bass by removing Alabama bass from the current regulation (five-fish daily bag of which only two bass less than 18 inches may be harvested). The combined daily bag limit would remain at five fish, but anglers may harvest Alabama bass of any length.

• Trinity River: Enact a 48-inch maximum length limit for alligator gar on the Trinity River from the I-30 bridge in Dallas

REDFISH

TUNA

Laguna Madre

Corpus Christi

Andrew Luera caught this 32-inch redfish on live shrimp while wade fishing the Laguna Madre near Shamrock Cove. It was a 20-minute fight on 14-pound line. He released the fish.

Dexter Polk caught this blackfin tuna while offshore out of Corpus Christi on the Fish & Fun II. The tuna was in 300 feet of water, fifty miles offshore.

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PHOTO: TERRY UPTON

downstream to the I-10 bridge in Chambers County, including the East Fork of the Trinity River upstream to the dam at Lake Ray Hubbard.

• A drawing will be implemented to allow selected anglers to harvest one alligator gar over 48 inches in length per year from the Trinity River. The draw system would allow nontransferable

WHITETAIL Bastrop County Seven-year-old Kolten Lowery shot his first deer with .223 caliber at 127 yards.

The 5-1/2 years-old eight point had a 17-inch spread. Kolten was hunting in Bastrop County.

Stiffer limits were put in place for alligator gar.

the state other than Falcon International Reservoir would be required to report the harvest via the department’s website or by mobile app within 24 hours of take.

The commission did not move forward with proposals that would ban bow fishing for alligator gar at night statewide or to change current regulations on Lake Conroe for largemouth bass from a 16-inch minimum length limit and five-fish daily bag limit to a 14-inch minimum length limit and five-fish daily bag limit.

The changes to the 2019-20 Statewide Recreational and Commercial Fishing regulations take effect on September 1, 2019.

harvest authorization for a to-be-determined number of alligator gar. Authorizations would be selected and distributed through a random draw of interested applicants. Purchase of a fishing license would be required. This authorization could be used day or night, and alligator gar could be taken by any legal means.

• Between one half-hour after sunset and one half-hour before sunrise, no person may take or possess an alligator gar by means of lawful archery equipment or crossbow on the Trinity River unless they have received a harvest authorization through the drawing system.

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PHOTO: CANSTOCK

The entire Texas coast now has a five-fish limt on speckled trout.

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Coastal Focus: SABINE :: by Capt.

EDDIE HERNANDEZ

It Starts In May

water temperatures above 70 degrees, somewhat stable weather patterns, green tides, tons of supped-up baitfish and big, mean, hungry predators. What more could we ask for?

It’s time to get this party started, and it’s time to get this party started right now. It’s time to put on some shorts and gas up the boat.

Summer is just around the corner, and it’s time to start acting like it. It’s time to start focusing on the patterns that will consistently bring fish to the net for the next several months. It’s time to start thinking about the surf, the jetties, the bay, bayous and rivers.

Here on Sabine Lake it’s time for us to start thinking about basically the entire ecosystem. With air and water temperatures begin-

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S HARD AS IT IS FOR ME TO believe, we have somehow, already made it to May. Although it seems like we were just ringing in the New Year, 2019 is almost half over and for that there is a lot we should be happy for.

One of the main reasons is that the wet winter months are now in our rear view mirror. It’s time to warm up and dry out a little.

The month of May has strutted into town in full plumage and riding on its coat tail are

ning the ascent into the summer months we are becoming limitless as to where we can go and what we can do to catch fish.

Strong tides and plentiful baitfish are beginning to loosen the reins on trout, reds, and flounders. They will follow shrimp, shad and mullet from the Gulf of Mexico, up the Neches and Sabine rivers and everywhere in between.

The first and last couple hours of sunlight could yield nice stringers of hefty trout and reds on topwaters. The ship channel and jetties have the potential to produce some real bruisers.

The same holds true for both the North and South Revetment walls on Pleasure Island and various points in the Sabine and Neches rivers. On the Louisiana side of the lake, key on protected areas with pretty water and a nice mud/clam bottom.

Moving water is always your friend and the presence of baitfish will definitely help your chances. Super Spooks, Skitterwalks, She Dogs and Top Dog Jr. are all good for multiple blow-ups.

Hot color choices are black/chartreuse, pearl, bone and pink/silver. When the sunlight begins to penetrate the water and the topwater bite begins to taper a bit, switch to soft plastics bounced off the bottom on 1/8-ounce lead heads or under a popping cork. Assassins in glow or glow/chartreuse and Gulp! Shrimp and Swimming Mullet will definitely get their attention.

It’s time to take advantage of the warming conditions and start focusing on what will be our bread and butter for the next few months.

THE BANK BITE LOCATION: Pleasure Island SPECIES: Redfish, croaker, flounder, trout, crabs BAITS/LURES: Fresh dead shrimp, mud minnows, chicken legs BEST TIMES: All day

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Coastal Focus: GALVESTON :: by Capt.

MIKE HOLMES

This MAY be Our Best Coastal Fishing

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AY ALWAYS BRINGS FOND fishing memories to my household. Several years ago, a warm Mayday weekend yielded the best “Bull” redfish I ever caught—a fish right at four feet long and weighing 42 pounds.

I caught it in the Galveston surf near San Luis Pass. This fish was taken on a dead low tide in flat calm surf, on a live finger mullet. My friend and I caught other good fish that night, including a 30-pound red and a stingray that weighed more than 100 pounds, so we considered it a very good outing for a beach fishing trip.

Not all May weekends will fit this pattern, but the potential for good fishing on those early weekends of spring seem to usually be there. The little cold weather from our coastal winter is pretty much gone, leaving much more settled weather patterns as well as mild temperatures, and water conditions.

Bait concentrations often favor good results for fishermen in bay, surf, and offshore waters. Add sunny skies along with very pleasant temperatures, and the Texas coast is a very good place to be.

The bays surrounding Galveston Island will see concentrations of shrimp and baitfish. This will attract speckled trout and redfish—along with the third member of our inshore Big Three—the tasty flounder.

Bays and surf will also see sand trout, croakers, and other pan fish. The surf will often be visited by Spanish mackerels and bluefish. Tarpon is also possible, although never common. The waters just past the third bar are grounds for big tarpons putting on an aerial display, so watching them is more exciting than actually catching “lesser” fish species. Big sharks prowl the nighttime surf, for those with an interest in a “real” fight.

Boaters venturing a bit past the third bar

THE BANK BITE LOCATION: The surf always issues a siren call in early spring, but deeper areas in bays and shallow bay reefs as well as natural and man-made passes will harbor fish.

SPECIES: Reds usually show up first, followed later by speckled trout and flounders, then other warm water denizens.

BAIT: Mullet might be the top choice, in various sizes, but mud minnows and shad or menhaden will produce, and are easier to find than live shrimp right now. Artificial lures will need to be worked slowly and carefully if they are to produce.

BEST TIME: During a moving tide is best. Days with multiple tide changes are always the best.

in the surf will encounter more mackerel— including the larger kings. Ling will be often found around buoys and near-shore oil rigs.

Legal sized red snappers will sometimes be found around close rigs and bottom formations—and hard fighting jack crevalles could take a bait almost anywhere past the beach.

Deeper water will harbor groupers more often than near-shore formations, along with the chance of a stray amberjack.

Trolling will become a more viable option than in colder water, but drift fishing with chum will also be productive for many species.

Of course, spring is rather quickly followed by summer when air and water temperatures are often less pleasant. This is a

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special time of year on Texas coastal waters.

Get out and enjoy it as much as you can.

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Coastal Focus: MATAGORDA :: by Contributing Editor MIKE PRICE

Little Tarpon

ably catch a ladyfish. The primary difference between a small tarpon and a ladyfish is that the small tarpon has an elongated ray on its dorsal fin.

The thrill of the fight to the angler (if the tarpon and ladyfish were the same weight) is

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PADDLED MY KAYAK INTO A bayou on the south shore of West Matagorda Bay, stopped 50 feet from a bend where the water dropped off to four feet deep, and cast my soft plastic lure into the undisturbed water.

My lure was hit, and I got a glimpse of silver, so I thought it was a trout. Then it jumped and I realized that it was not a trout, but I could not identify it from that fleeting leap.

Finally the fish hurtled 10-feet high and 20 yards horizontally over water and grass, landing in the grass. I reeled in the acrobatic 18-inch ladyfish, thanked it for a good show, and released it.

You will probably never catch a tarpon in West Matagorda Bay, but you will prob-

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to be considered tablefare, so when you hook one, enjoy the experience and turn it loose.

Ladyfish are abundant in West Matagorda Bay and in the surf during warm water months. I have never caught a ladyfish in East Matagorda Bay.

This 18-inch ladyfish jumped out of the water and landed in the grass

about the same. The ladyfish rarely exceeds three pounds, but it is also called skipjack and ten pounder because of its jumping and fighting ability. It does not have enough meat

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Brown shrimp migrate offshore to spawn in the spring. My wife Janet and I had quite the brown shrimp experience in the middle of May. We were fishing Shell Reef on the north side of West Matagorda Bay, and I noticed birds working about one and a half miles away, so I paddled toward the action. The birds kept on squawking and diving. I continued to paddle until I got close enough to see what was happening. Laughing gulls, sandwich terns, and caspian terns were excitedly grabbing shrimp from the water and one another, while trout were forcing shrimp to leap out of the water.

A laughing gull plucked a 3½-inch shrimp from the water and was immediately confronted by two other laughing gulls. One of the interlopers stole the shrimp and flew off.

Then a shrimp jumped out of the water followed by a silver flash. The birds would gather in one place on the water, each one trying to out shout the other. Then they would lift off in unison fighting over shrimp.

Into the foray, I lobbed my red and white Texas Trout Killer, with a little piece of Fishbite attached and got a hit almost every PHOTO: MIKE PRICE

4/11/19 5:31 PM

time. Using a rod with a sensitive tip, I could feel the lure bumping against fish or shrimp as well as the slightest bite.

Janet came over after doing battle with redfish on the oyster reef and she started catching trout as well. When the brown shrimp moved, the trout, birds, and the two of us, moved along with them, and we stayed with the action for over an hour and a half.

The fish weren’t big, but some were keepers and it was a marvelous fishing experience.

Using a kayak was, by far, the best way to fish that situation. The kayak allowed me to move over the shallow oyster reef, and stay with the action without disturbing the shrimp, fish, or birds.

Wade and kayak fishers on the south shore of East or West Matagorda Bays when the tide is high have the option of wading or kayaking into the winding bayous of the marsh. Redfish, flounders and the occasional large trout like to hunt in these flooded backwaters.

At points where a bayou meets the marsh you will usually find a hole, a place where currents have hollowed out a spot a couple feet

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deeper than the surrounding area. Approach a spot like that quietly until you are in a position to cast your lure into the hole.

You might hook a large trout. In the sometimes flooded marsh area, water will only be one to two feet deep and you might be able to sight-fish reds. If you see little grass shrimp popping up repeatedly next to shore, drop a lure in there, as that’s most likely a flounder feeding.

Some speckled trout move into the Gulf of Mexico when the temperature of the water in the bays goes down and then come back to the bays when water temperatures increase.

This movement, sometimes, happens in May. In early May, I was walking on Matagorda Beach near the weir jetty when I stopped to watch two guys who were having a great time catching big trout. They had eight trout over 23 inches lying on the sand.

Scott Mayotte and Mark Bailey were fishing with live shrimp, using three-foot leaders attached to their lines with small swivels. Six inches down from the swivel, was a size 3 split shot. Between the weight and the swivel was a bead. This allowed them to produce a

clicking sound (shrimp sound).

Scott and Mark were in the surf casting their baits near the pier pilings. Scott put a large. lively shrimp on his Kahle VMC 3/0 hook, tossed the shrimp out, let it drop and held his rod tip high with a tight line and waited. He would feel a tap-tap, then move the rod tip back. while reeling to set the circle hook on the big trout.

THE BANK BITE CARANCAHUA BAY at Highway 35: West of Palacios, Highway 35 goes past the north end of Carancahua Bay where there’s a boat launch and parking lot. Bank fishers can fish from the east side of the launch ramp by walking out on some rocks, or the west side by taking a trail to the water. This is also a good place to wade or kayak fish for redfish.

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Email Mike Price at ContactUs@fishgame.com

4/11/19 5:31 PM

Coastal Focus: MID COAST :: by Capt.

CHRIS MARTIN

May Spawns New Opportunity

Gulf of Mexico have already been planned.

Coastal anglers of all ages can’t wait to get to the edge of the nearest Texas bay system to try their luck at some big, healthy, late-spring and early-summer speckled trout fishing.

It’s a time of the year when the searing heat of summer has not yet set in, and the air temperatures are still quite mild and rather comfortable for a fishing trip. With the speckled trout spawn upon us this month, May anglers should be able to find good numbers of speckled trout along area shorelines as the fish gather to begin their breeding practices.

Whatever you can learn about the May trout spawn will only benefit you this month as you target one of those “Big Gals” along a saltwater shoreline. Some people claim the speckled trout spawn begins as early as April, but the majority of the spawning trout wait until May for just the right conditions.

The prime water temperature preferred by the trout to begin their spawning activity is the low-to-mid 80s. This can often extend into months of the year when water temperatures are in the low 70s and as high as the lower 90s.

For our portion of the Texas coast, this typically means we’ll see the trout spawn take place between the month of May, and can sometimes possibly extend as far as into the month of September in some instances.

Once spawning trout come in sync with the preferred water temps, the affair between the males and the females unfailingly starts taking place near dusk each day, As the sunlight begins to disappear below the horizon, it happens in a water depth of between three to six feet deep and generally where underwater vegetation is readily available. A grassy area with any type of water movement will be even better.

The salinity level of the water also plays a significant role in finding some of these behemoth trout this month. Water that’s too fresh means eggs from the spawning females will sink to the bottom, greatly reducing their chance of survival. On the other hand, water that’s too salty will certainly mean death for the trout eggs.

T

HE WINTER MONTHS ARE behind us, and school will soon be dismissed for the upcoming summertime break.

Family vacations along the coast of the

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A salinity level between 18 to 25 ppt is preferred (which is very salty), but various bay systems will present the spawning trout with various salinity levels.

The eggs typically hatch within 12 to 16 hours of the spawn, which means much of the hatch takes place under the cover of nighttime darkness. Whatever amount of larvae survive are carried by the tides, current, and the wind to the marsh where they find nourishment and shelter and where they learn to survive on their own.

The spawning trout focus on providing us with our future fisheries, but they also become very, very hungry, especially the big females that carry all the eggs. Just like any other pregnant mother, spawning female speckled trout exude a tremendous amount of energy. This, in turn, means they tend to build a tremendous appetite.

If you’re successful at putting your lure in front of one of these big mommas at dusk, or later in the evening, you have a good chance at getting her to consider your bait right away.

If you’re even luckier you’ll be wading, or fishing out of your boat, on a windless May evening while a full moon rises and the tide begins flowing accordingly. If so, you’ll definitely have a greater chance at hooking into one of these big trophies. This month presents a lot of opportunity for catching a trout of a lifetime, so make your plans now to be in the right place at the right time, and good luck to you all!

As we discussed earlier, May means the weather will still be fairly comfortable. So, there’s no better time than now to get out on the water in search of a personal-best trophy speckled trout while tossing your favorite artificial baits. Do yourself a favor and get out there and enjoy it while you can. The next couple of months will present much hotter weather conditions that often become unbearable. Until next time, tight lines to all!

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

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4/11/19 5:31 PM

Coastal Focus: ROCKPORT :: by Capt.

MAC GABLE

Conservancy? Or Rape of Our Natural World!

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HE INQUIRIES I RECEIVED about all the boats in Aransas Bay and Copano Bay were a bit overwhelming. Why so many boats?

What are they doing? Where are they from?

These boats were not anglers looking for an exciting day of rod bending action. They were harvesting the rich oyster reefs that propagate in these bay systems.

Those who eat oysters get excited about the coming season for this succulent mollusk.

Many, however, are deeply concerned about the harvesting of these filtering wonders.

JUST ONE oyster can filter over 50 gallons of water in a single day. In a drive over the LBJ causeway on a brisk February day, I stopped and counted the number of oyster boats within eyesight on Copano Bay. The number was over 70.

Many biologists believe the bottom dwelling/ filtering oyster is the key to the health of our estuaries. The commercial harvesting of Crassostrea virginica, the primary oyster harvested here, is a grey area, creating arguments even with the best of friends. Many articles have been written about restoration efforts and while these are commendable they, like many conservation issues, are just the tip of the iceberg.

Let’s look at the facts. There are 600 commercial oyster licenses, 400 of which are active.

The belief that harvesters, by law, must return all shucked shell is only 30 percent true. As of this writing the harvester has three options: return the shell to the bay waters, keep the shell creating a cultch material pile, or pay for the 30 percent or some percentage thereof.

Interestingly, cultch material is seen by law as the property of the harvester. Enter HB51. House Bill 51 was passed at the 85th Legislative session and signed into law June 12, 2017 by Governor Abbott.

It is seen by many to be the saving grace for our oyster reefs. A move in the right direction perhaps, but in my humble opinion, it places even more pressure on game wardens to enforce the maze of rules and regulations created through amendments to the original draft.

The rebuilding of oyster reefs like those in Copano Bay need to be applauded, but even as these efforts are completed, within months commercial harvest boats were harvesting within a rock’s throw of the rebuilt area.

There are meetings scheduled to address this issue, recommending closures for these areas and creating reef sanctuaries using larger benign cultch material that is not conducive for harvesting.

Many believe the commercial harvesters are from Mexico or out of state. However, after many hours researching this is just not the case. Many of the boats are from Galveston where fresh water flooding in 2015, and of course Harvey’s record rainfall, decimated the oyster colonies.

Hard working commercial harvesters are not the villain, they are going where the oysters are. Yes, there have been harvest boats from Mexico, and it’s true some from Louisiana. With hundreds of boats in our area, a few bad ones have tainted the view of oyster harvesters.

The law supports the harvesting of oysters, which does impact the health of our reefs and the water quality of our bays. Quality-wise Rockport oysters are second to none. Their taste and texture have a wide appeal, they are also the primary reason our bays teem with healthy fish populations.

Do I believe that oyster reefs in our area are being over harvested? Yes. Have I seen what a healthy reef looks like after a flotilla of oyster boats have moved through? Yes. Do I believe T E X A S

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a higher percentage of the cultch should be returned to the exact reef from which it is extracted? Yes. Do I believe rebuilt reefs/colonies should be closed to commercial harvesting? Yes, for at least two years as it can take an oyster reef decades to recover.

Does a 30 percent return on the cultch removed (this is without the oyster) sound like a sustainable amount for our oyster reefs?

No. If the health of our estuaries is important to you as anglers don’t listen to hearsay.

Investigate, research, trust in a high power and make all others bring verifiable facts. Mankind may soon learn oysters are more valuable when not eaten.

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• • • The month of May, if ever there was one, is a month for live bait. Croaker, shrimp, finger mullet, piggies, menhaden are all effective through the next six months.

COPANO BAY: The mouth of Mission Bay is a good spot for reds using finger mullet free-lined. A rising tide is best here. Shellbank Reef is a good spot for trout using free-lined croaker. Fish the deeper edges of the reef.

ST CHARLES BAY: Wades off Meile Dietrich point with croakers are good for trout and some keeper reds. This area has sand and shell mixed with soft mud. Free-lined is best. Cavaso Creek is a good area for reds using finger mullet or cut menhaden on a light Carolina rig.

ARANSAS BAY: Nine Mile Point is a good spot for trout using mud minnows or croakers.

Keep a good distance from the Key Allegro shoreline where the deep-water transitions are. A light Carolina rig works well. Halfmoon Reef is a good spot for trout using croakers free-lined.

CARLOS BAY: Pelican Reef is a good spot for black drum using live shrimp under a silent CONTINUED ON PAGE

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4/11/19 5:32 PM

Coastal Focus: ARANSAS/CORPUS :: by Contributing Editor TOM BEHRENS

Fish the Rocks

The Port O’Connor jetties are “kind of stairstepped structure…terraced,” said Judice.

“Start off at the top level, bounce off to the next level, bounce off to the next one. Finding the fish can take a few fishing trips. Consider all the factors for that day…tide, current, wind and waves. Inside, outside, all depends on current and wind. If you have an east wind, fish off the westside. If you have a west wind, you fish off the east side of the jetty. Don’t sit there and get beat up by waves.

“I have spots that I’ve fished over the last years that I know I catch trout in, and I go to those rocks,” said Judice Birds can serve as a pointer for possible lurking fish. “Look for slicks, birds working just like you would see in the bays. Also, you always have a bunch of birds sitting on the rocks, taking in the scenery. I thought to myself why when the birds can sit wherever they want, why do they pick that spot? If you watch them long enough, they dive down and pick up bait or a fish. Learn from the birds.”

Different times of the year the jetty will be better for different fish. Redfish, sheepshead, black drum, mangrove snapper…kind of like the produce department in the grocery store.

“We catch tarpon out there. When the water gets right in June, July and August we will catch King mackerel. Toss your bait in the water and wait to see what takes it, sometimes a big surprise. A friend of mine last year caught a sailfish at the jetty, a six-footer. He thought it was a Jack Crevalle. It took him about 2 ½ to 3

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TRUCTURE…THE DIFFERence between catching fish or not.

That’s an indisputable fact for the freshwater bass angler, but it’s important to the saltwater pro also. As Texas middle coast guide, Nick Mosley said, “target structure changes…sand to mud or mud to sand transitions, mud to scattered shell, sand to scattered shell, color streaks. A lot of times the fish will stage in those areas.”

A big piece of structure that you can’t miss is jetties. Jetties along the coast are great in May; you never know what might be nibbling on the end of your line, sometimes a large or weird surprise.

Live bait is in my opinion the best presentation to go with when fishing the rock piles. “I had a customer who fished with me about a month ago, and she brought this Corky out there,” said Capt. Benny Judice. “I tried to talk her out of using the lure, but she kept throwing it up there. Finally, she threw it too far and got hung in the rocks…gone.” Lures are expensive; hooks and maybe a few weights are a lot cheaper if you lose one. “If you are not experienced in fishing the jetties, you let the lure or bait go down too fast,” explained Judice. “The rocks are covered with barnacles and stuff.

The lure gets hung-up in cracks and crevices between the rocks and the barnacle covering.”

Live shrimp, free-lined up against the rocks is the number one choice. Let it drift down real slow, no weight other than the shrimp and hook; allow the live shrimp to swim around.

Pop it up off the rocks, let it settle for a second or two, and pop it again. He uses a 4/0 to 5/0 Kahle hook, never a treble. Trebles will catch more rocks than fish.

Capt. Nick Dykes uses a live shrimp under a popping cork fished as close to the rocks as he can without getting hung up.

Every jetty structure is a little different.

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hours to land the fish.

“I caught a redfish a couple years ago, and while I was cleaning fish after the trip, I saw the gut looked kind of strange, misshapen in places. I opened him up and saw a fishing lure in his stomach. Then another lure, another, another, another. There were nine lures in total. How could he eat that many plastics and still be alive?

His final choice was a live shrimp. Most of the lures still had the hooks. People have caught redfish before and found lures, but nine has to be the record as far as the number of lures.”

I can’t promise you will find lures inside your catch’s stomach, but I do feel reasonably safe in saying that you will catch something along and off the rocks. Fish from a boat, but you might lose a few anchors.

I had a friend who made his own anchors out of rebar specifically for fishing the jetties.

If he hung one in the rocks, a couple of strong pulls bent the rebar tines, and he pulled it loose. Reform, and ready to use again.

Some of the jetties have a paved surface that allows an easy walk, maybe pulling a wagon with your gear and bait in it. On others you learn how to be a cautious rock hopper. This spring/summer walk or drift along the jetties and see what you can pick up—fish and maybe even some lures.

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Email Tom Behrens at ContactUs@fishgame.com

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cork. This is a soft mud area so exercise caution if wading. Spalding Reef is a good spot for trout using free-lined croaker.

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using new penny-colored jerk shad or mud minnows danced along the bottom. Roddy Island is a good spot for black drum and sheepshead using popping cork and shrimp.

AYERS BAY: The east shoreline is a good spot for black drum using fresh dead shrimp on a light Carolina rig. Some trout

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4/11/19 5:32 PM

Coastal Focus: BAFFIN BAY :: by Capt.

SALLY BLACK

The Allure of Alazan Bay

A

CRES AND ACRES OF UNINterrupted grass cover the shorelines of Alazan Bay, creating the most unspoiled and untouched body of water on Baffin Bay. It’s a mysterious place that feels like nothing much has changed for hundreds and hundreds of years—and probably hasn’t. The King Ranch encompasses the entire bay and by its giant remoteness, protects and nurtures the place like a best friend. A few long, dusty roads lead to the water, and there’s only one small pier on the entire bay. Remnants of a few old duck blinds and other craggy wooden posts can be found near sloughs and drains from the land, hearkening back to a time long past.

There’s a small band of old commercial fishermen that know Alazan best and they can be found laying lines with their small wooden skiffs on most weekdays, way back in the back.

Following them around can lead to new discoveries and some really shallow water.

Alazan is home to some of the giant packs and keeper reds may be found on Ayers Reef, with free-lined mullet the best bait.

THE BANK BITE WADES OFF LIVE OAK point is a good place for large trout using free-lined croaker. A gold and red spoon works well.

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

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oversized reds or black drum.

Alazan Bay is so unique, mysterious and remote, there’s a great chance that there may not be another boat in sight. Think about what it would feel like to have an entire bay system to your own, to read the water and explore an area rich with all kinds of life, deep, shallow, large and small.

It’s a place that is rich with history and timeless South Texas beauty. Besides fishing, bird and animal watching as well as photography opportunities are abundant here. Alazan’s unspoiled atmosphere produces nature unconcerned with human presence.

The King Ranch loves and respects their land and are supreme stewards, keeping most of it the way it was 500 years ago or more.

Ancient windmills still fill ponds and tanks for cattle and wildlife.

Big bucks, nilgai, bobcat, turkey, quail and all other South Texas brush country creatures leisurely stroll down the banks and bluffs, their calls and sounds will keep an angler guessing.

Sloughs and small back lakes are hosts to bait, crabs and shrimp in the grass, which in turn brings in the reds and other predators.

The understatement of the year would be to say that Alazan Bay has it all. It does and then some.

No matter how many times its fished or visited, there’s still more to observe, catch or photograph. Alazan is truly the most interesting part of the “Last Best Place on the Texas Coast”.

Come visit Baffin Bay Rod and Gun, “The Last Best Place on the Texas Coast” for a fivestar adventure and experience you will never forget and. While here, you can experience Alazan Bay in all of its glory.

of oversized redfish that never leave the bay.

They can grow up to 60 inches or more and weigh in at more than 40 pounds. Now is the time to hunt these creatures who feed a lot with their backs out of the water, eating everything in sight. It’s time to break the water body record with conventional tackle and the IGFA tippet class record, on the fly. Alazan Bay could be host to a number of important records this year.

All of Alazan has beautiful water and lots of grass flats, even up to and surrounding some of the few big rock structures that are relatively shallow. Big sand bars, also covered with grass, are now visible in Alazan and are magnets for bait fish and the predators that feed on them.

With the light winds of early summer, it’s the best time to target these grass flats and sandbars for large quantities of fish and big trout.

Since Alazan is basically a North to South bay, depending on the wind direction, pick a shoreline and start before sunrise. Watch for bait working along the shallow, grassy shorelines to begin targeting good fish feeding up shallow. Toss top water lures or soft plastic paddle tails on light jig heads (like our own famous “Black’s Magic” 1/32nd ounce jig heads with #1 Gamakatzu hooks). Watch for jumping bait and slicks to help target the search. As the morning wears on, slide out to edges or drop-offs for more trout action.

Around 10:30 or 11:00 am, its time to change gears a little. Grab a snack and a drink, tie on a four-inch Gulp Swimming Mullet or a four-inch Saltwater Assassin Sea Shad on that same light jig head and head for the super shallow water and sand to start sight-casting to redfish and black drum. As you drift from the boat or walk along in ankle deep water, look for those big, dark shapes, tailing fish and baitfish moving with urgency.

This is an addictive game to say the least.

Fly rodders will have the perfect opportunity to present a light colored clouser or a crab pattern and put it right in front of the feeding fish, then hang on. In Alazan Bay, make sure that the 9 weight is the fly rod of choice, in case there’s a run-in with some of those superF I S H

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Contact Capt. Sally Black at 361-205-0624 Email: Sally@CaptainSally.com Web: www.BaffinBayRodandGun.com Facebook: Baffin Bay Rod and Gun Twitter: @CaptainSally Instagram: baffin_bay_rod_and_gun |

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4/11/19 5:32 PM

Coastal Focus: LOWER COAST :: by Saltwater Editor CALIXTO GONZALES

The Roaring ’70s

zero in on. Don’t be afraid to go “Old School” and toss a Devil’s Horse. These little buggers resemble small ballyhoo perfectly, and both redfish and trout will strike it with abandon.

As the day grows longer, then switch to a ¼-ounce gold or bronze spoon and swim it slowly. A chartreuse or red plastic trailer seems to enhance the attractiveness of the spoon.

Because Mexequita is literally within site of the Brazos Santiago Pass, it is affected by tides more than most of the other popular fishing areas. The most effective time to fish is during an incoming tide, when the flats are flooded by fresh water directly from the Gulf. Trout and redfish become very active and start prowling the flats. Once the flood tide is reached, then they’ll settle around the potholes and ambush any hapless prey that swims by.

Conversely, be careful not to be caught on Mexequita during an outgoing tide. The place becomes a vast desert when the water drains, and it isn’t uncommon to see some tunnel-vees and even scooters trapped in the flats until flood tide (which really stinks on a two-tide day!).

The afore-mentioned Old Queen Isabella Causeway is another short run, and it also doesn’t get as much attention as other more popular areas. Part of that may be the general belief that the area is strictly a bait fisherman’s paradise full of mangrove snappers, sheepsheads, and other pan fish.

That, in fact, is very true, and it is thus a great spot to bring big and small kids who are more concerned with just getting their line stretched than catching the state record trout.

On a good day, you may find some jumbo whitings, and cosmopolitan pompanos also crash the party.

The mangrove snappers and sheepsheads that hang around the pilings are tough fish, and a 13-inch mangrove or 15-inch sheepshead can be quite a handful on light tackle.

Even the lowly whiting can put up a spirited fight on lighter tackle. A standard freeshrimp rig—18- to 24-inch leader, #1 shortshank hook and #3 split shot—with a lively shrimp pinned on it is perfect to entice these

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ISHING REALLY KICKS OFF IN May on the Lower Laguna Madre.

The weather has stabilized, although the wind can be a bit of a hassle when weather systems in the Great Plains suck air from the Gulf in the form of 40 mile an hour winds.

However, after the relatively mild winter South Texas enjoyed, it won’t take long for water temperatures to pass 70 degrees, which is the green light for gamefish to begin prowling all their favorite haunts and feed actively.

Mexequita Flats is nestled in between the Old Queen Isabella Causeway and the Brownsville Ship Channel portion of the Intra Coastal Waterway. Beginning with the spring tides of late April, warm Gulf waters flood over these grass and sand flats and quickly boost water temperatures over the magic 70-degree mark. If you are looking for an area where trout and redfish and bait are going to gather, this is it.

Like many of the other productive regions in Lower Laguna Madre, Mexequita is a broad grass flat pockmarked by sand pockets, or potholes. Trout will lurk around these potholes, especially early in the morning.

Live shrimp or soft plastics such as a DOA Shrimp or Gulp! Shrimp are very productive when fished under a popping cork or Alameda float. If redfish are your preference, big, noisy topwaters such as a Top Dog, Jr. or Yo-Zuri Hydropopper are good choices early in the morning.

These topwaters are smaller, which serves two purposes: first, they match the size of young-of-the year baitfish; second, the smaller baits seem easier for uber-aggressive reds to

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structure-lurking battlers.

You’ll find plenty of fish around the crumbling pilings, but don’t hesitate to cast in between the pilings. Pieces of the causeway have fallen into the water, and some of the larger fish tend to hold around these isolated concrete chunks. If you fish parallel to the defunct bridge, you might luck into a pompano, or even find one of the snooks that gravitate to the structure.

Don’t be surprised if you latch onto a good-sized trout or flounder around the Old Causeway. The pilings create current eddies that both fish hold around and wait for the tide to push bait by them. Fish parallel to the current eddies. Cast your bait into it and let it drift with the current. Keep a finger on your line. If you feel a tap, drop your rod tip and let the line come tight, then set the hook.

If you prefer fishing with hardware, the DOA Shrimp, CAL Shad tail, or an un-weighted Gulp! Shrimp are perfect for fishing eddies around the Old Causeway. The do-nothing action of these lures makes them look like an actual shrimp being taken where the current will. Let the bait drift on a semi-slack line and give it a twitch every five seconds or so.

No predator will let that sucker drift by their noses.

Another very good part of the Old Causeway is the curve where the bridge joins the mainland (or Long Island, as the case may be). Speckled trout, redfish and flounders congregate around the drop-off that is formed by the roadbed. You can use either live bait, including finger mullet, on a ¼-ounce fishfinder rig. Or you can bounce a soft plastic such as a shrimp or shad tail on a ¼-ounce jighead off the drop-off and into the deeper water. Either technique is very effective to put fish in the box.

Lent is over, but fresh fried fish never gets old.

« Email Cal Gonzales at ContactUs@fishgame.com

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4/11/19 5:32 PM

FISHING HOTSPOTS Saltwater: n Upper Coast n Mid Coast n Lower Coast Freshwater: n Piney Woods

SALTWATER Specks & Reds at Galveston & Mat

by Tom Behrens

LOCATION: East Matagorda Bay HOTSPOT: Tripod GPS: N 28 40.147, W 95 54.813 (28.6691, -95.9136)

Freshwater: n Prairies & Lakes n Panhandle n Big Bend n Hill Country n South Texas SPECIES: Speckled Trout and Redfish BEST BAITS: MirrOlure, Live Croaker CONTACT: Capt. Nick Dykes 409-599-6804 TIPS: “As the water temperature inches up to 70 degrees, trout and redfish will be on sand or sand/ grass bottoms in East Bay.” Capt. Dykes

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.

LOCATION: Galveston East Bay HOTSPOT: Little Hanna’s Reef GPS: N 29 28.703, W 94 45.703 (29.4784, -94.7617)

nmosley79@gmail.com saltwateraddictionguideservice.com TIPS: “I throw a lot of shrimp under a popping cork.

If I do throw an artificial, I’ll use a Norton Sand Eel or MirrOlure Lil John under the cork, about a three foot leader and a 1/16 oz. jig head. I’ll pop the cork, give it a lot of action.” Capt. Mosley LOCATION: East Matagorda Bay HOTSPOT: St. Mary’s GPS: N 28 39.621, W 95 56.667 (28.6604, -95.9445)

SPECIES: Speckled Trout and Redfish BEST BAITS: Norton Sand Eel and MirrOlure Lil Jon CONTACT: Capt. Nick Mosley 979-943-7497 nmosley79@gmail.com saltwateraddictionguideservice.com TIPS: “In the Raymond Shoal Area I will be fishing from my boat, drifting looking for structure changes long the bottom….sand to mud or mud to sand, mud to scattered shell, sand to scattered shell and color streaks. Many times the fish will stage in these areas.”

Capt. Mosley LOCATION: East Matagorda Bay HOTSPOT: Boiler Bayou GPS: N 28 38.685, W 95 54.067 (28.6448, -95.9011)

SPECIES: Speckled Trout and Redfish BEST BAITS: MirrOlure, Live Croaker CONTACT: Capt. Nick Dykes 409-599-6804 TIPS: “Trout will be feeding on the glass minnow hatch and it’s extremely difficult to match the minnows with a lure.” Capt. Dykes LOCATION: Galveston East Bay HOTSPOT: Fat Rat Pass GPS: N 29 28.462, W 94 38.673 (29.4744, -94.6446)

SPECIES: Speckled Trout and Redfish BEST BAITS: Norton Sand Eel and MirrOlure Lil Jon CONTACT: Capt. Nick Mosley 979-943-7497 nmosley79@gmail.com saltwateraddictionguideservice.com TIPS: “There are a lot of structure changes in the Raymond Shoal area … humps, shell pads, sand flats, and scattered shell.” Capt. Mosley LOCATION: Galveston East Bay HOTSPOT: Hanna’s Reef GPS: N 29 28.471, W 94 43.251 (29.4745, -94.7209)

SPECIES: Speckled Trout and Redfish BEST BAITS: MirrOlure, Live Croaker CONTACT: Capt. Nick Dykes 409-599-6804 TIPS: Capt. Dyes favorite colors in lures are chrome or bright chartreuse. “With Speck Rigs, I’ll use and 1/8 oz. jig or lighter. Most of the time the fish are feeding at the surface, and it’s easy to find productive spots.”

SPECIES: Speckled Trout and Redfish BEST BAITS: Norton Sand Eel and MirrOlure Lil Jon CONTACT: Capt. Nick Mosley 979-943-7497

LOCATION: Galveston East Bay HOTSPOT: North Jetty T E X A S

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FISHING HOTSPOTS chartreuse/pearl or pink/pearl.

GPS: N 29 21.352, W 94 43.15 (29.3559, -94.7192)

Jetty Action at Port O’Connor

LOCATION: West Matagorda Bay HOTSPOT: Peninsula Shoreline GPS: N 28 28.801, W 96 15.753 (28.4800, -96.2626)

LOCATION: Port O’Connor HOTSPOT: Jetties GPS: N 28 25.212, W 96 19.544 (28.4202, -96.3257)

SPECIES: Speckled Trout and Redfish BEST BAITS: MirrOlure, Live Croaker CONTACT: Capt. Nick Dykes 409-599-6804 TIPS: “The jetties will hold quality fish in May. I’ll use a shrimp under a popping cork, or free line, cast as close to the rocks without getting hung up.” Capt.

Dykes

SPECIES: Speckled Trout and Redfish BEST BAITS: Norton Soft Plastics, Super Spook and Super Spook Junior CONTACT: Capt. Nick Mosley 979-943-7497 nmosley79@gmail.com saltwateraddictionguideservice.com TIPS: Wade the south shoreline. “The fish will be a little smaller and you may have to weed out the smaller fish, but they are abundant. Fish are found typically in pockets of sand in the grass along the shoreline.”

Capt. Mosley

LOCATION: Galveston East Bay HOTSPOT: South Jetty GPS: N 29 19.67, W 94 41.411 (29.3278, -94.6902)

LOCATION: West Matagorda Bay HOTSPOT: Cottons Bayou GPS: N 28 30.552, W 96 12.453 (28.5092, -96.2076)

SPECIES: Speckled Trout and Redfish BEST BAITS: MirrOlure, Live Croaker CONTACT: Capt. Nick Dykes 409-599-6804 TIPS: If you choose to use live croaker, Capt. Dykes will freeline the bait, a 2 foot shock leader, a Rattle Tube, and a 4/0 Khale Hook.

LOCATION: Sabine Lake HOTSPOT: Jetty Tower GPS: N 29 39.314, W 93 49.872 (29.6552, -93.8312)

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SPECIES: Redfish, Black Drum, Flounder, Speckled Trout BEST BAITS: Live Shrimp, Croakers CONTACT: Capt. Benny Judice 713-817-2471 TIPS: Jetty fishing: “Don’t let the live bait go down to fast, don’t let it sit on the rocks. The rocks are covered with barnacles and other stuff.” Capt. Judice LOCATION: Port O’Connor HOTSPOT: Army Cut GPS: N 28 25.212, W 96 19.544 (28.4202, -96.3257)

SPECIES: Speckled Trout and Redfish BEST BAITS: Norton Soft Plastics, Super Spook and Super Spook Junior CONTACT: Capt. Nick Mosley 979-943-7497 nmosley79@gmail.com saltwateraddictionguideservice.com TIPS: Capt. Mosley’s favorite soft plastic colors are Chicken-on-a-Chain for clear water, plum/chartreuse tail or black/red metal flakes/chartreuse tail for off colored water.

SPECIES: Speckled Trout BEST BAITS: Bass Assassin Soft Plastics CONTACT: Capt. Bill Watkins 409-673-9211 97862018@sbcglobal.net www.fishsabinelake.com TIPS: Capt. Watkins doesn’t really have favorite colors for soft plastics. If he has to choose colors, it would be

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by Tom Behrens

SPECIES: Flounder BEST BAITS: Live Shrimp, Croakers CONTACT: Capt. Benny Judice 713-817-2471 TIPS: “Free line live shrimp, drifting down real slow, allowing the live shrimp to swim around.” Capt. Judice

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FISHING HOTSPOTS LOCATION: Port O’Connor HOTSPOT: Jetties GPS: N 28 24.99, W 96 19.413 (28.4165, -96.3236)

LOCATION: Port O’Connor HOTSPOT: Big Jetty Entrance GPS: N 28 26.258, W 96 20.2 (28.4376, -96.3367)

LOCATION: Aransas Bay HOTSPOT: Bay Oil Wells GPS: N 28 2.742, W 96 57.834 (28.0457, -96.9639)

SPECIES: Sheepshead BEST BAITS: Live Shrimp, Croakers CONTACT: Capt. Benny Judice 713-817-2471 TIPS: “Pop it up off the rocks, let it settle for a second or two, and pop it again.” Capt. Judice

SPECIES: Shark BEST BAITS: Live Shrimp, Croakers CONTACT: Capt. Benny Judice 713-817-2471 TIPS: “the Port O’Connor jetties are kind of stair-step in structure, terraced. Start at the top level, bounce off to the next level, bounce off the bait to the next one.”

Capt. Judice

SPECIES: Speckled Trout BEST BAITS: Live Croaker CONTACT: Capt. Colton Blackwell 361-243-8508 coltonblackwell33@gmail.com TIPS: “In May the trout will start feeding on live croaker or live shrimp under a popping cork around the Wells.” Capt. Blackwell LOCATION: Aransas Bay HOTSPOT: Bay Oil Wells and Pads GPS: N 28 5.53, W 97 1.284 (28.0922, -97.0214)

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FISHING HOTSPOTS coltonblackwell33@gmail.com TIPS: Live bait under a popping cork: 40 inch leader under the popping cork. Artificial set up: small soft plastics on a 1/8 oz. jig head. Favorite colors are White Ice or Key Lime.

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Head South for Baffin Specks

SPECIES: Speckled Trout BEST BAITS: Live Croaker CONTACT: Capt. Colton Blackwell 361-243-8508 coltonblackwell33@gmail.com TIPS: “If you are concentrating your efforts on the shorelines, look sand pockets with the grass.” Capt.

Blackwell

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by Tom Behrens

LOCATION: Baffin Bay HOTSPOT: South Shore Rocks GPS: N 27 14.436, W 97 33.568 (27.2406, -97.5595)

LOCATION: Corpus Christi Bay HOTSPOT: Wells GPS: N 27 44.764, W 97 11.141 (27.7461, -97.1857)

LOCATION: Baffin Bay HOTSPOT: Kennedy Shoreline GPS: N 27 14.567, W 97 25.459 (27.2428, -97.4243)

SPECIES: Speckled Trout BEST BAITS: Live Croaker or Live Shrimp CONTACT: Capt. Daniel Land 361-876-7610 rdhunting16@yahoo.com TIPS: “The trout will start feeding on live croaker in May. Hook the croaker by the anal fin. Live shrimp under a popping cork over deep rocks works well.”

Capt. Land LOCATION: Baffin Bay HOTSPOT: Kieberg Point Rocks GPS: N 27 17.337, W 97 35.202 (27.2890, -97.5867)

SPECIES: Speckled Trout BEST BAITS: Live Croaker CONTACT: Capt. Daniel Land 361-876-7610 rdhunting16@yahoo.com

SPECIES: Speckled Trout BEST BAITS: Live Croaker CONTACT: Capt. Colton Blackwell 361-243-8508

TIPS: “Berkley Gulp, white, under the popping cork will work if live shrimp are not available.” Capt. Land

SPECIES: Speckled Trout BEST BAITS: Live Croaker or Live Shrimp CONTACT: Capt. Daniel Land 361-876-7610 rdhunting16@yahoo.com TIPS: “Freeline the croaker using a Bay Finger Chatter weight.” Capt. Land usually has a foot-long leader under the cork, but it all depends the depth of the water being fished. “You want just enough leader length to keep the bait off the bottom.”

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FISHING HOTSPOTS LOCATION: Baffin Bay HOTSPOT: The Badlands GPS: N 27 12.779, W 97 23.85 (27.2130, -97.3975)

LOCATION: Lower Laguna Madre HOTSPOT: Gas Well Flats GPS: N 26 15.079, W 97 15.943 (26.2513, -97.2657)

LOCATION: Port Mansfield HOTSPOT: Intercoastal Spoils GPS: N 26 36.308, W 97 24.102 (26.6051, -97.4017)

SPECIES: Speckled Trout BEST BAITS: Live Croaker CONTACT: Capt. Daniel Land 361-876-7610 rdhunting16@yahoo.com TIPS: “I typically use 6/0 Mustad croaker hook when using croaker. Give a spot about 15-30 minutes. If you don’t have a taker by then move on.” Capt. Land

SPECIES: Speckled Trout BEST BAITS: Gulp under a popping cork CONTACT: Capt. Grady Deaton 956-455-2503 captaingrady@dosgringofishing.com www.dosgringosfishing.com TIPS: Favorite Gulp color is New Penny with a chartreuse tail. “If you catch a skip jack, throw it into your ice chest, let it die, and cut it into pieces about an inch and a half long. Throw it out under the popping cork.

We have caught a lot of redfish with this setup.” Capt.

Deaton

SPECIES: Speckled Trout BEST BAITS: Gulp under a popping cork CONTACT: Capt. Grady Deaton 956-455-2503 captaingrady@dosgringofishing.com www.dosgringosfishing.com TIPS: Capt. Deaton fishes deeper water in the morning along the intercoastal canal, deeper water meaning 3-5 feet.

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FISHING HOTSPOTS FRESHWATER Conroe Crappie Like Deep Jumps

TIPS: Fish this grass flat, working the described lures over and through the hydrilla and pads. Most of the area is in 2-3 foot of water. There are many areas on Caddo that are similar to this flat that you can fish the same way. One can also look to areas like Ames spring basin and Clinton Lake area if you want to cover more of Caddo Lake.

LOCATION: Lake Fork HOTSPOT: Little Caney Creek GPS: N 32 49.308, W 95 32.9219 (32.8218, -95.5487)

by Dustin Warncke

LOCATION: Lake Livingston HOTSPOT: The Lump GPS: N 30 41.172, W 95 5.658 (30.6862, -95.0943)

LOCATION: Lake Conroe HOTSPOT: Main Lake GPS: N 30 24.57, W 95 36.834 (30.4095, -95.6139)

SPECIES: Crappie BEST BAITS: Live minnows, chartreuse crappie jigs CONTACT: Doug Shampine 940-902-3855 doug@lakeforktrophybass.com www.lakeforktrophybass.com TIPS: May is one of the best crappie months on Lake Fork. The spawn is over, and the crappie have moved back to the deeper brush piles and are feeding up after the spawn. Good electronics will help you locate brush piles in the 17-22 foot range and that is where they will be for the month of May. Good areas to look for schools of crappie will be Ray, Burch, Chaney, Little Caney and Bell Creeks. Look at the main lake points.

Best baits are live minnows and chartreuse jigs worked around the brush piles.

SPECIES: Crappie BEST BAITS: Live minnows, crappie jigs CONTACT: Richard Tatsch 936-661-7920 admin@fishdudetx.com www.fishdudetx.com TIPS: The crappie are going to be close to deep water jumps with brush on them. The best way to catch them will be on live minnows or crappie jigs. When I’m jig fishing, the color doesn’t matter a lot so long as there’s some chartreuse color in it. Control your depth and keep your bait just above the brush and not so much in it and you will do great! Good luck and good fishing!

LOCATION: Lake Fork HOTSPOT: Glade Creek GPS: N 32 53.8559, W 95 31.884 (32.8976, -95.5314)

LOCATION: Caddo Lake HOTSPOT: Goose Prairie Area GPS: N 32 41.994, W 94 7.092 (32.6999, -94.1182)

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SPECIES: White Bass & Striped Bass BEST BAITS: White jigging slabs, Tsunami Zombie Eyes, trolled Pet Spoons on downrigger CONTACT: David S. Cox, Palmetto Guide Service 936-291-9602 dave@palmettoguideservice.com www.palmettoguideservice.com TIPS: “White bass will migrate back to the mid-lake and lower lake humps and ridges in early May. Look for days when the wind will be blowing less than 10 mph here. Fish the slope of the drop off 11’ to 15’ deep.

Whites will push shad up on the ridges in a feeding frenzy. When you get on them here you can load the boat. Feel for strikes on a falling jig. Bounce or ‘yo-yo’ the jigs off the bottom. Also keep an eye out for the birds working, indicating schooling whites on the surface. BANK ACCESS: Beacon Bay Marina.”

LOCATION: Sam Rayburn Lake HOTSPOT: Main Lake GPS: N 31 19.536, W 94 25.362 (31.3256, -94.4227)

SPECIES: Largemouth Bass BEST BAITS: Top water walking lures, poppers, crankbaits, Vicktory Jig by Finch Nasty Bait Company 5/8 oz. with a Grandebass Air Tail Wiggler CONTACT: Lance Vick 903-312-0609 lance@lakeforkbass.com www.guideonlakefork.com TIPS: “May is the most active time of year on Lake Fork. The shad spawn early in the morning on points

SPECIES: Largemouth Bass BEST BAITS: Houdini colored V&M 5”swimbaits with an 1/8 weight, weightless V&M Pork Shad in colors of Houdini and watermelon/red. frog lures CONTACT: Caddo Lake Guide Service/Paul Keith 318-455-3437 caddoguide1@att.net www.caddolakefishing.com

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and bass can be caught on top water walking lures and crankbaits. Fry guarders on grass lines and standing timber can be caught on poppers fished slow.

Deep fish can be found on points and humps with the Vicktory Jig by Finch Nasty Bait Company. This is my go-to lure - a 5/8 oz bass jig with a Grandebass Air Tail Wiggler. This combination was designed for Lake Fork bass! Fish on an 18 lb. K-9 pure fluorocarbon to be sure to get the big ones. Best depth is 18-25 foot deep. Good fishing to all!”

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FISHING HOTSPOTS TIPS: Sam Rayburn in May will continue to be a bass angler’s dream. The water will still be above full pool and there will be lots of shallow fish still available in the grass and flooded timber. There will also be plenty of fish beginning to school on offshore humps and ledges. A great lake with something for everyone. This is the year to visit Rayburn!

LOCATION: Toledo Bend Lake HOTSPOT: Hurricane Bayou GPS: N 31 17.754, W 93 42.4499 (31.2959, -93.7075)

SPECIES: Largemouth Bass BEST BAITS: Reaction baits, Carolina rigs, drop shots, top water lures, wacky worms CONTACT: Mike Knight 936-635-2427 notechmike@hotmail.com www.easttxfishingguide.com TIPS: The spawn is over, and the bass have begun to move to their summer patterns offshore. There is still a morning bite on points and around grass beds. These fish will bite top water lures and wacky worms until the sun starts to show on the water. After about 9am, move out deeper on the points in 15 to 20 feet and fish Carolina rigs or drop shots. The good news is that the hydrilla is starting to make a comeback in quite a few areas and this could mean a return to shallow fishing patterns that could last all year - maybe even a summer frog bite! We can hope!

LOCATION: Toledo Bend North HOTSPOT: The Snake Pit GPS: N 31 45.786, W 93 50.8739 (31.7631, -93.8479)

SPECIES: Bream BEST BAITS: Crickets, earth worms, meal worms CONTACT: Greg Crafts, Toledo Bend Guide Service and Lake Cottages 936-368-7151 gregcrafts@yahoo.com www.toledobendguide.com TIPS: May is the month to take a kid fishing and the

best way to get a kid hooked on fishing is to take him or her bream fishing. In May the bream will be on the beds in shallow water. Cruise the shoreline and look for honeycomb circles along sandy banks. Once you find a bed, pick off the fish from outside to inside so you don’t spook the fish. The White Bass will also be ganging up on the north end sand bars.

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Roberts Crappie and White Bass

SPECIES: Largemouth Bass BEST BAITS: White/chartreuse spinnerbaits, top water frogs CONTACT: Carey Thorn 469-528-0210 thorn_alex@yahoo.com TexasOklahomaFishingGuide.com TIPS: Find bass on beds in 1-7 feet of water right off the bank. White and chartreuse spinnerbaits are the lure of choice here, but top water frogs worked early in the morning are effective as well.

by Dustin Warncke & Dean Heffner

LOCATION: Lake Ray Roberts HOTSPOT: Main Lake Brush Pile GPS: N 33 23.392, W 97 3.126 (33.3899, -97.0521)

LOCATION: Cedar Creek Lake HOTSPOT: Main Lake Docks GPS: N 32 18.312, W 96 8.94 (32.3052, -96.1490)

SPECIES: Crappie, White Bass BEST BAITS: Minnows, jigs and slabs, flashy or shad colored shallow baits (crankbaits, roadrunners) CONTACT: Justin Wilson 214-538-2780 TIPS: May is undoubtedly one of the best times to be on the water. Nice weather and both the white bass and crappie are as consistent as they come. Most of the fish have spawned and are heading back to the main lake with a few still hitting the creeks and they are hungry. Look for the white bass in large schools feeding heavy in early mornings and evening. I start my search around main lake points starting out deeper 25’ to 30’ and working my way shallow depending on where the bait fish are at that particular time of day. Slabs work very well when they’re in the deeper water and any shad colored, or flashy lure will work when they’re shallow. Crappie can still be found in the creeks this time of year depending on the weather but also held tight to main lake structure. I like to bounce around quite a bit directing my focus to trees and piles close to creek channels and occasional shallow rocks early and late in the day. Fishing jigs or minnows underneath a slip bobber is your best bet as these fish can change depths throughout the day just like the whites.

SPECIES: Crappie BEST BAITS: Crappie jigs CONTACT: Jason Barber 903-603-2047 kingscreekadventures@yahoo.com www.kingscreekadventures.com TIPS: This month we will be “dock shooting” for crappie. Shoot jigs under all docks with lots of shade and in 6’ of water or preferably deeper water depth on them. Numerous colors will work, and 1/16 oz. is the best size. Use 6lb line on a 6-7’ medium action spinning rod as this should serve you well.

LOCATION: Eagle Mountain Lake HOTSPOT: 200 Yards North of Dam GPS: N 32 52.709, W 97 27.923 (32.8785, -97.4654)

LOCATION: Bachman Lake HOTSPOT: Main Lake T E X A S

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FISHING HOTSPOTS SPECIES: White bass BEST BAITS: Slab with a fly 12” above Slab CONTACT: Johnny Stevens 817-597-6598 johnnysguideservice.com johnnystevens@1scom.net TIPS: This area just north of the damn is a series of humps and ridges. This area was used to supply earth for the damn. Use your electronics to check the slopes

and humps. When you locate the fish anchor on them and use a vertical jig method on them. If you prefer to cast to them. Use a slab and jig combo and let it go to the bottom and hop it back to the boat.

LOCATION: Fayette County Res. HOTSPOT: Main Point GPS: N 29 56.442, W 96 44.442 (29.9407, -96.7407)

SPECIES: Catfish BEST BAITS: Punch bait, live worms CONTACT: Weldon Kirk 979-229-3103 weldon_edna@hotmail.com www.fishtales-guideservice.com TIPS: Cats are coming off the spawn into open water or wooded area. Anchor or tie off here. Fish using a slip cork right off of the bottom. Cast out and retrieve the cork at a snail’s pace.

LOCATION: Gibbons Creek Reservoir HOTSPOT: Hot Water Discharge Area GPS: N 30 38.3459, W 96 3.2759 (30.6391, -96.0546)

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SPECIES: Striped bass BEST BAITS: Live shad, willow shaped slabs, bucktail jigs with a curly tail CONTACT: Michael W. Acosta, Unfair Advantage Charters 817-578-0023 TIPS: Live shad worked near feeding flats.

Downrigging jigs near channel ledges near baitfish can help locate active fish. Live shad fished on a Carolina rig fished 15 to 25 feet down is hard to beat.

LOCATION: Granger Lake HOTSPOT: Main Lake GPS: N 30 42.6539, W 97 20.73 (30.7109, -97.3455)

SPECIES: Catfish BEST BAITS: CJ’s punch bait, cut shad CONTACT: Weldon Kirk 979-229-3103 weldon_edna@hotmail.com www.fishtales-guideservice.com TIPS: Some fish are through spawning and are very hungry. Try close to shore here for spawning fish and move out to the edge of trees for post-spawn fish. On outer edge area, fish straight down over chum. Set your hook at the slightest movement of rod tip.

SPECIES: Crappie BEST BAITS: Marabou hand-tied crappie jigs in 1/16 oz. or 1/32 oz. tipped with Berkley Crappie Nibbles CONTACT: Tommy Tidwell 512-365-7761 crappie1@hotmail.com www.gotcrappie.com TIPS: Other than the fall, May is the best month of the year for crappie at Granger Lake. This year is very good because of the winter rains and high water conditions.

The crappie are some of the largest in years. They are biting very good in every brush pile or cover of any kind. You can find them from 4 feet to 15 feet deep all over the lake. Fish vertical using crappie jigs tipped with Berkley Crappie Nibbles. I like Marabou hand tied jigs in 1/16 or 1/32 oz. Color is not as important as having some type of reflective material in the jig. If you find a school of small fish, move to another spot until you find the larger ones. Good luck and good fishing.

LOCATION: Lake Granbury HOTSPOT: Lower End GPS: N 32 22.659, W 97 42.009 (32.3777, -97.7002)

LOCATION: Lake Lavon HOTSPOT: Elm Creek GPS: N 33 5.8259, W 96 25.926 (33.0971, -96.4321)

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FISHING HOTSPOTS

SPECIES: Crappie & White Bass BEST BAITS: 1/16 oz. Crappie jigs in black/chartreuse, White Bass: 1 oz. white/chartreuse slabs CONTACT: Carey Thorn 469-528-0210 thorn_alex@yahoo.com www.WhiteBassFishingTexas.com TIPS: White bass should be filtering out of the creeks on their annual spawn. Check for fish in 10 to 20 foot depths on main lake points using white or chartreuse 1 oz. slabs. Crappie should be done spawning. Check for fish in 7 to 18 foot depths, keying in on brush and timber. Use black and chartreuse and white and chartreuse 1/16 oz. jigs.

www.striperexpress.com TIPS: “May is most fishermen’s favorite month of the year on Lake Texoma. Most of the stripers are finished with the spawn and are roaming the lake. Large schools of post-spawn fish are hungry and will strike on artificial lures and live bait. Cast Pencil Poppers and big Chugbugs on the shallow banks early in the mornings.

After the top water bite slows down, switch to 1 oz. white Sassy Shad jigs or live shad. Work the jigs on main lake ledges to 30’ depths. Drift or anchor with live shad on the same ledges. Limits of the fish are common, and May is an exciting month on Lake Texoma.

Bank Access: Plater Flats, Washita Point”

L-Traps CONTACT: Royce Simmons 903-389-4117 simmonsroyce@hotmail.com www.gonefishin.biz TIPS: May is arguably the BEST month of the entire year to catch large numbers of white bass and hybrid stripers. The fish can be found on main lake points, humps and roadbeds and they often feed the entire day. Afternoon trips can be even better than the normal morning trips. You can catch them deep on 1 oz. silver or chartreuse slabs or often find fish feeding on the surface and Rat-L-Traps are deadly in that case! Check out the Old Highway 297 submerged Roadbed and the Long Arm Branch Point in 20’-30’ feet of water for a great fishing spot.

LOCATION: Lake Whitney HOTSPOT: Whitney Hump & Striper Point GPS: N 31 54.672, W 97 20.868 (31.9112, -97.3478)

LOCATION: Somerville Lake HOTSPOT: Rocks on Left End of the Dam GPS: N 30 19.578, W 96 31.836 (30.3263, -96.5306)

LOCATION: Lake Palestine HOTSPOT: Fish Bay GPS: N 32 6, W 95 27 (32.1000, -95.4500)

SPECIES: Crappie BEST BAITS: Chartreuse and white crappie jigs CONTACT: Ricky Vandergriff 903-561-7299 or 903-530-2201 ricky@rickysguideservice.com www.rickysguideservice.com TIPS: Crappie fishing will be best at 15 feet depths.

Look for brush piles around the lake or any of the lakes’ bridges which should hold crappie as well.

SPECIES: Striped Bass & White Bass BEST BAITS: Live shad, Pencil Poppers, Zara Spooks CONTACT: Randy Routh 817-822-5539 teamredneck01@hotmail.com www.teamredneck.net TIPS: The edge of Whitney Hump can be awesome this time of year for big stripers. Look in 18’ to 24’ of water along the edge of the hump and drop live shad on a Carolina rig straight down to the bottom and reel up 3 turns off the bottom. Stripers are coming off the hump and also in the deeper water alongside the hump. Keep a good set of binoculars handy and watch the shallow water between Towash and Whitney creek from the hump. If you see bait fish flipping and birds lining the shallows, go run the shallow flats and throw top water baits like Pencil Poppers and Zara Spooks for great top water action. At Striper Point some mornings the cranes and blues herons are lined up on the shoreline feeding on the shad. If you see that, anchor out in 18’ to 20’ of water and cast live shad on a Carolina rig up shallow and hang on! Let the fish run for a second then cross their eyes with a solid hook set. If no birds are along the shoreline then back off to about 30’ and use live shad on a Carolina rig and fish between 18’ to 21’ below the boat. BANK ACCESS: Lake Whitney State Park

SPECIES: Crappie BEST BAITS: Live minnows, chartreuse jigs CONTACT: Weldon Kirk 979-229-3103 weldon_edna@hotmail.com www.fishtales-guideservice.com TIPS: Brush extends out from the rocks here. Use live minnows 4 foot off bottom to start with. Another option is 1/16 oz. jigs held as still as possible, then moved very slowly along the rocks. There is a post-spawn bite in this area.

LOCATION: Lake Texoma HOTSPOT: The North End & Washita Point GPS: N 33 52.068, W 96 41.67 (33.8678, -96.6945)

LOCATION: Richland Chambers Lake HOTSPOT: Long Arm Branch Point GPS: N 31 59.2019, W 96 12.174 (31.9867, -96.2029)

SPECIES: White Bass & Hybrid Striped Bass BEST BAITS: 1 oz. silver or chartreuse slabs, Rat-

SPECIES: Striped Bass BEST BAITS: Sassy Shad jigs, top water plugs, live shad CONTACT: Bill Carey 903-786-4477 bigfishlaketexoma@gmail.com T E X A S

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FISHING HOTSPOTS Stripers, Hybrids a Big Hit on Broadway

When the water temp hits 60 degrees, the male bass will slowly start moving very shallow to make beds. The female bass will be cruising and staging a little deeper. Look for these bass on the shallow flats next to deep water. Use worms, bass jigs, and jerkbaits to locate them. Up the creeks are a good place to start. “

by Dustin Warncke & Dean Heffner

LOCATION: Lake Daniel HOTSPOT: Main Lake GPS: N 32 38.6027, W 98 51.8926 (32.6434, -98.8649)

LOCATION: Lake Possum Kingdom HOTSPOT: Broadway GPS: N 32 52.734, W 98 31.899 (32.8789, -98.5317)

••

SPECIES: Largemouth bass, white crappie BEST BAITS: soft plastics, jigs, spinnerbaits CONTACT: Michael D. Homer Jr., Abilene Dist.

Supervisor, TPWD 325-692-0921 michael.homer@tpwd.texas.gov TIPS: Lake Daniel is an excellent fishery for decent largemouth bass and white Crappie. Historically, the reservoir has produced multiple largemouth bass over 8 pounds. May provides an excellent opportunity to land some quality-sized crappie. When fishing for largemouth bass, consider throwing Texas-rigged soft plastics, swim jigs, and spinners. Sticking to brighter or natural colors may be optimal. For crappie, sticking to jigs or smaller spinners fished off structure may produce a bite.

SPECIES: Stripers, hybrids BEST BAITS: Live shad, jigs CONTACT: Dean Heffner 940-329-0036 fav7734@aceweb.com TIPS: The weather is finally settled, and the fish are biting! Live shad is the ticket for all species, but you can troll, down-rig, or throw lures this time of the year.

Look for the fish to be on breaklines. They travel up and down them like natural highways. We like to troll jigs with Mister Twister curly tails now. When we were kids, my grandad would tie a RatLTrap on for one of us, and a crankbait for the other, and he would troll us around till we got a double on. He would shut the motor off and proclaim, “This is where we are fishing today boys!” And sure enough, we would catch all species, all day right there with minnows we had seined that morning.

••

•

••

Get ‘Evan’ with Amistad Bass

LOCATION: Lake Alan Henry HOTSPOT: Rocky Creek GPS: N 33 1.2779, W 101 6.6719 (33.0213, -101.1112)

SPECIES: largemouth bass BEST BAITS: Spinnerbaits, swimbaits, topwaters, plastic worms CONTACT: Stan Gerzsenyl 830-768-3648, stan@amistadbass.com, amistadbass.com TIPS: The bass will be in all phases of the spawn.

Some will be caught on topwater lures shallow. My favorite is to fish the deeper points near creek channels slow-rolling spinnerbaits or on crankbaits. Some bedding fish can be seen on non-windy days.

by Dustin Warncke

•••

Drifting for Buchanan Stripers

by Dustin Warncke

LOCATION: Lake Buchanan HOTSPOT: Shaw Island and Mid-Lake Area GPS: N 30 50.01, W 98 24.174 (30.8335, -98.4029)

SPECIES: Striped Bass BEST BAITS: Live shad CONTACT: Clancy Terrill 512-633-6742 centraltexasfishing@gmail.com www.centraltexasfishing.com TIPS: Stripers fishing is good right now drifting or anchored with 4-6 inch live shad concentrating on mid-lake area to Shaw Island. Keep your fishing depth at 25-40 feet on humps and ridges and keep your bait just above the depth where fish are suspended.

LOCATION: Lake Buchanan HOTSPOT: Main Lake Points, Ridges and Humps GPS: N 30 49.848, W 98 23.22 (30.8308, -98.3870)

LOCATION: Amistad HOTSPOT: Evans Creek GPS: N29 30.22296, W100 55.6938 (29.503716, -100.928230) SPECIES: Largemouth Bass BEST BAITS: Plastic worms, bass jigs, jerkbaits CONTACT: Norman Clayton’s Guide Services 806-792-9220 nclayton42@sbcglobal.net www.lakealanhenry.com/fishing-guides.html TIPS: “May will find the bass moving on the beds.

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FISHING HOTSPOTS SPECIES: Striped Bass BEST BAITS: Top water lures, Long A Bomber jerkbaits CONTACT: Ken Milam 325-379-2051 kmilam@verizon.net www.striperfever.com.com TIPS: The stripers should be in the shallows along windy points. Fish with top water baits or Long A Bomber jerkbaits. Fish will be holding along deep ridges and humps off of the river channel as well.

LOCATION: Canyon Lake HOTSPOT: Canyon Park Point GPS: N 29 53.2559, W 98 13.638 (29.8876, -98.2273)

SPECIES: Striped Bass BEST BAITS: Hogies 4” Super Shad in pearl with a black back CONTACT: Capt. Steve Nixon, Fishhooks Adventures 210-573-1230 capt.steve@sanantoniofishingguides.com www.sanantoniofishingguides.com TIPS: Look for the Striped Bass to be shallow (20-40 feet). They will be suspending over the river channel and feeding on the point in this area. Fishing the Super Shad close to the bottom produces fish in this area.

Tight lines and fish on!

LOCATION: Lake Austin HOTSPOT: Lake Austin Flats and Docks GPS: N 30 21.006, W 97 51.018 (30.3501, -97.8503)

SPECIES: Largemouth Bass BEST BAITS: V&M Delta Bug, V&M Trickster, Picasso Tungsten, Picasso Inviz Wire Spinnerbait, Picasso Double Barrel Underspin CONTACT: Brian Parker - Lake Austin Fishing 817-808-2227 TIPS: This will be post spawn feeding time on Lake Austin and other Lower Colorado lakes. I start my mornings with a Picasso Inviz Wire Spinnerbait and work the sandy flats right by depth changes. As the

sun comes up, I switch to a Picasso Double Barrel Underspin with a V&M Thunder Shad (usually in white or hitch color) and work the 8-12 feet of water column with a yo-yo action. When the sun gets high, I switch to a Carolina rigged V&M Trickster in 15+ feet of water or start skipping docks with V&M Delta Bug. It’s very important to throw multiple times at the same spot when skipping or fishing docks and the reason is these fish are usually coming back from feeding in the mornings and are in metabolize mode (meaning they are digesting their meals from the morning feed). So to trigger reaction strikes its best to make sure you give that fish multiple opportunities to decide to eat again.

••

•••

Gobble Up Coleto Creek Bass

LOCATION: Lake Falcon HOTSPOT: Dam Area GPS: N 26 33.648, W 99 9.738 (26.5608, -99.1623)

by Dustin Warncke

LOCATION: Coleto Creek Lake HOTSPOT: Turkey Creek GPS: N 28 44.7479, W 97 10.2659 (28.7458, -97.1711)

SPECIES: Largemouth Bass BEST BAITS: Flukes, Senkos, deep diving crankbaits, brown/orange jigs CONTACT: Billy Tompkins/Bassin’ Billy’s Guide Service 281-928-1133 billy34@gmail.com www.LakeFalconFishing.com TIPS: Rocks are holding fish. Approach them with a Texas rig or Carolina rig and fish very slow. When throwing the crankbait make sure you are digging into the rocks and pause often.

SPECIES: Largemouth Bass BEST BAITS: Pearl white Zoom fluke dipped slightly in chartreuse or watermelon as a secondary color CONTACT: Rocky’s Guide Service 361-960-0566 TIPS: Usually may is a very active month for top water fishing both early morning and late evening.

As always, I can’t seem to get away from the fluke. I use a 4/0 worm hook weightless on 20 lb. Trilene Big Game green. Early morning or late evening I’ll twitch and retrieve at a fairly fast pace keeping in on top of the water. In the afternoons, I’ll let it sink into the grass pockets, twitching it a little. God bless us all and thanks for reading! I hope it helps!

«

LOCATION: Choke Canyon Res. HOTSPOT: Main Lake Shallow Areas GPS: N 28 29.2919, W 98 20.994 (28.4882, -98.3499) T E X A S

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SPECIES: Catfish BEST BAITS: Stink bait, cheese bait, or worms.

CONTACT: Charlie Brown 830-780-2162 TIPS: Expect to find catfish in shallow water this time of year since May is usually a spawning month. Use a float rigged to 3 feet and move to another spot if you don’t get a bite within 10-15 minutes.

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Sportsman’s DAYBOOK MAY 2019

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 T9

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.

T8 T17

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.

T15 T16

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 T6

T7

T3 T2 T1

T5

T14

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 HIGH San Luis Pass -0.09 Freeport Harbor -0:44 Pass Cavallo 0:00 Aransas Pass -0:03 Padre Island (So. End) -0:24 Port Isabel +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

READING THE GRAPH

= FALLING TIDE = RISING TIDE = DAYLIGHT HOURS = NIGHTTIME HOURS

Moon Overhead

Fishing Score Graph

Day’s Best Day’s 2nd Score Best Score

Moon Underfoot

n

Best Day Overall

MOON PHASES

l = New Moon l = Full Moon = First Quarter º » = Last Quarter «= Good Day by Moon Phase 60

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4/11/19 5:32 PM

MAY 2019

Tides and Prime Times MONDAY

29 FEET

High Tide: Low Tide: High Tide: Low Tide:

12:38a 7:37a 2:38p 8:51p

1.14ft.

0.49ft.

1.31ft.

0.90ft.

TUESDAY

Apr 30 High Tide: Low Tide: High Tide: Low Tide:

1:50a 8:23a 2:52p 8:57p

WEDNESDAY

May 1

1.21ft.

0.58ft.

1.28ft.

0.76ft.

High Tide: Low Tide: High Tide: Low Tide:

2:51a 9:03a 3:07p 9:12p

THURSDAY

2«

1.29ft.

0.69ft.

1.27ft.

0.61ft.

High Tide: Low Tide: High Tide: Low Tide:

3:46a 9:40a 3:20p 9:35p

FRIDAY

3«

1.37ft.

0.80ft.

1.26ft.

0.45ft.

High Tide: Low Tide: High Tide: Low Tide:

4:37a 10:17a 3:32p 10:02p

SATURDAY

4l

1.46ft.

0.91ft.

1.26ft.

0.29ft.

High Tide: Low Tide: High Tide: Low Tide:

5:28a 10:56a 3:41p 10:34p

SUNDAY

5«

1.54ft.

1.03ft.

1.27ft.

0.14ft.

High Tide: Low Tide: High Tide: Low Tide:

6:21a 11:39a 3:44p 11:10p

1.60ft.

1.15ft.

1.29ft.

0.01ft.

FEET

+3.0

+3.0

+2.0

+2.0

+1.0

+1.0 0

0

12a

6a

12p

6p

12a

6a

BEST TIME

2:30 — 4:30 AM Sunrise: 6:39a Sunset: 7:53p Moonrise: 3:56a Moon Set: 3:20p

AM Minor: 2:05a AM Major: 8:16a PM Minor: 2:27p PM Major: 8:38p

Moon Overhead: 9:36a Moon Underfoot: 9:58p

12p

6p

12a

BEST TIME

10:30A — 12:30P Sunrise: 6:38a Sunset: 7:53p Moonrise: 4:29a Moon Set: 4:13p

AM Minor: 2:44a AM Major: 8:55a PM Minor: 3:06p PM Major: 9:16p

Moon Overhead: 10:19a Moon Underfoot: 10:40p

TexasOutdoorNation-1905-DIG.indd 57

6a

12p

6p

12a

BEST TIME

5:30 — 7:30 AM Sunrise: 6:37a Sunset: 7:54p Moonrise: 5:01a Moon Set: 5:07p

AM Minor: 3:22a AM Major: 9:32a PM Minor: 3:43p PM Major: 9:53p

Moon Overhead: 11:01a Moon Underfoot: 11:23p

6a

12p

6p

12a

BEST TIME

11:30A — 1:30P Sunrise: 6:36a Sunset: 7:54p Moonrise: 5:33a Moon Set: 6:01p

AM Minor: 3:59a AM Major: 10:10a PM Minor: 4:21p PM Major: 10:31p Moon Overhead: 11:44a Moon Underfoot: None

6a

12p

6p

12a

BEST TIME

12:00 — 2:00 PM Sunrise: 6:35a Sunset: 7:55p Moonrise: 6:06a Moon Set: 6:56p

AM Minor: 4:38a AM Major: 10:49a PM Minor: 5:00p PM Major: 11:12p Moon Overhead: 12:28p Moon Underfoot: 12:06a

6a

12p

6p

12a

BEST TIME

12:30 — 2:30 PM Sunrise: 6:35a Sunset: 7:56p Moonrise: 6:40a Moon Set: 7:53p

AM Minor: 5:21a AM Major: 11:32a PM Minor: 5:44p PM Major: 11:56p Moon Overhead: 1:13p Moon Underfoot: 12:50a

6a

12p

6p

12a

BEST TIME

1:00 — 3:00 PM Sunrise: 6:34a Sunset: 7:56p Moonrise: 7:17a Moon Set: 8:52p

AM Minor: 6:08a AM Major: 11:52a PM Minor: 6:33p PM Major: 12:20p Moon Overhead: 2:02p Moon Underfoot: 1:37a

4/11/19 5:32 PM

Sportsman’s DAYBOOK MONDAY

6« FEET

High Tide: Low Tide: High Tide: Low Tide:

7:16a 12:27p 3:35p 11:50p

TUESDAY

1.65ft.

1.27ft.

1.33ft.

-0.09ft.

7

High Tide: 8:17a Low Tide: 1:27p High Tide: 3:12p

WEDNESDAY

8

1.68ft.

1.37ft.

1.38ft.

Low Tide: 12:35a High Tide: 9:23a

THURSDAY

9

-0.15ft.

1.69ft.

Low Tide: 1:27a High Tide: 10:32a

FRIDAY

10

-0.16ft.

1.69ft.

Low Tide: 2:25a High Tide: 11:36a

SATURDAY

11 º

-0.13ft.

1.66ft.

Low Tide: 3:30a High Tide: 12:27p

SUNDAY

12

-0.04ft.

1.61ft.

Low Tide: High Tide: Low Tide: High Tide:

4:41a 1:04p 8:03p 10:46p

0.09ft.

1.54ft.

1.07ft.

1.12ft.

FEET

+3.0

+3.0

+2.0

+2.0

+1.0

+1.0 0

0

12a

6a

12p

6p

12a

6a

BEST TIME

6:30 — 8:30 PM Sunrise: 6:33a Sunset: 7:57p Moonrise: 7:58a Moon Set: 9:53p

12a

6a

12p

6p

12a

8:30 — 10:30 PM

14

0.25ft.

1.45ft.

0.85ft.

High Tide: Low Tide: High Tide: Low Tide:

FEET

12:50a 7:09a 1:56p 8:18p

15

High Tide: Low Tide: High Tide: Low Tide:

2:21a 8:18a 2:18p 8:49p

12p

6p

12a

6a

12p

6p

12a

6a

BEST TIME

10:30P — 12:30A

12a

Sunrise: 6:29a Sunset: 8:01p Moonrise: 1:47p Moon Set: 2:30a

AM Minor: ----AM Major: 5:52a PM Minor: 12:07p PM Major: 6:21p

Moon Overhead: 6:41p Moon Underfoot: 6:12a

6p

12:30 — 2:30 AM

Sunrise: 6:29a Sunset: 8:00p Moonrise: 12:41p Moon Set: 1:42a

AM Minor: 11:06a AM Major: 4:52a PM Minor: 11:35p PM Major: 5:21p

12p

BEST TIME

6:00 — 8:00 AM

Sunrise: 6:30a Sunset: 8:00p Moonrise: 11:37a Moon Set: 12:50a

Moon Overhead: 5:43p Moon Underfoot: 5:14a

AM Minor: 12:35a AM Major: 6:49a PM Minor: 1:03p PM Major: 7:17p

Moon Overhead: 7:38p Moon Underfoot: 7:10a

Moon Overhead: 8:33p Moon Underfoot: 8:06a

MOON PHASES

Day’s Best Score

WEDNESDAY

1.17ft.

0.43ft.

1.38ft.

0.58ft.

6a

BEST TIME

AM Minor: 10:03a AM Major: 3:48a PM Minor: 10:32p PM Major: 4:17p

Moon Overhead: 4:45p Moon Underfoot: 4:16a

TUESDAY

12a

9:30 — 11:30 PM

= FALLING TIDE = RISING TIDE = DAYLIGHT HOURS = NIGHTTIME HOURS Fishing Score Moon Moon Graph Overhead Underfoot

MONDAY

6p

Sunrise: 6:31a Sunset: 7:59p Moonrise: 10:35a Moon Set: None

AM Minor: 8:59a AM Major: 2:45a PM Minor: 9:28p PM Major: 3:14p

Moon Overhead: 3:48p Moon Underfoot: 3:20a

12p

BEST TIME

Sunrise: 6:32a Sunset: 7:58p Moonrise: 9:37a Moon Set: 11:53p

AM Minor: 7:58a AM Major: 1:44a PM Minor: 8:25p PM Major: 2:12p

READING THE GRAPH

6a

BEST TIME

7:30 — 9:30 PM

Moon Overhead: 2:53p Moon Underfoot: 2:27a

Low Tide: 5:56a High Tide: 1:33p Low Tide: 7:55p

6p

Sunrise: 6:32a Sunset: 7:58p Moonrise: 8:45a Moon Set: 10:54p

AM Minor: 7:00a AM Major: 12:47a PM Minor: 7:26p PM Major: 1:13p

13

12p

BEST TIME

Day’s 2nd Best Score

THURSDAY

16

1.29ft.

0.63ft.

1.32ft.

0.30ft.

High Tide: Low Tide: High Tide: Low Tide:

n

3:38a 9:23a 2:37p 9:26p

l = New Moon l = Full Moon = First Quarter º » = Last Quarter « = Good Day by Moon Phase

Best Day Overall

FRIDAY

17 «

1.43ft.

0.83ft.

1.29ft.

0.05ft.

High Tide: Low Tide: High Tide: Low Tide:

4:46a 10:25a 2:55p 10:04p

SATURDAY

18 «

1.55ft.

1.01ft.

1.29ft.

-0.14ft.

High Tide: Low Tide: High Tide: Low Tide:

5:48a 11:27a 3:11p 10:44p

SUNDAY

19 l

1.63ft.

1.16ft.

1.30ft.

-0.26ft.

High Tide: Low Tide: High Tide: Low Tide:

6:47a 12:32p 3:21p 11:24p

1.67ft.

1.27ft.

1.32ft.

-0.30ft.

FEET

+3.0

+3.0

+2.0

+2.0

+1.0

+1.0 0

0

12a

6a

12p

6p

12a

6a

BEST TIME

1:30 — 3:30 AM Sunrise: 6:28a Sunset: 8:01p Moonrise: 2:52p Moon Set: 3:13a

12a

2:30 — 4:30 AM

AM Minor: 2:16a AM Major: 8:28a PM Minor: 2:41p PM Major: 8:54p

Moon Overhead: 9:26p Moon Underfoot: 9:00a

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6p

Sunrise: 6:28a Sunset: 8:02p Moonrise: 3:56p Moon Set: 3:53a

AM Minor: 1:28a AM Major: 7:41a PM Minor: 1:54p PM Major: 8:07p

62

12p

BEST TIME

Moon Overhead: 10:17p Moon Underfoot: 9:51a

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6a

12p

6p

12a

BEST TIME

AM Minor: 3:00a AM Major: 9:13a PM Minor: 3:25p PM Major: 9:38p

6p

12a

5:00 — 7:00 AM

6p

12a

11:30A — 1:30P

AM Minor: 4:30a AM Major: 10:42a PM Minor: 4:55p PM Major: 11:08p

Moon Overhead: 11:57p Moon Underfoot: 11:32a

F I S H

12p

Sunrise: 6:26a Sunset: 8:04p Moonrise: 7:04p Moon Set: 5:46a

AM Minor: 3:44a AM Major: 9:57a PM Minor: 4:09p PM Major: 10:22p

T E X A S

6a

BEST TIME

Sunrise: 6:26a Sunset: 8:03p Moonrise: 6:02p Moon Set: 5:08a

Moon Overhead: 11:07p Moon Underfoot: 10:42a

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12p

BEST TIME

4:30 — 6:30 AM Sunrise: 6:27a Sunset: 8:03p Moonrise: 4:59p Moon Set: 4:31a

6a

&

Moon Overhead: None Moon Underfoot: 12:22p

6a

12p

6p

12a

BEST TIME

12:30 — 2:30 PM Sunrise: 6:25a Sunset: 8:05p Moonrise: 8:06p Moon Set: 6:26a

AM Minor: 5:18a AM Major: 11:31a PM Minor: 5:44p PM Major: 11:57p Moon Overhead: 12:48a Moon Underfoot: 1:13p

6a

12p

6p

12a

BEST TIME

7:00 — 9:00 PM Sunrise: 6:25a Sunset: 8:05p Moonrise: 9:07p Moon Set: 7:09a

AM Minor: 6:10a AM Major: ----PM Minor: 6:36p PM Major: 12:23p Moon Overhead: 1:40a Moon Underfoot: 2:06p

G A M E ®

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4/11/19 5:32 PM

Sportsman’s DAYBOOK MONDAY

20 «

High Tide: 7:44a Low Tide: 2:08p High Tide: 3:03p

1.67ft.

1.33ft.

1.33ft.

TUESDAY

21 «

Low Tide: 12:06a High Tide: 8:41a

-0.27ft.

1.63ft.

WEDNESDAY

22

Low Tide: 12:50a High Tide: 9:39a

-0.18ft.

1.58ft.

THURSDAY

23

Low Tide: 1:36a High Tide: 10:35a

-0.06ft.

1.51ft.

FRIDAY

24

Low Tide: 2:25a High Tide: 11:25a

0.08ft.

1.45ft.

SATURDAY

25

Low Tide: 3:18a High Tide: 12:05p

0.23ft.

1.39ft.

FEET

SUNDAY

26 » Low Tide: High Tide: Low Tide: High Tide:

4:15a 12:34p 8:13p 10:45p

0.38ft.

1.34ft.

0.95ft.

0.98ft.

FEET

+3.0

+3.0

+2.0

+2.0

+1.0

+1.0 0

0

12a

6a

12p

6p

12a

6a

BEST TIME

7:30 — 9:30 PM Sunrise: 6:24a Sunset: 8:06p Moonrise: 10:06p Moon Set: 7:55a

AM Minor: 7:06a AM Major: 12:52a PM Minor: 7:32p PM Major: 1:19p

Moon Overhead: 2:32a Moon Underfoot: 2:59p

12p

6p

BEST TIME

8:00 — 10:00 PM Sunrise: 6:24a Sunset: 8:06p Moonrise: 11:00p Moon Set: 8:44a

AM Minor: 8:03a AM Major: 1:50a PM Minor: 8:30p PM Major: 2:16p

Moon Overhead: 3:26a Moon Underfoot: 3:52p

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12a

6a

12p

6p

BEST TIME

9:00 — 11:00 PM Sunrise: 6:23a Sunset: 8:07p Moonrise: 11:51p Moon Set: 9:36a

AM Minor: 9:01a AM Major: 2:48a PM Minor: 9:27p PM Major: 3:14p

Moon Overhead: 4:18a Moon Underfoot: 4:44p

12a

6a

12p

6p

BEST TIME

10:00P — 12:00A Sunrise: 6:23a Sunset: 8:08p Moonrise: None Moon Set: 10:29a

AM Minor: 9:58a AM Major: 3:45a PM Minor: 10:23p PM Major: 4:10p

Moon Overhead: 5:09a Moon Underfoot: 5:34p

12a

6a

12p

6p

BEST TIME

11:00P — 1:00A Sunrise: 6:22a Sunset: 8:08p Moonrise: 12:36a Moon Set: 11:23a

AM Minor: 10:51a AM Major: 4:39a PM Minor: 11:15p PM Major: 5:03p

Moon Overhead: 5:58a Moon Underfoot: 6:22p

12a

6a

12p

6p

BEST TIME

6:00 — 8:00 AM Sunrise: 6:22a Sunset: 8:09p Moonrise: 1:17a Moon Set: 12:17p

AM Minor: 11:42a AM Major: 5:30a PM Minor: ----PM Major: 5:53p

Moon Overhead: 6:45a Moon Underfoot: 7:08p

12a

6a

12p

6p

12a

BEST TIME

12:00 — 2:00A Sunrise: 6:22a Sunset: 8:09p Moonrise: 1:54a Moon Set: 1:11p

AM Minor: 12:04a AM Major: 6:17a PM Minor: 12:28p PM Major: 6:39p Moon Overhead: 7:30a Moon Underfoot: 7:52p

4/11/19 5:33 PM

MAY 2019

Tides and Prime Times MONDAY

27

Low Tide: 5:15a High Tide: 12:56p Low Tide: 8:00p

TUESDAY

28

0.53ft.

1.29ft.

0.82ft.

High Tide: Low Tide: High Tide: Low Tide:

FEET

12:32a 6:15a 1:13p 8:02p

1.02ft.

0.66ft.

1.26ft.

0.66ft.

WEDNESDAY

29

High Tide: Low Tide: High Tide: Low Tide:

1:53a 7:13a 1:28p 8:14p

1.11ft.

0.80ft.

1.24ft.

0.49ft.

THURSDAY

30

High Tide: Low Tide: High Tide: Low Tide:

2:59a 8:08a 1:42p 8:34p

FRIDAY

31

1.22ft.

0.92ft.

1.23ft.

0.30ft.

High Tide: Low Tide: High Tide: Low Tide:

3:56a 9:02a 1:52p 9:01p

SATURDAY

SUNDAY

Jun 1 «

1.34ft.

1.03ft.

1.24ft.

0.11ft.

High Tide: Low Tide: High Tide: Low Tide:

4:48a 9:55a 1:59p 9:34p

2l

1.46ft.

1.14ft.

1.26ft.

-0.07ft.

High Tide: Low Tide: High Tide: Low Tide:

5:38a 10:48a 2:03p 10:10p

1.57ft.

1.23ft.

1.29ft.

-0.23ft.

FEET

+3.0

+3.0

+2.0

+2.0

+1.0

+1.0 0

0

12a

6a

12p

6p

12a

6a

BEST TIME

12:30 — 2:30 AM Sunrise: 6:21a Sunset: 8:10p Moonrise: 2:28a Moon Set: 2:03p

AM Minor: 12:49a AM Major: 7:00a PM Minor: 1:10p PM Major: 7:21p Moon Overhead: 8:14a Moon Underfoot: 8:35p

12p

6p

BEST TIME

1:30 — 3:30 AM Sunrise: 6:21a Sunset: 8:11p Moonrise: 3:00a Moon Set: 2:56p

AM Minor: 1:29a AM Major: 7:40a PM Minor: 1:50p PM Major: 8:01p

Moon Overhead: 8:56a Moon Underfoot: 9:17p

TexasOutdoorNation-1905-DIG.indd 61

12a

6a

12p

6p

BEST TIME

9:00 — 11:00 AM Sunrise: 6:21a Sunset: 8:11p Moonrise: 3:32a Moon Set: 3:49p

AM Minor: 2:07a AM Major: 8:18a PM Minor: 2:28p PM Major: 8:39p

Moon Overhead: 9:38a Moon Underfoot: 9:59p

12a

6a

12p

6p

12a

BEST TIME

5:30 — 7:30 AM Sunrise: 6:20a Sunset: 8:12p Moonrise: 4:03a Moon Set: 4:44p

AM Minor: 2:44a AM Major: 8:55a PM Minor: 3:06p PM Major: 9:17p

Moon Overhead: 10:21a Moon Underfoot: 10:43p

6a

12p

6p

12a

BEST TIME

10:30A — 12:30P Sunrise: 6:20a Sunset: 8:12p Moonrise: 4:36a Moon Set: 5:40p

AM Minor: 3:22a AM Major: 9:34a PM Minor: 3:45p PM Major: 9:57p

Moon Overhead: 11:05a Moon Underfoot: 11:29p

6a

12p

6p

12a

BEST TIME

11:00A — 1:00P Sunrise: 6:20a Sunset: 8:13p Moonrise: 5:12a Moon Set: 6:39p

AM Minor: 4:04a AM Major: 10:16a PM Minor: 4:28p PM Major: 10:40p Moon Overhead: 11:53a Moon Underfoot: None

6a

12p

6p

12a

BEST TIME

12:00 — 2:00 PM Sunrise: 6:20a Sunset: 8:13p Moonrise: 5:52a Moon Set: 7:41p

AM Minor: 4:49a AM Major: 11:02a PM Minor: 5:15p PM Major: 11:28p Moon Overhead: 12:44p Moon Underfoot: 12:18a

4/11/19 5:33 PM

Chester Moore, Sr. with a three main beamed giant and Moore, Jr. with a 20-inch six pointer, taken on Robert Shherer’s ranch.

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PHOTO: GARRETT SCHERER

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’LL NEVER FORGET THE FIRST time my father and I sat in a blind together on our friend Robert Scherer’s property in Jim Hogg County.

Most years growing up, we could barely afford to hunt a day lease for a weekend, much less hunt on a highly managed trophy whitetail ranch in South Texas. This was dream come true stuff for Dad and for me.

Dad was like a kid in a candy store seeing all of the deer along with bobcats, javelina and gorgeous green jays that sat on a limb a few feet away from the blind.

This was the moment I felt most blessed to work in the wildlife industry. Scherer had me down to hunt, not because I was going to write an article but because of a friendship we made through a company he owned called American Rodsmiths.

If nothing else I ever did mattered, getting my Dad an opportunity to hunt on a place like this was worth it.

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PHOTO: CHESTER MOORE

The author’s dad did everything to make his son’s life better, beginning with introducing the child to the outdoors.

We grew up on a tight budget but Dad grew up poor. Real poor.

The only Christmas gift he ever remembers getting was a wind-up caterpillar and he and his siblings had to suffer all kinds of issues because of poverty.

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When I came along he changed his life and although he and I often butted heads, he did everything he possibly could to make my life better. And a huge part of that was introducing me to the great outdoors. That meant listening to my con-

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Chester Moore, Sr. taught his son to hunt but also to love and appreciate wildlife. To only kill what could be eaten.

stant questions on what was the biggest deer he ever saw and if he had ever seen a

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wild turkey.

On the fishing front we spent an

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incredible amount of time together from the time I was four until he passed away at 71 when I was 41. I was born on Dad’s 30th birthday so his age was always easy to remember.

I have constantly been given tackle to try out over the years and I got so much it was impossible to use it all so I loved showing up at Dad’s house with rods, reels, lures and tackle boxes. I love getting gear but being able to see Dad light up when he got new fishing gear was special.

Getting him to use it sometimes was tough. When people grow up in poverty they are sometimes scared to ruin good things they get so I constantly had to tell him he should bring out the new stuff.

One of the most special things he ever did for me (along with mom) was take me for three days bass fishing at Toledo Bend when I was nine. I had never been and at

PHHOTOS: CHESTER MOORE

4/10/19 4:10 PM

The author’s dad was an an avid bowhunter and his son plans to use his dad’s bow to pursue Texas rams.

this point bass were like the white whale in Moby Dick-amazing!

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We caught gar, drum and I hadn’t yet discovered flounder so to me bass was the

ultimate trophy.

After all that’s what Bill Dance, Jimmy Houston, Roland Martin and Orlando Wilson caught! I bass fished vicariously through those guys for years.

I will never forget him throwing out a Devil’s Warhorse, twitching it once and seeing a bass boil under it. He handed it to me, I twitched it again and I caught my first bass! It was about three pounds but it might has well have been a world record.

That was a special catch for both of us.

A few days before I wrote this story I walked into Bass Pro Shops in Pearland, Texas and tears came down my eyes. The last time I was in this store Dad was with me and everything I saw reminded me of him and how much he loved me and showed me that love through the great outdoors.

One of my greatest desires in life is to

4/11/19 10:40 AM

be truly authentic in the things I do and what I write. In other words I don’t’ want any agenda or lack of courage about sharing true feelings to creep in. I want it all to be real. In the business of wildlife journalism and the outdoors industry it is easy to put agendas first. For me it’s always wildlife/resources first and then the everyday outdoors lover and then me. Trust me, if I had played my cards differently I could be at a different high dollar lodge on someone else’s coin every couple of weeks.

I do that sometimes but only when it’s in a genuine setting and I always make sure to bring something back information wise everyone can enjoy.

In this moment I was as raw and real as I had ever been with myself and I realized that quest for honesty is for my Dad. It 72

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Chester Moore, Sr. took this buck on friend Robert Scherer’s ranch the night before he passed away.

friend Thompson Temple’s ranches.

I recently found Dad’s bow and a bunch of arrows armed with broadheads. I am going to go ram hunting out there and take the Texas Slam (corsican, mouflon, Texas dall and Hawaiian black) with that exact bow. And for each ram I will donate $100 to the Wild Sheep Foundation in his name to help the bighorn sheep of

America. Dad and I always shared a love of them, although we could only afford to shoot a Texas slam. Ha! I learned conservation because I grew up hunting with a Dad who loved wildlife and fished with a Dad who respected the resource.

And I had good heroes like Marlin Perkins, Jim Fowler and Peter Gros from

was just his sincerity that shined through in moments as simple as walking into a beautiful Bass Pro Shops store.

I can’t bless Dad now because he passed away nearly five years ago on the same ranch I spoke of at the beginning of this article, two years after he shot the biggest buck of his life there and the night after he shot his second biggest buck ever.

I can however bless his memory and let it live on.

I thought of burying his deer rifle on that property and walking away from deer hunting altogether because it hasn’t been the same since Dad left our family. But my friend Josh Slone has rekindled my love for whitetail and I will hunt this year exclusively with Dad’s rifle.

Dad also loved hunting exotics at our PHOTO: CHESTER MOORE

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Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom and Jacque Cousteau to watch with him on

television.

If your Dad is alive do what you can

to bless him with an outdoors experience and if he is not, honor him by pursuing his favorite game or fish and donating to a wildlife nonprofit that helps those critters and habitat.

My quest to do this begins right now...

•••

Honoring Outdoors Moms, Too

M

Y MOTHER REFUSED TO go fishing with my Dad. As the story goes, they were fishing Lake Livingston on an unseasonably cold early spring day. As my Dad

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recalled the day, he caught bigger crappie in one sitting than he ever did in his life elsewhere, combined.

My mother, after sitting in the boat and sipping on sodas, had to go to the bathroom, but Dad refused to leave—for hours.

When she hit the shore, she promised never to go fishing with him again...and she didn’t—that is until I was born.

I wanted mom to tag along on some trips, so mom went with Dad and me. We sat on the rocks at Pleasure Island and fished for alligator garfish. On the shores of Cow Bayou we soaked dead shrimp and cut bait for catfish.

But after a few trips, Dad and I flew solo.

Mom and Dad had a good relationship, but fishing was a point of contention. I am sure many women reading this totally get it. I am sure more than few men would have done the same thing as Dad. I mean after all, he was catching crappie in the two-pound class!

My mom was never into hunting, although she certainly appreciated it.

However, she loved it when we brought a backstrap home from deer camp for her to fry.

More importantly she loved seeing my smiling face as I recounted tales of seeing wild turkeys on the Winkel Ranch day lease in Llano. She would break out the Polaroid to take shots of me with redfish we brought home to clean in the backyard; and she supported me in the earliest stages of my career as a wildlife journalist.

Many people don’t know I started doing all of this when I was a teenager.

Although my mom wasn’t much for waking up at 5 a.m. to climb into a treestand, she often drove me to Houston, so I could shoot photos of animals at the Houston Zoo.

She and my grandmother, the late Ruby Pickard, both took me on these types of expeditions. Before I ever envisioned all of what I am doing now, they allowed me a platform to do something I loved with wildlife.

Mom hated going into the reptile building, especially after a large cobra

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struck at the glass when I was face to face with it. After that she stood at the entrance and allowed me to view the snakes on my own.

I would not be where I am today in the world of wildlife journalism without my mother’s love and support.

Some mothers take a more active role

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in hunting and fishing as many take to the field. There are special clothing lines, guns and even outdoor television shows for women now. but just a few years back this was nonexistent.

In earlier times, women were never really mentioned in the outdoor industry. Although it’s awesome that this has

now changed, we should remember with respect the women who went into the great outdoors when few welcomed them.

Growing up, I remember seeing a lot of older women who took their grandkids fishing in canals near my home. Sitting on a white bait bucket or a lawn chair, they brought cane poles, earthworms and

The author’s parents drove his interest in the outdoors, and inspired his pursuit of a career in outdoors journalism and conservation.

chicken liver and caught whatever bit.

The catch was usually bream or bullheads (mud cats), but for the kids who accompanied them it was fishing bliss.

My uncle told a story of seeing an old lady who was always on one of the aforementioned white buckets. She would keep literally every single perch she caught no matter the size. Some were only palmsized.

When he asked her what she did with them, she said, “Fry them whole.”—I’m talking without skinning or scaling!

I love stories like that.

Not everyone grew up watching The Food Network and figuring out 100 ways to cook a fish. Some ladies just threw them in the grease after dipping them in batter and fried them up.

Many women from impoverished families grew up knowing that whatever they caught or killed was going to be dinner.

Since they were most likely the ones who would cook, they might as well enjoy the pursuit.

As a child, I remember meeting some of these ladies with sadness in my heart.

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fish. Some real women get their hands dirty gutting deer and hogs and scaling redfish and crappie.

Some moms stay back and cook at deer camp to make things comfortable for the families they love so much. Some of them look like models, but most just look like America, real, proud and hard

working.

I salute all outdoor mothers whether you were like mine and operated behind the scenes, or taught your son or daughter how to skin a buck.

You are greatly appreciated.

«

As a man looking back, I realize it wasn’t so much sadness, but just an appreciation for their humility and perseverance.

It was obvious they loved to fish, but they weren’t exactly cruising the lake in the latest bass boat. This was fishing in poverty.

In a culture that loves the rich, famous, political, connected, controversial, beautiful and talented, we often not only ignore the humble but outright run them over.

Even today in the outdoor media there is an idea that women in the outdoors are supposed to be buxom blondes with big assets and Victoria’s Secret model looks.

There is certainly nothing wrong with that.

But once you’ve seen some chick in a bikini fight a marlin on a television show you quickly realize two things: A) They were probably put on television for their looks, not their skills.

B) They didn’t have fishing shows like that when you were a kid. The only blonde we had was Jimmy Houston. I love Jimmy, but it ain’t the same.

There are real women who hunt and PHOTO: CHESTER MOORE

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Fish and Game GEAR New Adventure Styles from Costa

Cheeca and Rinconcito

SURF. SAND. SUN. THESE WORDS provided the inspiration for Costa’s new lifestyle frames – Cheeca, Panga and Rinconcito. The new styles are perfect for adventures on and off the water and feature the latest on-trend colors and patterns.

Cheeca is named for the historic sportfishing lodge that introduced past presidents, celebrities and foreign dignitaries to fishing and old Florida Keys charm. The new women’s frame offers a small fit and features sleek, styled temples and bio-resin nylon construction. The Cheeca frame is available in three color options including Rose Tortoise and Matte Shadow Tortoise.

These stylish sunglasses look and feel as good on the boat as they do sipping a key lime colada.

The women’s Panga frame fits slightly larger than the Cheeca and is available in five distinctive colors including Matte Seafoam Crystal, and Shiny Tortoise/White/ Seafoam Crystal. Light and versatile with deep, winding curves, like the beachfront boats of the Caribbean and Central America, Panga is the ultimate companion for sun-filled adventures in the sand and surf.

The frame features tri-fusion bio-resin construction, integral hinge and CAM systems, combined with classic West Coast styling.

Rinconcito is the little brother to Costa’s popular Rincon frame and blends West Coast style lines with edgy curved temples.

This new men’s medium-fit style is named for the iconic Southern California right point break. Featuring bio-resin construction, integral spring hinges, and Hydrolite® nose and temple pads, Rinconcito is a musthave for days spent chasing waves. The new style is available in four frame colors including Matte Black and Matte Tortoise.

The new styles features Costa’s patented 78

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color-enhancing 580 lens technology in both Lightwave® glass and impact-resistant polycarbonate. Costa’s 580® lens technology provides 100 percent UV protection and polarization and selectively filters out harsh yellow light for superior contrast and definition while absorbing high-energy blue light to cut haze and enhance sharpness. In addition, Costa’s lens technology reduces glare and eye fatigue.

The new styles range in price from $179 to $259. For more information on the new frames visit CostaSunglasses.com.

Mojo Bass Glass from St. Croix NEW FOR 2020, ST. CROIX HAS REImagined the Mojo Bass Glass series—and what you’ll find is the addition of IPC mandrel technology and designs to meet the

needs of anglers that know and understand the value of a premium moderate action glass rod… and at a Mojo Bass price point.

The Mojo Bass Glass series includes five moderate action rods—four new casting models and one new spinning rod—covering a wide range of technique-specific applications. What anglers will find are specially-designed models suited to target cranking, chatterbaits and rattlebaits, multi-purpose crankbait fishing, as well as a model designed specifically for plus-sized crankbaits.

The casting rod line-up starts with the MGC610MM TARGET CRANKER, a |

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6’10” medium power rod.

Next is the MGC72MM CRANKER, a 7’2” medium power rod.

Fans of chatterbaits and rattlebaits should rejoice over the MGC72HM RIPN-CHATTER, a 7’2” heavy power stick incredibly adept at shaking a rattlebait or slicing a chatterbait through the salad. And, for those big crankbaits, meet the MGC74MHM BIG CRANKER, a 7’4” medium-heavy power rod. Lastly, on the spinning rod and crankbait front, St. Croix is happy to offer the MGS72MM CRANKER, a 7’2” medium power rod. All models retail in the real-world range of $140-$160.

“The rod designs all start with IPC mandrel technology and super premium, 100% linear S-glass. In terms of aesthetics, they’ll be painted Mojo Green Metallic. The cork shape on the casting model does not have a foregrip; it has a casting ring like Mojo Bass, and the guide platform is the same as Mojo Bass with Kigan Master Hand 3D black guides. We changed the design on the reel seat to make it more ergonomic and provide improved angler comfort. The EVA butt

caps are also preferred by a lot of anglers, so that was a nice crossover with the Mojo Bass series, too,” says Gavin Falk, Project Engineer, St. Croix Rod. “But comparatively speaking, to the old Mojo Bass Glass, when you pick them up they’re better balanced than the previous designs. Mojo Bass Glass blanks have been engineered to perform as efficiently as possible. The castability is effortless. They’re extremely easy to use,” says Jason Brunner, Director of Engineering and Manufacturing, St. Croix Rod.

«

G A M E ®

4/10/19 4:10 PM

Outdoor DIRECTORY Guides & Outfitters

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Lodging

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Destinations

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Real Estate :: Gear

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GET YOUR TF&G APPAREL HERE!

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Wishing all moms a

ORDER TODAY!!!

Happy Mother’s Day!!

2019 EDITION

WWW.FISHANDGAMEGEAR.COM T E X A S

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WHITETAIL Columbus

REDFISH

John Anselmo of Houston shot this giant on a Veterans Day hunt last November at Columbus. “Great hunt with great people. God bless Texas and all the Vets out there!”

Aransas Bay Nine-year-old Carter Klutts caught this 26-inch red on live shrimp under a popping cork, on Aransas Bay. Younger brothers Charlie, five, and Clayton, seven, helped him net the fish.

BASS Lake Palestine Kirk Van Huis caught this bass on Lake Palestine with a Texas-rigged 8-inch black/red flake Lake Fork Tackle Worm. His father-in-law said he was about to cast to the same spot. “You snooze, you lose!”

MIXED STRINGER Lake RichlandChambers Tank Mullins celebrated his sixth birthday with a fishing trip on RichlandChambers with his best friends.

Tank’s dad hired Gone Fishin’ Guide service and the boys caught lots of white bass and hybrids. They enjoyed a fish fry that evening.

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REDFISH Texas Coast Sixteen-year-old Ryleigh Colton reeled in this huge red while fishing the surf with her dad, Walter. It was her personal best, but she is determined to beat it.

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SEND YOUR PHOTOS TO photos@FishGame.com For best results, send MED to HIGH quality JPEG digital files only, please.

Also Enter our PHOTO CONTEST: FishGame.com/ HotShots

No guarantee can be made as to when, or if, a submitted photo will be published.

REDFISH Kemah Spencer Thompson caught this redfish under the Kemah bridge near Outriggers Restaurant, on an outgoing tide in 15 mph winds. He let the red go, to grow bigger.

REDFISH Dickinson Bayou

REDFISH

Ariel Elsik caught this 21-inch red on live shrimp while fishing Dickenson Bayou with his dad and two dogs.

West Galveston Bay John Perry and his daughter Jennifer caught two limits of reds on gold spoons, on a father-daughter fishing trip last November.

WHITETAIL Erath County Mellisa Debord took this buck of a lifetime, a non-typical that scored 156 net, while hunting low-fenced property in Erath County. She was awarded Second Place, Modern Arms Open Range Non-Typical Ladies class at the TTHA Extravaganza.

BLUEGILL Private Pond Elijah Dowden wanted to go fishing so his family took him to a neighborhood pond where he caught this bluegill.

Now he’s ready for a big bass!

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