Texas Fish & Game January/February 2021

The State of the

Outdoor Industry

Amid Covid Chaos

January/February 2021 | $3.95

A Lone Star Kayak Craze

Gunning for Gobblers

A Horse Killing Spree?

The Search for Super Trout

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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

A Year of Loss Ends in Loss

PUBLISHERS

CHESTER MOORE EDITOR IN CHIEF

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HE YEAR TWENTY TWENTY INFLICTED ONE MORE PAINFUL LOSS ON US before it slithered off into history. On December 8, Calixto Gonzales, our dear friend and longtime TF&G Saltwater Editor, passed away in a Houston hospital.

Cal did not die from Covid-19, but his last days were definitely marked by the disease and its insidious effect on everything, especially healthcare. Battling an infection that attacked his heart valves, Cal was flown from the Rio Grande Valley to Houston’s Medical Center just before Thanksgiving. There, he underwent a grueling day-long surgical procedure to repair his infection ravaged heart muscle. The infection and the surgery left his heart too weak to sustain him on its own, and he hovered for more than a week on life support as his compromised system fought to regain its strength. Ultimately, he lost the fight, but not without holding on like a champion.

Shortly after he arrived in Houston, the reality of the long predicted winter Covid surge began to set in. The hospital where Cal was being treated went into lockdown. This meant that Cal’s loving wife Sandie could no longer be at his side as he suffered through the surgery and its devastating aftermath. She waited hours for sparse updates by text or phone calls from nurses and doctors who were no doubt overwhelmed by the strain of growing Covid admissions.

And so, in what has become a terrible ritual this year, Cal passed away alone, without Sandie, his son Calito, or his parents there to comfort him.

Cal Gonzales But alone was not how he lived. He had a magnetic personality 1970-2020 that drew people to him. Cal was a dynamo of spirit and life. He may have only lived fifty years, but he packed a full lifetime into those years.

Cal loved the outdoors, and was an avid fisherman from childhood. He was also an educator.

With an undergrad degree in English from the University of Texas, Cal went on to earn a Master of Arts degree in Creative Writing from Eastern Michigan University. That is where he met Sandra Lyn Blackburn, who would become his wife, soul mate, the love of his life.

After completing his masters, he and Sandie made their home in the Valley, where Cal had grown up, and they both became teachers. Cal taught high school English before taking on the job that became his “pride and joy,” as drama director for an Edinburg middle school.

Early in his professional life, Cal melded his writing skills and educational credentials with his first love of saltwater fishing and began a side career as a freelance outdoor writer.

In 2005, TF&G’s editor at the time, Don Zaidle (another too-soon loss in our family), took notice of Cal’s budding freelance efforts and brought him on board as South Region Fishing Editor. We made him Saltwater Editor in 2007. Between monthly columns and feature articles, Cal wrote more than 300 stories that were published in our pages. Each one of his stories had a special vitality that was tuned in to Cal’s spirit and his passion for fishing.

Cal was one of those gifted writers who required little structural editing. He did require a weaponsgrade spell checker, as his zest for getting the words into each sentence often left a wake of hilariously creative misspellings. But the end product was always a tribute to his craft. And on this mission that we shared—to portray and promote the outdoors—his stories always met the prime directive: make the reader feel they are there, or want to be there.

Beyond his writing, Cal’s personality was a thing to behold. To get a small sense of how fun he was to be around, check out this Podcast from a couple of years ago: https://wp.me/p4qAjM-Y01 Rest in Peace, Eduardo Calixto Gonzales. You left us too early, but you left a mark that will not soon fade, if it fades at all.

« E-mail Roy at rneves@fishgame.com and Ardia at aneves@fishgame.com

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Contents January/February 2021 | Vol. 37 • No. 6

FEATURE ARTICLES

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GUNNING FOR GOBBLERS Spring turkey season is just around the corner. Time to start thinking about how much gun you’ll need to bring down a big bird.

by Chester Moore

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LONE STAR KAYAK CRAZE From freshwater lakes, to inland bays and even beyond the breakers out in the Gulf, kayak fishing has caught fire in Texas.

by TF&G Staff

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COVER STORY

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THE TEXAS BASS FACTORY How one visionary Texan inspired the creation of a monster bass fishery in the Lone Star State.

DEATH ON THE RANGE A series of horse killings is being reported across Texas, baffling law enforcement and scaring—and angering—horse owners.

by Chester Moore

MEGA TROUT If biologists can produce super-sized bass in freswater hatcheries, why can’t the same science be applied to speckled trout?

by Chester Moore

story by Matt Williams

COLUMNS

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Editor’s Notes

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Doggett at Large

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Texas Whitetails

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Bass University

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Texas Saltwater

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Texas Freshwater

by CHESTER MOORE

by JOE DOGGETT

by LARRY WEISHUHN

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TEXAS OUTDOOR NATION STATE OF THE INDUSTRY How the fishing and hunting industries are dealing with Covid.

by Chester Moore

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Fish & Game Forecast Center

by PETE ROBBINS

by CALIXTO GONZALES

by MATT WILLIAMS

DEPARTMENTS

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TF&G Report + HotShots

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Letters

from TF&G Readers

Texas Tasted

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Outdoor Directory

Guides, Outfitters & More

Fish & Game Photos

by TFG Readers

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LETTERS to the Editor Gun Rights Coverage THANK YOU FOR YOUR GUN rights coverage in the Fish & Game Report during the election cycle. I appreciate that you didn’t endorse or even favor any candidate in coverage, but sort of let their own words and policies do the talking.

David Fairbain HEY! THANKS FOR POSTING THE article about the record number of anti-gun bills posted into the Texas legislature. That is something we gun owners need to know.

Larry Hines

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Lou Marullo I JUST WANTED TO SAY I AM A BIG fan of Lou Marullo’s stories. I think he represents the working man out there trying to make a go of it hunting. I loved the story a few years ago about using the dummy as a decoy in the stand. And I always love his insight on fooling whitetails.

Jimmy Cavazo

Flounder Troubles CHESTER, I HAVE ENJOYED YOUR flounder work for a long time now. You have been the voice of the southern flounder

when others wouldn’t pay attention to them.

Kudos for that.

I have a question. Since it has been established that warming Gulf temperatures are causing problems with spawning of flounders, do you think we are experiencing a new wave of fisheries dawning? I never saw a mangrove snapper in Galveston until about 10 years ago. Now they are a fairly common catch. I always thought of them being in Lower Laguna Madre.

What are your thoughts?

Edward Martinez Editor: Thanks so much for your kind words. Right now, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Foundation has funded research of what experts are calling “Tropicalization” along

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the western Florida Gulf Coast. They are seeing species they have never seen there. We are seeing more mangrove snappers and snook on the Upper Coast than ever. This is something I am researching, and if this is the case there are many implications. For flounders it likely would not be a good scenario, but maybe it would be an advantage for some species.

Thanks for such a thoughtful question. Look for stories on this topic in the Fish & Game Report.

« Send Your Comments to:

“Tropicalization” of upper coastal waters could be responsible for increases in mangrove snapper, snook and other species populations in north Gulf areas such as Galveston—at the same time the flounder fishery suffers.

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EDITOR’S Notes

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

Now More Than Ever

expert guests and an additional show every month.

That extra show will be Higher Calling Saltwater, which will be an in-depth, passionate show. If you like what I write on saltwater here and in my books such as Flounder Fever, this is the program for you.

It’s like a Chester article turned broadcast.

Speaking of flounders, I have a huge Chester Moore fishes for greenback cutthroat and brook announcement, but that trout in Rocky Mountain National Park with guide Duane Simmons of the Estes Angler. will have to wait until the next issue. I need to bass on fly gear. I have caught plenty of bass fly confirm one final detail. Whether that works fishing, but never one that big. It’s happening out or not, there is more coming from me on in 2021. flounders in this coming year than you have Also, I will catch a bonefish. That has been seen in a decade. my dream fish for years. I’d be happy to catch Let’s just say it’s going to be...revolutionary. one on a cane pole with bacon on the end of a I frequently say I am no one special, but I hook—if it would take it. However, the dream get to do special things. I trust in God, work is a bonefish on the fly, and it will happen in hard and have the audacity to believe I can.

Florida this year.

The only thing on the above list that will I’m determined to make the most of the cost much is the bonefish trip. So, I am saving incredible gift God has given us through the for that. Everything else can be done for the great outdoors. price of a tank of gas.

Some other outdoors things are happening Make your own outdoor challenges this as well by decree of yours truly: year. Commit to more time in the great outI will bag an eastern turkey in the doors and find ways you can give to others who Pineywoods of East Texas. I could have shot might be struggling. a jake last year, but eastern numbers aren’t There will be opportunities for that here where they need to be in the region, so I let and through Higher Calling Wildlife and him live. This year, I’m believing the big gob- Higher Calling Saltwater podcasts. Remember bler that fooled me and my friend Josh Slone the mountains don’t care about the news and goes down. neither do the flounders and speckled trout.

I will catch a tarpon. I’ve had them break my Get podcast updates in the TFG e-newsline, blow up on topwaters and look at me like I letter and get ready for a great outdoor year. was an idiot as I sight casted to them. However, Let’s spend more time outdoors and let it help this year the elusive tarpon gets caught, photo- recharge us for the challenges ahead. graphed and released.

Most importantly I want to give back more than ever.

This year the Higher Calling Wildlife podEmail Chester Moore at cast gets expanded with longer shows, more cmoore@fishgame.com

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HE TINY BLACK AND WHITE fly barely made a ripple as it touched the crystal-clear water. It sank for a couple of seconds into an eddy before a beautiful brook trout struck and sped into the current.

The brook trout in the streams of Rocky Mountain National Park at Estes Park, Colorado aren’t huge, but they’ve got plenty of spunk. So did the brown trout and greenback cutthroats caught that day.

My friends, Todd and Annie Jurasek, and I took off to Colorado last August to do some photography. We had an amazing day fly fishing with guide Duane Simmons of the Estes Angler. He put us on fish and got me back on track after a few missteps.

Taking in that stunning scenery amid the COVID-19 pandemic was quite a contrast.

The mountains didn’t care about the bad news and neither did the moose, bears or mule deer we saw. It was a place of solitude and a time to get back to the simplicity and solace of nature.

Now more than ever, we need what the great outdoors brings into our lives. We need clear streams, salty bays, seagrass flats, rolling hills, pine forests and cactus thickets.

These are the places where those of us who truly love the great outdoors come alive and create experiences that help us soldier on through rough times.

No one knows what 2021 will bring.

Although I’m an optimistic person, I have a gut feeling there will be great challenges not only in America, but throughout the world. However, I put my trust in God and have plans to spend more time outdoors than I ever have.

I’m not an expert fly fisherman. I’m not even super good with fly gear, but I’m not bad either. With that said, there are two things that will happen this year with a fly rod in my hand.

I will catch a five pound-plus largemouth

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DOGGETT at Large

by JOE DOGGETT :: TF&G Contributing Editor

Rancho del Mar

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swashbucklers, high-tide adventurers who during the early ’70s built an outpost overlooking one of the final frontiers for wade fishing for redfish and speckled trout on the entire Gulf Coast. They were Ray Fiveash, of Houston; Popo Flores of Brownsville/Matamoros; and Lou Carter of Baytown.

The simple camp was nothing more than a wooden beach house clinging to the edge of a massive sand dune. The name of the sagging shack was Rancho del Mar. Rancho del Mar was constructed board-by-board on the wild Mexican beach approximately 60 miles south of the Rio Grande. Before paved roads, jetty passes, and fishing ports, it was the only permanent structure below the infamous “Salt Mine Road.”

That desolate trail of sand and shell started about 20 miles south of Matamoros off Highway 101, the blacktop to Ciudad Victoria. The Salt Mine Road was passable only by a go-for-it attitude and determined four-wheel grinding. The ruts terminated on the empty beach. From there stretched tedious hours of low-tide driving on the hard-packed sand, dodging washouts and debris to reach the north side of Third Pass.

Because of the hostile logistics and lack of support equipment, commercial fishing pressure from Mexican net skiffs virtually did not exist in the region.

A few other rod-and-reel anglers had tested the potential, mainly Texans flying small planes and landing on the open beach (long before drug cartels issues), but Rancho del Mar was the first firm foothold.

The camp was rough, but the view from the weathered deck revealed the fabulous vista of the fabled “Middle Passes,” a series of four narrow channels that cut from the Mexican Laguna Madre through sand flats, grass beds and oyster reefs to the open Gulf. They spread like the veins of an old salt’s hand to feed the vast complex.

Hit it right, with a rich green tide swelling onto the beach, and Fifth Pass or Sixth Pass could answer every promise that wading for specks and reds ever made.

My first expedition with Fiveash, Flores, and Carter occurred during the spring of 1973. I was 25, my rookie year as an outdoor writer for the Houston Chronicle.

They all were 20 years my senior, veteran pluggers with heavy leather wading belts and salty casting tackle.

They had an aura, a correctness about the experience ahead. That excursion was my first great angling adventure. It carried to a different league—and after a world of far-flung fishing experiences, it remains one of my cherished memories.

We hit it absolutely, totally right. The surf was rough, but green to the beach, and the wind was light from the “sweet southeast.” Low, tight flocks of gulls were working baitfish along the distant ribbon of tidewashed sand.

Fiveash, Carter, and I were trailering a big Air Gator airboat and Flores followed in a heavy-duty, Army surplus truck loaded with camp crew, gas cans, supplies, and huge coolers of block ice. It was a major production, a dramatic departure from simply backing an 18-foot center console off a crowded ramp in Galveston Bay. We reached the camp in time for a short afternoon session. Fiveash backed the airboat across hard-packed sand into the Laguna behind Third Pass. We piled onboard, and the huge radial engine blasted across the shimmering shallows.

He aimed for Sixth Pass, approximately 12 miles south of Third. Even far beyond the final vestiges of civilization, it seemed necessary to go as far as we could go.

The mouth of Sixth was narrow, and outgoing tide was funneling into the Gulf. Fiveash parked behind the south side of the mouth, where the prevailing currents had cut a longer, deeper channel through the surf. It was an excellent ambush trench for schools of predators waiting to prey on shrimp and baitfish.

We waded knee-deep and promptly leaned into bent rods. Speckled trout and skipjacks were stacked in the deeper water of the mouth, gorging on shrimp and minnows. Down the beach, schools of redfish and jacks milled back and forth in the first gut, tearing into frantic finger mullet.

I shall never forget standing on the sand and seeing the ghosting images of redfish sliding through the lifting sunlit swells. We were using 20-pound casting tackle and chunking big gold spoons to punch into the onshore breeze and track through the rolling whitewater.

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than two or three pounds. Remember, back in the ’70s limits did not exist.

Then Fiveash and Flores started cursing and pointing. Out front, rolling and splashing, advanced a school of tarpon. These big killers could tear up casting tackle and chase the specks and reds from casting reach.

Tarpon!

I had never even seen a tarpon, and I was frantic with excitement. While the old pros were cussing, I rerigged with a bright King Bingo plug. Standing in one spot I jumped five rapid-fire, before one “stayed stuck.”

I saw the long, chromium flash in a humping swell before I felt the weight. I gloried in the dramatic power, the long runs and the twisting leaps. I chased the tarpon down the beach before sliding it ashore. It was a small one, maybe four feet, perfect for casting tackle.

A tarpon! Whipped while wading—the pinnacle of a young saltwater career!

We raced the sunset back across the utterly empty Laguna to Third Pass. I remember staring into the clear water flashing past the hull and quietly thinking, “Always remember this day, this place, these people.”

It was an astute observation. During the past 50 years, the tired old Gulf has suffered and changed.

Certainly, consistent with a legacy of conservation, the potential for good, even great fishing exists. Yet, the untrammeled wildness is forever lost.

Fiveash, Flores, and Carter are gone, and I alone, remain to remember that glorious afternoon.

« Email Joe Doggett at ContactUs@fishgame.com |

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NYONE WHO HAS FOLLOWED THE STORIED HISTORY of Texas bass fishing is sure to be familiar with the legendary name, Bob Kemp.

Kemp was a Texas Parks and Wildlife Department fisheries scientist who rode shotgun over the department’s inland fisheries division in 1960s and early 1970s. His former colleagues have recalled him as a great boss, a stand-up guy and a visionary who didn’t mind bucking the system, particularly if he thought it would make fishing better.

Kemp passed away in December 1986, but his legacy lives on in chapters of Texas big bass lore that continue to unfold. That’s because he had a heavy hand in building the foundation for making Lone Star bass fishing the monster it is today. Not surprisingly, he went against the grain to help push the process along.

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Kemp had a hunch Florida-strain bass would do well in the mild Texas climate. With a wealth of big, new lakes being constructed around the state at the time, he saw a grand opportunity to take Texas bass fishing to the next level by introducing fish genetically programmed to grow significantly faster, and larger, than the northern largemouths that had been produced in state hatcheries for years.

Northern largemouths lack the DNA to become giants. An eight-pound northern is big one and 10-pounder is a blimp. Floridas, meanwhile, frequently reach double digits.

Females have been known to grow beyond 20 pounds in favorable environments.

Kemp approached his bosses multiple times about buying some fish to experiment with, but they refused to cough up the dough.

Eventually, Kemp placed the order himself and paid the tab from his own pocket.

Kemp’s first batch of Florida bass fingerlings were flown to Texas in 1971. The fish arrived in oxygenated bags placed snugly inside two insulated boxes and were subsequently placed in growing ponds at the now defunct Tyler Fish Hatchery. The little bass grew to become future brooders that would eventually change the scope of Texas bass fishing forever.

Much has happened since Kemp authorized the first stocking of Florida bass into Lake Murvaul in 1972. Among other things, several state-of-the-art fish hatcheries have been erected that together produce around seven to eight million Florida bass offspring for stocking in dozens of Texas reservoirs each year. To date, nearly 300 million Florida bass have been stocked in more than 400 public reservoirs statewide.

Those fish have done amazingly well under careful management and restrictive regulations brainstormed by Kemp’s crafty successors. Craig Bonds is TPWD’s fifth inland fisheries chief since Kemp retired in the mid1980s. Interestingly, Bonds wasn’t even born when Kemp laid the foundation for the state’s Florida bass program.

“I can’t imagine what Texas bass fishing would be like without Florida bass,” said Bonds, 46. “The fishing would still be good, but we wouldn’t have the five-fish, 30-pound limits showing up at different lakes like we have today. Our Top 50 largemouth bass list would look markedly different, too. Every fish on the list has some level of Florida influence.”

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The current state record, caught by Barry St. Clair, has stood unchallenged for 29 years.

have never experienced the phenomenal potential of Lake Fork without Florida bass in the mix. Fork is responsible for 60 percent of the fish on the Top 50 list. The remainder come from 13 other public reservoirs and three private lakes.

The widespread impact Florida bass have had on Texas bass fishing is evident by taking a historical look at state and water body weight records for a host of impoundments.

To wit: The Texas state record in 1979 was a 13.50-pound freak caught from Lake Medina.

This record had stood since 1943. I call the fish a “freak” because it wasn’t supposed to be there.

Genetics testing performed on a scale sample from skin mount of the Medina bass showed Florida genes in its DNA. Experts believe the fish found its way to the Hill Country reservoir by way of an undocumented private stocking that presumably occurred sometime in the 1930s. It certainly had nothing to do with TPWD earliest stockings, which began paying dividends in 1980.

That’s when Lake Monticello produced Texas’ first new state record in 37 years, a 14.09 pounder caught by Jimmy Kimbell.

Kimbell’s fish was likely one of the 197,000 Florida offspring released in the 2,000-acre power plant lake in 1973, one year after it was built.

But Kimbell’s new record didn’t last for long. Amazingly, the benchmark was broken four more times by fish caught from three different lakes within five years. The heaviest (and most famous) of those fish belonged to Lake Fork guide Mark Stevenson, who caught a 17.67 pounder in November 1986. Stevenson’s record stood until Barry St. |

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Clair busted it in January 1992 with an 18.18 pounder caught while crappie fishing near the Lake Fork dam.

Though Texas hasn’t seen a new state record in nearly 30 years, it has witnessed a steady wave of whopper bass catches that has since spread to dozens of lakes all over the state.

To date, more than 60 Texas impoundments have water body records in excess of 13 pounds. At many lakes, reports of bass in the 7-8 pound are so common that it doesn’t even raise eyebrows anymore, unless word leaks out the fish wasn’t released.

As earlier mentioned, some of the most compelling evidence to illustrate the impact Florida transplants have made on Texas bass fishing lies within the bowels of the state’s Top 50 list. It’s an impressive collection that has been rewritten so many times since mid1980s that three former state records no longer qualify.

In fact, the only bass caught prior to 1986 that still holds a spot on the list is a 15.5 pounder reeled in from a private impoundment called Lake Echo way back in 1981. The smallest fish in the Top 50 is a 15.45 pounder.

Public waters in eastern Texas account for 39 of those giants. Fork has the majority (30), followed by Caddo (4), Pinkston, (1), Sam Rayburn (1), Mill Creek (1) Conroe (1) and Gibbons Creek (1). Out west, O.H. Ivie and O.C. Fisher have one Top 50 fish apiece, as do Falcon, Choke Canyon and Amistad in South Texas. In Central Texas, lakes Austin and Possum Kingdom have one entry each.

Private lakes account for the remaining three.

TPWD’s Toyota Sharelunker tells another convincing tale about Florida bass stockings.

Since 1986, the program has seen nearly 600 bass upwards of 13 pounds put on loan to the state for spawning and genetics research.

Those fish — either pure Floridas or intergrades — have been received from more than 60 different public reservoirs and their offspring are paving the way for a Florida hatchery program that will one day be built around descendants of fish weighing upwards of 13 pounds. According to Bonds, TPWD is on track to begin carrying out 100 percent of its annual Florida bass stockings using ShareLunker offspring by 2023.

Bob Kemp would probably be pretty happy about all of that.

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AD THIS FRIED CHICKEN IS GREAT! I’M going to get some more,” exclaimed my 12-year-old daughter Faith.

“That’s not chicken, kiddo. That’s the turkey I shot last Wednesday,” I replied.

“Ooh gross!” she said while marching toward the kitchen to get more.

That’s classic Faith—a fine mix of enthusiasm and sarcasm and a desire to give Daddy a hard time.

And she’s right-the turkey was great-battered and fried, and it felt proper to celebrate its harvest with a nice meal.

After all, taking this bird was a dream come true.

I have always wanted to take the Grand Slam (Rio Grande, Merriam’s, Osceola, and Eastern), and last year I took another step toward this dream by taking a 20-pound gobbler with a nine-inch beard called in by TF&G Hunting Editor Lou Marullo.

Marullo is an expert caller, having taken dozens of birds over the years (he’s only an Osceola shy of a slam) and brought in this big bird that popped up 350 yards away in a field during a windy, rainy, cold morning.

At one point, the bird started walking across the field instead of down toward us, but a little box calling by Marullo and the enticement of a well-placed decoy allowed me to pull the trigger and deliver a load of No. 6 shot to take the majestic bird down.

Looking back on this and other turkey hunts, it is clear hunters need to be keenly prepared if they want to gun down spring gobblers.

Nothing is warier than a big, old gobbler in the realm of game birds.

The one mentioned above not only popped up several football fields away but stayed there for more than 30 minutes. It knew something wasn’t right at first, but after expert calling and decoying, I was able to place the shot.

You can have all of the calls, blind, and decoys you want, but if the gun is The author examines faulty, forget it. the big gobbler he Serious turkey hunters should took in Upstate New York hunting with check out the CZ Reaper TFG Hunting Editor Magnum. This over/ Lou Marullo. under turkey gun is designed specifically for this type of hunting.

Offering what single-barrel turkey guns cannot this 3-1/2inch chambered, magnum

PHOTOS: MAIN, CANSTOCK; INSET, CHESTER MOORE

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One Big Leap for Hunters, One Grim Reaper for Birds WITH THE SAME 3 1/2-INCH CHAMBERS OF their poplar Swamp Magnum, engineers designed the CZ Reaper Magnum to slay turkeys! Offering what single-barrel turkey guns cannot, this magnum shotgun allows a hunter to equip two vastly differ-

ent chokes, allowing the choice of shortrange or long-range constriction with the flip of the barrel selector switch.

Shorter 26-inch barrels make it more maneuverable in the woods or blind, while the top Picatinny-style rail makes adding

an optic easy as can be. Polymer stocks clad in camo help it blend in and adding a sling is simplified with QD swivels front and back. The Reaper Magnum ships with five extended interchangeable chokes, including an extra full.

CZ 612 Magnum Turkey The 612 Magnum Turkey was created for the turkey woods. This pump gun comes equipped with two chokes, one extra-full to deliver maximum pellets to the kill zone and one modified for upland hunting and steel shot. Make sure you don’t take your eyes off it as you just might lose it in the spring foliage.

Available in 12 gauge with a 3½ inch chamber and a 26-inch barrel, the Magnum Turkey is hydrodipped in camouflage.

« shotgun allows a hunter to equip two vastly different chokes, allowing the choice of short-range or long-range constriction with the flip of the barrel selector switch.

Another top choice is CZ’s 612 Magnum Turkey.

This pump gun comes equipped with two chokes, one extra-full to deliver maximum pellets to the kill zone and one modified for upland hunting and steel shot.

In terms of shot size for turkeys, No. 4 is the standard-bearer. I have hunted with 6 shot a few times when I knew the shooting window would be within 35 yards. No. 5 shot is also used, but most choose the former or latter.

The ability to boost any of these shots with a 3.5 inch round from the above guns is a major benefit.

Luring turkeys into an effective shooting range is crucial as all shotguns certainly have range limitations.

Lou Marullo often speaks of a turkey’s seven basic calls and said the following choices can help seal the deal.

“The yelp is the easiest to master and the most common call of a hen turkey. A novice using a box call can duplicate this sound fairly easily. A slow and steady slide followed by four or five shorter slides of the handle across the top of the box is all you need to do,” he said.

Marullo likes to use the cluck to simulate

CZ Magnum Reaper

CZ 612 Magnum Turkey

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Huge gobbler tracks are a great sign for spring hunters.

a calm bird and just walking in the woods looking for food.

“If you take the handle of a box call and hit the top of the box with it will sound like a cluck. Be careful, though. If you do more than one cluck at a time, it will sound like a warning call to any bird in the area.”

He brought my big gobbler in after his epic stall with the “purr.”

“When a bird stops his approach and is just strutting back and forth out of range, this call will bring them in fast. It tells a bird that you’re a hen, and you are ready for him.

This is a little harder to do, but the box call works great with a little finesse. It requires a very slight amount of pressure on the handle to the top of the box. I find it easier to do on a slate,” he said.

Despite using these strategies in spring 2020, I hoped to have a photo of me with a big gobbler from the Pineywoods of East Texas taken with the CZ Reaper Magnum, PHOTO: CHESTER MOORE

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Turkey Revolution to raise awareness to turkey conservation because I believe as turkeys go, so do America’s forests. Hunter-based conservation is what saved the wild turkey from eradication and is what will keep them moving forward as development and other issues in turkey habitat rear their heads.

It’s imperative when hunting these challenging birds we have the right gear and game plan to make the shot or perhaps not make the shot.

Conservation is a choice, and sometimes that means walking out of the woods carrying only a gun and a call and waiting until next year to get the big gobbler you’ve been hunting.

I’ll be back to those same woods this spring with the CZ Reaper Magnum in tow and plan on bringing my daughter a turkey this time.

but I didn’t get the shot.

Me and my friend Josh Slone hunted one of his friend’s properties that has a population of huntable Eastern turkeys.

Only through dedicated work of the National Wild Turkey Federation and Texas Parks & Wildlife Department officials are there now around 10,000 Easterns in the region. They are huntable in several counties but not widespread as of yet.

Taking an Eastern turkey in this region is as challenging as taking any game animal in North America.

On the morning of our second hunt, I saw the beautiful/red blue head over the tall grass just about 10 yards past our decoy.

Suddenly two jakes ran toward the decoy, and I had a shot.

They were legal to take, but I decided to let them get older and contribute to the population.

In 2019, I began a five-year quest called T E X A S

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AYAKING IS NOT ONLY HERE TO STAY, BUT OPPORTUNITIES ARE INCREASing annually for kayak anglers to fish competitively with anglers in motorboats.

Twenty years ago, coastal anglers in places such as Rockport, Seadrift and West Galveston Bay were just getting used to seeing kayakers on the bay. Now, kayak anglers are commonplace on the coast and are growing on the inland fishing scene. Enhanced technology and a die-hard attitude have spawned some unique kayak fisheries.

Modern kayaks can be rigged with an almost unlimited array of fishing accessories. Hobie’s Mirage Drive propulsion system for kayaks makes paddles nearly obsolete. Weighing in at under eight pounds, the MirageDrive 180 produces full power in both directions. Users can

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pull one of two shift cables to pivot the fins 180 degrees, almost instantly from forward to reverse and back again. The dual fins provide shallow water access and easy shore landings by simply pushing one pedal forward.

Possibilities include backing fish out of cover; safely fishing closer to obstructions; or fishing downstream while holding in current. Hands-free propulsion in any direction means better control: to cast, to present baits, and to concentrate on landing bigger fish.

Motors are also available for kayaks, including the Torqeedo 402 electric motor from Hobie. It can operate for several hours on two knots but also allow anglers to move into bursts of speed. Kayaks can also be fitted with small outboard and standard trolling motors with price and efficiency varying greatly.

These innovations are allowing more anglers to use kayaks in the Gulf. On calm days, it’s common to see anglers launching from the beach and fishing the short rigs on the Upper Coast and moving up and down the jetty systems. The added “oomph” of

Anglers are venturing “beyond the breakers” to fish for mahi-mahi and other offshore species.

electric propulsion helps anglers in those areas with powerful currents.

They are also great for fishing beyond the third sandbar where anglers often can’t reach without running lines out with a kayak.

“You’ll find good numbers of game fish such as speckled trout, redfish, flounders,

Spanish mackerels, and snook lurking in the sudsy water roiled by waves breaking over the sandbars,” said TFG Saltwater Editor Cal Gonzalez. “Still, a few anglers look past the waves toward the calm seas reaching towards the horizon and wonder what swims out there. That’s where kayaks come in handy.

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“The website Texas Kayak Fishers (texaskayakfishers.com) has dedicated an entire message board, titled ‘Beyond the Breakers,’ to the practice of fishing where few lines have gone before.”

“There’s a lot to fish for out there,” said Mark Lingo of the Texas Parks and Wildlife Coastal Fisheries Division. “You have an incredible variety of species. You have the typical game fish such as redfish and snook, but you also have king and Spanish mackerels, large jack crevalle, a variety of sharks, and tarpon. I’ve even spotted sailfish within 150 yards of the beach when we’ve had a stretch of calm days and the blue water comes in close.”

TF&G Boating Editor Lenny Rudow recently blogged about fishing for mahi-mahi (dolphin, dorado) in a kayak by taking the kayak in his bay boat and using the stealthy kayak to fish around key structures.

Always featuring safety first, Rudow noted the following about mahi and other large sportfish from a kayak.

• Safety measures: stay relatively close to the boat, and always wear your PFD. We rigged ours with a floating/waterproof VHF,

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as well.

• Landing a mahi in a kayak is virtually impossible. As soon as you get it in the boat it flips right back out. Instead, a much more effective method was to hook up the fish, bring it in close, and paddle back to the “mothership” boat. Then someone on board could scoop it in the net.

• We found that fewer fish were lost if we never took out the hook and instead handed the rod up, as the fish was taken aboard.

Once the fish was in the boat, only then did we remove the hook.

• Mahi are not usually spooky fish.

Having the kayak directly overhead didn’t affect them one bit. In fact, we caught 11 from the school before they began getting hesitant about taking baits.

Fishing from a “mothership” as Rudow mentions is growing in popularity. It gives anglers an opportunity to fish with stealth along weedlines for often spooky tripletails.

It gets you right over locations at rigs where fish are bonded to a specific piece of structure that’s not easy to reach from a larger boat.

Sonar is now easily accessible, and tailor

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made for kayak owners and is great for fishing around rigs, but it really increases the level of participation from bass fishermen.

Take the Humminbird Fishin’ Buddy Max Sonar for example. A multidirectional mount allows it to be clipped virtually anywhere.

There’s no rigging, wiring or transducer to mount. Depth capability to 600 feet allows you to identify cover and structure.

Kayak bass tournaments are on the rise. A new generation of bass fishermen are cutting their teeth on paddling, but perhaps a little modern tech to help them along.

In some situations, the stealth of kayaks along with sonar might offer an advantage, especially on heavily pressured lakes. If anyone thinks bass don’t know the sound of a motorboat, they are mistaken.

Paddling in during the coming prespawn or easing up toward nests on some of Texas’s best bass lakes makes the marriage between tech and tenacity a deadly combination for bass fishermen or for those who wish to venture beyond the breakers.

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“YOU SEE IT ON SOCIAL MEDIA all the time, but I never thought it would happen to me. Someone shot and killed our horse last night in his pasture in Port Mansfield. If anyone has any leads please let us know. I am completely devastated. R.I.P Seabiscuit.”

Those heartbreaking words showed up on my Facebook feed as I started investigating mysterious horse killings in Texas. I was able to interview the horse’s devastated owner, Jessica Neu. She said the horse was shot in the chest, head-on, and no meat was taken.

“This was in a pasture right outside of Port Mansfield, Texas. It’s the navigation district property where local kids can keep livestock and show animals.”

There is no known motive, and as she noted in her post, these killings are showing up all over the place.

The Pearland killings involved the harvest of meat. Like the death of Neu’s companion animal, the ones in Liberty were shot and left to die with no meat harvest.

In my opinion two different motives in these killings. The Pearland killings, along with a similar killing in central Florida, are most likely tied to some sort of black-market horse meat trade.

One hindquarter could possibly weigh more than 100 pounds. This would probably take more than one

person to accomplish. This makes the risk level of taking the horse, killing, and taking the meat far higher than a driveby shooting.

The second killing is what we will

We have just hit the tip of the iceberg. We will cover more in future editions, but here are a few similar reports from other states: On May 26, ABC Denver 7 reported “Horse Killed in

focus on here, the killing of horses for seemingly no gain. Is the motive the kill itself or perhaps to terrorize the owners?

An August 5, 2020 story at Spectrum News details a July killing of a little girl’s horse in Caldwell County, where a horse was shot in the head and left to die. Caldwell County is a four-hour drive straight up Highway 77 from Port Mansfield.

Another little girl’s horse was killed last February near Poteet, according to The San Antonio-Express News.

This is just an hour from the Caldwell County killing, one turn off 77 from Port Mansfield (37 North). All three of these involved kids’ pets, ag show horses, or were on the property where young people from these programs keep their horses.

Even the killings in Liberty involved a little girl’s horse. Two of the killings were the same little girls’ pets. The killer or killers shot one on December 23, 2017. The other was shot in February 2018 after someone gave her a new one.

Another child’s cherished pet was killed in the same area in November 2017.

Is there a pattern here?

Elbert County ‘Execution Style.’”

A horse was shot in the head as if someone walked up to the horse and did it at point-blank range. This was the second horse in the area killed by gunfire.

On February 17 KNOE News 8 reported someone shot and killed a horse named “Big Mac” in Calhoun, Louisiana. The owner said she feels that she and her family are being targeted.

She said her other horses have been mysteriously released from her barn multiple times over the past year. She feels this was done by the same person who killed her horse.

A November 2019 story reveals five horses in North and South Carolina stabbed or shot. At least one of the Pearland horses was stabbed.

Is there a killer fixated on horses in Texas? What is driving the killing of horses for their meat? Why are horses the target of killings all around the nation?

These are many questions to ask, and we hope someone finds an answer soon.

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TEXAS WHITETAILS

by LARRY WEISHUHN :: TF&G Contributing Editor

Cleaning Up

to serve as an instructor for the FTW Ranch’s “New Hunter Program.” This four-day program is designed to take someone who may never have before shot a rifle, to someone with many skills. This includes how to properly handle firearms, how to shoot properly and accurately, knowing proper shot placement, deer and other wildlife biology and ecology, how to eviscerate the doe they will be taking on their hunt, and how to properly care and prepare of their venison, taught by one of the country’s best wild game chefs.

The FTW Ranch, where they teach Sportsman’s All-Weather, All-Terrain Marksmanship (S.A.A.M), is a world-class premier firearm training and shooting facility visited both by public and some of our military elite snipers. It is also a 12,000-acre hunting ranch. The “FTW/SAAM New Hunters Program” will benefit not only those who have

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PENING DAY OF MY 2020 regular whitetail season, my daughter, son-in-law, and I were greeted at first light by the horribly loud sounds of 100-plus motocross racers on the property adjoining us on our south fence line.

It continued non-stop until sundown.

That’s when the loud music started and lasted well into the night. Second morning of the season, the racers again started at sunup, continued throughout the day until just before sundown.

Not what I would call a great opening day.

I thought seriously of audio taping all the noise, and after finding out where the racers live, going to their neighborhood and playing it as loudly as the noise the made, so they too could experience such on a day they thought would be relatively quiet. Something I am still considering.

The rest of the hunting season went considerably better. I was able to spend time with friends and family in different parts of Texas.

We traveled from our eastern hardwoods, to the deep red draws of the lower Panhandle, to the western edge of the Hill Country on down to the South Texas “brasada” and back to my place west of Houston. During the fall I rattled up a lot of nice bucks, harvested some absolutely delicious venison, and took a couple of truly worthy and deserving bucks to Double Nickle Taxidermy near New Braunfels.

Whitetail season, at least on those properties under TPWD’s MLDP, remains open until the end of February. Too, there are hunting opportunities with the late muzzleloader season. So, there are still numerous chances to harvest your supply of venison.

One of the things I will be doing in January and February (one week in each month), beyond still adding to our larder of venison, is

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never before hunted and are interested in putting venison on their table, to those who have hunted their entire lives. If you’d like more information, please go to www.ftwsaaam.com.

Now if you will excuse me, my pickup is packed; my .280 Ackley Improved Ruger No. 1 topped with a Trijicon AccuPoint scope and a box of Hornady Precision Hunters are properly stowed for travel. I have one more hunt I’m headed to.

Hope to see all of you at the DSC’s Reflections Convention at the Kay Bailey Hutchison Center in Dallas February 11 through 14.

Please stop by to visit.

 Email Larry Weishuhn at ContactUs@fishgame.com

Despite a less than ideal opening day, the rest of the season went considerably better.

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The BASS University

by PETE ROBBINS :: for TF&G and Bass University

Brush Up for Winter Bass

If you learn which way the branches or logs are positioned, you may be able to avoid pulling your lure into “the crotch” where they’re more likely to get hung up, but nothing is foolproof. You will get hung up at least occasionally.

“Feel is huge in this situation,” he added.

“That’s where the rod and the line come into play. When you feel your line go taut, and you’re starting to get hung up, some guys start pulling harder. I’ll drop a little bit of slack into it and allow the bait to fall two or three inches, then pull it up. By releasing it, you create enough separation so that it gets off more often.”

Even if your lure comes through the brush cleanly, when you finally get the bite you’ve been waiting for, it’s critical to get the fish moving upward in a hurry. If there’s no clear path for them to the surface, you’ll need to exercise caution.

“If they get around a corner or over a limb, you just have to hold it,” he said. “You’ve got to be patient and keep pressure on them. They’ll often swim out. But you don’t want to panic and pin them. That’s when they get leverage and get off. Try to get a different angle or stay calm and they may work their way free.”

Once he winches a big fish out of the brush pile, there might still be others in residence.

Gluszek will fire another cast back in, but if he doesn’t quickly get a result, he’ll “let the fish tell me what to do.” Sometimes that means going to a subtler bait, like a Senko with a light weight.

Other times it means forcing a reaction bait into the thick of it, such as a spinnerbait, or even a crankbait to trigger a strike. Frequently, though, it entails “resting” the area.

“I’ll definitely leave and come back, especially if I can see them,” Gluszek said. “I’ll put it into my rotation.”

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HEN THE FRIGID TEMperatures of January engulf Texas, all bass, not just the Florida strains, get a little finicky. They not only don’t like the cold, it makes them uncomfortable, and shuts down their will to feed.

New Jersey pro Pete Gluszek deals with a longer cold season at home and has fished throughout the south when snowmobile suits are the fashion du jour. When the fronts come through, he probes manmade brush piles with a jig.

“To be consistent as the temperature plummets, I like to downsize and take the action out of my trailer,” he said. He prefers Missile Baits Ike’s Mini Flip, which comes in sizes up to a half-ounce, but retains a finesse profile. “That allows me to fish deeper and stay in contact with the cover, even in bad weather.”

In warmer conditions, he’ll tip that same jig with either a Strike King Rage Chunk or a NetBait Paca Chunk. In the old days, he would have used pork, but now a traditional Zoom Salty Chunk gets the nod. He keeps his colors simple. Green pumpkin is one choice and black is the other.

“The more black it is, the more I like it,” he explained. “I’ll even pull the blue strands out of the skirt if they’re in there.”

He fishes the jig on a Cashion F904-76 paired with a Lew’s Tournament Series baitcasting reel that has a lightning-fast 8.3:1 gear ratio. He’s changed to that reel on all of his flipping and jig rods. The high-speed is not for the retrieve, which is done with the rod, but to enable more casts and to catch up with fish swimming at him.

He’ll spool it with 20-pound test Gamma PHOTO: BASS UNIVERSITY

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Pete Gluszek

fluorocarbon most of the time, which he characterized as “super-tough, super-sensitive and great at managing big fish.” However, in extreme circumstances he’ll switch to braid.

Of course, the hardest part of finding the fish is finding the key piles. Gluszek is apt to spend hours and hours looking at his Humminbird Solix depthfinders, primarily but not exclusively using side-imaging. He finds that often he can pattern which piles the fish are using based on their depth, their location (bays vs. points vs. channels) or their composition.

Even those around or under docks can be patterned. Sometimes the fish want them in the bay, or under the platform or off to the side.

It can vary day by day or even hour to hour.

Using his Humminbird Mega 360 units, he can identify their outlines, their vertical components, and then pick them apart.

“My first cast is often right at the heart of the brush pile, where the biggest fish usually hang out,” he said.

Of course, that cast requires finesse to get the lure through and out of the sweet spots within the cover. He said the Mini Flip comes through branches exceptionally well, but there are still times you’ll get hung up. Cedar trees and Christmas trees, he explained, tend to be “stickier.”

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HEN I WAS JUST a pup in the outdoor business, I wrote an article

entitled “Age of the Super Trout” for Texas Fish & Game.

It detailed a big trout encounter

hatcheries, why not speckled trout?

Why couldn’t scientists isolate the growth genes in speckled trout and create a supreme subspecies to release into our bay systems?

would command serious respect in a bay system, making schools of footlong mullet really nervous.

Texas Parks & Wildlife Department (TPWD) officials have

The first step of my quest was to

labeled bass weighing 13 pounds

define exactly what a super trout

or more as “lunkers,” so I think a

would be. Make no mistake, a super

speckled trout weighing more than

that inspired me to ask, if we can pro-

trout would have to be a gargantuan

10 pounds would qualify as a genuine

duce super-sized bass in freshwater

fish. I’m talking about a fish that

“super trout.”

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However, size isn’t the only qualification.

We have many questions about the health of our oceans, so this fish would have to be designed for the future.

The super trout would have to be more pollution resistant than red tide-resistant species such as the speckled sea trout we have now. This fish would have to tolerate the worst polluted areas, such as the Houston Ship Channel as well as red tideprone areas such as the Laguna Madre.

PWD fisheries managers have made great

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strides in genetic coding of speckled trout populations. They’ve determined that trout from the Lower Laguna Madre should not be stocked in Trinity Bay and vice-versa, owing to slight genetic differences.

They’ve also made great strides in research methods that have helped to determine these differences. TPWD coastal fisheries officials now insert barcode-like tags into the skulls of fish instead of the bulky gill-plate tags they used to use. These tags stay with the fish and help the biologists keep track of population

dynamics via electronic technology.

Researchers at The University of Texas at Port Aransas have learned how to stimulate growth hormones in the ovaries of trout. A team of Louisiana State University scientists have developed methods for preserving trout sperm so they can perfect trophy-targeted artificial insemination of the species. That was done nearly 20 years ago.

But since then not much has been done about producing big trout in the hatcheries.

In fact, we have not had a state record broken in Texas since 2002. Looking back at this old story has inspired me to dig deeper into trophy trout in 2021.

Why have developments stalled? What is going on with the Texas trout fishery and other trout fisheries along the Gulf Coast?

Beginning January 5, we will have a series on the future of super trout and a special series of Higher Calling Saltwater podcasts on it as well.

Make sure and check out the Fish and Game Report e-newsletter for updates.

PHOTO: JOHN N. FELSHER

A true super trout would have to be “designed” for the future.

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Texas SALTWATER

by CALIXTO GONZALES :: TF&G Saltwater Editor

Always the Water

for his gentleness and unconditional love.

He was divine, but he was also very wise. He knew that he could only teach and advise. He couldn’t give orders, even though they would follow anything he said. But these were fishermen, and there is one truism: It’s always the water.

We humans are a willful lot, especially Americans, and most especially Texans. We bristle at orders and directions that seem anathema to our proudly claimed liberty.

We are the coiled snake on the flag. We dare you to come and try to take our cannon. You may be bigger, stronger, and better, but we will square up to you, stick our jaw out, and challenge you.

However, not everything needs to be a confrontation. There are times, as with the stranded fisherman, a hand up is more apropos than a clenched fist. Is it really so difficult to extend that value to dry land?

True, there are those with whom we don’t agree. Some of those opinions can be irreconcilable. It takes courage and wisdom to look beyond divergent ideals and see the person behind the ideas. Then again, we do that with family, sometimes more often than every Thanksgiving and Christmas. We manage to not only live with these different opinions; we manage to love their owners.

This is a vast fabulous world, full of a vast and fabulous array of people. If we simply began to bring Matthew 25:40 ashore and make it part of our daily lives, it will make life more bearable in its worst times. It won’t be easier, just more bearable. When we need to heal, we can go fishing.

It’s always the water.

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Y THE TIME THIS HITS print, the clock will have struck 12:01 a.m. on January 1, 2021. I’m certain every Texan, every American, every citizen of the world, will breathe a collective sight of relief and drink a toast to the end of an ordeal, and the hope of a new beginning.

It is no hyperbole if you say that 2020 was certainly one of the worst years, if not the worst year, ever. The pandemic was bad enough, but an overly active hurricane season, wildfires, the most vitriolic of presidential elections, protest, riots, counter protests, and feudal-style murders laced the entire year without respite. We are exhausted, shaken, heartsick, and unsteady. Many are financially unstable. There are suddenly empty chairs around the dinner table, freshly planted headstones, and there are others physically and emotionally devastated.

For me, the worst part was the isolation. There was a three month stretch that state and county boat ramps and parks were closed. Chains blocked the boat ramp openings to ensure no one tried to flout the closure. I could only sit at home and look at the room where I keep my fishing tackle. I had a boat in my driveway, and there it stayed.

It isn’t about the fishing. It’s about the water. I’m older now, and I like to think, wiser. I have learned that the fish are secondary to being on the curative powers of the water. Laguna Madre embraces me and helps me heal. She helps me breathe; she helps me think. Cloudy and muddy thoughts settle, become clearer. My soul, weary from constant broadsides by a life purposefully lived, regains its equilibrium, and balance returns.

It’s always the water.

I’m aware that I’m not the only weary traveler who seeks the spiritual medicine of

PHOTO: BILL LINDNER

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the water. I’m not alone out there. There are many of us out there, waving a rod over the waters—Moses’s staff striking the rock to find the hidden, lifesaving secrets beneath the strike. If a fish should grab our offering, it’s a pleasant bonus. If they don’t, that’s fine too.

It’s always the water.

Being out there tends to bring out the best in most of us. We stop to help other anglers who have encountered engine trouble It is an unwritten code that we never leave another angler in distress. It could be someone we don’t like, but we will help. We become living examples of Matthew 25:40: “Whatsoever you do to the least of my people, that you do unto to me.”

It’s always the water.

There is weight in Matthew 25:40 for anglers. It was originally taught to some fishermen who chose their teacher, their rabbi T E X A S

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Editor’s Note: As announced in the Inside Fish & Game Column on page 2, Cal Gonzales has passed away. His death came not long after the submission deadline for this issue. His loss saddens us greatly, and we, along with his large audience of readers will miss the lively prose that Cal regularly penned for this space.

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Texas FRESHWATER

by MATT WILLIAMS :: TF&G Freshwater Editor

Bass That Go ‘Beep’

ing big numbers of small fish, but fish catches within the slot aren’t what they should be.

Like many Fork anglers, Norman wonders where the fish are going, once they make it into the slot. He is curious whether they are still frequenting the really popular fishing areas, or have learned to avoid fishing pressure.

A TPWD Tracking Study Has Turned Up Interesting Results

Bass That Go ‘Beep’

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AKE NORMAN AND TODD Driscoll are Texas Parks and Wildlife Department fisheries biologists by profession and diehard bass junkies at heart. It’s in their DNA to ask why, then turn to sound science to look for reliable explanations.

Norman and Driscoll are the point men in an intensive bass tracking study currently underway at Lake Fork and Toledo Bend.

Their scientific backgrounds and shared passion for bass fishing make them a perfect fit for carrying out the joint research project aimed at unraveling some of the mysteries of bass behavior on these popular East Texas reservoirs.

The study is founded largely on angler concerns about the fishing quality on the powerhouse lakes. Both fisheries are topnotch, but neither has been fishing up to snuff in recent times.

A common belief among many Toledo Bend anglers is that heavy fishing pressure may have scattered the large schools of bass that traditionally gathered on high percentage structures easily pinpointed using modern mapping and sonar technologies.

Some anglers, including Driscoll, are wondering if the fish might have learned to avoid fishing pressure by relocating to out-of-theway places afforded by the massive lake’s 182,000 surface acres.

The situation is slightly different at Lake Fork, a 27,000-acre reservoir with a rich history of producing big numbers of large bass under a restrictive 16- to 24-inch slot limit.

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At the heart of the study are more than three dozen bass with small radio transmitters surgically implanted in their abdomens.

The transmitters emit signals that allow biologists to monitor movements of the fish and pinpoint their locations using high-tech telemetry gear.

The fish were marked with Floy tags containing the biologist’s phone number. Then they were released close to where they were collected. The pink tags and supple antennas dangling from their bellies make it easy to identify study fish if they’re caught.

The fish range in size from 14 inches to about 8 pounds. Most were collected from shallow water in late spring using electrofishing gear. A few were taken by conventional rod and reel fishing. Electrofishing works best in shallow water. It sends a mild current through the water column that temporarily stuns fish, causing them to float to the surface.

Driscoll’s research water is Housen Bay on Toledo Bend’s Texas side. He has 20 fish tagged, including 10 that were caught using rod and reel in deep water. The rest, including an eight-pounder, were electrofished shallow.

On Fork, Norman’s study area is Birch Creek. He has 14 bass up to five pounds tagged. Most are slot-sized fish ranging 16 to18 inches. Four are 18 to 21 inches in length. All of the Fork fish were collected by electrofishing in skinny water.

Each transmitter has a unique frequency with a mortality mode that can be detected from a half-mile away using a special antenna.

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LiveScope sonar, allows the biologists to monitor individual fish. They can see in realtime how fish react to fishing lure presence and noise from outboard engines, trolling motors and marine electronics. Scientists also can document where the fish position themselves during changing seasons, different weather conditions and in relation to various habitats.

The two-year study has turned up some interesting findings thus far, but it hasn’t all been smooth sailing.

In November 2019, the Toledo Bend project hit an early snag when the first batch of 26 study fish died within two weeks after the research launched. Driscoll believes the mortalities may be the result of fungal infections caused by performing the surgeries in chilly water temperatures that elevated stress levels and lowered the bass’ immune systems.

The study at both lakes was subsequently put on hold until May 2020, when water temps stabilized in the 70s and new recruits were gathered. Both scientists and their staffs have been going full bore ever since. They pull tracking detail once every two weeks and have a good time doing it.

“There are a lot of diehard anglers out there who always have questions about how fish react to different things,” Norman said.

“Todd and I are lucky because our profession allows us to look into something that we are both very passionate about. Every time I hear a transmitter go ping; I get excited like a dog wagging its tail. My staff thinks I’m sort of insane, but the truth is I’d spend every day possible on the water bass fishing if I weren’t a biologist.”

Both scientists agree the study has been a learning process thus far. Here are a few highlights that should be of interest to all anglers:

Outboard Noise and Angling Pressure: Once a study fish is located, biologists evaluate whether it shies from outboard noise. If it doesn’t, they stop and make five to ten casts with an artificial lure and watch the

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The Roamers: Some of the study fish have proved to be home bodies while a few individuals are nomads. Last July, Norman found a bass at the rear of a small creek three miles from where it was released. Two weeks later, the fish had moved seven miles in the opposite direction. It was suspended alone over 35 feet of water in Lake Fork Creek.

Overall, Norman most of his fish have displayed a relatively small home range — 50 to 100 yards — since being released. Most remained shallow throughout the hot summer months.

On Toledo, Driscoll says a third of his fish have stayed within 200 yards of where they were released. Although a couple have ventured as far as five miles. Last July, the biologist discovered nine fish the same day that were mixed with small “wolf packs” of other bass. The fish were suspended over deep water, roaming around pods of shad.

“They had quit relating to bottom structure or cover of any sort,” he said. “They were relating strictly to shad, suspended and moving around. Fishing can be tough when they are doing that.”

Caught and Recaught: As of this writing, Norman had recaught one of his study fish and had seven others reported by other anglers, including one that had been caught three different times.

Driscoll had recaught two of his study fish.

Five others, including an eight-pounder, had been caught, released and reported by other anglers. Interestingly, the eight-pounder was recaught in two feet of water at the back of a small pocket in close proximity to where it was electrofished in May. “Two weeks later we found the big bass 1 1/2 miles away around a stump in eight feet of water,” Driscoll said. “Two weeks after that it had moved 1 1/2 miles back to the pocket where it was caught. It’s really strange what some of these fish do.”

Transmitters were surgically implanted in bass for Texas Parks and Wildlife’s behavior and tracking study. The devices emit signals that can be detected from up to half a mile away.

bass’s reaction using LiveScope.

Norman says about 50 percent of more than 100 observations have showed fish moving away from outboard engine noise; 18 percent reacted to fishing. A few fish have shown no reaction to engine noise, but shied from the presence of a fishing lure. Those that do react to engine noise sometimes move away slowly or disappear completely.

Driscoll has seen similar results in regard to engine noise. This includes fish that are relating to bottom structure in deep water or those that are buried up in shoreline cover in shallow water. Only about 15 percent of the Toledo fish have moved away from angling pressure.

Hide and Seek: Neither biologist has found evidence that PHOTO: MATT WILLIAMS

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fish are relocating to non-traditional places to escape fishing pressure. Both biologists had made dozens of observations through fall. Driscoll says every fish he has located has been positioned in relation to areas where anglers normally fish for bass, such as shoreline cover, drop-offs, stumps on flats or around channels.

Skinny to Skinnier: Initially, Norman expected to see his shallow fish gravitate toward deeper water with the onset of summer, but that hasn’t been the case. Last July, nearly half of his study group had pushed significantly shallower than where they were released.

“You could see bottom in some places and the water temperature was 88 to 90 degrees.”

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BACKGROUND PHOTO: BILL LINDNER

12/31/20 10:31 AM

HAT TITLE SEEMED LIKE A PERFECT one for this special section when we conceptualized it six months ago. We knew COVID-19 would likely still be somewhat of an issue having impact on the outdoors world but like everyone we were hoping for the best.

At the time of this writing (early December 2020) things are still very much up in the air with cases skyrocketing.

So “The State Of The Industry” is up in the air but we decided to move forward with this piece and give you an overview of some of the impact already felt and what may happen moving forward in various sectors of our industry.

REPORT: NEWS 34  TF&G OF THE NATION Reported by TF&G Staff

& GAME 34  FISH HOTSHOTS Trophy Photos from TF&G Readers

SPORTING EXPOS

& GAME 36  FISH FORECAST CENTER

January-February is the time for sporting expos and there has been much change in that regard. The National Shooting Sports Foundation’s (NSSF) Shooting, Hunting & Outdoor Trade (SHOT) Show in Las Vegas was cancelled.

“While there has been a concerted effort to expand the allowable levels for large gatherings by the county and state, with positivity rates peaking during our key planning period we have made the difficult decision to cancel the 2021 show. Sadly, these spikes are currently transpiring worldwide,’ reported NSSF officials.

“Given the sheer complexities, diminishing timeline and immense logistical planning required to conduct a trade show as large as SHOT, NSSF simply could not move forward at this point with so many unknowns and variables.”

The Wild Sheep Foundation’s “Sheep Show” was cancelled as a boots on the ground event and turned into a virtual one called Sheep Week: The Experience slated for Jan. 11-16.

The Houston Boat Show was also cancelled as well as various regional shows around the country.

Just before publication of this issue we got news that both the Dallas Safari Club and Houston Safari Club Foundation cancelled their expos that were both scheduled in February.

SALTWATER

Reported by Capt. Eddie Hernandez, Capt. Chris Martin, Capt. Mac Gable, Capt. Joey Farah and Capt. Gerad Meritt

& GAME 44  FISH FORECAST CENTER FRESHWATER

Reported by TF&G Staff

52  SPORTSMAN’S DAYBOOK Tides and SoLunar Data

& GAME 58  FISH HUNTING CENTER

by Chester Moore

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Dallas Safari Club officials have a virtual expo planned during the same dates, Feb. 11-14 and Houston Safari Club Foundation officials are working on other events to be announced throughout 2021.

The Houston Fishing Show has rescheduled for April 14-18.

Other shows were up in the air on

dates ranging as far into 2021 as September. Go to fishgame.com for more information on other shows which will be posted as we receive them.

FISHING & HUNTING PARTICIPATION Numerous states including Texas showed upwards of 10 percent increase in fishing and hunting license sales. Fishing in Texas was listed was protected early on

by Gov. Greg Abbott as an activity that was allowed during the earliest coronavirus restrictions and many anglers took to the water.

“Many people have hit the water and some of them for the first time or maybe the first time in a long time which is a good thing for fishing and for people,” said CCA President Pat Murray.

“Fishing is a good way to get away from things and sort of get refreshed and the more people who fish and learn to care about fisheries the more conservation that can be enacted for our fisheries.”

In an article at Redriverradio.org John Silovsky, Wildlife Division Director at the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department said with with participation up so was funding to the tune of more than 80 million from the previous year from licenes sales, excise taxes and other fees.

GUNS & AMMO A report in Forbes showed a fascinating trend in ammunition sales.

“U.S. imports of shelf-ready ammunition plunged 34% in the three months ended Aug. 31 compared to the same period in 2019, according to the most recent data from Chris Rogers of S&P Global Market Intelligence Panjiva.”

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PHOTO: CHESTER MOORE

12/31/20 10:31 AM

Kadyn Beaumont shows off a trout at the LNVA Barrier Pond in Beaumont.

Through the Wild Wishes program and courtesy of Texas Parks & Wildlife Inland Fisheries officials, he got to help release the fish.

Forbes also noted Federal background checks for gun purchases totaled 3.64 million in July 2020.

“It’s the third-largest monthly tally since the FBI started tracking background checks in 1998, and follows a record total in June.”

According to the San Antonio Current, From January through October, the FBI conducted more than 1.9 million background checks for gun sales in Texas.

“That’s more than any full year on record and also the third-highest in the nation this year, behind Illinois and Kentucky.”

Botswana, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Tanzania, Turkey, Tajikistan are all open for travel according to TWG Travel.

“Most of the countries require a negative COVID-19 PCR test certificate which must be issued within a certain period prior to departure or arrival. These vary from within 48 hours prior to departure for Zimbabwe to within 14 days of arrival for Zambia.”

“One of the things we’ve told our members and have spoken about on our ‘Hunter Matters’ radio program is for hunters to not cancel their hunts but postpone them. That will help the outfitters who are struggling right now,” said Joe Betar, Executive Director of the Houston Safari Club Foundation.

MOVING FORWARD COVID-19 will continue to have an

impact on our world and this industry for awhile. No one knows along but all of this is not going go away overnight.

All we can do is try to stay as safe as possible and move forward when the opportunity presents itself. We will continue not only reporting on our normal in-depth fishing, hunting, gun and wildlife coverage but also how this situation is impacing the great outdoors.

The silver lining here is the outdoors is the safest place to be.

Social-distancing is done best on a bay flat, flipping a jig around a dock on a lake, in the deer or duck blind or calling in turkeys.

Spend as much of that time with family and other loved ones and know that this too shall pass.

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HUNTING AND FISHING TRAVEL According to the International Council On Game and Fish Wildlife Conservation, the COVID-19 situation is rapidly evolving globally. Travel restrictions can be introduced or lifted from one day-to-thenext. For the latest country-specific travel restrictions, we advise checking travel agency websites in the first instance.

For US hunters and travelers, travel is permitted to those countries which are open for international visitors such as, South Africa, Mozambique, Namibia,

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12/31/20 10:31 AM

The NATIONAL

Moore Wins Big at Press Club

News of TEXAS

the “Missing Texas 40” cases around the Sam Houston National Forest that aired on Newstalk AM 560 KLVI. He won first place for an individual blog for his mountain and forest wildlife blog “Higher Calling Wildlife.”

Additionally, he took first place for radio public service announcements for his ongoing Wildlife Journalist Chronicles.

He took second place for specialty publications for his Turkey Revolution tabloid and his “Higher Calling Wildlife” story in the Pet Gazette for the news release category as well as taking third in social media for his work on Instagram.

“It’s an honor to be a member of the Press Club of Southeast Texas, much less to win these awards,” Moore said. “It’s always exciting to be recognized for the hard work I

TEXAS FISH & GAME EDITOR-INChief Chester Moore won big at the Southeast Texas Press Club awards held November 13.

The awards, which recognize media based out of Southeast Texas, are a prestigious honor covering all facets of electronic, print, and broadcast media. Moore won first place in radio talk show for Moore Outdoors on Newstalk AM 560 KLVI for his interview with Wild America creator and host Marty Stauffer.

Moore also won for investigative radio program for his special program on human dangers in the woods including examining

put into my wildlife journalism career. This year’s entries were especially important to me as I have been on a certain trajectory with mountain and forest wildlife, turkey, and the whole human dangers in the outdoors topics.

“It’s such a privilege to see my name popping up alongside other great journalists and media professionals in these awards. There are some truly great people in this profession in Southeast Texas and I’m blessed to be able to live and work in that area.”

Last year Moore won the “Advocatus Magni” award from the National Wild Turkey Federation-Texas for his work with wild turkeys. In 2017 he was given the

MARLIN

WHITETAIL

Austrailia

Upshur County

Wes Pyfer of Irving, right, shows off the small marlin he caught whhile fishing on the Great Barrier Reef out of Ciarns, Austrailia.

Eleven-year-old Colton Mackey got his first deer on opening day, hunting on his family’s land in Upshur County.

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Mossy Oak Outdoors Legacy Award for his work with wildlife and children.

Does Hunter Education Make A Difference?

ACCORDING TO THE 2019 TEXAS Hunting Incident Analysis, Texas has seen a substantial decrease in hunting-related accidents and fatalities since Hunter Education became mandatory in 1988. That year, more than 18,000 Texans received their Hunter Education certification, but 12 fatalities and 70 accidents were still reported throughout the state.

As more Texans have taken to the field and obtained their Hunter Education certification, these numbers have improved. More than 56,000 certifications awarded in 2019.

Only 1 fatality, and 21 accidents, were reported statewide.

“The number one hunting incident during the general season is careless handling of a firearm in and around vehicles,” said Steve Hall, the Hunter Education Coordinator for the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD). “Keep a firearm pointed in a safe direction at all times. This is the cardinal rule of hunting and shooting safety.”

Even prior to Hunter Education becoming mandatory in 1988, TPWD has offered hunter education courses since 1972 that have certified nearly 1.5 million students.

Today, Hunter Education is required for every hunter in Texas (including out-ofstate hunters) born on or after September 2, 1971. The minimum age for certification is nine years of age and certification is good for life.

There are two course options for anyone who needs to take Hunter Education.

The basic classroom course is six hours of instruction and includes skill exercises, a review and then a final exam. These types of courses are most often held in schools or in an indoor venue.

The online course, combined with the field course, has two parts: a free online course that should be completed first, and then a field course that typically takes a minimum of four hours to complete. The field course contains a presentation on ethical and responsible hunting, participation PHOTO: TPWD

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hunters.

in a hunting skills trial, a live-fire exercise, a review of regulations and a final exam.

There is also an online-only course that is restricted to anyone 17 years of age or older.

Online coursework varies from two to four hours depending on pre-knowledge, age, reading level and other factors.

Hall offers other tips that will help ensure a safe experience for anyone whether they’re at their home, in transit to their hunting spot, or spending time in the field.

Hunters must have proof of their Hunter Education certification on their person while in the field. Hunters have access to their Texas proof of Hunter Education in the free Outdoor Annual mobile app for iOS and Android.

Learn more about Hunter Education, how to sign up for a course and find resources for students on the TPWD website.

Firearm safety doesn’t just include knowing how to property handle a gun, it also includes knowing how to keep it from getting in the wrong hands. The Texas Department of Public Safety has launched a statewide campaign to encourage safe gun storage. Find resources, including safe gun storage checklists, and learn how to “Keep ‘Em Safe, Texas!” at SafeGunStorageTexas. com.

Pier At Goose Island Reopens After suffering damages from Hurricane Harvey more than three years ago, Goose Island State Park has reopened its new fishing pier, bayfront area and bayfront campsites to the public.

When Harvey hit the park, the high wind speeds tore off most of the lights throughout the pier and removed large portions of floorboards. The running boards, which support the floorboards of the pier, were flexed to a point where stress fractures could be seen throughout the length of the pier. Almost all the handrails had also been destroyed.

The new pier spans 1,620 feet into St. Charles and Aransas Bay. Visitors will be able to cast a line and try to hook spotted seatrout, snook, red and black drum, mullet and flounder. Fishing licenses are not required when fishing from the pier or shoreline in a state park.

Anyone planning a trip to a Texas State Park should keep in mind that parks are operating at a limited capacity. So reserving day passes and overnight camping spots in advance is highly recommended since some parks are expected to reach their capacity limit. Day passes and overnight reservations can be booked online though the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department website or over the phone by calling (512) 389-8900.

• Unload all firearms when not in use, especially in the home, in transport and in the field until ready to shoot.

• Keep your fingers outside of the trigger guard until ready to take a shot.

• For waterfowl hunters, the number one hunting incident is drowning, mostly because of capsizing and exposure to cold waters. Always wear protective clothing, waders and approved life jackets while in boats or around water, especially in the winter months.

• For dove, quail and pheasant hunters, the number one incident is swinging on game outside of your safe zone of fire.

Communicate and stick to your safe zone of fire and never shoot toward another hunter, domestic animals such as cows, or buildings or structures.

• Be sure of your target, and what is in front of and behind the target.

—Staff Reports

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mertime schoolies is the overall quality of the fish. When we locate schools of trout in winter, they are usually very solid. We don’t have to weed through a bunch of small ones to get to the no doubters. Catching a mess of fish in the 17- to 22-inch range is not at all uncommon. The redfish bite can also be very good with most running in the mid to upper echelon of the slot.

Locating bait is not always easy this time of year. However, if you happen to stumble on some mullet, it wouldn’t be a bad idea to work that area over pretty good.

More often than not, when you find bait, you catch fish, and sometimes strike gold.

Try to concentrate your efforts in the clearest water you can find, in areas that have a good hard mud bottom. You won’t find yourself in the right place at the right time if you opt to stay indoors.

Surprising Winter Limits pay off.

Those who write off fishing in January and February are missing out on some of the best opportunities that Galveston and Sabine have to offer. Most people are aware that winter fishing has the potential to produce serious trophy trout. I think a lot of people would be surprised, however, by the numbers of solid trout and slot reds that the upper coast produces in the cold months.

Fishing for trophy trout in the winter has always been and will always be common up and down the Texas coast. The idea of catching limits of trout though, when the wind chill factor dips deep into the 30s doesn’t enter lots of people’s minds simply because they don’t think it’s possible.

The truth is, it can and does happen on a fairly consistent basis. It’s winter, and the water temperature is at its lowest point of the year. This means you might have to work a little harder, but when you find yourself in the right place at the right time, the results may surprise you.

The big difference between these CAPT. HERNANDEZ ContactUs@Fishgame.com fish and sum-

SABINE Reported by CAPT. EDDIE HERNANDEZ

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HE TWO COLDEST MONTHS of the year are not exactly the most comfortable to cruise the bay in search of fish. So, it’s understandable that so many people choose to stay indoors rather than bundle up and try their luck.

Sometimes, however, on the frigid days of late winter, opting to stay in the warmth of home may not be your best bet. For those who are willing to brave the elements, fishing the upper coast of Texas can really

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UPPER COAST HOTSPOTS LOCATION: Chocolate Bay HOTSPOT: Chocolate Bayou GPS: N 29 11.622, W 95 9.948 (29.1937, -95.1658)

SPECIES: Speckled Trout BEST BAITS: Soft Plastics with a 1/4 oz. jig head TIPS: The fish are going to go deep. Best days are bright sunny days when the sun has had a chance to warm the bottoms. Fish gravitate to a combination muddy/shell bottoms.

LOCATION: Campbell’s Bayou HOTSPOT: Mud Flats GPS: N 29 20.745, W 94 54.389 (29.3457, -94.9064)

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SPECIES: Speckled Trout BEST BAITS: Soft Plastics TIPS: Basic lure color choice: Clear water-light colors; dark or off color water, use darker colors.

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LOCATION: East Matagorda Bay HOTSPOT: Brown Cedar Flats GPS: N 28 43.989, W 95 41.702 (28.7331, -95.6950)

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1 10 SPECIES: Speckled Trout BEST BAITS: Soft Plastics or Corkys TIPS: After a front, you have to think about where those fish are going to go when the tide falls real hard.

It will stack the fish up in some deeper areas.

HOTSPOTLIGHT:

UPPER SABINE LAKE

LOCATION: Matagorda HOTSPOT: Colorado River GPS: N 28 40.542, W 95 58.08 (28.6757, -95.9680)

THE NORTHERN END OF SABINE LAKE IS WHERE THE ESTUARY IS FED BY THE Sabine River to the east and the Neches River to the west. It is also joined by Black Bayou just below the Sabine. These freswater sources offer great fishing for speckled trout, redfish, flounder and sheepshead. The region is bounded on the west by the Lower Neches National Wildlife Area and on the east by the Sabine National Wildlife Refuge.

SELECTED HOTSPOTS ARE SHOWN IN THE TABLE BELOW, AND ON THE MAP. SPECKLED TROUT KEY

HOTSPOT NAME

1

East Pass

2

East Pass Rig

3

Sydnes Island

GPS

REDFISH

4

Black’s Bayou

5

Sydnes Island

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East Pass

N 29 59.866, W 93 45.182 N 29 59.707, W 93 47.615 N 29 59.027, W 93 46.562

FLOUNDER

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Black’s Bayou

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Shell Island

N 29 59.866, W 93 45.182 N 29 59.103, W 93 47.167

BLACK DRUM

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Middle Pass

10

Coffee Ground Cove

WADEFISHING

1

Sydnes Island

FACILITIES

KEY FACILITY NAME

A

BEST BAIT & TACTIC

N 29 59.027, W 93 46.562 N 29 58.524, W 93 47.379 N 29 58.643, W 93 49.490

GPS

Soft plastics, live bait; Year round

Slow singers, topwaters; Fall

Soft plastics, mullet, shrimp; Year round

LOCATION: Sabine Lake HOTSPOT: Coffee Ground Cove GPS: N 29 58.1, W 93 46.09 (29.9683, -93.7682)

Crab, mullet, spoons; Year round Crab, mullet, soft plastics; Year round

Mud minnows, soft plastics; Spring, Fall Soft plastics, shad; Fall-Summer

N 29 58.922, W 93 48.095 N 29 57.757, W 93 46.331

Dead shrimp or crab, fish points deep to 20’ water; JanMar, Nov-Dec, morn, night

N 29 58.411, W 93 49.848

Trout & redfish, topwaters with slow sinkers, plastics; May thru November

Fresh peeled shrimp, crab on C-rig, fish shell S bridge; Jan-Feb, Oct-Dec, dawn-midday

LOCATION

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SPECIES: Speckled Trout BEST BAITS: Soft Plastics with a 1/4 oz. jig head TIPS: If you are looking to catch a lot of fish, switch to soft plastic bait,” said Capt. Jaynes. His favorite colors are Texas Roach or Glow/Chartreuse. Color

PHONE

N 29 59.094, Unattended Ramps Old Ferry Road W 93 50.400 SOURCE: TEXAS LAKES & BAYS FISHING ATLAS 2021

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SPECIES: Speckled Trout BEST BAITS: Soft Plastics with a 1/4 oz. jig head TIPS: Rivers, creeks and bayous will produce the most fish.

Live shad, soft plastics; Winter-spring

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Winter Trout Anglers Head to the Front Lines action at all. No matter the case, here are a few pre-frontal practices that have worked well on wintertime trout.

SEEK PROTECTION Like we said earlier, winds ahead of a winter front can be minimal, or strong.

Given our location, however, we typically see strong south winds as warmer air rolls in off the Gulf of Mexico.

In this case, fishing a shoreline along the southern end of San Antonio Bay or Espiritu Santo Bay is advantageous. Doing so will protect you from the strong south wind, and those shorelines present you with miles of fishing alternatives.

Some great locations are places where you can wade right up to the bank in two to three feet of water. Such an area is found in spots along the bayside shoreline outside of Pringle Lake.

A lot of pre-frontal fish have been taken from that particular stretch of shoreline in the past. It offers wind protection, lots of marsh grass, and altering bottom structures, shell, mud, slight drop-offs, and such. You can work shallow if you prefer, or you can work deep, and all without having to walk very far.

In these pre-frontal conditions, it isn’t uncommon to find some of the fish in a schooling pattern. These typically are not large schools of fish, but they’re schools, nonetheless. That’s why you’ll often catch several of the same kind of fish, with many of them nearly the same size. It can be epic fishing, however, and something you’ll definitely want to try sometime.

SAN ANTONIO BAY AREA Reported by CAPT. CHRIS MARTIN

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HEN COASTAL BEND anglers hear that a winter cold front is expected soon, they start kicking things into high gear. Years of experience tell them they can anticipate a strong trout bite just prior to the front.

Depending on the front’s strength, the wind may be calm, and the water slick, or a 30 mph wind might be pumping out of the south. Regardless, they know that scheduling their trout efforts around the approaching front can result in a lot of fun action.

Pre-frontal trout fishing has been a treat for coastal anglers for decades and is still favored to this day. It’s a time that has been described by some as being legendary— unmatched throughout the rest of the year.

Others claim fishing prior to a front is either hit or miss, with great CAPT. MARTIN fishing, or no bayflatslodge@gmail.com

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EFFECTIVE BAITS A lot of wintertime coastal anglers are artificial bait enthusiasts. Some of the finest action you’ll find before a front will be while using artificial baits—on the surface, and below. If you’re fishing protected water, try locating the bite on top first. Look for slight disturbances in the water’s surface and target those spots with a bone or dark-colored top water bait.

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it. If you see a tail, toss beyond it and slowly work your bait back across it. If you see V-shaped ripples appearing across the surface, go after them. These are all signs of fish presence, so learn to fish the signs aggressively, especially since your time’s limited.

No action on top? Look to the middle and lower portion of the water column with a favorite suspending bait or plastic tail.

Proven slow-sinker choices in the past have been the Corky Fat Boy and the MirrOdines.

Some of the best plastic tail action has come from shrimp imitations, like the D.O.A., GULP, and Storm Wildeye. Favorite colors this time of the year are often white/ chartreuse, white/pink, pink, and morning glory.

After your cast, take the slack out your line with a few cranks on the reel. Then, let the bait sit still before giving it a slight twitch and taking the slack out again.

The majority of strikes may occur while the bait is motionless, or just as you start the twitch. The slightest difference in your presentation can make a huge difference, so keep trying until you find the best method.

BE SAFE When a wintertime front blows across the Texas coastline, the weather can turn treacherous in a matter of minutes. Whatever your situation may be, plan ahead of time to be out of the path of the immediate wind wall.

If you wait too long to leave the bite, you might not make it across the bay before the front arrives. The winds can become fierce, and you don’t want to be caught in open water when they hit.

Seek safe shelter if you have to, because it’s not worth risking your life unnecessarily. The key to success here is to know the forecast ahead of time, and plan for safety accordingly.

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ROCKPORT AREA

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Reported by CAPT. MAC GABLE

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Loneliness

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S OF THIS WRITING IT appears we have a new President; COVID-19 has a grip on our lives like a proverbial vice; there are protests and riots in our streets; the economy is in the tank; and it is hard to say what home staple will take the place of toilet paper as the apparent pandemic survival item.

Even for the hard-core survivalist, these are, to say the least, challenging times.

Common sense seems to be all but nonexistent. One client called me trying to talk me out of retirement and shared his insight on the current global situation.

He said “Capt. Mac, you must be a prophet. Years ago, you said it would not be a world power from without but rather the tiniest of bugs/ bacteria that CAPT. GABLE ContactUs@Fishgame.com would bring our society to a grinding halt. Well, you don’t get much smaller than a virus, and the world as we have known it seems caught in COVID purgatory.”

Although we both chuckled at his comment, I didn’t find his next statement all that amusing. “The hardest thing for me these days,” he continued, “is not the isolation or the mask, but rather it is how when in a crowd I feel totally isolated and alone.

Six feet might as well be six miles.

“Technology was supposed to connect the human race like never before, yet even before the pandemic, if one walked through the busiest airport in the world 82 percent of people were either on the phone texting, tweeting or whatever new sterile verbs one can apply for the masses engaging in some less than human form of communicating.”

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HOTSPOTLIGHT:

JFK CAUSEWAY AREA

THE JFK CAUSEWAY MARKS THE SEPARATION BETWEEN CORPUS CHRISTI BAY and the Upper Laguna Madre. It provide access from Corpus Christi to North Padre Island. Selected HOTSPOTS are shown in the table below, and on the map.

SPECKLED TROUT KEY

HOTSPOT NAME

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Boathole

2

Demit Island

3

Humble Flats

REDFISH

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Dead Man’s Hole

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Sulphur Flats

FLOUNDER

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Intracoastal Waterway

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JFK Causeway

BLACK DRUM

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Laguna Madre Intracoastal

9

Packery Channel

WADEFISHING

1

Demit Island Spoil

1

Wisconsin Cut Area

FACILITIES

KEY FACILITY NAME

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N 27 41.281, W 97 15.126 N 27 41.473, W 97 14.166 N 27 38.996, W 97 16.277

Fish channel edges or drift flats w live shrimp; MarOct, all day

N 27 40.665, W 97 12.442 N 27 37.584, W 97 15.747

Drift flats around spoils islands, freeline live shrimp; Apr-Nov, morning-afternoon

N 27 41.388, W 97 13.733 N 27 38.071, W 97 14.461

On any outgoing tide, fish ICW edge, channels, slough; Jan-Feb, Oct-Dec, all day

N 27 40.853, W 97 13.672 N 27 37.690, W 97 12.879

Live shrimp & crab, fish channel edge for bull drum; Feb-May, morning thru midday

N 27 41.316, W 97 14.408’ N 27 40.271, W 97 12.455

Speckled trout, warmer months croaker, cooler Corkys; Apr-Nov; dawn thru morn

Anchor near 4-6’ dropoff, use croaker, piggy perch; Apr-Sep, dawn thru morning plastic jerks, drift, target grasslines, potholes & humps; Spring, Fall, dawn thru aftn

Drift area covering lots of potholes w gold spoons; Spring, Fall, dawn-midday, dusk

Live shrimp, mullet, fish bottom near pilings & holes; Nov-Dec, dawn thru aftn

Anchor, work shrimp along edge & center of channel; Jan-Feb, Nov-Dec, morn-aftn

Freeline croaker, start in 3”, work deeper, find pockets; Mar-Jul; dawn thru morning

LOCATION

PHONE

N 27 36.714, 4242 Laguna Shores Dr. W 97 17.872 N 27 38.096, JFK Causeway Ramp Off TX 358 W 97 14.288 SOURCE: TEXAS LAKES & BAYS FISHING ATLAS 2021 Bluff’s Landing

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ARANSAS BAY: Some trout may be found at the east end of Hog Island with live shrimp free-lined or under a popping cork. Fish off the deeper edges of the island and be patient. On colder days, focus your fishing over dark mud bottoms as this holds the heat of the day and can turn the bite on.

The mouth of Allyn’s Bight is a great spot for black drum using live shrimp under a silent cork. Trout and reds frequent this area as well. Warmer days are best here.

MIDDLE COAST Truer words have never been spoken in my humble opinion. Okay, so I am old school, and, in my day, it was long hair and transistor radios that seemed to occupy our lives. The radio (and the television) was one of ‘the devil’s tools.” In 1984 a study showed workers felt real happiness was to be “at home.” I wonder how that’s working out for those same folks today. Social media is driving we the people farther apart. Am I the only one who can’t seem to find any truth on the internet? If the truth is there it is so clouded in a predominant grey zone it is unrecognizable.

The truth is we need human interaction, blessing one another, edifying one another, sharing with one another and YES!!!! touching one another. Look it up.

By the way, I could care less if it’s politically incorrect—none of this can truly be accomplished using today’s technology.

Sharing a physiological piece of ourselves, which relates to the way in which a living

organism functions, has NOTHING to do with the SIM CARD/SOFTWARE function of our cell phones or search engines or video conferences.

Nowhere is this interaction better applied than in outdoor activities such as fishing or hunting, or simply enjoying a quiet sit on a saltwater bay, freshwater lake, the twilight of the deep woods, or in the majesty of the mountains. In these sanctuaries one doesn’t have to worry about the spread of a lethal virus, the insanity of rioting, or being fearful of the words or language we use.

It’s where communicating is using the ancient art of simply talking. It’s in places such as this that this 65-year-old “old schooler” has never been fearful or lonely.

Play the cold snaps to your advantage.

Much has been written about this, and from experience much is in error. I have found the BEST time to fish is 48 to 72 hours after a hard, cold snap. Yes there are exceptions, but percentages favor that time frame.

I like scented baits this time of year. The gin-clear water is void of the phytoplankton that rules the warmer months. Just a small amount of scent like Berkley Gulp or even old frozen menhaden / shrimp can bend the odds in one’s favor.

COPANO BAY: The Turtle Pen area is a good place for reds especially on warmer days. Cut mullet free-lined or on a light Carolina rig is a good choice. New Penny Jerk Shad works as well. The LBJ Causeway is always a good bet for sheepshead action. I like squid on a small kahle hook and braided line to stop break offs.

ST. CHARLES BAY: Some reds may be found off Egg Point with finger mullet and cut menhaden, free-lined. Twins Creeks is a good spot for black drum using peeled shrimp under a silent cork. If no bites, take the corks off and free-line.

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CARLOS BAY: Carlos Trench is the area to fish on colder days using free-lined live shrimp. Rattle traps work here as well.

On warmer days drift across Carlos Lake using soft plastics in new penny and electric chicken can produce some fun trout action.

MESQUITE BAY: The mouth of Cedar Bayou is a great wade spot for trout using live shrimp in new penny and morning glory-colored soft plastics. The bayou is not open to the gulf, but trout and reds and a few flounders still hang in this area. Beldon’s Cut is a good spot for reds using free-lined finger mullet. This bay can get very rough when hard north winds blow. Being weather savvy is wise when fishing here.

AYERS BAY: Ayers Reef is the go-to spot for trout on warmer days when using free-lined live shrimp. This is a heavy shell area, so let the bait sit until you get a bite.

BANK BITE: A tactic that I used for years is called pier drifting for a variety of species. This involves a stiff rod (seven foot is a good length) and some tough line like Finns or Trilene braid. The technique is to tip a small kahle hook with shrimp, squid, or cut mullet and walk it down the pier holding the rod tip straight down towards the water.

The key here is the speed: too fast and the bait runs shallow, too slow and it runs too deep and gets tangled or broken off.

The neat part is that the walking motion / movement sets the hook. I have caught sheepshead, black drum, trout and even flounders doing this. One can cover a lot of area and fish multiple fishing piers using this technique, and if your spouse asks you can say “I’ve been exercising.”

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MIDDLE COAST HOTSPOTS

HOTSPOT: Demit Island GPS: N 27 41.5335, W -97 14.8159 (27.6922, -97.2469)

LOCATION: Rockport-Fulton HOTSPOT: Long Reef GPS: N 28 3.618, W 96 57.679 (28.0603, -96.9613)

SPECIES: Speckled Trout BEST BAITS: Down South & Kelley Wiggler soft plastics TIPS: Whatever soft plastic you choose, make sure to fish slow across the bottom.

LOCATION: Corpus Christi Bay HOTSPOT: Nueces Bay GPS: N 27 51.894, W -97 21.132 (27.8649, -97.3522)

SPECIES: Speckled Trout BEST BAITS: Soft Plastics TIPS: Gulp New Penney and any other soft plastic in purple are productiv colors.

LOCATION: Corpus Christi Bay HOTSPOT: Shamrock Cove GPS: N 27 45.369, W -97 9.733 (27.7562, -97.1622)

SPECIES: Speckled Trout and Redfish BEST BAITS: Soft Plastic Paddle Tails or live shrimp TIPS: If it’s blowing, fish the flats behind an island.

Redfish should be there.

LOCATION: Corpus Christi Bay

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LOCATION: Espiritu Santo Bay HOTSPOT: Long Lake GPS: N 28 16.772, W 96 36.698 (28.2795, -96.6116)

MIDDLE COAST SPECIES: Speckled Trout and Redfish BEST BAITS: Soft Plastic Paddle Tails or live shrimp TIPS: Flounder gigging action should be picking back up. The spawn run will be pretty much over and they should beginning to migrate back inshore.

LOCATION: Espiritu Santo Bay HOTSPOT: Contee Lake GPS: N 28 17.779, W 96 33.157 (28.2963, -96.5526)

LOCATION: Espiritu Santo Bay HOTSPOT: Pats Bay GPS: N 28 15.787, W 96 37.382 (28.2631, -96.6230)

SPECIES: Redfish & Speckled Trout BEST BAITS: Cut crab, Carolina Rigged TIPS: If weather permits, fish the same back lakes over mud and shell along the south shoreline of Espiritu Santo Bay. LOCATION: Mesquite Bay HOTSPOT: Cedar Bayou GPS: N 28 6.708, W 96 49.812 (28.1118, -96.8302)

SPECIES: Redfish BEST BAITS: Cut crab, Carolina Rigged TIPS: Ray Ortega is not a licensed guide, but extensive knowledge on how to fish the Port O’Connor area.

SPECIES: Redfish BEST BAITS: Cut crab, Carolina Rigged TIPS: In January, fish the back lakes for redfish over mud and shell.

SPECIES: Speckled Trout BEST BAITS: Down South & Kelley Wiggler soft plastics TIPS: Fish seem to like the round body of Down South soft plastics, and the willow tail of Kelley

(29.1016, -95.1094)

UPPER COAST (from Pg. 37)

LOCATION: West Galveston Bay HOTSPOT: Offats Bayou GPS: N 29 16.819, W 94 51.507 (29.2803, -94.8585)

choice depends on water quality.

LOCATION: Surfside/Freeport HOTSPOT: Dow Plant GPS: N 28 56.438, W 95 19.825 (28.9406, -95.3304)

SPECIES: Speckled Trout BEST BAITS: Soft Plastics with a 1/4 oz. jig head TIPS: In January catches of numbers of fish probably will not happen, so concentrate on catching bigger fish.

SPECIES: Speckled Trout BEST BAITS: Soft Plastics with a 1/4 oz. jig head TIPS: The Brazos River in Freeport, around the Dowell Chemical Plant is a “well-kept secret”. A lot of trout come from out the river in the colder months.

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SPECIES: Speckled Trout BEST BAITS: Soft Plastics with a 1/4 oz. jig head TIPS: “In January the fish will exit the flats to find the deeper, warmer water. But that’s not to say you can’t catch a big trout in January on the flats.

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LOCATION: West Galveston Bay HOTSPOT: Redfish Cove GPS: N 29 6.101, W 95 6.569 |

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Wigglers that’s dipped in Garlic

GPS: N 27 29.134, W 97 21.108 (27.4856, -97.3518)

LOCATION: San Antonio Bay HOTSPOT: Cedar Point GPS: N 28 14.184, W 96 39.659 (28.2364, -96.6610)

SPECIES: Speckled Trout BEST BAITS: Slow Sinking Artificial Baits TIPS: The color of the lure I use depends on whether it’s sunny or cloudy. Early in the morning I like to use a brighter color. Pink is a favorite color.

SPECIES: Speckled Trout & Redfish BEST BAITS: Live Shrimp under a popping Cork TIPS: Live shrimp under a popping cork is an effective way of fishing back lakes.

LOCATION: San Antonio Bay HOTSPOT: Guadalupe Bay East Shore GPS: N 28 24.803, W 96 45.342 (28.4134, -96.7557)

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SPECIES: Speckled Trout & Redfish BEST BAITS: Live Shrimp under a popping Cork TIPS: If you’re wading, concentrate your efforts around Panther, south of Panther and Cedar Bayou LOCATION: Upper Laguna Madre HOTSPOT: King Ranch Shoreline

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Winter is Prime Time for Die Hard Fishermen BAFFIN BAY Reported by CAPT. GERAD MERRITT

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ISHING IN THE WINTER months is great for the die-hard fishermen. Conditions can be tough with cold air, wind, and low water temperatures, but don’t let that stop you from chasing the fish of your dreams.

You will undoubtedly want to take advantage of the better weather days, for good wade fishing and sight casting in the shallows. For days with poor weather conditions, overcast and cold, you will want to look for the fish to be a little bit deeper and aim for mid-thigh water levels or deeper.

You will notice this time of year; the fish will typically switch their diet. This is CAPT. MERRITT important to geradmerritt@gmail.com take into consideration when using live bait, and you will be most successful with live shrimp.

On warmer days, the fish staying deeper will be attracted to something different than the shallower swimming fish want. You should change your lure options frequently to find a color and style that you find works, then move forward.

Persistence is key this time of year. I like to use these months to try new things and even tend to look for different areas to fish.

If the trophy you are looking for is not in one spot, there’s a good chance it will be at the next.

I have learned over the years that some areas are just better to fish in the winter versus the summer. Fish tend to stick to patterns. Once you can figure out what pattern they are following, you are typically set for a good time.

Don’t forget to layer up under your wad-

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SPECIES: Speckled Trout BEST BAITS: Slow Sinking Artificial Baits TIPS: Favorite slow sinking artificials: Fat Boys and Corky lures

ers when wade fishing, but try to remember not to limit your movement. You may start shallow but end up deep. In this case, you don’t want to ruin a good wade session by having to move to the boat to strip layers. In my experience and opinion, a good waterproof jacket in these months is a must and will save a lot of headache as the day moves on.

I like to take notes on weather and water conditions frequently and try to keep a fishing log to help me remember what and how I did on particular days. I also do my best to remember to log techniques and styles I used that did and did not work.

This can help an angler with planning what, where, and how to fish on the next trip. Find what works for you on those particular days, log it and stick with it.

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LOWER COAST HOTSPOTS

LOCATION: Baffin Bay HOTSPOT: Kennedy Rocks GPS: N 27 16.255, W 97 26.7329 (27.2709, 97.4456)

SPECIES: Speckled Trout BEST BAITS: MirrOlure soft plastics with either a 1/8 or 1/16-ounce jig head TIPS: When the water is clear I like to throw the Morning Glory color. I use the MirrOlure soft plastics because they are already scented. I think that enhances your chances of attracting fish.

LOCATION: Baffin Bay HOTSPOT: Badlands GPS: N 27 18.447, W 97 26.293 (27.3075, 97.4382)

LOCATION: Baffin Bay HOTSPOT: Cat Head, North Shore GPS: N 27 18.382, W 97 26.263 (27.3064, -97.4377)

SPECIES: Speckled Trout BEST BAITS: MirrOlure soft plastics with either a

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4 1/8 or 1/16-ounce jig head CTIPS: If you any sunshine and there are rocks around, the rocks heat up pretty quick. They’re kind like fish magnets.

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LOCATION: Port Mansfield HOTSPOT: Dubbs Island GPS: N 26 43.2409, W 97 25.6 (26.7207, 97.4267)

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LOCATION: Lower Laguna Madre HOTSPOT: Horse Island GPS: N 26 20.3539, W 97 20.2489 (26.3392, 97.3375)

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HOTSPOTLIGHT:

SOUTH BAY

SOUTH BAY IS AN EXTENSION OF THE LOWER LAGUNA MADRE, JUST BELOW THE Brazos Santiago Pass. HOTSPOTS are shown in the table below, and on the map.

SPECKLED TROUT KEY

HOTSPOT NAME

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Mesquite Flats

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South Bay

REDFISH

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South Bay East Table Top

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Del Mar Beach

FLOUNDER

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Railbed

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South Bay Pass

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Mouth of South Bay

SNOOK

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Mexequita Flats

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Mangroves in South Bay

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West South Bay Mangroves

WADEFISHING

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GPS

BEST BAIT & TACTIC

N 26 03.668, W 97 11.409 N 26 01.707, W 97 10.613

Mansfield Mauler, 118/4 oz. jig head, drift with wind; Apr-Oct, dawn, dusk

N 26 01.431, W 97 11.089 N 26 03.388, W 97 08.961

Live finger mullet, 3-4” topwaters, wade or drift; MarNov, morning thru afternoon

N 26 03.830, W 97 09.920 N 26 02.889, W 97 11.031 N 26 02.583, W 97 11.073

Mud minnows, finger mullet, fish bed stones on btm.; Jun-Sep, morning thru midday

N 26 03.414, W 97 11.773 N 26 02.420, W 97 10.476 N 26 01.122, W 97 11.049

Soft plastics w 118/4 oz. jig heads, anchor or drift flats; May-Nov, morning-afternoon

SPECIES: Speckled Trout BEST BAITS: Corkys TIPS: Muddy bottom is crucial. The mud retains heat better than a hard bottom. The trout like to lie in the warm mud.

Topwaters early anchor w soft plastics later in day; Mar-Sep, dawn, dusk

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Live/cut mullet, fish 1st / 2nd gut, cast parallel to shore; Jun-Oct, dawn thru midday

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Anchor @ edge of channel pt. look for wht. poles ; JulNov, avoid afternoon Mud minnows, shrimp, fish mouth with moving tides; Aug-Feb, dawn-morn., dusk-night

Live bait w cork, work top slow, work plastics quickly; May-Jun, Sep-Oct, dawn, dusk Cast bait/lure to mangroves, same strategy as #1; MayJun, Sep-Oct, dawn, dusk

N 26 04.360, Trout & redfish, soft plastics with 1/4-1/8 oz. jig heads; March thru November W 97 10.031 N 26 01.503, Trout, redfish & snook; live shrimp, soft plastics; South Bay (NE corner) March thru November W 97 10.174 SOURCE: TEXAS LAKES & BAYS FISHING ATLAS 2021 Airport Cove

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January and February: Big Fish Season BEST BAITS: Crankbaits and umbrella rigs in shad or white color, 1/2 oz. chrome jigging spoons TIPS: Concentrate on the bends and cuts in this main channel. When the bass are active, throw the shad or white colored crankbaits and umbrella rigs. When they are not feeding well, drop a 1/2 oz. chrome jigging spoon in these same areas and vertically jig off them off the bottom. Watch visibly and on your electronics for balls of shad to increase your odds of finding these wintertime schools of bass.

LOCATION: Lake Chapman/Cooper HOTSPOT: Boat Lane Creek Channel GPS: N 33 17.911, W 95 43.634 (33.2985, -95.7272) Reported by TF&G STAFF

EAST TEXAS HOTSPOTS

LOCATION: Caddo Lake HOTSPOT: Big Cypress River GPS: N 32 43.9559, W 94 8.682 (32.7326, -94.1447)

SPECIES: Largemouth Bass BEST BAITS: Jigs TIPS: Bounce jigs with rattles and big trailers off the channel edge. Fish this spot all day.

LOCATION: Lake Conroe HOTSPOT: Main Lake GPS: N 30 22.3499, W 95 33.342 (30.3725, -95.5557)

SPECIES: Largemouth Bass

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SPECIES: Hybrid Stripers BEST BAITS: Live shad, Storm Swim shad TIPS: The hybrid stripers are schooling around ledges along the river channel. Find the schools of shad and you will find the hybrids. This time of year they will run shad up on these ridges during the day they will move deeper around the area. Find the depth the bait are in and you will find the fish. As the water temperatures drop, they will be in the 30 to 40 foot depths. Live shad will be the bait of choice in deeper water, but the swim shad will work as long as you can control your retrieve to keep the bait in the depth the fish are going to be in.

LOCATION: Lake Fork HOTSPOT: Woodpecker Island or Dam Area GPS: N 32 49.2839, W 95 32.934 (32.8214, -95.5489)

SPECIES: Crappie BEST BAITS: Crappie jigs: 1/8 oz. jig head, pink in color with a chartreuse/pink jig body TIPS: January is the month we look deep for the schools of crappie located on deep humps and creek channels on Lake Fork. It’s also one of the months you are required to keep the first 25 per person you catch.

There is, however, no length limit for the months of December, January and February. The humps I like to fish are around the damn area or the flats in the mouth of Little Caney. I also fish the deeper flats off of Woodpecker Island or point. I look for the crappie in 30-45 foot of water and you will see the bait fish and the crappie will be around them. This is the time of year you will need good electronics and calmer winds to hold in the open water. Once you locate the crappie, throw out a marker buoy and get out your favorite jig or crappie poles and go to work. If the jig bite is working, I like to put 2 jigs on the pole about 18 inches apart, using a 1/8 oz. head, pink in color and use a chartreuse/pink jig body. This will catch you a good mess in no time. If you are interested in a crappie trip call or text me for open dates or check out

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CURRENT LAKE LEVELS LAKE

EAST TEXAS

CAPACITY AC. FT. Addicks -n.a.B A Steinhagen 69,186 Barker -n.a.Bob Sandlin 192,417 Bonham 11,027 Caddo 29,898 Coleto Creek 31,040 Conroe 410,988 Crook 9,195 Cypress Springs 66,756 Fork 605,061 Houston 130,147 Houston County 17,113 Jacksonville 25,670 Jim Chapman 260,332 Lake O’ the Pines 241,363 Livingston 1,741,867 Monticello 34,740 Murvaul 38,285 Nacogdoches 39,522 Palestine 367,303 Pat Mayse 113,683 Sam Rayburn 2,857,077 Striker 16,934 Sulphur Springs 17,747 Toledo Bend 2,236,450 Wright Patman 122,593 As of 12/15/2020

CURRENT AC. FT. -n.a.67,562 -n.a.185,980 10,149 29,898 20,530 380,736 9,143 65,148 546,808 129,809 17,113 25,670 188,077 241,363 1,741,867 28,338 36,213 33,757 367,303 113,683 2,405,745 16,934 12,003 1,950,582 122,593

% FULL -n.a.98% -n.a.97% 92% 100% 66% 93% 99% 98% 90% 100% 100% 100% 72% 100% 100% 82% 95% 85% 100% 100% 84% 100% 68% 87% 100%

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our website for booking details. I have been guiding on Lake Fork for 18 years.

LOCATION: Lake Fork HOTSPOT: Creek Channels GPS: N 32 57.8279, W 95 37.5605 (32.9638, 95.6260)

Six miles north of Lufkin

HOTSPOTLIGHT:

LAKE KURTH LOCATION: Six miles north of Lufkin off US 59 SURFACE AREA: 726 acres MAXIMUM DEPTH: 60 feet IMPOUNDED: 1950

Habitat in Kurth Reservoir consists of submerged aquatic vegetation (mainly hydrilla), standing timber, and lily pads.

This reservoir has special regulations on largemouth bass. For largemouth bass, only those 16 inches in length or less may be retained. Bass 24 inches or longer may be temporarily retained in a live well or other aerated holding device and immediately weighed using personal scales.

THE LARGEMOUTH BASS POPULATION is abundant at Kurth Reservoir, with a relatively high number of fish over 4 pounds. Crappie and catfish are present, but numbers are relatively low and few anglers target these species.

Bluegill and redear sunfish are present in high numbers and provide fast action, especially for youth or inexperienced anglers.

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TIPS: The bass are moving into pre-spawn stage.

Rattle baits, spinnerbaits and Finch Nasty Thumpers work well on the windy days. On sunny days weightless soft plastics like the GrandeBass Air Pro, a salt heavy stick bait with the airtail chamber so you can put scent or rattles in it, or a light Texas rig with a 6.5”” Mag Rattlesnake. Work secondary points and creek channel swings on flats. Lay down logs and any vegetation are great cover this time of year. Its big fish season.

When the wind is blowing and you need to cover water a spinner bait, or vibrating jig will get you the bites you need.

LOCATION: Lake Fork HOTSPOT: White Oak Branch GPS: N 32 55.608, W 95 40.824 (32.9268, -95.6804)

SPECIES: Largemouth Bass BEST BAITS: Grandbass rattlesnake in black and blue or green pumpkin CTIPS: February is the start of big bass season on Lake Fork. Big ones are shallow. I rarely fish deeper than 5 foot this time of year. My number one technique is a weightless 6.5-inch Grandbass rattlesnake black and blue or green pumpkin rigged with 17 lb. fluorocarbon 5/0 hook.

Fish slow around spawning areas such as stumps, grass, and shallow creek channels.

SPECIES: Largemouth Bass BEST BAITS: Lipless rattle baits, spinnerbaits, Finch Nasty Thumpers, GrandeBass Air Pro, Texas rigged 6.5 Mag Rattlesnake

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LOCATION: Toledo Bend North HOTSPOT: Brown’s Bend GPS: N 31 42.324, W 93 47.8199 (31.7054, -93.7970)

EAST TEXAS LOCATION: Lake Livingston HOTSPOT: Bedias Creek GPS: N 30 54.858, W 95 36.9059 (30.9143, -95.6151)

LOCATION: Lake Nacogdoches HOTSPOT: Old Rebar Hole GPS: N 31 38.197, W 94 48.293 (31.6366, -94.8049)

SPECIES: White Bass BEST BAITS: Sassy Shad, Blue Fox, Rat-L-Traps, Tsunami Cocktail spinners, road runners TIPS: January brings in the start of the incredible white bass spawn on Lake Livingston. Spring white bass fishing is met with a fanatical following here.

Whites will move into upper Lake Livingston creeks in huge numbers to spawn. Bedias Creek is famous for white bass fishing in January. However, many factors need to come together to get in on the great fishing here in January. Current conditions can dictate the fishing as one day can be feast and the next day, famine. Water conditions, temperature and fluctuating levels can dictate success or failure. Typically the best time to go is with a warming trend bringing a southeast wind following a recent local rain. The moving water from run off will pull the fish up stream and stack them up in deep holes far up Bedias Creek. The “shoals” is a well-known area here where the whites stack up under the right conditions.

SPECIES: Largemouth Bass BEST BAITS: Soft plastics TIPS: Work the creek bend and drain, drag over the edges. Avoid midday.

LOCATION: Lake Sam Rayburn HOTSPOT: Five Fingers GPS: N 31 7.92, W 94 7.71 (31.1320, -94.1285)

LOCATION: Lake O the Pines HOTSPOT: East Point Johnson Creek GPS: N 32 46.321, W 94 32.207 (32.7720, -94.5368)

SPECIES: Largemouth Bass BEST BAITS: 6” - 7” suspending jerk baits, red Rat-L-Traps, bass jigs, Carolina rigs, deep diving crankbaits TIPS: January is one of the three best months of the year to catch a bass over 10 pounds on this lake. If the winter is mild, look for big pre-spawn females to move into big bays and stage in drains and ditches that are 8 to 15 feet deep. Best baits will be 6” - 7” suspending jerk baits and the Rayburn standby, red Rat-L-Traps. If the winter is cold/bitter, try ledges and channel swings in 15 to 25 feet with jigs, Carolina rigs and deep cranks.

SPECIES: Crappie BEST BAITS: Minnows TIPS: Bounce minnows on the bottom with a spinning rig. Morning through midday.

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SPECIES: White Bass BEST BAITS: Slab spoons, Rat-L-Traps, tail spinners TIPS: In January, the White Bass will be feeding heavy, bulking up before making their annual run up the river to spawn. The whites will be holding on the north end river channel sandbars. If we receive a lot of rain and have a strong river current, you will start seeing some action in the river proper. Otherwise, work the main lake sandbars with slab spoons, Rat-LTraps and tail spinners. Use your electronics to locate the bait fish and you’ll locate the whites. Your daily limit is 25 fish per person.

LOCATION: Lake Wright Patman HOTSPOT: Rocky Point GPS: N 33 17.355, W 94 10.629 (33.2893, -94.1772)

SPECIES: Largemouth bass BEST BAITS: Jerkbaits TIPS: Use black/gold jerkbaits; jerk and pause, slow and pause retrieve; midday thru afternoon.

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12/31/20 10:32 AM

Action Ramps Up for Bass of All Stripes LOCATION: Bachman Lake HOTSPOT: Bridge or Dam Areas GPS: N 32 51.5699, W 96 51.3839 (32.8595, -96.8564) LOCATION: Lake Buchanan HOTSPOT: Shaw and Garret Island GPS: N 30 50.85, W 98 24.8424 (30.8475, -98.4140)

Reported by TF&G STAFF

CENTRAL TEXAS HOTSPOTS

LOCATION: Lake Austin HOTSPOT: Creek Inlets and Bedding Areas GPS: N 30 17.826, W 97 47.2739 (30.2971, -97.7879)

SPECIES: Largemouth Bass BEST BAITS: Cyclone and Picasso spinnerbaits, River2Sea S-Waver swim baits and crankbaits, T-rig or weightless rig with a V&M Wild Thang 8.5 worm or Chopstick TIPS: Find flats that are close to deeper/thick grass as this is the typical pattern for ambushing shad and smaller fish. Be prepared to throw multiple baits at the same area. I will usually throw Cyclone and Picasso spinnerbaits along the edges and River2Sea S-Waver swim baits and cranks as well.

SPECIES: Largemouth Bass and Crappie BEST BAITS: Bass: spinnerbaits and Rat-L-Traps | Crappie: minnows and jigs TIPS: For bass, throw spinnerbaits and Rat-L-Traps along the weed lines. Bass fishing is especially good at the dam, by the banks and near the timber under the bridge. Crappie are under the bridge at night this time of year. Minnows and jigs are your best bet right now.

LOCATION: Lake Buchanan HOTSPOT: Paradise Point and Rocky Point Areas GPS: N 30 50.022, W 98 24.2879 (30.8337, -98.4048)

LOCATION: Canyon Lake HOTSPOT: Jacob’s Creek Area GPS: N 29 53.778, W 98 13.3739 (29.8963, -98.2229)

SPECIES: Striped Bass & White Bass BEST BAITS: Live shad, slabs TIPS: January should be the ending month of the transition for all species moving from fall and winter patterns to early spring patterns. Striper and white bass fishing should be good in the upper half of lake from Rocky Point to Paradise Point.

Focus your efforts on early and late in the day using live bait and jigging slabs in 20 to 40 feet of water near ridges and humps close to the river channel.

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SPECIES: Stripers, Hybrid Bass & White Bass BEST BAITS: Jigs, slabs, Rat-L-Traps TIPS: Stripers are going to around the Shaw and Garrett Island area of the lake. The upper end of the lake seems to be the best area this time of year. Watch for seagulls. White bass will be on the upper end of Lake Buchanan as well,

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SPECIES: Largemouth Bass BEST BAITS: Hard plastic jerk baits, soft plastic jerk baits, slow rolling spinnerbaits, lipless and square bill crankbaits TIPS: This area offers protection from the north wind and receives lots of sunshine to warm the water. There is no vegetation but there are stick-ups and this area has deep water not far away. Because this area has a lot of shallower water, it’s a good area to throw the suggested baits above.

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CURRENT LAKE LEVELS

CENTRAL TEXAS

LAKE

CAPACITY

As of 12/15/20

(Acre Feet)

Aquilla Arlington Athens Austin Bardwell Belton Benbrook Buchanan Canyon Cedar Creek Choke Canyon Corpus Christi Eagle Mountain Georgetown Gibbons Creek Granger Grapevine Halbert Hubert H Moss Inks Joe Pool Lavon Lewisville Limestone Lyndon B Johnson Marble Falls Martin Medina Mountain Creek Nasworthy Navarro Mills New Terrell City Ray Hubbard Ray Roberts Richland-Chamb.

Somerville Stillhouse Hollow Tawakoni Texana Texoma Travis Tyler Waco Waxahachie Weatherford Whitney Worth

43,243 40,157 29,503 23,972 46,122 435,225 85,648 860,607 378,781 644,686 662,820 256,062 179,880 36,823 25,721 51,822 163,064 6,033 24,058 13,962 175,800 406,388 563,228 203,780 115,249 6,901 75,726 254,823 22,850 9,615 49,827 8,583 439,559 788,167 1,087,839 150,293 227,771 871,685 159,566 1,243,801 1,113,348 72,073 189,418 10,780 17,812 553,344 24,419

CURRENT

(Acre Feet)

39,303 32,554 29,503 22,988 44,101 422,584 75,067 719,946 338,058 615,070 236,907 134,016 162,984 21,896 20,287 45,560 160,056 5,329 23,265 13,005 164,172 365,253 539,991 190,702 111,126 6,858 62,791 108,500 22,850 8,368 46,948 7,753 404,831 761,515 1,021,623 121,355 227,771 811,703 159,566 1,206,205 751,513 72,073 176,773 8,942 15,944 494,819 18,314

% FULL 91% 81% 100% 96% 96% 97% 88% 84% 89% 95% 36% 52% 91% 60% 79% 88% 98% 88% 97% 93% 93% 90% 96% 94% 96% 99% 83% 43% 100% 87% 94% 90% 92% 97% 94% 81% 100% 93% 100% 97% 68% 100% 93% 83% 90% 89% 75%

6 miles east of Waco

HOTSPOTLIGHT:

TRADINGHOUSE CREEK LOCATION: On FM 2957 east of Waco SURFACE AREA: 2,010 acres MAXIMUM DEPTH: 42 feet IMPOUNDED: 1968 THIS LAKE IS KNOWN FOR LARGEmouth bass in the 3- to 8-pound range but has produced a lake record of 13.81 pounds. Sunfishes provide excellent opportunities for fly fishing anglers. Crappie are increasing in number and are usually of good size.

Channel catfish provide an excellent angling opportunity year round.

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LOCATION: Cedar Creek Lake HOTSPOT: Main Lake Points GPS: N 32 16.554, W 96 8.0339 (32.2759, 96.1339)

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SPECIES: Largemouth Bass BEST BAITS: Minnows and jigs TIPS: This area is protected from the wind and has lots of trees, drop-offs and ledges. Fish about 6’ to 10’ deep above and around the trees.

LOCATION: Canyon Lake HOTSPOT: Guadalupe River Area GPS: N 29 54.348, W 98 18.858 (29.9058, -98.3143)

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Largemouth bass fishing can be very good at Tradinghouse. Cattails and bulrushes line most of the shoreline.

Spinnerbaits, worms, and jigs all can produce good catches of fish. The dam is a popular spot to fish crankbaits, as the riprap holds a lot of fish.

The power plant is currently not operating, so the water is not warmed in the winter. As a result, the red drum fishery no longer exists, and stockings have been discontinued.

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SPECIES: Largemouth Bass BEST BAITS: Jigs with plastic trailers in 1/4 to 3/8oz in various colors, spinnerbaits, Rat-L-Traps TIPS: Fish all of the docks inside spawning coves from the main lake points to the back. Jigs with plastic trailers in 1/4 to 3/8oz in various colors will work skipped under the docks. Mix in spinners and Rat-LTraps in 2’ to 8’ as well.

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LOCATION: Eagle Mountain Lake HOTSPOT: Baptist Point GPS: N 32 52.79, W 97 28.64 (32.8798, -97.4773)

LOCATION: Granger Lake HOTSPOT: Main Lake GPS: N 30 42.402, W 97 20.91 (30.7067, -97.3485)

SPECIES: White Bass BEST BAITS: 3/4 oz. Jig head and a 4-inch fluke TIPS: This area is good this time of the year due to the north wind pushing shad into this point. The sand Bass generally follow. Try finding fish on your depth finder drop your jig head and fluke just above them.

Use the dead sticking method. Hold the fluke and jig head very still giving a twitch every 30 seconds or so.

LOCATION: Fayette County Reservoir HOTSPOT: Hog Pond Trees GPS: N 29 55.2779, W 96 43.23 (29.9213, -96.7205)

SPECIES: Catfish BEST BAITS: Shad, CJ’s punch bait TIPS: Stumps in the area. North winds are blocked here by the trees. Fishing a tight line due to winds this time of year helps keep bait in the prime area. There is lots of brush in this area to get hung up on so get your fish to your boat as soon as possible.

LOCATION: Gibbons Creek Reservoir HOTSPOT: North Eagle Point GPS: N 30 38.118, W 96 3.0779 (30.6353, -96.0513)

SPECIES: Catfish BEST BAITS: CJ’s punch bait, shad TIPS: This lake is full right now. Gibbons Creek comes close to shore here. Tight line this area for blues and channels. Use kahle hooks with shad or treble hooks with punch bait.

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CENTRAL TEXAS

SPECIES: Catfish BEST BAITS: Shad, cut bait, Zote Soap TIPS: Not much except catfishing is going on right now at Granger. The blues are still biting good on various baits. Cold fronts seem to turn them on and blow the shad to the windy banks. Fish those areas and you will have the best luck. Jug lines work well this time of year. I like to use Zote Soap, but shad are preferred by many. The larger blues are better on shad or large pieces of cut bait. Drift fishing with the wind is a good technique to put blues in the boat.

in 20-30 feet of water. Dead sticking Berkley Gulp Minnows, dead sticking live minnows, or dead sticking a 3” to 4” fluke in white or chartreuse just one foot above the school when you find them usually produces the best catches.

GPS: N 32 12.522, W 95 31.782 (32.2087, -95.5297)

SPECIES: Largemouth Bass BEST BAITS: Big Eye jigs, Texas Spinnerbaits TIPS: This time of year there are a few locations that I will focus on, all in the Flat Creek area. There is standing timber so fish your lure around all your trees and any tree you find up near the creek bends.

Take extra time fishing this area and cast to the tree several times. Lures I will use will be my Big Eye jigs and the Texas Spinnerbaits. The best Jig colors will be black/brown amber, black/blue and blue candy. These colors will work in clear, stained and muddy water.

Spinnerbaits in chartreuse/white and black neon will work well too.

SPECIES: Crappie BEST BAITS: Minnows TIPS: Fish live minnows on a bobber, hit in, out and round the brush.

LOCATION: Lake Lavon HOTSPOT: Island and Dam Area GPS: N 33 3.0119, W 96 28.416 (33.0502, -96.4736)

LOCATION: Lake Ray Roberts HOTSPOT: Johnson Branch GPS: N 33 23.753, W 97 0.801 (33.3959, -97.0134)

TIPS: Crappie will be suspended next to the dam in 18-25 feet of water. Spider rigging minnows is your best bet. White bass will be near the island and out towards the dam. Concentrate your fishing efforts J A N / F E B

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SPECIES: Catfish BEST BAITS: Danny King’s Punch Bait TIPS: Bundle up, take a thermos of coffee and get ready to catch some really nice blue cats on Richland Chambers. While we fish all winter for catfish, January and February are the best months to catch some of the bigger blues. Our target is “eater size” blues and channel cats but almost every trip someone will hook into a really big blue.

LOCATION: Lake Somerville HOTSPOT: Big Creek Park Shoreline GPS: N 30 19.2419, W 96 34.908 (30.3207, -96.5818)

SPECIES: Catfish BEST BAITS: Shad, cut bait TIPS: Good area to drift fish. Drift at speed of 1/2 mph. Use 4/0 hook, three foot leader and a 1 oz. “no roll” weight. This is also a good area for jug lines this time of year if you are going after big cats.

SPECIES: White Bass & Crappie BEST BAITS: Live minnows, flukes in white or chartreuse

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LOCATION: Richland Chambers Lake HOTSPOT: Crab Creek GPS: N 31 57.348, W 96 19.914 (31.9558, -96.3319)

LOCATION: Lake Palestine HOTSPOT: Flat Creek

LOCATION: Lake Joe Pool HOTSPOT: Joe Pool Marina Crappie Barge GPS: N 32 37.618, W 96 59.119 (32.6270, -96.9853)

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temperatures but the fishing is still great. White bass bite has been consistent. Look for big schools of fish stacking up on points and humps close to creek channels in 20-30 feet of water. Slabs off the bottom have been the best with bucktail teasers tied on as well. Light boat traffic has made it easier to stay on fish once you find them. Keep an eye out for diving gulls making easy meals off bait fish being pushed up from schooling fish. The crappie bite has been good. Crappie have been on brush piles in 20-30 foot of water. Jigs are working well but the quality of fish seem to be better on minnows.

SPECIES: Crappie, white bass BEST BAITS: Minnows, ¾ to1oz. slabs TIPS: Start of the year is here along with cold |

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LOCATION: Lake Texoma HOTSPOT: Paw Paw Creek and Willis Bridge GPS: N 33 53.9879, W 96 53.796 (33.8998, -96.8966)

SPECIES: Striped Bass BEST BAITS: Live shad, Road Runners and Sassy Shad jigs TIPS: January is a big fish month at Lake Texoma.

The cool water winter fishing is legendary. Large stripers up to 20 pounds will hold on structure. A 7-foot medium heavy fishing rod with 20-pound test is recommended. The 1 oz. Road Runner jig with a white 9-inch worm will produce fish located on main lake points and the mouths of creeks and humps with deep water nearby.

BEST BAITS: 3” chartreuse swim baits from RSR lures and chartreuse Bass Assassins TIPS: SLOW IS THE NAME OF THE GAME! The water temp has dropped. The shad have been pushed from the creeks, ganging up in a “safety in numbers” type of pattern in the open water. The stripers and whites are following and gorging on them. The water is cold, the bait fish are lethargic and not moving as fast as normal so when you think your fishing slow enough, slow down even more.

LOCATION: Lake Whitney HOTSPOT: State Park and Brazos River at the mouth of Nolan River GPS: N 31 55.074, W 97 21.8219 (31.9179, -97.3637)

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SPECIES: Striped Bass & White Bass

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Winter Patterns in Full Force on West Lakes SPECIES: Largemouth Bass BEST BAITS: Deep diving crankbaits, bass jigs, spoons TIPS: January will find the bass following the shad and perch into deep water. Everything will depend on the weather and the cold fronts that roll through. Some bass will remain shallow if the water temps stay in the 50’s. If the water drops below 50, the bass will move into the deep water, chasing the shad. Use your electronics to find the balls of shad and you will find the bass.

required to get bit.

LOCATION: Kirby Reservoir HOTSPOT: Main Lake GPS: N 32 22.864, W 99 43.760 (32.381060, -99.729331)

LOCATION: Amistad HOTSPOT: Arapahoe Ledges GPS: N29 36.36912, W100 57.6816 (29.606152, -100.961360) Reported by DEAN HEFFNER

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ATER TEMPERATURES in West Texas continue to be in the upper 40s and low 50’s.

Winter patterns are in full force with an early spring just around the corner. Stripers are active and are moving back and forth from rivers to deeper water on the main lakes. The warmest water on the really cold days is near the bottom of channels.

Find the bait, find the fish.

Wintering Birds are in place and can point anglers to active feeding fish. Passing cool fronts continue to dominate the weather patterns.

SPECIES: largemouth bass BEST BAITS: Sassy Shad jigs, plastic worms TIPS: There are several rock ledges near the channels with stumps here. Fish small jigs or finesse worms on light line on the ledges in 18-25 feet of water and set the hook at the slightest tap. Fish slowly and gradually work deeper as the sun rises.

LOCATION: Lake Granbury HOTSPOT: Deep water ledge on the lower ends GPS: N 32 23.014, W 97 42.550 (32 23.014, 97 42.550)

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WEST TEXAS HOTSPOTS LOCATION: Lake Alan Henry HOTSPOT: Cat Hollow GPS: N 33 2.868, W 101 5.9039 (33.0478, -101.0984)

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SPECIES: Striped Bass BEST BAITS: 3/4 to 1oz jig heads with 5 inch swimbaits/jerkbaits in blue/chartruese CONTACT: Michael W. Acosta, Unfair Advantage Charters 254-396-4855 TIPS: Work over structure slowly and work deeper until you locate the best depth. Very little movement is 2 0 2 1

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SPECIES: Blue Catfish BEST BAITS: Shad, carp CONTACT: Lance Benson & Natalie Goldstrohm, TPWD lance.benson@tpwd.texas.gov; natalie.goldstrohm@ tpwd.texas.gov TIPS: Cold months are great for fishing for Blue Catfish in shallow water. Kirby Reservoir has a history of producing catfish over 40 pounds. Try using cut shad or cut common carp on a medium to large circle hook in a few feet of water. This shoreline is rocky so it is recommended to use a slip cork so you don’t lose your gear. This location can also be good for flathead catfish and channel catfish.

LOCATION: Lake Possum Kingdom HOTSPOT: Oil Well Slough GPS: N 32 56.336, W 98 27.085 (32.938927, -98.451417)

SPECIES: Striped bass, hybrids BEST BAITS: Slabs, jigs CONTACT: Dean Heffner 940-329-0036 Fav7734@aceweb.com TIPS: It’s cold this time of year but the fish don’t

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12/31/20 10:32 AM

CURRENT LAKE LEVELS LAKE

WEST TEXAS

As of 12/15/2020

Abilene Alan Henry Amistad Amon G Carter Arrowhead Brady Creek Bridgeport Brownwood Champion Creek Cherokee Cisco Coleman Colorado City E V Spence Elephant Butte Falcon Fort Phantom Hill Graham Granbury Greenbelt Hords Creek Hubbard Creek J B Thomas Kemp Kickapoo Leon Lost Creek Mackenzie Meredith Millers Creek Mineral Wells Natural Dam Nocona N. Fork Buffalo Cr. O C Fisher O H Ivie Oak Creek Palo Duro Palo Pinto Pat Cleburne Possum Kingdom Proctor Red Bluff Squaw Creek Stamford Sweetwater Twin Buttes White River

CAPACITY

(Acre Feet)

7,900 96,207 1,840,849 19,266 230,359 28,808 366,236 130,868 41,580 40,094 29,003 38,075 30,758 517,272 1,985,900 1,551,007 70,030 45,288 132,949 59,968 8,109 313,298 199,931 245,307 86,345 27,762 11,950 46,450 500,000 26,768 5,273 54,560 21,444 15,400 115,742 554,340 39,210 61,066 26,766 26,008 538,139 54,762 151,110 151,250 51,570 12,267 182,454 29,880

CURRENT

(Acre Feet)

5,615 85,345 1,182,574 18,059 220,757 19,711 322,062 113,087 24,435 40,094 23,072 32,751 11,282 117,331 112,322 475,997 62,031 42,680 131,565 9,892 4,441 278,952 29,023 205,571 70,452 25,679 11,277 4,205 178,888 26,768 5,273 26,421 19,914 14,382 7,338 335,708 30,586 1,058 23,591 22,069 528,887 52,207 71,069 151,250 51,570 10,058 97,426 3,629

10 Miles East of Stamford

% FULL 71% 89% 64% 94% 96% 68% 88% 86% 59% 100% 80% 86% 37% 23% 6% 31% 89% 94% 99% 17% 55% 89% 15% 84% 82% 93% 94% 9% 36% 100% 100% 48% 93% 93% 6% 61% 78% 2% 88% 85% 98% 95% 47% 100% 100% 82% 53% 12%

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mind and are at the north end waiting for freshwater to come in so they can move up the Brazos to spawn.

Live bait is always best but hard to come by this month, so slabs and jigs are the game this time of year. Stick to white and chartreuse and you will do well. Stripers and hybrids will be mixed in with the sandbass, so you just have to work through them to get to the bigger fish.

INSET

SEE INSET AT RIGHT

HOTSPOTLIGHT:

LAKE STAMFORD LOCATION: 10 miles east of Stamford on Paint Creek, a tributary of the Clear Fork of the Brazos River SURFACE AREA: 5,124 acres MAXIMUM DEPTH: 36 feet IMPOUNDED: 1953

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THE PRIMARY STRUCTURE IN THIS lake is rock, with areas of bulrush

LOCATION: Lake Possum Kingdom HOTSPOT: Carter Island GPS: N 32 57.677, W 98 25.122 (32.9613, -98.4187)

the mouths of the major creeks and rivers that feed the lake. But this month’s hotspot will still be close to the mouth of the mighty Brazos River. Live shad is best, but cut bait will work. If you can find clearer water, then you can clean up with slabs. Mixed species will be staged waiting for any water flow to start the spring migration up the river. Chartreuse and white are the color palettes this month. You can also catch fish trolling RatLTraps and cranks.

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SPECIES: Striped & white bass, hybrids BEST BAITS: Live shad, cut bait, slabs, crankbaits TIPS: We had a lot of floodwaters come in October and November, so a lot of fish are already staged at T E X A S

2101 Texas Outdoor Nation-DIG.indd 55

and cattail. TPWD has placed fish attracting structures in the lake, with support from local governments and fishing clubs. Anglers may use GPS in conjunction with a fish finder to locate these structures.

F I S H

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G A M E ®

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J A N / F E B

••• 2 0 2 1

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55

12/31/20 10:32 AM

Sportsman’s DAYBOOK JAN/FEB 2021

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

Moon Underfoot

Day’s Best Day’s 2nd Score Best Score

n

Best Day Overall

MOON PHASES

l = New Moon l = Full Moon = First Quarter   = Last Quarter «= Good Day by Moon Phase 56

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J A N / F E B

2101 Texas Outdoor Nation-DIG.indd 56

2 0 2 1

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T E X A S

F I S H

&

G A M E ®

12/31/20 10:32 AM

JAN/FEB 2021

Tides and Prime Times MONDAY

28 «

Low Tide: 7:19a High Tide: 5:06p

TUESDAY

29 «

-0.45 ft.

1.50 ft.

Low Tide: 7:52a High Tide: 5:45p

WEDNESDAY

30 l

-0.56 ft.

1.54 ft.

Low Tide: 8:28a High Tide: 6:24p

THURSDAY

31 «

-0.62 ft.

1.59 ft.

Low Tide: 9:06a High Tide: 7:16p

-0.63 ft.

1.68 ft.

FRIDAY

Jan 1 « Low Tide: 9:47a High Tide: 7:49p

-0.63 ft.

1.68 ft.

SATURDAY

2

Low Tide: 10:31a High Tide: 8:12p

SUNDAY

-0.51 ft.

1.61 ft.

3

Low Tide: 11:16a High Tide: 8:26p

-0.31 ft.

1.48 ft.

FEET

FEET

+3.0

+3.0

+2.0

+2.0

+1.0

+1.0 0

0

12a

6a

12p

6p

12a

6a

BEST TIME

4:30 — 6:30 AM Sunrise: 7:11a Sunset: 5:28p Moonrise: 4:24p Moon Set: 5:54a

AM Minor: 3:18a AM Major: 9:31a PM Minor: 3:43p PM Major: 9:56p Moon Overhead: 11:36p Moon Underfoot: 11:10a

12p

6p

12a

BEST TIME

5:00 — 7:00 AM Sunrise: 7:12a Sunset: 5:29p Moonrise: 5:14p Moon Set: 6:50a

AM Minor: 4:07a AM Major: 10:20a PM Minor: 4:33p PM Major: 10:46p Moon Overhead: None Moon Underfoot: 12:02p

6a

12p

6p

5:30 — 7:30 AM Sunrise: 7:12a Sunset: 5:29p Moonrise: 6:08p Moon Set: 7:44a

AM Minor: 4:59a AM Major: 11:13a PM Minor: 5:26p PM Major: 11:40p Moon Overhead: 12:29a Moon Underfoot: 12:56p

T E X A S

2101 Texas Outdoor Nation-DIG.indd 57

12a

BEST TIME

6a

12p

6p

12a

BEST TIME

6:00 — 8:00 AM

AM Minor: 5:55a AM Major: ----PM Minor: 6:22p PM Major: 12:09p Moon Overhead: 1:23a Moon Underfoot: 1:50p

&

12p

6p

BEST TIME

Sunrise: 7:12a Sunset: 5:30p Moonrise: 7:07p Moon Set: 8:36a

F I S H

6a

6:30 — 8:30 AM Sunrise: 7:12a Sunset: 5:30p Moonrise: 8:09p Moon Set: 9:22a

AM Minor: 6:53a AM Major: 12:40a PM Minor: 7:20p PM Major: 1:06p Moon Overhead: 2:17a Moon Underfoot: 2:44p

G A M E ®

|

12a

6a

12p

6p

12a

6a

BEST TIME

7:00 — 9:00 AM Sunrise: 7:13a Sunset: 5:31p Moonrise: 9:12p Moon Set: 10:05a

6p

12a

8:00 — 10:00 AM Sunrise: 7:13a Sunset: 5:32p Moonrise: 10:14p Moon Set: 10:43a

AM Minor: 7:51a AM Major: 1:38a PM Minor: 8:17p PM Major: 2:04p

AM Minor: 8:48a AM Major: 2:36a PM Minor: 9:13p PM Major: 3:01p

Moon Overhead: 3:10a Moon Underfoot: 3:36p

J A N / F E B

12p

BEST TIME

Moon Overhead: 4:01a Moon Underfoot: 4:26p

2 0 2 1

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57

12/31/20 10:33 AM

Sportsman’s DAYBOOK MONDAY

4 FEET

Low Tide High Tide Low Tide High Tide

2:39a 4:47a 1:25p 9:25p

TUESDAY

5

0.75 ft.

0.76 ft.

-0.26 ft.

0.97 ft.

Low Tide High Tide Low Tide High Tide

3:29a 7:56a 2:14p 9:41p

WEDNESDAY

6

0.49 ft.

0.61 ft.

0.01 ft.

0.90 ft.

Low Tide High Tide Low Tide High Tide

4:16a 10:26a 3:11p 9:54p

THURSDAY

7

0.18 ft.

0.61 ft.

0.32 ft.

0.85 ft.

Low Tide High Tide Low Tide High Tide

5:05a 12:32p 4:25p 10:03p

-0.15 ft.

0.75 ft.

0.61 ft.

0.86 ft.

FRIDAY

8

Low Tide High Tide Low Tide High Tide

5:54a 2:13p 6:18p 10:08p

SATURDAY

-0.47 ft.

0.95 ft.

0.85 ft.

0.91 ft.

9

Low Tide High Tide Low Tide High Tide

6:45a 3:29p 8:56p 10:02p

-0.74 ft.

1.13 ft.

0.98 ft.

0.98 ft.

SUNDAY

10

Low Tide High Tide

7:36a 4:28p

-0.95 ft.

1.23 ft.

FEET

+3.0

+3.0

+2.0

+2.0

+1.0

+1.0 0

0

12a

6a

12p

6p

12a

6a

BEST TIME

7:00 — 9:00 am

12p

6p

12a

8:00 — 10:00 am

12 «

-1.07 ft.

1.26 ft.

1.07 ft.

1.07 ft.

Low Tide High Tide Low Tide

9:18a 6:03p 10:58p

High Tide Low Tide High Tide Low Tide

1:00a 10:07a 6:43p 11:15p

6a

12p

6p

12a

BEST TIME

6a

12p

6p

12a

6a

BEST TIME

9:30 — 11:30 am Sunrise: 7:13a Sunset: 5:36p Moonrise: 2:28a Moon Set: 1:44p

5:30 — 7:30 pm

AM Minor: 1:22a AM Major: 7:37a PM Minor: 1:51p PM Major: 8:05p

Moon Overhead: 8:09a Moon Underfoot: 8:36p

12p

6p

12a

BEST TIME

Sunrise: 7:13a Sunset: 5:36p Moonrise: 3:36a Moon Set: 2:28p

AM Minor: 12:34a AM Major: 6:48a PM Minor: 1:01p PM Major: 7:15p

Moon Overhead: 7:16a Moon Underfoot: 7:42p

6:30 — 8:30 pm Sunrise: 7:13a Sunset: 5:37p Moonrise: 4:44a Moon Set: 3:19p

AM Minor: 2:13a AM Major: 8:28a PM Minor: 2:43p PM Major: 8:58p

Moon Overhead: 9:04a Moon Underfoot: 9:33p

Moon Overhead: 10:03a Moon Underfoot: 10:33p

MOON PHASES

Day’s Best Score

WEDNESDAY

13 l

12a

AM Minor: ----AM Major: 6:00a PM Minor: 12:13p PM Major: 6:26p

Moon Overhead: 6:27a Moon Underfoot: 6:51p

-1.10 ft.

1.22 ft.

1.05 ft.

6p

8:30 — 10:30 am

AM Minor: 11:25a AM Major: 5:12a PM Minor: 11:49p PM Major: 5:37p

TUESDAY

12p

Sunrise: 7:13a Sunset: 5:35p Moonrise: 1:22a Moon Set: 1:04p

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

MONDAY

6a

BEST TIME

Sunrise: 7:13a Sunset: 5:34p Moonrise: 12:19a Moon Set: 12:28p

Moon Overhead: 5:39a Moon Underfoot: 6:03p

READING THE GRAPH

FEET

6a

BEST TIME

AM Minor: 10:35a AM Major: 4:23a PM Minor: 10:59p PM Major: 4:47p

Moon Overhead: 4:50a Moon Underfoot: 5:15p

8:27a 5:18p 11:02p 11:30p

12a

Sunrise: 7:13a Sunset: 5:33p Moonrise: None Moon Set: 11:53a

AM Minor: 9:43a AM Major: 3:31a PM Minor: 10:07p PM Major: 3:55p

Low Tide High Tide Low Tide High Tide

6p

7:30 — 9:30 am

Sunrise: 7:13a Sunset: 5:33p Moonrise: 11:17p Moon Set: 11:19a

11 «

12p

BEST TIME

Day’s 2nd Best Score

THURSDAY

14 «

1.06 ft.

-1.06 ft.

1.15 ft.

0.98 ft.

High Tide Low Tide High Tide Low Tide

n

2:10a 10:54a 7:18p 11:46p

1.03 ft.

-0.94 ft.

1.06 ft.

0.88 ft.

l = New Moon l = Full Moon = First Quarter   = Last Quarter « = Good Day by Moon Phase

Best Day Overall

FRIDAY

15 « High Tide Low Tide High Tide

3:16a 11:39a 7:49p

0.95 ft.

-0.77 ft.

0.96 ft.

SATURDAY

16 « Low Tide High Tide Low Tide High Tide

12:30a 4:22a 12:20p 8:15p

0.75 ft.

0.84 ft.

-0.55 ft.

0.86 ft.

SUNDAY

17

Low Tide High Tide Low Tide High Tide

1:24a 5:37a 1:00p 8:38p

0.60 ft.

0.71 ft.

-0.30 ft.

0.79 ft.

FEET

+3.0

+3.0

+2.0

+2.0

+1.0

+1.0 0

0

12a

6a

12p

6p

12a

6a

BEST TIME

4:00 — 6:00 am Sunrise: 7:13a Sunset: 5:38p Moonrise: 5:51a Moon Set: 4:15p

AM Minor: 3:07a AM Major: 9:23a PM Minor: 3:38p PM Major: 9:53p

Moon Overhead: 11:04a Moon Underfoot: 11:34p

58

|

12p

6p

12a

BEST TIME

5:00 — 7:00 am Sunrise: 7:13a Sunset: 5:39p Moonrise: 6:53a Moon Set: 5:16p

AM Minor: 4:05a AM Major: 10:20a PM Minor: 4:35p PM Major: 10:50p Moon Overhead: 12:04p Moon Underfoot: None

J A N / F E B

2101 Texas Outdoor Nation-DIG.indd 58

2 0 2 1

6a

12p

6p

12a

BEST TIME

AM Minor: 5:04a AM Major: 11:19a PM Minor: 5:33p PM Major: 11:48p

6p

12a

6:00 — 8:00 am

6p

2:00 — 4:00 pm

AM Minor: 7:01a AM Major: 12:48a PM Minor: 7:26p PM Major: 1:14p

Moon Overhead: 1:59p Moon Underfoot: 1:32a

F I S H

12p

Sunrise: 7:13a Sunset: 5:41p Moonrise: 9:20a Moon Set: 8:25p

AM Minor: 6:03a AM Major: 11:46a PM Minor: 6:31p PM Major: 12:17p

T E X A S

6a

BEST TIME

Sunrise: 7:13a Sunset: 5:40p Moonrise: 8:38a Moon Set: 7:24p

Moon Overhead: 1:03p Moon Underfoot: 12:34a

|

12p

BEST TIME

5:30 — 7:30 am Sunrise: 7:13a Sunset: 5:40p Moonrise: 7:49a Moon Set: 6:20p

6a

&

Moon Overhead: 2:50p Moon Underfoot: 2:25a

12a

6a

12p

6p

BEST TIME

2:30 — 4:30 pm Sunrise: 7:13a Sunset: 5:42p Moonrise: 9:56a Moon Set: 9:24p

AM Minor: 7:56a AM Major: 1:44a PM Minor: 8:19p PM Major: 2:07p

Moon Overhead: 3:37p Moon Underfoot: 3:14a

12a

6a

12p

6p

12a

BEST TIME

3:30 — 5:30 pm Sunrise: 7:13a Sunset: 5:43p Moonrise: 10:29a Moon Set: 10:20p

AM Minor: 8:47a AM Major: 2:36a PM Minor: 9:09p PM Major: 2:58p

Moon Overhead: 4:21p Moon Underfoot: 4:00a

G A M E ®

12/31/20 10:33 AM

JAN/FEB 2021

Tides and Prime Times MONDAY

18 FEET

Low Tide High Tide Low Tide High Tide

2:25a 7:07a 1:36p 8:57p

TUESDAY

19

0.43 ft.

0.59 ft.

-0.04 ft.

0.73 ft.

Low Tide High Tide Low Tide High Tide

3:24a 8:55a 2:09p 9:11p

WEDNESDAY

20 

0.25 ft.

0.51 ft.

0.21 ft.

0.69 ft.

Low Tide High Tide Low Tide High Tide

4:18a 10:57a 2:40p 9:21p

THURSDAY

21

0.08 ft.

0.53 ft.

0.44 ft.

0.68 ft.

Low Tide High Tide Low Tide High Tide

5:05a 1:17p 3:07p 9:18p

FRIDAY

22

-0.09 ft.

0.64 ft.

0.63 ft.

0.70 ft.

Low Tide High Tide

5:48a 3:30p

SATURDAY

-0.24 ft.

0.78 ft.

23

Low Tide High Tide

6:29a 3:54p

SUNDAY

-0.37 ft.

0.89 ft.

24

Low Tide High Tide

7:08a 4:18p

-0.49 ft.

0.97 ft.

FEET

+3.0

+3.0

+2.0

+2.0

+1.0

+1.0 0

0

12a

6a

12p

6p

12a

6a

BEST TIME

4:30 — 6:30 pm

6a

12p

6p

12a

BEST TIME

5:30 — 7:30 pm

MONDAY

26 «

-0.60 ft.

1.03 ft.

Low Tide High Tide

8:25a 5:10p

27 « Low Tide High Tide Low Tide

9:03a 5:39p 9:58p

6a

12p

6p

12a

BEST TIME

6a

12p

6p

12a

6a

BEST TIME

9:00 — 11:00 am Sunrise: 7:12a Sunset: 5:47p Moonrise: 12:59p Moon Set: 1:51a

1:30 — 3:30 am

6p

12a

2:30 — 4:30 am Sunrise: 7:11a Sunset: 5:49p Moonrise: 2:17p Moon Set: 3:43a

AM Minor: 12:41a AM Major: 6:53a PM Minor: 1:04p PM Major: 7:16p

Moon Overhead: 7:50p Moon Underfoot: 7:27a

12p

BEST TIME

Sunrise: 7:11a Sunset: 5:48p Moonrise: 1:35p Moon Set: 2:46a

AM Minor: 12:01a AM Major: 6:12a PM Minor: 12:23p PM Major: 6:34p

Moon Overhead: 7:06p Moon Underfoot: 6:44a

AM Minor: 1:23a AM Major: 7:35a PM Minor: 1:48p PM Major: 8:00p

Moon Overhead: 8:37p Moon Underfoot: 8:13a

Moon Overhead: 9:26p Moon Underfoot: 9:01a

MOON PHASES

Day’s Best Score

WEDNESDAY

-0.69 ft.

1.06 ft.

12a

AM Minor: 11:42a AM Major: 5:32a PM Minor: ----PM Major: 5:52p

Moon Overhead: 6:24p Moon Underfoot: 6:03a

TUESDAY

6p

6:30 — 8:30 pm

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

READING THE GRAPH

12p

Sunrise: 7:12a Sunset: 5:46p Moonrise: 12:26p Moon Set: 12:58a

AM Minor: 11:01a AM Major: 4:51a PM Minor: 11:21p PM Major: 5:11p

Moon Overhead: 5:43p Moon Underfoot: 5:23a

6a

BEST TIME

Sunrise: 7:12a Sunset: 5:46p Moonrise: 11:56a Moon Set: 12:05a

AM Minor: 10:19a AM Major: 4:09a PM Minor: 10:39p PM Major: 4:29p

Moon Overhead: 5:03p Moon Underfoot: 4:42a

7:47a 4:43p

12a

Sunrise: 7:12a Sunset: 5:45p Moonrise: 11:27a Moon Set: None

AM Minor: 9:35a AM Major: 3:24a PM Minor: 9:55p PM Major: 3:45p

Low Tide High Tide

6p

5:00 — 7:00 pm

Sunrise: 7:13a Sunset: 5:44p Moonrise: 10:58a Moon Set: 11:13p

25

12p

BEST TIME

Day’s 2nd Best Score

THURSDAY

28 l

-0.77 ft.

1.08 ft.

0.94 ft.

High Tide Low Tide High Tide Low Tide

FEET

n

12:44a 9:42a 6:08p 10:18p

l = New Moon l = Full Moon = First Quarter   = Last Quarter « = Good Day by Moon Phase

Best Day Overall

FRIDAY

29 «

0.97 ft.

-0.81 ft.

1.08 ft.

0.90 ft.

High Tide Low Tide High Tide Low Tide

1:48a 10:21a 6:35p 10:53p

0.97 ft.

-0.80 ft.

1.05 ft.

0.81 ft.

SATURDAY

30 « High Tide Low Tide High Tide Low Tide

2:52a 11:00a 7:01p 11:35p

SUNDAY

0.94 ft.

-0.72 ft.

0.99 ft.

0.68 ft.

31

High Tide Low Tide High Tide

4:03a 11:41a 7:23p

0.87 ft.

-0.55 ft.

0.92 ft.

FEET

+3.0

+3.0

+2.0

+2.0

+1.0

+1.0 0

0

12a

6a

12p

6p

12a

6a

BEST TIME

3:00 — 5:00 am Sunrise: 7:11a Sunset: 5:50p Moonrise: 3:04p Moon Set: 4:39a

AM Minor: 2:08a AM Major: 8:21a PM Minor: 2:34p PM Major: 8:47p

Moon Overhead: 10:19p Moon Underfoot: 9:52a

12p

6p

12a

BEST TIME

4:00 — 6:00 am Sunrise: 7:10a Sunset: 5:51p Moonrise: 3:57p Moon Set: 5:35a

AM Minor: 2:55a AM Major: 9:08a PM Minor: 3:22p PM Major: 9:35p

Moon Overhead: 11:13p Moon Underfoot: 10:46a

6a

12p

6p

4:30 — 6:30 am Sunrise: 7:10a Sunset: 5:52p Moonrise: 4:55p Moon Set: 6:28a

AM Minor: 3:45a AM Major: 9:59a PM Minor: 4:13p PM Major: 10:27p Moon Overhead: None Moon Underfoot: 11:41a

T E X A S

2101 Texas Outdoor Nation-DIG.indd 59

12a

BEST TIME

6a

12p

6p

12a

BEST TIME

5:00 — 7:00 am

6p

5:30 — 7:30 am Sunrise: 7:09a Sunset: 5:53p Moonrise: 7:01p Moon Set: 8:02a

AM Minor: 4:38a AM Major: 10:52a PM Minor: 5:06p PM Major: 11:19p

AM Minor: 5:33a AM Major: 11:47a PM Minor: 6:00p PM Major: -----

Moon Overhead: 12:08a Moon Underfoot: 12:36p

&

12p

BEST TIME

Sunrise: 7:09a Sunset: 5:53p Moonrise: 5:57p Moon Set: 7:17a

F I S H

6a

Moon Overhead: 1:03a Moon Underfoot: 1:29p

G A M E ®

|

12a

6a

12p

6p

12a

6a

BEST TIME

6:00 — 8:00 am Sunrise: 7:08a Sunset: 5:54p Moonrise: 8:06p Moon Set: 8:43a

6p

12a

1:00 — 3:00 am Sunrise: 7:08a Sunset: 5:55p Moonrise: 9:09p Moon Set: 9:20a

AM Minor: 6:29a AM Major: 12:16a PM Minor: 6:55p PM Major: 12:42p

AM Minor: 7:25a AM Major: 1:13a PM Minor: 7:50p PM Major: 1:38p

Moon Overhead: 1:56a Moon Underfoot: 2:21p J A N / F E B

12p

BEST TIME

Moon Overhead: 2:47a Moon Underfoot: 3:12p

2 0 2 1

|

59

12/31/20 10:33 AM

Sportsman’s DAYBOOK MONDAY

Feb 1 FEET

Low Tide High Tide Low Tide High Tide

12:23a 5:27a 12:23p 7:42p

TUESDAY

2

0.49 ft.

0.77 ft.

-0.30 ft.

0.84 ft.

Low Tide High Tide Low Tide High Tide

1:17a 7:08a 1:06p 7:57p

WEDNESDAY

3

0.25 ft.

0.68 ft.

-0.00 ft.

0.79 ft.

Low Tide High Tide Low Tide High Tide

2:16a 9:05a 1:52p 8:06p

THURSDAY

4

-0.01 ft.

0.65 ft.

0.32 ft.

0.77 ft.

Low Tide High Tide Low Tide High Tide

3:19a 11:15a 2:45p 8:05p

FRIDAY

5

-0.27 ft.

0.73 ft.

0.63 ft.

0.80 ft.

Low Tide High Tide Low Tide High Tide

4:25a 1:28p 4:49p 6:36p

SATURDAY

-0.51 ft.

0.90 ft.

0.87 ft.

0.88 ft.

6

Low Tide High Tide

5:30a 3:02p

-0.70 ft.

1.07 ft.

SUNDAY

7

Low Tide High Tide

6:33a 3:55p

-0.85 ft.

1.16 ft.

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

6a

12p

6p

12a

BEST TIME

4:00 — 6:00 am

MONDAY

9

-0.93 ft.

1.17 ft.

Low Tide High Tide Low Tide

8:26a 5:07p 10:07p

10 « High Tide Low Tide High Tide Low Tide

FEET

12:37a 9:16a 5:34p 10:09p

6a

12p

6p

12a

BEST TIME

6a

12p

6p

12a

6a

BEST TIME

11:30p — 1:30a

Sunrise: 7:04a Sunset: 6:00p Moonrise: 2:33a Moon Set: 1:12p

AM Minor: 11:55a AM Major: 5:42a PM Minor: ----PM Major: 6:09p

AM Minor: 12:20a AM Major: 6:34a PM Minor: 12:48p PM Major: 7:03p

Moon Overhead: 6:58a Moon Underfoot: 7:26p

12p

6p

12a

BEST TIME

12:30 — 2:30 am

Sunrise: 7:05a Sunset: 5:59p Moonrise: 1:26a Moon Set: 12:25p

Moon Overhead: 6:04a Moon Underfoot: 6:31p

1:30 — 3:30 am Sunrise: 7:03a Sunset: 6:01p Moonrise: 3:39a Moon Set: 2:05p

AM Minor: 1:12a AM Major: 7:27a PM Minor: 1:42p PM Major: 7:56p

Moon Overhead: 7:55a Moon Underfoot: 8:24p

Moon Overhead: 8:53a Moon Underfoot: 9:23p

MOON PHASES

Day’s Best Score

WEDNESDAY

-0.95 ft.

1.13 ft.

0.95 ft.

12a

AM Minor: 11:02a AM Major: 4:49a PM Minor: 11:28p PM Major: 5:15p

Moon Overhead: 5:14a Moon Underfoot: 5:39p

TUESDAY

6p

5:00 — 7:00 am

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

READING THE GRAPH

12p

Sunrise: 7:05a Sunset: 5:59p Moonrise: 12:20a Moon Set: 11:43a

AM Minor: 10:09a AM Major: 3:57a PM Minor: 10:34p PM Major: 4:21p

Moon Overhead: 4:25a Moon Underfoot: 4:49p

6a

BEST TIME

Sunrise: 7:06a Sunset: 5:58p Moonrise: None Moon Set: 11:05a

AM Minor: 9:15a AM Major: 3:03a PM Minor: 9:39p PM Major: 3:27p

Moon Overhead: 3:36a Moon Underfoot: 4:00p

7:32a 4:34p

12a

Sunrise: 7:07a Sunset: 5:57p Moonrise: 11:15p Moon Set: 10:30a

AM Minor: 8:21a AM Major: 2:08a PM Minor: 8:45p PM Major: 2:33p

Low Tide High Tide

6p

3:00 — 5:00 am

Sunrise: 7:07a Sunset: 5:56p Moonrise: 10:12p Moon Set: 9:55a

8

12p

BEST TIME

Day’s 2nd Best Score

THURSDAY

11 «

0.99 ft.

-0.91 ft.

1.06 ft.

0.87 ft.

High Tide Low Tide High Tide Low Tide

n

1:52a 10:01a 5:57p 10:26p

l = New Moon l = Full Moon = First Quarter   = Last Quarter « = Good Day by Moon Phase

Best Day Overall

FRIDAY

12 l

0.99 ft.

-0.80 ft.

0.97 ft.

0.75 ft.

High Tide Low Tide High Tide Low Tide

2:57a 10:42a 6:17p 10:54p

0.97 ft.

-0.64 ft.

0.89 ft.

0.61 ft.

SATURDAY

13 « High Tide Low Tide High Tide Low Tide

3:58a 11:19a 6:36p 11:29p

0.92 ft.

-0.44 ft.

0.82 ft.

0.47 ft.

SUNDAY

14 « High Tide Low Tide High Tide

5:00a 11:53a 6:53p

0.85 ft.

-0.20 ft.

0.77 ft.

FEET

+3.0

+3.0

+2.0

+2.0

+1.0

+1.0 0

0

12a

6a

12p

6p

12a

6a

BEST TIME

3:00 — 5:00 am Sunrise: 7:03a Sunset: 6:02p Moonrise: 4:42a Moon Set: 3:03p

AM Minor: 2:05a AM Major: 8:20a PM Minor: 2:35p PM Major: 8:49p

Moon Overhead: 9:53a Moon Underfoot: 10:22p

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12p

6p

12a

BEST TIME

4:00 — 6:00 am Sunrise: 7:02a Sunset: 6:03p Moonrise: 5:39a Moon Set: 4:05p

AM Minor: 2:58a AM Major: 9:13a PM Minor: 3:27p PM Major: 9:42p

Moon Overhead: 10:51a Moon Underfoot: 11:19p

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6a

12p

6p

12a

BEST TIME

AM Minor: 3:51a AM Major: 10:05a PM Minor: 4:19p PM Major: 10:33p

6p

12a

11:30p — 1:30a

6p

12:00 — 2:00 am

AM Minor: 5:35a AM Major: 11:19a PM Minor: 5:59p PM Major: -----

Moon Overhead: 12:40p Moon Underfoot: 12:14a

F I S H

12p

Sunrise: 7:00a Sunset: 6:05p Moonrise: 7:53a Moon Set: 7:10p

AM Minor: 4:44a AM Major: 10:57a PM Minor: 5:10p PM Major: 11:23p

T E X A S

6a

BEST TIME

Sunrise: 7:00a Sunset: 6:04p Moonrise: 7:14a Moon Set: 6:10p

Moon Overhead: 11:47a Moon Underfoot: None

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12p

BEST TIME

5:00 — 7:00 am Sunrise: 7:01a Sunset: 6:04p Moonrise: 6:30a Moon Set: 5:08p

6a

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Moon Overhead: 1:29p Moon Underfoot: 1:05a

12a

6a

12p

6p

BEST TIME

1:30 — 3:30 pm Sunrise: 6:59a Sunset: 6:06p Moonrise: 8:27a Moon Set: 8:07p

AM Minor: 6:25a AM Major: 12:14a PM Minor: 6:47p PM Major: 12:36p Moon Overhead: 2:14p Moon Underfoot: 1:52a

12a

6a

12p

6p

12a

BEST TIME

2:00 — 4:00 pm Sunrise: 6:58a Sunset: 6:07p Moonrise: 8:58a Moon Set: 9:02p

AM Minor: 7:13a AM Major: 1:03a PM Minor: 7:35p PM Major: 1:24p

Moon Overhead: 2:57p Moon Underfoot: 2:36a

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JAN/FEB 2021

Tides and Prime Times MONDAY

15 FEET

Low Tide High Tide Low Tide High Tide

12:07a 6:06a 12:24p 7:07p

0.33 ft.

0.78 ft.

0.04 ft.

0.73 ft.

TUESDAY

16

Low Tide High Tide Low Tide High Tide

12:50a 7:22a 12:52p 7:17p

0.20 ft.

0.71 ft.

0.28 ft.

0.71 ft.

WEDNESDAY

17

Low Tide High Tide Low Tide High Tide

1:37a 8:53a 1:16p 7:16p

THURSDAY

18

0.09 ft.

0.68 ft.

0.49 ft.

0.72 ft.

Low Tide High Tide Low Tide High Tide

2:30a 10:47a 1:29p 6:25p

FRIDAY

19 

-0.01 ft.

0.72 ft.

0.68 ft.

0.76 ft.

Low Tide High Tide

3:29a 4:52p

SATURDAY

20

-0.09 ft.

0.86 ft.

Low Tide High Tide

4:34a 4:25p

SUNDAY

21

-0.17 ft.

0.95 ft.

Low Tide High Tide

5:35a 3:54p

-0.25 ft.

1.03 ft.

FEET

+3.0

+3.0

+2.0

+2.0

+1.0

+1.0 0

0

12a

6a

12p

6p

12a

6a

BEST TIME

3:00 — 5:00 pm Sunrise: 6:57a Sunset: 6:08p Moonrise: 9:27a Moon Set: 9:55p

AM Minor: 8:01a AM Major: 1:50a PM Minor: 8:21p PM Major: 2:11p

6a

12p

6p

12a

BEST TIME

3:30 — 5:30 pm

AM Minor: 8:47a AM Major: 2:37a PM Minor: 9:07p PM Major: 2:57p

4:00 — 6:00 pm

-0.35 ft.

1.09 ft.

23

Low Tide High Tide

7:17a 4:09p

-0.44 ft.

1.12 ft.

8:01a 4:28p 9:06p

12a

6a

12p

6p

12a

BEST TIME

7:00 — 9:00 am

12p

6p

12a

6a

8:00 — 10:00 am

6p

12a

1:30 — 3:30 am Sunrise: 6:52a Sunset: 6:12p Moonrise: 12:54p Moon Set: 2:27a

AM Minor: 11:50a AM Major: 5:38a PM Minor: ----PM Major: 6:02p

Moon Overhead: 6:28p Moon Underfoot: 6:06a

12p

BEST TIME

Sunrise: 6:53a Sunset: 6:12p Moonrise: 12:10p Moon Set: 1:31a

AM Minor: 11:03a AM Major: 4:52a PM Minor: 11:26p PM Major: 5:15p

Moon Overhead: 5:43p Moon Underfoot: 5:21a

6a

BEST TIME

Sunrise: 6:54a Sunset: 6:11p Moonrise: 11:31a Moon Set: 12:36a

AM Minor: 10:18a AM Major: 4:07a PM Minor: 10:39p PM Major: 4:29p

AM Minor: 12:11a AM Major: 6:24a PM Minor: 12:36p PM Major: 6:49p

Moon Overhead: 7:16p Moon Underfoot: 6:52a

Moon Overhead: 8:07p Moon Underfoot: 7:42a

MOON PHASES

Day’s Best Score

WEDNESDAY Low Tide High Tide Low Tide

6p

5:00 — 7:00 am

Moon Overhead: 5:00p Moon Underfoot: 4:39a

24

12p

Sunrise: 6:54a Sunset: 6:10p Moonrise: 10:57a Moon Set: None

AM Minor: 9:33a AM Major: 3:22a PM Minor: 9:53p PM Major: 3:43p

TUESDAY

6a

BEST TIME

Sunrise: 6:55a Sunset: 6:09p Moonrise: 10:25a Moon Set: 11:41p

Moon Overhead: 4:19p Moon Underfoot: 3:58a

MONDAY 6:30a 3:54p

12a

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

READING THE GRAPH

Low Tide High Tide

6p

Sunrise: 6:56a Sunset: 6:08p Moonrise: 9:56a Moon Set: 10:48p

Moon Overhead: 3:38p Moon Underfoot: 3:18a

22

12p

BEST TIME

Day’s 2nd Best Score

THURSDAY

25 «

-0.52 ft.

1.14 ft.

0.98 ft.

High Tide Low Tide High Tide Low Tide

FEET

n

12:18a 8:42a 4:48p 9:11p

l = New Moon l = Full Moon = First Quarter   = Last Quarter « = Good Day by Moon Phase

Best Day Overall

FRIDAY

26 «

1.03 ft.

-0.57 ft.

1.14 ft.

0.91 ft.

High Tide Low Tide High Tide Low Tide

1:33a 9:23a 5:08p 9:40p

SATURDAY

27 l

1.07 ft.

-0.55 ft.

1.10 ft.

0.78 ft.

High Tide Low Tide High Tide Low Tide

2:41a 10:04a 5:28p 10:16p

SUNDAY

28 «

1.10 ft.

-0.46 ft.

1.05 ft.

0.59 ft.

High Tide Low Tide High Tide Low Tide

3:50a 10:46a 5:46p 10:58p

1.10 ft.

-0.28 ft.

0.99 ft.

0.37 ft.

FEET

+3.0

+3.0

+2.0

+2.0

+1.0

+1.0 0

0

12a

6a

12p

6p

12a

6a

BEST TIME

2:00 — 4:00 am Sunrise: 6:51a Sunset: 6:13p Moonrise: 1:44p Moon Set: 3:22a

AM Minor: 12:58a AM Major: 7:11a PM Minor: 1:24p PM Major: 7:38p Moon Overhead: 9:00p Moon Underfoot: 8:34a

12p

6p

BEST TIME

2:30 — 4:30 am Sunrise: 6:50a Sunset: 6:14p Moonrise: 2:40p Moon Set: 4:16a

AM Minor: 1:46a AM Major: 7:59a PM Minor: 2:13p PM Major: 8:27p

Moon Overhead: 9:55p Moon Underfoot: 9:27a

12a

6a

12p

6p

3:30 — 5:30 am Sunrise: 6:49a Sunset: 6:14p Moonrise: 3:40p Moon Set: 5:07a

AM Minor: 2:35a AM Major: 8:48a PM Minor: 3:02p PM Major: 9:16p

Moon Overhead: 10:50p Moon Underfoot: 10:22a

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12a

BEST TIME

6a

12p

6p

12a

BEST TIME

4:30 — 6:30 am

6p

12a

5:00 — 7:00 am Sunrise: 6:47a Sunset: 6:16p Moonrise: 5:50p Moon Set: 6:38a

AM Minor: 3:25a AM Major: 9:38a PM Minor: 3:52p PM Major: 10:05p

AM Minor: 4:15a AM Major: 10:29a PM Minor: 4:42p PM Major: 10:55p

Moon Overhead: 11:44p Moon Underfoot: 11:17a

&

12p

BEST TIME

Sunrise: 6:48a Sunset: 6:15p Moonrise: 4:44p Moon Set: 5:55a

F I S H

6a

Moon Overhead: None Moon Underfoot: 12:11p

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6a

12p

6p

12a

6a

BEST TIME

11:30p — 1:30a Sunrise: 6:46a Sunset: 6:17p Moonrise: 6:55p Moon Set: 7:17a

6p

12a

12:30 — 2:30 am Sunrise: 6:45a Sunset: 6:17p Moonrise: 8:00p Moon Set: 7:54a

AM Minor: 5:07a AM Major: 11:20a PM Minor: 5:33p PM Major: 11:50p

AM Minor: 6:00a AM Major: ----PM Minor: 6:25p PM Major: 12:13p

Moon Overhead: 12:37a Moon Underfoot: 1:03p J A N / F E B

12p

BEST TIME

Moon Overhead: 1:28a Moon Underfoot: 1:53p

2 0 2 1

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Pronghorn Study Finds Migration Trends

W

ILDLIFE MUST MOVE TO thrive and survive, however the habitat connectivity they rely on for spring and fall seasonal migrations continues to be fragmented by housing, roads, fences, energy facilities and other human-made barriers.

entific journal PLOS ONE, shed new light on the important factors and the cumulative effects from habitat conversion and fragmentation of migratory routes. …where the antelope roam…

“Novel applications of wildlife tracking technology have given us insights of the determinants of pronghorn migration routes across vast landscapes and seasons,” said Andrew Jakes, wildlife biologist for the National Wildlife Federation. “Our findings

TF&G Staff Report

An article focused on migration routes of pronghorn, recently published in the sci-

affirmed the importance of open grassland and sagebrush habitats as important migration habitat. We could also document the extent to which natural changing conditions such as foraging quality, and human-created features, such as road density and fossil fuel infrastructure (i.e., oil and gas wells) shape pronghorn migration routes. Integrating these multi-scale predictions into one spatial map will be highly valuable to wildlife managers and habitat managers.”

The 6-year study followed 185 GPScollared pronghorn as they moved across international borders, from Saskatchewan and Alberta, Canada to Montana in the United States. Key study findings also revealed: Large landscapes, such as grasslands, and the quality of forage (NDVI) is a critical determinant of pronghorn migration At large scales, pronghorn avoided areas with high road density and areas with high fossil fuel infrastructure from oil and gas development.

During fall migration, herds tend to follow river systems, so that they can arrive at winter range quickly, however this is not important during spring as pronghorn recover from the previous winter and prepare for fawning.

Paul Jones, senior wildlife biologist for Alberta Conservation Association asserted “When we stand on a small piece of native prairie here in Alberta, Canada looking

...where the antelope roam

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towards our neighbors to the south we loose perspective of the bigger picture and what is happening on the big stage. What this research has highlighted is how pronghorn are indicative of how wildlife try to edge out a living on a highly fragmented landscape and that jurisdictional boundaries are just lines on a piece of paper. It also shows that pronghorn at the northern periphery of their range are sitting on the edge of a precipice ready to fall off if we lose these migration routes and they are no longer able to move in response to

their commitment to addressing migration needs, especially for ungulates,” said Jakes.

Mark Hebblewhite, wildlife biology professor at University of Montana concurs.

“Our paper is a great example of the need for Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks’ recently released wildlife movement and migration strategy to help conserve migratory species, like pronghorn, here in Montana.”

fluctuating conditions.”

The mapping of migration habitat for ungulates, such as pronghorn, is a topic of high conservation relevance, yet their migration routes, and what determines them in an everchanging landscape, are still not fully understood. “We see this approach as a holistic view of identifying important migration habitat across entire landscapes and can help conservation planning and management decisions for a wide-ranging species like pronghorn. Agencies around the West have shown

•

New Lighting System Helps Deer Avoid Cars

R

ESEARCHERS WITH THE U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Wildlife Services (WS) program recently applied for a patent (U.S. Patent Application No. 16/668,253) for a new vehicle-based lighting system to prevent deer-vehicle collisions during low-light conditions.

TF&G Staff Report

Through a series of experiments with free-roaming white-tailed deer, researchers at the WS program’s National Wildlife Research Center (NWRC) found the use of a rear-facing light-emitting diode (LED) light bar‒which illuminates a larger portion of the vehicle’s front surface than standard headlights alone‒resulted in fewer dangerous deer-vehicle interactions. The likelihood of dangerous interactions decreased from 35% to only 10% of vehicle approaches when using a rear-facing light bar plus headlights versus just headlights alone. The reduction in dangerous interactions appeared to be driven by fewer instances of immobility or “freezing” behavior by deer when the light bar was used. The study “Frontal vehicle illumination via rear-facing lighting reduces potential for collisions with white-tailed deer” is highlighted in the latest issue of the journal Ecosphere.

“This new lighting system takes advantage of a deer’s predator avoidance behavior (also known as flight behavior),” states lead author and former NWRC researcher Dr. Travis DeVault who currently serves as the associate director of the University of Georgia’s PHOTO: USDA

2101 Texas Outdoor Nation-DIG.indd 63

Road-based mitigation measures include devices and methods intended to influence animal behavior (e.g. roadside reflectors and mirrors, repellents, hazing) and driver behavior (e.g., warning signs, speed limits, animal detection systems), as well as vegetation management and highway lighting designed to increase visibility of wildlife to drivers, and wildlife population management. A vehiclebased system, such as the rear-facing LED light bar, advances efforts to reduce wildlife deaths and increase driver safety on roads.

The patent-pending technology can be incorporated as an after-market device, like a brush guard or bumper, or can be embedded in the vehicle as part of the manufacturing process.

USDA is currently seeking a licensing partner to build and market the technology. For more information, please contact NWRC’s Technology Transfer Program Manager john.d.eisemann@usda.gov.

WS is a program with the USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service. Its mission is to provide Federal leadership and expertise to resolve wildlife conflicts to allow people and wildlife to coexist. The program’s efforts help people resolve wildlife damage to a wide variety of resources and to reduce threats to human health and safety. Funding for the WS program is a combination of federal appropriations and cooperator-provided funds.

The NWRC is the research unit of the WS program. It is the only Federal research organization devoted exclusively to resolving conflicts between people and wildlife through the development of effective, selective, and socially responsible methods, tools, and techniques.

Savannah River Ecology Laboratory. “We predicted that light reflected from the front surface of the vehicle would provide a more reliable looming image to deer, thus encouraging the deer to move out of the path of the approaching vehicle.”

When an object “looms,” it becomes increasingly larger to the perceiving animal, helping the animal realize that the object is an approaching object versus one that is stationary.

In the United States and Canada, deer cause the majority of animal-related injurious and deadly road collisions. Many of the mitigation measures designed to reduce vehicle collisions with deer and other wildlife are road-based rather than vehicle-based.

The “looming” appearance of approaching vehicles with normal headlights (top) versus headlights plus the new rear-facing LED light (bottom).

•

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12/31/20 10:33 AM

Texas TASTED

by BRYAN SLAVEN :: The Texas Gourmet

Sugar Cured Feral Hog Ham MANY HUNTERS AND OTHER FOLKS view the feral hog as a nuisance and as a result they are often shot and leftto the critters for dinner. Many other hunters haveharvested them, only to find the meat strong tastingand dry.

The truth is, the meat is and can be fantastic,and you will have a meat that is free of chemicals used in traditional processing.

Upon harvesting, and after skinning and quartering, the meat should be placed in a cooler with plenty of ice to allow it to bleed down for a couple of days. This will removemost of the undesirable hormones and blood from the meat. Then you can de-bone and freeze your favorite cuts, or be ready to begin making sausage or whatever else you may desire. Remember, be sure to trim off all fat from the hog as it will turn rancid if left on the meat, even in the freezer!

Back in the April issue this year, I introduced a curing process on wild turkey, designed to take an otherwise generally dry piece of meat and turn it into a succulent and tender treat. The same process can be used on feral hog ham.

to the bone in several places on the ham.

(This will help the curing process to get to the places most vulnerable to spoiling when on a pit). Then pour the rest of the cure solution in the bag with the ham. Squeeze all of the air out of the bag and tie it up tight and close to the meat. Place the bag in a refrigerator or a cooler lined with plenty of ice and allow it to sit in the solution for 24 to 48 hours. Then, remove the ham from the bag, rinse it off, then it is ready for the pit.

Pit Instructions: After pre-heating your pit, I like to start with about five pounds of lump hardwood charcoal, then add seasoned pecan, post oak, and a little hickory wood for smoke and flavor enhancement. Place the ham in the pit at the far end from the firebox with the temperature at about 250 to 275 degrees, and baste every 45 minutes or so. Flip the ham every 1 to 2 hours and continue basting.

(I would use 45 minutes to the pound as a guide for smoking Sugar Cured feral times) or until a meat thermometer inserted next to the bone registers 160 degrees. Remove from the pit to a platter and drape a loose piece of foil over the ham for 30 to 45 minutes before carving, to rest the meat.

Heat remaining baste to a boil on the stove then you can use the remainder as a sauce when serving. Try not to hurt yourself

The Sugar Cure: (Starting with a 6 to 10 lb. ham) Mix 1 pint eachof sugar and sea or kosher salt into 1 to 2 gallonsof cold water. Stir until it’s all dissolved. Place the ham in a large disposable plastic bag. Using your turkey injector, draw up two to three full syringes of the solution and inject it in next 64

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by attempting to eat the whole ham while carving it. Enjoy with your favorite sides.

Baste for the Ham: 1 jar- Texas Gourmet’s Mandarin orange Serrano jelly 4 T -Honey 3 T - fresh rosemary leaves - chopped 1 stick of butter (salted is OK) 1/2 cup-olive oil 2 T- black pepper 3 T- soy sauce 6 cloves- fresh garlic- minced 1 T ground ginger 6 ounces - Crown Royal (that’s right partner, and don’t be drinking the darned sauce all up either) John Passmore saysits larapin good! Heat all of the above ingredients until well blended together, then remove from heat and use a good silicone or paint style basting brush for applying (the cloth style will drink up too much baste and hold it) Bon appetit, Be sure and check out our web site at www.thetexasgourmet.com for other wild game and spicy food recipes and our fine family of products. Or give us a call at 888.234.7883

 Email Bryan Slaven at bryan@thetexasgourmet.com

G A M E ®

12/17/20 11:02 AM

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12/17/20 11:03 AM

WHITETAIL Kendall County Thirteen-year-old Julian Mathews got his first deer while hunting with his dad, Bryan, and Matt Woehst on the Woest Hilltop Ranch in Kendall County.

BLACK DRUM Laguna Madre Fourteen-year-old Jaxon Reagan caught this large black drum in the Laguna Madre off South Padre Island.

LARGEMOUTH BASS Lake Chapman/Cooper Marshall Jarvis, Jr. caught this bass in a classic tug of war on Lake Cooper. A quick snapshot, then back into the water for future generations to enjoy the tug.

BOBCAT Rusk County Fifteen-year-old Jonathan Holland bagged this huge bobcat while hunting in Rusk County.

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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/texas-hotsots-upload No guarantee can be made as to when, or if, a submitted photo will be published.

SPECKLED TROUT

CATFISH Somerville Kristina Carr of Lumberton caught this blue catfish on CJ’s Punch Bait at Lake Somerville.

Rockport Seven-year-old Hunter Sparks caught this trophy trout on a private pier near Rockport, using a popping cork and Gulp.

WHITETAIL Llano County Eleven-year-old Wylie Chattin took this nine-point buck with his .243 on a ranch in Llano County.

LARGEMOUTH BASS Lake Bob Sandlin Damion Bankston landed this beauty on a Senko, fishing with friends on Lake Bob Sandlin.

T E X A S

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