September 2014 by Texas Fish & Game

THE Texas Outdoor Authority

www.FishGame.com Games or Gear?

Video vs. Reality

September 2014 | VOL. 31 â&#x20AC;˘ NO. 5 | $3.95

Trout X Files The Truth is Out There for Big Fish Seekers

Lesson Plan for

Schooling Bass

Early Teal:

First to Migrate

String Sting:

Decoys for Bowhunts

Wild in Texas:

Jaguars, Giant Snakes, Albino Deer

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www.FishGame.com Published by Texas Fish & Game Publishing Co., LLC. TEXAS FISH & GAME is the largest independent, family-owned outdoor publication in America. Owned by Ron & Stephanie Ward and Roy & Ardia Neves.

ROY NEVES PUBLISHER

CHESTER MOORE EDITOR IN CHIEF

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

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

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

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

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GRAPHIC DESIGNER GRAPHIC DESIGNER DIGITAL ISSUES DESIGNER

SUBSCRIPTIONS 1745 GREENS ROAD, HOUSTON, TX 77032 PHONE 800/725-1134

ACTION SUBSCRIPTION FULFILLMENT

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TEXAS FISH & GAME (ISSN 0887-4174) is published monthly by Texas Fish & Game Publishing Co., LLC., 1745 Greens Road, Houston, Texas 77032. ©Texas Fish & Game Publishing Co., LLC. All rights reserved. Content is not to be reprinted or otherwise reproduced without written permission. The publication assumes no responsibility for unsolicited photographs and manuscripts. Subscription rates: 1 year $19.00: 2 years $34.75; 3 years $48.50. Address all subscription inquiries to Texas Fish & Game, 1745 Greens Road, Houston, Texas 77032. Allow 4 to 6 weeks for response. Give old and new address and enclose latest mailing address label when writing about your subscription. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to: TEXAS FISH & GAME, 1745 Greens Road, Houston, TX 77032. Address all subscription inquiries to TEXAS FISH & GAME, 1745 Greens Road, Houston, TX 77032. Email change of address to: dhruzek@fishgame. com Email new orders to: dhruzek@fishgame.com Email subscription questions to: dhruzek@fishgame.com. Periodical postage paid at Houston, TX 77267-9946 and at additional mailing offices.

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Table of

Contents

SEPTEMBER 2014 Volume 31 • NO. 5

Features

LESSON PLAN FOR SCHOOL BASS Tournament pro and legendary Sam Rayburn fishing guide Tommy Martin never gets tired of sharing his enthusiasm—and vast library of knowledge— on chasing schooling bass.

by Matt Williams COVER: Trout ‘X’ Files Despite being the most soughtafter species on the Texas coast, many of the facts about the life cycle of speckled trout and the tactics that work best for catching trophy-sized specimens remain enshrouded in mystery.

STORY:

FIRST TO MIGRATE Blue-winged teal migrate through Texas in September, giving hunters an early crack at waterfowl action.

by Chester Moore

Story by Chester Moore Photo by George Knighten

STRING STING

ALSO IN SEPTEMBER:

Bowhunters and crossbow hunters have a lot of challenges stacked up against them in the field. One thing they can do to level that field is to use decoys.

by Chester Moore Wild in Texas We are intrigued by questions surrounding a legendary giant rattlesnake, the presence of jaguars in Texas, and “ghost” whitetail deer.

STORY:

GAMES VS. GEAR

Should you get your children and grandchildren hunting and fishing video games, or real gear? The answer may surprise you.

by Calixto Gonzales

by Chester Moore

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Contents (continued)

Inside Fish&Game

Columns

by Roy & Ardia Neves | TF&G Owners

Thieving S.O.B.s

O, THIS IS NOT A SCREED AGAINST VENAL scoundrels in Washington, or Austin, or your shifty neighbor who runs the property owner’s association. This is a tirade—and an Alert—about an outfit in Oregon that is stealing from subscribers to Texas Fish & Game and hundreds of other legitimate magazines, and apparently doing it with the full blessing of the attorney general of that loopy West Coast state. Here’s how the scam works: They obtain mailing lists of magazine subscribers through illegitimate means, and then send fraudulent renewal notices to the subscribers on those lists. They are counting on busy subscribers responding without looking too closely at the actual order forms. They collect the payments and then—unlike the legitimate subscription agencies we work with—they don’t forward the orders to us. If they did, they would have to pay for them. Instead of making an honest commission on these subscriptions, they’re just pocketing all of the money. Since we don’t know whose names they’re targeting, we can only help one subscriber at a time who has been Watch for bogus renewal notices like this mugged by these one (for Texas Parks & Wildlife magazine). crooks—if they call us after failing to get their issues or if they happen to smell a rat in the suspicious renewal notices these criminals have sent them. We’ve tried to get the Oregon Attorney General to investigate, but that office either doesn’t care or is comfortable with the idea that this crooked operation is based in their state. After getting the brush-off from Oregon’s AG, we called in the FBI and U.S. Postal inspectors, since this is the very definition of mail and wire fraud. The swindlers even set up a bogus telemarketing center, complete with snotty little operators. Maybe that’s why the AG in Oregon won’t do anything: this is their idea of “jobs creation.” Because they have defrauded subscribers in Texas and other states, it is a case for the feds. Until we shut these thieving S.O.B.s down, if you get a renewal offer from Publishers Payment Service or any renewal notice with a return address in White City, Oregon, give us a call at 800-725-1134. We will, of course, honor any subscriptions purchsed from these lowlifes. We’ll take the hit, but we need you to let us know you’ve been scammed.

Editor’s Notes

Doggett at Large

Pike on the Edge

TexasWild

BY CHESTER MOORE TF&G Editor in Chief

by JOE DOGGETT TF&G Senior Contributing Editor

by DOUG PIKE TF&G Senior Contributing Editor

by TED NUGENT TF&G Editor At Large

Commentary by KENDAL HEMPHILL TF&G Politcal Commentator

35 by LOU MARULLO

Bare Bones Hunting TF&G Hunting Editor

Season 50 byOpen MATT WILLIAMS TF&G Freshwater Editor

Texas Boating by LENNY RUDOW TF&G Boating Editor

58 by Steve LaMascus Texas Guns

TF&G Firearms Editor

Freshwater 60 byTexas MATT WILLIAMS TF&G Freshwater Editor

62 92

Texas Saltwater by CALIXTO GONZALES TF&G Saltwater Editor

Texas Tasted

Departments 8 12 12

LETTERS TF&G REPORT BIG BAGS & CATCHES

32 TEXAS

DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE

36 TRUE GREEN 63 TEXAS TESTED 51 SPORTING TALES

64 FISH AND GAME GEAR

66 HOTSPOT FOCUS

TEXAS HOTSPOTS

86 TIDES & PRIME TIMES

93 OUTDOOR

CLASSIFIEDS

94 FISH & GAME

by BRYAN SLAVEN The Texas Gourmet

PHOTOS

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Letters to the Editor Dockside Troubles

Seaweed, Everywhere Minimum Acreage

WE RECENTLY HAD AN ENCOUNTER at Lake Fork where a dock owner came out and was mad that we were fishing around his dock. He didn’t have any fishing lines out nor was anyone on the dock when we started fishing around it. He proceeded to try and intimidate us verbally but we just ignored him. My question is, at what point does his behavior fall under the category of “harassment” as defined by Texas Parks and Wildlife Code Section 62.0125. Harassment Of Hunters, Trappers, And Fishermen? Does he have to make a threat or physically threaten us for his actions to be considered harassment? Thanks for your publication, we enjoy the way you present your information-packed pages in a format that’s easy to absorb.

I REALLY ENJOY SURF FISHING but do not like getting tangled up in the seaweed. Is there any type of rig to use when fishing the surf with record sargassum in the cuts?

Paul Miles Honestly Paul, that question is better asked of a game warden. I would call 800792-1112 and ask for someone in law enforcement to get that question answered with specifics to your case. Thanks for your question and thanks so much for reading Texas Fish & Game. —CM

State Park Fishing IS IT POSSIBLE TO DO AN ARTICLE on how the seasons affect certain areas of Texas coast, like the State Parks. I like to fish out of the state parks since I don’t have to worry as much about people breaking into my vehicle and it’s a cleaner safer environment to bring the family. Mark Clark We will certainly looking into putting something like that together for 2015. Our stories are planned ahead far in advance.

Dan Damon

Larry Farris

Dan, I wish I could help you! I have canceled a trip recently due to the seaweed but as far as I know there is no way around it. —CM

Prescribed Burns WHO CAN I CONTACT TO HELP DO A prescribed burn on my property in Red River County? I’ve heard that this can dramatically improve the natural habit for the deer and turkey. W. T. Cooper I would contact your Texas Agrilife office. www.redriver.agrilife.org. Type in that URL to get contact info. —CM

Flounder LAST YEAR YOU WROTE ABOUT something called a “first push” for flounder when they first begin to stage for migration. I misplaced the article and was wondering what signs I should look for. James Vincent Look very closely for small cool fronts coming in the month of September. Around the middle of the month during the peak of the bluewing teal migration, we typically have cool fronts that drop the temperatures 10-15 degrees. These fronts tend to get some of the flounders in the depths of the marsh to move toward the front.

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SEEMS LIKE I ONCE READ SOMEthing in the Texas public laws related to firearm practice (or possibly, hunting) having to do with a minimum 50-acre-sized tract of land. Can you explain or clarify what that’s about?

The only thing I could find on a similar law is Sec. 229.002, REGULATION OF DISCHARGE OF WEAPON from a 2005 law that passed in Texas, which basically states that a municipality may not restrict firearm discharges in its extraterritorial jurisdiction or in areas annexed by the municipality after September 1, 1981 if the firearm is: “(1) a shotgun, air rifle or pistol, BB gun or bow and arrow discharged (A) on a tract of land 10 acres or more and more than 150 feet from a residence or occupied building located on another property; and (B) in a manner not reasonably expected to cause a projectile to cross the boundary of the tract; or (2) a center fire or rim fire rifle or pisol of any caliber discharged: (A) on a tract of land of 50 acres or more and more than 300 feet from a residence or occupied building located on another property; and (B) in a manner not reasonably expected to cause a projectile to cross the boundary of the tract.” This law does not address restrictions that would cover a 50-acre tract within the corporate boundaries of a municipality, so keep that in mind if your land is in town. —CM

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

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Editor’s Editor’s Notes by Chester Moore | TF&G Editor in Chief

Border Crisis

HIS IS A COLUMN I DID NOT WANT TO write. In fact, I still do not want to write it but feel compelled because it is such an important issue for Texas outdoor lovers and our nation. There is no political favor to be gained and in fact this will probably anger some of you, but what is going on at the Texas/Mexico border needs to be addressed. Back in 2005, I wrote a feature story about human/coyote interactions and will never forget speaking with a Jim Hogg County landowner who told me he was finding an increasing number of dead illegal immigrants on his property. Apparently they were unprepared for the harsh environment during the hot summer and perished on their way through thick cactus and thorns. It broke my heart to think of people perishing in the quest for better lives (many of them at least) despite the fact I believed (and still do) that we should secure our border and have a thorough immigration and naturalization process like every other country in the free world. Fast forward nine years and a headline on the Drudge Report reads “Hundreds of Dead Illegal Immigrants found in one South Texas County.” It linked to a story from the UK Daily Mail featuring ranchers in Brooks County who are finding terrible things on their properties. Then there are the “rape trees”, where smugglers allegedly mark a tree with the panties of illegal immigrant women and young girls they rape on their way in. And then there’s perhaps the true horror of it all-the mainstream media coverage. Hovering over the death, confusion and anger about the issue like vultures, they are helping turn our border area into a gross

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political circus with no regard for the citizens of this state or the horrors they are reporting on the other side of the border. In the 24/7 media culture, anything that results in a spike in web traffic or viewers goes online, whether it’s good, bad, ugly or downright untruthful. The reason we are addressing this issue is not to tackle the political ramifications or motives or even to debate enforcement of current laws. It is to make you aware that things are simply not as they used to be along our border, and you should be aware of certain things when hunting, fishing, and visiting the remote areas along its corridor. Apparently, even federal agencies are posting warnings. The following is from the National Park Service’s Big Bend National Park website on a page entitled, “Visiting a Border Area”. • Know where you are at all times, follow good safety procedures, and use common sense. Remember, cell phone service is limited in many areas of the park. • Keep valuables, including spare change, out of sight and lock your vehicle. • Avoid travel on well-used but unofficial “trails”. • Do not pick up hitchhikers. •People in distress may ask for food, water, or other assistance. It is recommended that you do not make contact with them, but note the location, and immediately notify park rangers. Lack of water is a life-threatening emergency in the desert. There are more safety tips that involve crossing, smuggling and other activities that could spoil a wonderful trip to one of the most beautiful parts of the Lone Star State. On the other hand there are statistics showing the border areas are “safer” than the largest cities in Texas. Whom are you to believe? This is a time to let common sense and cool heads prevail. Should we be afraid to go hunting or fishing in South or West Texas? Absolutely not. In fact, I hope to go deer hunting southeast of Freer this year and have no fear at all. However, I will exercise caution and keep a

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closer on eye on things than maybe I have in the past. The truth is any time you go into a remote area, you put yourself at risk of running into dangerous people looking to do harm. Ditto for the city but the difference is remoteness. When you’re five miles off a paved road on a ranch with no cell service and someone attacks, you’re in a different situation than in the middle of a city. That is one of the things that makes a game warden’s job so dangerous. I am constantly in remote locations on assignment for TF&G or filming my God’s Outdoors with Chester Moore television programs for GETV. One of my cameramen was out with me on private property we had access to deep in the Sabine River bottoms late one night when all of a sudden a light cut through the swamp onto the trail we were on. We shut off our lights, kept quiet and then eased back toward the main road to my truck. “What got you so shook up out there?” my cameraman asked. “Most people in the middle of the river bottoms on a hot summer night aren’t trying to film cottonmouth water moccasins for a television show. No one else is supposed to be out there. The most dangerous thing in the wild is the people, not the wildlife,” I replied. That’s what is really going on here. There are people crossing our border undocumented. Although many of them are simply super poor people wanting a better life, we know there is a dangerous criminal element involved as well. That’s not a political statement. It’s a fact. Don’t let the headlines scare you but don’t let them fool you either. There’s a real story going on out there, and the landowners and leaseholders along the border continue to see it play out first hand. Proceed with caution, use wisdom and if you’re so inclined, pray for the people on both sides of the border who are in a situation that looks to get worse before it gets better.

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

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The TF&G Report Survey Digs Deep into Dove Hunting A FIRST-OF-ITS-KIND SURVEY OF 12,000 of the nation’s mourning dove hunters was released in July by the Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies (AFWA), National Flyway Council and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. “Hunters’ opinions and preferences are an important consideration in how state fish and wildlife agencies, the Service, the Flyway Councils and our conservation and sportsmen group partners sustain resources and continue to provide quality hunting opportunities,” said Dan Forster, AFWA President and Georgia Wildlife Resources Division Director. The survey provides

demographic data and information on hunter behavior and attitudes on a variety of topics, including where and how often they hunt, hindrances to them engaging in their sport, and where they get their trusted information on this and related issues. The survey also explored dove hunters’ opinions and attitudes towards lead ammunition and the perceived impact of spent lead on wildlife. The survey questions and collection of responses on this issue does not mean that non-toxic shot will be required to hunt doves in the future. “Since doves are managed at both the regional and national levels, we now can look to this survey to provide us with hunter attitudes and opinions on the issues managers must consider,” said Ron Anglin, Chair of the National Flyway Council.

Big Bags&Catches

WHITETAIL

REDFISH

Duval County

Galveston Bay

CARLEY HAGAR, 17, shot her first buck on a Duval County ranch with a 170-yard shot from a suppressed .308 Remington Tactical rifle. After working her way up from doe to spike, she took this 8-point cull buck that was aged at 8-1/2 years from a prone position in the brush instead of sitting in a blind.

“For generations, hunters, recreational shooters and anglers have been and continue to be the primary funders of wildlife and sportfish conservation in the U.S. through their purchases of specially taxed gear and hunting and fishing licenses. Understanding their perspectives on the many facets of their sport is critical, and I am grateful to all who voluntarily took part in this survey to help us in that regard,” said U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Director Dan Ashe. Hunting has an $86.9 billion impact on the national economy and generates approximately $11.8 billion in federal, state and local tax revenues. Mourning doves are one of the most abundant and widely distributed game birds in the country, with hunting seasons established in 40 of the lower 48 states. Doves can be poisoned by consuming spent lead shot, but despite anecdotal evidence, research-

LOGAN NICHOLSON caught a bull red that was bigger than he was, fishing with guide Steve Hoyland in Galveston Bay.

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ers do not yet know if there is a populationlevel effect. KEY FINDINGS FROM THE NATIONAL Dove Hunter Survey: • Dove hunters are typically white males, 45 years of age and older and are welleducated with higher-than-average incomes • Dove hunters responding to the survey said that the top hindrances to their participation in dove hunting are financial ‒ the cost of gasoline, the cost of shotshells, the cost of other dove hunting gear and the cost of hunting permits. • Most dove hunters harvest fewer than 30 birds per season and hunt on private land. They typically travel 50 miles or more to get to their hunting spots. • Dove hunters responding to the survey aren’t sure about the impact of spent lead shot on dove health and believe they don’t have enough scientific information about its potential effects. • They are concerned that hunter participation could be impacted if non-lead shot were to be required at some point in the future. The full survey results, along with further information about dove hunting, can be found at http://bit.ly/DoveHunterSurvey.

one person needs to report for the entire angling party. Anglers fishing from party boats are exempt from reporting as the captain reports for them. Party boats are generally larger boats where people pay per person, as opposed to paying a single fee (for one or more persons) for a guided trip. These data will be used in conjunction with current harvest monitoring programs, and will be useful in designing future harvest monitoring programs. It will also serve as an indicator of the health of the red snapper fishery off Texas shores. Texas and the other four Gulf states, cooperatively with National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), manage red snapper in federal waters. One of the key pieces of information in the management of the red snapper fishery is the total recreational harvest, that is, how many red snapper are landed by recreational anglers in a given year. Texas state waters (less than 9 nautical miles from shore) are open year-round for red snapper with a four fish bag limit

and a minimum size limit of 15 inches. Regulations in federal waters (greater than 9 nautical miles from shore) may differ from state regulations. This year, the recreational season in federal waters was June 1-9 with a two fish daily bag limit and 16-inch minimum length limit. For more information on federal fisheries regulations go to www.gulfcouncil.org or call toll-free 888-833-1844. While TPWD currently performs routine dockside creel surveys to monitor the landings and fishing effort for a variety of species along the Texas coast, this pilot program will utilize angler reported data to compliment these routine surveys allowing for better estimation of the recreational red snapper landings in the state. If you have further questions regarding red snapper management and/or the reporting program, contact the TPWD Coastal Fisheries office at 361-825-3356. —Staff Report

TPWD Asks for Help on Snapper Survey THE RED SNAPPER ARE A FAVORITE among anglers for its tenacious fight and, arguably, is the tastiest fish in the Gulf. But management of the species over the years has been challenging and controversial. In light of those challenges, Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD) Coastal Fisheries Division staff is asking recreational anglers for assistance to help manage the red snapper. Texas anglers (with the exception of party boat anglers) are asked to report their red snapper landings with a short online survey that can be accessed here: www.tpwd.texas.gov/snapper. At the end of each day’s trip or soon afterwards, parties that land red snappers are asked to submit basic information about the trip’s total red snapper catch, the date it occurred, number of fish landed, etc. Only T E X A S

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Doggett at Large by Joe Doggett | TF&G Senior Contributing Editor

The All-Around Angler

HE ALL-AROUND ANGLER IS PROFICIENT with all types of light tackle. This is a goal I have struggled to achieve during more than 50 years of fishing. The All-Around Angler might not be the best among a given group on a given day, but he can reach with authority for any rig and deliver a solid performance. This is not as easy as it might seem. Many anglers who are highly skilled in one or two specialized disciplines fall woefully short when faced with other options. The three basic light-tackle schools are, of course, plug casting, spin casting and fly casting. Sounds fairly simple, but things quickly become complicated. With fly casting, for example, you have classic close work with light rods and dry flies on small streams, powerful double hauls with heavier sticks across saltwater flats, even the booming bombs of 14- and 15-foot, twohanded rods on big salmon and steelhead rivers. Each by definition is fly casting, but one game does not cover all the water. Some fly anglers have the unfortunate habit of looking down at their plug-casting brethren. Frankly, some of these long-rod devotees are virtually useless over a freespool reel. Conversely, many polished pluggers are disdainful of fly-fishing. Spin casting often is regarded by both camps as O.K. for beginners and weekenders but nothing a serious angler would employ. This, to me, is a remarkably narrowminded outlook when you consider the incredible scope of fresh and saltwater fishing available. Circumstances often favor one approach over the other, and the tuned angler knows better than to try push a rod, any rod, where it really doesn’t want to go.

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Doggett used a 14-foot two-handed Spey rod to catch this steelhead on British Columbia’s Kispiox River.

Now, having said that, I must concede that the veteran angler might stay with a specific technique simply because he gets great pleasure from the mechanics and aesthetics. That’s great; even on the best days we do much more casting than catching. But, if you want to maximize potential, single-minded dedication should not be confused with the advantages of using a full playbook. Fly-casting has visual appeal. A proper loop is smooth and graceful, but the casting looks more difficult than it is. Armed with a balanced rod and line along with a few instructions, the average angler soon can slap a fishable cast across the water. And, to be successful, you don’t always have to reach “way over there.” Many fish of many species are fly-caught inside 50 feet and the basic false casting drill is easy enough to grasp. This is because you are working almost in slow motion. You can hold a short line in the air and correct mistakes in speed and timing. I believe basic plug casting is harder to learn than basic fly-casting ‒ at least fly casting with a typical single-handed rod. When you rip for the fences with a casting reel the revolving spool blurs with blinding speed. You are a mere fraction ahead of a national disaster. This is no place for

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a rookie. An “educated thumb” is the best hope of restoring some semblance of order amid the boiling coils. And a poised thumb with post-graduate degrees in physics, rocket propulsion and ichthyology requires some training. In summation, the price for failure over a freewheeling casting reel can be a dealkilling backlash, while the price for failure under a weight-forward fly line is, well, nothing. You just pick up and go again. I’m not saying that polished fly-casting is easy; I simply offer that tuned plug casting maybe doesn’t get the credit it deserves. Tournament-level bass pros probably are among the best instinctive casters. These guys usually use casting tackle, although open-faced spinning rigs are popular on many of the clear-water reservoirs where light line/small lure finesse is required. Don’t tell them spinning is kid’s stuff, not when thousands of dollars can hang on each cast. The top professionals excel at all presentations ‒ overhead, sidearm, and underhand. They can pitch, flip, and jig with killing accuracy. And they don’t fiddle-futz around. They are fishing machines. Most bass pros don’t mess with fly casting mainly because it doesn’t figure into the typical tournament format ‒ and their PHOTO: JOE DOGGETT

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paychecks depend on catching weigh-in bass not matching the Pale Morning Dun hatch on the nearest spring creek. Or reaching tailing bonefish at Andros Island. But I suspect many of them would be excellent fly casters if they spent a bit of time to learn the basics. To borrow from a professional golfing slogan: These guys are good. But it’s all good. And, to repeat, each technique can be superior under certain conditions: If you’re “free shrimping” with a live shrimp and a tiny split shot, or skipping a small crappie jig under docks ‒ spinning rod. If you’re working a topwater plug for bass along a brushy shoreline, or bouncing a Texas-rigged soft plastic along the bottom ‒ casting rod. If you’re sight casting to tailing reds in shin-deep water, or drifting a hopper imitation along a grassy stream bank — fly rod. The list of specialized situations goes on and on. Keeping an open mind and being able to command many types of tackle expands your potential. Being an All-Around Angler allows you to appreciate new places and fresh techniques. For example, last fall I spent a week flyfishing for wild steelheads on the Kispiox River in British Columbia. This is a special place; the river has never seen a dam and the huge sea-run rainbow trout have never seen a hatchery. Mature Kispiox fish weigh 15 to 25 pounds but the fishing is difficult. You fish all day for maybe two or three pulls. Or no pulls. The Kispiox is a fly-only, catch-andrelease fishery. I used a two-handed 14-foot (“Spey”) rod the entire trip. I could have worked with a standard one-handed, ninefoot rod but wanted to expand my horizons. Most of the heavy locals wield the Spey rods; indeed, they helped refine and popularize the old two-handed Atlantic salmon casting technique. The dynamics of the Spey are incredibly different, but the casts are incredibly beautiful. With three basic motions (Double Spey or Snap T, depending on current direction) the skilled caster can shoot 120 or 130 feet across the flow ‒ a great way to use an economy of effort to cover a tremendous amount of water when swinging a wet fly. Plus, with no backcast, the Spey keeps the line and fly from snagging streamside brush. My considerable experience with double hauling wasn’t much help; in fact, the rote

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programming was a handicap. The onehanded caster must re-compute all sorts of notions regarding timing strokes and power loads. I was terrible then lousy, finally mediocre. By the third or fourth day I could launch 80 or 90 feet smoothly, maybe nudge past 100 when it all clicked. And this is plenty of line to swing correctly. I landed several small fish and was starting to enjoy the casting almost as much as the fishing.

The final day I caught two gorgeous steelheads. Using the Spey rod made them all the more special. I was wading and casting in the footsteps of the Kispiox masters. I did it their way, which is now my way, which is the point of this article.

Email Joe Doggettl at ContactUs@fishgame.com

8/7/14 5:01 PM

Pike on the Edge by Doug Pike | TF&G Senior Contributing Editor

Give Me Twenty

WENTY SOMETHING YEARS AGO, A MAN in my profession and whose opinion I respected wrote a column that predicted a grim, bleak future for outdoor recreation. I strongly disagreed then and am thrilled to report that he was completely, utterly wrong. In his future, there wasn’t enough wildlife left to bother chasing it. He saw barren sky, soiled water, and countless empty hearts among those of us who even could remember when. In his future, hunting and fishing were memories. Even the wealthy had abandoned the

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outdoors for lack, at any price, of game to shoot or fish to catch. When his column appeared – it doesn’t matter where – many folks in my line of work questioned the man’s motivation. He wasn’t an especially upbeat person, but neither did he walk with a dark cloud always overhead. He loved fishing and did some hunting when invited. And he was an outdoor writer, for goodness sakes, a man whose financial future depended on a vital, lasting enthusiasm for sportfishing and recreational hunting. But enough about him, except that he was wrong, which I mentioned earlier, but which bears repeating. My predictions then, in print and among friends, were of improvement and abundance. Of continued good fortune for healthy species and of rebound for those that had lost ground.

I refused to believe that people who genuinely treasured the outdoors would allow its pieces to be violated into extinction. Conservationists and environmentalists would rally, I was confident, recognizing common ground and working together to ensure that future sunrises broke over healthier and even more amazing water and landscapes. There would be ducks and geese and doves and trout and bass and redfish and deer aplenty ‒ and pigs. I didn’t actually foresee the state and half the nation being overrun with feral hogs, but what nice little cherries they’ve proved to be on hunters’ sundaes. Texas today is as fine a state in which to hunt or fish (or just wander a park, if that’s your preference) as any in the nation. If we had more snook and smallmouths, I might never leave. And if elk could handle our summers, there’s

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not much in North America we couldn’t offer. Another few warm winters, and we’ll have more snook along more of the coast. We might never get elk and huntable numbers of bears, but there’s no harm in an occasional trip to Florida or the Rocky Mountains, or Alaska, which would appeal more if we could move it 1,500 miles or so south. Despite Danny Downer’s (not his real name) predictions back then, we Texans today enjoy solid freshwater and saltwater fisheries. Our lakes – some still quite low but productive nonetheless – support a wide variety of fish that are hard-fighting, tasty or both. Some lakes’ populations of specific species may be in a temporary downward cycle, but they’ll be back once the pendulum swings back in their favor. My only beef with Texas’s freshwater fishing is that we have yet to put a 20-pound largemouth in the books. Even I believed back then that we’d have reached that milestone by now. We will. Our bays are coughing up quality speckled trout, and you can’t throw a weedless gold spoon without hitting a redfish. And – what do you know – snook have been caught as far north as Freeport recently. And this past July, my friend Richard Richardson set the new state record for blue marlin at 972.7 pounds. (And the fish’s stomach was empty.) Texas’s hunting, overall, has few if any equals. The whitetail herd numbers in the millions, and we’ve managed to keep it quite healthy through droughts and floods and minor outbreaks of disease. Dove numbers are up an estimated five million birds from the past year. Some days, it seems as though half of them live in my Sugar Land neighborhood. Quail, sadly, are down. Way down. They’re in dire need of a conference room full of bright minds with nothing else to study, but I’m not sure contemporary land-use practices can coexist with a large wild-quail population. Sadly, we cannot win them all. Waterfowl are doing well; we’ll give a little credit to federal managers there – but take it right back in consideration of how they’ve mismanaged the red snapper. My prediction for the next 20 years? More growth in outdoor recreation and more interest in its future. Both are easy calls since numbers of hunters and fishermen – especially young people and women – are on the rise and have been for a while. Our nation (although we were somewhat insulated here in Texas) is emerging slowly from

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a time-wasting phase of political correctness during which, among other things, outdoorsmen cowered before a whiny, tambourine-banging minority of people who don’t like what we like do. We let them push us around. Turns out, they were wrong, too. Hunting and fishing connect us to the world in a primal way, in a way no vegetable platter or foreign film or ever will. That’s not a guess. There’s science, and plenty of it now, that proves the benefits of outdoor recreation.

Here’s to my next 20-plus years of outdoor adventures. In exchange for being a faithful and generous steward, I ask only enough mediumrare red meat to keep me happy but healthy, and enough blue crabs to keep my red snapper fillets smothered in lumpy meat. And some snook.

Email Doug Pike at ContactUs@fishgame.com

8/7/14 5:03 PM

Ted’s TexasWild by Ted Nugent | TF&G Editor-at-Large

Perlitz Ranch Dream Hunt

NYONE OF THE 50,000,000 OR SO viewers that watch our Ted Nugent Spirit of the Wild TV show on Outdoor Channel (thank you very much for making it #1 viewer choice award winner all these years!) can figure out real quick that I am a terminal homebody. I pretty much do 90% of my 250-300 days a year hunting either at home in Texas on our wonderful SpiritWild Ranch or at my old stomping grounds in the Michigan swamps and forests. With this gravity-defying runaway rock-n-roll freight train running off the tracks for 50 odd years, my travel quota was violated long ago. If you ponder the fact that each concert is in a different city 6 nights a week, an honest review of my travel schedule would place me square in the unusual and cruel punishment column of life! Now I am certainly not attempting to garner any pity from all my hunting buddies out there, for I engineer, orchestrate, crave, celebrate and thoroughly enjoy every abusive minute of my incredible musical adventure. I thank God everyday for this amazing gift. Again I quote the greatest philosopher of alltimes, Dirty Harry, with his life saving mantra, “A good man must know his limitations.” So it was interesting and out of the ordinary this past season that I allowed myself to graciously accept some very generous invites to hunt some BloodBrothers’ sacred family hunting grounds, and SpiritWild VidCamDude Kris Helms and I loaded up the TundraOffRoad. com truck and headed to South Texas for a swing through some of the best deerhunting destinations a guy could ever dream of. We had a phenomenal hunt with Greg Genitempo on his gorgeous Eslabon Ranch and another incredible hunt with old friend Jack Brittingham at the famous Rancho Encantado, 18 |

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collecting a stunning trophy whitetail at each of these ultra-generous gentlemen’s family hunting operations. It was over a killer midday BBQ with Jimmy Perlitz and a Perlitz Ranch full of gungho deerhunters, just down the road from Eslabon Ranch, that another dream hunt unfolded. Jimmy Perlitz had welcomed us to this famous old South Texas game paradise and took us for a drive to look over his operation when a sounder of javelina materialized a few hundred yards ahead in the African like scrub of South Texas. With Jimmy’s blessing, Kris and I meandered within the scant cover to cut the distance to just under 100 yards when the biggest boar in the group jerked his head up and looked our way. It was now or never as I filled my hand with my 10mm Glock, and with Kris running a cellphone vidcam, the moment of truth was here and now. I practice all the time with my daily carry handguns, including daily 100 yard sniper training. And that’s a big “yes”; daily 100 yard sniper training with my carry handguns, and I knew exactly what the mighty 10mm Glock was capable of as long as I did my very best “aim small miss small” focus. Longrange pistol accomplishments are always very gratifying, but even more so when on film and or with witnesses. It being my first introduction to Jimmy Perlitz and his buddy, I knew damn well they were seriously questioning just what the hell the MotorCity Madman guitarboy was up to with a pistol pointed at a little javelina somewhere beyond 75 yards. Well, I guess when you are good boy, mind your “Ps” and “Qs”, do your chores and conduct yourself in a loving, positive way, God rewards you with special moments like this, for in the flash that the Glock came to my eye and I recognized my mental/muscle memory sight picture, with Jimmy and his buddy watching intently through the binoculars, and with the vidcam rolling, God increased the pressure of my right triggerfinger on the Glock trigger, the gun went off, and my 165 grain Ted Nugent 10mm slug found its way deadcenter on the point of that little cactus hog’s right shoulder, and he tipped over like a steel plate in a shooting competition.

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Somebody please shout out a big resounding HALLELUJAH! And let the dancing ensue! Now I’m not out to try to impress anybody, for quite honestly, when I’m hunting or shooting, even with a camera over my shoulder which it is all the time for our Spirit of the Wild TV, every shot from every bow and every firearm is an out of body moment. I am oblivious to the camera or the cameraman behind me. And on this wonderfully lucky shot, when we were stalking these critters, I was virtually void of Jimmy and his buddy back in the truck watching the whole thing unfold. That being said, once the little pig hit the ground, I was very aware that the shot was witnessed and I immediately sent a Cheshire grin and a thumbs up back toward the truck, knowing for sure that they never expected me to hit the javelin much less blow him over with a sniper shoulder hit. Now, mind you, by no means am I bragging, though anybody who shoots knows how gratifying it is to make a good shot, but I must admit I am extremely happy and proud to have solidified my shootists capabilities with guys that live to hunt and shoot. And though javelina’s are not that hard to kill, I am also confident I just performed a killer promotional maneuver for my favorite handgun caliber and the performance of my brand name Ted Nugent 10mm ammo. God that was fun! I think the YouTube of that shot has been hit a few hundred thousand times and I am rather proud of it. The next evening I was able to fill my 2nd javelina tag with my Mathews bow from a Double Bull blind, and my Perlitz hunt was one for the books. I will be writing more about my amazing hunts and stunning bucks at the Perlitz Ranch and the good friends I have been blessed with the Perlitz family. Meanwhile I sure am glad I film all my hunts to promote this wonderful hunting lifestyle. For if it were not on film, even I wouldn’t believe some of the shots I’ve pulled off. Practice makes perfect and sure helps in the luck department. Contact Ted Nugent at TNugent@fishgame.com

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8/7/14 5:02 PM

Commentary by Kendal Hemphill | TF&G Political Commentator

OPULAR ON SOCIAL MEDIA THESE DAYS are memes that state, one way or another, “the Second Amendment to the constitution is my gun permit.” Those who post this sentiment are attempting to make the statement that, because of our constitution, Americans should not have to obtain any type of license to carry firearms, anywhere and everywhere they choose to do so. Their message is that, because our forefathers recognized gun ownership as a key factor in maintaining freedom, and in protection of life and property, citizens of America have a right to own guns, a right not enjoyed by those in other countries. The problem is that none of that is true. The folks who post those pictures mean well. They’re making an attempt, in a small way, to stand up to a tyrannical government that has overstepped its boundaries and poked its collective nose in many places where it doesn’t belong. They’re trying to let others know they support the ideals that made America free to begin with. But they’re missing the point, because they haven’t thought their beliefs all the way through. Those who claim the Second Amendment as their “gun permit” are granting de facto authority to the United States government that our forefathers never intended it to have. They’re saying the U.S. Constitution gives them the right to bear arms. It doesn’t do that. It never did. No government has the authority to grant rights to its citizens. Rights don’t come from government. Any government that could grant rights could also rescind them. If we say that our right to self-protection comes from our Constitution, we must, by default, agree that our government gave us that right, and that we didn’t have it before it was given to us by said government. That’s not how it happened. This may seem like a small point, on the surface, but it is crucial to the future of our

“ We created the government. If the government can grant us rights, then the tail is waggin the dog.

“

Authority

freedom as a country and as U.S. citizens. We need to realize that the only authority our federal government has is what we “the people,” have given it. We created the government. It is ours. If the government can grant us rights, then the tail is wagging the dog. Privileges are a different matter. Governments can grant privileges, and take them away. A case in point is that our government, representing the people, grants the right to live at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, Washington, D.C., to the family of whoever has been elected president of the United

States. That privilege can, and should, be taken away if the president fails to execute that office according to the law. Rights come only from God. Our forefathers recognized this fact, and made it clear in their writings that our government was founded on the principles found in the Holy Bible. The Second Amendment is carefully worded to reflect the fact that our right to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed, signifying that the right existed before the government did, and therefore could not have been a gift of that government. Almost as important as the fact that our rights come from God is the corollary that T E X A S

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police officers, as agents of the state, are only authorized to carry out the duties of their office as an extension of our personal right to self-protection. In other words, if we, as individuals, did not have the right to protect ourselves, then we would not have the right to grant law enforcement authority to others and have them protect us by proxy. Few seem to understand this point, as evidenced by those who commented on a recent story in the news concerning the Maryland police chief who was asked to leave an Ikea store because he was carrying his service gun. The chief was in uniform, and was shopping with his daughter, when he was approached and informed that Ikea has a “no guns” policy, and he would have to either leave or put his gun in his vehicle. There was outrage, and Ikea made a statement that the employee who spoke with the chief was mistaken, because Ikea’s no guns policy does not apply to police officers. Those who had complained were mostly mollified. And they should not have been. Any rule that applies to citizens should also apply to police officers in such a situation. If the chief had been in Ikea in his official capacity, engaging in cop-type activities, then, of course, he should not have had to comply with the no-gun rule. But he was off duty. If other citizens could not carry guns in the store while shopping, neither should the chief be allowed to do so. Some of my best friends are cops, but their authority as law enforcement officers is an extension of my right to protect myself. If I can’t legally protect myself, then I can’t legally be protected by cops. Government can exercise no more authority than we allow it. We allow it far too much already. It’s time for the dog to wag the tail again, instead of the other way around.

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Email Kendal Hemphill at ContactUs@fishgame.com

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STORY BY MATT WILLIAMS

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SCHOOL BASS TOMMY MARTIN IS A VETERAN TEXAS BASS pro who has been chasing bass on lakes across Texas and beyond for decades. Longer, perhaps, the most guys reading this magazine have been casting a level wind fishing reel. Martin turns 74 his year, but he is far from being over the hill. Not only is he still recognized as fierce competitor on big league tournament trails, but he continues to operate a successful guide business on Toledo Bend and Sam Rayburn in eastern Texas. Amazingly, Martin still gets just as excited about catching bass has he ever did. He also likes to talk about it. When I asked him to T E X A S

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share a little input about fishing for school bass, you could sense his adrenaline rush right through the telephone receiver. “It’s usually not something I’ll put a lot of confidence in during a tournament,” he said, “but as far as fun fishing goes, it is hard to beat going after school bass. They are blast to catch.” Martin doesn’t put much faith in surface

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Tommy Martin has spent decades in the upper echelons of pro angling, but he still gets a kick out of chasing schooling bass.

schoolies during a tournament for the same reason most anglers don’t. As a rule the fish won’t be big enough to do you much good at the weigh-in. From a recreational standpoint, however, they can turn an otherwise slow day into a good one. “When bass are schooling on the surface, they are aggressively feeding on shad,” Martin said. “There is a lot of competition out there. If you can get a bait in among the action something is usually going to bust it.” Although school bass are apt to get active any time of year on reputable bass water, late summer through fall is when the fish are most prone to show themselves. The guide thinks the timing of schooling activity has a lot to do with dwindling oxygen in deeper water. “Oxygen levels always decline in deeper water during hot weather and that moves the shad closer to the surface,” Martin said. “The bass move right along with the shad.” On a still day you might see balls of shad dimpling the surface in the mouths of creeks or even on the main lake. Sometimes the bass will actually herd the succulent baitfish 22 |

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to the surface and feed on them at will. Martin says the surface acts as a border, and the shad are very vulnerable in that position because there is no place for them to go. When a feeding frenzy gets underway the commotion can sometimes be heard from 100 yards away on a windless summer day. Learning to score on school bass isn’t rocket science, but it does require a little skill and patience to capitalize. Here are 10 tips to help anglers fool more schoolies: 1. KEEP YOUR DISTANCE: The worst thing you can do when you spot a group of fish schooling on the surface is to barrel in on top of them with the big outboard. It is best to move to within 75-100 yards, kill the big engine and use the trolling motor to position the boat within casting distance ‒ about 25-30 yards or so. “The big engine usually won’t spook the bass, but it will spook the shad if you get too close,” Martin said. “Try to keep the boat positioned off to the side, preferably in

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the direction the school is moving so you can move right along with them.” 2. LURES FOR THE TASK: The best lures for school bass are those that closely resemble the forage that the fish are feeding on. It also helps if the baits can be cast a long way. Martin’s favorites include a Rico popper, 1/2-ounce spoon, Rat-L-Trap or a small swim bait or albino shad Zoom Fluke Jr. rigged on a 1/4-ounce jig head. “A Texas rig worm also can be very effective,” he said.”Sometimes you can let a spoon, Texas rig or Fluke fall through the school and pick up the bigger fish that are hanging out below.” Big topwater baits like a Zara Spook will sometimes produce larger fish, as well. 3. WHEN THEY GO DOWN: When surface activity ceases Martin will cast a Texas rig worm or a jig in the vicinity of where he last saw the fish. “They usually won’t go far, especially if they are schooling over 12 to15 feet of water,” he said. “They’ll just go to PHOTO: COURTESY PHOTOS: MATT TOMMY WILLIAMS MARTIN

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4. HANG TIGHT: When schooling activity subsides, the dead spell will often be short-lived. Martin says the fish will usually come back up if you will be patient, stay quiet and wait them out. Keep casting. 5. WATCH THE BLUE HERONS: Blue herons fish for a living. If you see one of the birds perched on a stump this time of year it is a good hint that school fish might be in the area. If you notice a few dead or dying shad on the surface you can pretty much bet on it. 6. SET YOUR WATCH: School bass can be fairly reliable about when and where they school so long as weather patterns remain fairly stable. If you find fish schooling the mouth of Six Mile Creek on Toledo Bend at 2 p.m. one day it is a safe bet they will be in the general vicinity the next day, so long as weather patterns don’t change. 7. GO WHERE THE ACTION IS: You don’t need to spend a lot of time on a specific lake to locate where the fish are schooling from one day to the next. Oftentimes you can pinpoint productive areas by watching other boats. Although

it is never a good idea to hedge in on somebody else’s sweet spot, you can sometimes set up in the general vicinity and wait for the fish to come to you. 8. RIGGED AND READY: Keep at least two to three rigged rods easily accessible when fishing for school bass. If you break off a bait, pick up another rod and toss another bait into the schooling commotion quickly while the fish are still fired up. School bass

bottom in the same general area. A lot of times you can catch eight to ten more on a Texas rig, jigging spoon or jig before they get cranked up on the surface again.”

9. SIZE MATTERS: go for lures that Surface feeding school resemble familiar bass dine predominantly forage, such as this on shad. I’ve seen times chug-style they will get so keyed in topwater. on a specific size of bait using a 12- to 14-inch piece of leader fish that they might refuse to line tied to the rear treble hook. hit lures designed to imitate larger bait fish. 10. SCHOOLIES YOU CAN’T SEE: A good trick to try when the fish are Sub-surface schoolies are much more mystefeeding on tiny shad is to trail a topwater rious than fish you can see schooling on the like Pop R or Yellow Magic with a smoke surface. Think of them like a covey of land or white crappie jig mines lurking beneath a liquid blanket, just sitting there waiting to explode. Though more challenging to find, sub-surface school bass can be equally aggressive once their fuse is lit. They also tend to be more reliable from one day to the next than surface schoolies, and they will often group up according to size. Good electronics and a working knowledge of how to use them are a must for locating groups of fish beneath the surface.

q Big topwater baits will sometimes produce larger fish from a school of bass.

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TROUT PHOTO: CHESTER MOORE

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DESPITE BEING THE MOST SOUGHT-AFTER SPECIES ON THE Texas coast, many of the facts about the lives of speckled trout and the tactics that work best for catching trophy-sized specimens remain mysterious. Enshrouded in mystery, covered in speculation and often steeped in tradition, the real facts on Texasâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s trout, are fascinating.

but this is temporary and the fish return once

caught in another bay; and five were recap-

weather abates.

tured in the Gulf. Of 588 spotted sea trout

A study by the Gulf States Marine

For years a popular myth about speckled

Fisheries Commission (GSMFC) report

trout has persisted particularly along the

shows that one researcher tagged more than

Upper Coast of Texas. It says that during

2,600 trout and received 50 returns.

tagged in the Gulf surf, 14 were recaptured, 12 in the Gulf and two in Texas bays. Although there is no evidence to suggest mass migration, Salinity can be a

Of these, 20 came from the release

factor in locating trophy trout. Researchers

point. Similar findings were reported by

with the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries

According to officials with the Texas

researcher Rogillio with 98 percent of the

Commission have found that big trout tend

Parks & Wildlife Department (TPWD),

returns coming within 1.5 kilometers of the

to prefer water that is close in salinity to sea-

speckled trout spend most of their lives

release point. Another noted that two spot-

water over more brackish water. For anglers

within five miles of where they were born.

ted sea trout tagged in Calcasieu Lake were

wanting to fish the Sabine and Galveston

Nearly 90 percent of all fish recovered in a

recaptured more than 160 kilometers away

areas this is extremely important as it often

tagging program came from the same bay in

in Atchafalaya Bay, Louisiana.

experiences incredible fluctuations in salinity

winter most of the trout migrate into the Gulf. That is just not so.

which they were tagged.

As noted in my book, Texas Trout

due to massive river systems feeding into these bays.

Although many trout move into deeper

Tactics, the report details that in Texas,

water during cold weather, there is no sci-

of 20,912 tagged trout released in Texas

Salinity is an important factor as the

entific evidence of a winter migration to the

marine waters, 1,367 were recaptured.

closer an area is to the Gulf, the higher the

Gulf. Research shows that some fish may

About 84 percent were caught in the same

salinity, however some other factors come

move to the Gulf to escape blowing northers,

bay where released; eight percent were

into play with trout here.

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PHOTO: JOHN N. FELSHER

Big, incoming tides bring warmer Gulf waters onto trout friendly areas such as shallow flats along channels, and with them come baitfish. When you have the combination of water that is more saline, a few degrees warmer than that in the upper reaches of the system on top of a high presence of mullet and other baitfish you have serious trophy trout potential. A study conducted by Louisiana State University (LSU) biologists in Barataria Bay involved setting gillnets at three sites: low, mid and high salinity. “More and larger speckled trout were caught at temperatures 75 degrees and above. Average size was somewhat larger at the high-salinity site and smaller at the lowsalinity site. They were also more abundant at the high and mid-salinity sites than at the low-salinity site.” Looking at this research alone helps you eliminate hundreds of square miles of habitat and focus more intensely on the areas where the big trout you seek are more abundant. Some anglers find a disconnect between lures first used in freshwater and the pursuit of trophy trout but the fact is this could make them miss out on fine fishing opportunities. Swimbaits are essentially soft plastic crankbaits that allow anglers to cover lots of water and fish with a simple retrieve to target big fish. Most major tackle companies have some sort of swimbait on the market now ranging from the foot-long $40 trout mimicking behemoths to much more affordable fare. “Swimbaits have been invaluable for me fishing on Lake Falcon,” said 2008 Bassmaster Classic winner Alton Jones. “They will get big fish when other baits don’t seem to get the job done. I have seen big fish get up and

follow a big swimbait when they seemingly get lockjaw in clear water.” The Jones quote might seem out of place, but when largemouth bass and speckled trout, both, reach a certain size, they switch to eating large fish almost exclusively. Numerous anglers have reported similar reactions to using swimbaits for specks by producing big fish when other lures do not. This could be a product of “newness” as most trout have never seen a swimbait, the aforementioned attribute of water coverage, or both. Many anglers know the importance of oyster reefs in the life cycles, but miss the fact you need to get violent with the shell to catch the most and biggest fish. As noted in my book, Texas Trout Tactics, the most important thing to keep in mind about reef fishing is to use sand eel imitations and fish them on the right sized jighead. Fishing with 1/8-ounce jig heads is great for shallow reefs with light currents, but you need something heavier that will get down to the bottom and be able to fight heavier current. Drift with the current and let the lure bounce, bump and crash into the oyster reef. Yes, you will lose jigheads, but anglers who can discipline themselves to fish this way typically score on bigger trout. Make sure you have enough line out to where you are not fishing vertically. The lure will not be able to work properly that way. In addition, it is important to keep contact with the lure. When I use this method, I slowly raise and lower my rod tip to give the rig a slight hopping action. If you feel the line get heavy or a light tap, set the hook. Chances are you just scored on a speckled trout.

Big trout tend to favor water temps over 75° and higher salinity.

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AS A SWOLLEN SUN PEEKED OVER THE HORIZON, A FAMILIAR whistle tickled my eardrums. Seconds later, a flock of blue-winged teal buzzed our boat at breakneck speed. It was a sight my hunting partner and I had seen hundreds of times, but this one caught us by surprise.

The shock came not from the birds’ incredible swiftness or daredevil navigation, but from the fact, we were on Lake Guri, in a remote corner of the Venezuelan rainforest. Six weeks earlier, we had hunted these birds on the upper Texas coast and now they were among parrots, howler monkeys and anacondas in South America. Bluewings migrate in September, giving hunters an early crack at waterfowl hunting action. The season follows their southward movement, which can be intense. At the first hint of a cold front, bluewings quickly exit our borders and head toward the tropics. Fortunately, Texas hunters have plenty of opportunities to hunt them on public land while they are here. The key to success is learning what makes these pint-sized ducks tick and applying that knowledge to scouting their habitat. The most important factor in having a successful teal hunt is finding an area with the right water supply. Dry marshes and

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fields send teal south quickly, while too much water spreads them out so much that hunters have a difficult time luring them into shotgun range. The 2002-2003 season was prime example. Jacob Virdine, who works at the J.D. Murphree Wildlife Management Area near Port Arthur, said 49 hunters showed up there for opening day. Those hunters shot only 48 teal. The next day 35 hunters took two dozen birds. “The problem was our water level was too deep for teal,” Virdine said. ”It was just right a couple of days before the opener, but then it rained really hard.” The same storm system dropped only a couple of inches of rain in the rice fields to the west and produced limits of teal for hunters during opening weekend. That’s typical of teal-here today, gone later today which is why scouting, even as the season opens is so important. Teal are dabbling ducks and tend to

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prefer shallow mud flats and grass beds in marshes where they eat milfoil, seeds of pond weeds and tiny mollusks. High water can cover areas that would normally be productive, but knowing the topography of the land and locating higher ground that might hold only a few inches of water can yield results. In the Lower Neches Wildlife Management Area near Bridge City, I go to an island that has a shallow pond in the middle of it. Tropical storm-level tides make it about six inches deep, and a magnet for teal during periods of high and low water. It seems to be better during high tides because the birds can see the vegetation more easily than in the foot-deep water around it. With the advent of the Internet, scouting is no longer confined to physically exploring hunting areas. Web sites such as topozone. com provide detailed topographical maps of any location in the United States and can help you pick out spots that would hold

PHOTO: CANSTOCK

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water and be potential ambush spots for teal. I had passed by the island described above dozens of times, but after studying the area on the Internet, I found the little pond and a true teal-hunting hot spot. Teal are small and offer a challenging target, but they are easy to hunt during the September season. They are creatures of habit, so you can generally count on them to feed both early and late. The first thing to consider is setting up a blind. In the case of teal, this does not require a lot of effort. Teal are certainly not blind-shy during the early season, so hunting out of a boat draped in camouflage netting or covered by Roseau cane is more than adequate. Or you can simply wear plenty of camouflage and sit still. For years, hunters brought dozens of decoys for the early season, but that is becoming outdated. A dozen decoys of any kind of duck set out in the marsh will give these sociable birds an inviting place to land and you a place to shoot. I usually bring only half a dozen teal decoys, a few shoveler imitations and a “robo duck,” and have no problem scoring limits of teal. Sometimes I use a “confidence” decoy such as a great blue heron, a common sight on the Texas coast in September. Calling teal is rather simple, although many hunters on public lands tend to overdo it. Simple teal whistles sounded a few times at the sight of birds is enough to lure them. Too much calling spooks them. I have been in areas where hunters a few ponds away called too much and pushed birds right to me. Part of a successful hunt on public land is using the mistakes of other hunters to your advantage. It seems there is always someone who calls too much, shoots when the birds are too high or arrives in the field late and pushes birds to you. This may be frustrating, but if you keep your cool, you should get a shot at some of “their” birds. When you do get a shot, make sure not to use a heavy load, which can destroy the meat in their tiny breasts. I use number six, but sevens will work as well. Improved cylinder or modified chokes work great for teal, especially in close quarters. These are incredibly fast birds that can fly at 60 miles an hour. Make sure to lead them by at least five feet when they are 20 yards away and double that when they are

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out past 30 yards. Making a paper-cutting sound as they move, teal seem to come out of nowhere. I do not know how many times I have thought nothing was going to happen and then a flock of bluewings lands right in the decoys. Once a small flock buzzed right over me and landed less than 10 feet from my blind. The encounter excited me so much, I never thought to shoot until my partner’s hyperactive dog alerted them and sent them packing.

Some hunters might consider that a failure, but I consider it the ultimate success. The day I quit being in awe of God’s Creation is the day I put away my decoys for good. With their super-fast flight and rapid migration, blue-winged teal remind us that good things come and go quickly, but their memory stays with us forever. To learn more about duck hunting,, by Chester’s book “Texas Waterfowl” at fishandgamegear.com.

8/7/14 4:39 PM

Texas Department of Defense When Do You Shoot?

HERE IS NO EASY ANSWER TO THE QUEStion of when do you shoot in a selfdefense situation. There are too many variables involved for there to be a set answer like, shoot at 10 feet, or shoot when you see a gun. First, the person you are facing has to have the ability to do you grievous bodily harm; not kill you, but the ability to do possibly irreparable harm. This does not mean he has to have a gun. He, or she, could have a butcher knife, a baseball bat, an ax, or any number of other tools or weapons. In addition to that, there could be several of them when you are alone. Or, there could be just one great big

person that you are certain you cannot handle in a physical altercation. While he has been vilified by the media, when George Zimmerman went to trial for using deadly force on an unarmed black man, he was found not guilty by way of self-defense. I will make no claims about his guilt or innocence, I just note that he was not convicted. The jury felt that he was in danger of death or grievous bodily injury. So, that is the first element that needs to be fulfilled before you can legally use deadly force. Next is opportunity. If a person has an ax, is threatening you, but you are separated by a raging river, he obviously has no opportunity to do you harm. The same applies to most of the implements I mentioned above. On the other hand, if he has a handgun and you are separated by a ten-foot tall fence, he has both ability and opportunity to shoot you, but has he actually threatened you with the gun? If you are driving along in your car and

The Ultimate Home Defense Pistol RECENTLY I WROTE ABOUT THE ideal home defense firearm, and in the end your choice all depends on preference, budget and training. But a few months ago I set out to build my ultimate defensive pistol and the following is what I came up with. The base platform is an FNX Tactical .45 ACP that I acquired from Superior Pawn and Gun in Tyler. I had been eyeballing the FNX for a while as the perfect .45 suppressor platform, and once I considered the optic-ready FNX slide the 32 |

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The FNX Tactical is ready to mount all the shown accessories right out of the box. This one is equipped with the Trijicon RMR optic, Streamlight TLR-1s mounted light, Silencer Co Osprey suppressor and tack driving Sig Sauer ammunition.

choice was easy. The stock FNX is a large pistol, but what else would you expect from a gun that holds 15 rounds of .45 ACP? With an MSRP of $1,399 it isn’t a cheap gun. But it comes with so many extras it’s easy to justify the price tag. I was pleased with the trigger. I normally prefer striker-fired, but this traditional double action is smooth enough to manage, and the single action has only a little creep and breaks at 4.5 pounds. The night sights are pleasantly bright with yellow dots in the rear and green

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a man comes running at you with a baseball bat, just leave, don’t pull your handgun and start firing. There are any number of situations where a person has the ability, but does not have the opportunity, and you must consider that before you use deadly force. I have mentioned before that a man within 21 feet of you with a knife can almost certainly use it on you before you can draw and shoot him. This 21-foot rule is used in courts. Last in this triumvirate is jeopardy. The first two do not constitute what a reasonable person would consider to be a reason to shoot. The threat must also demonstrate a willful intent to attack you. If you are standing ten feet from a man with an ax and he has shown no desire to attack you, he has both ability

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in the front. These fixed sights are also raised in order to give the extra height to work with any suppressor. Of course it comes with an industry standard Continued on page 34 u PHOTO: HANNAH PHOTO CREDIT ROYER

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Texas Department of Defense and opportunity, but has shown no intent, so you have no reason to shoot him. If, however, he says, “I’m gonna kill you, you SOB!” and starts toward you, you should consider taking action. Let’s say you are walking down the street and see a man standing by a window. He glances your way, and reaches into his pocket. When he brushes back his jacket you notice a gun in a holster on his hip. Do you draw and fire? What if you do and later look at him as he is lying there and notice the badge clipped to his belt? See what I mean when I say it is not an easy question to answer? It is always better to avoid a threat than to neutralize it, but sometimes you have no other option. When it comes time to shoot, what do you do? Do you fire a warning shot and run? No, almost never. It is almost never proper to fire a warning shot. I will not say it is never right to do so, because I cannot possibly conceive of all the possible scenarios. If I were faced with a man holding an ax, he was fifty yards from me and started running at me with his weapon raised, I might, if surroundings allowed it,

fire a warning. Then again, I would probably yell at him, warning him that I was armed and prepared to shoot, draw my gun, and get ready to shoot if he failed to stop. In all my career in law enforcement I never fired a warning shot, and probably never will. Most times all you have done is waste a round you might need later. When faced with a situation where you must shoot, what do you do? You shoot to neutralize the threat. You do not shoot to wound; you do not shoot to kill; you shoot to stop the antagonist from maiming you. You shoot for the center of mass, that area where the solar plexus, the heart, lungs, and blood vessels occupy the center of the torso. And you shoot until the threat is stopped. If that takes one shot, fine. However, if it takes five shots, that is fine, also. An effective shot, with an effective cartridge, will cause the nervous system to begin to shut down. This may not happen immediately. It may take a second, or several seconds. It does not matter. At that moment, you shoot until he stops coming. If at the first shot he drops his weapon and runs, you have no more reason to

shoot. If the threat has not stopped after the first couple of shots, and is closing on you, you might consider a head shot. That depends on your skill level. What do you do when the threat is stopped, or has run off? At that time you reload, make your gun safe, find a safe place where you can watch to see if the scumbag returns, call 911, report the incident, and do what the operator tells you to do. However, do not stand there with your gun in your hand, waiting for the police to show up. They do not know what a fine, upstanding citizen you are, and if you are standing there with a weapon in your hand, they will act just like they would if they were approaching any other armed stranger. When approached by the police, sit or stand where they can see both your hands, open. Immediately obey any orders you are given. When the police ask where your weapon is, tell them it is in the holster on your right hip, or wherever it is. Do not reach for it. Let the officer take it from the holster. —Steve LaMascus

Ultimate Pistol

always be pointed in a safe direction. In scanning a house with friendly occupants always bounce the beam off of the floor or ceiling so you aren’t dangerously sweeping them with your muzzle. Next I mounted a Trijicon RMR 08G as my optic. I’ve loved having the RMR01 on my ATEi S&W M&P and the RMR 08G is just as good and a little easier on the wallet. Although the 01 is an adjustable red dot, the 08 model is actually a dual-illuminated, electronicsfree fiber optic and tritium combination sight. This model has a 12.9 MOA green triangle reticle that lends to speed acquisition on close range targets, yet allows the user to use the tip of the triangle for more precise shots. Once assembled to my liking I found the FNX wonderful to shoot. Being a larger framed pistol loaded down with accessories recoil is just a soft shove. At 15 yards I was shooting a one-inch group with the new Sig Sauer ammunition. At

25 yards a headshot on a silhouette target was a breeze. At 50 yards eight-inch plates were not a problem at all when I just put the tip of the Trijicon triangle at the top. Reliability was 100 percent. The only downside to this rig as my home defensive pistol is the inability to holster it with the suppressor attached. If you shoot it with the suppressor on, you had better be wearing eye protection. I wouldn’t dream of shooting it without my Wiley Xs on because the suppressor throws so much powder debris back through the action it’s very likely to hit you in the eye. But when the guard dogs alert to nocturnal threats on the property, it’s just easy to grab this package and have 15 rounds of white-light-illuminated, silent .45 ACP in the palm of your hand. And it looks awesome too.

t Continued from page 32 suppressor-ready 5/8 x 28 threaded barrel. But most attractive is the modular milled slide so the shooter can drop in the micro red dot optic of choice. This option alone would run nearly $200 to have cut by a professional gunsmith. So to complete the project I decided I needed a light, optic, and suppressor. The light chosen is the Streamlight TLR-1s. Boasting of 300 lumens and 2.5 hour run time its paddle switch is easily activated with either the shooter’s trigger finger or support hand thumb. It has a momentary, strobe or constant function. All perfect for scanning a dark house or lighting up an area outside. While having a light on your firearm is a convenience, it is also a liability. Always remember that the light is on a firearm and must 34 |

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—Dustin Ellermann

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Bare Bones Hunting by Lou Marullo | TF&G Hunting Editor

HE WAIT IS FINALLY OVER. THE TIME HAS finally come. Let the games begin. Bow season for the mighty, elusive whitetail deer begins this month; and I for one, cannot wait a minute longer. All those hours of practice that you have been logging in will, hopefully, pay off with a freezer full of venison. Final preparations are the priority now. Your tree stands should already be in place. Trimming the brush for your shooting lanes should be a memory by now. This is the time of year when we all should be thinking about how to keep our human scent down to a minimum. Washing your hunting clothes in a scent-free detergent and letting them dry outside free from all foreign odors is important. I like to place my dried clothes in either a plastic bin with an earth-scented wafer taped to the lid of the bin. Or I grab a plastic garbage bag and keep them there until it is time to wear them hunting. The time for scouting is done. You really do not want to venture out in the woods you plan to hunt in and walk around alarming every deer in the county. All of your scouting should have been done a few months before the season and again after the season closes. Not many hunters get out after the season to scout, but you can learn a lot if you take the time to do it. Whitetail habits in the late season will be different from the first month of bow hunting. Food sources have changed obviously, but more important, you can find where the deer like to hide when pressured by hunters. The information you pick up while walking the woods after the hunting season will be vast and very helpful when it comes time to hunt the following year.

“ The time for scouting is done.

“

Let the Games Begin

Hunter Specialties has a great product called Scent Killer Gold. I spoke about this in a previous column, but I do believe in the product and it bears enough importance to mention it again. Not only does this company offer a scent-free laundry detergent, but they also include a body wash and a Scent Killer Gold spray in their product line. They call it their “hunt dry” technology, and they claim that the spray (when applied correctly) will last up to ten days without the need to refresh your hunting clothes. I believe them because I think it does work and it works well. The trick here is that after your hunting clothes have been washed and dried, you apply a generous amount of this spray on your clothes and after that dries, you can hunt for ten days without re-applying it. Pretty cool especially because it works.

It is also the time to give our hunting gear a final check. Bring your bow to a pro shop one last time before the season. Have the professionals give it a once over to make sure your bow is tuned to perfection and ready for action. Do you have enough arrows? You would be surprised at how many bow hunters go after their game with only a few arrows for the whole season. Unless they go by the name of Robin Hood, chances are that every once in a while they might miss the target and the arrow is lost forever in the thick brush. An extra dozen arrows is always a good move to keep at home just in case you need a few now and then. With all the practice you should have done, you probably have a bent arrow around somewhere. I like to make sure I have a quiver of brand new arrows for the T E X A S

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season. I shoot them just a few times to make sure they fly well out of my bow and then they are considered the “best” and are used only for the actual hunting season. I have gotten in the habit of keeping three arrows in my quiver equipped with a Luminok. These are nocks that light up when they leave your bow and head toward the target. If you have never tried these, then what are you waiting for? There are so many benefits to using these lighted nocks. Imagine for a moment you are hunting pigs and it’s getting near sunset. A nice boar comes in range and you need to make the decision to shoot or not. With a Luminok on the end of your arrow, you will be able to watch as the arrow strikes the target. More importantly, you will be able to determine exactly where the arrow hit and how long you should wait before following a blood trail. While trying to locate your downed animal, you might be able to see the light from a distance before closing in any further possibly spooking that animal into another zip code. Also, if the arrow you used breaks someplace along the blood trail, you will be able to locate it with ease and determine what to do next. For the novice bow hunter out there, try practicing with the Luminoks. When, and I do mean when, you miss your 3 D target in your yard or wherever you practice, you will have no trouble at all finding the arrow at night. Another great advantage is the fact that they stay lit for many hours. I sure wish they had something like this when I started out. Back then I used aluminum arrows and lost so many of them that if someone found them all, they could buy a brand new bow from the money they would make at the scrape yard. So the season is here. You are ready. The deer have no idea they are about to have a bad day. Now let’s hope it does not rain every chance we can go hunt. Other than that, there is nothing to hold you back and I predict a great bow hunting season.

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Email Lou Marullo at ContactUs@fishgame.co |

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8/7/14 4:59 PM

TRUE GREEN

Invasive Infestation TEXAS IS UNRIVALED IN LANDS and waterways filled with game birds and game animals, offering a wealth of outdoors opportunities. However, with the good also comes the bad – and even the ugly. We’re infested with invasives of all shapes, sizes, demeanors and hues, some of them much closer than you may realize – possibly even on your property right now. Here’s a glimpse at five invasives, including an animal, mollusk, fish, tree and fungus that have the potential to produce negative long-term impacts in different regions of the state. FERAL HOG: This is the face of the invasive issue in Texas, and for good reason: a Texas A&M University shed light on just how prolific these omnivores have become. If left unchecked, the state’s feral hog tally ‒ which was averaged at roughly 2.6 million animals, but is probably much higher. The most glaring figure from the report is the reduction rate necessary to keep the 36 |

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population in check. Roughly 66 percent of the animals must be taken off the range annually to keep their ranks from growing. Early Spanish explorers probably were the first to introduce the feral pig, hoping for a regular source of cured meat and lard for settlers. Russian boars were later introduced in the 1930s for sport hunting, paving the path for destruction when they escaped and bred with feral pigs. The rest, as they say, is history. ZEBRA MUSSEL: This nasty critter has wreaked havoc across the Great Lakes, and millions of dollars are spent each year

Zebra mussels can clog pipes and almost anything left in the water in infested lakes. T E X A S

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controlling, cleaning and monitoring zebra mussels in other states. Texas has become a new breeding ground for the mussel, so much so that a new law went into effect July 1, requiring that all freshwater boaters drain all water from their craft and onboard receptacles before leaving or approaching a lake. It applies to all types and sizes of boats whether powered or not. They can expand their range by hitching a ride on trailered boats that have been immersed or moored in waters where they have established populations. The rapidly reproducing mussels, originally from Eurasia, can have serious economic and recreational impact to reservoirs. They can clog public-water intake pipes, harm boats and motors left in infested waters by covering boat hulls, clog water-cooling systems, annoy boat-dock owners by covering anything left underwater and make water recreation hazardous because of their sharp edges. LIONFISH: The lionfish’s expansion includes the Gulf of Mexico. A specimen was even caught at the Packery Channel jetties in Corpus Christi. The fish also has been found at the Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary, the northern most coral reef bank in North America, about 100 miles south of Galveston. Lionfish have been found to have eaten almost any other marine life they can snag. Those other critters include shrimp, crabs and more than 100 other species. They’ve even been found to eat other lionfish and have been detrimental to a number of prized game fish including snapper, choking out food sources for other species as well. Although lionfish have been linked to warm habitats, they have shown that they can survive in a range of conditions and depths – even freshwater – and can reproduce quickly. A lionfish is able to breed roughly a year after being born. Predators in their native habitats in the western Pacific Ocean feed on their eggs and parasites there also help control those populations, but in new areas without these control factors, the lionfish has thrived. Continued on page 42 u

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8/7/14 4:34 PM

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TRUE GREEN CONTINUED...

DU Submits Three Grants for Texas Wetlands objectives set forth by the Gulf Coast Joint Venture, with the primary goal of providing habitat for wintering waterfowl that would improve survival rates and body conditions before spring migration. DU works with private landowners to restore, enhance and create an average of 3,000 acres per year of shallow-water wetlands through a 30-county focus area along the Gulf. A second NAWCA grant, Texas Water Delivery 1, was submitted to secure funding for construction of water wells and activities to improve water delivery and efficiency. Specifically, the grant targets landowners interested in installing water well projects. Anticipated delivery is just under 3,400 acres. Due to an ongoing drought in Texas, irrigation providers in the Lower Colorado and Brazos River basins have greatly restricted and reduced private landowners’ ability to provide seasonal water for breed-

DUCKS UNLIMITED TEXAS CONservation staff submitted three North American Wetlands Conservation Act (NAWCA) grant applications in July for wetland enhancement and restoration along the Texas coast. If funded, these grants will collectively improve approximately 13,000acres of wetland enhancements across the Texas Gulf Coast. If approved and funded, the Gulf Coast 12 NAWCA grant will provide the Texas Prairie Wetlands Project funding in Fiscal Year 2016. A total of 2,800 acres of wetland restoration and enhancement is proposed with this grant. Ducks Unlimited, Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service partnered to create the Texas Prairie Wetlands Project in 1991. The partnership was established to help deliver the habitat

Invasives t Continued from page 40 SALT CEDAR: This invader has taken over a number of areas, including in the Rolling Plains and Panhandle, choking out native vegetation that can’t compete for water. This is a fire-adapted species with long tap roots that allow it to lurk deep into the water table and interfere with natural aquatic systems. Salt cedar disrupts the structure and stability of native plants and degrades wildlife habitat by outcompeting and replacing native plant species, monopolizing limited sources of moisture, and increasing 38 |

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the frequency, intensity and effect of fires and floods. Although it provides some shelter, the foliage and flowers provide no food value for native wildlife. The salt cedar grows best in saline soils but is adaptable and tolerant of a variety of environmental conditions, making it a dangerous invasive requiring extensive and costly control measures. OAK WILT: This fungus was discovered in Dallas in the 1960s and has spread to a number of areas, including the Rolling Plains and numerous counties in Central Texas, according to the Texas A&M Forest Service. Live oaks and red oaks are most severely affected by the fungus, and red oaks appear to play a key

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ing, migrating, and wintering habitat for wetland-dependant wildlife. This proposal will assist landowners by developing underground water resources as well as more efficient delivery of this precious resource to habitats through underground pipelines. The third grant, Jefferson County Wetland Improvements, will provide funding for approximately 6,800 acres of wetland enhancement on private lands and the J.D. Murphree Wildlife Management Area near Port Arthur. In addition to wetland enhancements to Blind Lake Marsh, the project will also alleviate flooding concerns in lower Jefferson County. Ducks Unlimited is providing technical guidance and implementation of the project for Jefferson County, in coordination with Jefferson County Drainage District #6 and Texas Parks & Wildlife Department. Support and approval of DU’s assistance was gained unanimously from County Judge Branick and Jefferson County Commissioners. —Andi Cooper «TG

role in the establishment of new infection centers. The Texas live oak, which is responsible for producing some of the oldest trees in the state, is susceptible to the disease, but because of its tendency to form large root connections through which the disease can spread, it is considered to be an important host. The fungus also may be spread by insects and through movement of wood from infected oaks to other locations. Reports of widespread tree deaths that resemble oak wilt date to the 1930s. For more information on invasives, visit www.texasinvasives.org. —Will Leschper «TG

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Using Decoys for Bowhunting BY CHESTER MOORE

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Flip to View Full Spread

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BUCK PHOTO: TONY CAMPBELL, CANSTOCK; DECOY INSET, TINKS; COMPOSITE LAYOUT, TF&G

8/24/14 1:18 PM

IF THERE IS ONE THING bowhunters and crossbow hunters know, it is that they have a lot stacked against them. Combating a deer’s nose, which is far more sensitive than ours, is problem enough ‒ much less hunting pressure, general human awkwardness and little time to spend in the field. With many Texas hunters having to deal with antler restrictions that require a lengthy look at a buck before releasing an arrow, difficulty is taken to a new level. Using a deer decoy is one way to work around this problem. I was first introduced to serious deer decoying while hunting with TF&G Bowhunting Editor Lou Marullo some 12 years ago. He is a master at using decoys to score on deer and got me to start employing them in my own hunting ventures.

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8/7/14 4:37 PM

PHOTO: TINKS

Decoys tend to work best in the rut when they can spark a buck’s sexual and territorial instincts. Bucks will come out and fight buck decoys, and they will mount a doe just like she was the real thing. For hunters, that means you have the buck distracted and can make your move without it noticing. With big, mature bucks that is usually difficult, but with a decoy, it is quite easy. The proper use of a decoy begins with scent elimination. Use gloves while you carry and set up the decoy and spray it with a good cover scent or sexual attractant. The nose is a deer’s first line of defense so you have to get past that to get into the visual realm. The rest pretty much has to do with location. For one thing, if you are using one of the bedded decoys, do not set it up near a trail. Deer do not bed up on trails, so they should not be set up there. I like to use standing decoys and always place them upwind from where I expect the deer to come. Remember that bucks most of the time are going to be approaching with the wind in their faces. If they catch a whiff of doe in estrus and then see what they think is a doe, you have a good chance of getting a shot. Decoys are best employed in high use areas such as food plots, fields nearby woods, scrapes and travel funnels. Set up a doe decoy with its tail end toward you because bucks approach does from the side or the rear and this will give a good shot. For a buck decoy try the opposite approach with the head toward you, because a buck will usually approach cautiously from the front vantage point Make sure not to set up the decoy in a direct path to you. You do not want to give them a chance to see or smell you if they cross your line of scent. Set it up off to the side of your stand position to focus their attention on the decoy, not on you. Elevation is also

important as it definitely keeps you out of the line of sight if you’re up above 15 feet or so. It is a safety factor as well. If someone creeps up and ends up shooting your decoy for a real deer, your chance of getting shot decreases the farther up you get. To increase your chance of getting a buck to look at your decoy, use a piece of white tape on the tail to blow in the wind and give it some motion. Some hunters use monofilament fishing line to pull the tail when there is no wind. Others use the new decoys with battery-operated tails. Also, a bit of rattling or a grunt call adds to the effect. What you’re trying to do, is mimic nature. Particularly during the rut, bucks fight and grunt and does smell of estrus. If you can present those elements in a decoy you have successfully mimicked nature to the extent it seems real to the deer. That is the key. Marullo has had the most success by using grunt calls.

“Grunt calls are finally getting their due as the deer-luring tool they are, he said. “Using a grunt with a decoy h a s helped me bag a few nice bucks. The key is not to overdo it. By this, I mean you don’t hear deer grunting out there like you do ducks quacking. The key is keeping it all natural and once again, true to nature.” Television host Keith Warren has used decoys extensively and said the key thing for hunters to be wary of is that anything can happen. “Deer, especially bucks, can do some funny, exciting and downright interesting things around a decoy. Be ready for anything and enjoy the thrilling experience,” he said. “For safety, I recommend using a decoy outlined with blaze orange or have it covered in that color while you place it by foot or by four-wheeler. If you exercise proper caution, a decoy can open up a lot of opportunity for you. Perhaps you’ll get that super shy buck to drop its guard and check out your decoy long enough to get a shot.

Using a grunt call in combination with a decoy can be very productive. Just don’t overdo it.

Tinks has come up with easy-to-deploy inflatable decoys such as “Miss November,” above, and “Mr. October,” on the opening spread.

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PHOTO COMPOSITE: TF&G

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vs. Should you get your children and grandchildren hunting and fishing VIDEO games or REAL gear? The answer may surprise you. by calixto gonzales

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“CAREFUL, BOY, THAT IS ONE BIG GRIZ,” I CAUTIONED CALITO, my son. n He looked over at me with that practiced 17-year-old, “I know what I’m doing” glare that he’s hit me with time and again. Then he looked back at the crosshairs he’d settled onto the ursine goliath’s shoulders. The bear lifted its nose and sniffed the wind, seeming to sense that something just wasn’t right. “Shoot now!” I hissed, and my son sent a round downwind. The bear howled and collapsed. “One shot!” Calito chortled. “Sweet!” My wife walked into the television room in her robe. “Will you two PLEASE go to bed? It’s after 3 a.m. and you’re still playing that game!” That’s how one of those hunting games can be: downright engaging to the point of being addictive.

that would make you forget about Tecmo Bowl. There are Xtreme Games, Super Mario Kart, and even games where you create civilizations and advance through historic epochs. There are games for every age, taste, and interest. It should come as no surprise that video

Cabela’s Dangerous Hunt series of games. “I’ve been playing video games since my first Atari console back in 1983. I had all the adventure games, Pitfall, Spelunker, and Jungle Hunt. Later on it was Wolfenstein, Doom, Beastbusters, and Doom II. I love those games as much as

Hunting from Home There are all kinds of video games to accommodate every taste ‒ shoot ‘em up games with nazis, zombies, hostile space invaders and mutated postapocalyptic humanoids. There are sports games

p games have found a niche for the hunting crowd as well. Such respected names as Cabela’s and Bass Pro Shops have partnered with game designers to create and distribute games that revolve around hunting. The games, which are sold through big box stores and online, are available for all game consoles including X-Box, Wii, NES, and others. They have a hardcore and enthusiastic following among many outdoorsmen who are also fans of gaming. “It’s the best of both worlds for me,” said Craig Toombs, a devotee of the 46 |

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Popular video hunting games include Cabela’s Big Game Hunting (above, left), Cabela’s Big Game Hunter, Cabela’s Pro Hunts, Cabela’s Dangerous hunts, Bass Pro Shops’ The Hunt (above, right) and Bass Pro Shops’ Dangerous Hunts.

I love hunting. I get to combine both with these games. Toombs added that the games are more challenging than just shooting pixelated wild game while sitting on the couch of his man cave. Levels of difficulty ranging from novice PHOTOS: CABELA’S; BASS PRO SHOPS

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to expert increase the challenge in stalking your quarry, getting a shot, and even the danger involved. The aforementioned bear that my son “shot,” for example, might be stalking you as well. It isn’t impossible for a dangerous animal such as ta bear, a crocodile, or Cape buffalo to charge and get you before you get it. “It can make for some pretty crazy gaming,” Toombs said.

“Believe me, this game can be really tough,” he said. “When you have to stalk up the side of a mountain to get into shooting range to put an arrow in a bighorn sheep, it can be a real challenge.” “With a challenge like that, who needs zombies?”

Not Your Kid’s Game

The biggest concern someone may have over these games is whether to allow their children to play them. There is violence insofar as animals are “killed” in the game when the trigger is pulled (or in this case, a button is pushed). However, the violence isn’t the Sam Peckinpah-esque, over-the

Unlike a typical blood and thunder game such as The Last of Us or some other zombie first person shooter game, the hunting games do require the ability to “read sign.”

You aren’t being chased by the evil undead through dilapidated , abandoned skyscrapers, and depopulated towns. The game settings are placed in the quarry’s natural habitat, whether it is a jungle, alpine forest, or a grass plain. The gamer chooses his weapon, selected from a variety of practical and recognizable weapons ranging from crossbow or bow and arrow, to an array of rifle and handgun calibers (you will not find a BFG 5000 or minigun in the selection). The combination of the weapon, quarry, and habitat create a level of difficulty that is the charm of the game, according to Toombs.

Parental Guidance Suggested

top violence of many of the first person shooter games that are very popular among younger audiences. “I don’t have a problem playing this game with my kids,” said schoolteacher Salvador Benavidez. “My son is my hunting and fishing partner, so he understands that hunting involves killing your target. It isn’t the ridiculous bloody violence of some games like Deadlight or House of the Dead. I wouldn’t let him play any of those games.” Toombs added that he’d rather have his son play Dangerous Hunt than any of the Grand Theft Auto series. T E X A S

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“You wanna talk about games that are inappropriate for young people? Those games fit the bill,” Toombs said. “There are adults who shouldn’t play those games. They’re crazy.” Benavides and Toombs both emphasized that the key to allowing children of any age to play hunting games (which, by the way have ratings from T to MA) is parental supervision. “A good parent knows what games his kid is playing,” Benavidez said. “If he wants to play something more mature than Mario Kart, then I’d better be in the room, too, or he’s losing his Gameboy privileges.” The games can be addictive. I got my hands on a copy of Dangerous Hunts 2013. The first night, I was up until 2:30 a.m. playing. I still haven’t gotten that darn croc. My son has, and my wife too. She stayed up until 4 a.m. to do it, too.

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PHOTO ESSAY BY CHESTER MOORE

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BOUT 25 years ago, someone gave me this photo of a monster rattlesnake allegedly in Texas. Although the length of the snake is hard to tell, the girth is definitely impressive. It almost looks like an eastern diamondback, a snake quite a bit thicker 48 |

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than our western diamondback. In other words, the snake could be from Florida or somewhere else along the eastern seaboard. The man is holding the snake away from his body which makes it appear larger than it is but this is without question an extra big rattlesnake. I am trying to find out two things about this photo. 1. Does anyone have any verifiable T E X A S

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history on it-old magazine articles, news clippings, etc? 2. Has anyone seen this attributed to a specific area? Tracking down the origin of some of these photos is fun and this has been one that has interested me for years. I AM ALSO SEEKING OUT ANY game camera photos or detailed accounts PHOTOS: CHESTER MOORE; STEVE MEESE, BIGSTOCK

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of jaguars in Texas. I believe these cats could be present in small numbers, at least in the Trans-Pecos region and have collected a few reliable reports over the last few years. I have been intrigued by these cats since I got to work with them in captivity in the mid-1990s. They have been verified moving into New Mexico and Arizona. Could this be possible in Texas? I

believe there’s a good chance. LAST YEAR WE RAN A STORY about “ghost deer” or white whitetails in the state and got super feedback. If anyone has game camera photos of white whitetails in Texas, please email us and share so we can share with the TF&G Community. This pic is me with “Rusty” at the T E X A S

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Swenson Whitetail Ranch. He’s a beautiful, huge and friendly albino. Please contact us at cmooreoutdoors@ gmail.com. We want to do more connecting with our community on wildlife issues and look forward to sharing photos and reports.

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Open Season by Reavis Wortham | TF&G Humor Editor

RICKETS ROBBED THEIR LEGS TOGETHer on the moonlit shore. It served as a backbeat to the cicadas, which I hate. The chorus combined to set my teeth on edge, reminding me that it was still summer and would be for another couple of months. Delbert P. Axelrod, a prime example of the need for birth control, and I scanned the dark shoreline for feeding bass. Our guide, Gator, had assured us that we’d hook a big ‘un less than a hundred yards from where we launched the boat. He pointed toward a dark wet, log. I cast and waited until the rings subsided before beginning my retrieve. The line tightened in an explosion of water. I reared back, set the hook, and fought the six pound largemouth to the boat. Gagor lipped the big bass out of the water. Delbert’s eyes were the size of saucers in the darkness. “Man! He knew right where that fish was. Gator, it’s my turn, point me out a fish.” We trolled along in the darkness, following the bed in the river. Swamp sounds continued to fill the night air. I made another cast. “Gator, where’d you get that nickname? He sifted his chew and spat over the side. “Well, when I was a kid…gator there.” He pointed toward the bank. “I liked to ‘rassle ‘em big ‘uns down close to Baton Rouge at a gator park.” Delbert saw the pointing finger, and not paying any attention to the conversation, cast toward a floating log. The plug bounced off the dark log and into the water. The log ate his bait. “I got one!” “You sho’ do,” Gator said. “Now, what you gon’ to do wit’ it?” Delbert was busy with his battle, and

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“ He must have been using one of those new miracle lines that are as strong as steel.

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Louisiana Surprise

once again, didn’t pay any attention to Life going on around him. The front of the boat dipped and vibrated as his line stripped out so fast that smoke curled from the reel. Gator turned to me. “He lucky ‘dat’s a small one.” “I wish it were bigger,” I said, thinking of pleasant possibilities. I’m not sure why the line didn’t break. He must have been using one of those new miracle lines that are as strong as steel. Finally, Delbert gained on the reptile and pulled the gator to the boat. “I think he’s tired now. This bass must be a record.

Quick, Gator, lip him in when he comes back up.” Gator looked at me. “He crazy?” “Yes.” Water churned beside the boat. “Never mind!” Delbert leaned over the side. “I want to do it myself. This is a trophy bass, and I want to say I brought him in myself.” I tapped Gator on the shoulder. He turned his good ear in my direction. “Did he say bass?” “Yep. Better get a light up here.” “This isn’t a bass!” Delbert shouted like we were two miles away. “It’s the biggest gar I’ve ever seen.” The flashlight illuminated the scene just seconds before Delbert slipped our dip net over the furious alligator. Teeth flashed, and Delbert recoiled from his catch. “Teeth!

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Y’all see them teeth?” In his retreat, Delbert pulled the net close to the edge of the boat. That was just what the gator needed. Aided by a taunt line and the dip net, he hooked a prehensile toe on the gunnel and flipped into the boat. Gator and I stood on the Evinrude and watched the fun. I kept the flashlight on the tangled combatants in the floor of the veehull boat. “Yaaahhhh!!!” Delbert shrieked, holding up his right foot, upon which the gator hat latched. “This is an alligator. Help!” We watched the wrestling match in the jerking flashlight beam. A scaly tail or a chewed sneaker occasionally slapped the side of the boat. “Dang it, Delbert, hurry up and quit playin’ wit’ th’t little ol’ alligator.” Delbert reached for help and Gator low-fived him. “You’re gonna scare off all the fish.” Delbert came up from the tangle with an oar and proceeded to whomp the living tar out of the gator. After a good five minutes, he flopped back against the side of the boat. “That wasn’t a gar! It was an alligator!” “Yup,” said Gator. “You know, dey out of season. Why’d you try and catch him for?” “I didn’t!” Delbert screeched. He was so pumped that he couldn’t talk in a normal tone of voice for two weeks. “You pointed out a spot for me to cast.” Gator snored and picked his way to Delbert’s end of the boat. “Son, if you can’t tell an alligator from a log, then you don’t need to be fishing here.” The alligator woke up. Gator grabbed him by the snout with one hand and the tail with the other. With an expert flip, he dropped the startled reptile over the side. “Gator, can you do that with Delbert?” I suggested, hopefully. He laughed. “Enough playing around. Let’s see if we can find some more action.” “I’m all actioned out,” Delbert wheezed, and we waved goodbye to the reptile. Email Reavis Wortham at ContactUs@fishgame.com

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Ranger Mountains STORY AND PHOTOS BY DEAN HEFFNER T E X A S

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Sporting Tales THE WALKING CANE RANCH IS NESTLED IN THE RANGER MOUNTAIN Escarpment in north central Texas, with jagged rocky cliffs, awesome views, creek draws with cedar breaks and mesquite ﬂats. It is just east of Breckenridge at Caddo, Texas, the gateway to Possum Kingdom Lake in east-central Stephens County. Within this 7,300 acre working cattle ranch, which is not surrounded by high game fencing, wildlife is abundant and thriving On my first trip there, I saw at least 100 whitetails on just one green field, so I knew

before I knew it I was covered up with about 20 deer around me. They all came in just like Jacob said they would. He wanted me to take a cull buck and he knew I could judge the age of bucks well and trusted me to do so.

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Jacob Boyd with a solid 8-pound bass from one of the Walking Cane’s stock tanks.

I was in for a treat. Jacob Boyd, the ranch guide, set me up on a stand against one of the many Texas mountain hillsides in a clearing beside a creek with a feeder and box blind and told me the times the feeder would go off, which way they would come from, and what to look for. I was enjoying the view and songbirds singing for only about 15 minutes before the animals started funneling in. There were a number of does at first, then bucks, and S E P T E M B E R

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A WEEK LATER JACOB INVITED me to fish the many stock tanks on the ranch.

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A trail camera photo shows a young 14-point Walking Cane Ranch buck in velvet.

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tagged, loaded and began scoring him. To my surprise he scored 124 B&C. Very nice for a cull buck.

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After about an hour of pure delight watching the family groups of does and the bucks working out who was in charge, an old, mature cull buck snuck in, and the hunt began. I had to switch gears and after carefully judging his age, determined he was the buck Jacob wanted culled from this area so I quickly dispatched the wily buck from about 150 yards. It was a quick death, and once I gave my respects to the majestic old buck, we

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As we drove through the ranch between tanks, we spied deer, turkey, hogs and many doves. At the end of the evening, I had caught more than 50 largemouth bass, the largest weighing nine pounds and losing a sure 10-pounder. I fished a plastic worm and Jacob had a, well we will just say he really put it to me and caught a lot more fish than I. Jacob rounded the trip out by putting me on the tank where he thought we could catch

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some nice crappies. As soon as we settled in the boat after using the trolling motor to get to the far end of the pond, we began catching 1-1/2 to 2-pound crappies right and left. They fought as hard as a 4 to 5 pound bass, and I personally caught about two dozen barn doors. It was a stellar fishing trip for sure another memory for the noggin. There also are many catfish in the ponds, but our evening trip was geared to the black bass and crappie and I didn’t have enough arm left to reel in one more fish. I ASKED IF JACOB EVER SAW ANY hogs, so he suggested we drive to the back of the property to an area that he called

the Thompson, with a big pond on it and situated on a hill overlooking part of Caddo Creek that runs into Lake Possum Kingdom. We parked on a high rocky bluff and he told me to be ready when we peeked over the edge, because below us was a feeder and there should be hogs there. It was now late in the evening, and I readied myself as we snuck up and over. Sure enough, there were huge hogs in and around the feeder. He quickly pointed out the best one, which I already had in my sights, and I quickly dropped it. I followed up and got another on the run and barely missed the third as it hit the mesquite flat. Wow, what a hog hunt. My adrenaline

IN JUNE, JACOB ONCE AGAIN called to offer me a chance at thinning some hogs out on the ranch for him, and invited my wife and me for a hog hunt. He settled us into a nice box blind on the southeast corner of the huge ranch and told us what to expect and when the feeders would go off As I got my wife, Leanne, settled in and accustomed to her set-up, and just as she lowered her gun from sighting in at the feeder, along came two does. I realized that Leanne was shaking as if she had buck fever and I softly whispered, “It`s okay to breathe, dear.” She looked over with an appreciative smile and said, “Thanks. I got so excited I

A big feral sow with a brood of 10 piglets visits one of the Walking Cane’s feeders. 

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Trevor Wheat, right, enjoyed a successful Walking Cane hunt with his brother Tristan.

Kelsey Pringle caught this barn-door crappie in one of the stock tanks.

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Kirby Boyd with a 120pound boar and two sows he and son Jacob killed.

was flowing as we crept up on the two downed hogs, which were both right at 200 pounds as we weighed them back at the barn. We snapped some quick photos and began the arduous task of loading them up. I showed Jacob an easy way to remove the back straps and tenderloins, which taste just like store-bought pork. And with that, I had another great Walking Cane Ranch experience.

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forgot to breathe.” We both had a chuckle, and then the hunt was on. Right at dark, a bunch of small pigs came running to the feeder and behind them was a big feral sow hog. Leanne took a deep breath, let half out and before I was ready, she shot. I got rocked out of my chair as I had forgotten she was shooting my .270 Remington with a muzzle brake, and I had

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Texas Boating by Lenny Rudow | TF&G Boating Editor

Guns and Boats

UNS DO NOT BELONG ON BOATS. Deep breath, people, deep breath...but they don’t. And not because of any of the arguments you probably think I’m about to spew out into the toxic wasteland of firearm rights arguments. Nope, this has nothing to do with people shooting people whether it’s on purpose, by accident, or otherwise. Nor does it have anything to do with shooting your own boat, which I’ll assume only happens by accident. No, the reason that I maintain that guns don’t belong on boats is because it’s bad for your guns. As any waterfowl hunter already knows, when you mix water with guns you have a bad scenario for the guns. Especially if it happens to be saltwater. Case in point: after a duck hunting trip last winter, one of my sons missed a bead of moisture running along the bolt in his Mossberg Youth 20-guage, during the cleaning process. It

created those nasty, awful, jam-creating crusty bits of corrosion, which yes, jammed the gun on our very next trip. Unfortunately, in attempting to clear the jam he broke the gun. Sure, a bit of carelessness could be blamed. But a 14 year-old has to learn to take care of his guns on his own, and my son is usually quite conscientious and thorough. When you boil it down to the basics, a few drops of water resulted in the gun’s (at least temporary) demise. The bottom line? Yes, how you clean and care for your firearm ultimately dictates its condition, but if you take it onto a boat, you greatly increase the chance of problems resulting from water intrusion. There are, of course, certain precautions you can take to prevent water intrusion in the first place. So if boating and gunning are two things you enjoy together, make sure you take them. 1. CASES AND ONBOARD STORAGE – Most hunters use floating gun cases that either zipper shut or are secured with a Velcro flap. These shouldn’t be depended on for much beyond protection from a bit of spray, while the boat is in motion. You’ll notice when shopping for

them that they don’t claim to be “waterproof,” but are almost always advertised as “water-resistant.” Any time you plan on going for extended runs, overnighters that may include camping aboard, or similar trips that extend the gun’s potential exposure to moisture, you should instead use a rigid case that’s certified watertight. These are a bit more expensive than soft-sided cases, and they’re a real pain-in-the-butt to stow, but they offer a lot more protection. Note, however, that putting a gun into one of these cases when it’s still even the least little bit wet is the worst thing you can possibly do. That will seal the moisture in, just as effectively as the case can seal it out. Add a few packets of moistureabsorbing silicon, to go the extra mile. If your boat has a dedicated gun-box (or a rod-box you can use for the same purpose) it can help, as well. None that I’ve ever seen is 100-percent as good as a high-quality rigid case, because integrated compartments simply don’t seal as well. That said, how-

SPORTING TALES  CONTINUED FROM PAGE 53 no follow-up shot. I was grinning ear to ear when she looked my way and asked “Did I get it?” She got her answer from the expression on my face. We high-fived and excitedly celebrated her first hog. There’s nothing like watching a person when they make their first kill or catch their first fish. My bride now has a fresh memory for her own noggin thanks to the Walking Cane Ranch.

now, and in the very near future the ranch will be offering package hunts, fishing and lodging with meals for a full Texas wildlife experience. So whether you`re an avid hunter, fisherman or just want to take in the scenery, hunt or photograph the wildlife, it will be available. For more information, call The author‘s Jacob Boyd at 1-682-429-5761. 8-point “cull”  Visit the ranch website at walkingbuck scored canehunts.com or send an email to 124 B&C. walkingcane hunts@yahoo.com.

JACOB AND HIS GRANDMOTHER, Josie Kelley, have had a management plan in place for the ranch for over eight years 54 |

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Texas Boating ever, they can maintain a relatively dry environment aboard. But they have to be truly watertight. Some features to check for include a gasketed lid, which seals under tension from a latch. The hatch should also have a raised lip and a gutter, to sluice away any water that enters the boat and washes across the hatch. If the compartment locks so much the better, since that simplifies things when you’re in transit and you stop at a restaurant or store. 2. INSTANT DRYING – Here’s something every hunter’s boat should have, yet few do: a large zipper-lock bag, with a dry towel inside. Keep one onboard, and the moment your gun gets wet you can give it a wipe-down. No matter how careful you may be, everything on a boat does eventually get wet. Maybe the dog just climbed back into the boat after a retrieve and it shakes off, maybe a careless buddy handles your gun

with wet gloves, or maybe it starts raining unexpectedly. Whatever the reason, the best thing you can do is dry the gun off as soon as possible. And if you don’t always carry a dry towel in a sealed environment, you may not have any way to wipe away that water. 3. KEEP SHELLS CONTAINED – Naturally, shoving a wet shell into a dry chamber can get water where you least want it. And it kills me how many hunters will open a box of shells, and set it on a bench seat or shelf. News flash: boats rock. Things fall over. And after falling over, shotgun shells have a nasty habit of rolling down to the lowest point in a boat—where there’s usually some water, waiting for them. If you notice they got wet you can dry them off, but that’s only if you notice. And in the frantic effort to reload when a really dumb duck (my favorite kind) circles back after rest of his flock unexpectedly dropped from the

sky, I’ve seen plenty of hunters drop a shell onto a wet deck, grab it back up, and slam it home in the chamber. 4. CLEAN IN THE TRUCK – Sometimes, it’s simply impossible to keep your gun dry without ending a hunt. In these cases, don’t wait until you get home to clean your gun. Instead, keep a basic cleaning kit in the cab of your truck, and give the gun a precursory cleaning as soon as you’ve pulled your boat. This shouldn’t take the place of a full-blown effort back at your house, but corrosion can begin in an amazingly short period of time. An hour-long drive can be enough to have a visible effect. Another important note in this situation: don’t case your gun wet, remove it for that quick cleaning, then put it back into the same case. Again, that will hold the moisture directly against the metal. 5. CHOOSE QUALITY, IN THE FIRST PLACE – Choosing a good quality gun isn’t just a matter of weight, accuracy, action, and fit. It’s also a matter of longevity after exposure to a moist environment. At least, it is if you ever plan on leaving the dock with it aboard. Many relatively lowcost shotguns will show surface rust in a matter of minutes, because they don’t have high-quality metals and/or finishes. To get back to the bottom line, again, how you care for your gun has the biggest impact on how it survives an encounter with water. And when it comes to gun care, the expert advice you’ll find from the TF&G gunning editors is bound to be a lot better than anything the boating guy can share with you. But on a boat, preventative measures will help. That’s important to remember because even though guns really don’t belong on boats, you and I both know that’s not going to stop us from bringing them aboard.

Email Lenny Rudow at ContactUs@ﬁshgame.com Get more boating tips in LENNY RUDOW’s Texas Boating Blog at www.Fishgame.com/blogs 56 |

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Texas Guns by Steve LaMascus | TF&G Shooting Editor

Do You Believe in Magic?

OMETIMES WE MAKE SHOTS THAT we are not capable of. Or do we? I found out a long time ago that if I carried my rifle or handgun every day and shot it at every opportunity, miracles would happen. When the time came to make one of those

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miraculous shots, my subconscious kicked in and did what my pure skill could never do if it were being driven by conscious thought. The little gray fox was coming for all he was worth. Strangely enough it was high noon on a blazing hot South Texas day just outside the city of Eagle Pass, Texas. Any of you who have been to Eagle Pass in August know what that means. Those of you who haven’t, think of hell with all the air conditioners on the blink and a big bonfire raging. It was HOT! This was the first gray fox I had ever seen. I had called lots of coyotes and bobcats, but never a fox. I wanted it very badly. The problem was that it was coming straight into the wind. There was no way the fox was going to

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get within reasonable range of the old 1917 Enfield’s peep sight before it caught the scent of our sweat-covered bodies and skedaddled. At about 200 yards the fox jammed on the brakes, did a sliding U-turn, and headed back toward the safety of the brush from which he had come. Not thinking, at all, I swung the big .30-06 up, found the fox in the sights, and well the gun went off. At the shot the fox rolled to a stop in a cloud of caliche dust. I could not have made that shot again if I had been offered a million dollars and my choice of Hollywood starlets. I was 17, and the money and the starlet were about the same value in my usually hormone-addled brain. (By the way, I would probably have chosen Ann-Margaret.) I don’t know how far the shot was. It was down a small bluff, across a wide opening, beyond a wooded creek, and across another opening. I would guess that it was well over 300 yards, but I could be far wrong. The 150-grain bullet had hit the little fox square in the middle, almost dissecting it. My brother, David, and I were hunting rabbits on a place just outside of Eagle Pass. We had only one rifle, a single-shot Remington .22 that David had gotten for a previous birthday by the expedient of Mom trading a huge wad of S&H Green Stamps for it at the redemption center in Vernon, Texas, when we lived in Benjamin. It was my shot. We were walking through an area that had once been cultivated, but which had been allowed to return to brush. There were still, however, large openings and the terraces were still visible in places. As we were walking along I noticed a big jackrabbit take off from under one of the mesquite trees that provided thin shade in the heat of the summer. The jackrabbit ran until it was confident it was out of range and then stopped on top of one of the old terraces to survey the situation. We had not managed to take any rabbits in a rather long morning, so out of sheer boredom and desperation I raised up the little

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.22, lined up the sights, raised them what seem a ludicrous amount over the rabbit, and touched one off. I had lowered the rifle and thought I had missed when the jackrabbit fell over and the sound of the hollow point bullet striking flesh came drifting to us over the pasture. I don’t know which of us was more surprised, me, David, or the jackrabbit. I stepped the shot off at either 152 or 153 yards. I scratched the distance in the stock of the rifle, but David has since refinished the gun, so I do not know for sure which it was. The rabbit didn’t care. David and I were hunting deer on a ranch between Uvalde and Brackettville. It was one of those rare days when the temperature was below freezing, there was no wind, and the sun was shining. We were very slowly still-hunting the side of a small mountain. At the top of the mountain were a number of old rock quarries, which now held water. One of them was spring-fed and was always full of cool, clear water. We were about halfway up the mountain when we stopped by a small rivulet that carried rainwater down to the

creek in the canyon below. We stood there by the little draw for several minutes, whispering, deciding how to cover the rest of the mountain. We were about ready to start moving again when the buck that had been hiding in the brush in the bottom of the draw about ten yards from us couldn’t stand it any longer and burst from his hiding place. I had the rifle on the buck before it got more than 20 yards, but it was going straight away and I would not risk a shot at its rump. Then, at about 75 yards, the buck suddenly turned to the left, giving me a shoulder to shoot at. Without thinking I swung the crosshairs of my .270 past the deer’s nose and the gun fired. The buck rolled into the brush at the far edge of the clearing in a cloud of dust, with a hole in the exact center of its shoulder. Once more my reflexes had taken over and made a shot I probably could never have made had I been thinking about it. If the buck’s nerves had held out, we would have walked on, and I doubt we would have ever known it was hiding in the brush ten steps from us.

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I do not violate game laws, ever. However, in my youth I was not quite so observant of the regulations. Since the statute of limitations has undoubtedly run out on this minor violation, and since I did once admit my crime to a game warden friend, I will share it with you. My brother, David, loves to eat duck, but since we live in a desert, ducks are a rare delicacy. One day, about 30-odd years ago, David and I were on a ranch near Uvalde calling bobcats. We had stopped at the rock tanks described in the previous paragraph. On the tank was a flock of ducks. We set up our stand and began calling. I do not remember if we called up a bobcat or not, but when we were finished calling, David decided he wanted one of the ducks that were swimming happily on the tank. We decided that David would sneak around the tank to a place where he could get a good shot at a duck with his .222. I would stay where I was and when David shot; I would try to get a second duck with my .17 Remington, if the ducks would sit for just a second. Like all good plans this

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Texas Freshwater by Matt Williams | TF&G Freshwater Editor

TPWD Up to Their Necks in Gar Guts

T’S A DIRTY, NASTY JOB, BUT SOMEbody’s gotta do it.” That’s the mantra Randy Myers his crew have been singing among themselves for much of 2014. Understandably so. Since April, they’ve been up to their necks in gar guts. Myers is a Texas Parks and Wildlife Department fisheries biologist from San Antonio who is ram-rodding an intensive study on the alligator gar at Lake Falcon along the Texas/Mexico border. The scientists are hoping to learn all they can about gar population dynamics and spawning habits of the toothy predators finning around in the fabled South Texas reservoir. More important, they are hoping to find out if the fierce-looking prehistoric throwbacks have a preference when the dinner bell rings, and whether or not they are to blame for the sig-

nificant decline witnessed in Falcon’s world class bass fishery over the last few years. In case you’ve been living under a rock, Falcon in 2012 was ranked as the No. 1 bass fishing lake in America by Bassmaster. The lake was on fire for several years prior, as reflected by countless tournament reports that read like something out of a fairy tale book. The most widely publicized was the 2008 Elite Series event won by Mississippi pro Paul Elias with a four-day weight record of 132 pounds, 8 ounces. Elias was joined in the Top 12 by 11 other anglers who cracked the fabled century mark. But the good ol’ days at Falcon didn’t last for long. Since that time, the bass fishery has been in a downward spiral right along with the declining water levels that are so common in a drought-prone part of the world where water supplies are often double

stressed by irrigation demands across the Rio Grande valley southward into Mexico. We’re not talking about 3-4 foot fluctuations, here. At Falcon, dramatic fluctuations of 20-40 feet have been recorded multiple times dating back to 1954, the year the lake was built. Low water robs bass of shallow habitat critical to spawning and recruitment of young bass and forage fish. During extended periods of low water it is possible to lose multiple year classes of bass, resulting in poor fishing. Big rain events have a history of reversing the process. When water levels rise, it floods new growth vegetation that provides optimum cover for spawning and recruitment. Eventually, everything is rosy again. According to TPWD surveys, the bass population at Falcon is down about 65 percent from what it was in 2011. It seems likely that the most recent low water cycle (the lake was 28 feet low July 2014 and nearly 36 1/2 feet low in July 2013) has contributed to the decrease, in addition to angler harvest and angling-induced mortality among released fish.

TEXAS GUNS  CONTINUED FROM PAGE 59 one failed. David got into place, lay down and got into a solid prone position, and touched one off. I was looking through the 6X Redfield scope on my .17 Remington when the ducks burst from the water. Suddenly one of the ducks appeared in the crosshairs of my rifle, his wings beating in desperation. Just as suddenly my gun fired. I was surprised by the sound of the shot, but not as surprised as I was by the result. The duck was now a mass of disheveled feathers, volplaning in the breeze, to plop back onto the water like a B17 hit by flak over Dusseldorf. By pure reflex I had hit the flying duck with a 60 |

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varmint rifle wearing a 6X scope, shooting a 25-grain bullet at 4,000 feet per second. Needless to say there wasn’t enough of the duck left to eat. Sadly, David had missed his shot at the sitting ducks, so there was no duck for supper that evening. I could go on, but you should have the idea by now. For many years I shot nearly every day, and certainly every week. My brothers and I hunted deer in season, varmints and jackrabbits at other times. We did enough shooting that David and I both wore the barrels out on several rifles over a period of not many years. When we were not hunting, we were at the gun club working up loads or shooting in the matches that were held there almost every weekend. Our rifles

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were at that time extensions of our arms and we were as accurate and as fast as we ever have been. The shots I have described were certainly lucky shots, but they were made because of our familiarity with our rifles and our sharpened reflexes, honed by many thousands of rounds we fired. As the old golf pro said when one of his opponents watched him make a miraculous shot and said: “You’re about the luckiest man I ever saw.” The pro replied: “Yep, and the more I practice, the luckier I get.”

Email Steve LaMascus at ContactUs@ﬁshgame.com

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But many locals believe the lake’s booming population of alligator gars may be partly to blame, as well. They are so adamant about the belief that they are begging TPWD to remove Falcon from blanket regulation intended to protect alligator gar populations statewide by limiting anglers to taking one fish per day. Implemented in 2009, the regulation was made even more restrictive last summer when the TPWD Executive Director was given authority to temporarily close gar fishing on portions of rivers when water levels are best for spawning. “There is no doubt in my mind gars are eating our bass,” says James Bendele, a local guide and owner of Falcon Lake Tackle. “I’ve been working tournament weigh-ins for a long time, and a few years ago I started seeing a lot bass brought to the scales that had escaped from a gar. They have big gashes and puncture marks. If you’ve ever looked in the

“

on to TPWD upper management but met with resistance. More public outcry followed, which eventually led to the current study, which will conclude sometime in October or November. The study involves capturing gars in gill nets and cutting them open to evaluate their stomach contents. Biologists also are aging individual fish by examining their otoliths. Scientists have made some interesting discoveries about Falcon’s alligator gars thus far. For starters, they know the population is significantly higher than it was five years ago. Another finding contradicts growth rate data collected in previous Louisiana studies that indicate it takes 10-14 years for the fish to reach maturity. “That’s not even close to what is going on at Falcon,” said Myers. “We’ve caught 120pound gars at Falcon that were only five years old and we’ve found some females carrying much as 30 pounds of eggs. Falcon is a different animal from a lot of lakes in Texas. The bass grow extremely fast there and, obviously, so do the gars. They are eating a lot of fish to grow over 100 pounds in only five years.”

Myers said stomach analysis performed on dozens of big gars indicate they are opportunistic feeders. While some of the fish collected had empty stomachs, others did not. Biologists have thus far found the remains of carp, catfish, drum, gizzard shad and, yes, a few largemouth bass in the gar bellies. “We’ve found some pretty good size bass, too -- 4-5 pounders,” Myers said. The biologist pointed out it still too early in the study to pass judgment on the alligator gar and label it as a major factor in the decline in Falcon’s bass population. But he feels certain that time will tell the tale of the teeth. “Right now we’re still gathering our data to better understand the Falcon gar population and to help us quantify what it is the anglers want,” Myers said. “If the information we end up with supports it, I would make recommendation for a rule change on alligator gar that is specific to Lake Falcon.”

Email Matt Williams at ContactUs@ﬁshgame.com

There is no doubt in my mind the gar are eating our bass.

“ mouth of a gar, you’ll know why.” Bendele, a former member of the TPWD’s Freshwater Advisory Board, says he believes other species of fish are suffering at the jaws of alligator gars, too. “A couple of years ago you could pull up to bushes, rock banks and bridge pillars and catch huge bream by the bucketful,” he said. “You can’t do that anymore. The crappies are gone, too. These fish (alligator gar) are indiscriminate. They eat whatever is available in abundance. There’s no telling how many bass they were eating back when this lake was full of fish.” Adding to the worry is the fact alligator gars are at the top of the food chain. Fish weighing more than 300 pounds have been documented in Texas waters and 200 pounders are fairly common. Bendele says he voiced his concerns early T E X A S

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Texas Saltwater by Calixto Gonzales | TF&G Saltwater Editor

Nothing Worth Watching

IFE IS IN BED AND RECOVERING from a tonsillectomy, so I’m at home playing nurse. I never realized how barren television is during the day. There is little to nothing on television worth watching. How many episodes of “Criminal Minds” can a body watch? Anyway, here are some of the thoughts passing through my stimulationstarved brain. I’ve heard a great deal of doom and gloom about the Lower Laguna Madre of late because of the dredging of the Intercoastal Waterway and the amount of dredge spoil dumped back into the Laguna. The concerns are with the damage it causes to the sea grasses native to the bay system and to water clarity, and thus to the food chain in general. However, creel surveys that Texas Parks and Wildlife has conducted show that catches of speckled trout and redfish are only slightly lower than last year, and still higher than in previous years. Studies have also shown an increase in the population of brown shrimp and pinfish, which are two primary forage species for both predators. There has also been a noticeable increase in the number of black drum in the Laguna (so much so that some guides are offering trips that focus almost exclusively on the noisy fish). The fact is, the Laguna is in very good shape. As for the sea grasses and silt: eventually, the silt will settle to the bottom, as it has in past dredgings. Sea grasses have taken a battering from recent freezes and a huge slug of fresh water that drained into the Lower Laguna Madre via the Rio Grande Valley 62 |

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Floodway and lingered for four months in 2010 The grasses will grow back and have already started to do so. From my sources in Texas Parks and Wildlife, there isn’t any worry about the Lower Laguna Madre, but they are monitoring the situation and will respond if conditions warrant it. Yes, the water clarity goes to pot when the wind really starts cranking, but the fish are still there, and in good numbers. Time heals all, and the Laguna will rebound, and perhaps very quickly. I am more concerned with the plan to build another causeway between the mainland and South Padre Island’s south side. The claim is that another artery needs to be created to help with evacuation in the event of a major tropical cyclone. I am calling bull on that, not so much because of the risk of a hurricane making landfall at South Padre Island because someday it will happen. I’m calling it on the intent of the causeway. It is to try and get more tourists on the Island. That it would affect the ecosystem of the Lower Laguna Madre is a secondary concern. In fact, I can say that my past dealing with the South Padre Island Visitors and Convention Bureau, the interest is more on tourist dollars and much, much less on the sportsman’s dollars. A man I’ve known since I was 11, and whom I respect deeply, once told me, “Boats are very much like horses. Anybody can buy one and try to use it, but very few actually know how.” My nephew, Javi, has suddenly become a fishing nut. He comes over from my parents’ house at least twice daily to ask me a fishing question. My son can take or leave fishing how did that happen? Mr. Albert Rutledge passed away back in July. My longtime readers will remember him as the subject of a feature entitled “Mother in Her Younger Days,” which looked at the Lower Laguna Madre through the eyes of men who fished the area for more than 60 years. I am heartbroken because a dear man

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from whom I learned a great deal is gone. These grand old men and women who blazed trails and fished waters before anyone else are slowly moving on to find different waters. They’re in every town, but many younger people forget about them when they should be treasure the learning trees they nurture. The panorama of a fishing community grows a little more faded each time we lose one of these people. Cherish them as long as they are around. A lot of readers ask me how I come up with the material I write about. Writers have the ability to observe everything around them. The same external stimuli that other people tend to filter out, we pick up. It gives us a wide palette to work from. Strangely enough, some people say the same thing about the insane. Here is a cool fact about the huge number of black drum that have been residing in the Lower Laguna Madre: These fish moved down the Land Cut into the LLM looking for new feeding grounds. Fisheries biologists tell me that these fish will pretty much stay as long as the food supply is available. That would essentially mean that these dudes are here to stay. Anglers should rejoice at the new fishing opportunities this creates. I am currently watching an episode of the FLW Tour and the Collegiate Bass Fishing Championships while I write this. I can’t help but wonder about a bureaucracy like the NCAA, which couldn’t find a lake if they were standing knee-deep in it. Imagine the vapors the Compliance Office would go into when they see the number of corporate sponsors the typical competitive bass fisherman relies upon. The Title IX question is irrelevant, because women can fish as well, and usually out-fish, guys, but could you imagine the ridiculous rules the NCAA would impose? Wait a minute there’s a Texas Longhorn team this I gotta watch. Contact Calixto Gonzales at CGonzalez@ﬁshgame.com

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Texas Tested

Go to X-treme IF HIGH-PERFORMANCE ISN’T enough, you must need “hyper performance”. And that’s what St. Croix says it delivers, in the new for 2014 LegendXtreme series. Whatever you call it, one thing is for sure these rods are unlike any others on the market. You can’t walk down the isle of a tackle shop without the LegendXtreme catching your eye. The first reason is its grip and butt shape, which is almost hour-glass in nature. It looked a bit odd to me at first, but I warmed up to it after holding one in my hands for a while; the contours are easy to grip, and when you need to plant the butt in your gut to pump on a big fish, this one’s right for the job. What you really care about, of course, is not so much looks but how these rods perform under the strain of a head-shaking bull red. First off, sensitivity is excellent. This is in no small part due to St. Croix’s SCvi graphite, but also the IPC (integrated poly curve) tooling technology, which eliminates the usual transition points in a rod blank. According to St. Croix, IPC also increases the rod’s overall strength. Guides are titanium-framed with zirconia rings, and the reel seat is the Fuji SK2 variety. These have smaller fore-grips than I like, but I also realize I’m in the minority; most anglers prefer them, as evidence by their popularity. And, they’re light— really light—which helps the InshoreXtreme maintain its extremely svelte nature; rod weight ranges from 4.4 to 5.5 ounces, depending on the specific model. Three spinners are available and all are seven feet long, one-piece, fast-action rods, but you can get them in medium-light, medium, or medium-heavy power. There’s also one casting model available, which is medium-heavy. Now, are you ready for the bad news? Hyper performance doesn’t come cheap. These models MSRP range is between

$380 and $390. Of course, when it comes to fishing rods—and just about everything else—you get what you pay for. And in this case, you’re paying for the latest and greatest in inshore saltwater fishing rods. For more info, check out their website, www.stcroixrods.com.

Next-Gen Outboard THE FIRST LOOK AT BRPS’ EVINrude E-TEC G2 outboard is likely to leave you speechless. The real question is, will the first ride leave you breathless? G2 is, as you might guess from the name, the next generation E-TEC outboard from Evinrude. And it has that wild look because Evinrude did away with the standard cowl design and instead moved to a composite exoskeleton. The good news for do-it-yourselfers is that when you pull the side panel off, you have great access to items like the water separator/fuel filter, but even better, you can slap your eyeballs on a gearcase lube reservoir. That means you can check your lube oil for both level and contamination at a glance, instead of having to pull plugs and drip messy gear lube all over the place. These side panels, which come in five different colors with 14 different accent stripes to match your boat or tow vehicle, are secured with six screws. I don’t like the thought of needing a tool to get inside, but BRP kept the hassle to a minimum by using quarter-turn screws. Besides, they don’t think you’ll need to go in there very often. The G2 boasts a five year/500 hour no-maintenance T E X A S

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plan. Although the weight of these 200- to 300-HP models differs little from existing E-TECs, little else about them is similar. The gear case is all-new and incorporates the shift actuator, eliminating the need for a (troublesome) shift linkage. Steering is controlled with a helix screw integrated into the mounting bracket. And when you steer, the rigging tube doesn’t move. I’ll bet what you’re really wondering about, however, is the powerhead. It’s also all new, a 3.4 liter 74-degree V6, and yes, it is a twostroke. Some major design changes include redesigned transfer and exhaust ports, pistons, and cylinder heads, which have been changed to improve efficiency and reduce the amount of fuel escaping through the exhaust port. I haven’t been able to perform any on-the-water comparison tests confirming this yet, but Evinrude is claiming that the redesign gains the G2 20-percent more torque, 15-percent better fuel economy, and 75-percent less emissions. The G2 E-TECs are going into production now, and BRP hopes to have them at the fall boat shows. Keep an eye out for them there—and prepare yourself to be left breathless. For more information, visit www.evinrude.com.

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—Lenny Rudow

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Fish and Game Gear

Hobie Mirage Pro Angler 17T INTRODUCING HOBIE MIRAGE Pro Angler 17T Fishing Boat: A humanpowered 17-foot fishing machine. No gas needed, no-motor-zone compliant and made in the U.S.A. The new 17T integrates all the features of the Pro Anglers including Hobie’s iconic patented MirageDrive pedal system with adjustable Turbo Fins for propulsion, leaving hands free for casting and catching fish. Three different configurations for the new, three-inch higher Vantage XT seats include traditional in-line tandem seating, face-toface social tandem or solo, all with enough room for man’s best four-legged friend. It also has plenty of space for standing, casting and fly fishing in comfort. Another key new feature is the patentpending 12-sided H-Rail System for mounting accessories. The rail runs along each side of the boat and provides a quick and easy way to secure a variety of accessories. Two-each, H-Rail Mounting Plates; Rod Racks; and Cup Holders come stock with the boat. An infinite number of optional accessories can then be added to the H-Rail such as a trolling engine mount, tackle bins, fish finders, camera mount or rod holders. A large rudder provides steerage and maneuverability, and the new drop-down tracking skeg can be deployed when covering long distances in challenging conditions. The battery platform can also hold a crate or small cooler. Storage for up to 12 rods, ten horizontally and two vertically, keeps them handy but out of the way. A large front hatch and liner offer easy access for storing fish, ice, food, clothing or extra tackle. The built-in Lowrance Ready transducer mounting plate and pre-installed wire plugs make it quick and easy to install electronics. Three large rectangular hatches provide easy access to pivoting Tackle Management Systems 64 |

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 Hobie Mirage Pro Angler 17T Boat

and in-hull storage. The Pro Angler 17T boat weighs 185 pounds fitted and 230 pounds fully rigged with standard features and has a 900-pound capacity.

MealSpec Ultimate Cooking Bag MEALSPEC A LEADING MANUFACturer of flameless meal heaters, now unveils their new MealSpec Gen 2 Cooking Bag. MealSpec’s extensive passion for military and emergency food heating supplies have

led them to create the most reliable flameless meal cooker available. MealSpec has pushed portable outdoor cooking to a new limit with their GEN 2 Cooking Bag that can cook an entire meal in one container. They applied the same technology as the MealSpec GEN 1 Heater bag but improved the maximum temperature duration and designed a larger bag that could accommodate increase cooking space. GEN 2 sets the standard in the world of conventional cooking equipment. The GEN 2 quickly rises to an 220 degrees Fahrenheit in just under a few minutes and remains at a safe cooking temperature lasting up to 45 minutes, ensuring a meal is cooked and not just heated. GEN 2 is perfect for disaster preparedness, camping, hunting, and more. The MealSpec cooker bag is simple, first tear the top of the bag and remove the packaging. Next, insert the provided cooking device, add food packaged in a Ziploc bag or plastic container. Then, add water to the fill line to activate the cooker. Quickly secure the top of the bag and wait 15 to 45 minutes for a hot, cooked meal.

FlounderPro 5000  MealSpec GEN 2 Cooking Bag

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FISHING LIGHTS ETC., ONE OF the countries’ leading producers of LED lighting products introduces the brightest

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LED Flounder Gigging and Bully Netting light to hit the sporting goods market! The new “FlounderPro-50000” High Intensity LED light was made using cutting edge LED technology. The high intensity light uses 30 three-watt LEDs and puts out an amazing 5,000 lumens of white light. The light has a specially designed acrylic dome that floods the bottom in every direction with high intensity light. Our new high tech aluminum heat sink

 FlounderPro 5000

allows the high intensity light to be used above water or below water. This makes the FlounderPro 5000 a perfect light for flounder gigging and bully netting.

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The FlounderPro 5000 can be used with any 12VDC battery and it comes with a center mounted 1.25-inch Schedule 40 mounting bracket. 25 foot power-cord with battery clips, 50-watts, 4.1 amps and a one year limited warranty. For more information on this light as well as other lights, contact Fishing Lights Etc., at 785-621-2646 or visit our website at www.fishinglightsetc.com.

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Hotspots Focus: Upper Coast

by Capt. Eddie Hernandez | TF&G Contributor

What’s Not to Love About September?

HE MONTH OF SEPTEMBER IS AT OR near the top of many, if not most outdoorsmen’s list of favorites for lots of obvious reasons. What’s not to love about September? Most avid anglers, down in these parts anyway, are also avid hunters and also avid sportsmen in general. What’s not to love about a month in which you can hunt doves, catch a box of fish and take the family to a football game all in the same weekend? September gives us a taste of fall in its most primary stage and is a reminder to us that a much welcomed cool change is within our reach. The average highs are slowly but surely descending down the thermometer and anglers are beginning to entertain

thoughts of switching gears and going to patterns and techniques more suitable for fall fishing. With that being said, it is still hot and we are still on our summer patterns as we anxiously await the first significant cool front of the year. The topwater bite in the Sabine Neches Waterway and the Intracoastal Canal is still going strong on nice calm mornings, and the jetties will continue to produce nice stringers of trout and slot reds for the next few weeks. In the lake you should have little problem locating reds along the eastern bank from Blue Buck Point all the way to East Pass. Troll down the shoreline in about 2 to 5 feet of water and tempt them with topwaters, soft plastics or gold spoons.

Some excellent choices for plastics are Flounder Pounder CT Shad, Norton Bull Minnow and GULP Swimming Mullet. Good colors are glow, chartreuse and limetreuse. For topwaters, pearl or pink/ silver skitterwalks and black with chartreuse She Dogs are hard to beat. If you prefer using the real deal, anchor on the points on either side of the mouths of the bayous. Use a fish finder rig with a 3/0 Kahle hook. Live or cut mullet, fresh dead shrimp and cracked crab fished either on the bottom or under a popping cork will work well. Also on calm afternoons expect to find big schools of reds roaming the mid lake area from Madame Johnson Bayou to East Pass. These massive schools shouldn’t be hard to find or stay on when the wind is calm and the lake is smooth. Keep an eye out also for the giant clouds of shad that that you’ll encounter in the late summer months. Fish the perimeters with Hoginars, gold spoons or shad and mullet under a popping cork. September is a great time to get out and enjoy the tail end of some fantastic late summer action before the fronts begin to roll in and we switch gears into fall fishing mode.

THE BANK BITE LOCATION: South Revetment (Pleasure Island). SPECIES: Speckled Trout, Redﬁsh and Flounder. BAITS/LURES: Live Shrimp, Mud Minnows and Topwaters. BEST TIMES: Moving Tides, especially early and late.

Contact Eddie Hernandez at ContactUs@ﬁshgame.com

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Hotspots Focus: Galveston

by Capt. Mike Holmes | TF&G Contributor

Falling Into Place

EPTEMBER HAS ALWAYS BEEN A favorite month of mine for fishing the upper Texas coast. Normally, the chance of serious storms has passed and so has the most traffic on waterways and beaches. Some cooler air should be coming to pay us back for enduring August, although water temperatures can still be too warm for optimal fishing with some species. Speckled trout, redfish, and flounder are caught in every month of the year here in some numbers, but September is as good or better than any other time for these species. Bay and surf, both, will have fish in residence, and since in the Galveston area there is not much land separating the two it is possible to try both in a single day’s session. Wading a calm green surf in early morning is often magical just for being there, and the fishing with live bait or artificial lures can be both challenging and productive when a school of good fish are found. Bay flats near a pass or a deep channel such as the Intracoastal Canal are also good early morning/late evening spots, where fish are close to deeper water to escape the heat of the day, and return to feed when temperatures cool off again. “Bull” redfish still roam the surf in September, as well as hard fighting jacks and some tarpon. Casting from or near the beach or fishing from a small boat just beyond the swells of the deepest near-shore sandbar is both productive and pleasant, depending of the temperature of the day. Galveston Island has always had a contingent of guys who prefer to battle big fish – and not all of them use boats to go offshore for their sport. I’ve known anglers who hunt for large rays in deeper holes, and others who

know of a fresh or brackish water spot on the Island where big alligator gars can be found. Better known are the shark hunters, who are usually just as happy sitting on a pier or jetty as on the deck of a boat. This is not to say that offshore fishing in September isn’t good, in fact it can be excellent. King mackerels are still around, and might be closer to the beach than in midsummer. Dolphins might be a little farther out, but working available weed lines and other floating “structure” can turn up good catches – with no bag or size limits, either. Bluefish will be more common around rigs in the cooler water, although I have seen then murdering mullet in the surf at times. These fish that are not subject to season closures and bag and possession limits are more precious than ever. The red snapper “season” in federally controlled waters more than nine miles from shore (as it stands right now) is projected to only last nine days. On top of that, catching triggerfish has been again shut down for the summer.

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Looking back on my September column of 2013, it seems we were looking at the same situation then, except just not quite as short as nine days – which is a new record. Last year the states of Texas and Louisiana sued the NMFS over unnecessarily short seasons without valid data to back up their reasoning –and won. Congress had required them to develop this data. As a result, NOAA/NMFS was required to reopen the recreational season. This year commercial fishermen and some environmental groups sued claiming recreational fishermen had consistently gone over their quota of snapper, and should, in essence, be forced to “re-pay” those fish with a shorter season this year. Of course, the new methods of data collection still do not exist. These methods would give some sort of an accurate assessment of the amount of fish caught by recreational anglers (which includes charter boat customers).

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Hotspots Focus: Matagorda

by Mike Price | TF&G Contributor

Wish for Nameless Winds

EPTEMBER IS PEAK SEASON FOR hurricanes, but if the big blow is not heading for Texas’ shores, September can be a time of very calm winds, which creates fishing opportunities. The surf is teeming with mullet, menhaden, sardines, and shrimp. Consequently, predators of all sizes and shapes turn up to feast. You will probably have to deal with sargasso weed, as this summer we have had an extraordinary amount of sargasso weed piling up on the beach and fouling fishing lines in the surf. If you are using live or

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dead shrimp and a popping cork, you will get seaweed when your popping cork and baited line move. The best thing to do is to leave your bait in one place after the cast and just “pop” the cork a bit. If you are using artificial lures, rig a weed-less, weight-less bait. I have found that a five-inch Stanley Wedgetail Mullet on a 5/0 TTF Texas Weedkiller swimbait hook collects the least amount of weed. One fish in the surf that will take either an artificial lure or natural bait is the gafftop sail fish. To avoid being stuck by the long venomous spines on their dorsal and pectoral fins, use a Fish Grip made by United Plastics. Grasp the fish in the mouth with the Fish Grip, then use your needle nose pliers to extract the hook. If you do not want to carry a net, a Fish Grip will help you control the fish so you don’t get hooked. I carry a net and a Fish Grip to control of the fish. In September, fish key on shorter days and cooling water, and begin aggressively

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feeding to prepare for fall migrations and winter. One September, my son and I spent the night on my boat in Cotton’s Bayou in West Matagorda Bay so we could enjoy fishing just before the sun rose and set. Just after the sun dropped below the horizon, I paddled my kayak over footdeep grass flats and came upon a dozen redfish with tails and backs out of the water. The water was exploding with baitfish fleeing from the reds. My gold spoon barely touched the water before a 16-inch redfish dashed off with it. In the morning we enjoyed watching the sun bathe the bay with color while we worked Rapala gold skitter walk topwaters over shallow flats and into deeper water. When the lure twitched over the point where the flats met the drop off, a 20-plus-inch trout would swim up from below and bash the topwater. Trout and flounders get just as excited about finding food in late September as redfish. Flounders tend to move along the shorelines. Flounders tend to travel and feed in schools, so if you get a hit, stay in the same area and work it hard. Also look for a big, loner trout over flats or along shorelines. The offshore waters in September are clear, blue, and on most days, calm. Red snappers are not in season, but offshore anglers can find plenty of non-red-snapper action behind shrimp boats. Shrimpers drag their nets at night and anchor at dawn. They dump their catch onto the deck, sort out the shrimp, and shovel the bycatch, which includes small snappers, croakers, and pinfish into the sea. The volume of small fish pushed off the boat is about seven times the amount of shrimp caught. Birds, bottlenose dolphins, and sharks are joined by some choice game fish to feed on this line of fresh dead fish (chum), which can be up to a half-mile long. Ling, dorados, and kingfish often show up behind the shrimp boats. I was fishing with Henry Dong behind a shrimp boat when we saw a large ling

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GALVESTON PHOTO: EGRET

to be clear and calm, making fishing the surf a real pleasure. In late September, trout, redfish, and flounders start feeding aggressively in the bays. In offshore waters, you will find exciting action catching ling, dorados, and kingfish under weedlines, and behind shrimpboats.

THE BANK BITE  Weedless Egret Wedgetail Mullet

through the clear water, checking out Henry’s bait. This is very common; a ling will swim up to and around bait, sometimes even taking the bait into its mouth, then spitting it out before actually eating it. Henry dropped his bait a little deeper, just out of our visibility, and waited. Soon, the big ling was running with the bait and Henry set the hook. Henry’s ling weighed 65 pounds. Light winds in September allow the surf

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TRES PALACIOS BAY SHORELINE Wade fishing on the Tres Palacios Bay shoreline offers sand bottom for easy wading, oyster reefs and variable bottom contour for fish habitat, and protection from a north wind. On a northeast wind, leeward protected wade fishing will be on the east side of the bay between Collegeport and Oyster Lake. On a northwest or north wind, you can get in the water in Palacios and wade south toward Turtle Bay.

Contact Mike Price at ContactUs@ﬁshgame.com

 CONTINUED FROM PAGE 67 NMFS was required by law to develop these new methods, but there is no valid method to arrive at such numbers. The message to recreational snapper fishermen, for-hire fishermen, and all the various businesses who depend on the snapper fishery is: “We been had – again!”

THE BANK BITE LOCATION: Galveston surf – piers and jetties SPECIES: Croaker to Bull redﬁsh – they might all be there! BEST BAITS: Live or cut dead mullet, croaker, skipjack, or shad BEST TIMES: Early and late, and at night. Watch tidal movement, and should a cooling rain cloud appear – watch for signs of lightening, but ﬁsh the welcome temperature drop.

Contact Mike Holmes at ContactUs@ﬁshgame.com.

8/22/14 10:47 AM

Hotspots Focus: Upper Mid Coast

by Capt. Chris Martin | TF&G Contributor

UGUST WASN’T ONLY A MONTH OF hot temperatures. For a lot of us, it also proved to be a hot month for landing red fish with artificial baits. Now that September is here, we can anticipate what is generally some of the best fishing weather that the year has to offer except any unforeseen hurricane action along our western Gulf coast region. Calm and moderate winds should once again start to flatten both bay and beachfront waters. Historically, September catches under these conditions have produced some rather impressive results. This is due, in part, to the fact that air temperatures typically begin to cool a bit toward the latter part of September, thereby turning “On” both the top water and the suspended-bait bites as a direct result. Mother Nature often begins lowering the settings on the thermostat each year right around the occurrence of the autumnal equinox (happening this year on September 22nd), which usually marks our welcoming of some of fall’s initial cooling temperatures. We can’t honestly say that this will happen for sure in the month of September this year, but in the past we have often experienced a cool front at least the last week of this month. All I can truly say is that we all will certainly keep our fingers crossed and hope for the best. In the event the Texas coastline is lucky enough to sidestep any major tropical weather this month, the September fishing forecast looks rather favorable. However, our ability to locate the trout and the red fish right now will still depend upon us first locating active 70 |

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“ Our ability to locate trout and redfish will depend upon first locating active baitfish.

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Fall Into Coastal Fishing

baitfish, especially mullet. Historically, the first part of September provides a pattern of lower tides accompanied by incoming currents that typically allow us to locate some rather large schools of feeding red fish. Most of these fish will be found in knee and thigh-deep waters along many of the leeward shorelines in area bays, and in the past it has not been unheard of to find some really nice trout mixed-in with the reds.

There is more than one way to go about chasing these fish during this “hot” time of the year. One proven strategy is to follow the fish out to deeper water during a period of low tide that happens to be accompanied by an out-going current. A second successful strategy is to fish tight against the shoreline grass on a high tide that happens to be accompanied by incoming water currents. Most of our recent red fish action is coming from area grass beds in knee and thighdeep water real early in the morning or late in the evening before sunset. Our latest trout landings have occurred while fishing in waist to chest-deep water over sand flats or places

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consisting of occasional shell. Some of my archived fishing logs reflect me wading in September anywhere from East Matagorda Bay all the way down to Copano Bay near Rockport. We sometimes cover great deal of water on any one day. A favorite ritual for this time each year is chasing the reds in Guadalupe Bay near the town of Seadrift. We’ll typically begin witnessing the undisputable telltale signs of red fish including mud boils, sand pockets, and pushes (wakes) on the surface of the water. As weather conditions permit, this is also another time in the year when we routinely will begin looking for what can often become an active trout bite atop many of the openwater shell reefs that pepper the local waters of San Antonio Bay. Late September tides often begin a slow increase. This is when coastal anglers should shift their trout focus to secluded back lake areas all along Matagorda Island just off of Espiritu Santo Bay and San Antonio Bay. Regardless of looking for trout over shell out in the middle of the bay, or wading in knee-deep mud in the lakes, you should maintain an early morning regimen. Start the day in very skinny water chunking juniorsized top water baits, baits like the Super Spook Junior or Skitter Walk Junior. Once the morning sun is high in the sky and the bite on top turns off, anglers should then throw suspending baits and plastic tails out into deeper water, primarily relying on the lower water column for both the trout and the reds. Have fun, have a great fall season, and keep grindin’.

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

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Hotspots Focus: Rockport

by Capt. Mac Gable | TF&G Contributor

A Bayou Reborn

WAS STANDING ON THE SOUTHERNmost tip of Matagorda Island with Aransas County Commissioner Betty Stiles. What lay in front of us was the now dredged channel of Cedar Bayou. I had been asked to participate in a photo documentary of rocket launches that occurred on the island back in the 1980s. My job was to transport the team to and from the island. Little did I realize the launch sites for the rockets were just over a stone’s throw from Cedar Bayou. Being a “save Cedar Bayou” ardent fan, I was thrilled to see the dredged channel in front of me. I wanted to jump and click my heels in joy and get a group hug. As I focused on the bayou, the fact that the dredges and the crew were working on the end closest to the Gulf of Mexico told me they were indeed making good progress. I stared at this phenomenon for what seemed like hours just to take it all in. This event has been over a decade in the making with hard work from many high level and connected people, organizations and just us everyday anglers who chipped in a little dinero when we could. Several years ago I wrote an article on Cedar Bayou, its history and the causes of its flowing water demise. It seemed back then no matter how hard we pushed the powers-thatbe just didn’t have it as a priority. I mean life was still good; fish were being caught, so why bother about what amounted to a small creeklike ditch that fed its trickle of water into the bay systems? Then things changed. The fishing slowed, decapod crustaceans such as crabs and shrimp of any color were but nonexistent, whooping cranes were found dead in the area attributed to starvation and bing! bang! bong!, this little trickle of water (or the lack thereof) was a suspect.

Could it be the sanding in or silting in of Cedar Bayou was to blame? We as humans like simple single answers so now the little known ditch once called Santo Inlet, Santos Pass (i.e. Cedar Bayou) now was on everyone’s lips and suddenly became a political item which attracted attention and managed to hit the right people’s agenda. Suddenly those who had pushed so hard were put on the back burner and the new forces were in play. As I stood looking at what to me was a grand site it wasn’t the CCA that came to mind or the judges, the hydrologist, the Coast & Harbor Engineering, the General Land Office, the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers, the many millions of dollars donated, or the self-professed local experts on this now hot topic. Even though I know this wouldn’t have happened without them, much like the Sherpa who took the first step up Mount Everest, my mind said a heartfelt thank you to Lynn Edwards. Ms. Edwards and her family were the ones who started the climb

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over the tons of sand and political BS and had the vision to see what we all didn’t,close to twenty years ago. The first shovel of sand removed should be gold-encased and given to her because she stayed the course and fought the uphill fight. Taking data from my article years ago, we did not create the need of a sand berm at the mouth of Cedar Bayou (which in my mind was the beginning of the latest major clog) – it was created to protect our bays from the IXTOC (a nonUSA-owned company) spill. However, one of our own Rockport area citizens, Ms. Edwards, was the catalyst / reason why I was seeing the dredges and the progress that day. That’s not to say the other people and organizations are not much appreciated because they truly are, I like to look back and not forget those who started this much-needed project and NOT let those people get lost in the now-popular hoopla. Let me play devil’s advocate. Please keep in mind you know where I stand - the dredging is great, it’s what we all need here

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Rockport Focus in the coastal bend area, BUT as I left the Cedar Bayou area that day I recalled some of the plans I had seen for the dredging. Although the crew is not complete, what I didn’t see was any concrete revetment or jettytype system being constructed. It seems, if I understand it correctly, the attempt this time to open Cedar Bayou is to return it to and I quote “its original historical configuration,” which entails Cedar Bayou working hydrologically with Vincent Slough/Bayou. It is believed based on the $400K study, the flow through CBY will have to be increased and the resistance decreased. All these working together in theory will increase the water velocity at the mouth of CBY and have a washing out effect that will help keep CBY open. I will try to dock my boat on the cautiously optimistic side and hope and pray it works ... for a very long time. But, to be rounded/fair, there are some pretty smart folks who do not agree. To keep these people from finding themselves in front of the progress truck I will not use their names but rather offer a pessimistic side. The theory, in their mind, is all wet, for without a jettie system and proper erosion control along at least part of the shorelines the outlook for CBY remaining open is low. The current dredging study hangs a lot of the washout effect on Vincent Slough but some experts believe Vincent Slough is mostly a wash-over type fan system which means in their mind it exchanges very little water except on unusually high tides. Therefore, some feel it is not likely it will help CBY remain open. This year no one can recall when the fishing has been so slow. Many believe opening CBY will heal all our these woes. Some have even said that all will get better within a few weeks or a month (this is just ridiculous). Of course the opening will help, but we didn’t get here overnight, and our bays will not rebound overnight. Further, any fishing woes have multiple reasons once studied in depth; Cedar Bayou is just one ingredient that will help our fisheries rebound if for no other reason but to help refurbish an all but stagnant Mesquite Bay, which, in turn, over time should help surrounding bays as well. OUR CURRENT FISHERIES ARE where they are today because we are over72 |

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fishing them, we are ruining habitat faster than it can replenish itself, we are not getting the exchange we need from the Gulf water (which the opening of CBY will help). We are not getting enough fresh water inflow down our rivers and into our bays mostly because people want to water their St. Augustine grass upstream and are not fresh water conservation minded. It really bothers me to see sprinklers going, sucking millions of gallons of water onto nonproductive yard grass, when your tongue is stuck to the roof of your mouth because you have no water to drink. Go suck on your grass is what I want to say. Enough is enough. It is my prayerful hope that our Cedar Bayou opening was done correctly for it is too important to compromise and deserves the best we can give it. • • • SEPTEMBER IS SHOT GUN MONTH for fishing. No, I don’t mean go shoot the fish. Hunting is just around the corner so just hold on. Rather, bring any and all baits and give’em a try. The fish this time of year had every type of bait chunked at them during the summer months, and the angler that will put several different type of bait on his/ her boat and diversify fishing presentations will have a much better chance of bringing home supper. COPANO BAY: Cut mullet at the mouth of Mission Bay is still productive for reds either free lined or on a Carolina rig. The pilings on the old LBJ fishing pier are a good place for sheepshead. Use small hooks. Small pieces of fresh, dead shrimp work best here. You need a fishing rig that can horse them away from the pilings quickly. Live shrimp still works well for keeper trout on the deeper edges of Lap Reef. My favorite method is free lining, but a rattle cork will work as well. ST. CHARLES BAY: Drifting Cow Chip has been productive for reds using Berkley Jerk Shad in anchovy and blue pepper neon colors. Small white grubs have been good for flounder along the grass lines in Cavasso Creek. Slow retrieves are the key here. Salt Creek still has some black drum

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using peeled shrimp on a light Carolina rig. ARANSAS BAY: You’ll find a few keeper trout on Spalding Reef using croaker or live shrimp free lined. There are some keeper reds feeding close to the new spoil area at the mouth of Dunham Bay. Cut menhaden or mullet is the ticket on the lightest Carolina rig you can use. Jaybird Reef has some black drum and a few flounder with live shrimp the preferred bait under a rattle cork. CARLOS BAY: The west shoreline is good for reds using finger mullet or mud minnows free lined. Cedar Reef is still holding a few trout with free lined croaker or piggy perch being the ticket. MESQUITE BAY: The south edges of Ayers Reef are good for reds using cut menhaden on a light Carolina rig. The new spoil area next to Roddy Island is good for some flounder and sheepshead. Use white grubs tipped with squid or shrimp for flounder and #2 kahle hooks and peeled shrimp for the sheepies. When the wind permits, Rattlesnake Reef is good for trout using chartreuse and camo-colored jerk shad. AYERS BAY: Some big black drum on the shell on the north side of the bay. Free lined live shrimp works well here as well as fresh, dead, peeled shrimp. The shoreline of Roddy Island is good for some reds using mud minnows or finger mullet either free lined or on a light Carolina rig. Here’s wishing you tight lines, bent poles, and plenty of bait.

THE BANK BITE Wades between the piers on Fulton Beach Rd are productive for some nice trout using live shrimp. A lot of the shoreline is private so get ready for some long wades for access and exit points. Many of the piers have shell reefs just off of them so ﬁsh slow and watch for soft muddy bottoms here.

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

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8/22/14 10:47 AM

Hotspots Focus: Lower Coast

by Calixto Gonzales | TF&G Saltwater Editor

Picking up the Doormat

LOUNDER CAN BE A TOUGH GET ON THE Lower Laguna Madre, but they are there in decent numbers. It takes some know-how, a little patience, but the stalwart angler can find some nice flatties to take home for a nice stuffed flounder dinner. Anglers who pick up their mail in Port Mansfield won’t burn too much gas looking for flounders. There are plenty of spots a short run across Lower Laguna Madre in the East Cut. The side channels that feed into the back bays attract flounders on both the incoming and outgoing tides. The fish settle on thin drop-offs along the pass on an outgoing tide, then work their way into the inside edges on an incoming tide. The easiest way to for Mansfield flatties is to work live bait or a soft plastic along the edges. A live shrimp or mullet is an ideal bait. Fish them on a split-shot or fishfinder rig and a 1/0 short-shanked or Khale hook. If you are going to hop a shrimp or shad tail (the venerable Norton Bull Minnow is a great standard), use a ¼ ounce football-style jighead and hop the bait. This is akin to fishing for bass with a jig/pig combo. Hop with the rod tip up until you feel the resistance of a pick-up. Lower the rod tip, reel in the slack, and set the hook. Hard. If you miss, start over. Nothing to it, right? Once, on a wade-fishing trip to the East Cut channels, I saw an older gentleman with a very nice string of heavy flounders. He was more than happy to show me what he was using, a Paul Brown’s Original Corky. The lure was chewed up and being held together by only good thoughts, but it was obvious that it had been strong medicine on

the doormats he had strung. The trick was to work the lure slowly and allow it to hang just above the bottom where a flounder is likely to lurk. With the bait sitting just over the fish’s nose, it’s only a matter of time before a flounder will ambush it and clamp down. The channels that lead into the back of Cullen Bay hold flounders around the edges in through the fall until the first major cold front of the year. Fishing for them is very straightforward. Use a fish-finder (Carolina) rig with a ¼ ounce sinker and a live shrimp or finger mullet on a #1/0 short-shanked single hook (the Owner SSW in blood red, for example). If you’d rather fish with lures, then try a three inch Gulp! Shrimp in New Penny or Pearl pinned to the same ¼ ounce football jighead and bounced along the bottom. If the flounders are there—and they should be—they’ll nail it with gusto. Moving south, an underutilized flounder area is the channel into South Bay. Most ignore the gateway for the riches on the other side, but they miss out on the treasure that abounds. On a flood tide, the narrow flats on either side (especially the ones on the south side) hold plenty of flounders to keep you happy. This is an especially effective area to fish at night under a full moon. The only problem is to pay attention to the tides, or you may be stuck for a while on the ebb. The same outgoing tide that could leave you high and dry also provides an excellent fishing opportunity. During a full moon, the strong falling tide drains the flats into the channels, and flounders join other gamefish along the flats/channel edges to feed on the bait that is dumped into the channel. Swim your bait off the edges and into the drop-offs and let it sink below other feeding fish. The mainland shoreline on the island at the intersection of the Brownesville Ship Channel and the Port Isabel Channel (also known as the Y) is another good flounder hole. A trolling motor allows you to fish this area the most effectively. Work parallel to the drop-off and cast your bait or lure towards shore and work back to the boat T E X A S

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slowly. Again, either live baits on a Carolina rig or soft plastics are the trick. Don’t be surprised to latch onto some trout and the occasional redfish. These fish tend to share space with the flounders. A classic, but unused technique for working these shoreline edges is an eel-stew jerkbait such as the MirrOlure Lil John. The icicle-shaped lure has a much more subtle action than some of the larger, more popular eel-style tails on the market, and flounders seem to respond to them quite aggressively. You can swim the baits on a 1/8th ounce round head or, if the fish are being a touch finicky, a bottom-bouncing head. Cast the rig up to the shallows, and bounce it back to you. When you feel the heavy “thump!” set the hook hard. I’ve also been experimenting with the Kelly Wiggler Ball Shad in Pink Flamingo, and I’ve been encouraged by the results. If live shrimp are hard to come by, try a three-inch Gulp! Shrimp or Kelly Wigglers Shrimp as alternatives to real meat. Flounders don’t seem to be very discriminating when they’re on the feed. Adherents to the DOA brand will find that the CAL Minnow is a deadly weapon during flounder missions. Don’t overlook flounders when you are on Lower Laguna Madre. They make a welcome addition to the autumn get together that you usually invite specks and redfish to.

THE BANK BITE LOCATION: Lower Laguna Madre HOT SPOT: Mansfield North Jetties SPECIES: Redfish, shark. TECHNIQUES: Use live or cut mullet fished on the bottom near the rocks.

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Contact Calixto Gonzales at ContactUs@ﬁshgame.com

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UPPER GULF COAST GPS COORDINATES are provided in two formats: “Decimal Degrees” (degrees.degrees) and “Degrees and Minutes” sometimes called “GPS Format” (degrees minutes. minutes). Examples (for Downtown Austin): Decimal Degrees: N30.2777, W97.7379; Degrees and Minutes: N30 16.6662, W97 44.2739. Consult your manual for information speciﬁc to your GPS device.

Sabine Flats and Galveston Reefs by TOM BEHRENS LOCATION: Sabine Lake HOTSPOT: Neches River Flats GPS: N 29 58.1167 W 93 51.3333 (29.9688, -93.8557) SPECIES: Speckled trout BEST BAITS: Topwaters CONTACT: Capt. Bill Watkins 409-673-9211 97862018@sbcglobal.net www.ﬁshsabinelake.com TIPS: Shrimp will start coming out of the River, migrating into Sabine Lake and the trout will be there to feast.

DIGITAL EXTRA: TAP GPS TO VIEW HOTSPOT ON GOOGLE MAPS (Internet Connection required)

CONTACT: Capt. Bill Watkins 409-673-9211 97862018@sbcglobal.net www.ﬁshsabinelake.com TIPS: Working the lure: “I’ll use little short ﬂips with the rod tip. I don’t work my bait with reel that much.” Capt. Bill Watson

LOCATION: Sabine Lake HOTSPOT: Sabine River Flats GPS: N 29 59.1167 W 93 47.3200 (29.9855, -93.7904) SPECIES: Redfish and Speckled trout BEST BAITS: MirrOLure Lil John and 5 inch Provoker in Opening Night, Salt & Pepper or Motor Oil/red flakes CONTACT: Capt. Bill Watkins 409-673-9211 97862018@sbcglobal.net www.fishsabinelake.com TIPS: Watkins likes to throw the Motor Oil Red Flake when the sun is bright. LOCATION: Sabine Lake HOTSPOT: Coffee Ground Cove GPS: N 29 58.1667 W 93 46.1500 (29.9697, -93.7693) SPECIES: Speckled trout BEST BAITS: MirrOLure Lil John and 5 inch Provoker in Opening Night, Salt & Pepper or Motor Oil/red flakes

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409-996-3054 CaptJimWest@yahoo.com www.bolivarguideservice.com TIPS: While ﬁshing the gas well structure, keep a lookout for birds working slicks. LOCATION: Galveston Trinity Bay HOTSPOT: Exxon C Lease Wells GPS: N 29 40.4333 W 94 45.5667 (29.6741, -94.7597) SPECIES: Speckled trout BEST BAITS: 1/8 oz. screw shank jig heads with wide gap hooks. If water is dirty, go to a chartreuse or Limetreuse color. In clear water switch to a clear/metal ﬂake soft plastic CONTACT: Capt. Jimmy West 409-996-3054 CaptJimWest@yahoo.com www.bolivarguideservice.com TIPS: It it’s windy or the tide is running fast, change to a 1/4 oz. jig head.

LOCATION: Galveston Trinity Bay HOTSPOT: Trinity Bay Wells GPS: N 29 41.6667 W 94 47.3167 (29.6945, -94.7888) SPECIES: Speckled trout BEST BAITS: 1/8 oz. screw shank jig head with wide gap hook; soft plastics in plum/chartreuse color CONTACT: Capt. Jimmy West 409-996-3054 CaptJimWest@yahoo.com www.bolivarguideservice.com TIPS: At the beginning of September, concentrate ﬁshing efforts in the middle of the bay, working deep water.

LOCATION: Galveston East Bay HOTSPOT: Hanna’s Reef GPS: N 29 28.9167 W 94 43.6500 (29.4820, -94.7276) SPECIES: Speckled trout BEST BAITS: 1/8 oz. screw shank jig heads with wide gap hooks. If water is dirty, go to a chartreuse or Limetreuse color. In clear water switch to a clear/metal ﬂake soft plastic CONTACT: Capt. Jimmy West 409-996-3054 CaptJimWest@yahoo.com www.bolivarguideservice.com TIPS: “If you can use the lightest jig head possible, you are going to catch more ﬁsh. Slow your bait down.” Capt. Jimmy West

LOCATION: Galveston Trinity Bay HOTSPOT: Sun Gas Wells GPS: N 29 38.9167 W 94 48.4333 (29.6489, -94.8072) SPECIES: Speckled trout BEST BAITS: 1/8 oz. screw shank jig head with a wide gap hook; soft plastics in Pumpkin Seed/ chartreuse color CONTACT: Capt. Jimmy West

LOCATION: Galveston East Bay HOTSPOT: Hanna’s Reef GPS: N 29 28.7000 W 94 45.7000 (29.4784, -94.7617) SPECIES: Speckled trout BEST BAITS: 1/8 oz. screw shank jig heads with wide gap hooks. If water is dirty, go to a chartreuse or Limetreuse color. In clear water switch to a clear/metal ﬂake soft plastic

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CONTACT: Capt. Jimmy West 409-996-3054 CaptJimWest@yahoo.com www.bolivarguideservice.com TIPS: “Trout are opportunist feeders rather than a preference feeder. They feed when the bites on; whatever you have on will catch fish. If the water is clear, they will get finicky a little bit.” Capt. Jimmy West LOCATION: Galveston East Bay HOTSPOT: Deep Reef GPS: N 29 30.8000 W 94 40.5667 (29.5134, -94.6764) SPECIES: Speckled trout BEST BAITS: 1/8 oz. screw shank jig heads with wide gap hooks; if water is dirty, go to a chartreuse or Limetreuse color. In clear water switch to a clear/metal flake soft plastic. CONTACT: Capt. Jimmy West 409-996-3054 CaptJimWest@yahoo.com www.bolivarguideservice.com TIPS: “I honestly don’t think one soft plastic outshines another. Some anglers prefer a softer plastic, but I don’t think it makes much difference.” Capt. Jimmy West LOCATION: Galveston Trinity Bay HOTSPOT: Tin Can Reefs GPS: N 29 40.2667 W 94 56.1000 (29.6712, -94.9352) SPECIES: Redfish BEST BAITS: Super Spook, She Dog, or Skitter Walk topwaters CONTACT: Capt. Jimmy West 409-996-3054 CaptJimWest@yahoo.com www.bolivarguideservice.com TIPS: Once we start getting some fronts coming in, the trout and reds will start moving to shallow water, probably around the end of September. LOCATION: Galveston Trinity Bay HOTSPOT: Jack’s Pocket GPS: N 29 44.0667 W 94 45.8500 (29.7346, -94.7642) SPECIES: Redfish BEST BAITS: Super Spook, She Dog, or Skitter Walk topwaters CONTACT: Capt. Jimmy West 409-996-3054 CaptJimWest@yahoo.com www.bolivarguideservice.com TIPS: “If it’s calm and clear I like using the smaller topwaters. If it gets a little choppy, I will throw a bigger topwater.” Capt. Jimmy West LOCATION: West Matagorda Bay

HOTSPOT: Oyster Lake GPS: N 28 36.8833 W 96 10.9833 (28.6147, -96.1831) SPECIES: Redfish BEST BAITS: Pink Skitter Walk topwater CONTACT: Capt. Tommy Countz 281-450-4037 tcountz@sbcglobal.net www.matagordafishing.com TIPS: “I fish pink Skitter Walks in Baffin, Port Mansfield…anywhere I go. In the last 4-5 years it has been the best producing topwater that I have thrown.” Capt. Tommy Countz LOCATION: East Matagorda Bay HOTSPOT: Crab Lake GPS: N 28 40.1833 W 96 3.0000 (28.6697, -96.0500) SPECIES: Redfish BEST BAITS: Pink Skitter Walk topwater CONTACT: Capt. Tommy Countz 281-450-4037 tcountz@sbcglobal.net www.matagordafishing.com TIPS: “In September I enjoy fishing the back lakes off the inter coastal canal. Redfish start schooling, and I spend a lot of time working shorelines with topwaters.” Capt. Tommy Countz LOCATION: West Matagorda Bay HOTSPOT: Boggy Lake GPS: N 28 44.8833 W 95 49.9167 (28.7483, -95.8322) SPECIES: Redfish BEST BAITS: Pink Skitter Walk topwater CONTACT: Capt. Tommy Countz 281-450-4037 tcountz@sbcglobal.net www.matagordafishing.com TIPS: “A lot of times the shrimp are up in the grass and you can see the redfish boiling them up. Kind of ease over into them and start throwing topwaters.” Capt. Tommy Countz LOCATION: East Matagorda Bay HOTSPOT: Lake Austin GPS: N 28 47.5667 W 95 47.5500 (28.7930, -95.7927) SPECIES: Redfish BEST BAITS: Chrome, Clown or chartreuse colored Super Spook Junior CONTACT: Capt. Tommy Countz 281-450-4037 tcountz@sbcglobal.net www.matagordafishing.com TIPS: If the pink Skitter Walk isn’t producing redfish bites, try the Super Spook Junior. “They are good trout baits too.” Capt. Tommy Countz T E X A S

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LOCATION: East Matagorda Bay HOTSPOT: Three Mile Lake GPS: N 28 37.2000 W 95 56.9833 (28.6201, -95.9499) SPECIES: Redfish BEST BAITS: Topwaters CONTACT: Capt. Tommy Countz 281-450-4037 tcountz@sbcglobal.net www.matagordafishing.com TIPS: “If you can find redfish schooling, any topwater bait thrown in or near will draw a strike.” Capt. Tommy Countz LOCATION: East Matagorda Bay HOTSPOT: Chinquapin Reef GPS: N 28 44.5500 W 95 46.7667 (28.7427, -95.7796) SPECIES: Redfish BEST BAITS: Soft plastic tails or live shrimp under a popping cork CONTACT: Capt. Tommy Countz 281-450-4037 tcountz@sbcglobal.net www.matagordafishing.com TIPS: “If the winds are calm, September is a great time to wade some of the bay reefs in East Bay.” Capt. Tommy Countz LOCATION: West Matagorda Bay HOTSPOT: Cotton Bayou GPS: N 28 30.4500 W 96 12.3667 (28.5075, -96.2064) SPECIES: Redfish BEST BAITS: Skitter Walk topwater CONTACT: Capt. Tommy Countz 281-450-4037 tcountz@sbcglobal.net www.matagordafishing.com TIPS: “If I’m targeting redfish, sometime I will throw a little Spook. The chrome colored Spook, or a Clown colored Spook Junior, are all pretty good redfish baits. They are good trout baits too.” Capt. Tommy Countz LOCATION: East Matagorda Bay HOTSPOT: Raymond Shoals GPS: N 28 33.0167 W 96 18.0667 (28.5505, -96.3014) SPECIES: Speckled trout BEST BAITS: Live shrimp under a popping cork CONTACT: Capt. Tommy Countz 281-450-4037 tcountz@sbcglobal.net www.matagordafishing.com TIPS: “If the winds are calm, September is a great time to wade some of the bay reefs in East Bay.”

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Texas Hotspots Capt. Tommy Countz LOCATION: Matagorda Bay HOTSPOT: Colorado River GPS: N 28 39.0167 W 95 59.3000 (28.6503, -95.9884) SPECIES: Redﬁsh BEST BAITS: Spook Junior in bone CONTACT: Capt. Dwayne Newbern 361-652-7346 ﬁshcamp@sbcglobal.net TIPS: Fish the shoreline looking for pockets of grass

MIDDLE GULF COAST

Prowl Panthers for SA Redfish by TOM BEHRENS LOCATION: San Antonio Bay HOTSPOT: Panther Reef GPS: N 28 15.2667 W 96 42.9333 (28.2545, -96.7158) SPECIES: Redfish BEST BAITS: She Dogs in either a chrome or blue CONTACT: Capt. Mike Bohac 281-313-3474 fishsanantoniobay@yahoo.com www.fishintalesgjuideservice.com TIPS: “The redfish are roaming the shoreline at this time of the year.” Capt. Mike Bohac LOCATION: San Antonio Bay HOTSPOT: North Panther Reef GPS: N 28 17.800 W 96 43.6167 (28.2968, -96.7272) SPECIES: Redfish BEST BAITS: 1/4 oz. copper spoon CONTACT: Capt. Mike Bohac 281-313-3474 fishsanantoniobay@yahoo.com www.fishintalesgjuideservice.com TIPS: “I keep my rod tip high and keep twitching it so it looks like it’s (spoon) is coming to the top and then it floats down a few inches. It looks like it’s rising in the water, and then floating back down.” Capt. Mike Bohac

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LOCATION: Lavaca Bay HOTSPOT: Lavaca River GPS: N 28 41.8167 W 96 34.5167 (28.6972, -96.5755) SPECIES: Speckled trout BEST BAITS: DOA Terror Eyz soft plastics in pearl or chartreuse on 1/4 oz. jig head CONTACT: Capt. Dwayne Newbern 361-652-7346 ﬁshcamp@sbcglobal.net TIPS: Drift the mouth of the Lavaca River

LOCATION: San Antonio Bay HOTSPOT: Big Devil Bayou GPS: N 28 12.7333 W 96 55.1833 (28.2122, -96.9200) SPECIES: Redfish BEST BAITS: She Dog in blue or chrome CONTACT: Capt. Mike Bohac 281-313-3474 fishsanantoniobay@yahoo.com www.fishintalesguideservice.com TIPS: Key on oyster pods

LOCATION: Upper Laguna Madre HOTSPOT: Emmords Hole GPS: N 27 30.1833 W 97 19.7167 (27.5031, -97.3289) SPECIES: Speckled trout BEST BAITS: Gambler Flappn Shad in Key Lime Pie or Texas Shrimp CONTACT: Capt. Levi Price 830-613.-1865 captlevi@tstar.net www.theﬁshtx.com TIPS: Vary the retrieve…”usually slow and low” best. Capt. Levi Price

LOCATION: San Antonio Bay HOTSPOT: Dagger Point Reef GPS: N 28 16.9167 W 96 16.9166 (28.2821, -96.7923) SPECIES: Redfish BEST BAITS: Soft plastics with a 1/8 or 1/16 oz. jig head; favorite colors are Morning Glory, Mardi Gras or plum/chartreuse CONTACT: Capt. Mike Bohac 281-313-3474 fishsanantoniobay@yahoo.com www.fishintalesguideservice.com TIPS: “I wade off to the side of the reef, getting as deep as I can away from the reef.” Capt. Mike Bohac

LOCATION: Upper Laguna Madre HOTSPOT: Pita Island GPS: N 27 36.1667 W 97 17.1833 (27.6028, -97.2867) SPECIES: Speckled trout BEST BAITS: Super Spook towaters with a pink back/silver bottom CONTACT: Capt. Levi Price 830-613.-1865 captlevi@tstar.net www.thefishtx.com TIPS: “Walk-the-dog and vary the speed of retrieve…stop, make it twitch in place, and start walking it again.” Capt. Levi Price LOCATION: Baffin Bay HOTSPOT: Alazan Bay GPS: N 27 19.6833 W 97 31.2333 (27.3281, -97.5208) SPECIES: Speckled trout BEST BAITS: Super Spooks with a pink back/ silver bottom CONTACT: Capt. Levi Price 830-613.-1865 captlevi@tstar.net www.thefishtx.com TIPS: “Wade fish for bigger trout. Wading allows you to fish slower through an area.” Capt. Price

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LOCATION: San Antonio Bay HOTSPOT: Chicken Foot Reef GPS: N 28 16.200 W 96 46.800 (28.2701, -96.7802) SPECIES: Redfish & speckled trout BEST BAITS: Topwaters early; soft plastics later in the day CONTACT: Capt. Mike Bohac 281-313-3474 fishsanantoniobay@yahoo.com www.fishintalesgjuideservice.com TIPS: “I fish a She Dog early in the morning for redfish. In the afternoon I move out to the reefs for trout.” Capt. Mike Bohac LOCATION: Corpus Christi Bay HOTSPOT: Corpus Christi Ship Channel GPS: N 27 48.600 W 97 22.3333 (27.8101, -97.3724) SPECIES: Speckled trout BEST BAITS: Free lining piggy perch CONTACT: Capt. Levi Price 830-613-1865 captlevi@tstar.net www.thefishtx.com TIPS: Price uses a 5/0 Kahle hook, 25 lb. leader,

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no rattles…”important the bait stay alive.” LOCATION: Lavaca Bay HOTSPOT: Lavaca Reefs GPS: N 28 36.2667 W 96 36.6667 (28.6046, -96.6114) SPECIES: Speckled trout & redﬁsh BEST BAITS: Spook Juniors topwaters CONTACT: Capt. Dwayne Newbern 361-652-7346 ﬁshcamp@sbcglobal.net TIPS: Fish the Spook Jrs. In either bone or chrome colors.

LOWER GULF COAST

Holly, Holly Specks and Reds by CALIXTO GONZALES LOCATION: Lower Laguna Madre HOTSPOT: Holly Beach GPS: N 26 8.392 W 97 17.297 (26.1399, -97.2883) SPECIES: Redﬁsh BEST BAITS: Cut Ballyhoo, cut mullet, live bait, gold spoons, topwaters. CONTACT: Captain Jimmy Martinez 956-551-9581 TIPS: Focus on the ﬂats nearest to the channel edges close to shoreline. Fish with cut bait on the bottom. Topwaters work early and late, as do gold spoons.

BEST BAITS: Cut bait, gold spoons, soft plastics in Red/White, Tequila Gold/white tail, Root Beer Gold Glitter CONTACT: Captain Jimmy Martinez 956-551-9581 TIPS: Fish the gut that forms in between the bars. Watch for ﬁsh working in the shallower water. Drifting with bait on the bottom is the best bet. LOCATION: Lower Laguna Madre HOTSPOT: Bridgepoint Cannel GPS: N 26 5.306 W 97 10.14 (26.0884, -97.1690) SPECIES: Flounder BEST BAITS: Live ﬁnger mullet, soft plastics in New Penny, Watermelon/red. CONTACT: Captain Jimmy Martinez 956-551-9581 TIPS: Work the edges of the channel and let the bait or lure drop into the deeper water. Work your offering slowly and methodically. LOCATION: Lower Laguna Madre HOTSPOT: Mexequita Flats GPS: N 26 3.914 W 97 11.773 (26.0652, -97.1962)

SPECIES: Snook BEST BAITS: Live shrimp, live finfish, topwaters in Bone, Redhead/white body, Plastic Shad tails. CONTACT: Captain Jimmy Martinez 956-551-9581 TIPS: Snook will along the mangroves near the shorelines and along the edge of the ICW. Use a topwater early in the morning to get their attention. A big white shrimp is tough to beat, too. LOCATION: Arroyo Colorado HOTSPOT: Three Island GPS: N 26 19.828 W 97 19.155 (26.3305, -97.3193) SPECIES: Speckled trout BEST BAITS: Live bait, soft plastics in dark colors. CONTACT: LG Outfitters 956-371-0220 lgonzales@lgoutfitters.com www.lgoutfitters.com TIPS: Fish the potholes on the flats with live bait or with your favorite soft plastic. You can anchor near the guts between the islands and use live bait to intercept fish using the gut as a transit point. LOCATION: Arroyo Colorado

LOCATION: Lower Laguna Madre HOTSPOT: Holly Beach GPS: N 26 8.392 W 97 17.257 (26.1399, -97.2876) SPECIES: Speckled trout BEST BAITS: Live bait, soft plastics in root beer/chartreuse, Purple/chartreuse. CONTACT: Captain Jimmy Martinez 956-551-9581 TIPS: Fish the deeper water. Live shrimp or small pinfish work under a popping cork, but you can also do well with shrimp tails or Cocahoe Minnows under the same float. LOCATION: Lower Laguna Madre HOTSPOT: Parallel Bars GPS: N 26 8.372 W 97 13.122 (26.1395, -97.2187) SPECIES: Redfish T E X A S

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Texas Hotspots HOTSPOT: Green Island GPS: N 26 23.168 W 97 19.725 (26.3861, -97.3288) SPECIES: Redfish BEST BAITS: Live bait, cut bait, gold spoons, soft plastics in dark colors CONTACT: LG Outfitters 956-371-0220 lgonzales@lgoutfitters.com lgoutfitters.com TIPS: Watch for mudboils to tip off where redfish are working. Drift with live bait or cut bait fished on the bottom. Gold spoons are effective on sunny days. LOCATION: Baffin Bay HOTSPOT: Yarborough Flats GPS: N 27 10.681 W 97 24.272 (27.1780, -97.4045) SPECIES: Speckled Trout BEST BAITS: Live bait, topwaters early. CONTACT: Captain Joey Farah 361-442-8145 TIPS: Try topwaters early in the morning. If those don’t draw some crashing strikes, break out the meat and temp trout with a live pinfiish or shrimp.

PINEY WOODS

Don’t Pass the Buck for Sam Bass by DUSTIN WARNCKE LOCATION: Lake Sam Rayburn HOTSPOT: Buck Bay GPS: N 31.189901 W 94.060878 (31.189901, -94.060878) SPECIES: Largemouth Bass BEST BAITS: Stanley Top Toad, Pop-Rs, Deep Driving Crank Baits, Texas rig big worms, Carolina Rigs, Stanley Jigs 3/4 to 1 oz. CONTACT: Lynn Atkinson 979-220-0251 lynn@reelumn.com www.rayburncountry.com TIPS: Start on the points and work your way back along the grass and drops. Work the grass with topwater baits early and late.

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The grass will move as summer gets hotter and the water drops. Stay with the grass lines and deep ledges for the big ones. LOCATION: Caddo Lake HOTSPOT: Alligator Bayou GPS: N 32.714135 W 94.095969 (32.714135, -94.095969) SPECIES: Largemouth Bass BEST BAITS: Most any dark colored Texas rigged worm using a 1/4 oz. weight, flukes or senkos, heavy cover punch baits using a 1 oz. weight. CONTACT: Caddo Lake Guide Service/Paul Keith 318-455-3437 caddoguide1@att.net www.caddolakefishing.com TIPS: Fish the edges of the grass and pads with the worms, senkos, and flukes, also fish any creek intersections. Change over to the punch rig once the sun gets overhead and pitch into the hydrilla and alligator grass in 2-4 feet of water. (Hint: 30-60 lb. braid and a heavy action rod is a must when punching). LOCATION: Lake Livingston HOTSPOT: Ben Shot Lake GPS: N 30.704148 W 95.154690 (30.704148, -95.15469) SPECIES: Striped Bass BEST BAITS: Live shad, slabs, spoons, Tsunami Slim Wade 1 oz. chrome w/ green prism. CONTACT: David S Cox - Palmetto Guide Service 936-291-9602 dave@palmettoguideservice,com www.palmettoguideservice.com TIPS: Bounce baits off the bottom. Best times, early morning and late evening. Watch for schooling fish. Best with a north wind less than 10 mph or no wind. BANK ACCESS: Governor’s Point LOCATION: Toledo Bend North HOTSPOT: Matinez (East Hamilton area) GPS: N 31.591868 W 93.840451 (31.591868, -93.840451) SPECIES: Largemouth bass BEST BAITS: Rat-L-Traps, topwater plugs, spinner baits, frogs & buzz baits, deep diving crank baits, Texas & Carolina rigged plastics, 10” or 11” Mr. Twister Red Bug ribbon tail worm CONTACT: Greg Crafts, Toledo Bend Guide Service and Lake Cottages 936.368.7151 gregcrafts@yahoo.com

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www.toledobendguide.com, TIPS: Early morning and late evening work the shallows close to deep water with Rat-L-Traps, Top water plugs, Spinner baits, Frogs & Buzz baits; Mid Day work deep diving crank baits, Texas & Carolina rigged plastics. A ten or eleven inch Mr. Twister Red Bug ribbon tail worm is the go to bait for big bass on Toledo Bend. We’re ﬁshing a typical summer pattern. Early and late work the shallow water that has vegetation that is close to deep- water drop offs. As the day heats up back out into deeper water off the points, creek and river channel ledges. Keep an eye out for schooling ﬁsh and keep a Rat-L-Trap handy.

PRAIRIES & LAKES

Joe Pool Crappie Under the Bridge by DUSTIN WARNCKE and DEAN HEFFNER LOCATION: Joe Pool Lake HOTSPOT: Lake Ridge Parkway Bridges GPS: N 32 37.355 W 97 02.334 (32.622591, -97.038895) SPECIES: Crappie BEST BAITS: 1/8 to 1/4 ounce jigs CONTACT: The Cajun Guide, Johnny Procell 972-814-8942 cajunguide@att.net www.johnnyprocell.com TIPS: The lake is virtually overrun with crappie. The only drawback is that they tend to run small. Either of the bridges on the Lake Ridge causeway will hold crappie. The drawback is in locating the exact depth that they will be on a given day. I like to start out on the south end of either of these bridges and work my way north. Since the lake has stratiﬁed, the papermouths will likely not be deeper than twenty-two feet. Begin checking the depths at around sixteen feet and then slowly progress to about twenty feet. For some reason the crappie will usually suspend about two feet off this thermocline. My clients use two ultra small jigs tied one foot apart with a half-ounce sinker two feet below the bottom jig. This rig will get the 1/8 to ¼ ounce jigs down to the bottom quickly and will allow one to ﬁsh above the thermocline. LOCATION: Lake Aquilla HOTSPOT: Rip Rap at Dam and Humps

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GPS: N 31.900116 W 97.210292 (31.900116, -97.210292) SPECIES: White Bass BEST BAITS: RAT-L-TRAPS and slabs from rsrslures.com CONTACT: Randy Routh 817-822-5539 teamredneck01@hotmail.com www.teamredneck.net TIPS: Whites are schooling up early on along the dam. Use Rat-L-Traps and make long casts. Tie on a slab with a small jig above it and catch two whites at a time! After the sun comes up and surface action slows down, bounce slabs off the bottom on humps out from the dam. Remember, the bite usually occurs on the fall of the slab so watch your line closely. LOCATION: Cedar Creek Lake HOTSPOT: Hwy 198 and 334 bridges GPS: N 32.327993 W 96.182496 (32.327993, -96.182496) SPECIES: Crappie BEST BAITS: Jigs and minnows CONTACT: Jason Barber 903-603-2047 kingscreekadventures@yahoo.com www.kingscreekadventures.com Tips; Fish with light tackle 6-8 lb. test and vary your depth as fish suspend. Brush is a plus when you find it. Fish 12- 24’ and fish all deep pillars. LOCATION: Cooper Lake HOTSPOT: Main Lake Humps GPS: N 33.318106 W 95.653522 (33.318106, -95.653522) SPECIES: White Bass/Hybrid Striper BEST BAITS: 4” Sassy Shad or a 1 1/2 oz. slab spoon in chartreuse color CONTACT: Tony Parker’s Guide Service 903.348.1619 tawakonifishing@yahoo.com www.tonyparkerfishing.com/ TIPS: September will find me and my clients fishing main lake humps with a 4” sassy shad or a 1-1/2 oz. slab spoon. I like any color as long as its chartreuse. I will be using my electronics to find schools of white bass and hybrids. I will be looking also for schooling fish early and late. Once I locate a school of fish I will either drift over them or hold on top of them with my trolling motor. I will make a long cast with the sassy shad letting it sink to the bottom. I will work it back to the boat with a stop and go retrieve. Reel a few turns and let it sink back to the bottom. With the slab I will burn it up off the bottom push the button on your reel and let it go back to the bottom. Give each school you find a few minutes. If no bites move to the next one until you find an active school.

LOCATION: Lake Fayette HOTSPOT: Pekema Creek Channel SPECIES: Catﬁsh GPS: N 29.934885 W 96.71717 (29.934885, -96.71717) BEST BAITS: Punch bait, worms CONTACT: Weldon Kirk 979-229-3103 weldon_edna@hotmail.com www.FishTales-GuideService.com TIPS: Water is 15 feet here, with some submerged structure. Fish are deeper now as water is very warm from summer sun. Fish close to the bottom whether using cork or tight line. With the water warm chum will still be a very good tool to use. Use a very small treble hook in the size #6 or even #8 due to the very light bite that can come this time of year. Increase hook size only if the ﬁsh are swallowing the hook.

many docks are accessible to tie off your boat after launching. You may have to beach the boat to move your trailer if you are by yourself. Water temperatures are in the 80’s and any welcomed rain gives the lake a boost for catching as opposed to fishing. Good reports continue to be small stripers and sand bass schooling on the surface early and late. If they are not schooling, look for suspended fish near drop off near channel ledges. Best baits for sand bass and stripers are RatLTraps and spinners when on top and slabs when they are deeper. Crappie reports continue to be mixed, but some good reports are being reported around Indian Harbor to the old plant discharge canal. Black bass action continues to be good to 7lbs on crank baits and soft plastics fished near flooded grasses mid lake. The shad are everywhere and the predators are being caught all over the lake. Some good top water action for black bass early and on overcast days is being reported on a consistent basis.

LOCATION: Gibbons Creek Reservoir Month: September HOTSPOT: Eagle Point South Side SPECIES: Catfish GPS: N 30.631938 W 96.046471 (30.631938, -96.046471) BEST BAITS: Shad, shrimp, worms, stink bait CONTACT: Weldon Kirk 979-229-3103 weldon_edna@hotmail.com www.FishTales-GuideService.com TIPS: Timber in this area at varying depths is holding fish early in the morning and after dark. Fish are feeding out of Sulphur Creek into the timber in shallower water this time of year. Tie up to a tree and put out chum around the boat. It should not take long for fish to show up. Use a #6 treble hook on punch bait with either a tight line or under cork with depth set so the hook is close to the bottom. Be sure to use very little chum and put out small amounts of chum if the bite slows.

LOCATION: Joe Pool Lake HOTSPOT: Lakeside Marina GPS: N 32.627651 W 97.039088 (32.627651, -97.039088) SPECIES: Largemouth bass BEST BAITS: Carolina rigged worms, Texas rig with a six inch red metal flake worm or Watermelon red or Pumpkin Seed color, crankbaits, H2O baits in bream color. CONTACT: The Cajun Guide, Johnny Procell 972-814-8942 cajunguide@att.net www.johnnyprocell.com TIPS: The lake at first glance may not look to be as deep as it is but some of the inundated creek channels and gravel pits run to depth of over fifty feet. My choice for fishing deep structure is to leave out of Lakeside Marina and follow Lake Ridge Parkway south until one reaches the bridge. Follow the bridge until the deep creek channel is shown on your chart and then go under the bridge and head west. This creek meanders all over the lake bed here so it is important to either have a topo map that you can refer to or that the electronics has the map capability built into the unit. As I go west, I fish every bend that goes from north to south. These bends will be on your left side as you progress to the west. Carolina rigged worms will work best but I prefer the Texas rig with a six inch red metal flake worm. Sometimes the fish prefer a watermelon red or a pumpkin seed color. My clients and I will usually give each spot about five or six casts before we move on to the next bend unless we get a strike. Fish in this lake tend to school in tight groups, so if you catch one in a spot it is likely that you can catch eight or ten more from the same area. If crankbaits happen to be your forte then try the dam area east of the spillway. I like the H2O baits in some form of bream color.

LOCATION: Lake Granbury HOTSPOT: Midlake GPS: N 32.4329 W 97.7915 (32.4329, -97.7915) SPECIES: Channel catfish BEST BAITS: Hotdogs, worms and prepared baits fished near deeper docks. CONTACT: Michael Acosta, Unfair Advantage Charters 817-578-0023 www.unfairadvantagecharters.com TIPS: Down-line live bait on Carolina live-bait rig. Baiting the fishing spot with some soured maize may bring on the bite. Granbury rose 7.5 feet due to a heavy rain in July, but is still about 4.5 feet low as of this publication. Access is available at most locations, however not T E X A S

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Texas Hotspots LOCATION: Lake Lewisville HOTSPOT: Main Lake Points GPS: N 33.110965 W 96.965304 (33.110965, -96.965304) SPECIES: Crappie BEST BAITS: Jigs and live minnows CONTACT: Tommy Gravley – Lewisville Catfish Guide Service 214-534-9330 www.lewisvillecatfish.com TIPS: Look for crappie to be scattered on brush piles, bridge pilings and sunken timber. Move on if fishing slows down to prospect for more productive spots. LOCATION: Lake Lewisville HOTSPOT: Main Lake Points and Humps GPS: N 33.110965 W 96.965304 (33.110965, -96.965304) SPECIES: White Bass and Hybrids BEST BAITS: Live shad CONTACT: Tommy Gravley – Lewisville Catfish Guide Service 214-534-9330 www.lewisvillecatfish.com TIPS: Sand bass and hybrid fishing is good right now. Look for schools of fish that are scattered on humps and main lake points. LOCATION: Lake Lewisville HOTSPOT: Main Lake Points and Humps GPS: N 33.110965 W 96.965304 (33.110965, -96.965304) SPECIES: Catfish BEST BAITS: Punch bait, cut shad, live shad, and perch CONTACT: Tommy Gravley – Lewisville Catfish Guide Service 214-534-9330 www.lewisvillecatfish.com TIPS: Channel catfish are good shallow on windblown gravel and clay shorelines on punch bait. Fishing is also decent in deeper timber. Blue Cats are fair on main lake humps and points on cut shad and perch. Blues and channels are good at creek mouths when we get a little rain. LOCATION: Lake Palestine HOTSPOT: Kickapoo Creek GPS: N 32.296834 W 95.503931 (32.296834, -95.503931) SPECIES: Largemouth Bass BEST BAITS: Shimmy shakers , spinner baits, and frogs

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CONTACT: Ricky Vandergriff 903-561-7299 or 903-530-2201 ricky@rickysguideservice.COM www. rickysguideservice.COM TIPS: Fishing is good for Largemouth Bass. Fish pockets around the islands of Kickapoo Creek and Kickapoo Cove. Use Shimmy shakers , spinner baits, and frogs along weed lines. LOCATION: Lake Ray Hubbard HOTSPOT: I-30 corridor/Harbor Bay Marina GPS: N 32.900150 W 96.483721 (32.90015, -96.483721) SPECIES: Largemouth bass BEST BAITS: Lipless crankbaits, small double bladed spinnerbaits in white with a few blue strands in the skirt, Four inch red Whacky Worm on a drop shot rig CONTACT: The Cajun Guide, Johnny Procell 972-814-8942 cajunguide@att.net www.johnnyprocell.com TIPS: Thankfully the “dog days” of August are a mere memory and better fishing is in store for all of us during this month. September can be brutally hot or it can be quite mild. Either way though, the fishing will begin to improve. First, there will be less pressure due to the opening of dove season and the many anglers that will be pulled from the lake in that pursuit. And even though the first part of the month can be as dreadfully hot as last month, it will begin to cool towards the middle of the month. It is these cooler morning that I await, knowing that “Ma Nature” is about to unleash a feeding frenzy in all species of finny creatures. With that in mind these are my predictions for catching fish this month. Black Bass can be caught on any of the rip-rap along the I-30 corridor or near the levee that separates the hot water discharge from the lake water on the west side of the lake. My hot spot would be the inundated railroad track that is just north of the Harbor Bay Marina. It is quite easy to see as on travels north from this location. The old track travels from east to west and cuts a swath through the timber that is easily seen. There are two old iron bridges on this railroad bed that were blown up and the remains settled, first into the East Fork of the Trinity and farther west three hundred yards, into an old creek channel. Carolina rigged four inch worms will be the ticket in these locations. The water on top of the old trestle is about ten feet and drops to about twenty feet in the channels. LOCATION: Lake Ray Hubbard HOTSPOT: East Side of Robinson Park

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GPS: N 32.875361 W 96.510132 (32.875361, -96.510132) SPECIES: White Bass and Hybrid Striper BEST BAITS: White or silver one ounce slabs for White Bass, Small top water plugs, Rooster Tail spinners, and Zara Spooks. CONTACT: The Cajun Guide, Johnny Procell 972-814-8942 cajunguide@att.net www.johnnyprocell.com TIPS: White Bass and Hybrid Striped Bass will begin to move towards the middle of the lake and will stage near the east side of Robinson Park. This area is marked by buoys and is extremely shallow. Due caution most be exercised here because the shallow water extends over one hundred yard east of the marker buoys. It is at the eastern end of the shallow water where anglers can wear themselves out catching large white bass and the occasional five to ten pound hybrid. From the tip of this shallow shoal, motor east until the water drops very rapidly to the twenty-foot range. Continue east until a hump appears on the electronics. This is an old levee and should be about ten feet deep on the top side with twenty feet of water on either side. Follow the contours of this levee and use white or silver one-ounce slabs to bounce off the bottom. The fish, both white bass and hybrids, will be on the top during early mornings but will move to the deeper sides later in the day. My clients usually burn the lure up of the bottom for two or three turn and then allow the slab to settle. The strike will almost always come as the lure falls! If this technique fails then try just moving the slab a couple of inches off the bottom in a “dead stick” manner. Both species will at times force shad to the surface and feed for a brief time on top. Small top water plugs and Rooster Tail spinners will get a fish on virtually every cast. If it is the bigger hybrids one chooses to target then try a Zara Spook. LOCATION: Lake Ray Hubbard HOTSPOT: I-30 Bridge GPS: N 32.890766 W 96.486486 (32.890766, -96.486486) SPECIES: Crappie BEST BAITS: Small minnows, various ¼ to 1/8ounce colored curly tailed jigs CONTACT: The Cajun Guide, Johnny Procell 972-814-8942 cajunguide@att.net www.johnnyprocell.com TIPS: Crappie will be under all the bridges and will hold near the bridge supports. As a general rule they will be about two feet from the bottom

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and will be located in the deepest water. A good spot to try is on the eastern most I-30 bridge. From the east, count three bridge supports and fish this area, both under the expressway bridge and the railroad bridge, which is immediately north of this location. This spot is where the East Fork ran under the bridges as it travelled south. Small minnows will work but by far the best attractant will be various in one quarter to one eighth ounce colored curly tailed jigs. LOCATION: Lake Ray Hubbard HOTSPOT: Dam Area GPS: N 32.804162 W 96.494818 (32.804162, -96.494818) SPECIES: Catfish BEST BAITS: Punch bait, cut bait, soap CONTACT: The Cajun Guide, Johnny Procell 972-814-8942 cajunguide@att.net www.johnnyprocell.com TIPS: Catfish are best caught by using jug lines in the deeper water near the dam. Any of the popular “punch baits” will work as will cut bait. Also, try a bait that I used as a commercial fisherman many years ago: soap. Either Ivory or P&G will work. Soften the soap by placing it in a shallow dish with water and then pinch off a large hunk to put on the hook. This bait will catch whisker fish and your hands and the boat will smell just great! LOCATION: Lake Ray Roberts HOTSPOT: Marina Flats GPS: N 33 21.938 W 97 04.927 (33.365628, -97.082119) SPECIES: White bass BEST BAITS: Clear Heddon Baby Torpedo CONTACT: Dannie Golden, Get Bit Guide Service 817-228-5999 www.get-bit.com TIPS: Schooling sand (white) bass will be still be on the flats South of the Marina. I like a Clear Baby Torpedo. When not on top, check your graph for fish hanging on the drop-offs of the flats in 20-25 feet of water. The slab bite will be picking up more in the middle of the month. I like a 1-oz. chartreuse/white slab, bounced off the bottom in 25-30 feet of water. LOCATION: Lake Ray Roberts HOTSPOT: Main Lake GPS: N 33 25.698 W 97 00.758 (33.428294, -97.012628) BEST BAITS: Swimbaits, chatterbaits CONTACT: Dannie Golden, Get Bit Guide Service 817-228-5999 www.get-bit.com

TIPS: September can be a good time to get on some numbers of bass on Ray Roberts. The bass will be starting to school more on main lake rocky points. Main lake shallow grass will also be holding some fish. Swimbaits and chatterbaits are a great option around grass. I like Reaction Innovations Vixen and chrome/blue traps for the schooling fish. LOCATION: Richland Chambers Lake HOTSPOT: Hwy 309 Flats GPS: N 31.917999 W 96.343279 (31.917999, -96.343279) SPECIES: White Bass BEST BAITS: Tiny Torpedos, Rat-L-Traps, small shiny lures CONTACT: Royce Simmons, Gone Fishin’ Guide Service 903-389-4117 www.gonefishin.biz TIPS: Check out the Hwy 309 Flats in the early AM for Top Water Schooling White Bass. These “easy to catch” fish can be caught on Tiny Torpedos, Rat-L-Traps and just about any small, shiny lure you can find in your tackle box. LOCATION: Richland Chambers Lake HOTSPOT: Hwy 309 Flats GPS: N 31.917999 W 96.343279 (31.917999, -96.343279) SPECIES: Hybrid Stripers BEST BAITS: DD22 Crankbait CONTACT: Royce Simmons, Gone Fishin’ Guide Service 903-389-4117 www.gonefishin.biz TIPS: Hybrid Stripers can be caught by trolling the 20-25 feet of water off the levy just East of the Flats. Hang on cause you could tie into some really large bruisers! LOCATION: Lake Somerville HOTSPOT: Right of Spillway SPECIES: Catfish GPS: N 30.313235 W 96.522231 (30.313235, -96.522231) BEST BAITS: Shad, worms, Stink Bait, Chicken Livers CONTACT: Weldon Kirk 979-229-3103 weldon_edna@hotmail.com www.FishTales-GuideService.com TIPS: Water drops off quickly from shore here. Use chum around this drop off, chumming close to the boat side. Fish straight down starting with bait close to the bottom where the chum is located. Cork or tight line works here and corks are easier for young anglers. Fish do not have to jerk hard to get the hook, so with the least bite noticed, set the hook. T E X A S

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LOCATION: Lake Texoma HOTSPOT: Texas Flats and Mill Creek Flats GPS: N 33.822037 W 96.768752 (33.822037, -96.768752) SPECIES: Striped bass Best Striper Baits: Slabs and Coho Minnow Jigs CONTACT: CONTACT: Bill Carey 903-660-5989 bigﬁsh@striperexpress.com www.striperexpress.com TIPS: Stripers are moving out of the deep water

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Texas Hotspots and roaming the flats in September. The lures of choice are slabs and jigs. Vertically jig one-ounce chrome, white and chartreuse slabs along the bottom in ten to thirty foot depths. Coho minnow jigs in white glow color with a ¾ ounce jighead and a four-inch tail are perfect for these hungry stripers. Cast the jigs and use a medium retrieve. If you find surfacing or swirling fish, cast the jig, hold your rod high and keep the jig subsurface. Bank Access: Mill Creek Campsites LOCATION: Lake Whitney HOTSPOT: Whitney Hump GPS: N 31.911167 W 97.347879 (31.911167, -97.347879) SPECIES: Striped bass BEST BAITS: Cut or live shad, Jigs and trailers CONTACT: Randy Routh 817-822-5539 teamredneck01@hotmail.com, www.teamredneck.net TIPS: Use cut gizzard shad on a Carolina rig and make long cast up on Whitney Hump. Big Stripers are moving up on the hump early. After the sun comes up good, back out and use live Shad, fishing about 22 feet down along the edge of the hump in 32 feet of water. Mid-Day down-rigging, trolling with white striper jigs and white or chartreuse worm trailers is producing good stringers of fish. LOCATION: Lake Whitney HOTSPOT: McCowan Flats GPS: N 31.923673 W 97.410449 (31.923673, -97.410449) SPECIES: Striped bass BEST BAITS: Jigs and trailers CONTACT: Randy Routh 817-822-5539

teamredneck01@hotmail.com, www.teamredneck.net TIPS: Mid-Day down-rigging, trolling with white striper jigs and white or chartreuse worm trailers at areas like McCowan Flats is producing good stringers of ﬁsh.

PANHANDLE

Lake Leon Full, and Filled with Bass by DUSTIN WARNCKE and DEAN HEFFNER LOCATION: Lake Leon HOTSPOT: Mountain Branch Point GPS: N 32 21.264 W 98 41.424 (32.3544, -98.6904) SPECIES: Largemouth Bass BEST BAITS: Crankbaits, minnows CONTACT: Lorie and Jason Rohloff, Brush Creek Bait and Tackle 6882 US Hwy 180 W, Breckenridge 254-559-1155 texasﬁshnhunt@aol.com TIPS: Bass like hanging around those shady boat houses too or around the bends of the lake by the grasses and stumps. Throw out your favorite crank bait or big bass minnow and see what you can catch. Lake Leon is full, and just south of I-20 at Ranger, makes a perfect late-summer vacation. If you come, be sure to pick up your bait at the Barn Too.Remember if you get live bait, keep them in an aerated minnow bucket. If you throw your minnow

bucket over the side, they cannot get any oxygen off the top of the water, due to the heat. So sink it a few feet below the surface. LOCATION: Lake Alan Henry HOTSPOT: Various Main Lake Points GPS: N 33.031576 W 101.107130 (33.031576, -101.10713) SPECIES: Largemouth Bass BEST BAITS: 10” Blue Fleck Power Worms Texas rigged, jigging spoons, Little George’s, flukes on a drop shot, or troll deep diving crank baits such as Fat Free Shad’s or Strike King 5XD’s CONTACT: Norman Clayton’s Guide Services 806-792-9220 nclayton42@sbcglobal.net www.lakealanhenry.com/norman_clayton.htm TIPS: During September, the bass will still be very deep. During and around the full moon is a good time to try night fishing with big plastic worms. I use 10” Blue Fleck Power Worms Texas rigged. At night, any of the main lake points at the clear end of the lake will be the area to hit for a trophy bass. Area 3, Indian Point, is a great night time fish place all the way from the point to down the entire side going west. The points to hit at night is area 24, area 2, all of the steep sided area directly across for the dam. Any steep clear water point or bank could produce a bass of a life time. The bass could be 5 to 25 feet deep. So start your worm close to the bank and work to worm down to the 25 to 30 foot depth. During the day, the bass will be very deep chasing the schools of shad the ball up around 20 to 40 feet deep. Use your electronics to find the schools of shad and you will find bass. Use jigging spoons, Little George’s, flukes worked on a drop shot, or troll deep diving crank baits, such as Fat Free Shad’s, or Strike King 5XD’s. These should be in a shad color. The Fat Free Shad is the one that dives 8 to 14 feet, and the Strike King 5XD dives to 15 feet. The water temperature will still be around 80 degrees. Shad can be found anywhere in the dam area. You idle around until you find a school of shad, drop out a buoy, then work a spoon or drop shot fluke through the schools of shad and this should produce bass. Schools of shad can always be found from the launch ramp to Rocky Creek. Idle along until you find the schools of shad, and you will find bass. While you are idling looking for the schools of shad, you might as well troll with one of the above mentioned lures. LOCATION: Lake Graham/Eddleman HOTSPOT: East Shoreline GPS: N 33 08.760

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W 98 37.302 (33.1460, -98.6217) SPECIES: Crappie BEST BAITS: minnows, crappie jigs CONTACT: Lorie and Jason Rohloff, Brush Creek Bait and Tackle 6882 US Hwy 180 W, Breckenridge 254-559-1155 texasfishnhunt@aol.com TIPS: Crappie like the shade of the stumps and logs varying your depth, might try presenting your bait slow then fast. Make them want to come out and snatch it up. LOCATION: Lake Graham/Eddleman HOTSPOT: Lower Lake GPS: N 33 08.310 W 98 37.446 (33.1385, -98.6241) SPECIES: Catfish BEST BAITS: Minnows, shad CONTACT: Lorie and Jason Rohloff, Brush Creek Bait and Tackle 6882 US Hwy 180 W, Breckenridge 254-559-1155 texasfishnhunt@aol.com TIPS: Catfish are biting good on large bass minnows and large whole shad. Seems like the night bite is the strongest right now. LOCATION: Lake Graham/Eddleman HOTSPOT: Upper Eddleman GPS: N 33 09.072 W 98 36.300 (33.1512, -98.605) SPECIES: Largemouth Bass BEST BAITS: Crankbaits CONTACT: Lorie and Jason Rohloff, Brush Creek Bait and Tackle 6882 US Hwy 180 W, Breckenridge 254-559-1155 texasfishnhunt@aol.com TIPS: Bass find it a challenge to make you work for it so get crankin! Use your favorite crank bait and see what happens. Early to mid morning seems the best. September is still producing some great catches here at Graham. This time of year, go out early or go out after dark to try to beat the heat. The fishermen are still going strong and the recent small rains have helped keep it going. Remember that it is hot and your live bait needs an aerator to keep them alive now. Use a minnow net if you have on sunscreen or bug spray, as this also harms the bait. LOCATION: Hubbard Creek Res. HOTSPOT: Islands GPS: N 32 49.032 W 99 00.045

(32.8172, -99.00075) SPECIES: Catfish BEST BAITS: bass minnows, stink bait CONTACT: Lorie and Jason Rohloff, Brush Creek Bait and Tackle 6882 US Hwy 180 W, Breckenridge 254-559-1155 texasfishnhunt@aol.com TIPS: Catfish are lurking in deep holes around 12-20’ and the big hogs are even deeper than that. They are hitting on large bass minnows and CJ’s stink bait. Both are sold out at Brush Creek. If you want to try your hand at noodling some catfish, this seems to be the place to do that they are hand fishing some big hogs in the 40-50 pound ranges. LOCATION: Hubbard Creek Res. HOTSPOT: Sink Creek GPS: N 32 49.812 W 99 00.018 (32.8302, -99.0003) SPECIES: Crappie BEST BAITS: jigs, minnows CONTACT: Lorie and Jason Rohloff, Brush Creek Bait and Tackle 6882 US Hwy 180 W, Breckenridge 254-559-1155 texasfishnhunt@aol.com TIPS: Crappie are going good along timber and deep stumps. They like chartreuse or black/silver slab buster jigs. Also a medium minnow will get them mad and thumping.

LOCATION: Lake Leon HOTSPOT: Boat Houses GPS: N 32 21.786, W 98 41.142 (32.3631, -98.6857) SPECIES: Crappie BEST BAITS: jigs, minnows CONTACT: Lorie and Jason Rohloff, Brush Creek Bait and Tackle 6882 US Hwy 180 W, Breckenridge 254-559-1155 texasﬁshnhunt@aol.com TIPS: Crappie are liking being under cover

LOCATION: Hubbard Creek Res. HOTSPOT: Dam Line GPS: N 32 49.944 W 98 58.440 (32.8324, -98.974) SPECIES: Largemouth Bass BEST BAITS: RatLTraps CONTACT: Lorie and Jason Rohloff, Brush Creek Bait and Tackle 6882 US Hwy 180 W, Breckenridge 254-559-1155 texasfishnhunt@aol.com TIPS: Bass like it cool, so get out early along the dam and around the points throwing your favorite crank baits. You will surely get them if you through a mad cow or a white RatLTrap. The lake has had some work done on the main boat ramp at the dam for the low water level. The fish are still biting strong and fisherman are still reeling in strong catches. LOCATION: Lake Leon HOTSPOT: Mountain Branch GPS: N 32 20.502 W 98 42.150 T E X A S

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(32.3417, -98.7025) SPECIES: Catfish BEST BAITS: minnows CONTACT: Lorie and Jason Rohloff, Brush Creek Bait and Tackle 6882 US Hwy 180 W, Breckenridge 254-559-1155 texasfishnhunt@aol.com TIPS: Catfish are biting good on large minnows and close to the creek due to the recent rains we were fortunate to receive.

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Texas Hotspots colors. Texas-rigged plastic lizards also work good in the hydrilla.

around stumps and logs and some very nice boat houses. Seems like the bite is best very early or right before and after dusk. LOCATION: Possum Kingdom HOTSPOT: Broadway GPS: N 32 52.724 W 98 31.809 (32.8787, -98.5301) SPECIES: Sand bass, Hybrids and Stripers BEST BAITS: Live shad, swim baits, slabs, jigs CONTACT: Dean Heffner 940-329-0036 fav7734/2@aceweb.com TIPS: This month, the early bird gets the worm. Fall is coming with cooler temperatures, so stick to the mid-lake area, called Broadway. Watch for schooling action on the surface or birds moving around over the water. Sand (white) bass, hybrids and stripers will all be mixed together. Live shad is best, but if unavailable go with baits that mimic their action and colors. Down-rigging is still working, and so is trolling and slabbing. As the morning wears on, troll or jig-and-slab the break lines for fast action. Broadway is the hotspot, but ﬁsh are biting from one end of PK to the other!

BIG BEND

Hit the Highways for Amistad Bass by DUSTIN WARNCKE LOCATION: Amistad HOTSPOT: Highways 277-377 Area GPS: N29 30.32178, W100 54.9906 (29.505363, -100.91651) SPECIES: largemouth bass BEST BAITS: Zara spooks, Odom football jigs, plastic lizards CONTACT: James Burkeen 830-734-9652 jjburkeen@gmail.com amistadbassin.com TIPS: The hydrilla is scattered in this area but thickening. Use Zara Spooks early, especially on cloudy days, and ﬁsh the points below the highways. At mid-morning, move out to the hydrilla where it drops off into deep water and work Odom football jigs in green-pumpkin or Falcon Craw

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HILL COUNTRY

Dam Stripers Go Deep on Canyon by DUSTIN WARNCKE LOCATION: Canyon Lake HOTSPOT: Dam GPS: N 29.863133 W 98.199319 (29.863133, -98.199319) SPECIES: Striped Bass BEST BAITS: Striper Jigs CONTACT: Capt. Steve Nixon-Fishhooks Adventures 210-573-1230 steve@sanantoniofishingguides.com www.sanantoniofishingguides.com TIPS: Look for the Striped Bass to be deep (5080 feet). They will be suspending over the river channel and close to the dam. Trolling the jigs on downriggers around this area produces fish. LOCATION: Lake Austin HOTSPOT: Highway 360 Bridge GPS: N 30.350588 W 97.797101 (30.350588, -97.797101) SPECIES: Largemouth Bass BEST BAITS: Pacemaker jigs, Picasso Shakey Heads, Picasso Spinnerbaits, and V&M plastics CONTACT: Brian Parker - Lake Austin Fishing 817-808-2227 lakeaustinfishing@yahoo.com, www.LakeAustinFishing.com TIPS: September, October, and November are months of transition for many of the fisheries in Texas because of the weather changes and feeding cycles. The water temperatures are usually the highest in September, which has the fish, stationed for deeper feeding or feeding around cover. With this in mind, be prepared by throwing the right baits. My success has been with Pacemaker jigs, Picasso Shakey Heads, Picasso Spinnerbaits, and V&M plastics around deep docks and other cover close to deep water. Persistence will reward the patient in September. Tightlines Premium Fishing Tackle and Fisherman’s Corner (aka www.texasbasstackle.com) carry an extensive line of Picasso

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Lures and V&M baits that have brought me success at Lake Austin. LOCATION: Lake Buchanan HOTSPOT: Lower Half of Main Lake GPS: N 30.754292 W 98.436470 (30.754292, -98.43647) SPECIES: Striped Bass, White Bass, Catfish BEST BAITS: Live shad, jigs in chartreuse or white, cut shad CONTACT: Clancy Terrill 512-633-6742 centraltexasfishing@yahoo.com www.centraltexasfishing.com TIPS: Stripers can be found on ridges early in the morning in 35 to 50 feet of water drifting live bait near trees. Live shad preferred. White Bass can be found on ridges or humps most of the day in 20 to 25 ft. jigging with chartreuse or white jigs. Just jig 1 or 2 feet off the bottom. Catfish can be found in 15 to 20 feet of water early and late as well as at night. Use cut shad but any quality bait should work. Use small hooks with small chunks of bait and you will be keeping busy with fishing action. LOCATION: Lake Buchanan HOTSPOT: Main Lake Humps and Ridges GPS: N 30.754951 W 98.428766 (30.754951, -98.428766) SPECIES: Hybrids and Stripers BEST BAITS: Live shad, 1 to 1 ½ oz. chrome slab spoons, CONTACT: Ken Milam 325-379-2051 kmilam@verizon.net www.striperfever.com TIPS: Hybrids and Striper are holding along the sides of the ridge sloping towards the river channel and along the tree lines on the lower end of the lake, just a few miles north of the dam. Use you fish finder to locate the ridges. Then check out the sides especially along the tree lines. In anywhere from 35 to 56 feet of water, you should find fish. Concentrate on fishing the tops of the trees. You can use live shad but 1 to 1 ½ oz. chrome slab will work just fine! Yo-Yo them and do a fast retrieve! LOCATION: Lake Buchanan HOTSPOT: Main Lake GPS: N 30.754951 W 98.428766 (30.754951, -98.428766) SPECIES: Catfish BEST BAITS: Cut shad, cut carp, or live perch CONTACT: Ken Milam

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325-379-2051 kmilam@verizon.net www.striperfever.com TIPS: Catfish fishing reports are good along the slopes of the ridges in 20 to 28 feet of water. Fish on the bottom or a few feet off the bottom for best results. LOCATION: Lake Buchanan HOTSPOT: Shaw Island GPS: N 30.821015 W 98.427477 (30.821015, -98.427477) SPECIES: White Bass BEST BAITS: Top water lures like the Tiny Torpedo CONTACT: Ken Milam 325-379-2051 kmilam@verizon.net www.striperfever.com TIPS: White bass are around the Shaw Island area. Watch for some top water action! LOCATION: Canyon Lake HOTSPOT: Canyon Lake Marina GPS: N 29.909503 W 98.238244 (29.909503, -98.238244) SPECIES: Largemouth bass BEST BAITS: ¼ oz. Shakey Head, Carolina rigged Watermelon flukes (1/2 oz. or ¾ oz. Picasso Tungsten weights), Senko type baits Texas rigged or weightless, use flukes weightless as well. CONTACT: KC’S Bassin’ Guide Service kandie@gvtc.com www.kcbassinguide.com TIPS: Be sure and fish the point near the drop off slowly. Work the shallows early and then move into the deeper depths. Bass are in their later summer homes and, with the weather being warm, are not opt to be aggressive in nature. Use a good rod like KC’s Rodz in Heavy Wt. 7’ for Carolina rigging. This rod can handle anything you get into and then some. Good summer colors include, watermelon red, blue fleck, June bug. If really sunny), try watermelon candy and dip it in chartreuse. Go early and remember to hydrate regularly with water, wear a hat, sunglasses, and sun screen.

stable, the fish are fat from feeding all summer on the abundant shad population, and you will have the lake all to yourself. This is the one time of year that a person could limit out on white bass and crappie in one afternoon of fishing. For crappie, fish the main lake brush piles and plastic trees. Use a 1/32 oz. jig tipped with a Berkley Crappie Nibble. Lower the jig and hold it still right at the top of the structure. If you don’t get bit, raise or lower the bait to find the biting depth. Work minnows the exact same way. The only difference in fishing minnows is that you lift your rod in slow motion when you get a bite. When you feel the weight of the fish, then set the hook with a smooth upward sweep. With the jig, you set the hook fast with a smooth upward sweep. LOCATION: Granger Lake HOTSPOT: Main Lake GPS: N 30.6976 W 97.3688 (30.6976, -97.3688) SPECIES: White Bass BEST BAITS: Slab spoons for white bass CONTACT: Tommy Tidwell 512-365-7761 crappie1@hotmail.com www.gotcrappie.com TIPS: Look for surface feeding activity. This usually occurs around main lake humps and ridges. Position your boat right over the hump and bounce a slab spoon off the bottom. A dragging action often gets the larger whites. Just cast out and drag it back as you would work a Carolina rigged worm.

SOUTH TEXAS PLAINS

Topwaters Tame Big Tiger Bass by DUSTIN WARNCKE LOCATION: Falcon Lake HOTSPOT: Big Tiger GPS: N26 43.10676, W99 9.29274 (26.718446, -99.154879) SPECIES: largemouth bass BEST BAITS: Zara Spooks, 3/8-ounce jigs, spinnerbaits CONTACT: Robert Amaya 956-765-1442 robertsﬁshntackle@gmail.com robertsﬁshntackle.com TIPS: The best action in the brush close to the shore will come early unless there is cloud cover, which will extend the action longer into the morning. Fish Zara Spooks or similar lures close to the bank in the pockets between the brush and stickups. Once the sun begins to rise, pitch blackbrown or black-blue jigs into the brush and work them slowly. Texas-rigged soft plastics also will work well in and around the brush and stickups.

LOCATION: Granger Lake HOTSPOT: Main Lake GPS: N 30.6976 W 97.3688 (30.6976, -97.3688) SPECIES: Crappie BEST BAITS: Jigs and minnows CONTACT: Tommy Tidwell 512-365-7761 crappie1@hotmail.com www.gotcrappie.com TIPS: September is without a doubt the best month for ﬁshing at Granger Lake. The weather is T E X A S

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Sportsman’s Daybook SEPTEMBER 2014

Tides and Prime Times

USING THE PRIME TIMES CALENDAR

The following pages contain TIDE and SOLUNAR predictions for Galveston Channel (29.3166° N, 94.88° W).

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TIDE PREDICTIONS are located in the upper white boxes on the Calendar Pages. Use the Correction Table below, which is keyed to 23 other tide stations, to adjust low and high tide times.

T9 T8 T7

SOLUNAR ACTIVITY is shown in the lower color boxes of the Calendar pages. Use the SOLUNAR ADJUSTMENT SCALE below to adjust times for points East and West of Galveston Channel.

T17

TIDE PREDICTIONS are shown in graph form, with High and Low tide predictions in text immediately below. SOLUNAR ACTIVITY data is provided to indicate major and minor feeding periods for each day, as the daily phases of the moon have varying degrees of inﬂuence on many wildlife species.

T13 T5

T14

T15 T16

T3 T2 T1

AM & PM MINOR phases occur when the moon rises and sets. These phases last 1 to 2 hours.

T18

AM & PM MAJOR phases occur when the moon reaches its highest point overhead as well as when it is “underfoot” or at its highest point on the exact opposite side of the earth from your positoin (or literally under your feet). Most days have two Major Feeding Phases, each lasting about 2 hours.

T19

T20

PEAK DAYS: The closer the moon is to your location, the stronger the inﬂuence. FULL or NEW MOONS provide the strongest inﬂunce of the month. PEAK TIMES: When a Solunar Period falls within 30 minutes to an hour of sunrise or sunset, anticipate increased action. A moon rise or moon set during one of these periods will cause even greater action. If a FULL or NEW MOON occurs during a Solunar Period, expect the best action of the season.

T21

TIDE CORRECTION TABLE

Add or subtract the time shown at the rightof the Tide Stations on this table (and map) to determine the adjustment from the time shown for GALVESTON CHANNEL in the calendars.

KEY T1 T2 T3 T4 T5 T6

PLACE Sabine Bank Lighthouse Sabine Pass Jetty Sabine Pass Mesquite Pt, Sab. Pass Galveston Bay, S. Jetty Port Bolivar

HIGH -1:46 -1:26 -1:00 -0:04 -0:39 +0:14

LOW -1:31 -1:31 -1:15 -0:25 -1:05 -0:06

KEY PLACE HIGH Galveston Channel/Bays T7 Texas City Turning Basin +0:33 +3:54 T8 Eagle Point +6:05 T9 Clear Lake +10:21 T10 Morgans Point T11 Round Pt, Trinity Bay +10:39

LOW +0:41 +4:15 +6:40 +5:19 +5:15

KEY T12 T13 T14 T15 T16 T17

PLACE Pt Barrow, Trinity Bay Gilchrist, East Bay Jamaica Beach, W. Bay Alligator Point, W. Bay Christmas Pt Galveston Pleasure Pier

HIGH +5:48 +3:16 +2:38 +2:39 +2:32 -1:06

LOW +4:43 +4:18 +3:31 +2:33 +2:31 -1:06

KEY T18 T19 T20 T21 T22 T23

PLACE San Luis Pass Freeport Harbor Pass Cavallo Aransas Pass Padre Island (So. End) Port Isabel

HIGH -0.09 -0:44 0:00 -0:03 -0:24 +1:02

LOW -0.09 -1:02 -1:20 -1:31 -1:45 -0:42

SPORTSMAN’S DAYBOOK IS SPONSORED BY:

NOT TO BE USED FOR NAVIGATION T22 T23

TAP HERE For

CUSTOMIZED TIDE CHARTS from the TF&G TIDE FORECASTER

86 |

S E P T E M B E R

Sep ALMANAC-Digital.indd 86

2 0 1 4

T E X A S

F I S H

G A M E ®

8/22/14 10:48 AM

SYMBOL KEY

BEST:

7:45-9:40 AM

= Peak Fishing Period

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

Fishing Day’s Best 2nd Score Graph Score Best

Sep 1  Sunrise: 6:56a Moonrise: 1:12p

Set: 7:42p Set: None

TUESDAY

Sunrise: 6:56a Moonrise: 2:10p

WEDNESDAY

Set: 7:40p Sunrise: 6:57a Set: 12:14a Moonrise: 3:07p

Set: 7:39p Set: 1:06a

THURSDAY

Sunrise: 6:57a Moonrise: 4:02p

FRIDAY

Set: 7:38p Set: 2:04a

Sunrise: 6:58a Moonrise: 4:54p

Set: 7:37p Set: 3:06a

SATURDAY

Sunrise: 6:58a Moonrise: 5:44p

7

Set: 7:36p Set: 4:12a

Sunrise: 6:59a Moonrise: 6:30p

Set: 7:35p Set: 5:19a

AM Minor: 11:14a

PM Minor: 11:40p

AM Minor: -----

PM Minor: 12:09p

AM Minor: 12:35a

PM Minor: 1:03p

AM Minor: 1:27a

PM Minor: 1:56p

AM Minor: 2:20a

PM Minor: 2:49p

AM Minor: 3:11a

PM Minor: 3:40p

AM Minor: 4:03a

PM Minor: 4:32p

AM Major: 5:02a

PM Major: 5:27p

AM Major: 5:55a

PM Major: 6:22p

AM Major: 6:49a

PM Major: 7:17p

AM Major: 7:42a

PM Major: 8:11p

AM Major: 8:34a

PM Major: 9:03p

AM Major: 9:26a

PM Major: 9:55p

AM Major: 10:17a

PM Major: 10:46p

Moon Overhead: 6:44p

12a

Tides and Prime Times for SEPTEMBER 2014

12p

Moon Overhead: 8:35p

Moon Overhead: 7:38p 12a

12p

12a

12p

Moon Overhead: 9:33p 12a

12p

Moon Overhead: 11:29p

Moon Overhead: 10:31p 12a

12p

12a

12p

SOLUNAR ACTIVITY

MONDAY

 = New Moon  = First Quarter  = Full Moon  = Last Quarter  = Good Day  = Best Day SUNDAY

Tap for Customized Tide Charts

NOT TO BE USED FOR NAVIGATION

Moon Overhead: None

12a

12p

12a

FEET

Moon Underfoot: 6:18a

+2.0

-1.0

TIDE LEVELS

BEST:

12:00 — 2:00 PM

Low Tide: 1:55 AM High Tide: 6:45 AM Low Tide: 3:38 PM

1.27ft. 1.43ft. 0.30ft.

Moon Underfoot: 8:06a BEST:

1:00 — 3:00 PM

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

12:53 AM 2:41 AM 6:44 AM 4:44 PM

1.42ft. 1.41ft. 1.49ft. 0.20ft.

Moon Underfoot: 9:04a BEST:

2:00 — 4:00 PM

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

2:11 AM 4:24 AM 6:50 AM 5:52 PM

1.53ft. 1.51ft. 1.52ft. 0.10ft.

High Tide: 2:51 AM Low Tide: 6:56 PM

1.60ft. 0.03ft.

F I S H

Moon Underfoot: 11:00a

BEST:

3:00 — 5:00 PM

T E X A S

Sep ALMANAC-Digital.indd 87

Moon Underfoot: 10:02a

BEST:

4:00 — 6:00 PM

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

3:22 AM 8:14 AM 11:47 AM 7:56 PM

1.63ft. 1.44ft. 1.50ft. 0.00ft.

G A M E ®

Moon Underfoot: 11:57a

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

3:49 AM 8:45 AM 1:24 PM 8:50 PM

1.63ft. 1.30ft. 1.54ft. 0.04ft.

+2.0

BEST:

5:00 — 7:00 PM

5:30 — 7:30 PM

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

S E P T E M B E R

4:15 AM 9:23 AM 2:44 PM 9:42 PM

2 0 1 4

TIDE LEVELS

+1.0

Moon Underfoot: 7:11a

1.61ft. 1.11ft. 1.59ft. 0.14ft.

+1.0 0 -1.0

8/22/14 10:48 AM

Sportsman’s Daybook

NOT TO BE USED FOR NAVIGATION = FALLING TIDE = RISING TIDE = DAYLIGHT HOURS = NIGHTTIME HOURS

Fishing Day’s Best 2nd Score Graph Score Best

8

Sunrise: 6:59a Moonrise: 7:15p

Set: 7:33p Set: 6:26a

TUESDAY

9

Sunrise: 7:00a Moonrise: 7:59p

WEDNESDAY

10 

Set: 7:32p Set: 7:33a

Sunrise: 7:00a Moonrise: 8:42p

Set: 7:31p Set: 8:39a

THURSDAY

11 

Sunrise: 7:01a Moonrise: 9:26p

Set: 7:30p Set: 9:43a

FRIDAY

SATURDAY

Sunrise: 7:01a Set: 7:29p Sunrise: 7:02a Set: 7:27p Sunrise: 7:02a Set: 7:26p Moonrise: 10:11p Set: 10:47a Moonrise: 10:58p Set: 11:47a Moonrise: 11:46p Set: 12:45p

AM Minor: 4:56a

PM Minor: 5:24p

AM Minor: 5:51a

PM Minor: 6:19p

AM Minor: 6:49a

PM Minor: 7:16p

AM Minor: 7:48a

PM Minor: 8:15p

AM Minor: 8:48a

PM Minor: 9:15p

AM Minor: 9:47a

PM Minor: 10:14p

AM Minor: 10:45a

PM Minor: 11:11p

AM Major: 11:10a

PM Major: 11:38p

AM Major: -----

PM Major: 12:05p

AM Major: 12:35a

PM Major: 1:02p

AM Major: 1:34a

PM Major: 2:01p

AM Major: 2:35a

PM Major: 3:01p

AM Major: 3:34a

PM Major: 4:01p

AM Major: 4:32a

PM Major: 4:58p

Moon Overhead: 12:26a

12a

Tides and Prime Times for SEPTEMBER 2014

12p

Moon Overhead: 2:16a

Moon Overhead: 1:21a 12a

12p

12a

12p

Moon Overhead: 3:10a 12a

12p

Moon Overhead: 4:57a

Moon Overhead: 4:04a 12a

12p

12a

12p

Moon Overhead: 5:50a 12a

12p

SOLUNAR ACTIVITY

MONDAY

 = New Moon  = First Quarter  = Full Moon  = Last Quarter  = Good Day  = Best Day SUNDAY

Tap for Customized Tide Charts

= Peak Fishing Period

BEST:

7:45-9:40 AM

SYMBOL KEY

12a

FEET

Moon Underfoot: 12:53p

+2.0

-1.0

BEST:

6:00 — 8:00 PM 12:30 — 2:30 AM

TIDE LEVELS

BEST:

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

4:42 AM 10:05 AM 3:56 PM 10:32 PM

1.57ft. 0.89ft. 1.63ft. 0.32ft.

Sep ALMANAC-Digital.indd 88

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

5:07 AM 10:50 AM 5:06 PM 11:19 PM

Moon Underfoot: 2:43p

BEST:

1:30 — 3:30 AM

1.54ft. 0.67ft. 1.64ft. 0.54ft.

High Tide: 5:33 AM Low Tide: 11:37 AM High Tide: 6:17 PM

Moon Underfoot: 3:37p

BEST:

2:00 — 4:00 AM

1.52ft. 0.47ft. 1.62ft.

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

12:06 AM 5:59 AM 12:27 PM 7:30 PM

Moon Underfoot: 4:31p

BEST:

3:00 — 5:00 AM

0.78ft. 1.50ft. 0.32ft. 1.59ft.

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

12:52 AM 6:25 AM 1:19 PM 8:49 PM

Moon Underfoot: 5:24p

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

1:41 AM 6:49 AM 2:17 PM 10:18 PM

+2.0

BEST:

3:30 — 5:30 AM

1.01ft. 1.50ft. 0.23ft. 1.56ft.

Moon Underfoot: 6:16p 4:30 — 6:30 AM

1.22ft. 1.49ft. 0.20ft. 1.54ft.

Low Tide: 2:41 AM High Tide: 7:11 AM Low Tide: 3:21 PM

TIDE LEVELS

+1.0

BEST:

Moon Underfoot: 1:49p

1.38ft. 1.48ft. 0.22ft.

+1.0 0 -1.0

8/22/14 10:48 AM

Sep ALMANAC-Digital.indd 89

8/22/14 10:48 AM

Sportsman’s Daybook

Tap for Customized Tide Charts

NOT TO BE USED FOR NAVIGATION = Peak Fishing Period

BEST:

7:45-9:40 AM

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

Fishing Day’s Best 2nd Score Graph Score Best

Sunrise: 7:03a Moonrise: None

TUESDAY

16 

Set: 7:25p Set: 1:39p

Sunrise: 7:03a Set: 7:24p Moonrise: 12:35a Set: 2:28p

Sunrise: 7:04a Moonrise: 1:25a

THURSDAY

Set: 7:22p Set: 3:14p

Sunrise: 7:04a Moonrise: 2:16a

FRIDAY

Set: 7:21p Set: 3:56p

Sunrise: 7:05a Moonrise: 3:07a

SATURDAY

Set: 7:20p Set: 4:35p

Sunrise: 7:05a Moonrise: 3:59a

SUNDAY

Set: 7:19p Set: 5:11p

Sunrise: 7:06a Moonrise: 4:50a

Set: 7:18p Set: 5:46p

AM Minor: 11:39a

PM Minor: -----

AM Minor: 12:05a

PM Minor: 12:29p

AM Minor: 12:52a

PM Minor: 1:16p

AM Minor: 1:36a

PM Minor: 1:59p

AM Minor: 2:17a

PM Minor: 2:40p

AM Minor: 2:57a

PM Minor: 3:19p

AM Minor: 3:36a

PM Minor: 3:58p

AM Major: 5:26a

PM Major: 5:51p

AM Major: 6:17a

PM Major: 6:41p

AM Major: 7:04a

PM Major: 7:28p

AM Major: 7:47a

PM Major: 8:11p

AM Major: 8:29a

PM Major: 8:51p

AM Major: 9:08a

PM Major: 9:30p

AM Major: 9:47a

PM Major: 10:08p

Moon Overhead: 6:42a

12a

WEDNESDAY

12p

Moon Overhead: 8:20a

Moon Overhead: 7:32a 12a

12p

12a

12p

Moon Overhead: 9:07a

12a

12p

Moon Overhead: 10:37a

Moon Overhead: 9:53a

12a

12p

12a

12p

SOLUNAR ACTIVITY

MONDAY

Tides and Prime Times for SEPTEMBER 2014

Moon Overhead: 11:20a 12a

12p

12a

FEET

Moon Underfoot: 7:07p

+2.0

-1.0

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

12:02 AM 6:29 AM 6:58 AM 4:32 PM

1.55ft. 1.47ft. 1.47ft. 0.26ft.

MONDAY

22 

Sunrise: 7:06a Moonrise: 5:42a

Set: 7:16p Set: 6:20p

23 

Sunrise: 7:07a Moonrise: 6:34a

Moon Underfoot: 10:15p

BEST:

1.58ft. 0.30ft.

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

2:42 AM 9:15 AM 9:50 AM 6:51 PM

1.60ft. 1.41ft. 1.41ft. 0.35ft.

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

WEDNESDAY

24 

Set: 7:15p Set: 6:54p

Sunrise: 7:07a Moonrise: 7:27a

Moon Underfoot: 11:42p

BEST:

3:12 AM 9:10 AM 11:41 AM 7:45 PM

1.59ft. 1.37ft. 1.41ft. 0.40ft.

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

25 

Sunrise: 7:08a Moonrise: 8:20a

3:31 AM 9:19 AM 12:57 PM 8:30 PM

1.57ft. 1.31ft. 1.44ft. 0.47ft.

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

FRIDAY

26 

Set: 7:13p Set: 8:06p

Sunrise: 7:08a Moonrise: 9:15a

11:00A — 1:00P

3:45 AM 9:27 AM 1:59 PM 9:06 PM

1.55ft. 1.23ft. 1.48ft. 0.55ft.

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

SATURDAY

Set: 7:11p Set: 8:45p

Sunrise: 7:09a Set: 7:10p Moonrise: 10:11a Set: 9:26p

4:00 AM 9:37 AM 2:54 PM 9:37 PM

Sunrise: 7:09a Set: 7:09p Moonrise: 11:08a Set: 10:12p

AM Minor: 4:56a

PM Minor: 5:17p

AM Minor: 5:39a

PM Minor: 6:00p

AM Minor: 6:24a

PM Minor: 6:47p

AM Minor: 7:13a

PM Minor: 7:37p

AM Minor: 8:06a

PM Minor: 8:30p

AM Minor: 9:01a

PM Minor: 9:27p

AM Major: 10:26a

PM Major: 10:47p

AM Major: 11:06a

PM Major: 11:28p

AM Major: 11:50a

PM Major: 12:11p

AM Major: 12:13a

PM Major: 12:36p

AM Major: 1:02a

PM Major: 1:25p

AM Major: 1:54a

PM Major: 2:18p

AM Major: 2:48a

PM Major: 3:14p

12p

12a

12p

12a

12p

Moon Overhead: 2:15p

12a

12p

Moon Overhead: 3:50p

Moon Overhead: 3:02p

12a

12p

12a

12p

Moon Overhead: 4:41p 12a

12p

12a

FEET

Moon Underfoot: None

+2.0

-1.0

BEST:

TIDE LEVELS

Moon Underfoot: 12:25a BEST:

11:30A — 1:30P

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

4:15 AM 9:54 AM 3:44 PM 10:04 PM

Moon Underfoot: 1:08a BEST:

12:00 — 2:00 PM

1.53ft. 1.02ft. 1.56ft. 0.74ft.

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

TIDE CORRECTION TABLE

4:32 AM 10:17 AM 4:33 PM 10:32 PM

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

Moon Underfoot: 1:52a BEST:

12:30 — 2:30 PM

1.54ft. 0.90ft. 1.58ft. 0.85ft.

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

PLACE

4:49 AM 10:44 AM 5:23 PM 11:00 PM

1.54ft. 0.79ft. 1.60ft. 0.97ft.

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

5:05 AM 11:15 AM 6:14 PM 11:30 PM

HIGH

LOW

KEY

Sabine Bank Lighthouse -1:46

-1:31

Galveston Channel/Bays

PLACE

Sabine Pass Jetty

-1:26

-1:31

Sabine Pass

-1:00

-1:15

Mesquite Pt, Sab. Pass -0:04

-0:25

Galveston Bay, S. Jetty -0:39

Port Bolivar

1.55ft. 0.68ft. 1.61ft. 1.09ft.

HIGH

Moon Underfoot: 3:26a

BEST:

1:00 — 3:00 PM

+0:14

Moon Underfoot: 2:38a

BEST:

2:00 — 4:00 PM

High Tide: 5:18 AM Low Tide: 11:49 AM High Tide: 7:11 PM

LOW

1.55ft. 0.58ft. 1.62ft.

Moon Underfoot: 4:15a

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

12:02 AM 5:26 AM 12:27 PM 8:15 PM

1.23ft. 1.55ft. 0.50ft. 1.63ft.

3:30 — 5:30 PM

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

12:37 AM 5:25 AM 1:11 PM 9:31 PM

KEY

PLACE

HIGH

LOW

KEY

PLACE

HIGH

T12

Pt Barrow, Trinity Bay +5:48

+4:43

T18

San Luis Pass

-0.09

Texas City Turning Basin+0:33 +0:41

T13

Gilchrist, East Bay

+4:18

T19

Freeport Harbor

-0:44

-1:02

Eagle Point

+3:54

+4:15

T14

Jamaica Beach, W. Bay +2:38

+3:31

T20

Pass Cavallo

0:00

-1:20

Clear Lake

+6:05

+6:40

T15

Alligator Point, W. Bay +2:39

+2:33

T21

Aransas Pass

-0:03

-1:31

-1:05

T10

Morgans Point

+10:21 +5:19

T16

Christmas Pt

+2:32

+2:31

T22

Padre Island (So. End) -0:24

-1:45

-0:06

T11

Round Pt, Trinity Bay +10:39 +5:15

T17

Galveston Pleasure Pier -1:06

-1:06

T23

Port Isabel

-0:42

+3:16

+2.0

BEST:

2:30 — 4:30 PM

+1:02

1.37ft. 1.58ft. 0.42ft. 1.65ft.

TIDE LEVELS

+1.0

SUNDAY

PM Minor: 4:37p

Moon Overhead: 1:30p

+1.0

-1.0

1.54ft. 1.13ft. 1.52ft. 0.64ft.

AM Minor: 4:15a

Moon Overhead: 12:47p

+2.0

BEST:

3:30 — 5:30 PM 12:00 — 2:00 AM

THURSDAY

Set: 7:14p Set: 7:29p

Moon Underfoot: 10:59p

BEST:

9:30 — 11:30 PM 11:00P — 1:00A

TUESDAY

Moon Overhead: 12:03p

12a

BEST:

12:30 — 2:30 PM

High Tide: 1:43 AM Low Tide: 5:45 PM

Moon Underfoot: 9:30p

SOLUNAR ACTIVITY

BEST:

7:30 — 9:30 PM

TIDE LEVELS

BEST:

Moon Underfoot: 8:44p

TIDE LEVELS

+1.0

Moon Underfoot: 7:56p

+1.0 0 -1.0

LOW

NOT TO BE USED FOR NAVIGATION 90 |

S E P T E M B E R

Sep ALMANAC-Digital.indd 90

2 0 1 4

T E X A S

F I S H

G A M E ®

8/22/14 10:48 AM

SYMBOL KEY

 = New Moon  = First Quarter  = Full Moon  = Last Quarter  = Good Day  = Best Day SUNDAY

Tap for Customized Tide Charts

Tides and Prime Times for SEPTEMBER 2014

TUESDAY

Sunrise: 7:10a Set: 7:08p Sunrise: 7:10a Moonrise: 12:04p Set: 11:02p Moonrise: 1:01p

WEDNESDAY

Oct 1 

Set: 7:07p Sunrise: 7:11a Set: 11:56p Moonrise: 1:55p

Set: 7:05p Set: None

THURSDAY

Sunrise: 7:11a Moonrise: 2:47p

FRIDAY

Set: 7:04p Sunrise: 7:12a Set: 12:55a Moonrise: 3:36p

Set: 7:03p Set: 1:57a

SATURDAY

Sunrise: 7:12a Moonrise: 4:22p

Set: 7:02p Set: 3:01a

Sunrise: 7:13a Moonrise: 5:06p

Set: 7:01p Set: 4:07a

AM Minor: 9:58a

PM Minor: 10:25p

AM Minor: 10:56a

PM Minor: 11:23p

AM Minor: 11:54a

PM Minor: -----

AM Minor: 12:21a

PM Minor: 12:49p

AM Minor: 1:14a

PM Minor: 1:42p

AM Minor: 2:05a

PM Minor: 2:33p

AM Minor: 2:54a

PM Minor: 3:21p

AM Major: 3:45a

PM Major: 4:11p

AM Major: 4:42a

PM Major: 5:10p

AM Major: 5:40a

PM Major: 6:08p

AM Major: 6:35a

PM Major: 7:03p

AM Major: 7:28a

PM Major: 7:56p

AM Major: 8:19a

PM Major: 8:47p

AM Major: 9:08a

PM Major: 9:35p

Moon Overhead: 5:34p

Moon Overhead: 7:24p

Moon Overhead: 6:28p

Moon Overhead: 8:20p

Moon Overhead: 10:12p

Moon Overhead: 9:16p

SOLUNAR ACTIVITY

MONDAY

Moon Overhead: 11:06p

TIDE LEVELS 12a

12p

12a

12p

12a

12p

12a

12p

12a

12p

12a

12p

12a

12p

12a

FEET

+2.0

FEET

Moon Underfoot: 5:07a BEST:

Moon Underfoot: 6:01a

Moon Underfoot: 6:56a

BEST:

9:00 — 11:00 AM

BEST:

10:00A — 12:00P

11:00A — 1:00P

Moon Underfoot: 7:52a

Moon Underfoot: 8:48a

BEST:

Moon Underfoot: 9:44a

BEST:

12:00 — 2:00 PM

Moon Underfoot: 10:39a

BEST:

2:00 — 4:00 PM

BEST:

3:00 — 5:00 PM

+1.0

0 -1.0

+2.0

4:00 — 6:00 PM

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

1:16 AM 5:18 AM 2:02 PM 10:56 PM

1.50ft. 1.61ft. 0.37ft. 1.68ft.

Sep ALMANAC-Digital.indd 91

Low Tide: 2:06 AM High Tide: 5:14 AM Low Tide: 3:02 PM

1.60ft. 1.65ft. 0.33ft.

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

12:17 AM 3:40 AM 5:00 AM 4:10 PM

1.72ft. 1.67ft. 1.67ft. 0.32ft.

High Tide: 1:16 AM Low Tide: 5:22 PM

1.75ft. 0.32ft.

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

1:54 AM 8:14 AM 10:25 AM 6:32 PM

1.75ft. 1.50ft. 1.52ft. 0.36ft.

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

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1.73ft. 1.34ft. 1.55ft. 0.43ft.

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

2:50 AM 8:30 AM 2:00 PM 8:35 PM

1.69ft. 1.11ft. 1.62ft. 0.55ft.

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Texas Tasted by Bryan Slaven | The Texas Gourmet PHOTO: BRYAN SLAVEN

Mesquite Grilled Dove Wraps

OULD YOU EVER TAKE A FISH after being caught, and allow it to sit out in the heat for a couple of hours? I didn’t think so, but when dove hunting, most of the time, harvested doves are placed in the “game pocket” on the back of the hunting vest sometimes for hours resulting in a concentration of enzymes and bacteria that settles into the meat. A plan should be made to have a cooler bag handy with ice and a few gallon size freezer zip lock bags. Personalize each bag if 2 or more are sharing a cooler, and try to place your harvested doves in the cooler every 45 minutes or so. This is to preserve the doves until proper cleaning can be done. The brine, which I describe in this recipe will aid in removing these undesirable enzymes and flavors from the meat, so you can begin the preparation with the clean and natural flavor of the dove.

Serves 12-16 You will need: 24 dove breasts 24 Jalapenos (halved and seeded to make 48 halves) 2 purple onions peeled and cut into 1” thick wedges 2 cakes of cream cheese (allow to sit out to soften for 1-2 hours)

For the Brine: Fillet the breast meat from the breastplate. Place the fillet halves into a large bowl of ice water. They should be fully submersed. Add ½ cup sea salt to ½ gallon of 92 |

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 Mesquite grilled dove wraps.

ice water. Allow meat to sit for 1-2 hours. Pour off water and rinse the meat again with cold water.

Preparation In a mixing bowl add the following to the cream cheese: 1 tablespoon each of black pepper, garlic salt and basil leaves Stuff a Jalapeno half with ¾ tsp cream cheese mixture- place the breast on top of the cream cheese and place the purple onion on top of the breast. Wrap the pepper and breast with a half slice of bacon. Hold the bacon in place with a moist round toothpick. (Be sure to wrap tightly to hold in cheese)

For the Baste: (The baste will help to cook the bacon faster and keep the meat from over- cooking and drying out.) 1 whole bottle of Syrah or Merlot wine ¾ jar Jalapeno Kiwi Jelly 3 T Soy Sauce 3 T Olive Oil 1 T Dijon Mustard 3 tsp. Beef Bullion 1 T Butter 1 T Black Pepper 2 T Rosemary leaves-chopped coarsely 2 cloves of fresh minced garlic Place all of above ingredients in a sauce pan, over medium heat and reduce by ½ of volume. Remove from heat.

Grilling:

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Because they are small & delicate, and prone to flare ups on the fire, place the dove wraps indirectly over medium high heat on the grill, and keep it covered when not basting them. Turn the wraps every 4- 5 minutes and baste them every time you turn them until bacon is browned. Re- move from the grill to a platter, and cover loosely with a piece of foil for approx. 7-8 minutes to rest the meat. Then remove the toothpicks and enjoy. Email Bryan Slaven, “The Texas Gourmet,” at bryan@thetexasgourmet.com

CHECK OUT OUR ONLINE STORE for many of the seasonings and other ingrdients used in TEXAS TASTED recipes.

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CROAKER Surfside

DOLPHIN (DORADO)

Four-year-old Hunter Mauldin’s ﬁrst ﬁsh was a croaker he caught at the Surfside jetties. Hunter is on the right with his uncle Mitchell.

Angel Rodriguez and Taylor Holland caught these two dolphin offshore out of Matagorda with Captain Mark Holland, Matagorda Sport Fishing.

Matagorda

BLACK DRUM REDFISH Port O’Connor Ron Gunn caught and released this 43-inch redﬁsh at Port O’Conner.

Corpus Christi Jessica Garza caught this 30-inch black drum on shrimp at Corpus Christi. She released it right after this photo.

RED SNAPPER Freeport Ike Bartley caught this red snapper at the Tequila Rig out of Freeport

SPECKLED TROUT Bolivar Cheryl Noack of Dayton caught these trout in the Bolivar surf. Her largest trout (so far!) was 26-inches long.

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MAIL TO: TFG PHOTOS 1745 Greens Rd, Houston TX 77032 NOTE: Print photos can not be returned.

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REDFISH Baffin Bay Eric Briones, left, and Jeff Neves caught these reds in Baffin Bay while fishing the Fourth Annual Corpus Christi Geological Saltwater Tournament. They were fishing with Chad Verburgt, Rockport Red Runner guide service.

REDFISH Galveston Neal Helgerson of Round Rock caught this 28-inch redﬁsh in Galveston Bay while on family vacation.

FLOUNDER Texas City Nathan Abbott, 6, of Texas City with his Personal Best (for now) ﬂounder: 21 inches; 4 pounds, 2 oz. He was ﬁshing with “Hey Dude” in Moses Lake, Texas City.

STRIPED BASS Lake Livingston Five-year-old Laine Socias caught his ﬁrst keeper striped bass while slabbing in Lake Livingston.

SPECKLED TROUT EAST GALVESTON BAY Scotty Moseley caught 14 specks, including these two 24-inchers, while ﬁshing with his grandfather Rick Voigt on East Galveston Bay.

T E X A S

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