Texas Fish & Game July 2016

VOICE OF THE TEXAS OUTDOOR NATION

Possum Kingdom’s

Monster Bucks

July 2016 | $3.95

No Bull:

Texas Sharks and Their

Confusing Regs

High School Bass

5 Reasons to Believe Fish Monickers

Is it a Bass or a Sunfish?

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Arrows from Above

Summer Bowfishing

Laguna Madre

The Texas Keys

See Spot Run

Fun with Spotted Bass

www.FishGame.com

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2016 EDITION

NOW AVAILABLE

BIGGER. BETTER. 60 FRESH & SALTWATER LOCATIONS OVER 2500 GPS FISHING SPOTS

ACADEMY • WALMART • FISHANDGAMEGEAR.COM

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 LISA MOORE STAN SKINNER

• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

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 CONTRIBUTING PHOTO EDITOR COPY EDITOR

A D V E R T I S I N G ARDIA NEVES VICE PRESIDENT/ADVERTISING DIRECTOR DIRECT PHONE:

(281) 869-5549

EMAIL: ANEVES@FISHGAME.COM DUSTIN WARNCKE • ADVERTISING SALES DIRECT PHONE:

(512) 497-7674

EMAIL: DWARNCKE@FISHGAME.COM LARRY DALTON • ADVERTISING COORDINATOR 1745 GREENS ROAD HOUSTON, TX 77032 PHONE: (281) 227-3001 • FAX (281) 784-2962

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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: subscriptions@fishgame.com Email new orders to: subscriptions@ fishgame.com Email subscription questions to: subscriptions@fishgame.com.

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Table of

JULY 2016 Volume 33 • NO. 3

Contents FEATURES

ON THE COVER: Strange Texas Sharks

In the Texas Outdoor u Nation, a look at some of the stranger shark species in Texas waters, and the confusing regulations that govern their pursuit.

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by Chester Moore Cover Photo: Bigstock

ALSO IN THIS ISSUE:

LAGUNA MADRE, THE KEYS OF SOUTH TEXAS At the same latitude as Palm Beach, Port Mansfield has almost every species of fish found in the famed Florida keys.

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by John N. Felsher WHAT KIND OF FISH DID YOU JUST CATCH?

Depending on the region of the country, or even of the state, the same fish may go by completely different names.

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by John N. Felsher

ARROWS FROM ABOVE

High School Bass

Pro angler Alton Jones u helps us count at least five reasons to believe in High School Bass Fishing.

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Bowfishing is a fast-growing sport and whether done from a rigged-out boat or stalking the bank, during day or in the cool of the night, it is a blast.

by Dustin Warncek

by Chester Moore

SEEING SPOTS Whitetail Kingdom

Possum Kingdom, a u fishing oasis in the Panhandle, is also home to world class deer hunting.

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Spotted bass may not be as big as their beefy largemouth cousins, but their aggressive spunk and fondness for schooling in large numbers make them a fun fishing alternative.

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by Matt Williams

by Dean Heffner

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Inside FISH & GAME

Contents (continued) COLUMNS

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by ROY and ARDIA NEVES TF&G Owners

Balancing the Books

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Email Roy and Ardia Neves at ContactUs@fishgame.com J U L Y

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by Chester Moore

TF&G Editor in Chief

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Doggett at Large

by Joe Doggett

TF&G Senior Contributing Editor

E’VE BEEN PUBLISHING BOOKS FOR ALMOST twenty of our thirty-three-year history. Starting in 1998, the Texas Fish & Game library has grown to include 15 published titles, balanced between fishing and hunting. All but one of them are still in print and available.

It all began inauspicously with a freak accident in which Larry Bozka, our editor at the time, broke his hip. For a couple of years, we had been throwing around the idea of Larry writing a saltwater how-to. But with him trekking all over Texas shooting photos and living the life of a true gonzo outdoors journalist, he just couldn’t find the time to sit down and compose the thing. But once his hip snapped, thanks to a slippery service station “welcome” mat, he was laid up on his couch for three months and suddenly had the time.

The result was “Saltwater Strategies: How, When and Where to Fish the Western Gulf Coast.” Getting the book written, laid out, and off the press while also publishing monthly magazine issues was certainly a challenge. But that was just the start. Then, we had to figure out how to sell the thing.

Fortunately, we were based in Texas where another homegrown outdoor industry icon, Academy Sports + Outdoors, was setting the retail business on fire. Once Academy recognized the value in our focus on Texas-oriented topics and began stocking our first title, the TF&G Library was born.

Our next project was Reavis Wortham’s “Doreen’s 24-Hour Eat Gas Now” based on characters from his monthly Fish & Game columns. We followed that with our second entry in the Saltwater Strategies series, Chester Moore’s “Flounder Fever.” Other titles in that series followed, including Chester’s “Texas Trout Tactics,” his “Texas Reds,” Pat Murray’s “No Nonsense Guide to Coastal Fishing,” and Bink Grimes’s “Wadefish Texas.”

Regular contributor Greg Berlocher penned two titles for our library, his wonderfully illustrated “Saltwater Classics: Fly Patterns for the Texas Coast,” and “Kayak Texas.” On the freshwater side, contributing editor Doug Pike applied his considerable talents to the writing of “Freshwater Strategies.”

For hunters, our firearms editor Steve LaMascus and the late Greg Rodriguez teamed up on “The Texas Deer Book,” and Chester switched gears from rod to gun to write “Texas Waterfowl” and “Hog Wild.” Several years ago, we added “The Texas Gun Owners Guide” to our shooting library.

Last year, we published a second kayak book, “101 Kayak Launching Sites,” by Paul Batchelder and we have another book from Paul coming off the press this summer. For southeast Texas anglers, it is titled “Where Can I Fish.”

Also later this year, hunting editor Lou Marullo will debut with “Nuts and Bolts Bowhunting: From the Practical to the Practically Impossible.”

All but the first book are still in print and are available in more than sixty Academy stores (and counting) and in all three of Houston’s Fishing Tackle Unlimited stores. They are also available in many local tackle retailers and book stores, and online at FishandGameGear.com. Give ‘em a read.

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Editor’s Notes

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Pike on the Edge

by Doug Pike

DEPARTMENTS

TF&G Senior Contributing Editor

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8 LETTERS Nugent in the Wild 86 TEXAS TESTED

by Ted Nugent TF&G Editor At Large 87 INDUSTRY INSIDER Commentary

by Kendal Hemphill 88 FISH AND TF&G Political Commentator Texas Saltwater

by Calixto Gonzales

TF&G Saltwater Editor

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Texas Freshwater

GAME GEAR

94 TF&G PHOTOS NEW SECTION

by Matt Williams

TF&G Freshwater Editor

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Bare Bones Hunting

by Lou Marullo

TF&G Hunting Editor

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Texas Boating

by Lenny Rudow

TF&G Boating Editor

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Practical Angler

by Greg Berlocher

by Steve LaMascus

42 TEXAS SHARKS 46 TF&G REPORT 46 TEXAS

Texas Tasted

50 TEXAS DEPT.

The Texas Gourmet

52 TEXAS DEPT. OF

TF&G Contributing Editor

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Texas Guns TF&G Firearms Editor

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by Bryan Slaven

92 Open Season

by Reavis Wortham

TF&G Humor Editor

www.FishGame.com

HOT SHOTS

OF DEFENSE

CONSERVATION

56 TEXAS COASTAL FOCUS

64 TEXAS FISHING HOTSPOTS

74 PRIME TIMES

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LETTERS to the Editor Cougar Conversation

EDITOR: Those are some interesting cat encounters for sure. Not sure if Mr. Taylor’s was a bad dream or a scary encounter but either way it would be super creepy in the Trans Pecos night.

I ENJOYED YOUR ARTICLE ON COUgar Encounters, as well as many other previous articles.

We recently found this photo in a stack of photos kept by our mother. We had never before seen the photo, which probably was taken in the 1930s, nor heard any stories about it.

Our paternal grandfather, Oliver C. Aldrich, is on the right in the photo. An attorney, he was appointed District Attorney of Hidalgo County by Governor Dan Moody, and also served two terms as County Judge of that county. He was an accomplished fisherman and hunter.

TF&G’s New Fan

Oliver C. Aldrich, III Cypress, TX PER YOUR REQUEST IN THE MOST recent issue of TF&G, I’m forwarding a couple of game cam pics of a big cat taken in August, 2014 less than 50 yards from my residence in southwestern Leon County in the Trinity River bottoms. The pics are dated and timed and were taken 20 days apart at roughly the same time each morning. Of course, the state’s official position is that there are no big cats in East Texas, but these pictures have not been altered and seem to indicate otherwise. I forwarded them on to the state through our local TPWD wildlife biologist and their finding was “inconclusive.” Everyone else seems to think they are pictures of a big cat. Whatever, the pictures speak for themselves.

Additionally, on a sunny October day in 2007 at 11 a.m. a cougar crossed the road ahead of me less than 20 yards away. It was tawny in coloration, weighed about 90-100 lbs., and its tail was virtually as long as its body. No picture to show for that exciting encounter, only a great memory which is anything but “inconclusive.”

Roger E. Rinkenberger, President Boggy Creek Wildlife Management Assoc.

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EDITOR: Thanks so much for the photos.

The cat in the photo looks like a large bobcat with a motion blur as many game cameras produce at night. However it is hard to tell. Still a great shot. Bobcats are nothing to sneeze at.

SEVERAL YEARS AGO MY BROTHER Bill and I went blue quail hunting on the Black Gap Wildlife Management area.

We had to check in at the headquarters.

While there, we heard a great commotion of hounds baying. I asked the ranger why they had them. He said they were used to track bears and cougars to either move them or put a collar on them. We left there and drove a few miles toward the Rio Grande River to make camp.

It was a beautiful moonlight night. Rather than sleeping in the back of the pickup we threw a tarp on the ground and put our sleeping bags on the tarp. Sometime during the night, I felt something at my head. I felt with my hand, and it was a furry feel. I then opened my eyes, and I was staring face to face with a huge cougar. It scared me so bad that I woke up.

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Arthur Ford P.S. If Ted ever needs a bass player let me know EDITOR: Thanks so much for your kind words. I am glad you enjoyed the issue and our magazine. I’m a bass player too, so if Ted needs a bassist you might have to get behind me in line. I’ve hinted about that position a few times myself.

Send Your Comments to: Texas Fish & Game 1745 Greens Rd Houston TX 77032 editor@fishgame.com

Papa Taylor

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AFTER SPENDING AN ENJOYABLE weekend at Lake Sam Rayburn with Owen Belk, my best friend of over 50 years, I came home to my hometown of Silsbee, Texas. I swung by the post office to pick up the bills and someone had left a copy of Texas Fish and Game on the table. I considered that good luck and brought it home. After reading Ted Nugent’s article as well as Kendal Hemphill’s and Chester Moore’s, I am now a new subscriber. I have read the issue from cover to cover, and there are many other articles that I love, but those cinched the deal. Thanks!

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EDITOR’S Notes

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

Celebrating Red, White and Blue (bobbers)

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HERE IS SOMETHING SPEcial about watching a bobber start moving and then disappear below the surface.

In fact, I daresay if you can’t get excited about seeing that, you should consider taking up badminton or underwater basket weaving.

Your enthusiasm for angling is obviously gone.

When I was a kid, virtually every bobber at the tackle shop was the classic red and white with the blue stem. If you put a little weight below it, the red would barely show as it floated in the water with a hunk of nightcrawler below it.

I have been into the technical side of fishing for a number of years and enjoy the intricacies of figuring which lure is best to fish on the exact kind of line, rod and reel.

But I also like to sit in a lawn chair on the bank and watch a bobber move along in the current until something pulls it under.

When I was a child, it was all about catching the longnose gar at the gully down the street from my house. The bobber would start moving back and forth and usually swim down the canal before they decided to pull it under.

Later it was catching crappie over brushpiles. No fish (even my beloved flounder) excited me more than a sac-a-lit so it is always with great anticipation to have one of those spotted beauties suck one under.

We have used large popping corks to target blacktips in the Gulf of Mexico out of Sabine Pass. A few pops and then comes a swirl and often a jump.

I have never caught a marlin, but after seeing some of our Texas blacktips and spinners striking a cut mullet under a popping cork, I don’t feel slighted. Their fight is tremendous.

In Venice, Louisiana four years ago I caught the biggest redfish of my life (a 45-inch nearly 10 |

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50 pound behemoth) while fishing a plastic under a popping cork in 18 inches of water.

That fight lasted just a little bit longer than the little gar back at the gully, but it pulled down the bobber just like then. It started moving slowly and then swam away before descending.

The events after the hookset were a whole ’nother affair.

My friend Mark Davis of Bigwater Adventures television, fishes all over the world and has had some of his biggest success on a popping cork.

I watched him out-fish me and a lodge full of guides for big trout near Port Mansfield seven years ago. He caught a 30-incher right in front of us on a rig that had those very-bigtrout-spoiled guides scratching their heads.

How could such an elusive fish be caught on a such a simple setup?

The bottom line is bobbers work and although we have come a long way from the red, white and blue ones of the past, they still help us catch fish.

This month the TF&G staff heads to Orlando for the annual ICAST Show, a gigantic industry-centric trade show that focuses solely on fishing tackle.

Virtually every product you can think of and stuff you

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would never dream of are shown to retailer buyers, investors and outdoor media. I love seeing all of the amazing gear anglers can get their hands on to improve their fishing.

We will be blogging live from ICAST, so check out fishgame.com for various posts before, during and after the July 12-15 show.

Yet even with the opportunity to check out and—yes, field test tackle before it hits stores, which I consider a true privilege, I am continually drawn back to the bobber and fishing’s simplicity.

I am a land-bound angler without a boat these days, so I have embraced some of the simpler things about fishing. Look, no kid has ever got hooked on fishing by learning to throw a crankbait at age five or slow-sinking a soft plastic on the flats for trout.

It’s all about croaker and hardheads for kids on the coast and bream, catfish and little gar for the rest. We need to stop belittling that and celebrate it. If you see some kids out fishing in a local canal realize they are the exception during this technological era. Go buy them some bait or give them some of your old rods.

In this issue we have another story on highschool bass fishing, which we support 100 percent. In fact we were the first publication to write about it, but the kids I am talking about are just out to catch whatever pulls on their line. They are drawn to nature as all of us were at some point, and what bites does not matter—just so something bites.

As we herald the American flag and celebrate our nation’s independence, let’s get back to the red, white and blue basics of sitting on a bucket on the side of the road with a bobber of those colors simply glad to be fishing.

We might never go that direction again, but we certainly can smile on memories of simple fishing times. We should make sure the kids in our circle of influence can experience the same great times we had.

We owe it to them.

Email Chester Moore at cmoore@fishgame.com

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DOGGETT at Large

by JOE DOGGETT :: TF&G Contributing Editor

Hang on Tight!

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HERE ARE MANY WAYS TO look bad when you’re fishing. One of the worst is to have the rod yanked from your hands by a big

fish.

Forfeiting your equipment and being rendered a non-combatant in the company of finger-pointing, back-slapping, head-shaking companions is beyond humiliating. If the water is deep or swift, the blunder might also prove costly.

I recall an episode of the popular 1970s television series, American Sportsman, which featured a famous NFL quarterback fly fishing for large tarpon in the Florida Keys. The guide on the push pole spied a fish, and the angler standing on point made a decent cast.

The six-foot tarpon rushed the fly and the line sprang tight—and the rod flew into the water. Giving the QB credit for scrambling under pressure, he jumped off the bow and grabbed the departing tackle. The fish broke off during the soggy aftermath.

I remember thinking, “Wow, what a klutz!

No way that would ever happen to me!”

Well, it’s happened three times.

The first fiasco, which occurred about 20 years ago, mirrored that of the Super Bowl champion. Except the tarpon was smaller, maybe 20 pounds. I was fly casting along the shoreline of a mangrove lagoon in Mexico’s Yucatan. The slim fish nosed from the shadows, and I dropped the streamer out in front.

The tarpon seemed to stiffen, then struck going straight away at a thousand miles per hour. Well, it seemed that fast. Maybe it was only a hundred.

Zowie! The nine-weight rod was yanked from my sweaty right hand. The marl bottom boiled as the fish thrashed against the dragging tether and promptly shook the poorly set fly.

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We could see the rod and reel on the shallow bottom so it was easy to retrieve. Not so easy was reliving the incident that night back at the lodge.

A big bonefish turned the trick on me at Christmas Island several years ago. I was wading thigh deep along the edge of a channel feeding an area known as “Paris Flat.” The channel draws schools of ocean bonefish moving on the tide and moon to spawn.

These are grand fish, averaging five or six pounds and weighing up to eight or 10. You see the gray/green blur of a wad of spawners approaching, cast a weighted fly ahead, and hope you’ve got enough backing if one of the jumbos inhales it.

I was waiting on an outcrop and here comes the blur—perfect. Several nearby waders jealously eyed my station. A smart loop drove across the trade wind, and the lead-eyed fly settled several feet. I correctly pointed the eight-weight rod tip down the line and began a series of long, smooth strips with the left hand.

Zowie! One of the front-runners smacked the fly and jetted forward, ripping the rod from my right hand. Fortunately, the left hand still clutched the stripped line. The suspended rod seesawed in the air for several moments, straining and stabbing like an exclamation point gone bad. The leader snapped. This was the predictable outcome, since nobody yet has figured a good way to handline a large bonefish on a fly rod.

I scrabbled after the empty rod amid a cackle of cheers. At least I retrieved the tackle.

An Orvis Helios and a Tibor Everglades would have been a major sacrifice to unsympathetic fishing fate.

But here’s a setup I failed to recover. During the early 1990s, I was fishing in blue water from a 23-foot, center console off Golfito, Costa Rica. We motored near a large floating log and a dazzling swarm of dorados swirled into view.

I grabbed a ready casting rod and lobbed a topwater plug into the melee. A 15 pounder promptly smacked the floater and began running and leaping—big fun on the light tackle.

As the fish worked close, a blunt-nosed bull trailed behind, glowing gold and green and

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neon blue. This was a serious dorado, maybe 30 or 35 pounds.

Wow, I thought, what a chance for a fly rod.

The 12-weight, rigged with a sailfish streamer, was resting in one of the horizontal gunwale racks. The excited bull was cutting back and forth right under the surface, 25 or 30 feet off the stern. Without taking my eyes from the grand fish, I fumbled down with the free left hand for the fly rod and shouted for the skipper to grab the plug rod.

I swept my right hand to the rear and felt it make contact with something solid, no doubt the firm and confident hand of the able Javier.

I let go of the rod.

“No, Señor!”

My hand had bumped the aluminum canopy rail.

Zowie! The high-dollar All Star and the top-end Shimano arced like a javelin above the water, landing practically on top of the bull.

The rig sank on a slant, following the hooked dolphin and forever vanishing from sight.

The usual cause for the abrupt parting of ways—I mean, other than being a moron—is having wet hands. Water, sweat, sunscreen lotion, fish slime, all can compromise a firm grip on things.

The savvy angler should keep a hand towel nearby and use it often. Of course, this isn’t always practical when wading. But, afoot or afloat, the cork rod handle can get slippery, especially from slime, so try to keep it wiped down.

Yes, a synthetic rod handle probably provides more friction than a traditional cork one, but I’m not going there. I’ve never cared for the look and feel of dark “rubberized” grips on a light-tackle rod (opposed to a heavy offshore trolling rig), and I’m too old to change. You just need to concentrate on hanging onto the darn thing.

And don’t think that, in a careless instant, a fish cannot take it away from you.

Email Joe Doggett at ContactUs@fishgame.com

G A M E ®

6/8/16 10:35 AM

PIKE on the Edge

by DOUG PIKE :: TF&G Senior Contributing Editor

Read Between the Lions

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F IT WEREN’T FOR THE SCORES of other issues on Americans’ minds these days, maybe we could put some heat on animal-rights activists to either learn about wildlife management or quit meddling in it.

This past spring, yet another tambourinebanging, money-raising organization that presents itself as supportive of animals, but is not, stuck its nose—which grows every time it issues a press release—where it doesn’t belong.

I won’t name it or any of its kind, because they’re all beginning to stink about equally.

Instead, know that it tried to draw parallels between lion management in Africa with lion management in North America.

Beyond the elementary-school observation that both animals are big cats with whiskers and long tails, there aren’t many similarities in the past, present or future of these species.

Not ones to let facts get in the way of sensationalism and fund-raising, the group’s attempt was to capitalize on the now year-old story of Cecil the Lion.

Remember Cecil? That’s the name of a lion supposedly known almost everywhere— except in Zimbabwe—that was baited off a preserve by other-than-scrupulous people. The dentist from up north who shot that lion did his level best, from start to finish, to abide by Zimbabwe’s lion-hunting rules and eventually was found to have broken none of them.

Knee-jerk reaction to the hunt and its consequences, however, cost the man, his employees and his patients a tremendous amount of unnecessary loss in revenue and healthcare.

Fast forward to this year—a little late if you ask me—when the tambourines started shaking here. I’ll neither waste your time nor insult your intelligence by going into the mis-

guided parallels drawn between the management of lions in Africa and those in our Rocky Mountain states.

In a nutshell, know that this group wanted you and me to believe that if we didn’t do something dramatic—and do it now—that mountain lions here would suffer the same fate as African lions.

So…a couple of things. First, where lions are hunted in these United States, stringent management programs are in place to protect the cats and their natural prey. Too few cats and too much prey equals an imbalance correctible by reducing the number of cats killed each year. Too many cats and too little prey is handled the opposite way. Simple.

Similar management strategy was in place in Zimbabwe until a lion named by shutterbug tourists wound up dead on the wrong side of the fence. A firestorm of social media ensued, including everything from demands for the immediate cessation of lion hunting to threats on the lives of everyone involved.

Fortunately, most threats of physical harm were just that, idle threats made by people half a planet away in more ways than geographically. Outcry directed toward the nation of Zimbabwe, no matter how little the criers knew about wildlife management, actually got its desired result.

Unfortunately for Zimbabwe’s lions and the health of their overall population, the country’s decision makers decided to shut down recreational lion hunts there indefinitely.

This past spring, I got a press release that took quite the opposite direction as the one from the animal-rights group. It was an update on the state of Zimbabwe’s lion population less than a year after the “Cecil” incident.

According to its data, that stoppage of lion hunting there—which roughly generated $50,000 per animal toward anti-poaching efforts, wildlife management, wildlife education and habitat restoration—resulted in… everybody say it with me…an overpopulation of lions.

On one of the country’s largest conservancies, just that one chunk of ground, managers already saw need to remove—which means T E X A S

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kill in this context—as many as 200 lions.

Might turn out to be 100, maybe even as few as 50, let’s say for the sake of conservatism and optimism. However you say it, each of those animals removed by the Zimbabwean government represents a loss to that nation of $50,000 or more.

If it’s 100 lions—I don’t even need a calculator for this – that’s $5 million, at least, that Zimbabwe won’t get to help its lion population or its law enforcement effort.

Back here at home, mountain lion populations generally are stable and, in some areas, on the rise. Extremists point to states that offer higher numbers of lions to hunters as being worst for the lions when, in fact, more hunting opportunity only exists where there is an overabundance of the animals.

Recoveries in areas where lion numbers dwindled historically are underway. And soon, if not already, cougars will inhabit all the space that remains available and suitable to them.

Once they saturate that habitat, there won’t be room for any more lions.

That’s when we’ll either turn to population management through recreational hunting—a wildlife manager’s best tool these days—or risk losing a person to a lion that ran out of bunny rabbits to eat.

The last thing North American lions need is for managers’ hands to be tied by politicians who care more about votes than about wildlife and don’t know squat about the latter.

Great as this nation still is, there are plenty of things that could be a whole lot better.

Mountain-lion management isn’t one of them.

So far.

G A M E ®

Email Doug Pike at ContactUs@fishgame.com

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NUGENT in the Wild

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

The Great White Buffalo Lives Well listen everybody to what I got to say: there’s hope for tomorrow if we wake up today.

It happened long time ago in the new magicland, the Indian and the buffalo existed hand in hand. The Indian needed food and skins for a roof, but they only took what they needed, millions of buffalo were the proof. Then came the white man with his thick and empty head.

He couldn’t see past his billfold, he wanted all the buffalo dead. So the Indians hid in fear, there were no buffalo to be found. The magic was missing, it looked like some kind of a burialground. It was sad, so sad. But above the canyon walls, strong eyes did glow, it was the leader of the land, The Great White Buffalo!

And he found the battered herd, and he led them across the land, with the Great White Buffalo we can make a final stand. So listen everybody to what I got to say, there’s hope for tomorrow if we wake up today. With the Great White Buffalo!

—The Great White Buffalo

by Ted Nugent MagicLand Music 1971

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TREAM OF CONSCIOUSNESS. Out of body. Pure instinct. Soul cleansed eruption. Knee-jerk, mindjerk, soul-jerk, spirit-jerk, body-jerk.

Mind over matter. Baggage free. Stressless. Born to be wild. Running wild and free.

I believe with all my heart and soul that the above paragraph, as well as the opening paragraph of this here little Nuge ditty represents a darn good overview guiding force for ultimate quality of life. That’s what I believe.

And when one of God’s miraculous creatures created in His own image and likeness gets to the core of it all, us humans can pull off some pretty miraculous stuff of our own.

I give you deer, backstraps, sunrises, weather, 14 |

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the rut, the mystical flight of the arrow and life itself.

As I gather my killer band and crew for our 2016 Sonic Baptizm tour across America, about to put firebreathing rockout number 6,566 under my gunbelt, I look to the heavens daily thanking The Great Creator for this amazing gift.

At the tender age of 67.6, fueled by The Great Spirit of the Wild and a lifetime of sacred, hard earned backstraps, I am here to tell you that our precious, perfect hunting lifestyle provides us with much more than just sport, recreation, trophies and meat.

The ultimate gift I received from God is the good sense to intelligently prioritize meaningful balance in my life, and there is no more defining balance than the hyper outrage of my kind of rockn-roll soulmusic and the phenomenal peace and quiet of my bowhunting life.

One is really, really loud and physical, and the other really, really quiet and stealthy.

Having recorded something like 30 albums and authored somewhere around 100 songs, I am convinced that the music flows organically from deep inside me as a direct result of my outdoor lifestyle.

Most importantly it has always been my fascination with and craving for allthings wild that forced me to remain clean and sober my entire life, knowing conclusively that a substance abused reduced level of awareness will surely ruin any attempt to get close to and to kill a critter.

In the studio that day way back in 1971, while tuning up my Gibson Byrdland guitar to record a prepared song, as always, I spontaneously slammed out this killer lick and the band asked what it was. Having never before unleashed this particular guitar pattern, I agreed it was very cool.

I told the guys to follow my direction as we recorded the lick for future reference and we commenced to jam it out with me giving head and hand signals and yelling out chord changes and stops and starts.

I went to the mic and began singing words I had never sang before or had even thought about ever before. I had no idea what I would title the song or what subject matter it would deal with, but because of the intensity and drive of the guitar, bass and drum throttle, the words and vision had

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a life of their own.

The lyrics at the beginning of this NugeBlog flowed like a spiritual vision, a graphic dream, an honest to God real life experience, as if I was there, ultra-alive on the prairies and plains of Manifestation Destiny galloping alongside Cochise and my BloodBrothers, bow in hand, heeling my trusty painted steed straight into the stampeding herd of nostril flaring, wild eyed bison.

The original recording of this incredible song/ vision was captured take one on our Tooth, Fang and Claw album and is to this day one of my most popular and most requested songs ever.

Amazingly, I had never read anything about the Native American legend of the great white buffalo, but according to the many tribes I have worked and hunted with all these years, the song nails precisely the legend of hope of my Native American BloodBrothers, and I believe all of mankind.

Being one with my guitar, one with my band, one with my music and one with The Great Spirit is an inseparable parallel to being one with the earth and her creatures that defines the pureness of the natural hunting lifestyle.

Every song I have ever created, every recording I have ever performed, came about following a very recent, natural outdoor high.

Forever during our annual pre-tour rehearsals, my amazing band and I are daily jamming our hearts out on a setlist of killer songs. In between jam sessions we shoot guns, bows and arrows and chowdown around a campfire on venison rocketfuel for the mind, body and soul.

No wonder our music and concerts are the best there is.

Clean and sober, tuned in, passionate, prioritized, focused, soul cleansed, cocked, locked and ready to rock is the only way to go. I don’t care if you’re a teacher, a cop, a welder, a carpenter, a mechanic or a guitar player, I’m telling you this is the recipe for the ultimate American Dream. I supply the soundtrack!

Hope to see my backstrap BloodBrothers out there across America this summer for some Sonic Baptizm soulmusic outrage. The Great White Buffalo is coming to a town near you and he is ready to rock!

G A M E ®

6/7/16 3:12 PM

TF&G COMMENTARY

by KENDAL HEMPHILL :: TF&G Political Editor

H

EROES, IT HAS BEEN SAID, are ordinary men who do extraordinary things. Maybe that’s true.

Or maybe some are a little more extraordinary than others.

When our Declaration of Independence, written by Thomas Jefferson and edited by the first Continental Congress, was adopted on July 4, 1776, it was decision time. All the talk that had led up to that point would have been meaningless unless someone were willing to stand up and be counted—and the count came to fifty-six.

Fifty-six men signed the document that now resides in the National Archives Building in Washington, D.C. Fifty-six men decided independence from Great Britain and freedom from oppression were more important than peace and safety. Fifty-six men pledged their fortunes, and even their lives and the lives of their families, to an abstract cause with no guarantee of any return. Fifty-six men committed treason against their country.

Treason is a strong word, but the men who signed the Declaration of Independence were British subjects, and had to turn their backs on the crown in order to become free American citizens. They had to risk everything they owned for the cause of liberty.

The last line of the document, the one above their signatures, says, “And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm Reliance on the Protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor.”

Benjamin Harrison, an at-large delegate from Virginia, turned to slender Elbridge Gerry of Massachusetts and said, “With me it will all be over in a minute, but you, you will be dancing on air an hour after I am gone.” It was on that day that Ben Franklin said, “Indeed we must all hang together, otherwise we shall most assuredly hang separately.”

“ They had to risk everything they owned for the cause of liberty.

“

Sacred Honor

Those men knew what they were doing.

John Hancock, for whom a bounty of 500 pounds was already offered, signed his name in large, flowery letters so that “his Majesty could now read his name without glasses and could now double the reward.”

The penalty for treason was death by hanging, and a large British fleet was even then at anchor in New York Harbor. The risks were great and imminent. Fifty-six men signed anyway.

Though the list was not published for several months, the British marked down every member of Congress suspected of having signed. They were the targets of vicious manhunts, and those with family or property near British strongholds were especially vulnerable.

What kind of man takes pen in hand and signs his name to a piece of paper that guarantees that his country will call him a traitor?

What does he say to his wife and children when he goes home? How does he sleep when he lies down at night?

The signers were all well-respected in their communities, and most were men of wealth, although there were a few of extremely modest means. They all had something to lose, some more than others, but they all must have felt they had more to gain.

Nine of those men died of wounds or other hardships during the Revolutionary War. Five of them were captured by the British and treatT E X A S

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ed brutally in prison. Several of them lost their wives and children, a dozen lost their homes, and 17 lost everything they owned.

Thomas Nelson, Governor of Virginia, was in command of the Virginia military forces, which were shelling Yorktown where British General Cornwallis and his troops were stationed. Cornwallis moved his headquarters into Nelson’s huge home, so the American cannoneers carefully directed their fire elsewhere. When Nelson noticed this he took over a cannon and attacked his home himself. He was also never repaid $2 million he raised for the revolution.

Abraham Clark’s two sons were officers in the American army. Both were captured and sent to the British prison ship ‘Jersey’ in New York Harbor. None of the prisoners on the ship were treated well, but the Clarks were singled out for special attention.

One was put in solitary confinement, where he was not fed at all, and survived on bits of bread passed to him through a tiny hole by his fellow prisoners. Near the end of the war the British offered to free both of Clark’s sons if he would recant and swear allegiance to the King.

He refused.

Most of us sign our names several times a day without conscious thought. We seldom have to worry about the consequences of writing our names on a piece of paper. I wonder how many of us would have signed the Declaration of Independence, knowing that, by doing so, we were risking almost all we hold dear.

Because fifty-six men were willing to sign their names on a government form, the greatest nation in the world was born.

Would I have signed that piece of paper, had I been there in the statehouse on July 4, 1776, knowing what it might cost? I don’t know. Would you?

G A M E ®

Email Kendal Hemphill at ContactUs@fishgame.com

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6/7/16 3:23 PM

EOPLE DON’T JUST

about 50 miles north of the Mexican

stumble upon Port

border. Meaning “Mother Lagoon”

Mansfield, or go there for

in Spanish, the bay separates the

the nightlife. In a town

Texas mainland on the west from

remote even by south Texas standards, deer and turkey outnum-

barrier island in the world and the

ber humans and freely roam through

second largest island in the contigu-

the village. People go to Port

ous United States after Long Island,

Mansfield to fish Laguna Madre.

Padre Island once stretched about

130 miles from Corpus Christi south

“Some people describe the lower Laguna Madre as the Keys of the Texas Gulf Coast,” said veteran guide and pioneer of Port

to Port Isabel.

In 1964, the Port Mansfield Channel opened, cutting the island

Mansfield fishing Capt. Bruce

in two. Also called East Cut, the Port

Shuler. “We have every type

Mansfield Channel connects the Gulf

of fish in Laguna Madre

of Mexico to the Gulf Intracoastal

that’s found in the Florida

Waterway, which runs through the

Keys except for bonefish

middle of Laguna Madre. Nearly

and permit. Occasionally,

landlocked, Laguna Madre opens

someone even catches a

to the Gulf at Corpus Christi in the

bonefish, but that’s highly

north and through the Brownsville

unusual. Port Mansfield is

Ship Channel in the south. Besides

at the same latitude as West

East Cut, Land Cut also connects to the Gulf through a channel dredged

Palm Beach, Florida.”

where a hurricane once tore a breach

Port Mansfield sits on the 609-square-mile Laguna

through the island about 20 miles

Madre in the brush country

north of Port Mansfield. Land Cut

along the southeast-

separates the upper Laguna Madre

ern Texas coast

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Padre Island on the east. The longest

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from the lower Laguna Madre.

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6/7/16 3:23 PM

Topwater baits, such as this one Pete Martinez unhooks from a trout, get a lot of action in spring.

“With limited access to the Gulf of Mexico over such a huge body of water, Laguna Madre doesn’t really have a tide, although the wind blows the water around,” said Captain Sally Moffett Black.

“Fishing Laguna Madre is more like fishing a reservoir for largemouth bass. The redfish don’t migrate out of the Laguna to the Gulf, so they get huge. We commonly catch 40- to 50-inch redfish.”

With no major rivers or freshwater sources other than rain entering the system, the lagoon runs more salty than the nearby Gulf of Mexico. Whipping winds increase evaporation, leaving the salt behind. All that salty water and captive fish population makes great conditions for anglers chasing big ones.

“Laguna Madre offers some of the best big trout action in Texas or anywhere along the Gulf Coast with some fish topping 10 pounds,” Shuler said. “Anglers also catch a lot of redfish over the grass flats and an occasional snook, plus flounder, black drum, juvenile tarpon, mangrove snapper, sheepshead, 18 |

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Spanish mackerel and jack crevalle. In nearshore waters in the Gulf, anglers can catch cobia, king mackerel, tarpon and sharks.

Farther offshore, anglers fish for amberjack, grouper, red snapper, tuna and other pelagic species.”

The lagoon averages about 2.5 to 5 feet deep with many acres carpeted in thick seagrass, providing excellent habitat for redfish, speckled trout and other species. Shallow and gin-clear, Laguna Madre offers excellent opportunities for sight fishing with fly tackle.

“The spring through June is prime time for sight-fishing,” said Black who specializes in fly-fishing. “Redfish roam in big packs and eat everything in their path. We also get a lot of big, solitary trout. In early 2011, I heard of several 12-pound trout caught. Black drums are everywhere. We catch some black drums by sight-casting flies in ankle-deep water.”

Without oyster reefs or other structure in the shallow lagoon, grass provides the dominant cover. Many anglers cast topwater plugs or jigheads tipped with soft plastics.

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Spinnerbaits also work around grass patches holding redfish. Anglers look for redfish tailing in the grass or other activity.

“In the spring, we throw topwater baits 90 percent of the time,” Shuler said. “Once water gets about 80 degrees, usually in April, trout move to grass beds in slightly deeper water. It’s almost like bass fishing around hydrilla beds. On calm, clear summer nights with no clouds and no wind, heat radiates out of the water. In water two feet deep or less, water temperatures might drop 10 degrees by daybreak. At first light, we run up into skinny water to fish for reds. We’ll follow the sun and watch the bait. As the sun gets higher, baitfish migrate out to deeper water.”

While many anglers drift the grassy flats, others prefer hoofing it in water knee to waist deep. Wading offers anglers a degree of stealth. Anglers can slowly walk up on schools of feeding fish with much less commotion than running up in a large boat.

“In hot Texas summers, it’s cooler to wade,” Shuler said. “When drifting in two or three feet of clear water on a windy day, it’s almost impossible to sneak up on a school of trout or big reds and anchor without spooking them. When wade fishing, someone can stand in one spot and catch a bunch of fish.”

Laguna Madre also holds some big flounders. Although most anglers catch flatfish incidentally when fishing for reds or trout, people specifically targeting flounders, fish the sandy shorelines of the Intracoastal Waterway or East Cut. Work red and white soft plastics over the drops or drag a jighead tipped with a minnow along the bottom.

Outside the lagoon, extremely salty waters mean king mackerels, cobia and other fish come close to shore. Many anglers fish the East Cut jetties. The Gulf bottom drops off quickly, allowing anglers to catch red snappers less than nine miles from shore. About 30 miles out from East Cut, anglers can catch amberjacks and groupers. Several wrecks, artificial reefs and oil platforms concentrate fish offshore.

“When fishing nearshore, we run the beaches along the Gulf looking for bait balls,” Shuler explained. “Once the winds lay down in June, I spend most of my time along the beach chasing tarpons, king mackerels, Spanish mackerels and sharks. We also catch jack crevalles and cobia. We throw topwater baits at them.”

PHOTO: JOHN N. FELSHER

6/8/16 10:52 AM

Texas SALTWATER

by CALIXTO GONZALES :: TF&G Saltwater Editor

Grasping Grass

T

HERE IS A REASON WHY experienced Coastal Bend anglers look for grass beds and grass line when they seek out Laguna Madre’s bruiser reds and speckled trout. There is a reason why the better guides from the Sabine to South Bay will drift their clients over grassflats or line them along a breakline that is traced by a long pasture of shoal grass. It’s a simple reason, and a very good reason.

Grass Flats mean trout, redfish, and flounder—big ones.

Anyone who has seen speckled trout strafing schools of baitfish that are stacked up against a grass bed, or pods of big redfish tailing around in potholes surrounded by acres of shoal and turtle grasses will agree. Anyone who has felt the tell-tale “thump” when a big flounder lands on top of a jig scooted along the bottom parallel to a grass line that graces the Intracoastal Waterway will agree with that sentiment. Vast meadows of green submerged under air-clear water are fish magnets of the first order.

Predatory fish gravitate to the breaks where seagrass meet sand or mud because the difference provides cover to hide from any unfriendly that may be stalking about, but also because it forms a splendid ambush point to nail hapless prey.

Live bait is very effective along grass lines.

Croaker is very popular, but piggy perch might be easier to come by in summer and fall. By fall, croaker, the bait of choice of summer, decreases in availability. Mullet and perch become primary forage targets of large predators. Perch are more plentiful in the marine grass beds, and are thus the primary forage for the predators in the area. There is another feature that recommends perch over other baitfish—sound.

Hook the perch through the flesh where the anal fin meets the body. The bone structure

of the fin secures the hook, and the hook’s placement prevents the perch from diving into the grass to hide. Rather, the fish will be more prone to swim upwards and swim above the top of the grass, croaking and grunting in displeasure.

Perch are much hardier than both croaker and mullet, which seem to look for any reason to turn belly-up in the bait well. A well-aerated live well is more than enough to keep two or three dozen piggies alive on a hot July day.

Another technique that is popular on the Lower Laguna Madre—which has its share of sea grass, as popular spots with names such as The Pasture would indicate—should also find room in the Upper Laguna Madre fisherman’s bag of tricks.

A live pinfish or the front half of a six- to eight-inch ballyhoo can be pinned through the nose of a Kahle hook and fished under a rattle float or Cajun Thunder. The float holds the bait over the grass, and also adds noise to the equation. The rig is effective while drifting over long flats and helps you cover more water efficiently.

If you have a tough time finding a shop that, sells perch, and you don’t want to go through the trouble of throwing a cast net (or just aren’t adept at it), or checking traps to make bait. In those cases, there are plenty of artificials that will get the job done—provided they have gold and/or chartreuse.

The most popular and perhaps most successful lure to use in these grassy environments is the old standard: the gold spoon. The gold spoon covers a lot of water in the shortest amount of time. It’s an excellent search bait that you can fan cast around grassbeds, potholes, and weedlines to locate concentrations of redfish and trout. Contrary to popular belief, a speckled trout—or even a flounder—will zap a wobbling, fluttering ¼ ounce weedless spoon, especially if it has a feather or plastic trailer). Moreover spoons are easy to use.

Simply cast it out, reel it in, and the spoon provides its own action and flash.

Aside from ease of use, another factor that makes the gold spoon so popular is that it effectively mimics the same flash of a pinfish.

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Another good grass technique is a Texasrigged jerkbait such as as a classic BassAssassin or Sluggo. A six-inch jerkbait in darker colors such as Motor Oil, Fire Tiger, or Baffin Magic can be very effective early in the morning and under low-light conditions.

For a different approach, especially if the fish are a bit skittish on very clear days, Texas rig a four-inch Gulp! Shirmp on a 3/0 swimbait hook. Make long casts toward the potholes and slink it along the bottom. Redfish can’t resist it.

The grass meadows of the Texas Coast are a vital and diverse ecosystem. As vast as they are, they are also fragile. It doesn’t take much to wipe out patches of the marine greenery, and the fauna that relies on it, but it takes years, and perhaps decades, for it to regenerate. As responsible sportsman, it is imperative we safeguard these environs.

The only current outboard-restricted area on the Coastal Bend is Redfish Bay, but there are other areas of Laguna Madre and the adjoining bay systems that bear prop scars from super shallow-running boats and the owners that blow them over shallow flats at low tide. A few minutes detour can prevent the sort of damage that can lead to prop scarring and the regulation of where fishermen can run their boats. Just because a boat can run in 10 inches of water doesn’t mean it should be run in 10 inches of water.

Besides, isn’t it more fun to quietly pole, drift, or even wade up to a grassline and see redfish tailing or trout terrorizing baitfish on the surface?

That sort of experience can get you hooked on grass in very short order.

G A M E ®

Email Cal Gonzales at ContactUs@fishgame.com

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6/7/16 3:12 PM

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MAIN PHOTO: CANSTOCK; TOP & BOTTOM INSETS, JOHN N. FELSHER; MIDDLE INSET, MATT WILLIAMS

6/8/16 10:57 AM

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OT LONG AGO, SEVERAL PEOPLE FISHED together. One angler used shiners to catch white perch. A Louisiana Cajun corrected him on the species identification and used jigs to catch saca-lait. Others caught papermouths. The biologist in the group caught Pomoxis nigromaculatus and a few Pomoxis annularis.

By the end of the day, they all argued about who caught what species of fish, but in reality, they all caught the same two species — black and white crappie. The two species represent the sunfish family, a large group of fish with a severe identity crisis.

Take for example the premier member of the

sunfish family, largemouth bass. Long ago, when many folks considered fishing a recreation instead of an industry, some people called this familiar mouthy creature a “green trout,” although it’s not a trout, nor even a bass! However, it is green — most of the time. The Green Trout Masters Classic just doesn’t sound right or perhaps professional angling associations couldn’t think of any good acronyms that spelled G.R.E.E.N. T.R.O.U.T. Maybe the title wouldn’t fit on any business cards so this sunfish became a bass.

Believe it or not, largemouth bass, smallmouth bass, smallmouth bass and Kentucky spotted bass also belong to the sunfish family and are closely related to bluegills.

Bluegills; goggle-eyes, which people may confuse with black crappie; rock bass, which some people call goggle-eyes; pumpkinseeds; redear sunfish; fliers; red-breasted sunfish; green sunfish and a bunch of other diminutive species also belong to this diverse family.

The bluegill in the main photo and the crappie and largemouth bass in the bottom two inset photos are all related in the sunfish family. Meanwhile, the white, or sand, bass (top inset) is a true bass.

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Striped bass—a true bass.

Most people can’t tell more than one or two species of sunfish apart anyway, so they lump them all together as bream, perch or panfish with one exception. People easily identify redear sunfish by their red trimmed “ear flaps,” which aren’t really earflaps.

A little scarlet trimming on the gills gives these stocky olive green to golden sunfish their common name. Here simplicity ends. Their propensity to eat snails, crushing them with grinding teeth in their throats, give them another common name, shellcrackers.

Other people call them stump knockers, yellow bream or strawberry bream, but they don’t eat berries or taste like strawberries. In Louisiana, most people call them chinquapins, possibly named because their color resembles acorns on a chinquapin or chestnut oak.

To make matters worse, some people call crappie white perch, calico bass, strawberry bass, silver bass or bachelor perch, although crappie are neither bass nor perch. To further muddy matters, many people call crappie speckled perch or specks. They’re no relation to speckled trout, or specks, which are not really trout, but drum—but not a freshwater 22 |

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Smallmouth bass—not a true bass.

Rock bass—a northern sunfish.

drum, which many people in Louisiana call gaspergou. Instead, they’ret a member of the saltwater drum family.

Getting confused yet? Wait, there’s more.

Don’t confuse crappie, often called white perch, with white perch. White perch—panfish-looking creatures—are actually bass and not perch, but are not related to largemouth bass, which are sunfish. White perch inhabit the Northeast and some Atlantic states and look like small white bass.

Many people call a largemouth bass black bass, although some look almost pure white, but they are not white bass, which oddly enough, is a bass and not a sunfish. When

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hunting around thick weeds in clear water, largemouth bass look green or sport green and black camo patterns. When caught in muddy rivers or pulled from dark depths where they don’t need much color, largemouths look almost solid white.

Now that you are thoroughly confused, let’s return to talking about bass. No, not those green or brown creatures with big mouths—or small mouths depending upon which section of the country one fishes. Those are sunfish, remember?

I’m talking about bass—temperate bass such as striped bass, white bass, yellow bass, and our little friend, the white perch—the bass white perch, not the sunfish white perch.

These bass collectively share little in common with those green bucket-mouthed marauders of weed beds.

Many people call striped bass rockfish or rock bass. Don’t confuse these rock bass with rock bass. Remember that a rock bass is a northern sunfish that looks similar to a goggle-eye, which some people call a warmouth, which closely resembles a black crappie. Just to be fair, many Northerners call rock bass goggle-eyes while many Southerners call goggle-eyes rock bass.

Back to white bass, which many people PHOTOS: LEFT PAGE, LUKE CLAYTON; CANSTOCK; JOHN N. FELSHER; RIGHT PAGE, CANSTOCK

6/8/16 11:10 AM

Northern pike—whose Southern cousin, the pickerel, swims East Texas waters.

call silver bass or sand bass and often confuse these with true striped bass, also known as rock bass. White bass somewhat resemble white crappie, also known as silver bass or sand bass. Don’t confuse white bass with white perch, which, as you recall is really a bass and not a perch, except for the crappie one that is a sunfish.

To further complicate matters, yellow bass, or barfish, look similar to white bass, which look similar to striped bass, except for their golden color. They all sport black stripes, or bars, on their sides, hence the name barfish. Of course, white bass and striped bass also sport black bars and many people call them barfish too.

Just to make it even, people often call a yel-

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low bass, a striper. They also call yellow bass “streakers” (maybe because they always swim naked, even when in school), brassy bass (I like that name) or a golden bass. Don’t confuse golden bass with golden trout, which, ironically, is actually trout, unlike a green trout or a speckled trout, neither of which are trout.

Remember, a green trout is a bass that’s not really a bass, but a sunfish and a speckled trout is really a saltwater drum, although some people call them weakfish or seatrout.

Whew!

Did you get all that? And you thought your family had problems! Understanding colloquial fish identification takes more effort than unraveling the shifting intricacies of a Mideast military-political alliance.

Whew!

I didn’t even get into northern fish, like muskellunge, northern pike and pickerel, which all look almost identical. In the South, people call pickerel pike or jackfish, not to be confused with a saltwater jackfish … oh forget it!

Ready for a quiz? Me neither. I think I’ll just order some fish sticks for lunch. Nobody knows what kind of fish, if any, goes into those things anyway.

6/7/16 3:25 PM

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6/7/16 3:26 PM

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NE OF MY MOST memorable experiences in the bowfishing world was when bowfishing guide Marty McIntyre from GARQUEST Bowfishing Adventures (www.garquest.com) and I went on a 24-hour, four lake bowfishing marathon in the spring of 2012.

We started very early one morning and ended up fishing on Lake Dunlap under a bridge later that same day and into the wee hours of the next morning. We stumbled upon a bowfisher’s paradise. It was a target-rich environment to say the least. There were more fish to shoot at than we had time to shoot at them.

In just under two hours we shot 12-longnose gar in Marty’s custom bowfishing boat.

We missed far more fish than we took in that night because we caught the lake during the gars’ spawning season.

The armored skin of the biggest gar we took now hangs on my office wall. He was four inches short of the lake record at the time.

What a treasured memory!

I will never forget that night. We were dead tired but you couldn’t wipe the grin from our faces from the amazing action.

In its basic form bowfishing is shooting an arrow into water at a fish. The arrow has a string attached that is connected to a bowmounted reel. After the shot, you reel the arrow back in, with or without a fish on the arrow.

As the old saying goes, “Some days, chicken, other days, feathers.” Sometimes you hit what you’re aiming at, and sometimes you just have a learning experience.

One of the main misconceptions in bowfishing is that you have to have a boat to do it—not true! Many bowfishers get their start bowfishing from the banks of lakes and rivers. Bowfishing this way is a blast!

The main fish that can be pursued in bowfishing are carp, buffalo, gar and other “rough fish” —typically not considered game fish. A lot of bowfishing takes place at night, but daytime bowfishing is fun as well.

Whether from a boat or on the bank, the main goal is to sneak up on fish in shallow water areas. One of the main tactics for bowfishing during the day or night is to follow

the edges of the lake, river, or creek in the shallower water area and troll slowly.

Always be on the lookout for shot opportunities. Sometimes, as in the case of alligator gars in the spawning season, you can find fish rolling or sunning themselves in deep water in the middle of the main lake or river areas.

On a boat you are constantly on the move, slowly trolling for fish. At night, most bowfishers use high pressure sodium (HPS) lights or LED lights to penetrate the water and see the fish better. You can also use bow-mounted flashlights to scan the water where the boat lights don’t reach. If you’re bank fishing, you slowly walk the edge of the water to find a fish to shoot.

The main rule to follow when bowfishing is always have more than one arrow.

Many bowfishing kits already come with two arrows. You always want a back up arrow with you because anything can happen, and believe me it does—to the one you are fishing with. Bowfishing arrows are incredibly strong, but even the strongest things can break or malfunction sometimes.

Most of the shots you take in bowfishing are “snap shots.” When snap shooting you are basically aiming down the arrow at the fish as you draw and releasing the arrow soon after you come to full draw. Your shots will be quick, and your retrieve of the arrow should be fast, too, so you can get ready for your next shot.

As with all styles of archery, be sure you have a good anchor point you can reach when you come to full draw. My anchor point for bowfishing is my thumb on the T E X A S

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bottom part of my jaw. When you reach this point, you know you are anchored, and anchored shots are more consistent shots.

Another thing to note is that your bow set up doesn’t need to shoot super fast for bowfishing. What you are going for is a balance between penetrating power and easy arrow retrieval. If your draw weight is too heavy, it will be harder to retrieve your arrow from the lake or river bottom. Also, you may increase the potential damage to your arrow if you strike rocks or other hard objects shooting super fast.

I would recommend most bowfishing rigs to be around the 45 to 50 pounds in draw weight at the maximum. After all, most of your shots in bowfishing will be at short range, unlike many targets on land.

Remember, AIM LOW. A common statement for new bowfishers the first time they hit a fish is, “I thought I was shooting super low, like way under the fish!” Exactly how low you should aim takes some getting used to, but the more you do it, the better you will get. If the fish is deep, you want to aim even lower. If the fish is higher or shallower in the water, don’t aim as low.

A common rule of thumb is “10-4.”

If the fish is 10 feet away and one foot deep in the water, aim four inches below the fish. Change your multiples with distance, depth, and shot placement. I shot a tilapia one time in eight feet of water near the bottom of the lake by aiming far under where the fish appeared to be. Again, it takes practice, but the more you do it, the better you will get.

Bowfishing is legal on most rivers and lakes, but it’s important to check your local wildlife regulations or call your local game warden to ensure you are following the rules on the rivers and lakes you are fishing.

There are many great reasons to get into bowfishing and it is fun for young and old alike. Many of my bowfishing friends take their whole family out for a bowfishing adventure on a regular basis. However you decide to go bowfishing, be safe and have fun out on the water.

(View Dustin’s videos at FishGame.com and DustinsProjects.com) DustinsProjects.com

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IT WAS THE FINAL MORNING OF THE March 2016 Costa FLW Series event on Sam Rayburn Reservoir. Montgomery bass pro Kris Wilson and I were looking for five good bites to improve our respective weights.

Wilson, a well-known Carolina-rig specialist, had positioned his boat on a main lake flat in close proximity to an underwater water drain so we could drag our baits around the perimeter. Within seconds we both felt the rap-taps of bass chomping our lizards. Wilson set the hook first, reeled the fish to the boat and swung it aboard.

“Spot,” he said, seeing the feisty 11-inch bass. Mine wasn’t much bigger. Fat, sassy and legal to keep under statewide limits, yes, but it was well shy of the 14-inch minimum required by the tournament rules. No sooner had I released my fish than Wilson caught another one of about identical size. “Let’s make a move,” he said. “These spots aren’t going to do us any good.”

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PHOTO: JOHN N. FELSHER

6/7/16 3:30 PM

Spunky Spotted Bass Offer Texas Anglers a Fun Alternative story by MATT WILLIAMS

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BEST SPOTS FOR SPOTS

Robert Robbins shows off a Kentucky spotted bass that he caught on a topwater bait.

“Spot” is the abbreviated nickname many anglers use for a spotted bass. Also known as Kentucky spotted bass, these sport fish are widely distributed throughout the Ohio River basin as well as the central and lower Mississippi River basin.

Spotted bass are found in several coastal states, including Texas, where they are native to several river systems from the Guadalupe to the Red River, exclusive of the Edwards Plateau region.

Not surprisingly, spotted bass aren’t near as popular with Texas bass anglers as their hallowed largemouth cousins. This is especially true with tournament crowds.

As a rule the fish don’t grow very big. Not in these parts, anyway. Fish measuring 15-17 inches long (2 1/2 to 3 pounds) are considered giants. Those that grow beyond that are extremely rare.

Before someone points to the 5.92-pound bruiser that Josh Helmstetler of Big Spring caught at Lake Alan Henry in January, or the 5.62 pounder that Erik Atkins caught from ‘Henry in 2011 as two such genetic freaks, you should know that neither of those fish were true spotted bass.

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in 1996. Native to watersheds across the southeast, Alabama bass bear a striking resemblance to spotted bass in that they both have a short jaw and distinctive tongue patch.

But the similarities end there. In fact, the American Fisheries Society declared the Alabama bass as a species unto its own about 1 1/2 years ago.

Prior to that, the Alabama bass was considered a sub-species to the spotted bass. As a result, the Atkins bass was recognized by the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department as the first new state record in the spotted bass category since 1966, when a 5.56 pounder was reported from Lake O’ the Pines.

Helmstetler’s bass was also tagged as a new state record spot. However, in light of the AFS ruling, there has been some talk within the TPWD inland fisheries division recently about creating a new records category exclusively for Alabama bass.

If that does happen, the former state record spot from Lake O’ the Pines would likely be reinstated, even though some experts question whether or not that fish was positively identified as a spotted bass 50 years ago.

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Although spotted bass can be found in a number of East Texas water bodies, they are much bigger players on some lakes than others. According to Spencer Dumont, TPWD’s East Texas regional fisheries director, the vast majority of lakes across the region with populations of spots consist mostly of small fish—12 inches or lessin fairly low abundance. However, Dumont said there are a handful of lakes across the region where the fish are found in greater numbers. Among those lakes are Toledo Bend, Sam Rayburn, Bob Sandlin, Jacksonville, Cypress Springs and Palestine.

“Of these reservoirs, Jacksonville and Cypress Springs not only have abundant spotted bass populations but they are substantial contributors to the fishery,” Dumont said. “For example, at Jacksonville, spotted bass are even included in their Thursday Night Open tournaments in what they call the ‘Kentucky Derby’—the best five spotted bass wins the side pot.”

Spotted bass are small at Jacksonville, but an occasional 13-14 incher does show up, Dumont says. Since there is no statewide minimum length limit on spots, anglers are allowed to retain spots of any size, up to the five fish daily bag allowed by statewide bass regs.

As good as the spotted bass population is at Jacksonville, Dumont says survey data indicates an even stronger fishery at 3,500acre Cypress Springs, where anglers frequently report fish in the 13-15 inch range and some as large as 17 inches.

Why is it that spotted bass seem to do better in Jacksonville and Cypress Springs than other lakes around the region? Dumont thinks it could boil down to habitat, or a lack of it.

The biologist says the common denominators on the two lakes is that both are devoid of aquatic vegetation and are not near as high in nutrients as many other east Texas lakes.

“It could be that the habitat at these lakes isn’t in the wheelhouse of largemouth bass, but it is for spotted bass, resulting in fewer largemouths eating and competing with spotted bass,” he said.

The biologist added spotted bass tend to prefer clearer, less productive water than largemouth bass do.

PHOTOS: JOHN N. FELSHER

6/7/16 3:30 PM

“Although spotted bass can be found in some of the same areas as largemouth bass within a reservoir, they tend to spend more time in deeper water,” he said. “On reservoirs that have lots of vegetation with off-color water at the upper end and clearer, deeper water in the lower end, you’ll tend to catch more spotted bass in the lower end.”

location of the fish before he feeds them a bait, usually a spoon of some sort.

“I’ll occasionally catch one around a brush pile, but if I’m looking for spotted bass exclusively, those deep structure types of places are where I look—that’s what the spots like,” he said.

TPWD District 6 supervisor Todd Driscoll of Brookeland agrees with that theory and says the proof is in the puddin’.

Driscoll competes in quite a few weekend tournaments, but also does a considerable amount of “fun fishing” for spotted bass on the side.

When chasing spots on his home lake, Sam Rayburn, during the summer months, Driscoll always keys on deep, underwater points or drops with hard clay or sand bottoms at the lake’s southern reaches more than anything else. He relies heavily his Garmin electronics to help him pinpoint the

run in large groups. They are also aggressive by nature and fairly easy to pattern from one day to the next.

“When I go fun fishing, it’s all about the number of bites I get,” he said. “That’s the neat thing about spots. They’re a school fish, and they are generally pretty aggressive.

Where you catch one there are most likely going to be others. It’s not uncommon to catch 10-20 off a single spot, but you might catch 50 or more before they move or quit biting. The average fish will be 8-13 inches, but you will occasionally catch one 15-18 inches.”

IT’S A NUMBERS SPOTS: SUMMER GAME Driscoll refers to spotted bass as “fun fish” FUN FISH for several reasons. For starters, they tend to

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BEST TACTICS As earlier mentioned, Driscoll prefers to go after spots with a spoon more than anything else. He likes it because the bait gets to bottom quickly, which enables him to make precise, vertical presentations to fish that he can clearly see on his electronics.

“It’s ‘video game’ fishing,” Driscoll said.

“You can catch them casting a Carolina rig or something else, but you can’t be near as efficient as you can with a spoon and good electronics. A drop shot works well, too, but with a spoon you never have to change out plastics between fish.

“With a spoon all you have to do is stay on the fish with your electronics and free spool the spoon to bottom,” he added. “When you catch a fish, just unhook it and drop it right back down again. It can be really fast fishing once the fish get fired up. It’s a lot of fun.”

6/7/16 3:30 PM

EXAS FISH & GAME BELIEVES IN high school bass fishing.

From its inception we have put winning teams on the cover, featured the sport on these pages, in our digital issue and at fishgame.com and have given opportunities for teams to fish with 2008 Bassmaster Classic Champion Alton 32 |

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Jones. (Thank you Alton!)

It’s an investment of time and resources we believe is very worthy.

While doing some research on the sport, I realized there are five key reasons we believe in the sport and are excited to continue the most comprehensive coverage on high school bass fishing to be found anywhere.

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TF&G hosted Chase Hux and Matt Nicholas from the Wildcat Fishing Team of New Braunfels Christian Academy on a Lake Fork fishing trip with Bassmaster Elite Series pro Alton Jones.

story by Chester Moore

Reason #1: Championship Quality Kids

The quality of angler coming from high school clubs is astonishing and none is probably more evident than Chase Hux and Matt Nicholas from The Wildcat Fishing Team of New Braunfels Christian Academy. They won

the 2015 Texas High School Bass Fishing Championship on Lake LBJ, landing a total of 26 pounds and 15 ounces.

Any pro team would be glad to have that bag. Part of the Faith Angler Network, they won back-to-back federation championships as well.

“My experience with Faith Angler Network has been incredible. Having the opportunity to fish alongside other

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Reason #4: Industry Growth

Chase Hux and Matt Nicholas show off their trophies.

Christian anglers has been very rewarding,” said Chase in a press statement.

“From my first tournament and now nearing my last, every boat launch to weigh-in has been nothing but professional and well run by the staff at Faith Angler Network. Every angler as well as the staff have been supporting each other in a positive manner guiding toward making us better anglers, but more important, more Godly boys and girls.”

According to Matt he and his partner enjoyed the experience of representing their school and competing with other teams very much.

“It was a lot fun and we certainly learned a lot,” he said.

Not every sport involves a ball and not every kid can run with, throw or bounce one very well. Neither is every kid destined to be a cheerleader or voted class favorite.

Bass fishing allows any kid whether seriously athletic or who just has a passion for fishing—an ability to excel in something they can take with them for life.

At age 69 Rick Clunn just became the oldest angler to win a B.A.S.S. event. You don’t see any basketball players competing at that age and certainly no one in the Super Bowl much over the age of 40.

Fishing is a lifetime pastime.

Reason #2: Resource Stewardship

The health of our fisheries will be at risk if no one understands them.

Young anglers engaged in competitive fishing have a vested interest in clean water, healthy bass populations and understanding how the ecological process works.

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Conservation in the industry is often put on as a bumper sticker of sorts. People tag it onto the end of their programs to show people how much they care.

We do care here at TFG as do many of our industry partners and we know resource protection is crucial. Young people being able to compete in a world where conservation is the tool that allows competition to exist is a great learning experience. If catch-and-release had not been adopted by B.A.S.S. and other tournament trials many years ago, we would certainly not have the healthy fisheries and tournament opportunities that exist today.

That is a lesson kids can only learn on the water.

Reason #3: Innovation

It is said the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.

The fishing industry has been engaging for the most part the same people for innovations for decades now. Part of that is because there were few people from younger generations entering into the industry at any level.

That will change with high school bass fishing as well as at the collegiate level.

The tech savvy generation of today thinks differently. By merging their ability to navigate ever-changing technology and learning about fishing and competition, we expect innovations in electronics, lures, rods, reels and perhaps in tournament formats to come from young people who started on high school teams.

In many ways the wheel needs to be reinvented, and this generation might be the one to do it.

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The fishing industry has had stagnant growth for decades, depending on which source you believe. Drawing young people into the sport can only benefit the industry and the many jobs it supports across the board from fishing tackle factory workers to bait shop owners, and yes, outdoor writers.

A few years back I wrote a column stating we needed to get kids away from the X Box and into the tackle box. Well, the answer is finally here at least a big part of it. A chance to engage in competition, test oneself on the water and enjoy fishing is a drawing card for thousands of Texas kids. Most of them will only deepen their love of fishing and continue contributing to the industry for decades to come.

Reason #5: Texas Outdoor Nation

This might sound cocky, but coming from the people who bring you the in-your-face Texas Outdoor Nation, take it for what it’s worth.

We believe a Bassmaster Classic and/ or FLW champion will come out of Texas high school bass fishing. It will most likely be with students who go through the collegiate route as well but not necessarily. I think of a rugged individual champion like Rick Clunn (who came from Texas by the way) and who certainly has done and continues to do things his way.

I think of truly great champions and competitors such as Alton Jones who sacrifice for others have an incredible amount of fishing skill. Then there are champions from the past like Larry Nixon and Tommy Martin. Even Denny Brauer has moved to Texas.

There is something about this state that produces champions and draws them in.

Make no mistake about it; the high school bass fishing system is creating champions right now. They might not all compete at the highest levels in the future, but they have all learned important life lessons. You can bet there is a kid or two out there right now who could very well be the future face of the sport.

PHOTO: CHESTER MOORE

6/7/16 3:31 PM

Texas FRESHWATER

by MATT WILLIAMS :: TF&G Freshwater Editor

An East Texas Classic

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UST IN CASE YOU HAVEN’T heard, the Super Bowl of professional bass fishing is coming to eastern Texas next year. That’s the word from Alabama-based BASS, a powerhouse tournament organization that has played a key role in helping grow bass fishing into the sporting monster it has become at the grassroots and professional levels.

Back in April, BASS announced that the 2017 Bassmaster Classic would be held March 24-26 at Lake Conroe, a 21,000-acre reservoir located off I-45 in Montgomery and Walker counties. From there, the 52 ’Classic qualifiers convoy their catches to downtown Houston for daily weigh-ins at Minute Maid Park, home of the Houston Astros.

Texas lakes such as Sam Rayburn, Toledo Bend, Livingston and Texoma have played host to a number of big league bass fishing events in the past, including the 1979 ’Classic on Texoma that was won by television host Hank Parker. But this will be the first ’Classic for the Houston area in the event’s colorful 47-year history.

“We are thrilled to bring the biggest event in bass fishing to the biggest city in the biggest state,” said Bruce Akin, B.A.S.S. CEO. “Of the 500,000 members of B.A.S.S. worldwide, nearly 45,000 - more than any other state—call Texas home. We’re glad to be able to hold the Classic near them.”

Regarded by many as pro bass fishing’s premier event, the ’Classic brings in hundreds of industry and media representatives.

Thousands of spectators will come to witness bass fishing history while watching some of the sport’s biggest names in action.

A wide variety of other activities follow every Bassmaster Classic venue. One of

the biggest outside attractions is the annual Bassmaster Classic Outdoor Expo—a launching pad for tackle and lure companies to showcase new products to fishing fans. The 2017 Expo will be held at the 300,000 square foot George R. Brown Convention Center, the largest facility to ever host the event.

The winner of the ’Classic will take home $300,000 cash, plus the opportunity to earn cash via lucrative sponsorship endorsements, speaking engagements, etc. It is often said that winning a ’Classic title can be worth more than $1 million to a well-spoken angler who knows the ropes of the industry and plays his cards right along the way.

The tournament also has a history of generating some serious bucks for the host city.

According to BASS reports, ’Classic attendance records have averaged more than 102,000 over the last five years and host cities have reported economic gains ranging from $22 million to nearly $24 million.

An intimate love for bass tournaments is shared by more than one million anglers across the state. With this event’s close proximity to Texas’s largest metropolitan area, many believe the 2017 ’Classic could shatter all existing attendance.

The fishing could be outstanding, too. In fact, sources close to the game believe Kevin VanDam’Classic weight record (69 pounds, 11 ounces) for the five-fish daily limit era will be in serious jeopardy when the BASS guys roll into town next March.

“There’s no doubt about it—the weight record will fall,” said Bassmaster Elite Series pro Keith Combs of Huntington. “There’s no way it won’t get busted, not on Conroe. There will be a bunch of big fish caught. There could be a new record set for the biggest fish, too.

It wouldn’t surprise me to see some fish 11 pounds or better weighed in.”

Combs has a rich history on Conroe. He’s milked it for a couple of major wins and about $250,000 in prize money. He won the 2011 Toyota Bass Classic there in Nov. 2011 with a three-day total of 76 pounds, 12 ounces on 15 fish. He followed it up with another TTBC win in 2013 with a 62-pound, 12-ounce total.

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“Those were fall tournaments, and the fishing was pretty tough,” Combs said. “The ’Classic will occur during the spring, and a lot of fish will be up shallow. Under those conditions somebody could crush the weight record.”

Like Combs, Elite Series pro Todd Faircloth of Jasper is excited about the 2017 ‘Classic coming to Texas, but not just because the tournament venue is located just down the road from his home near Sam Rayburn.

“This is going to be great for Texas, and it’s been a long time coming,” Faircloth said. “As big as bass fishing is in Texas, the state was long over due to have a ‘Classic here.”

Although he doesn’t know Lake Conroe as intimately as he does his home lake, Faircloth said he expects to see some big bags brought to the scales.

“Conroe has got some big bass in it, and I would expect to see some really big fish weighed in at that time of year. The lake is big enough to accommodate the ’Classic field and spread the guys out. The drive to the daily weigh-ins at Minute Maid Park could be a concern with the Houston traffic, but my guess is the issue will be addressed if it hasn’t already.”

Well-known as a local hotspot for recreational boaters and jet skiers, Conroe has a history of getting congested during the peak summer boating season. Considering the timing of the ’Classic, however, Faircloth said he doesn’t look for the recreational traffic to be much of a problem.

“I think at that time of year we’ll be all right,” he said. “It’s still pretty cool in March, so there won’t be a bunch of jet skiers and pleasure boaters running around. I do think there will be a lot of spectator boats out following the fishermen, but for the most part the people who watch our sport are very respectful.

I don’t look for the spectator boats to be much of a problem at all.”

Translation: This is going to be a huge deal, anyway you slice it.

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Matt Hawrylak with a double drop tine 17-point trophy taken on the PK Game Ranch.

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Another huge trophy buck from PK Game Ranch’s world class herd.

l Kingdom I HAVE ALWAYS LOVED THE AREA AROUND Possum Kingdom Lake. With the Ranger Mountain Escarpment running through it, it really is a kingdom of fish and game.

For the last seven or eight years, I’ve been watching the progress of the high fenced PK Game Ranch right next to my home on Possum Kingdom Lake with great anticipation. With the ranch already rich in wildlife, I always thought, if done right, the land could grow some really big whitetails.

The owner of PK Game Ranch, Ray Hawrylak, has figured that out and has some true brutes on his place. He invited me to come to the ranch at the end of the 2015-2016 hunting season as he was having a few limited hunts. The ranch will be fully open with a half-dozen or more buck hunts in the 200300 class for the 2016-2017 season.

On the first visit, I met his son Matt, who is in the picture

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with the monster double drop-tine, billy-club 17-point buck.

I was privileged to be able to see and touch such a brute of a buck, up close and personal. The hunter hunted him for a week and, after the shot, the buck had hidden so well where he fell, we walked past him several times before discovering him. They can really disappear on this ranch.

Later that evening we sat in a stand looking at four other bucks in that category. On that first evening hunt, I saw more big bucks than I had seen in any whole hunting season.

Four of the bucks I saw would easily go 180 to 240 and up, and I am probably low-balling those estimates. There was so much action it was hard to keep up with it all.

Does came and went, so I tried to just age and score big bucks while we sat there. The variety would keep us on our toes all evening.

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There was the perfect symmetrical 10-pointer that looked to be five to six years old and was a perfect specimen. Then there was the buck that came in and had so many points I quit trying to count at 22. He was sparring with another buck of almost equal “hornage.”

That buck is in the accompanying pictures.

We let it get completely dark before sneaking out of the stand, and I was excited when Ray told me to meet him at the gate the following morning for yet another hunt.

Ray is a long time hunter as am I, so we enjoyed each other’s company in the stand.

He told me that one of his goals for clients who are hunting a special buck, he would be doing something most outfitters don’t, which is to let them hunt till they get that one particular buck. This could involve multiple hunts before they get their buck. He is also making his hunts all inclusive, lodging and meals included. This comes from decades of good and bad experiences he has had hunting other ranches.

The next morning he put me in another

one of his Monarch stands (www.deerfeeder. com) that were tight, warm and comfortable—so the wait until daylight was easy. The songbirds and doves brought in the morning as we talked as quietly as possible, A young 1 1/2 year old buck walked in. He was already a 13-pointer, from the genetics of a 300 class buck .

Just as Ray was commenting that this one would be a giant in four to five years, a monster 12-pointer entered the area and pushed the young buck out. He proceeded to feed from the protein feeder. As he settled in, out of the corner of my right eye I caught movement as the most beautiful tall horned blackbuck antelope snuck in and brought our conversation to an immediate stop.

We watched as prime time rolled in and at least 20 deer were all around us. There were many multiple-point bucks, and bucks of all ages, with several over 12 points. They were true monsters, but they didn’t hang around long. There were so many nice bucks in and among the does that I couldn’t give them all

the proper binocular or camera time they deserved.

I would have surely had buck fever at that point, had I been on the hunt for one of these bruisers, so I appreciated this dry run before getting to hunt this great ranch for real. At the end of that first weekend, Ray showed me a picture of a buck that he would be letting me hunt this coming season. Naturally, I agreed and thanked him for the offer. It was a 12-14 pointer, but I couldn’t really tell because he was still in velvet—but definitely a trophy. So I was eager to come the next weekend to get a look at him, to see the buck I would be hunting.

Now, just for those naysayers out there who write off high-fenced ranches as canned hunts, I can tell you this is not at all true.

I hunted this buck on at least eight separate hunts and never once saw him. He was sighted by others, at other feeders, but I was always in the right place at the wrong time.

My second weekend hunt began in the middle of a nasty cold front with sleet blow-

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Top and Bottom: Trail cameras capture huge antler growth in progress.

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PHOTOS COURTESY RAY HAWRYLAK

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ing, so it was great to walk up and settle into those nice Monarch stands. Daylight first brought two groups of three-generation families of does to the feeders. The matriarch does kick-boxed for first bites, as the younger fawns chased each other. Then they fell into their positions and began to feed.

At that moment I caught movement from behind as two big-bodied deer entered the arena. First to clear the brush and into the opening was a perfect, symmetrical 10-pointer. Following him was an older version of him that was a majestic, tall, wide 12 point basket rack—a very impressive typical buck.

The two played off each other’s senses and methodically moved in through the does and checked the perimeter before feeling comfortable and settling in to feed. As we watched the bucks and does feed, a beautiful blackbuck antelope walked in, followed by a younger blackbuck and doe. They moved gracefully among the whitetails as if they were part of the group. A bigger blackbuck I had seen on an earlier hunt was a true trophy of his species, with spiraling horns that looked like 30-plus inches on each side.

I thought to myself, what a perfect end to a great hunt. But wait, it wasn’t dark yet and still more deer were trickling in. They all took turns at the protein feeder, and a few stopped on their way out at the corn feeder for a few kernels to chew on their way to their bedding areas. I saw monster typical and non-typical bucks with drop tines and blackbuck antelope, and, right at dark, a couple of pretty axis bucks showed up to cap it off. It was a wellrounded trip, another great outdoor experience to store in my memory banks.

Ray Hawrylak will be offering a half-dozen or so hunts this season (2016-17)—all inclu-

Young Hunter shows off a buck of a lifetime from PK.

sive, as mentioned earlier—and should have some bucks in the 300 class. The ranch has a lot of nice drop tine bucks on it.

I will be one of the hunters this year, so maybe I will get to do a follow-up story and be able to chronicle a successful hunt. Ray is also looking for a site to build new lodging with a view of the lake and has connected with a fishing guide for clients who want to

fish or do other activities between hunts.

To learn more about this remarkable ranch, call 817-925-9690 or go to Ray’s website at www.pkgameranch.com.

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Left: Blackbucks mix with whitetails. Right: A monster in velvet.

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6/7/16 3:32 PM

Bare Bones HUNTING

by LOU MARULLO :: TF&G Hunting Editor

A Season Filled With Memories

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T WAS A SLOW DEER SEASON. Nobody was seeing anything at all. The whitetails seemed to know it was hunting season and decided to hunker down someplace safe from any hunters. It was bow season and I would try every spot I knew but ended up with the same results—nada.

And I was not alone.

However, one day I saw 12 deer from my perch in a matter of 15 minutes. A group of does were in the field and decided to come straight for me. They fed around my stand for a while and all but one decided to continue deeper in the woodlot. The lone doe headed slowly north until I could not see her anymore.

As I glanced back to a thicket, I saw nothing but antlers coming to a clearing. The big boy turned right for me and with each step my thoughts of taking a huge whitetail seemed to be more and more a reality.

There are three types of deer hunters.

The meat hunter—This is the person who will shoot any deer that comes into range.

They have the attitude that if they let the deer walk, the neighbors will kill it anyway.

The trophy hunter—This is the person who has had more than a few seasons under his belt already and really wants to bring home the monster of the woods. This is also the person who adorns his house with multiple deer mounts and maybe a troubled marriage because of it.

Last, we have the newbie hunter—This is the person who is excited to be in the woods hunting whitetails for the first time.

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younger animal.

I am of the belief that if you are one of the later, then your first deer that you kill is the hardest one. Some readers might not agree with me, but I think that a new hunter needs to get that first one under his belt. Then he or she can decide if they want to wait for “Mr. Right” to come along. I say take “Mr. Right Now” and worry about the bigger ones next year.

Most hunting areas, except for QDM (Quality Deer Management) areas, will hold deer that average about two years old when they are taken. To persuade a new hunter to hold off on the smaller deer and wait for that big boy, might mean an empty freezer and tag soup for supper.

In my bow classes, I often ask this question. If you shoot a spike horn or a fourpointer, should you mount it? It is amazing how many prospective hunters say you should not mount that deer head because it’s not really a trophy buck.

Then I remind them that, it most certainly is a trophy to to the hunter that shot that young deer. If he can afford it, he should mount it to remind him of his very first one.

I am sorry I never mounted my first one.

All I have is the lasting memory of everything that happened on that hunt and how excited I was to pull the trigger.

Now that I am considered to be one of those grizzled veteran hunters, I choose to let the smaller ones walk. That does not mean I bring home venison every year. As a matter of fact, there have been more than a few tag soup dinners at my house. But that is my choice.

I still get excited, and my heart starts to beat out of my chest whenever I see a deer heading my way—even if I know I’m not going to shoot it. I think that if I ever lose that feeling, I would give up the sport all together.

I sincerely hope that never happens.

As I write this column, I am planning a turkey hunt in the morning. I think I love turkey hunting more than deer. When I hear that bird gobbling closer and closer, I get that same heart pumping feeling. Even if it is

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a jake, I still get that excited feeling. It’s what makes me want to get out a nice, warm, cozy bed at oh dark thirty every day. I can only hope hunting does the same for you.

The 10- pointer was now only 50 yards from me and closing. I looked ahead and saw the spot that would place the deer behind a big tree which would allow me to draw my bow.

Suddenly, things went all wrong. What looked like a perfect setup was now falling apart in front of my eyes. With his nose to the ground, the buck of my dreams turned north and followed that lone doe. I had no shot and no deer.

Just five minutes later, I had three more does running right for my stand, and I could see antlers chasing them. I thought for sure that this was that 10- point.

Things were happening fast. I drew my bow as the does ran under me. Once the buck came closer, I grunted, stopping him in his tracks at just 10 yards away. I watched as the six-pointer walked away. It was a “gimme” shot, but I knew that big buck was very close and would catch the scent of these does.

No sir —I never saw that big deer again until opening day of rifle season when a neighboring hunter proudly displayed a picture of himself with his beautiful 10-point buck.

My failed attempt wasn’t for lack of trying.

Every single morning I went after him. I knew his area. I had scouted him hard. I was super careful about leaving my scent around. And I went home empty handed that year. Oh well…that’s hunting for you.

Have fun and hunt safe.

Email Lou Marullo at ContactUs@fishgame.com

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PHOTO: CHESTER MOORE

6/14/16 11:19 AM

T

HE TEXAS GULF Coast iis robust in diversity and perhaps no other area is as diverse as the number of shark species found in coastal waters of the Texas Gulf of Mexico.

Most anglers are familiar with blackcaps, bull sharks, lemons and tigers. Bluewater anglers occasionally target makos. However there are many shark species in Gulf waters, all of which have very specific regulations, with some having extremely restrictive regulations.

We will take a look at the many unusual shark species and the regulations that anglers must follow. Anglers in Texas are allowed one shark per person per day with a two-shark possession limit, but there are great differences among species.

Let us start with the sharks anglers can keep in Texas waters with a minimum length of 24 inches.

ATLANTIC SHARPNOSE – body usually has several prominent white spots; second dorsal fin originates over midpoint of anal fin.

BLACKTIP – similar to spinner but first dorsal fin originates over the pectoral fins and anal fin lacks black tip.

BONNETHEAD – rounded, shovelshaped head with no indentation at midline of snout; maximum size about five feet.

The following species are allowable with a minimum 64-inch total length.

BULL – stocky body; no interdorsal ridge; large triangular sloping dorsal fin; bluntly rounded snout.

FINETOOTH – fins unmarked; slender smooth teeth; color bluish-grey above and white below.

SPINNER – similar to blacktip, but first dorsal fin originates behind the pectoral fins and anal fin has black tip.

HAMMERHEADS – head hammershaped; includes scalloped, great, smooth and smalleye hammerheads.

LEMON – first and second triangular dorsal fins about equal in size.

BLACKNOSE – grey to black blotch on tip of snout.

THRESHER – upper lobe of caudal fin extremely long and about half of total body length; similar to bigeye thresher but has no grooves on top of head and white abdominal coloring extends above pectoral fins.

TIGER – distinctive vertical blotches or stripes.

BLUE – slender body of metallic blue color.

SHORTFIN MAKO – similar to longfin mako but underside of snout and mouth are white; similar to blue shark but has caudal keel.

REPORT: NEWS 46 u TF&G OF THE NATION Reported by TF&G Staff

HOT 46 u TEXAS SHOTS Trophy Photos from TF&G Readers

DEPT. OF 50 u TEXAS DEFENSE

by Steve LaMasus and Dustin Ellermann

52 u TEXAS DEPT. OF CONSERVATION

by Will Leschper and Andi Cooper

56 u TEXAS COASTAL FORECAST

by Eddie Hernandez, Mike Holmes, Mike Price, Chris Martin, Mac Gable and Cal Gonzales

64 u TEXAS FISHING HOTSPOTS

by Tom Behrens, Dustin Warncke and Dean Heffner

74 u SPORTSMAN’S DAYBOOK Tides and SoLunar Data

NURSE – brown color; first dorsal fin over pelvic fins; very small eyes; barbels on each side of mouth; no distinct lower lobe of caudal fin.

The mysterious bonnethead shark is common in Texas waters and looks a lot like the scalloped hammerhead.

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OCEANIC WHITETIP – broadly rounded white tipped first dorsal fin.

These species may not be retained and must be released immediately WITHOUT REMOVING THEM FROM THE WATER.

GALAPAGOS – similar to grey reef and dusky but is rare in Texas waters. fins; similar to silky but length of second dorsal fin free tip rarely more than twice the fin height.

LONGFIN MAKO – similar to shortfin mako but has dusky or bluish-black mouth area and long broad tipped pectoral fins;

ATLANTIC ANGEL – flat skate-like body; large spiracles behind eyes; two small dorsal fins located near the tail.

BASKING – has enormous gill slits nearly encircling head; maximum size about 32 feet; no similar species; rare in Texas waters.

BIGEYE SAND TIGER – similar to sand tiger; similar to lemon shark but has first dorsal fin far back on body closer to pelvic fins than pectoral fins; similar to nurse shark but has a distinct lower lobe of caudal fin; rare in Texas waters.

BIGEYE SIXGILL – has six gill slits; similar only to sixgill; rare in Texas waters.

BIGEYE THRESHER – upper lobe of caudal fin extremely long and about half of total body length; similar to thresher but has large eyes directed upward, deep grooves on top of the head, and white abdominal coloring that does not extend above pectoral fins; rare in Texas waters.

BIGNOSE – similar to silky and dusky but has first dorsal fin originating over pectoral fin insertion; similar to sandbar but has longer snout; similar to blacktip and bull but has interdorsal ridge; rare in Texas waters.

CARIBBEAN REEF – similar to blacktip but has interdorsal ridge; similar to sandbar but has first dorsal fin originating behind the pectoral fins; similar to dusky, silky and Galapagos but has a much shorter free rear tip of the second dorsal fin.

CARIBBEAN SHARPNOSE – similar to Atlantic sharpnose but is rare in Texas waters.

DUSKY –similar to bull, blacktip and spinner but has interdorsal ridge; similar to sandbar but has sloping first dorsal fin originating over or slightly before free tips of pectoral 44 |

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SHARK IDENTIFICATIONPHOTO: CHART: CREDIT NOAA; PHOTO (OPPOSITE): CHESTER MOORE

6/14/16 11:19 AM

similar to blue shark but has caudal keel; rare in Texas waters.

Sandbar sharks look quite a bit like numerous other shark species and are protected from harvest.

NARROWTOOTH – similar to blacktip and spinner but has distinctive narrow triangular upper teeth and a slight arch to the back above the gill slits.

NIGHT – similar to silky and dusky but has large green eyes; similar to spinner and blacktip but has small dorsal fin and interdorsal ridge; rare in Texas waters.

SANDBAR – similar to dusky but has large first dorsal fin originating over or slightly before pectoral insertion; similar to bull, blacktip and spinner but has interdorsal ridge.

SAND TIGER – similar to bigeye sand tiger; similar to lemon shark but has first dorsal fin far back on body closer to pelvic fins than pectoral fins; similar to nurse shark but has a distinct lower lobe of caudal fin.

SEVENGILL – has seven gill slits; no similar species.

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SILKY – similar to bull, blacktip and spinner but has interdorsal ridge; similar to sandbar but has dorsal fin originating behind pectoral fins; similar to dusky, but length of second dorsal fin free tip usually more than twice the fin height.

SIXGILL – has six gill slits; similar only to bigeye sixgill.

and short gill openings; no similar species.

WHALE – unique pattern of light spots and stripes; maximum size about 40 feet; no similar species WHITE – similar to mako sharks but has large triangular serrated teeth.

SMALLTAIL – has deeply notched anal fin

6/14/16 11:19 AM

The NATIONAL

More Great White Sharks Showing Up in Gulf Waters SCOTT FITZGERALD OF MADFISH Charters was fishing for amberjack last spring about 8.5 miles out in the Gulf of Mexico when he felt a big bump in his boat according to a report from USA Today.

A large great white shark attacked his trolling motor.

“He knocked the boat two feet to the side, then grabbed the trolling motor and started shaking it in his mouth,” Fitzgerald said. “That’s when I ran up front and pulled it out of his mouth.”

In 2014, “Katharine” and “Betsy” two great whites fitted with satellite transmitters

News of TEXAS

by OCEARCH caused a full flown media circus when they showed up in the Gulf Coast near Florida.

“Jaws” is not typically affiliated with Gulf waters but we have been writing about the fact great whites dwell the Gulf in limited numbers since a local charter captain encountered one 55 miles out of Sabine Pass.

A paper entitled Seasonal Distribution and Historic Trends in Abundance of White Sharks in the Western North Atlantic published by PLOS ONE sheds some fascinating light on white shark populations.

The study which examined great white sightings from a wide variety of sources from 1800 to 2010 showed the range of white shark occurrence extended from the north coast of Newfoundland to as far south as the British Virgin Islands, as far east as the

Grand Banks and Bermuda, to as far west as the coast of Texas.

According to NOAA, their earliest recorded white shark was off the coast of Sarasota, FL on a setline in the winter of 1937. Another specimen was caught in the same area in 1943.

In addition, National Marine Fisheries Service officials reported 35 great whites as by catch in the Japanese longline fishery in the Gulf from 1979 through 1982.

The presence of great whites in the Gulf has been verified but the information was rarely discussed until the appearance of “Katharine” and “Betsy”.

Interestingly, there is a very good chance more great white sightings will take place in the Gulf and possibly Texas waters.

The removal of gill nets along the shallow areas of the Gulf Coast beginning in 1994 has given young great white an advantage. They

BLACK DRUM

TURKEY

La Porte

Iowa

Jose Barrientos caught and released this 60-pound black drum while fishing at La Porte.

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Captain Chris Martin of Bayflats Lodge (and a regular TF&G Contributor) killed this nice gobbler while on a hunt in Crawford County, Iowa, near the Dunlap community. It was Captain Chris’s first Eastern long beard turkey.

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The presence of great white sharks in the Gulf of Mexico has been verified, with a good chance of them appearing in Texas waters.

use these areas as “nursery” and for decades were almost all killed in the nets. Great whites are sexually mature at around 15 years of age so we are on our second generation of whites born without the nets.

Research shows most in the Atlantic region are born along the eastern seaboard and

then disperse into other areas including the Gulf to feed.

The research conducted by OCEARCH is fascinating and by logging onto their website you can track the sharks with the tracking devices and keep up with your favorite sharks.

There are numerous great whites as well as other species fitted with

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—Chester Moore

• • •

WHITETAIL

WHITETAIL

Palo Pinto County

Central Texas

Jeff Hulstein killed this free ranging nine-point buck while on a hunt in Palo Pinto County. Jeff was shooting a .308 caliber rifle during the rut.

NEWS PHOTO: CANSTOCK

these devices.

Technology has opened up an entirely new view of these rare sharks and given us access to information formerly not dreamed of much less available.

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Eleven-year-old Libbie Baratz got her first buck, a 10 pointer, while hunting on a friend of the family’s ranch in Central Texas.

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The TF G Report Survey Searches for Rock Art at Hueco Tanks A NEW TWO-YEAR SURVEY FOR Native American rock art is now underway at Hueco Tanks State Park and Historic Site. The park is a significant cultural site and home to a variety of rock imagery, some of which may be several thousands of years old. It is also known as a destination for rock climbing and bouldering.

“The world class cultural resources of Hueco Tanks compels us to seek out and use the best available technology to protect this site,” said Brent Leisure, Texas State Parks Director.

“There is one thing that all people can agree upon; the expressions of people on the rocks at Hueco Tanks and the deep and meaningful connection we all have for this site demands our full commitment as guardians and stewards. I am excited that we can apply this new technology to achieve this standard.”

The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD) has devoted considerable efforts to document the cultural resources at Hueco Tanks. Past projects

include a comprehensive ground survey for archeological deposits around the base of the mountains by the TPWD Archeology Survey Team in 1999 and 2001, and a large rock art inventory project by outside contractor, Rupestrian CyberServices, in 1999 and 2000.

The results of the rock art inventory, which incorporated the findings of several previous investigations at Hueco Tanks, helped determine where climbing activities could occur at the park without impacting identified rock imagery.

However, technologies are constantly emerging and a new image enhancement program called DStretch will be used during the Hueco Tanks survey project Although NASA had used a similar program for analyzing aerial photographs, the program was not modified for use in rock art investigations until 2005 and has undergone further refinements since that time. This technology, which has now been used on a number of rock art sites around the world, greatly improves on previous techniques for detecting faint pictographs that may be nearly impossible to detect with the unaided eye. Recent use of DStretch at Hueco Tanks has already led to the discovery of previously unknown rock imagery at the site.

The need to identify potential faded

imagery on or near climbing routes at Hueco Tanks and the availability of an effective tool to address this need, helped spark the present project. The project began at the end of March and is scheduled for completion in late 2017. Findings will be used to help monitor any newly discovered rock imagery and help manage activities that have the potential to impact these resources.

Versar, Inc., a nationally known cultural resource management and engineering firm, has been enlisted to complete the survey.

Versar has also recruited the help of local climbers to locate and access the nearly 2,000 climbing routes at the park.

“Hueco Tanks is steeped in over 60 years of climbing history,” said Ian Cappelle, chairman of the Climbers of Hueco Tanks Coalition (CHTC).

“Climbers travel from every corner of the world to experience and connect to the recreational, cultural and natural resources that Hueco Tanks provides.”

CHTC’s mission is to preserve rock climbing and its history at Hueco Tanks by working cooperatively with TPWD to proactively assist in the management of climbing areas while conserving cultural and natural resources of Hueco Tanks.

“The new survey and use of the Dstretch technology will provide TPWD a definitive

Rock paintings at Hueco Tanks State Park.

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The TF G Report accounting of any previously unidentified rock art in conjunction with climbing routes in the park,” Cappelle said.

“As a result, climbers can be educated as to where they are able to climb without harming the cultural resources of Hueco Tanks all the while preserving the history of everyone that passes through this park.”

The park has been an important asset to the El Paso area as a place to recreate and a significant cultural resource that reflects at least 10,000 years of area and regional history.

—from Staff Reports

• • • East Texas’ Native Bear Increasing THE LOUISIANA BLACK BEAR, THE inspiration for the teddy bear, has been removed from the Federal Lists of Endangered and Threatened Wildlife. The species restoration is a significant conservation success and further demonstrates the value of the Endangered Species Act (ESA).

The fabled bear became part of American culture after a hunting trip to Mississippi in 1902, where President Theodore Roosevelt refused to shoot a bear that was trapped and tied to a tree by members of his hunting party. The episode was featured in a cartoon in The Washington Post, sparking the idea for a Brooklyn candy-store owner to create the “Teddy” bear.

“President Theodore Roosevelt would have really enjoyed why we are gathered here today,” Secretary Jewell said. “Working together across private and public lands with so many partners embodies the conservation ethic he stood for when he established the National Wildlife Refuge System as part of the solution to address troubling trends for the nation’s wildlife. As I said last spring when the delisting proposal was announced, the Louisiana black bear is another success story for the Endangered Species Act.” The delisting follows a comprehensive scientific review by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service of the bear’s status. The Service also released a final post-delisting

monitoring plan that will help ensure the bear’s future remains secure.

The majority of Louisiana black bear habitat falls on private lands, where the U.S. Departments of Agriculture and the Interior worked with Louisiana farmers to voluntarily restore more than 485,000 acres of bottomland hardwood forests in priority areas for conservation. One key tool was the use of conservation easements in these targeted areas, through which USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) worked with farmers to restore habitat on difficult-to-farm lands. This strategic approach became one of the building blocks for Working Lands for Wildlife, a partnership between the Service and NRCS to conserve wildlife habitats on agricultural lands nationwide.

“Farmers played a pivotal role in helping the Louisiana black bear recover, using easements and other Farm Bill conservation programs to sew together primary habitat corridors,” Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said.

“By working together, we’re able to achieve more conservation, direct resources where biological returns are highest and achieve a larger habitat footprint spanning public and private lands.”

“The recovery of the Louisiana black bear is an outstanding conservation accomplishment,” Director Ashe said.

“Led by Louisiana and former Secretary Robert Barham, along with Texas and Mississippi, our state partners and private landowners have been crucial to this achievement. The ESA’s success in preventing extinction and recovering species is in large part due to the countless partnerships like these that it helps to foster.”

When the Louisiana black bear was listed under the ESA in 1992 due to habitat loss, reduced quality of habitat and human-related mortality, the three known breeding subpopulations were confined to the bottomland hardwood forests of Louisiana in the Tensas and Upper and Lower Atchafalaya River basins.

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outlook for the species.

The partners conducted research regarding the status of the existing populations, established additional subpopulations and protected or restored more than 750,000 acres of habitat. A large proportion of habitat that supports and connects breeding subpopulations has been protected and restored voluntarily through private landowner restoration efforts.

The Service proposed to delist the Louisiana black bear in May 2015 after determining the recovery criteria, as defined in the 1995 Louisiana Black Bear Recovery Plan, had been met and that threats to the bear were reduced or eliminated.

In 1992, at the time of the listing, there were as few as 150 bears in Louisiana habitat. Today, the Service estimates that 500750 bears live across the species’ current range where successful recovery efforts are allowing breeding populations to expand.

As such, the bear is not likely to become in danger of extinction now or within the foreseeable future.

“Growing up in the Sportsman’s Paradise, I’m proud to join in the announcement of the recovery of the Louisiana black bear,” Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards said.

“The resurrection of this iconic symbol of our nation and Louisiana shows the value of science and collaborative research. It also represents a commitment to conservation with so many willing partners from private landowners to state and federal agencies, universities and non-governmental organizations coming together to make sure the Louisiana black bear will be around for many generations to come.”

“As a former veterinarian and an avid outdoorsman from Northeast Louisiana, I am so proud that the black bear has been removed from the endangered species list,” Rep. Abraham said. “This is a terrific comeback story that reflects the dedicated work of so many people from throughout Louisiana, and I’m excited that our beloved Teddy Bear will be here for the next generation of Louisianans to enjoy.”

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TEXAS Dept. of

:: Self Defense :: Tactical :: Training Tips

by DUSTIN ELLERMANN and TF&G STAFF

Pit bulls and Other Feral Dogs (Editor’s Note. Steve Lamascus wants to keep his focus on his “Guns” column, so over the next six months we will be looking at ways to defend oneself against wildlife, with guns and other survival tools.)

Defense Against Wildlife, Part 1 IT WAS A SIGHT TFG EDITOR-INChief Chester Moore will never forget.

A snarling, enraged pit bull busted forth

AK Hybrid THE AR15 VS. AK47 ARGUMENT will continue for decades. The AR15 side of the argument boasts of precision, accuracy, modularity, and ergonomics.

The AK47 crowd will cite ruggedness and dependability in their favor.

However, some manufactures embrace this debate in an effort to find the ultimate compromise. One of these is CMMG. Their AR platform MK47 Mutant design has caused a bit of a stir.

Chambering an AR15 in 7.62x39mm isn’t anything new. But the problem with doing such in a mil-spec lower configuration is that the magazines have a very poor reputation for reliability due to trying to modify a straight feed magazine designed for 5.56mm when the 7.62x39mm casing has much more taper. CMMG addressed 50 |

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:: Gear from the brush and headed right at him.

“A guttural growl and intense, focused eyes told me this dog was out for blood, in particular mine. I was at my deer lease before the season to repair a stand with no rifle in tow. For a second panic set in, until I realized I had the .45 my concealed handgun permit allowed me to carry,” he said.

“I quickly drew it, clicked off the safety, aimed at the dog and fired. It stopped, spun around and walked back into the brush. I pondered following it to put an end to the threat once and for all but decided to enter the lease from another location and avoid trouble until I was better armed.”

Looking back, Moore has no doubt he would have ended up another statistic had he not possessed the handgun the state of Texas grants us as licensed, responsible citizen the right to carry.

There is much discussion on concealed handguns as protection from human preda-

tors, but what about threats of the animal kind?

Protecting ones life and family is equally important whether the threat comes from a parolee or a feral dog and if you look at the numbers the latter and their kind are a real and growing threat.

According to the Center for Disease Control, there are 4.5 million people bitten by dogs each year, 20 percent of which require medical attention. In 2006 alone, more than 31,000 underwent reconstructive surgery as a result of dog bites.

Pits and other potentially aggressive breeds are often used for fighting and for use as catch dogs in hog hunting. Fighting dogs not deemed worthy are either killed or dumped onto the public and some catch dogs get loose and become feral.

“The area I hunted at the time of the charge was known for people dumping off dogs and a lot of them were pits. Another

this by designing an all-new AR15 lower receiver that accepts AK47 magazines.

The trigger group and stock remain milspec AR15, but the lower has an obvious void in the magazine well where you rock in the AK47 magazines. Since the magazine catch of the AK47 magazines are different than AR15 mags the release is also modified to mimic the AK style paddle, however it is nice and large on the Mutant and plenty easy to activate. Yet there still is not a way to have the bolt hold open when the magazine is empty so there will still be an ominous click of the hammer after the last round ejects and leaves the rifle empty.

The next development on the Mutant is the upgraded bolt. Once you mill out enough steel in a mil-spec 5.56mm boltface to accept a 7.62x39mm cartridge it doesn’t leave much material. CMMG addressed this shortcoming by using a shortened .308 AR10 bolt. This leaves plenty of bulk to have strength to last a lifetime of surplus Russian rounds. And since it’s shorter you don’t have a longer pull on the charging handle, just a little more girth in the chamber.

I opted to test the MK47 K version, the “K” standing for “short” with the 10” barrel. This was manufactured and transferred as a pistol, then after a few weeks of testing it I found it worthy to “manufacture” into a Short Barreled Rifle.

After turning in my Form 1, paying a $200 infringement stamp, and waiting four months for approval the ATF finally gave me permission to replace the pistol buffer tube with a stock. My primary reason in

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hunter on my lease was charged up a tree by a pit and it stayed under the tree for a while and finally left. It was a different animal than the one that came after me. I have nothing against the breed but let’s be honest if you had a choice of being charged by a poodle or big pit bull which would you chose?”

Moore said he would argue a person has a better chance fending of a thug with a switchblade than a strong, aggressive dog, hell-bent on destruction.

“It doesn’t matter what kind of large dog, you could get hurt and feral dogs do form

packs. In fact, my friend Kenneth Pigg and I had to retreat to our trucks looking at a piece of property way back in 2000 because of a pack of feral dogs that looked were essentially a bunch of mutts. There are lots of stores like this out there and tens of thousands of feral dogs in Texas.”

But how are we to defend ourselves? If you do a Google search you find all kinds of methods offered to fend off attacking dogs, bears and other dangerous animals.

One article entitled, “Defending Yourself Against Animal Attacks” recommends using

The tested MK47K setup was a registered SBR with B5 systems Kryptek stock and grip, EOTech MRDS, Elzetta CQB light, and Silencer Co Saker suppressor.

doing this is because I love to suppress my firearms and a suppressor’s length added to a 16” barrel makes a very long and unwieldy firearm. Also, AK47s are notorious for being difficult to properly suppress and this was the easiest way to be able to shoot lots of inexpensive 7.62x39mm ammunition quietly.

At the range I knew my first upgrade would be the trigger. It’s my own fault for being spoiled with Geisseles and LaRue’s MBTs. But the included mil-spec trigger was very heavy weighing over 8 pounds and not what I expected from a rifle retailing for $1,500. However once that was out of the way I put several hundred rounds of surplus steel ammunition from Tula and Wolf through the rifle in a variety of magazines including surplus steel, Magpul, and even Tapco. After about 500 rounds of a suppressed fire through the shortened 10” barrel on the MK47 K the bolt started

PHOTO: DUSTIN ELLERMANN

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to get sluggish from all the black carbon caked up from the dirty ammo. After a simple wipe down the bolt was ready to roll again. My guess is you could probably get by with 1,500 rounds without issue if you weren’t using a suppressor that causes the extra blowback.

Accuracy was impressive considering the cheap ammunition used. With the EOTech MRDS I was getting 2.5” groups at 100 yards. Shooting standing from 140 yards I was easily keeping every round on a 6” RSR hostage head plate. I find that very acceptable for 7.62x39mm surplus ammo. Another key feature that makes the MK47 superior to the AK47 is the keymod mounting system on the fore end. It is very easy to attach any keymod accessories such as the Elzetta CQB light.

The only fault I found in the Mutant MK47 K was that the QD sling stud holes in the fore end were not designed to be T E X A S

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pepper spray and says, “Even if you are carrying a gun with you, do not try to shoot at the animal.”

“If I had taken this advice I might not be here and at the very least would have scars with me the rest of my life,” Moore said.

The concealed carry debate has been virtually solely focused on prevention of criminal attacks but there are other equally dangerous threats lurking out there. Dog, bear, mountain lion and even coyote attacks are on the increase in urban areas throughout the country.

“And for those of us who frequent the woods and wild lands, the chances of a dangerous animal encounter are even greater as I know from my experience. As a staff we will be looking at different scenarios through the end of year and some of them are downright frightening to consider. It is best to be prepared,” Moore said.

Although you might carry your concealed handgun religiously at the gas station, mall and other public venues, think seriously about toting it in the woods as well. You might not get carjacked but a pack of feral dogs might just size you up and it is best to respond with proper firepower, not a flesh and bone.

used on a rifle with such a thick chamber area therefore it didn’t allow clearance for the QD stud to be inserted. After speaking with CMMG at this past SHOT show they informed me that they were going to modify the QD issue and only other problem they have encountered with their fully auto demo machine guns was that the bolton gas blocks had come loose after several thousand rounds of fully automatic fire.

But since we lowly subjects are unable to convert our arms into machine guns due to government infringements I doubt we will ever witness that issue.

The MK47 comes in 11 variations with different rail, barrel length, pistol and SBR options. If you want an AR15 that shoots a heavier load, can use inexpensive surplus ammunition and popular magazines, and is easy to accessorize, you’ll want to give the Mutant a good look.

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TEXAS Dept. of :: Edited by WILL LESCHPER

Boaters Advised to Hunt Zebras

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ITH SUMMER BOATING and fishing seasons in full swing, be advised to check out your gear for alien invaders hitching a ride.

Texas remains at the forefront of the effort to curb and even eradicate invasive species that can bring hugely devastating effects on native habitats. Thanks to increased funding from the Legislature and added manpower—a $6.6 million appropriation for 2016-17 and five new employees – the Texas Parks & Wildlife Department has undertaken an unprecedented effort to knock out invasives.

The most notable invader is the zebra mussel, though other water-borne threats

include a variety of vegetation that can choke out native plants. As such, it is unlawful to possess or transport prohibited aquatic invasive species, dead or alive, anywhere in the state. Regulations are in place requiring boaters statewide to drain all water from their boat and onboard receptacles before leaving or approaching a public body of fresh water in order to prevent the transfer of invasive species. The regulation applies to all types and sizes of boats, whether powered or not, and carries with it up to a $500 fine if you’re found not in compliance.

In Texas, the detrimental impact of

Zebra mussels

invasive species is massive, costing the state billions of dollars annually. It threatens to undermine a recreational freshwater fishing

Guadalupe River

More River Access Opens ANGLER ACCESS TO TEXAS RIVERS continues to improve through a publicprivate partnership between cooperating landowners and the Texas Parks & Wildlife Department. Through leases with landowners, angler access has now been expanded along reaches of the Brazos, Colorado, Guadalupe, Llano, Neches, San Marcos and South Llano rivers. Three more leases are set to begin on 52 |

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the Colorado, Nueces and Sabine rivers this summer, according to a news release.

These angler access improvements are funded primarily through the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Voluntary Public Access and Habitat Incentive Program. This federal grant program offers funding to state and tribal govern-

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ments to encourage public recreation on privately held land.

Information: tpwd.texas.gov/fishboat/fish/recreational/rivers.

—Staff Report

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6/14/16 11:20 AM

industry worth more than $4 billion, according to TPWD figures.

Although zebra mussels continue to receive the most attention, invasive vegetation has become a hefty problem in many notable fishing holes. One program is attempting an in-depth framework dubbed Aquatic Invasive Plant Management.

The associated projects include management of aquatic invasive plants on public waters to

enhance boater access. It includes rapid response to new infestations, and manageMAP: TEXAS PARKS AND WILDLIFE DEPARTMENT

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ZEBRA MUSSEL STATUS MAP

ment of riverside invasive plants in target areas to improve water quality and quantity as well as habitat quality.

The framework includes multiple partnerships with universities, river authorities, municipal water districts, nonprofits, and local, state and federal agencies.

The effort is focused on a number of species that shouldn’t be in our waterways.

Among the worst invasive vegetation in Texas is giant salvinia, which is usually spread unknowingly by boaters when the plants cling to their boats and trailers. A native of South America, giant salvinia is a free-floating aquatic fern that can double in size in less than a week.

Like the lionfish, which likely was introduced into new areas after being taken out of aquariums, giant salvinia owes some of its spread to man. It began as a popular plant for water gardens and was sold in aquatic nurseries, before being introduced into the wild where it caused so many issues.

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detected in more than a dozen bodies of water. As with other invasives, it doesn’t take much to spread. Only a single plant needs to be transported on a boat trailer from one lake to another to spur a new infestation.

Left unchecked, giant salvinia can form mats up to three feet thick, which prevents light from entering the water. It also damages aquatic ecosystems by outgrowing and replacing native plants that provide food and habitat for native animals.

If you spot giant salvinia or any other vegetation you suspect should not be there while you’re on any of our state’s lakes and rivers this summer, TPWD urges you to call 409-384-9965, or email giantsalvinia@tpwd. state.tx.us.

If possible, take photos and provide a GPS location of your find. Texas Invasives also has an app that has plenty of useful information, as well as a way to include documentation if you see something that’s out of place in our native habitats.

Information: www.texasinvasives.org.

Will Leschper’s work has been recognized by the Outdoor Writers Association of America and the Texas Outdoor Writers Association. His email is willleschperoutdoors@gmail.com.

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Email Will Leschper at WillLeschperOutdoors@gmail.com

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S

FOR MAP

Wetland Restoration Team Grows

edge of public lands along the Texas coast and a full understanding of DU’s collaborative conservation model.”

Kevin Hartke

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HREE OF TEXAS’S CONSERvation professionals have recently joined the Ducks Unlimited team to ensure wetland restoration and protection along the Texas Coast. Kevin Hartke and Jim Sutherlin have decades of conservation experience in the Lone Star State, and Bay City native Taylor Abshier brings new energy and a broad perspective to private land conservation efforts.

“We are excited to bring three of Texas’s most capable conservationists together on the DU team,” said Todd Merendino, DU manager of conservation programs in Texas.

Hartke joins the DU team from the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, where he spent the last 11 years as the waterfowl and wetland habitat specialist for the Texas mid-coast. As such, he handled planning, grant writing and delivery of wetland habitat projects across TPWD’s wildlife management areas and provided management guidance for private landowners. Over the years, Hartke has often worked with DU on conservation projects and programs.

“Kevin has hit the ground running,” Merendino said. “He has extensive knowl-

Hartke’s primary duties will be overseeing DU’s public land projects in Texas. Working with a variety of partners and sponsors, he will be in charge of developing, securing funding for and ensuring delivery of wetland restoration projects on state and federally

North Ameria’s Birds Show Major Gains THE NORTH AMERICAN BIRD Conservation Initiative recently published its The State of North America’s Birds 2016, the first comprehensive report assessing the conservation status of all bird species that occur in the continental United States, Canada and Mexico.

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ing that populations of approximately 80 percent of North American wetland birds are in stable or good condition.

During the past two decades, more than $1.4 billion in grants have been awarded to conservation initiatives through the North American Wetlands Conservation Act.

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owned properties.

Sutherlin spent 25 years with the TPWD as the project leader for the Upper Coast Wetland Ecosystem Project where he managed the state-owned wildlife management areas in Jefferson, Orange and Chambers counties. He will be working part time for DU to ensure investments made in coastal restoration in the Chenier Plain of Texas are most beneficial for the ecosystem and waterfowl. In coastal Texas, where there’s a resource-based economy, investments in ecosystem restoration are investments in economic development and recovery.

“Jim has been one of our greatest partners,” Merendino said. “We are fortunate to be able to bring his experience to bear on decision makers to ensure that habitat protection and restoration are properly the focus of coastal restoration funding.”

The third new edition to the Texas DU staff is Taylor Abshier. As the Welder Foundation’s conservation educator, Abshier has experience with outreach. With an educational background in wildlife science and business administration, he has a well-rounded understanding of private land management. He will be handling DU’s private land conservation programs, predominantly the Texas Prairie Wetlands Project.

«

—Andi Cooper

Overall, the program has resulted in more than $2.9 billion in partner funds for more than 30 million acres of habitat across the North American continent, according to a news release.

—Will Leschper

«

PHOTOS: TOP, DUCKS UNLIMITED; BOTTOM, CANSTOCK

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6/14/16 11:20 AM

Coastal Focus: SABINE :: by Capt.

EDDIE HERNANDEZ

Salt Equals Success in July

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F YOU FIND YOURSELF FISHING Sabine Lake in July, you can pretty much expect the best of everything this bay system has to offer.

From the Gulf of Mexico to the Neches and Sabine Rivers, and everywhere in between, you can get a little sample of what she can deliver under the right conditions.

Those conditions should be favorable as we settle into mid summer patterns and the heat wave begins to kick in.

A lot of people, including me, are beginning to get spoiled by beautiful green water, abundant sunshine, temperatures pushing 100 degrees, light winds and salt spray. The pretty water will bring increased salinity lev-

els and trout will be pushed deep into the upper end of the lake and rivers.

The trout bite should be very consistent in the Neches River. Although catching trout in the river and its tributaries is not that uncommon, as the Entergy Outfall Canal and Bessie Heights marsh can give up some serious numbers year-round.

The saltier the water gets, the farther up river the trout will go. It’s not uncommon for people to catch trout as far north as the Beaumont Yacht Club and beyond when the conditions are right.

Sitting just a little south of the Yacht Club is the National Defense Reserve Fleet. This area should be red hot for trout, redfish and some nice flounders.

Topwaters and plastics fished on the bottom and rigged under a popping cork are usually our “go to” methods, but live finger mullet and shad are also real killers for big numbers and some hefty fish. Fishing the ledges and in four to twelve feet of water should keep you in the action.

Down on the south end of the system,

one of our favorite things to do for big trout and solid numbers is to throw topwaters in the Sabine Neches ship channel. You’ve got about a two-hour window in the morning and before sunset when the trout can’t resist the zigzag and sound of a topwater plug.

Walking the dog over scattered shell in two to eight feet of water is your ticket to success.

Fishing green water with good tidal movement is essential if you want to have a good story at the end of the day. Concentrating on areas that are holding bait will also obviously up the odds in your favor. The entire stretch of shoreline from the LNG plant to the jetties is second to none when it comes to attracting and holding bait and fish. The ever-changing bottom contour with fluctuating depths, coupled with good tides from either direction is the reason.

Throw in green, salty water and favorable winds and you should be exactly where you need to be in July on Sabine. The high pitch of Mir O Lure’s She Dog or Rapala’s Skitterwalk with its tight, easy to work pattern are “go to” choices for us when it comes to choosing a topwater plug that the fish can’t ignore.

THE BANK BITE LOCATION: Pleasure Island SPECIES: Flounder, Reds, Croaker BAITS/LURES: Mud minnows, fresh dead shrimp BEST TIMES: All day, especially with moving tide

Email Eddie Hernandez at ContactUs@fishgame.com

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Coastal Focus: GALVESTON :: by Capt.

MIKE HOLMES

The Marvelous Mullet

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NYONE WHO DOESN’T FEEL a baitfish qualifies as one of the most important species in the Gulf likely hasn’t fished enough.

Although I am equally sure there are fishermen—successful fishermen—who use only artificial lures, or only live shrimp, such folks are eliminating some really productive possibilities.

To understand the importance of the mullet, you should first realize that almost anything that swims in salt water, from crabs to marlin, will feed eagerly on mullet. Mullet are common all over the Gulf, in shallow water or deep, along the shoreline of both bays and Gulf, and also in deeper water away from land.

Mullet are probably the easiest bait species for an angler to capture, yet they can be purchased nearly everywhere on our coast. Mullet make perhaps the ultimate live bait—or can be used as a cut bait, a trailer bait on a cast or trolled lure, or rigged as a bait on their own.

Mullet can be used for surface feeders or bottom hunting gamefish. And, if all else fails, the mullet itself can be more than decent table fare.

My first and almost finest moments in a long life of salt water fishing were spent seeking bull reds and other hard fighting fish in the surf. For this sport, the mullet has no equal as a bait. Live finger mullet will draw strikes from flounders and speckled trout, stingrays, gafftop catfish, or any other small- to medium-sized salt water battler.

Many times when small mullet were all I could catch in my cast net, I would rig them two to the leader for bull redfish. Some of my largest reds were taken on the smallest of mullet.

Large live mullet will be taken by sharks of

almost any size, big stingrays, and tarpon—and I have occasionally caught a stray king mackerel on a big live one in calm, green surf. Jack crevalle and big surf running bluefish seem to pursue mullet above all other bait species.

When you’re bottom fishing offshore, a large live mullet might be taken by a sizable red snapper or grouper, and big amberjacks love them, also. As cut bait for snappers, mullet are very hard to equal, and kingfish eagerly attack either live or fresh dead mullet of practically any size.

The largest dolphin I ever caught hit a huge dead mullet I was drifting for sharks in a tournament. The 24-pound bull was nearly four feet long. It first hit the big bait and ran off strongly a good distance with it before pulling the hook. Then it waited in the shadow of the boat for me to throw the bait back out after I reset the hook. The bull took it as soon as it entered the water. I fought this battle on a tight line close to the transom. Big ling also love live mullet, and a de-boned mullet is a great trolling bait for wahoo and billfish.

In contrast, perhaps,of the large bull reds I

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have taken on small finger mullet, the biggest flounder I have ever taken completely swallowed a very large mullet I was fishing off the back of my boat in the canal I docked in, hoping to hook a big alligator gar.

The sight of jacks and/or tarpons slashing through a huge school of rafting mullet in the surf is as exciting as any feeding frenzy you are likely to see. I’ve also enjoyed watching big schools of over-sized mullets slowly swimming in the channel between jetties and occasionally being excited by an unknown attacker from below.

I mentioned that mullet are normally rather easy to catch, and a decent cast net can pay big dividends in fishing success—as well as being good exercise. I once met a “gentleman” from Florida visiting Galveston near San Luis Pass who had an 18-foot cast net of the type and size used in his home waters by commercial fishermen to catch mullet for market. He was simply enjoying throwing it that day, and kept several fishermen supplied with bait.

Along most of the eastern coast of the

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6/14/16 11:20 AM

Coastal Focus: MATAGORDA :: by Contributing Editor MIKE PRICE

Sharks in the Bay

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N WEST MATAGORDA BAY I drifted back to my boat in my kayak and made “one last cast.” While I was working the Egret Baits three-inch-wedge-tail purple minnow I saw a big commotion about 25 yards away and the dorsal fin of a jack crevalle.

The fish must have picked up on the sound and motion of my soft plastic minnow because it turned and made a giant wake as it headed for my lure. I was amazed at how sensitive the jack crevalle was to the movement of the lure.

It slammed the minnow, and I reactively set the hook. Then the fish turned and dashed away from me. The reel performed like it did not have a drag, I tightened it, but the jack crevalle kept taking line. Finally I stared to gain a little line back when the fish got hung up on the boat’s anchor line, and the leader broke.

In July jack crevalle and sharks move into

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West Matagorda Bay from the Gulf of Mexico because of the abundance of bait fish and shrimp. These predators often swim with their dorsal fins out of the water. Like bottle nose dolphins, jack crevalle and sharks both create violent splashing when they attack. Sharks will hit live or dead bait, but rarely go for artificial lures. In contrast, jack crevalle like fast moving baits, and aggressively chase artificial lures.

Jeff Wiley was fishing with me in West Matagorda Bay from his kayak when he hooked a jack crevalle. Watching from my boat, I saw the powerful fish pull the kayak in a circle while Jeff desperately tried to gain some line and control the fish. When he realized that the big, strong fish (jack crevalle weigh up to 20 pounds) was bound to win this battle Jeff pointed his rod at the fish, held the line, and pulled hard, breaking the line.

It is a sport fishing thrill to fight and land a jack crevalle, but they are not good eating.

Landing one on light bay fishing tackle can take 30 minutes or more.

Most bay fishermen would just as soon avoid a shark encounter, but it happens. I

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was paddling my kayak back to the boat with a flounder on a stringer at dusk one evening when I felt a jerk. I pulled up the stringer to find only the head of the flounder.

Sharks are adept at stealing fish from stringers. That’s why Matagorda guide Captain Coach Floyd Ciruti equips his fishing customers with a floating plastic container. It has a lid and is attached to a line to carry their fish in the summer. In the bay and in the surf, make sure the fish on your stringer are far enough away, so when a shark goes for them, it does not get a piece of your leg in the process.

Offshore

Last summer I was scuba diving on rig 544, 30 miles southeast of Matagorda. I saw several large red snappers, hundreds of mangrove snappers, Atlantic spade fish, blue fish, a few trigger fish, some large jack crevalle, plenty of barracudas, and one ling. Red snappers were out of season, jack crevalle were unwanted because they are poor table fare, barracudas taste good, but the fish that I really wanted to catch was the ling.

Ling (also known as cobia) are great eating, and the one I saw was more than the legal size of 37 inches. So back on the boat, I dropped my circle hook with a chunk of fresh, cut mullet to 20 feet and waited a bit, then went to 40 feet, then 60 feet, and I started to feel a fish nudging or mouthing the bait.

A ling will suck bait into its mouth, then spit it out again before you have time to set the hook. I was using a circle hook, and you don’t jerk it up like a J hook, instead you pull the rod tip up and simultaneously reel. The hook will catch in the side of the fish’s mouth.

So I waited until I felt the fish swim with the bait and then raised my rod and turned the handle on my reel. The ling made a nose dive for the bottom, and I started to go toward the water, recovered, kept the rod tip up and held on while the fish tore line off of my reel. Then, when the fish tired a bit, I reeled and brought it a little closer to the boat. This up and down motion of fish and fisherman went on for some time until I finally worked the fish close enough

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to be gaffed.

The other legal and desirable species of fish on that rig was mangrove snapper, which taste just as good as red snapper. The problem is that they are tough to catch. The best way to rig your tackle to target mangrove snapper is to use a very light 15- or 20-pound leader, remove all the weight, and tie on a small hook.

Cover the hook completely with your bait and then float it into the rig. Mangrove snappers swim in schools from the surface to the bottom. When the school comes by, chances are you’ll get a hit.

In July there is an abundance of bait in both inshore and offshore waters attracting hungry predators. So whether you are fishing offshore, in the surf, or in the bays, July is a great month to wet your line.

THE BANK BITE RESEARCH STATION SHORELINE: This spot is great for kayak and wade fishing. To get to the water you have to walk (or carry your kayak) over some rocks, but once you reach the water, the terrain is hard sand so it is easy to launch your kayak or to wade-fish. It is located on the north side

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Gulf, mullet are a prized table fish, especially smoked. I have cooked them like this on the beach and thoroughly enjoyed them, and also tried them filleted and fried with excellent results.

If there is a more useful fish than the mullet, I need to find him. We’ve used chunks of cut mullet as trotline bait for big blue catfish in freshwater, and a live mullet or two left in a crab trap they wandered into will soon be sharing that space with as many hungry blue crabs as can squeeze into it.

Just the sight of mullet jumping in calm surf, or torpedoing inside big breakers in rough surf is a good sign the fishing will be worthwhile that day. Since I used to dump fish scraps in the woods, I have no reason of West Matagorda Bay. It is subject to off-colored water on south winds, so it’s best to fish this spot on a light north wind. To get there turn south off

not to expect mullet to be a good trap bait for ‘coons, as well. If a rare day finds no gamefish wanting to bite your mullet bait, “mullet on the half shell” cooked skin side down on a grill is not a bad “fail-safe” position.

THE BANK BITE LOCATION—The surf is “hot” in more ways than one. Jetties, rock groins, and piers are good places to extend your fishing area beyond a long cast.

SPECIES—Trout, reds, flounder, croaker, and others keep anglers busy “inshore”.

BAIT—Live mullet, croaker or shad can just about always be depended on, and shrimp should be fairly easy to find. Man-made offerings that imitate these species can produce just as well at times.

BEST TIME – To dodge the heat of the day, fish early and late—or at night. Always pay attention to tidal movement.

Highway 35 onto FM 3280 west of Palacios and follow it until you come to the bay.

6/14/16 11:20 AM

Coastal Focus: MID COAST :: by Capt.

CHRIS MARTIN

Reef Action

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IDDLE TEXAS BAYS SUCH as Matagorda Bay, San Antonio Bay, Espiritu Santo Bay, and Mesquite Bay are all major producers of the highly sought after inland saltwater trio— speckled trout, red fish, and flounder.

Each of these bays possesses its own history and its own fishing secrets. However, one thing common to all of them is the level of trout fishing intensity that often starts during the month of July. This happens primarily atop shell, on mid-bay reefs, or along bayside shorelines con-

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taining intermittent shell pads. Regardless of where you might find the shell, July trout fishing can often become unmatched in numbers and in excitement.

Before all of the numbers and excitement can occur, however, you must first be out on the shell on a day without a lot of wind. Strong winds can sometimes muddy these bays quite rapidly. It’s imperative that you wait a day or two following a hard blow to allow the water to settle down a bit and regain its green-water composure.

Another reason to let the water settle is that it can be dangerous to navigate areas congested with oyster reefs in water that is off-color and dirty.

An undisputed favorite bay system for summertime shell fun is San Antonio Bay. It’s the bay that is readily accessible via the town of Seadrift, and it quite possibly holds more openwater oyster reefs than the other three mentioned bays combined. It also is a very large bay system, meaning there is plenty of room for anglers to share in all that it has to offer, especially the shell—it’s cluttered with oyster reefs of all different shapes and sizes.

There is a list of reefs in the waters of San Antonio Bay that are considered to be favored locales. However, you should never limit yourself only to what you‘ve explored in the past.

You should always be looking for that next uncharted shell pad. It may have a lot to offer in the way of “fish signs”—bait, depth, contour, points, tidal movement, sand or mud, etc.

Learn to pay close attention to any noticeable differences between one reef and another.

Take special note of any reef that shows signs of active bait movement or one that happens to be attracting activity from seagulls and pelicans.

As you begin fishing these reefs this month, don’t simply focus on whether a reef happens to be totally submerged, or totally exposed.

Instead, look specifically for other things.

Look for whether the reef happens to be attracting and holding active baitfish. Check to see whether there’s mud mixed-in with the shell. Is the reef positioned to offer the fish some quick access to deeper water. These three things generally result in success in July atop open-water shell.

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A number of just such reefs are located in San Antonio Bay. A few examples are Little Bird Island, Turnstake Island, and Chicken Foot Reef South.

Once you have settled on a reef, start fishing within casting distance of the peak of the reef, then slowly work your way outward along the tapering downslope of the reef. Working the reef this way allows you to cover most all levels of the water column in a fairly quick and efficient manner.

Your first cast should typically be with a standard plastic tail or mullet imitation tossed directly at the shallowest part of the reef then retrieve it back along the downward slope of the shell. This is a very effective method to locate the bite in summertime.

If you find the bite to be coming out of water that is a bit deeper, change your bait. Start throwing one of the slow-sinking, suspending lures like the Corky, or the Corky Fat Boy. Doing so slows your ability to cover the same amount of water, but once the bite is located with a slow-sinker there is little else that compares from an excitement standpoint (except for the presence of a top water bite, of course).

Another thing you may like to make a daily practice of doing in July is fishing during the earliest part of the day. It’s always more comfortable to be wading in the water before the sun rises. This allows you to take advantage of the cooler night time water temperatures of the shallowest spot on the reef. Fish swim along the shallow points above the reefs during the night to search for food and take refuge from predators of the darker, deeper water.

Even with all the rain that the coastal region encountered this spring, San Antonio Bay appears to produce good trout numbers above the shell. If you have never had a chance to try your luck in or around San Antonio Bay, then you may have missed out on the finest mid-bay reefs that the Texas coast has to offer. Come on down and give it a try. You’ve got nothing to lose. Good luck to all, and keep grindin’!

Contact Capt. Chris Martin at bayflatslodge@gmail.com

G A M E ®

6/14/16 11:20 AM

Coastal Focus: ROCKPORT :: by Capt.

MAC GABLE

Oh My Goodness...

Here’s Your Sign!

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OU WILL PROBABLY NEVER hear a fishing guide talk about or much less write about the subjects I am about to venture into. Most fishing guides are consummate professionals and are articulate about their fishing and the approach to the business of pursuing and catching fish.

Every so often, though, even the most anal retentive (no I’m not talking about someone’s behind here; anal retentive means someone extremely orderly and fussy) guide has something slip up or better yet slip through, their fingers. Over the years I have been proud that I have never, while on a guide trip, been left out on the water with clients due to mechanical problems. I am hopeful this article doesn’t jinx that!

It’s often said if you fish from a boat long enough, especially in the Rockport area, two things just go with territory: 1. You’re gonna break down and need a tow 2. You’re gonna run aground. Luckily I have dodged both of those bullets for close to 30 years and tried to stay humble for fear I will get paid back tenfold by the mechanical and reef gremlins.

Enter 2016 and the fishing trips thereof....

The trip was with a long standing client and one that I truly enjoy fishing. We had an excellent forecast for the day and I was almost giddy wanting to help these guys catch some fish.

By noon we had a pretty good box of fish (mostly trout) and I set off to find some reds we could strain our arms and shoulders catching. We did catch many that were right on the line of 20 inches but no real “ole toes” — 30 inchers etc. “One more cast,” I told my clients “and let’s call it a day.” They were all good with that so we grabbed a drink and started making our way back to the dock, about 17 miles away.

My mind was already on my next trip and the items I needed to get done before my head hit my much looked forward to pillow.

Life was good.

This day even the dock wasn’t busy so I powered on. I was about 100 yards from the dock and my motor sputtered, almost like I had run over something. It took off again and then sputtered and died not to be re-started.

My first thought was “what did I run over and what’s wrapped around my prop?”. I tilted the motor up and all was good — no abandoned crab trap and no netting. My prop was clean as a spic and span floor.

Then gas came to mind and I said a few choice words to myself thinking that morning I had gotten a bad tank of gas from my favorite gas station. Water in the gas.... I knew

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that’s what it had to be especially with all the rain we had the previous week.

My clients thought I had shut down my motor and was coasting in, being careful as I approached the dock. Luckily for me the east wind blew me right into the dock as if I’d planned it and did that every day. After help from my clients getting my boat on the trailer and cleaning their fish the first order of business was to determine what the heck was wrong with my motor.

Stressed visions of a ruined motor and having to buy a new one were definitely on my mind. The strange thing was my motor offered no alarms or warnings, just sputtered then went dead. My fuel filter showed no sign of water so I asked forgiveness for the colorful metaphors I had used in my mind where my favorite gas station was concerned.

My concern then shifted to much bigger more expensive potentially broken items like fuel rails, electronics, and on board fuel compressors etc. Needless to say it was above my head.

An emergency trip to Chris’s Marine was

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Forecast: ROCKPORT in order, where thankfully my mechanic awaited to get me fixed and back on the water. After dropping my boat off I said a silent prayer. Within a few hours the mechanic called to say that all looked good! What???

The computer showed water pressure good, voltage good, oil injection good, all cylinders firing optimally. He said they did run a separate fuel line from the shop’s tank to the motor and she started right up.

Ah, I thought, a bad fuel line or trash in my tank. The mechanic said the primer bulb did need replacing but that wasn’t the problem it was just old but not leaking.

“Ummm” he said, “you ran out of gas.”

What?!@#$%^&*().

“Yeah, right. I put enough fuel in just this morning. I checked my smart gauge and replaced the fuel I used the day before and I always have 15 or 20 gallons remaining in the tank” I said with MUCH confidence.

“When did your fuel gauge stop working?” he asked.

“Years ago” I said, “they never work well anyway and so I replace fuel based on the on board computer consumption used from the day before and I have a buffer of 15 or 20 gallons.”

Then the proverbial ton of bricks landed on the hard rock I call a head and I realized what had happened. The gas station pump and my on board computer were not in sync.

I had in fact been burning more fuel in my outboard / smart gauge than I was replacing at the gas station pump even though I always replaced the exact amount or a little more than my smart gauge/on board computer showed.

The two again were NOT exactly the same and in this case my outboard and onboard smart gauge was using more than the pump at the station was replacing, even though the gallons were the same. I calculated it took 12 years to slowly draw the 15 or 20 gallons of reserve down to the point I ran out of gas.

This particular day I burned 2 more gallons of gas than I had put in that morning, believing it was not a problem because I had a 15 or 20 gallon reserve TILT!!!!! The word quickly spread and of course in our era of text messages ..... to say I got rubbed pretty hard is a GROSS understatement. Kinda like this: we all know you’re so cheap you squeak when you walk 62 |

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Capt. Mac but for going fishing with no gas in your boat, we’re getting up a gas fund benefit for you!

My response.... I think it is pretty dagum good anyone can catch fish with gas, I can catch fish with an empty tank. Or — You wanna think something Capt. Mac? Think some gas into your gas tank that will solve a lot of bad day issues. Or — just a few rules for a novice like you ... boats don’t run on dry land, two strokes require two stroke oil, to catch fish one needs rods in the boat, if your boat is bogging down make sure you disconnected the trailer, and last but not least the gas pump at the station will shut off when your tank is full.

I could give you all the reasons why I don’t run a full tank of gas like less weight, shallower running, and turnover of gas in my tank (fresh gas), ethanol and its cumulative effect in a boats gas tank, or I wanted to see just how far my Haynie would go before it ran out of gas. But it would just look like I am making excuses. The morale of the story — for those who might be taking an electronic systematic approach to filling your boats gas tank — don’t trust your gauge. Don’t trust your computer and don’t trust the gas pump.

They don’t talk to each other and paddling a 23 ft. bay boat makes for a long day. Here’s my/your sign.

• • • HOT HOT HOT—EARLY MORNING and late afternoon is gonna be best for feeding reds. Fish deeper water for trout midday. Top water lures like super spooks and popping plugs in red and gold and bone and white work well this time of year.

COPANO BAY — Newcomb Point is good for reds early morning using finger mullet or cut menhaden on a light Carolina rig. The mouth of Copano Creek is good for reds and black drum using live and peeled shrimp under a silent cork. Some keeper trout may be found on Copano Reef using free lined croaker. High tide is best here.

ARANSAS BAY — The area of Big Island is good for trout on a falling tide; live shrimp or croaker work well on a light Carolina rig.

Scotch Tom Reef is good for trout using free

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lined croaker. The back side of Mud Island is good for reds and black drum using peeled shrimp for the black drum and cut mullet for the reds on either a very light Carolina rig or free lined.

ST. CHARLES BAY — East Pocket still has some reds with cut mullet. A fish finder rig is the best choice. Big Devils Bayou is a good spot for reds and trout using soft plastics in new penny color and nuclear chicken colors. Some black drum lie at the mouth of Cavasso Creek. Use peeled shrimp free lined or a very light Carolina rig.

CARLOS BAY — Pelican Reef is a good wade for reds using finger mullet or croaker free lined. Some trout are still holding in Cape Carlos Dugout with live shrimp or mud minnows the bait of choice. The current can be strong here so some weight is required.

MESQUITE BAY — Third Chain Islands is a good place for reds using free lined mud minnows. The shoreline of Bludworth Island is a good spot for some flounder using white grubs tipped with shrimp or small pieces of cut squid; retrieve slowing bouncing the jig off the bottom. Mouth of Cedar Bayou is good for trout using free lined croaker.

AYERS BAY — Second Chain is a good place for reds using finger mullet free lined.

Rattle Snake Island shoreline is a good place for black drum and sheep head using a silent cork and peeled shrimp.

THE BANK BITE WADES from the LBJ causeway to Newcomb Point is good for trout and some keeper reds. New penny jerk shad and morning glory jerk shad work well here/ Be sure to take drinking water as it is a long wade.

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

G A M E ®

6/14/16 11:20 AM

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

Hook a Snook on South Bay

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OME ANGLERS WORSHIP the July sun on the Lower Laguna Madre. What is scorching heat to some means, red-hot snapper action offshore, pelagics far and near, and big redfish on the flats from Mexequita to Mansfield.

Others, however, try to earn their stripes in the summer. To many, however, the best part of summer is the jump in snook activity in South Bay. The striped fish with the big mouth and pronounced underbite is at arguably his most active during the dog days of July. On the perfect day, every mangrove that marks the shoreline of the western side of South seems to be sheltering a feisty snook.

Arm-long shadows seem to hover over the patches of oyster shells scattered throughout the bottom. Mullet flick and jump for their lives as something big and hungry cruises underneath them. South Bay is an ideal hangout for any fisherman looking for a date with snookums.

The mangrove trees and boat channels in South Bay are a good place to start. A Mirrolure Top Dog or a Rapala Skitterwalk are two popular choices among South Bay snook hunters.

Bone is a popular pattern, with chartreuse/silver/white a close second. A smoke or natural mullet pattern is also very effective in spring and late summer, when mullet are in big pods in the shallows.

A seldom-used but effective lure is a broken-back minnow-imitator such as a Cotton Cordell Broken-backed Redfin or a jointed Rapala. Begin by casting along the edges of the boat channels and toward sandholes visible in the sea grass, and retrieve back in long

sweeps. The snook won’t have a very hard time deciding whether they want to try a kill shot at the wobbling bait.

Don’t ignore using soft plastics, however. Shad tails in the four- to six-inch range have accounted for plenty of snook over the years. A red/white tail Cocahoe Minnow or Norton’s Bull Minnow fished on a 1/8-ounce jighead is strong medicine for South Bay’s linesiders.

Snook will also hit a six-inch twitch bait such as a Berkley Power Jerk Shad or a BassAssassin fished Texas-style. An offset worm hook such as the Mustad 38105 or 37145 Ultra Point are good hooks for this application.

A lure worth a try is Berkley’s Gulp!

Alive Jerk Shad. The tentrils on the split tail enhance the tail’s action when fished either Texas Style or on the same 1/8 ounce jighead that you fish your shadtails on (1/8 ounce is an ideal size because of the relative shallow nature of South Bay; a ¼ ounce or heavier jighead will sink too fast).

Swimbaits such as the DOA Tough Guy or Storm Wildeye Pro Series Curlytail or Paddletail Shad are also good choices. Fish them just as the name suggests: reel them back straight and allow the bait’s swimming action to do the job for you.

Twitchbaits are especially effective because you can work them more slowly while fishing them around mangroves or over potholes of sand, which gives even the finickiest of snook time to decide to kill it. The Mirrolure Catch 2000 and Catch 5 immediately come to mind.

Don’t be ashamed to fish with live bait if you aren’t a very good hand with hardware.

The classic shrimp/popping cork rig is very effective. If you can, use the largest shrimp you can find in the baitwell (a sure way to save some money is to try using a ½ ounce DOA Shrimp or Berkley Power Bait Rattle Shrimp on the same rig. Most fish don’t seem to know the difference). If large shrimp are hard to find, a lively three-to four-inch piggy perch or finger mullet on the same rig will work as well. Cast the bait as close to T E X A S

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the mangroves as you can, and work the bait slower than you normally would.

Kayakers will also find that South Bay is an ideal area for them to paddle around searching for fish. The shallow bay lends itself to the stealthy approach of a well-handled ‘yak. It might be a bit of a scull to get there from Long Island, which is across from the Bay via Mexequita flats, but a kayaker can mitigate some of the effort and take along an umbrella to catch the southeastern breeze and sail back home. Be careful, though, and keep an eye out for shrimp boats, fishing boats, and barges when using wind power.

Southeast of the mouth of South Bay is an area called the Railbed. The parallel line of stones that formed the old railbed can be seen leading from shore into Laguna Madre.

There is a ledge a bit out from the shoreline.

Snook, trout, and redfish follow this ledge along the edges of Brazos-Santiago Pass as they travel from the pass to the Laguna and back. The astute angler can intercept these fish with the same live bait rigs he used in South Bay. You can also choose the same soft plastics and twitch baits that work in the Bay. There is no denying that snook are great eating, and state regulations allow each angler to keep one fish between 24 and 28 inches per person per day. However, these fish are more valuable alive, so it doesn’t hurt to practice a little moderation if there are three or more fishermen on your boat.

After all, you do want another date with snookums.

G A M E ®

Email Cal Gonzales at ContactUs@fishgame.com

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

Freshwater: n Prairies & Lakes n Panhandle n Big Bend n Hill Country n South Texas

UPPER 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.

East Bay Specks Out to Pasture

by TOM BEHRENS

TIPS: In dirty water he prefers a light color or a really bright chartreuse. In clear water he like to throw a lot of pink colors LOCATION: East Matagorda Bay HOTSPOT: Drulls Lump GPS: N 28 42.285, W 95 50.0659 (28.7048, -95.8344)

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in the 16-17 inch trout. Look for bird action.” —Capt.

Marcaccio LOCATION: Galveston East Bay HOTSPOT: Little Pasture Bayou GPS: N 29 31.254, W 94 32.3179 (29.5209, -94.5386)

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SPECIES: Speckled Trout BEST BAITS: Topwaters early CONTACT: Capt. Paul Marcaccio 281-788-4041 captpaul@gofishgalveston.com www.gofishgalveston.com TIPS: “Topwaters early such as the She Pup or the Baby Spooks. Good colors are black, chrome and chartreuse. Slow presentation, just barely walk it.” —Capt.

Marcaccio LOCATION: Campbell Bayou HOTSPOT: Sand Island GPS: N 29 20.3141, W 94 54.0286 (29.3386, -94.9005)

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SPECIES: Speckled Trout BEST BAITS: Soft Plastics CONTACT: Capt. Paul Marcaccio 281-788-4041 captpaul@gofishgalveston.com www.gofishgalveston.com TIPS: “Drifting Campbell’s Bayou can produce trout

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LOCATION: East Matagorda Bay HOTSPOT: Raymond Shoals GPS: N 28 40.449, W 95 53.898 (28.6742, -95.8983)

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SPECIES: Speckled Trout BEST BAITS: Berkley Gulp Shad or live shrimp CONTACT: Capt. Kendall Kersh 979-248-1871 kendallkersh@gmail.com www.puresaltadventues.com TIPS: Kersh uses Berkley Gulp with a 1/4-ounce jig head, jigging it, or under a popping cork. If he is using the Gulp under a popping cork, he places it about 2 1/2 or 3 feet under the cork.

LOCATION: East Matagorda Bay HOTSPOT: Long Reef GPS: N 28 40.3998, W 95 53.0899 (28.6733, -95.8848)

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SPECIES: Speckled Trout BEST BAITS: Berkley Gulp Shad or live shrimp CONTACT: Capt. Kendall Kersh 979-248-1871 kendallkersh@gmail.com www.puresaltadventues.com

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SPECIES: Speckled Trout BEST BAITS: Berkley Gulp Shad or live shrimp CONTACT: Capt. Kendall Kersh 979-248-1871 kendallkersh@gmail.com www.puresaltadventues.com TIPS: “We catch big trout all year round. A lot of it deals with the weather. In July a lot of the big fish move into deep water. Drifting the deeper reefs especially in East Matagorda Bay can pay off.” —Capt.

Kersh LOCATION: Galveston Bay HOTSPOT: Ship Channel GPS: N 29 35.22, W 94 55.8059 (29.5870, -94.9301)

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SPECIES: Speckled Trout BEST BAITS: Live shrimp or croaker CONTACT: Capt. Paul Marcaccio 281-788-4041 captpaul@gofishgalveston.com www.gofishgalveston.com TIPS: “Fish the channel from about marker 36 through 50. There are some occasional humps with water depth changes from 12-15 feet. Locate with your sonar, and use a Carolina Rig with live shrimp or croaker.” — Capt. Marcaccio LOCATION: Galveston East Bay

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FISHING HOTSPOTS HOTSPOT: Hanna’s Reef GPS: N 29 28.92, W 94 43.6559 (29.4820, -94.7276)

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SPECIES: Speckled Trout BEST BAITS: Soft Plastics CONTACT: Capt. Paul Marcaccio 281-788-4041 captpaul@gofishgalveston.com www.gofishgalveston.com TIPS: “East Bay will be crowded with trout because of the spring water runoffs, but also a lot of boating traffic. Be careful to monitor you talk because of the close proximity with other boaters. There have always been difficulties with improper boat activity.” —Capt.

Marcaccio LOCATION: Galveston East Bay HOTSPOT: Deep Reef GPS: N 29 30.802, W 94 40.581 (29.5134, -94.6764)

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CONTACT: Capt. Paul Marcaccio 281-788-4041 captpaul@gofishgalveston.com www.gofishgalveston.com TIPS: “The trout have been forced out of Trinity and upper regions of Galveston Bay into East Galveston and Campbell’s Bayou area.” —Capt. Marcaccio LOCATION: Galveston East Bay HOTSPOT: Robinson Bayou GPS: N 29 35.0637, W 94 34.4947 (29.5844, -94.5749)

SPECIES: Speckled Trout BEST BAITS: Topwaters early CONTACT: Capt. Paul Marcaccio 281-788-4041 captpaul@gofishgalveston.com www.gofishgalveston.com TIPS: “Pockets along the bayous will hold significant numbers of fish in the seven pound range. Fish the drains and bayous.” —Capt. Marcaccio LOCATION: Galveston East Bay HOTSPOT: Rollover Pass GPS: N 29 30.4973, W 94 30.0282 (29.5083, -94.5005)

SPECIES: Speckled Trout BEST BAITS: Soft Plastics CONTACT: Capt. Paul Marcaccio 281-788-4041 captpaul@gofishgalveston.com www.gofishgalveston.com TIPS: “As you approach an area that is holding a number of boats, use your trolling motor to ease in.

When using your big motor, try to use idle speed only to not create a wake.” —Capt. Marcaccio LOCATION: Galveston East Bay HOTSPOT: Little Hanna’s Reef GPS: N 29 27.5209, W 94 42.3989 (29.4587, -94.7067)

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SPECIES: Speckled Trout BEST BAITS: Topwaters early CONTACT: Capt. Paul Marcaccio 281-788-4041 captpaul@gofishgalveston.com www.gofishgalveston.com TIPS: “Visibility in the bay will probably be marginal, but don’t let that surprise you. Water temperature should be in the 80s.” —Capt. Marcaccio LOCATION: Galveston East Bay HOTSPOT: Stingray Hole GPS: N 27 49.2749, W 97 8.1229 (27.8213, -97.1354)

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SPECIES: Speckled Trout BEST BAITS: Soft Plastics CONTACT: Capt. Paul Marcaccio 281-788-4041 captpaul@gofishgalveston.com www.gofishgalveston.com TIPS: “A lot of fishermen new to East Bay go out the day before so they can see what is out there. The day you fish you need to be out there before daylight and you will have an idea what to be looking for.” —Capt.

Marcaccio LOCATION: Sabine Lake HOTSPOT: Jetties GPS: N 29 38.6029, W 93 49.584 (29.6434, -93.8264)

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SPECIES: Speckled Trout BEST BAITS: 3 inch Swimming Shad soft plastic CONTACT: Capt. Adam Jaynes 409-988-3901 amjaynes@gmail.com www.justfishsabine.com TIPS: Fish the channel side of the jetties when there is slow moving water. Fish the Gulf side on fast moving water.

LOCATION: West Matagorda Bay HOTSPOT: Cotton Bayou GPS: N 28 30.45, W 96 12.3816 (28.5075, -96.2064)

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SPECIES: Speckled Trout BEST BAITS: Berkley Gulp Shad or Saltwater Assassin Swimming Shad CONTACT: Capt. Kendall Kersh 979-248-1871 kendallkersh@gmail.com

SPECIES: Speckled Trout BEST BAITS: Soft Plastics T E X A S

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FISHING HOTSPOTS

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www.puresaltadventues.com TIPS: “Good for wading, right up against the shoreline, fishing the grassbeds. Typically I will throw a jig head with a 3 or 4 inch swim bait.” —Capt. Kersh LOCATION: West Matagorda Bay HOTSPOT: Greens Bayou GPS: N 29 44.8302, W 95 10.1628 (29.7472, -95.1694)

MIDDLE COAST

Hit a Grand Slam on Ayres Bay

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LOCATION: Carlos Bay HOTSPOT: Cedar Reef GPS: N 28 8.251, W 96 53.049 (28.1375, -96.8842)

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by TOM BEHRENS

FOR MAP

LOCATION: Ayers Bay HOTSPOT: Ayers Reef GPS: N 28 10.434, W 96 50.3659 (28.1739, -96.8394) SPECIES: Speckled Trout BEST BAITS: Berkley Gulp Shad or Saltwater Assassin Swimming Shad CONTACT: Capt. Kendall Kersh 979-248-1871 kendallkersh@gmail.com www.puresaltadventues.com TIPS: “Typically, we fish West Matagorda as the tide is rising, wade fishing along the shoreline and shallower flats. Once the tide starts falling, move out a little bit deeper and fish the guts between the flats.” —Capt.

Kersh

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SPECIES: Speckled Trout, Redfish and Flounder BEST BAITS: Live Croaker CONTACT: Capt. Billy Freudensprung 979-997-2244 www.facebook.com/billy.freudensprung TIPS: “Look for shell piles and work the edges from a boat. Trout, redfish, and an occasional flounder can be caught. The trout are the easiest to catch using a croaker freelined.” —Capt. Freudensprung

SPECIES: Speckled Trout, Redfish and Flounder BEST BAITS: Paul Brown Devil Eyes and Chickenon-a-Chain soft plastics CONTACT: Capt. Billy Freudensprung 979-997-2244 www.facebook.com/billy.freudensprung TIPS: Capt. Freudensprung’s favorite soft plastic is Devil Eye in a chrome with a chartreuse tail and a 1/4ounce jig head. “It’s a great redfish lure.”

LOCATION: Corpus Christi Bay HOTSPOT: Pita Island GPS: N 27 36.169, W 97 17.1989 (27.6028, -97.2867)

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SPECIES: Speckled Trout BEST BAITS: Live Croaker or Live Shrimp CONTACT: Capt. John Little 361-816-9114 captjohnlittle@sbcglobal.net www.facebook.com/captjohnlittle TIPS: Capt. Little says the month of July is a great time to fish around the island using live croaker.

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

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SPECIES: Redfish BEST BAITS: Crab CONTACT: Capt. John Little 361-816-9114 captjohnlittle@sbcglobal.net www.facebook.com/captjohnlittle

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FISHING HOTSPOTS TIPS: “Redfish are going to be thick around Shamrock Island especially with all the rain we have had this spring. They will be looking for new crabs, new areas to feed in the shallows.

LOCATION: Mesquite Bay HOTSPOT: Cedar Bayou GPS: N 28 4.3309, W 96 50.832 (28.0722, -96.8472)

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SPECIES: Speckled Trout BEST BAITS: Flappin Shad soft plastic by Gambler CONTACT: Capt. John Little 361-816-9114 captjohnlittle@sbcglobal.net www.facebook.com/captjohnlittle TIPS: “Nice and easy, slow and easy, pump straight up, and let it drop down. Let the tail do all he action.

You will get most of your bites as the lure drops.” — Capt. Little LOCATION: San Antonio Bay HOTSPOT: Chicken Foot Reef GPS: N 28 16.204, W 96 46.813 (28.2701, -96.7802)

SPECIES: Speckled Trout, Redfish and Flounder BEST BAITS: Live Croaker CONTACT: Capt. Billy Freudensprung 979-997-2244 www.facebook.com/billy.freudensprung TIPS: “Close to the Aransas Wildlife Refuge, use live croaker over shell and mud where the edges drop off.”

—Capt. Freudensprung LOCATION: Nueces Bay HOTSPOT: East Nueces Bay GPS: N 27 52.2799, W 97 19.9979 (27.8713, -97.3333)

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SPECIES: Speckled Trout, Redfish and Flounder BEST BAITS: Live Croaker CONTACT: Capt. Billy Freudensprung 979-997-2244 www.facebook.com/billy.freudensprung TIPS: “The perfect size for the croaker for trout and redfish is between 3 to 3 1/2 inches. Use a #5 Mustad Ultra Point Hook.” —Capt. Freudensprung LOCATION: San Antonio Bay HOTSPOT: Panther Point

GPS: N 28 14.95, W 96 42.5819 (28.2492, -96.7097)

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SPECIES: Speckled Trout, Redfish and Flounder BEST BAITS: Live Croaker CONTACT: Capt. Billy Freudensprung 979-997-2244 www.facebook.com/billy.freudensprung TIPS: “Let the croaker sink to the bottom. Give it a few seconds, crank the reel a few turns, and move it around. Pop it a few more times. Once you feel the bump, let him run fro second, than set the hook.” — Capt. Freudensprung LOCATION: Upper Laguna Madre HOTSPOT: Boat Hole GPS: N 27 40.969, W 97 14.9989 (27.6828, -97.2500)

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SPECIES: Speckled Trout BEST BAITS: Live Croaker or Live Shrimp

SPECIES: Speckled Trout BEST BAITS: Live Croaker or Live Shrimp CONTACT: Capt. John Little 361-816-9114 captjohnlittle@sbcglobal.net www.facebook.com/captjohnlittle TIPS: “Fresh water runoff doesn’t affect the trout like it does on other bays. The trout are used to it, and the rain will clean up the water for us, reduce high salinity.” —Capt. Little LOCATION: Redfish Bay HOTSPOT: Bird Island GPS: N 27 56.035, W 97 5.119 (27.9339, -97.0853)

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FISHING HOTSPOTS CONTACT: Capt. John Little 361-816-9114 captjohnlittle@sbcglobal.net www.facebook.com/captjohnlittle TIPS: “Use a 4/0 Kale hook because the croaker down here aren’t very big, along with a 1/8 ounce barrel weight. The more natural the presentation, the better.”

—Capt. Little LOCATION: Upper Laguna Madre HOTSPOT: King Ranch Shoreline GPS: N 27 29.134, W 97 21.1079 (27.4856, -97.3518)

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www.facebook.com/captjohnlittle TIPS: “Topwaters produce early in the morning.

Silver, chartreuse, pink work under clear skies; Natural colors, a black or mullet color work better on cloudy days.” —Capt. Little

LOWER COAST

Specks Belly Up to the Long Bar

by CALIXTO GONZALES and TOM BEHRENS

SPECIES: Speckled Trout BEST BAITS: Topwaters CONTACT: Capt. John Little 361-816-9114 captjohnlittle@sbcglobal.net

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LOCATION: Lower Laguna Madre HOTSPOT: Long Bar GPS: N 26 8.592, W 97 14.2249 (26.1432, -97.2371)

SPECIES: Speckled Trout BEST BAITS: Live Croaker CONTACT: Capt. Rudy “Jawbreaker” Romero 956-226-3561 Wheelsonfire.sk8@gmail.com TIPS: Capt. Romero with July he will be fishing further south with live croaker, always looking for the big trout.

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

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SPECIES: Speckled Trout BEST BAITS: Live Croaker CONTACT: Capt. Rudy “Jawbreaker” Romero 956-226-3561 Wheelsonfire.sk8@gmail.com TIPS: “I’m looking for areas that have long thin grass, shell along with soft clay bottoms…real thick, real long grass.” —Capt. Romero LOCATION: Lower Laguna Madre HOTSPOT: El Realto Bay GPS: N 26 15.354, W 97 18.4649 (26.2559, -97.3078)

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SPECIES: Speckled Trout BEST BAITS: Live Croaker CONTACT: Capt. Rudy “Jawbreaker” Romero 956-226-3561 Wheelsonfire.sk8@gmail.com TIPS: Capt. Romero says the deeper water further south, 3-4 feet deep. Also the water “has more color, greener.”

LOCATION: Lower Laguna Madre

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FISHING HOTSPOTS HOTSPOT: Grass Flats GPS: N 26 1.399, W 97 10.5606 (26.0233, -97.1760)

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SPECIES: Speckled Trout BEST BAITS: Skeeter Walker, Super Spook, or Corky CONTACT: Capt. Rudy “Jawbreaker” Romero 956-226-3561 Wheelsonfire.sk8@gmail.com TIPS: Capt. Romero likes to use topwater lures, but not “broken backs” or soft plastic tails.

LOCATION: Lower Laguna Madre HOTSPOT: Three Islands GPS: N 26 16.621, W 97 17.7319 (26.2770, -97.2955)

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SPECIES: Speckled Trout BEST BAITS: Live Croaker CONTACT: Capt. Rudy “Jawbreaker” Romero 956-226-3561 Wheelsonfire.sk8@gmail.com TIPS: Romero likes to use a chatter weight above his live croaker, pink being his favorite color for the chatter weight.

SPECIES: Speckled Trout BEST BAITS: Live Croaker CONTACT: Capt. Rudy “Jawbreaker” Romero 956-226-3561 Wheelsonfire.sk8@gmail.com TIPS: “When you put a chatter weight and a live croaker together you have a win-win situation.” —Capt.

Romero

LOCATION: Port Mansfield HOTSPOT: Gladis’ Hole GPS: N 26 48.723, W 97 29.4769 (26.8121, -97.4913)

LOCATION: Port Mansfield HOTSPOT: The Saucer GPS: N 26 27.694, W 97 21.685 (26.4616, -97.3614)

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SPECIES: Speckled Trout BEST BAITS: Live Croaker CONTACT: Capt. Rudy “Jawbreaker” Romero 956-226-3561 Wheelsonfire.sk8@gmail.com TIPS: Capt. Romero likes a bigger croaker, but he says the trout are aggressive whether the croaker is small or big.

PINEY WOODS

Go North for Conroe Cats

by DUSTIN WARNCKE LOCATION: Lake Conroe HOTSPOT: North Lake Area GPS: N 30 27.786, W 95 36.1799 (30.4631, -95.6030)

LOCATION: Caddo Lake HOTSPOT: Alligator Bayou and Big Cypress Bayou

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SPECIES: Largemouth Bass BEST BAITS: V&M Paddletail Frog and V&M Porkpin Worm CONTACT: Caddo Lake Guide Service/Paul Keith 318-455-3437 caddoguide1@att.net www.caddolakefishing.com TIPS: Fish the edges of these creeks on the upper end of Caddo Lake with the white frogs on top and 1/8 oz. weighted junebug colored worms on the bottom along the edges of the grass. Give extra attention to the bends and points.

SPECIES: Largemouth Bass BEST BAITS: Topwater lures, Carolina rigs, big Texas rigged worms and Shaky Heads with Grandebass Airtail Shake CONTACT: Lance Vick 903-312-0609 lance@lakeforkbass.com www.guideonlakefork.com TIPS: “July is the month of heat and I like it hot on Fork. Good shallow topwater bite over grass in the morning. Deep worm bite on roadbeds, humps and points during hottest part of day. Fish 15 to 30 foot deep. Good fishing to all!”

LOCATION: Lake Fork HOTSPOT: Main Lake Humps and Points GPS: N 32 49.5059, W 95 33.3 (32.8251, -95.5550)

LOCATION: Lake Livingston HOTSPOT: The Hump GPS: N 30 40.8299, W 95 4.992 (30.6805, -95.0832)

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SPECIES: Catfish BEST BAITS: Primos stink bait CONTACT: Richard Tatsch 936-291-1277 admin@fishdudetx.com www.fishdudetx.com TIPS: In July the cats have finished eating all the shad they can along the bulkheads after the shad spawn.

They are back in the deep water along channel edges and are fairly easy to catch. Just find a stump along the channel on the north end of the lake, throw some range cubes out and give it about 30 minutes. I use sponges to absorb the dipping bait with a #6 treble hook with a small egg sinker. Let it go to the bottom and wait on a little resistance. Once you feel it set the hook and hold on!

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SPECIES: White Bass BEST BAITS: Chrome 1/2 oz. Rat-L-Trap, a Storm swim baits that look like shad, spoons in chrome or gold and a white slabs.

CONTACT: Doug Shampine 940-902-3855 doug@lakeforktrophybass.com www.lakeforktrophybass.com TIPS: July fishing on Lake Fork can be fun for the person who does not get out on the lake very much but wants to spend time on the water and catch something.

White Bass are schooling and following the big shad schools this time of the year. You can find them on top chasing shad or in schools located on main lake humps or some of the deeper main lake points. Places to look will be SRA point, the hump in the mouth of Little Caney, Bell Hump, and several humps in the damn area. A good lake map will help you find these.

You are allowed 25 keepers per person in your boat and there is a 10” minimum length on the White Bass.

LOCATION: Lake Fork HOTSPOT: Main Lake Humps and Points GPS: N 32 50.754, W 95 35.1839 (32.8459, -95.5864)

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SPECIES: Striped Bass BEST BAITS: Live Shad, 1 ¼ oz. white slabs, spoons, Tsunami Holographic in hot pink/gold, 4 inch Swim Shad.

CONTACT: David S. Cox, Palmetto Guide Service 936-291-9602 dave@palmettoguideservice.com www.palmettoguideservice.com TIPS: Bounce baits off the bottom; look for strikes on falling baits. Troll Tsunami Swim Shad behind a #10 jet diver. BANK ACCESS: Beacon Bay Marina LOCATION: Lake Toledo Bend HOTSPOT: Still Water GPS: N 31 44.928, W 93 50.2619 (31.7488, -93.8377)

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SPECIES: Black & white bass BEST BAITS: Top water plugs, Rat-L-Traps, crank

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FISHING HOTSPOTS baits, slab spoons and plastics.

CONTACT: Greg Crafts, Toledo Bend Guide Service and Lake Cottages 936-368-7151 gregcrafts@yahoo.com www.toledobendguide.com TIPS: In July the main lake points will be active with plenty of schooling activity for both the Black and White Bass. Typically, early morning and late evening will be the prime feeding times. Start off shallow and back out to deeper water if need be with deep diving crank baits and soft plastics.

water exists. Some top water action for stripers and black bass continue early and late on main lake points adjacent to deeper water. Crappies are being caught suspended near deep shaded docks and bridge pilings and are good on small minnows and worms. Black bass continue to be caught in numbers with an occasional fish to 6lbs. Look for top water action early on pop-rs and frogs. Best action is mid lake to the lower ends near points and creek entrances with submerged

brush. Soft plastics or crankbaits are a good choice later in the day. Catfish catches are good on prepared baits, hot dogs or cut shad mid-lake near deeper docks and near humps during the day. Nighttime catfish move in the sloughs and can be caught on nightcrawlers and cut-bait.

LOCATION: Bachman Lake HOTSPOT: Main Lake

PRAIRIES & LAKES

Granbury Bass Find Their Beach

by DUSTIN WARNCKE and DEAN HEFFNER LOCATION: Lake Granbury HOTSPOT: City Beach GPS: N 32 26.404, W 97 46.977 (32.4401, -97.7830)

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SPECIES: Largemouth bass BEST BAITS: Soft plastics worked near deeper docks mid-lake and on the lower ends.

CONTACT: Michael Acosta 817-578-0023 unfairadvantagecharters.com TIPS: Look for docks near deeper water or work the backs of sloughs in the evenings. Centipede baits, and worms in blue fleck and red shad colors are some great soft plastic options. Downsize for a finicky bite.

Granbury water temperatures are in the middle to upper 80s and the summer patterns are in place. The weather continues to heat up and with the daytime heat, feeding generally continues early and late. The water will also start stratifying some and one should look for a thermocline developing later in the month. This will put all the fish between the surface and the thermocline. White bass continue to school on the surface on many areas of the lake. White bass are good on slabs, spinners and any shad imitation bait. Best bait for stripers continues to be live shad fished near channel ledges with a depth of 20 feet being typical on Granbury. Stripers are congregating on the lower ends where the deepest, coolest

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FISHING HOTSPOTS GPS: N 32 51.1859, W 96 52.014 (32.8531, -96.8669)

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SPECIES: Largemouth Bass BEST BAITS: Small rooster tails and small creature baits (3-4 inches long) CONTACT: Carey Thorn 469-528-0210 thorn_alex@yahoo.com TexasOklahomaFishingGuide.com TIPS: Bass are on fire shallow along the banks. Fish in 1-5 feet of water. Cast along the banks parallel as the fish are no more than five foot from the banks.

At the time of this report, 1-8 pound fish are being caught!

LOCATION: Cedar Creek Lake HOTSPOT: Main Lake Humps and Points GPS: N 32 22.476, W 96 10.05 (32.3746, -96.1675)

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SPECIES: Largemouth Bass BEST BAITS: Carolina and Texas Rigs CONTACT: Jason Barber 903-603-2047 kingscreekadventures@yahoo.com www.kingscreekadventures.com TIPS: “Fish all main lake humps and points focusing in 8’ to 20’ near dropouts. Constantly be on the lookout for brush or debris.”

LOCATION: Eagle Mountain Lake HOTSPOT: 300 Yards from Dam GPS: N 32 52.709, W 97 28.044 (32.8785, -97.4674)

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SPECIES: White bass BEST BAITS: Slab with a fly 12 in. above CONTACT: Johnny Stevens 817-597-6598

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johnnystevens@1scom.net johnnystevens@1scom.net TIPS: This area just north of the dam is a series of humps and ridges. This area was created to supply dirt that was used to build the dam. Use your electronics to check the slopes and humps. When you locate the fish anchor on them and use a vertical jig method on them. If you prefer to cast to them, locate them and put out a buoy marker so you can cast to them. Use a slab and jig combo and let it go to the bottom and hop it back to boat.

LOCATION: Fayette County Res. HOTSPOT: Third Boat Ramp Point GPS: N 29 55.878, W 96 43.368 (29.9313, -96.7228)

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SPECIES: Catfish BEST BAITS: CJ’s punch Bait CONTACT: Weldon Kirk 979-229-3103 weldon_edna@hotmail.com www.fishtales-guideservice.com TIPS: There is a 20’ deep point here. Anchor on this point and chum straight down beside the boat. Tight line near the bottom and set the hook at slightest rod tip movement.

LOCATION: Gibbons Creek Res. HOTSPOT: Trees at Intake Channel GPS: N 30 36.8999, W 96 4.29 (30.6150, -96.0715)

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(30.7033, -97.3647)

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SPECIES: White Bass BEST BAITS: 1/2 oz. white slab spoon CONTACT: Tommy Tidwell 512-365-7761 crappie1@hotmail.com www.gotcrappie.com TIPS: As always in the hot summertime at Granger Lake, the crappie fishing is excellent. However during the month of July, the white bass fishing can be just as good. About 3 years ago in July, in a period of about 3 weeks, we caught over 1000 good white bass. This time of year, the whites school up on humps and ridges feeding on shad. They can be caught very easily on slab spoons. The color really doesn’t matter but I like white. The smaller 1/2 oz. slabs also work a little better than the larger ones. They key is to find the whites feeding close to a high spot like a hump or raised roadbed. The top of the roadbed would be 10 to 12 feet under water with deep water all around. Position your boat on top of the high spot and jig the slabs off the bottom. Sometimes it works to drag the spoon along the bottom like you would a Carolina rigged bass setup. If you see the whites hitting the top away from the ridge don’t be lured into chasing them. Stay on top of the ridge and they will run the shad to you and be easier to catch. The final and most important thing is to fish for the whites in the middle of the day when it is the hottest. Good luck and good fishing.

LOCATION: Lake Lavon HOTSPOT: Main Lake Brush and Standing Timber GPS: N 33 4.5839, W 96 27.7379 u TAP FOR (33.0764, -96.4623)

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SPECIES: Catfish BEST BAITS: CJ’s Punch Bait CONTACT: Weldon Kirk 979-229-3103 weldon_edna@hotmail.com www.fishtales-guideservice.com TIPS: Anchor near stumps/trees in 4-12 foot water.

Be sure to chum and expect fish to be near the bottom.

Use a treble hook.

LOCATION: Lake Granger HOTSPOT: Main Lake Humps and Ridges GPS: N 30 42.1979, W 97 21.8819

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CONTACT: Carey Thorn 469-528-0210 thorn_alex@yahoo.com TexasOklahomaFishingGuide.com TIPS: Concentrate on fishing 7ft-15ft as that will be the target for brush and standing timber. Some fish are still spawning in the button willows and submerged

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FISHING HOTSPOTS green willows around 2ft-6 ft. Finding any slack areas in 1ft-5ft below the dam when the gates are open will hold crappie hiding from the turbulent water.

LOCATION: Lake Palestine HOTSPOT: Kickapoo Creek GPS: N 32 16.374, W 95 28.338 (32.2729, -95.4723)

the big eye jig and a chartreuse/white spinner bait LOCATION: Lake Ray Roberts HOTSPOT: Corps of Engineers Brush Pile GPS: N 33 22.711, W 97 3.31 (33.3785, -97.0552)

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SPECIES: Largemouth Bass BEST BAITS: Big Eye Jig in black/brown amber and chart/white spinnerbaits CONTACT: Ricky Vandergriff 903-561-7299 or 903-530-2201 ricky@rickysguideservice.com www.rickysguideservice.com TIPS: Fish the creek channel slow and fish the stumps and brush along the channel. Also, fish the islands with

SPECIES: Crappie BEST BAITS: Minnows CONTACT: Jim Walling 940-391-5534 Jimwwalling@icloud.com TIPS: There are over 50 brush piles made by the Corps of Engineers in Ray Roberts Lake. Most are located on submerged points in 20-35 feet of water.

They simply dozed the timber on the main body of the lake and shoved it into piles. The piles were then cabled down to the ground. These brush piles have

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Minnows fished over the top of the piles produce good numbers of Crappie in the summer. There are maps available that have the coordinates of all of the brush piles

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SPECIES: White Bass BEST BAITS: Hellbender/spoon CONTACT: Weldon Kirk 979-229-3103 weldon_edna@hotmail.com www.fishtales-guideservice.com TIPS: Troll here using Hellbenders or other deep div-

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FISHING HOTSPOTS ing lures. Get your spoons down close to the bottom.

Watch for schooling right after daylight.

LOCATION: Lake Texoma HOTSPOT: Alberta Creek GPS: N 33 57.54, W 96 36.012 (33.9590, -96.6002)

HOTSPOT: 309 Flats GPS: N 31 58.368, W 96 6.99 (31.9728, -96.1165)

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SPECIES: Striped Bass BEST BAITS: Slabs and topwater plugs CONTACT: Bill Carey 903-786-4477 bigfish@striperexpress.com www.striperexpress.com TIPS: “Top water fishing at its best. Early morning, several large schools will surface around the lake.

These schools of fish can be a mile long and a halfmile wide. Cast Pencil Popper Topwater plugs for great action. After the surface action ends, locate the schools of fish with your electronics. Then, vertically drop slabs and use a fast retrieve. The fish will try to pull the rod out of your hands! Bank Access: Washita Point and Platter Flats.”

LOCATION: Lake Whitney HOTSPOT: Hwy 22 and McCowan Flats GPS: N 31 57.2879, W 97 25.224 (31.9548, -97.4204)

SPECIES: White Bass and Hybrid Striper BEST BAITS: Clear or White Tiny Torpedos CONTACT: Royce Simmons 903-389-4117 simmonsroyce@hotmail.com www.gonefishin.biz TIPS: “July is often the HOTTEST month of the year in Texas! It can also yield some of the HOTTEST White Bass fishing you’ll experience the entire summer! The White Bass on Richland Chambers normally begin their early a.m. & late p.m. topwater schooling activity in July and it will last through September! Check out the Hwy 309 Flats on the North Shoreline directly across from Fisherman’s Point Marina. Look for the terns and egrets picking up bait over large schools of Whites.

Sometimes, the schooling fish will literally be chasing shad in 1 to 5 acre size schools. Tie on a Clear Tiny Torpedo or just about any small silver or white bait and you’re in business. This is a thrill you won’t soon forget!”

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Possum Bass Go Hog Wild

by DUSTIN WARNCKE and DEAN HEFFNER

SPECIES: Striped Bass BEST BAITS: Down riggers with a 1/2 oz. buck tail jig with plastic trailers CONTACT: Randy Routh 817-822-5539 teamredneck01@hotmail.com www.teamredneck.net TIPS: The thermocline has set in and the stripers are hanging out on top of it. This time of year turns into a reaction type strike a lot of times. The fish will feed early, late or even at night when it’s cooler. Using down riggers with a 1/2 oz. buck tail jig with plastic trailers.

Troll the flats and ledges and edges anywhere from 13’ to 18’ down. Keep in mind the thermocline usually sets in at 22’ on Whitney so keep your baits above it.

LOCATION: Richland-Chambers Res.

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LOCATION: Possum Kingdom HOTSPOT: Hog Bend GPS: N 32 52.516, W 98 29.427 (32.8753, -98.4905)

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SPECIES: Largemouth bass BEST BAITS: Live shad, jigs, and topwaters CONTACT: Dean Heffner 940-329-0036 fav7734@aceweb.com

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We have caught some really nice fish here and this is the month for a big` un to come from there. Use live shad or a big dressed up jig or bait in this area early morning late evening and under cloud cover even topwater baits. You have the chance at a monster black bass in this area (or a striper or hybrid). We like to trailer jigs with mister twister tails and troll them in the deep water for a HOG. But this is a place to cross the eyes on a tennis shoe-sized shad and hold on! Fish right off bottom in up to 30 feet of water and deeper.

Don’t go past 42 feet with your bait. Use a 1 1/2 oz. or 2 oz. egg weight to keep your bait straight down. This is also a great month for topwater action so be paying attention down the lake and see if anything is feeding on top.

LOCATION: Lake Alan Henry HOTSPOT: Creek Channels GPS: N 33 2.7719, W 101 3.8159 (33.0462, -101.0636)

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SPECIES: Largemouth Bass BEST BAITS: Deep diving crank baits, worms, and flukes worked on a drop shot CONTACT: Norman Clayton’s Guide Services 806-792-9220 nclayton42@sbcglobal.net www.lakealanhenry.com/norman_clayton.htm TIPS: “July will heat up and send the bass into the channels of all the creeks and rivers. The Shad will bunch up, and the bass will follow. The main river, the Brazos, will have many schools of shad and I will be using my electronics to locate the schools. These schools will be one of the main keys to finding the bass. The creeks of Ince, Little Grape, and Big Grape will have schools of shad out over the channels. I follow the channel until I locate the schools of bass or shad. Then, I will concentrate my efforts there.”

LOCATION: Lake Coleman HOTSPOT: Rear Cove GPS: N 32 2.3976, W 99 27.6871 (32.0400, -99.4615)

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SPECIES: Largemouth bass

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FISHING HOTSPOTS BEST BAITS: Live shad, spinnerbaits, jerkbaits, slabs CONTACT: Michael D. Homer, Jr., Texas Parks & Wildlife Department 325-692-0921 michael.homer@tpwd.texas.gov TIPS: Coleman Reservoir is now full, and largemouth bass production has been great. The coordinates listed mark an old concrete structure that is surrounded by flooded brush. Fishing that shoreline into the rear cove works best with spinner baits, whacky worms, Senkos, and trick worms to catch bass. Sunrise often produces a great top-water bite in the rear cove. Occasionally hybrid striped bass can be caught in this cove, which these fish will put up a nice fight. Anglers targeting hybrids may have the best luck using live shad for bait or spinner baits, chrome or white suspending jerk baits, or slabs.

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SPECIES: largemouth bass BEST BAITS: Texas and Carolina-rigged plastic worms, topwater lures, crankbaits CONTACT: Larry Scruggs, Amistad Lodge and Adventures 210-789-1645 fisherofmenlrs@hotmail.com TIPS: Fish topwater lures in the far backs of all the pockets here during the early-morning hours and then target the underwater hydrilla beds at 12 to 15 feet with bright-colored plastic worms and crankbaits during late-morning and afternoon hours.

BIG BEND HILL COUNTRY

Amistad Bass Have it Rough

by DUSTIN WARNCKE LOCATION: Amistad HOTSPOT: Rough Canyon GPS: N 29 36.31098, W 100 58.377 (29.605183, -100.972950)

Party Time on Canyon Lake

by DUSTIN WARNCKE

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LOCATION: Canyon Lake HOTSPOT: Party Cove Island Area GPS: N 29 53.304, W 98 15.732 (29.8884, -98.2622)

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time fishing points with deep diving crank baits and soft plastics. For crappie, look for channels bends or points with brush piles. For crappie, I use # 2 red Matzuo Aberdeen sickle style hooks for live bait and Matzuo sickle hook jigs with plastics. There is lots of cover in this area with sharp drop-offs adjacent to a large flat point.

LOCATION: Canyon Lake HOTSPOT: Dam Area GPS: N 29 52.2479, W 98 12.276 (29.8708, -98.2046)

SPECIES: Largemouth Bass BEST BAITS: ¼ oz. Picasso Shakey Head, Carolina rigged Watermelon flukes (1/2 oz. or ¾ oz. wts.), Senko type baits Texas rigged w/ ¼-3/8oz Picasso Tungsten weights CONTACT: KC’S Bassin’ Guide Service 210-823-2153 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 summer homes and, with the weather being warm, are not opt to be aggressive in nature. Use a good rod like Denali Rosewood 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, junebug, watermelon candy.

LOCATION: Canyon Lake HOTSPOT: Jacobs Point GPS: N 29 52.668, W 98 13.3259 (29.8778, -98.2221)

SPECIES: Largemouth bass BEST BAITS: Pop Rs, buzzbaits, Zara Spooks CONTACT: Stan Gerzsenyl 830-768-3648 stan@amistadbass.com amistadbass.com TIPS: Fish topwaters from the main lake grass beds to the backs of the creeks. Zara Spooks are my favorites but Pop Rs and buzzbaits also can be effective. Look for schooling fish throughout the day.

LOCATION: Lake Amistad HOTSPOT: Hydrilla Pocket GPS: N29 32.53482, W101 12.918 (29.542247, -101.215300)

SPECIES: Bass and Crappie BEST BAITS: Bass: Deep diving crankbaits and soft plastics; Crappie: live bait and Matzuo sickle hook jigs with plastics CONTACT: Teach ‘Em to Fish Guide Service-Barry Dodd 210-771-0123 barry@teachemtofish.net www.teachemtofish.net TIPS: Water temperature has warmed up to the mid and upper 80’s. Bass and crappie have mostly settled into their summer patters of holding near the thermocline, along deep-water ledges, points and cover near these areas. For bass, spend most of your

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SPECIES: Striped Bass BEST BAITS: Jigging spoon in white color CONTACT: Steve Nixon, Fishhooks Adventures 210-573-1230 steve@sanantoniofishingguides.com www.sanantoniofishingguides.com TIPS: Fish from the point back to the swim beach casting out the spoon and try to maintain a depth of 20 to 40 feet, the Striped Bass like to school in this area

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FISHING HOTSPOTS this time of year. Tight lines and Fish On!

GPS: N 30 45.1842, W 98 25.6254 (30.7531, -98.4271)

LOCATION: Lake Austin HOTSPOT: Main Lake Rocks, Shade Trees, and Shaded Docks GPS: N 30 19.464, W 97 50.316 u TAP FOR (30.3244, -97.8386)

u TAP FOR ONLINE MAP

rigged weightless with a four ought worm hook rigged weedless. Just stay around grass and you’re sure to get plenty of action. Take time to hydrate. I know I get involved with catching fish and forget to drink until I get overheated then it’s too late. As always, may your bites be big and your fish be healthy.

ONLINE MAP

SPECIES: Largemouth Bass BEST BAITS: V&M Baby Swamp Hog, Pacemaker Jigs, Picasso Inviz-Wire Spinnerbait, Picasso Shock Blade, Gandy Crankbaits CONTACT: Brian Parker - Lake Austin Fishing 817-808-2227 lakeaustinfishing@yahoo.com www.LakeAustinFishing.com TIPS: “Bass will be searching for cover and ambush positions throughout the lake. I break my guide trips into 3 approaches, mornings, daytime, and evenings.

Mornings: I like throwing the Picasso Spinnerbaits and Shock Blade early when the fish are still on the feed. I usually do this just off the rocks and docks.

Daytime: I like to move closer to the docks and shaded cover flipping the Pacemaker Jigs and Swamp Hogs.

Be patient and work your bait with twitches to trigger those bites. Evenings: I go back to my morning routine and change to darker colors.”

LOCATION: Lake Buchanan HOTSPOT: Mid to Upper Lake Ridges and Humps GPS: N 30 49.104, W 98 23.718 u TAP FOR (30.8184, -98.3953)

ONLINE MAP

SPECIES: Striped Bass BEST BAITS: Live perch, shad, minnows, 1 oz. and 1 1/2 oz. slabs, deep diving trolling type baits CONTACT: Ken Milam 325-379-2051 kmilam@verizon.net www.striperfever.com.com TIPS: Stripers and Hybrids will be close to the dam due to the cooler water. The best bait will be live perch, shad, or minnows. If fishing with artificials is your thing, 1 oz. and 1 1/2 oz. slabs plus deep diving trolling type baits will be best.

DIGITAL EXTRA: Locator Maps link to Google Maps online

SOUTH TEXAS

Coleto Bass Action Gets Hot

by DUSTIN WARNCKE

LOCATION: Coleto Creek Lake HOTSPOT: Main Lake GPS: N 28 43.644, W 97 10.3919 (28.7274, -97.1732)

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NEW 2016 EDITION SPECIES: Striped Bass and White Bass BEST BAITS: Live Shad CONTACT: Clancy Terrill 512-633-6742 centraltexasfishing@yahoo.com www.centraltexasfishing.com TIPS: Fishing for Stripers and Whites is excellent as they are starting to move a little. Concentrate on upper to mid lake fishing ridges and humps in 30 to 40 feet of water. Drift or anchor live bait.

LOCATION: Lake Buchanan HOTSPOT: Dam Area

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SPECIES: Largemouth Bass BEST BAITS: Buzz baits: half-ounce white or green.

Pearl white fluke: rigged weightless with a four ought worm hook rigged weedless CONTACT: Rocky’s Guide Service 361-960-0566 TIPS: Hot, hot, hot! Now that it’s summer, remember to take plenty to drink. I take extra just in case someone else runs out. The lake is good and full and there is lots of water to fish. Early morning I love the sound of a lunker buzz baits. I usually throw a half-ounce buzz bait in white or green. It’s always been a big bass bait. Another favorite is my usual pearl white fluke

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Sportsman’s DAYBOOK JULY 2016

Tides and Prime Times

USING THE PRIME TIMES CALENDAR

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

T12

T4

T11

T10 T9

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

T8 T6 T17

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

T5

T14

T15 T16

TIDE PREDICTIONS are shown in graph form, with High and Low tide predictions in text immediately below.

SOLUNAR ACTIVITY data is provided to indicate major and minor feeding periods for each day, as the daily phases of the moon have varying degrees of influence on many wildlife species.

T13 T7

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 HIGH San Luis Pass -0.09 Freeport Harbor -0:44 Pass Cavallo 0:00 Aransas Pass -0:03 Padre Island (So. End) -0:24 Port Isabel +1:02

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

SPORTSMAN’S DAYBOOK IS SPONSORED BY:

NOT TO BE USED FOR NAVIGATION T22 T23

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

READING THE GRAPH

Moon l Moon Overhead l Underfoot

Fishing Score Graph

Day’s Best Day’s 2nd Score Best Score

n

Best Day Overall

MOON PHASES

l = New Moon l = Full Moon = First Quarter º » = Last Quarter «= Good Day by Moon Phase 78 |

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JULY 2016

Tides and Prime Times MONDAY

TUESDAY

28 Low Tide:

27 » Low Tide: 3:07 AM FEET

4:18 AM 0.77ft.

High Tide: 10:42 AM 1.45ft.

Low Tide: 5:39 PM 0.29ft.

0.56ft.

High Tide: 10:08 AM 1.48ft.

Low Tide: 4:52 PM 0.55ft.

High Tide: 11:12 PM 1.20ft.

WEDNESDAY

29 High Tide:

12:41 AM Low Tide: 5:34 AM High Tide: 11:17 AM Low Tide: 6:25 PM

1.37ft.

0.95ft.

1.44ft.

0.03ft.

THURSDAY

FRIDAY

SATURDAY

Jun 30 Jul 1 High Tide: 1:51 AM 1.54ft.

High Tide: 2:51 AM

2 High Tide:

1.67ft.

Low Tide: 7:55 AM 1.17ft.

High Tide: 12:32 PM 1.46ft.

Low Tide: 7:59 PM -0.34ft.

Low Tide: 6:48 AM 1.08ft.

High Tide: 11:54 AM 1.44ft.

Low Tide: 7:12 PM -0.19ft.

3:44 AM Low Tide: 8:53 AM High Tide: 1:14 PM Low Tide: 8:46 PM

SUNDAY

3 « High Tide: 4:33 AM

1.76ft.

1.23ft.

1.47ft.

-0.43ft.

1.78ft.

Low Tide: 9:43 AM 1.25ft.

High Tide: 1:57 PM 1.48ft.

Low Tide: 9:33 PM -0.43ft

FEET

+3.0

+3.0

+2.0

+2.0

+1.0

+1.0 0

0

12a

6a

12p

6p

12a

PRIME TIME

6a

12p

6p

PRIME TIME

12a

6a

12p

6p

PRIME TIME

12a

6a

12p

6p

12a

PRIME TIME

6a

12p

6p

12a

PRIME TIME

6a

12p

6p

12a

PRIME TIME

6a

12p

6p

12a

PRIME TIME

9:30 — 11:30 PM

5:00 — 7:00 AM

11:00P — 1:00A

11:30P — 1:30A

12:30 — 2:30 AM

1:30 — 3:30 AM

2:30 — 3:30 AM

Sunrise: 6:22a Set: 8:21p Moonrise: 1:00a Set: 1:23p AM Minor: ----AM Major: 5:53a PM Minor: 12:06p PM Major: 6:19p Moon Overhead: 7:09a Moon Underfoot: 7:34p

Sunrise: 6:22a Set: 8:22p Moonrise: 1:41a Set: 2:25p AM Minor: 12:31a AM Major: 6:44a PM Minor: 12:57p PM Major: 7:10p Moon Overhead: 8:00a Moon Underfoot: 8:26p

Sunrise: 6:22a Set: 8:22p Moonrise: 2:23a Set: 3:29p AM Minor: 1:20a AM Major: 7:34a PM Minor: 1:47p PM Major: 8:01p Moon Overhead: 8:53a Moon Underfoot: 9:20p

Sunrise: 6:23a Set: 8:22p Moonrise: 3:07a Set: 4:34p AM Minor: 2:09a AM Major: 8:23a PM Minor: 2:37p PM Major: 8:50p Moon Overhead: 9:48a Moon Underfoot: 10:16p

Sunrise: 6:23a Set: 8:22p Moonrise: 3:55a Set: 5:38p AM Minor: 2:58a AM Major: 9:12a PM Minor: 3:27p PM Major: 9:41p Moon Overhead: 10:45a Moon Underfoot: 11:14p

Sunrise: 6:23a Set: 8:22p Moonrise: 4:47a Set: 6:41p AM Minor: 3:50a AM Major: 10:04a PM Minor: 4:19p PM Major: 10:33p Moon Overhead: 11:43a Moon Underfoot: None

Sunrise: 6:24a Set: 8:22p Moonrise: 5:43a Set: 7:40p AM Minor: 4:44a AM Major: 10:58a PM Minor: 5:13p PM Major: 11:27p Moon Overhead: 12:41p Moon Underfoot: 12:12a

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Sportsman’s DAYBOOK MONDAY

TUESDAY

4 l High Tide: 5:20 AM FEET

WEDNESDAY

5 « High Tide: 6:04 AM

1.76ft.

Low Tide: 10:29 AM 1.24ft.

High Tide: 2:43 PM 1.46ft.

Low Tide: 10:20 PM -0.37ft.

1.70ft.

Low Tide: 11:14 AM 1.21ft.

High Tide: 3:30 PM 1.42ft.

Low Tide: 11:06 PM -0.24ft.

THURSDAY

6 « High Tide: 6:48 AM

7 « High Tide: 7:30 AM

1.63ft.

Low Tide: 12:01 PM 1.15ft.

High Tide: 4:20 PM 1.34ft.

Low Tide: 11:53 PM -0.07ft.

1.55ft.

Low Tide: 12:55 PM 1.07ft.

High Tide: 5:19 PM 1.25ft.

FRIDAY

8 Low Tide:

12:40 AM High Tide: 8:10 AM Low Tide: 1:54 PM High Tide: 6:40 PM

SATURDAY

9 Low Tide:

0.13ft.

1.48ft.

0.96ft.

1.14ft.

1:28 AM High Tide: 8:49 AM Low Tide: 2:57 PM High Tide: 8:34 PM

SUNDAY

10 Low Tide:

0.35ft.

1.42ft.

0.82ft.

1.06ft.

2:20 AM 0.57ft.

High Tide: 9:26 AM 1.38ft.

Low Tide: 3:55 PM 0.66ft.

High Tide: 10:35 PM 1.07ft.

FEET

+3.0

+3.0

+2.0

+2.0

+1.0

+1.0 0

0

12a

6a

12p

6p

12a

PRIME TIME

6a

12p

6p

12a

6a

PRIME TIME

12p

6p

12a

6a

PRIME TIME

12p

6p

12a

6a

PRIME TIME

12p

6p

12a

PRIME TIME

6a

12p

6p

12a

6a

PRIME TIME

12p

6p

12:30 — 2:30 PM

1:00 — 3:00 PM

2:00 — 4:00 PM

3:00 — 4:00 PM

4:00 — 6:00 AM

4:30 — 6:30 PM

11:00A — 1:00P

Sunrise: 6:24a Set: 8:21p Moonrise: 6:41a Set: 8:35p AM Minor: 5:40a AM Major: 11:55a PM Minor: 6:09p PM Major: 12:23p Moon Overhead: 1:39p Moon Underfoot: 1:10a

Sunrise: 6:24a Set: 8:21p Moonrise: 7:41a Set: 9:25p AM Minor: 6:38a AM Major: 12:24a PM Minor: 7:06p PM Major: 12:52p Moon Overhead: 2:35p Moon Underfoot: 2:07a

Sunrise: 6:25a Set: 8:21p Moonrise: 8:41a Set: 10:10p AM Minor: 7:36a AM Major: 1:23a PM Minor: 8:03p PM Major: 1:50p Moon Overhead: 3:28p Moon Underfoot: 3:02a

Sunrise: 6:25a Set: 8:21p Moonrise: 9:40a Set: 10:51p AM Minor: 8:33a AM Major: 2:21a PM Minor: 8:58p PM Major: 2:46p Moon Overhead: 4:18p Moon Underfoot: 3:53a

Sunrise: 6:26a Set: 8:21p Moonrise: 10:37a Set: 11:29p AM Minor: 9:28a AM Major: 3:16a PM Minor: 9:51p PM Major: 3:40p Moon Overhead: 5:05p Moon Underfoot: 4:42a

Sunrise: 6:26a Set: 8:21p Moonrise: 11:31a Set: None AM Minor: 10:19a AM Major: 4:08a PM Minor: 10:42p PM Major: 4:30p Moon Overhead: 5:50p Moon Underfoot: 5:28a

Sunrise: 6:27a Set: 8:21p Moonrise: 12:24p Set: 12:04a AM Minor: 11:07a AM Major: 4:56a PM Minor: 11:29p PM Major: 5:18p Moon Overhead: 6:33p Moon Underfoot: 6:12a

MOON PHASES

= FALLING TIDE = RISING TIDE = DAYLIGHT HOURS = NIGHTTIME HOURS Moon l Overhead l Moon Underfoot

READING THE GRAPH

MONDAY

11 Low Tide:

3:20 AM 0.78ft.

High Tide: 10:01 AM 1.34ft.

Low Tide: 4:46 PM 0.49ft.

FEET

TUESDAY

Fishing Score Graph

Day’s Best Score

WEDNESDAY

14 High Tide:

1:32 AM 1.28ft.

Low Tide: 5:55 AM 1.08ft.

High Tide: 11:06 AM 1.30ft.

Low Tide: 6:11 PM 0.18ft.

n

Day’s 2nd Best Score

THURSDAY

13 12 º High Tide: High Tide: 12:15 AM 1.16ft.

Low Tide: 4:32 AM 0.95ft.

High Tide: 10:34 AM 1.32ft.

Low Tide: 5:30 PM 0.33ft.

12a

PRIME TIME

2:30 AM 1.39ft.

Low Tide: 7:16 AM 1.16ft.

High Tide: 11:37 AM 1.29ft.

Low Tide: 6:50 PM 0.05ft.

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

Best Day Overall

FRIDAY

SATURDAY

15 High Tide:

SUNDAY

16 High Tide:

3:15 AM 1.48ft.

Low Tide: 8:20 AM 1.20ft.

High Tide: 12:06 PM 1.29ft.

Low Tide: 7:28 PM -0.06ft.

17 High Tide:

3:52 AM 1.54ft.

Low Tide: 9:06 AM 1.22ft.

High Tide: 12:34 PM 1.30ft.

Low Tide: 8:06 PM -0.14ft.

4:25 AM 1.58ft.

Low Tide: 9:38 AM 1.23ft.

High Tide: 1:03 PM 1.32ft.

Low Tide: 8:43 PM -0.19ft.

FEET

+3.0

+3.0

+2.0

+2.0

+1.0

+1.0 0

0

12a

6a

12p

6p

PRIME TIME

12a

6a

12p

6p

12a

PRIME TIME

6a

12p

6p

12a

6a

PRIME TIME

12p

6p

12a

PRIME TIME

6a

12p

6p

12a

PRIME TIME

6a

12p

6p

12a

PRIME TIME

6a

12p

6p

12a

PRIME TIME

12:00 — 2:00 PM

1:00 — 3:00 PM

8:00 — 10:00 AM

8:30 — 10:30 AM

3:30 — 5:30 PM

4:00 — 6:00 PM

5:00 — 7:00 PM

Sunrise: 6:27a Set: 8:20p Moonrise: 1:16p Set: 12:39a AM Minor: 11:52a AM Major: 5:42a PM Minor: ----PM Major: 6:03p Moon Overhead: 7:16p Moon Underfoot: 6:55a

Sunrise: 6:28a Set: 8:20p Moonrise: 2:07p Set: 1:13a AM Minor: 12:11a AM Major: 6:24a PM Minor: 12:35p PM Major: 6:46p Moon Overhead: 7:59p Moon Underfoot: 7:38a

Sunrise: 6:28a Set: 8:20p Moonrise: 2:58p Set: 1:48a AM Minor: 12:55a AM Major: 7:06a PM Minor: 1:17p PM Major: 7:27p Moon Overhead: 8:43p Moon Underfoot: 8:21a

Sunrise: 6:29a Set: 8:20p Moonrise: 3:50p Set: 2:24a AM Minor: 1:35a AM Major: 7:46a PM Minor: 1:57p PM Major: 8:09p Moon Overhead: 9:28p Moon Underfoot: 9:05a

Sunrise: 6:29a Set: 8:19p Moonrise: 4:43p Set: 3:03a AM Minor: 2:15a AM Major: 8:27a PM Minor: 2:39p PM Major: 8:50p Moon Overhead: 10:15p Moon Underfoot: 9:51a

Sunrise: 6:30a Set: 8:19p Moonrise: 5:35p Set: 3:45a AM Minor: 2:57a AM Major: 9:09a PM Minor: 3:21p PM Major: 9:33p Moon Overhead: 11:04p Moon Underfoot: 10:39a

Sunrise: 6:30a Set: 8:19p Moonrise: 6:27p Set: 4:31a AM Minor: 3:40a AM Major: 9:53a PM Minor: 4:06p PM Major: 10:18p Moon Overhead: 11:54p Moon Underfoot: 11:29a

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Sportsman’s DAYBOOK MONDAY

TUESDAY

18 « High Tide: 4:54 AM FEET

WEDNESDAY

19 « High Tide: 5:22 AM

1.60ft.

Low Tide: 10:05 AM 1.23ft.

High Tide: 1:35 PM 1.34ft.

Low Tide: 9:21 PM -0.22ft.

THURSDAY

20 ¡ High Tide: 5:51 AM

1.61ft.

Low Tide: 10:32 AM 1.21ft.

High Tide: 2:13 PM 1.35ft.

Low Tide: 9:59 PM -0.22ft.

21 « High Tide: 6:21 AM

1.61ft.

Low Tide: 11:05 AM 1.17ft.

High Tide: 2:58 PM 1.35ft.

Low Tide: 10:39 PM -0.18ft.

1.59ft.

Low Tide: 11:44 AM 1.10ft.

High Tide: 3:51 PM 1.33ft.

Low Tide: 11:21 PM -0.08ft.

FRIDAY

SATURDAY

23 Low Tide:

22 « High Tide: 6:52 AM

12:05 AM High Tide: 7:25 AM Low Tide: 1:21 PM High Tide: 6:12 PM

1.56ft.

Low Tide: 12:30 PM 1.00ft.

High Tide: 4:55 PM 1.28ft.

SUNDAY

24 Low Tide:

0.07ft.

1.53ft.

0.85ft.

1.22ft.

12:53 AM 0.27ft.

High Tide: 7:57 AM 1.48ft.

Low Tide: 2:17 PM 0.67ft.

High Tide: 7:47 PM 1.18ft.

FEET

+3.0

+3.0

+2.0

+2.0

+1.0

+1.0 0

0

12a

6a

12p

6p

12a

PRIME TIME

12p

6p

12a

6a

PRIME TIME

12p

6p

12a

6a

PRIME TIME

12p

6p

12a

6a

PRIME TIME

12p

6p

12a

PRIME TIME

6a

12p

6p

12a

6a

PRIME TIME

12p

6p

5:00 — 7:00 PM

11:30A — 1:30P

7:00 — 9:00 PM

7:30 — 9:30 PM

8:00 — 10:00 PM

3:30 — 5:30 AM

4:00 — 6:00 AM

Sunrise: 6:31a Set: 8:18p Moonrise: 8:06p Set: 6:16a AM Minor: 5:16a AM Major: 11:29a PM Minor: 5:42p PM Major: 11:56p Moon Overhead: 12:46a Moon Underfoot: 1:12p

Sunrise: 6:32a Set: 8:17p Moonrise: 8:52p Set: 7:13a AM Minor: 6:09a AM Major: ----PM Minor: 6:35p PM Major: 12:22p Moon Overhead: 1:38a Moon Underfoot: 2:05p

Sunrise: 6:32a Set: 8:17p Moonrise: 9:37p Set: 8:13a AM Minor: 7:04a AM Major: 12:51a PM Minor: 7:30p PM Major: 1:17p Moon Overhead: 2:31a Moon Underfoot: 2:57p

Sunrise: 6:33a Set: 8:16p Moonrise: 10:19p Set: 9:14a AM Minor: 8:00a AM Major: 1:47a PM Minor: 8:26p PM Major: 2:13p Moon Overhead: 3:23a Moon Underfoot: 3:49p

Sunrise: 6:34a Set: 8:16p Moonrise: 11:00p Set: 10:15a AM Minor: 8:58a AM Major: 2:45a PM Minor: 9:24p PM Major: 3:11p Moon Overhead: 4:15a Moon Underfoot: 4:40p

Sunrise: 6:34a Set: 8:15p Moonrise: 11:41p Set: 11:17a AM Minor: 9:55a AM Major: 3:42a PM Minor: 10:21p PM Major: 4:08p Moon Overhead: 5:06a Moon Underfoot: 5:31p

MOON PHASES

= FALLING TIDE = RISING TIDE = DAYLIGHT HOURS = NIGHTTIME HOURS Moon l Overhead l Moon Underfoot

MONDAY

25 Low Tide:

1:47 AM 0.51ft.

High Tide: 8:31 AM 1.44ft.

Low Tide: 3:14 PM 0.47ft.

High Tide: 9:36 PM 1.20ft.

TUESDAY

Fishing Score Graph

Day’s Best Score

WEDNESDAY

26 » Low Tide: 2:48 AM

0.75ft.

High Tide: 9:06 AM 1.41ft.

Low Tide: 4:12 PM 0.25ft.

High Tide: 11:22 PM 1.30ft.

12a

PRIME TIME

Sunrise: 6:31a Set: 8:18p Moonrise: 7:17p Set: 5:22a AM Minor: 4:27a AM Major: 10:40a PM Minor: 4:53p PM Major: 11:06p Moon Overhead: None Moon Underfoot: 12:20p

READING THE GRAPH

FEET

6a

Day’s 2nd Best Score

THURSDAY

27 Low Tide:

28 High Tide:

4:03 AM 0.98ft.

High Tide: 9:44 AM 1.39ft.

Low Tide: 5:08 PM 0.05ft.

n

12:51 AM 1.44ft.

Low Tide: 5:28 AM 1.14ft.

High Tide: 10:29 AM 1.39ft.

Low Tide: 6:03 PM -0.13ft.

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

Best Day Overall

FRIDAY

SATURDAY

29 High Tide:

SUNDAY

30 High Tide:

2:00 AM 1.57ft.

Low Tide: 6:54 AM 1.22ft.

High Tide: 11:20 AM 1.40ft.

Low Tide: 6:56 PM -0.25ft.

31 High Tide:

2:56 AM 1.65ft.

Low Tide: 8:02 AM 1.25ft.

High Tide: 12:16 PM 1.42ft.

Low Tide: 7:47 PM -0.31ft.

3:44 AM 1.68ft.

Low Tide: 8:52 AM 1.25ft.

High Tide: 1:12 PM 1.44ft.

Low Tide: 8:36 PM -0.32ft.

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12a

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5:00 — 7:00 PM

11:00A — 1:00P

7:00 — 9:00 PM

8:00 — 10:00 PM

9:00 — 11:00 PM

6:00 — 8:00 AM

4:00 — 6:00 AM

Sunrise: 6:35a Set: 8:15p Moonrise: None Set: 12:19p AM Minor: 10:52a AM Major: 4:39a PM Minor: 11:17p PM Major: 5:05p Moon Overhead: 5:57a Moon Underfoot: 6:23p

Sunrise: 6:35a Set: 8:14p Moonrise: 12:23a Set: 1:21p AM Minor: 11:47a AM Major: 5:33a PM Minor: ----PM Major: 6:00p Moon Overhead: 6:49a Moon Underfoot: 7:16p

Sunrise: 6:36a Set: 8:14p Moonrise: 1:06a Set: 2:25p AM Minor: 12:16a AM Major: 6:26a PM Minor: 12:40p PM Major: 6:53p Moon Overhead: 7:43a Moon Underfoot: 8:10p

Sunrise: 6:36a Set: 8:13p Moonrise: 1:51a Set: 3:28p AM Minor: 1:04a AM Major: 7:18a PM Minor: 1:32p PM Major: 7:46p Moon Overhead: 8:37a Moon Underfoot: 9:05p

Sunrise: 6:37a Set: 8:13p Moonrise: 2:40a Set: 4:29p AM Minor: 1:55a AM Major: 8:09a PM Minor: 2:23p PM Major: 8:37p Moon Overhead: 9:33a Moon Underfoot: 10:02p

Sunrise: 6:38a Set: 8:12p Moonrise: 3:33a Set: 5:29p AM Minor: 2:45a AM Major: 8:59a PM Minor: 3:13p PM Major: 9:28p Moon Overhead: 10:30a Moon Underfoot: 10:59p

Sunrise: 6:38a Set: 8:11p Moonrise: 4:28a Set: 6:24p AM Minor: 3:36a AM Major: 9:50a PM Minor: 4:04p PM Major: 10:18p Moon Overhead: 11:27a Moon Underfoot: 11:55p

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Texas BOATING

by LENNY RUDOW :: TF&G Boating Editor

10 Mistakes Boaters Make – Don’t Do This!

W

E ALL MAKE MISTAKES. Unfortunately, if you’re a boat owner, there’s a set of mistakes that can be both costly and

dangerous.

Over the winter I spent many months thinking about the mistakes anglers make on a regular basis, while writing my latest book, Mistakes Anglers Make – Don’t Do This! (Which, incidentally, you can find on Amazon.com). And although I focused on

errors that make people catch fewer fish, along the way, a number of boating mistakes came to mind.

While these won’t necessarily reduce your catch, they could be a whole lot worse. So whatever you do, make sure you don’t: 1. RUN the boat with a dinged propeller that’s causing vibrations, no matter how minimal they may seem. Even low-key vibrations can lead to serious problems

down the road. The problem here is that they never stop; every rotation of the prop—which is probably in the neighborhood of 4,000 times a minute—the vibration travels through your entire boat. Net result? Screws, nuts, and bolts come loose, adhesives fail, cracks grow larger, and your electronics are put through hell.

2. FORGET to thoroughly rinse your trailer, especially the brakes, after a saltwater launch. If you rinse it off religiously, you can go years between problems. But if you don’t give it a spray-down after a trip in the brine, you’re not likely to go more than a season or two before problems start popping up.

3. SHIFT mechanical controls into and back out of gear, while the boat is shut down. This may not seem harmful, but it takes the clutch dog out of position and when you later start then shift the engine, it can stress the parts significantly.

4. TILT your outboard all the way up as high as possible, when going into the shallows. Yes, you do want to trim up, but always leave yourself an inch or two of extra room. That way, if you do start rubbing bottom you can tilt up the rest of the way and back out of trouble. If your motor is already 100-percent of the way up, you’ll be stuck.

The next step most people take is grinding the prop in the mud or sand. Ouch. That can not only damage the propeller, but cause all kinds of grit and grime to get sucked into the cooling system.

5. FAIL to add fuel stabilizer/ethanol treatment, because you use your boat often enough that the fuel doesn’t go bad. No matter how regularly you use your boat, you should still add this stuff. The unexpected happens, and whether it’s due to mechanical issues, illness, or just a long stretch of bad weather, you never know when you may have to leave the boat sitting for several weeks in a row. And yes, that’s all it takes

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Texas BOATING sometimes for ethanol to do its dirty work, and mess up your systems.

these sprays also enhance the canvass’s waterproofing qualities.

6. RUN fast and hard, through rough seas.

Maybe you can take the pounding, but it’ll take a toll on your boat. Banging and slamming against the waves is one of the most common ways to break everything from hatches to latches to T-tops. It creates a huge amount of stress on virtually every part of the boat, and sooner or later will cause significant damage. Slow down, partner.

Back off on the throttle when the waves get big, and your boat will thank you.

8. DEPEND on liquid waxes for gel coat protection. Liquid waxes make a great shine, for sure. But they just don’t have the same protective qualities you get from a thick paste wax. As a rule of thumb, apply two coats of paste wax at least twice a season for UV protection. Then, apply a liquid wax as desired to make the boat shiny and goodlooking.

7. FAIL to regularly treat canvass, especially on the T-top or Bimini, with a protectant.

UV rays take a serious toll on marine canvass, and sitting in the sun day in and day out, you can only expect canvass tops to last five or six years. Spray them down with a protectant every few months, however, and this lifetime can be doubled. Added bonus:

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9. TOW a boat with the outboard tilted up. This creates a ton of stress on the transom, especially if you’re heading down a bumpy highway. With the powerhead sitting forward of the transom and the lower unit sitting aft, hundreds of pounds rocking back and forth is going to take a toll. You can solve the issue with a “transom saver” bracket. In some cases, however, the boat may sit too far aft on the trailer for a transom saver.

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In this situation, trailer with the engine in the down position. If this leaves the lower unit too close to the asphalt—as is often the case—take a foot-long two-by-four, tilt the engine up, then tilt it down until the motor mount is snug with the wood. That’ll keep the prop elevated, and cushion any motions as you go down the road.

10. DRY-START the engine—even for a moment. This is a sure-fire way to kill your water pump impeller. It depends on a supply of water not only to cool the powerhead, but also to lubricate the neoprene vanes spinning inside that lower unit. Dry-starting, even for just a second or two, will drastically shorten the impeller’s life if it doesn’t rip it to shreds outright.

Email Lenny Rudow at ContactUs@fishgame.com

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The Practical ANGLER

by GREG BERLOCHER | TF&G Contributing Editor

Bait It and They Will Come

W

ATER TEMPERATURES IN our bay systems will continue to climb through July, peaking in August or early September.

The forecast for the next 60 days is HOT and there won’t be any downward movement in water temperatures until after Labor Day. There’s no denying that trout and redfish will strike lures during the heat of the summer but top coastal guides will verify that the catch rates on hardware go down as water temperatures go up. If you want to improve your catch rate during the heat of the summer, switch to bait.

That point was driven home on a recent trip to Rockport. A disheartening glance revealed whitecaps on Little Bay as I drove to the ramp. Water clarity had taken a severe hit over the last several days. Warm, turbid water had stacked the odds against fishing partner, Jim Darnell, and me. Or so it seemed.

Captains Ron Coulston and Cody Coulston greeted us at the ramp. Both were wearing infectious smiles instead of furrowed brows. If the conditions had them worried, there was little evidence.

After leaving Cove Harbor, we traveled south, hiding as best we could from the wind in the lee of spoil islands. We weren’t the only ones hiding from the wind. Squadrons of seagulls squatted together behind the spoils, enjoying a temporary rest from the breezes.

Captain Ron eased back on the throttle and killed the engine, just upwind of K Reef.

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licensed captain and he handled the anchoring duties on this trip. Darnell and I opted for artificials and both of us were fast to reds within several casts. We caught a few more reds but then things shut down. Repeated cast were ignored as the wind speed increased from High to Really High.

While Darnell and I were flailing away in futility, Captain Ron baited up two rods with chunks of freshly caught, cut mullet and deployed the baits off the stern. In less than a minute, the first rod bowed as a hefty redfish charged across the flat. A second red quickly followed suit and Darnell and I were both hooked up.

Captain Ron has guided the Rockport area for fifteen years and has been forced to fish in bad conditions more times than he Mullet

cares to remember. The mark of a good guide is someone who can consistently put fish in the boat, even when wind, clarity, and tides aren’t optimum. Darnell and I caught and released thirty redfish that day, most of which came on bait.

Big chucks of fresh mullet were simply irresistible that morning. The senior Captain Coulston explained that his favorite redfish bait is fresh menhaden, but noted it can be difficult to catch at times. To my surprise, Coulston’s second favorite bait is cut skipjack. This stands to reason, as the flesh is extremely oily.

“When the wind starts blowing and water visibility goes down, it is important to get a lot of smell in the water,” the elder Coulston explained. “I have a rule: the higher the wind, the larger the chunk of bait on your hook.”

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Captains Ron and Cody are both big fans of Gamakatsu circle hooks. I watched with interest as both captains baited hooks throughout the day. Rather than bury the hook in the middle of the bait, they would run the point of the hook through the outer wrapper of the cut mullet; the chunk of bait secured only through the thin skin.

Captain Ron continued saying, “Hooking the bait through the skin minimizes the chance of missing a hook up. If the hook is buried in the bait, the barb may not find purchase when the fish takes it in their mouth.”

We fished the cut mullet on several different bottom rigs that day. Over sandy bottoms, Captains Ron and Cody deployed fish finder rigs, equipped with egg sinkers. When fishing over heavy grass, Captain Ron favors a dropper rig equipped with a no-nonsense bottle weight dangling on the bottom. He carries an assortment of one- and twoounce weights, depending on the situation.

Coulston likes dropper rigs in heavy grass because the weight falls through the grass, leaving the chunk of bait resting on top of the grass. Other rigs tend to pull the bait down into the grass. A one-ounce sinker is enough weight to pin a piece of cut bait to the bottom, but Captain Ron noted that twoounce sinkers come in handy when he needs to make a long cast to reach the fish.

To learn more about Captain Ron or Cody Coulston, check out their web site at www.ronsrockportfishing.

The heat is only going to get worse this summer and water temperatures are going to heat up. When this happens, saltwater predators become lethargic and are less likely to hit artificial lures. If you want to increase your catch rate, bait it and they will come.

Email Greg Berlocher at ContactUs@fishgame.com PHOTO: CANSTOCK

6/14/16 2:41 PM

Texas GUNS

by STEVE LAMASCUS | TF&G Shooting Editor

Gun Accuracy Then and Now and a custom .25-06 on a Winchester Model 70 push feed action wearing a Lothar Walther barrel. When I had finished I had data running out my ears that, on the surface, seemed to prove absolutely nothing.

The more I thought about it the more confused I became. Then one day I was sitting in my shop pondering the imponderable when I realized that I had stacked the deck. You

“ It’s the bullets that matter most.

“

F

OR THE LAST SEVERAL YEARS I have been conducting tests with both older rifles and newer bullets and newer rifles and older bullets. At first the results were confusing.

I found that older rifles shooting newer bullets shot remarkably well, and that newer rifles with older bullets shot equally well. It was a real head-scratcher. However, I believe I have finally figured it out.

First let me say thank you to those of you who were kind enough to send me your old bullets. With your help I was finally able to come, I think, to some valid conclusions.

When I first began this adventure I loaded up some rounds for both an old Remington Model 722 in .222 Remington and a new Remington M700 in .223 Remigton. For the old gun I loaded new bullets, for the new gun I loaded old bullets of about 1970 vintage.

When I shot them for group on my 100yard range there was almost no difference in the size of the groups they shot. The Model 700 managed an average of about .850 inches and the Model 722 came in at just .908 inches.

“Aha!” I thought, “It’s the bullets that matter most.” Then I shot a few groups in the new gun with the new bullets and got almost exactly the same group size. Same with the old Model 722 with the older bullets. Thus began the head scratching.

In the end I don’t know for sure how many groups I shot, but I can tell you that I shot numerous groups with, in addition to the above, a .243 Ackley Improved with a new Hart barrel, an old Dominican Republic Model 98 Mauser in 7x57mm, a .222 Remington Magnum Ackley Improved in a Model 700 wearing a Pac-Nor barrel, a Remington Model 721 in .270 Winchester,

see, most of my guns have had accuracy work done on them at one time or another. I simply will not keep a gun that is not supremely accurate.

When I had the .222 Remington Magnum Ackley Improved built, the gunsmith told me that nothing on it was square. I had sent it to him in the first place because it shot five-inch groups at 100 yards. I thought it was the barrel, but in retrospect it could have been the terrible job of finishing the gun at the factory. It must have been built on a Monday. Anyway, the gunsmith spent a lot of time squaring up the lugs, the bolt face, and the other parts, so they did what they T E X A S

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were supposed to do. He fitted the new Pac Nor barrel to it, set the headspace, and sent it to me. Although it’s not a tack driver, it will consistently shoot about 3/4 of an inch for three shots at 100 yards.

The .270 Model 721 had an aftermarket stock that was fitted with loving attention to detail and carefully glass bedded (I have since fitted it with a new Hogue overmolded stock with pillar bedding). It shoots consistently around one inch or slightly less, which is not bad for a gun that is probably well over 50 years old. M721 was discontinued in 1962 with the introduction of the Model 700.

The Custom Model 70 .25-06, with a Lothar Walther barrel and McMillan stock, was built for me by a company that is no longer in business, but which specialized in building sniper rifles for the military. To say it shoots well is a gargantuan understatement. It will, when I have not had too much coffee, put three shots in about three-tenths of an inch.

The .243 Ackley Improved with the Hart barrel, built by Ted Borg of Weatherford, Oklahoma, is equally as accurate as the .2506.

So what did I learn from all of this? I think the truth is that modern bullets are so aerodynamically perfect that they will shoot quite well in any gun that is halfway right.

When I look back at the data I have collected I see a very minor advantage on the side of the new bullets. But the rifles I have are sufficiently accurate that they shoot almost any bullet pretty well. That seems to be true of most modern firearms. The barrels of today are so straight and so well finished that they shoot anything well. So modern engineering of both bullets and barrels have come to the point that ammo and rifles are so good that they trump the target rifles of yesteryear. At least that’s my story and I’m sticking to it.

G A M E ®

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Texas TESTED Husky Liners’ New Series Beats Weather THERE ARE SOME ACCESSORIES you just have to have for your truck or other vehicle. This is especially true when you hunt and fish the way many of us do here in Texas. Up until recently, I have never owned a set of high quality custom fit floor mats for my truck. I recently purchased a Dodge Ram 1500 Quad Cab and decided it was time to give a set of Husky Liners a look. I ordered the WeatherBeater floor mats that are custom tailored for the truck’s floorboard. Ordering was very easy and shipping was fast.

When I received the truck mats and went to install them, I was amazed at how well they fit and how the raised ribs and overall design of the mats were made to trap rain, snow, spills, or just about anything else to the containment of the mat, protecting your carpet or other floor covering from outside elements. Shortly thereafter, I was pulling out from a gas station and spilled a partial cup of soda and ice on the floor. The Husky Liners contained the mess like a champ.

What would have been a major clean-up without the floor liners was a breeze to clean later that day.

I never knew how nice having a set of floor liners would be until I owned this set of Husky Liners. With the recent wet weather and resulting mud we have had in my area the past few weeks, these Husky Liners have held up to whatever I brought them. Husky Liners are made in the USA and are constructed with a chemical resistant material that is guaranteed not to crack. I received a set of Husky floor liners for my back seat as well since I have a 6-year-old boy who usually leaves a mess behind on the floor. The Husky Liners contains it all and keeps my truck’s interior like new. Clean up is as easy 90 |

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as taking the liners out, hosing them down, and re-installing them again. These floor mats are available in three different colors are made and for several models of vehicles.

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This product far surpassed my expectations and my “Texas Tested” trials. I highly recommend Husky Liners and especially their WeatherBeater series to protect the floor of your own vehicle. You can learn more about Husky Liners at www.huskyliners.com.

—by DUSTIN VAUGHN WARNCKE

Husky WeatherBeater floormats.

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PHOTO: DUSTIN VAUGHN WARNCKE

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Industry INSIDER Innovation is the Core Principle at Deeper DEEPER COMPANY IS MAKING A big impression on the international tackle industry. In a little less than four years the world’s first castable sonar has been recognized by prestigious awards at national trade shows in Australia and China. In addition, this ingenious ball-shaped bundle of technology became the first ever fishing tackle product to win an innovation

and depth range, internal GPS receiver and other valuable features turning a smartphone or tablet to an advanced fishing sonar system.

The rebranded Deeper Smart Fishfinder

award at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) and was named Editor’s Choice by Fish Alaska and Anglers Mail magazines.

“We started the enterprise four years ago with a confidence to develop our idea in accordance with high European quality standards, knowing we can count on compatriots engineers and programmers. We launched our first wireless Deeper Smart Fishfinder in 2014. We’re growing up fast and strive to leave our own contribution to the evolution of technology,” said Aurelijus Liubinas, CEO at Deeper.

The new extended product line is delivering a collection of innovative technologies, including extended casting distance

3.0 together with the newest Deeper Smart Sonar PRO and Deeper Smart Sonar PRO+ it is now ready to meet the diverse demands of different kind of angling technique practitioners worldwide. The three Deeper echo sounders are designed to work in diverse depths and temperatures. From Canada to Japan, the Deeper products face no country or international limitations. They perform in all climates and suit all types of fishing.

While Deeper products are facing major global interest, the Deeper team is building a worldwide network of professional fishermen. Deeper Heroes unite the fishing experts all over the world that share their expertise and insight for continued product

Deeper family of castable sonar products.

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development. Deeper Heroes are product loyal consumers who help the company to deliver best fishing practices into Deeper products.

With its technological achievements, rapid market demand and significant team growth, Deeper is specifically precise when choosing its strategic partnerships.

To reach wider product distribution the company is now inviting retail professionals to ensure high performance services to its increasing community of customers world-

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wide. With its newest technical achievements Deeper Smart Sonar is now available to more global markets than ever before.

For information, email sales@deeper.eu, call 813-579-5776, or visit their website at www.deepersonar.com.

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Fish and Game GEAR ADCOR Builds a Revolutionary Rifle

manufactured in the U.S.A. and it is built in the Adcor Defense factory in Baltimore, Maryland.

THE PRODUCT OF YEARS OF hands-on experience and experimentation, the ADCOR ELITE is not a “new and improved” rifle. It has a patented (Patent # 8,210,089) revolutionary gas piston system and other key patented features that set it apart from all other M4-type rifles. All components for the ADCOR ELITE are

Specifications: Model: A-762 Caliber: 7.62x39 Magazine/cylinder capacity: 30 rounds Barrel length: 16” Overall length: 32” to 36” Weight: 7.05 lb MSRP: $2295.00

Adcor Defense, Inc. is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Baltimore, Maryland based Adcor Industries, Inc. For over 25

ADCOR Elite A-762

years, Adcor Industries has been a national defense contract supplier and it is one of the few firearm manufacturers in the country that are certified to quality standard AS9100. We build 9 of the critical components for the Trident missile system, radar system components for the F-16 Fighter, and other components for the U.S. military small arms industrial base.

With its diverse manufacturing capabilities and expertise as a defense industry supplier, Adcor was in an ideal position to design and build its own

unique version of the M4 automatic rifle.

Adcor Defense, Inc. was formed for that purpose.

HiViz Litewave Shines for Shotguns HIVIZ SHOOTING SYSTEMS NOW offers LITEWAVE, their brightest and most durable design to their COMPSIGHT line—designed for serious shotgun shooters.

Promising faster target acquisition and improved marksmanship, the COMPSIGHT with LITEWAVE offers the HIIVZ interchangeable LitePipe system, which includes 7 replacement LitePipes (3 each red and green in .105, .120, and .135 diamHiViz Litewave

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eter and one white in .135) meeting the sight-picture and light requirements of a variety of shooters.

Upgrade your favorite shotgun to LITEWAVE at your local dealer or check them out at hivizsights.com or call 800-589-4315.

Bad Boy Sets Off a Stampede BAD BOY OFF ROAD HAS A PROUD history and a dynamic future. Bad Boy was the pioneer of electric 4x4 technology, and in May the brand hit gas with the release of the all-new Stampede 900 4x4!

resistance. This pan tilt base enables remote controlling for lights, cameras, and other equipment when mounted to the eight by 10 inch mounting plate, which is capable of supporting up to 100 pounds.

The wireless and hard-wired remotes allow

Larson PTB-1

operators to rotate the mounted equipment from zero degrees to 355 degrees, while providing a tilting range of -60 degrees to +30 degrees. When securely positioned, the base remains in place until remotely moved. It is durable enough to withstand strong winds, storms, and vibrations.

Hard-wired and wireless remotes are included with this pan tilt base (the hardwired remote acts as the receiver for the wireless remote). The battery-operated wire-

less remote supports a wireless key fob, which initiates the following controls: up, down, left, right, and on/off. The wired remote extends 15 feet from the base of the light, while an extra 10 feet of cord runs from the remote to the power source. This unit allows low voltage equipment to be powered in-line with the remote controlled pan tilt base, allowing both units to be powered from a single source.

Four pre-drilled holes in each corner of the base of the unit allow operators to mount the base to any flat surface. “This pan tilt base adds remote operation to units that are normally fixed mount and can provide versatility to lights, cameras, and other electrical equipment weighing less than 100 pounds,� said Rob Bresnahan, CEO of Larson Electronics.

Bad Boy Stampede 900 4x4

Bad Boy Off Road has launched an online campaign with a sneak peek at its new 80HP beast of a side-by-side. Consumers can go to this website to enter to win a grand prize Stampede 900 4x4, as well as other great prize packages: www.badboystampede.com.

Remote Control Lights, Cameras and Action LARSON ELECTRONICS, A LEADING industrial lighting company, announces the release of a newly designed remote controlled pan tilt base that provides an adjustable and stable platform for lights, cameras, and other electrical equipment.

The PTB-1 pan tilt base from Larson Electronics is constructed of die-cast aluminum and powder coated for added corrosion

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Texas TASTED

by BRYAN SLAVEN :: The Texas Gourmet

Louisiana Style Crawfish

I

HAVE BEEN ENJOYING EATING crawfish for about 20 years but only started cooking them about 10 years ago. There are many ways to cook them, but as with other dishes I cook, this one benefits from adding in fresh ingredients along with spices to create the perfect Texas/ Cajun flavor.

Ingredients 1 32 quart pot with a basket 1 gallon bag full of fresh quartered lemons 1 gallon bag of quartered oranges 1 gallon bag of chopped onions 1 gallon bag of fresh chopped serrano’s 1 gallon bag of coarsely chopped celery 2 heads of fresh garlic2 - 32 oz. jars of Texas gourmet’s sidewinder searing spice Bag crawfish- approx. 36 pounds 10 ears of fresh shucked corn 2 pounds of fresh mushrooms 1 pound of stick butter 3 pounds of smoked link sausage, sliced into 1/3 inch thick slices 6 lbs. small new potatoes, rinsed and cleaned Whole chicken- remove gizzards, neck, etc.

Add a cup each of lemons, serrano peppers, celery, onions, oranges, Texas Gourmet’s Searing Spice and 3 heads of garlic Boil for 15 minutes then add the chicken.

Boil chicken for 30 minutes from the time you put in.

Reduce fire to low and remove chicken to cool.

I like to rub the chicken down with Sidewinder Searing Spice, then place in a Pyrex dish in a 400 degree oven uncovered for 45 minutes.

Remove and cover with foil and allow to cool. This makes great Cajun style chicken salad the next day.

Now for the preparation of the crawfish Normally they will come unpurged, in other words they need a good bath to rid them of the bayou mud etc.

I like to soak them in a cooler for 20 to 30 minutes in enough water to cover them by about 3 inches. I will use approx. 1/3 of the sack Drain the cooler and refill again with water, put in the plug and add one cup of salt , stir them around gently wait four to five minutes, open the drain and rinse them out until the cooler is empty of water.

Start to boil the water, add a cup of each of the ingredients stated in the beginning then add

crawfish, 6 to 8 small new potatoes, 1 stick of butter and 1 pound of sliced smoked sausage.

Boil for 15 minutes, turn off fire and add 5 to 6 half ears of corn and ½ pound of the mushrooms Stir pot, cover with lid and spray outside of pot with water hose to cool the water in the pot. (This allows the crawfish to absorb the spice more thoroughly) if cooking indoors add 3 to 4 cups of ice to cool the water down.

Allow the crawfish to sit in the pot for approximately 15 minutes, then carefully remove the basket with crawfish to a large plastic bin or cooler, lightly dust with the Texas Gourmet’s Sidewinder Searing Spice and gently pour out onto serving table.

I like to take heavy duty contractor bags, cut the sides off and lay it on the table and fix it down with tape. This allows for easy cleanup between batches.

Repeat earlier steps as needed throughout cooking until crawfish are all cooked.

Enjoy with your favorite cold beverage.

Email Bryan Slaven at bryan@thetexasgourmet.com

The chicken adds to the richness of the flavor of the boil and will be used later.

Preparation of water Fill pot with water approximately 4 inches from the top with basket in and bring to a boil 94

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Open SEASON

by REAVIS Z. WORTHAM :: TF&G Humor Editor

Fishing the 4th

W

RONG WILLIE AND I sweltered in the July heat.

I wiped sweat and squinted through the bright sunlight to see Jerry Wayne and Doc in the other boat half a football field away. “So tell me again why we’re sitting out here in the sun, under a cloudless sky, without shade, when we could be under a tree somewhere having a cold one.”

He dug in the cooler and pulled out a dripping can. “You’re the one who wanted to go fishing.”

“I was thinking of sitting under the cover on Doc’s dock, or maybe under some big sweetsmelling sycamores on a creek bank with a cane pole.”

“Well, I have this boat I wanted to use.”

“A boat’s nothing but a hole in the water that you pitch money in. You know, if you’d sell this thing, we can travel around and hire guides with their own boats to take us places.”

“But I want to use my own.”

“Do you want to put it in salt water?”

“Well, no.” He cast a lure toward a stump, hanging up on the wood just under the surface.

“See, we could be down in Rockport, catching reds or specks.”

“It’d still be hot.”

“Yeah, but we always get out and wade.

That keeps us cooler.”

“Good idea.” Willie broke the line, reeled in, and started the engine.

“Where are we going?”

“Over there,” He pointed. “Let’s get out and wade fish like we do down on the coast.”

“Uh, that’s not a good idea.”

Doc saw us move, so he started his own engine and they followed. When Willie cut the motor, we drifted close to the shoreline and Doc came in close. “What’s up?”

“Rev wants to wade fish. Say’s he’s hot.”

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“No I didn’t…”

Jerry Wayne stood. “Good idea.”

We were shocked when he began to strip, revealing skin that hadn’t seen the sun since the 1970s. I averted my eyes when he dropped his britches. “Please tell me he’s wearing underwear.”

Doc hollered, “Hey!” “Don’t worry,” Jerry Wayne said. “These aren’t shorts. This is my bathing suit.”

“Why did you wear that today?”

“I figured we might swim when we got back to shore.” Tennis shoes still on, he sat on the deck and put his feet in the water. “This feel’s good. C’mon guys. Let’s wade fish.”

He slid off into the water and sank much farther than we expected. I figured we were in knee-deep water, but it stopped at his shoulders. “Uh oh.”

“What?”

“It’s a little boggy here.”

Willie frowned. “But the shore right there looks like sand.”

“Well, it might be there, but it’s gooey here.” Jerry Wayne shifted and grimaced and grunted. He took a step, and sank deeper. “I’m gonna have to get close to shore.”

We sizzled in the sun like bacon while he worked his way toward the bank. Five minutes later, he was knee deep. “See? It’s solid here.”

I noticed his legs. “You’re muddy from the knees down.”

“It’ll wash off. Hey, can somebody hand me my fishing rod.

All three of us shook our heads. “Nope.

We’re not getting out in that.”

“Well, how’m I gonna fish?”

“You should have brought it with you.”

“Throw it.”

Wrong Willie pitched the rod and reel to him, but Jerry Wayne missed and it disappeared below the surface.

“Dang it!” Jerry Wayne felt around with his feet while we watched and drank cold beverages. He finally located it, but couldn’t keep his balance to bring it up with a foot. Taking a deep breath, he went under, his large rear bobbing on the surface.

“That’s frightening,” Doc sighed. “Think

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he’ll come back up?”

“I hope. This end is wrong in several ways.”

He finally resurfaced with a great splash.

His reel was thick with mud. “This ain’t a good idea. I’m coming back.”

He waded back as far as he could, then swam the rest of the way and handed the rod to Doc. That’s when the fun began.

Jerry Wayne tried to pull himself back in the boat, but after ten minutes of huffing, puffing, grunting, awkward gyrations, and language blue enough to frost ice, he finally hung on the side, exhausted. “I can’t do it. It was a lot easier when we were teenagers.”

I had an idea. “Doc, get on your knees, lean over, grab him under the arms, and then fall backward. That’ll drag him in. That’s how you it if someone falls overboard when you’re rafting.”

“Nope.”

Jerry Wayne held onto the side of the boat and bobbed in the water. “Well, then what am I gonna do?”

Doc handed him a life jacket. “Put this on and hang on.” While Jerry Wayne slipped into the preserver, Doc started the trolling motor.

“We’re going back to the dock.”

I thought about it for a long moment, then Willie started his own trolling motor, and we made our slow way down the bank, us casting and sweltering under the hot, July sun, while Jerry Wayne hung onto the side and stayed cool all the way back.

The only justice was that by the time we reached the dock, he was red as a boiled lobster, which made me hungry for seafood, so I talked the guys into stopping for lunch.

The restaurant was nice and cold. It was a satisfying 4th of July outing, all said and done.

Email Reavis Wortham at ContactUs@fishgame.com

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REDFISH Galveston

TURKEY

Twelve-year-old Brooklyn Polk of Allen shows off the 20-inch redfish that she caught while fishing with her family near the North Jetty in Galveston.

Kerrville Austin and Caleb Eaves got this nice gobbler last spring on a hunt at the Y.O. Ranch.

TEAL Katy DUCK Laguna Madre Craig Kartye and Colt Russell with a Laguna Madre red head that was banded and fitted with a satellite tracker. The duck was part of a windmill study to see if ducks are hit by windmill blades.

Keith Manney and Tanner Flores on a teal hunt between Katy and Brookshire.

WHITETAIL Fayette County Blaine Knight, 10, shot his first buck while hunting with his Po Po at his Great Uncle Joe’s ranch near La Grange in Fayette County. Blaine hit the target at about 80 yards with his trusty .22-250.

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RED SNAPPER Sabine Pass Ashley Carlos with one of a limit of red snapper she and her sisters caught while fishing 70 miles offshore from Sabine Pass.

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

EMAIL: photos@FishGame.com For best results, send MED to HIGH quality JPEG digital files only, please.

No guarantee can be made as to when, or if, a submitted photo will be published.

SUNFISH League City Four-year-old Amelia Eaves caught her first fish at Challenger Park in League City last fall.

She had been practicing casting for some time and was excited to finally feel the tug on the other side of the line.

DOVE Undisclosed Captain Daniel Land and Hollie Land are pictured after a bit of husband and wife dove hunting together.

TURKEY Ozona Jaylan Morkovsky of Frisco bagged his first “large” game kill with this hen taken at his Nanni and Pop’s ranch in Ozona.

WHITETAIL San Saba Addison Dahse with her first kill, a mature doe taken in San Saba County. Addison is pictured with her big brother Lane.

WHITETAIL Maverick County Shelby Bradshaw with her first whitetail buck, taken while hunting with her Grandpa, Rudy Kleimann, in Maverick County. This big seven-pointer sported a 19 1/2-inch inside spread and scored 125 B&C.

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MOUNTAIN LION New Mexico Deb Roberson, took this 130pound female mountain lion on a special hunt to control an overpopulation of lions on the Navajo reservation on the New Mexico/Arizona border. Deb, center, is pictured with game warden Dondi Begay, Calvin Redhouse and game warden Titus Sandoval. The hunt will be featured next season on Carnivore TV.

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