April 26, 2013 - Lone Star Outdoor News - Fishing & Hunting

LSONews.com LoneOStar Outdoor News April 26, 2013 Page 1

April 26, 2013 Texas’ Premier Outdoor Newspaper Volume 9, Issue 17

PR

SRT

STD

US

PO

STA

GE

PAID

PLA

NO

, TX

PER

MIT

210

Tim

e Se

nsiti

ve M

ater

ial •

Del

iver

ASA

P

Biggest bass in the stateMonsters over 13 pounds.

Page 23

❘❚ LSONews.com

❘❚ CONTENTSClassifi eds . . . . . . . . . Page 22 Crossword . . . . . . . . . Page 28Freshwater Fishing Report . Page 10For the Table. . . . . . . . Page 28Game Warden Blotter . . . . Page 12Heroes. . . . . . . . . . . Page 18Outdoor Datebook . . . . . Page 24Outdoor Business . . . . . Page 20Products . . . . . . . . . . Page 22Saltwater Fishing Report . . Page 14Sun, Moon and Tide data . . Page 28

Inside

❘❚ HUNTING

Dog, owner inducted into HOF.Page 4

Hall of Fame pair

❘❚ FISHING

Bunched up toms frustrate hunters.Page 4

Weird turkey season

LED lights improve nightfi shing.Page 8

Green is good

Nice fi sh feeding near cuts.Page 8

Trout in the fl ats

By Craig NyhusLone Star outdoor newS

The phone call of a lifetime was followed up by the hunt of a lifetime — but not without its share of appre-hension and near despair.

Britton Schweitzer, owner of the Weatherford Downtown Cafe, was on his way home from work last

From despair to jubilationGrand Slam winner fi nds bighorn after

long search

See BIGHORN, Page 17

Crappie spawning

By Jacob LongoriaLone Star outdoor newS

With the waters in Texas lakes gradually warming, crappie are moving to the their protected areas to spawn.

In lakes Palestine and Fork, the

See CRAPPIE, Page 15

Feeding frenzy in Galveston By Jacob LongoriaLone Star outdoor newS

Patience and timing are the two biggest bits of advice anglers need to remember fi shing the Galveston bays. If the angler knows where the

fi sh are, it’s just a matter of working each area thoroughly.

Capt. Gary Francis keeps it sim-ple in his presentations to catch redfi sh and trout, using popping corks with live shrimp. For Francis, it’s all about working multiple areas

of the bay until he gets a strike. Francis has been fi shing all parts of

the bay up to 3 feet deep. He caught several slot redfi sh and a few 23-inch trout. If anglers want to fi sh for sheepshead, he recommends the toll bridge using live shrimp.

Francis, like most captains, laments the weather.

“One day it’s strong south winds and the next few days it’s from the north,” he said.

See GALVESTON, Page 15

TAIL GRABBERS: Anglers are releasing lots of solid redfi sh this month in the Galveston Bay complex. The fi shing is picking up for trout and fl ounder, as well. Photo by Scott Som-merlatte, for LSON.

year when his phone rang.“It was from an unknown number so I

ignored it,” he said. Later, he checked his voicemail and listened

to the message.“It said I needed to call Texas Parks and

Wildlife right away and left a number — I thought, ‘That’s not good,’” he said. “I had shot a deer with my bow the week before but was sure everything was legal.”

Schweitzer never considered the call could have to do with the Big Time Texas Hunts drawings.

“I hunt whitetails and pigs locally but had never hunted mule deer or pronghorn,” he said. “Every year when I buy my license online, I buy $100 in tickets in different cat-egories — I look at it as a donation and forget about it.”

The next day, he called the number and was asked a question by the TPWD offi cial.

He asked, “Are you sitting down?” Schweitzer said. “You won the Texas Big Game Hunt.”

Schweitzer replied that he had registered for several and asked which one did he win.

“You won the Grand Slam,” the man said. “I had to ask what it included.”

BIG-TIME BIGHORN: Britton Schweitzer fi nally found this desert bighorn after a 3-day search. Photo by Britton Schweitzer.

HIT THE BRUSH PILES: The crappie spawn is on in many Texas lakes. Photo by LSON.

Page 2 April 26, 2013 LoneOStar Outdoor News LSONews.com



HUNTING


TJ “Joe” Fisher of Midland started hunting with a dog as a kid.

“It wasn’t worth much as a hunter, though,” he said.

Things began to change, though, when a friend gave him a Brittany when he was living in Ozona and working for Texaco.

“Gene Lilly gave me the dog in the mid-’80s,” he said. “And that dog led to another dog, then another.”

Fisher, an avid bird hunter,

started looking for trainers but came up disappointed.

“I couldn’t fi nd one that I felt knew what he was doing,” he said. “So I started buying books and trying to learn everything about dog training. I went every-where and picked the brains of dog trainers and dog owners.”

After he moved to Midland, a coworker was being sent overseas.

“He gave me his Brittany, named Tucker, Fisher said. “I was having trouble getting him to retrieve and talked to one of the best trainers in the country,

From gift of dog to Hall of FameMidland trainer, dog set records

By Conor HarrisonLone Star outdoor newS

Gobblers bunched in groups all the way through the season.Roving bands of jakes dominating the landscape.Hens that appeared disinterested.Those were some of the reports from hunters throughout South

Texas over the past six weeks, as many tried to fi gure out just what the gobblers were doing and how to kill them.

Near Tilden, hunter Braxton Gillam spent the second to last week of the season chasing longbeards, and reports having to deal with windy conditions that made it tough to hear any gobbling, but the toms just acted odd.

“It was a weird deal,” Gillam said. “The birds were not gobbling very good. I found one that acted like he was supposed to, and we had some nice moments, but overall it was an odd hunt.

“We’d fi nd big groups of gobblers — three here, four there, six over there. The gobblers were all bunched up.”

See DOG, Page 25

Delmar Smith from Oklahoma.”His training career took off from

there.“Tucker was outstanding,” he

said. “I was doing my own training and going to trials with Shoot to Retrieve (one of the fi eld trial orga-nizations).

Later, the National Upland Classic Series became more conve-nient, and Fisher and Tucker made the switch.

Through the series, he met trainer Nolan Huffman from North Carolina.

“He was the most famous bird dog trainer out there,” Fisher said. “He had a great dog named Buddy.”

And then came High Brass Skeet, produced by Huffman out of Buddy.

Skeet started winning every-thing.

“He is the winningest dog ever in Upland Classic,” Fisher said. “And he is still competing — he’ll be 11 this year.”

Field trial participants hope to gain points in hopes of reach-ing the level of Champion. A trial win gains 5 points, with 3 for sec-ond place and 1 for third. To reach the Champion level, 20 points are needed during the year with half of those coming from wins.

Skeet, though, reached unheard- of levels.

“If you do it (reach Champion status) fi ve times in a row, you’re a Grand Champion. Ten times, you’re a Super Grand,” Fisher said.

Skeet is one of only two Super Grand dogs ever in the Upland Classic series.

“I have a trophy room you can’t walk in,” Fisher said. “It’s too crowded.”

Fisher attributes the success of both his dogs and him to extended time hunting in the fi eld.

“I worked dogs at two preserves

Jakes dominate in “weird” South Zone season

West Texas triple

whammy


After the massive wildfi res in West Texas in 2011, many “experts” pre-dicted a quick and full recovery with little effect to the wildlife.

In some parts of the state they were wrong, according to Natural Resources Conservation Services Wildlife Biologist Steve Nelle.

“We faced a combination that most have never faced before,” Nelle, of San Angelo, told attendees at the Texas Deer Study Group meeting in Glen Rose on April 19. “The fi res came during a drought, and then were

Drought, fi re, more drought kills grasses,

causes erosion

See WEST TEXAS, Page 16

In north, turkeys gobbling, still henned up

See JAKES, Page 16

TOP DOG: High Brass Skeet and his owner/trainer, TJ Fisher, entered the Upland Classics Hall of Fame together. Photos by Carla Fisher.

LOOKING FOR TOMS: Big southern zone toms are not talking this year like normal. However, large bands of jakes are coming readily to hunters’ calls. Photo by David J. Sams, LSON.



Standing inside a circle with seven launchers, the shooter anticipates the winged target to

fl y from one of the launchers.With the command

of “Pull,” the bird is launched into the air to be picked up

by the wind and taken wherever it

blows.

Having less than two seconds to react, the shooter fi res one shot, knocking the small, white cap — called a witness cap — from the center of the two plastic orange wings.

The cap lands inside the cir-cle, and the triumphant shooter scores a point.

What started as an alternative to live pigeon shoots in Europe is taking wings here in Texas.

Helice (pronounced ha-lease), means propeller and aptly

describes the targets, called ZZ birds, which consist of a central wit-ness cap ringed by winged, plastic propel-lers on either side.

The wings are meant to simulate the erratic fl ight of a wild bird, which fi ts perfectly according to the presi-dent of the U.S. Helice Association, Mike Higgins.

“Honestly, when I’m teaching folks to shoot it, the closest thing like it is shooting a quail,” Higgins said. “(The launchers) push the bird up and it goes where it wants to go. Speed and accuracy are the two most important things. From the time you call to release, you have, at most, 1.5 seconds to see the target and kill it.”

The sport is growing in Texas thanks to sev-eral gun clubs who have Helice rings, including the Dallas Gun Club.

Inside the Helice ring, 21 meters beyond the launchers is a semicircu-lar fence, 24 inches high, marking the outside bor-der of the shooting area

(into which all scoring targets must fall). The Helice competitor does not know which launcher will fi re the next ZZ bird.

“It is pretty dang competi-tive,” Higgins said. “Although the sport has seen a lot of growth in Louisiana and California, the epicenter is Texas. I’d say 70 per-cent (of the Helice shooters) are Texans.”

One round of competition Helice consists of 30 targets.

“You really need a score of 28 or

better to win these days,” Higgins said. “In fact, a U.S. shooter has won at least one of the world championships in each of the last fi ve years.”

One of the best Helice shooters in the world is Dallas shooter Mimi Wilfong.

Wilfong started shooting at an early age after following her older brother and his friends to a 4-H shooting event near their home in Athens.

“When I was about 14 years old, I started shooting trap and skeet,” Wilfong said. “Then I switched over to international trap, but the closest range to our home in Athens was at the Dallas Gun Club. The bunker trap was right across from the Helice shooters. I wandered over and have been shooting Helice ever since.”

Wilfong, who just missed a spot on the 2008 U.S. Olympic team, said Helice is “not a game of per-fect.”

“You look at the trap and skeet shooters, and if you aren’t shoot-ing perfect scores, you lose,” she said. “Helice is also a game of luck along with skill. You have to hit that cap in the ring. The wind plays a part. But the fact that it is so challenging is a huge draw.

“No two targets are alike.”Wilfong said many new shoot-

ers at the gun club think the Helice ring is the beginner area because so many people are missing.

“You have to go into it with the mindset that you won’t be per-fect,” she said. “It is a hard mind-set for many shooters to get into. It’s a fun, challenging game. It is actually an easier sell for hunters, because it is closer to a hunting scenario.”

For more information on Helice shoot-ing, call the U.S. Helice Association at (817) 296-3104.

Helice taking fl ight in Texas


Standing inside a circle with seven launchers,anticipates the winged target to

fl y from one of the launchers.With the command

of “Pull,” the bird is launched into the

by the wind and taken wherever it

blows.

Closest shooting discipline to hunting

SHOOT FAST: Helice shooting requires good hand-eye coordination and quick refl exes to hit the ZZ bird. Photo by Mike Higgins.


High school students turn to

hogs for ag project


In the fall of 2012, George Green, an agriculture pro-duction teacher at Nixon-Smiley High School, was looking for a project his stu-dents could work together on. After talking to his classes about possible proj-ects, the topic of trapping hogs kept coming up.

Green noticed the inter-est from his students since a lot of them trap hogs on the weekend for both sport and necessity on their fam-ily ranches.

Dylan Van Zandt, a soph-omore and hog trapper, knows all too well about the destruction the hogs can do to his community.

“They tear up everything they can,” he said.

Green knew his students were on to something that was needed in their city, as well as their state.

“The kids identified a com-munity need,” said Green.

Green created the “Shut Your Trap” contest, where students could use their leadership and team-work-ing skills to catch feral hogs.

The competition con-sisted of three teams with three members each: The Hog Busters, Hog Slayers and Notorious PIG. Each team was in charge of mak-ing and setting traps, catch-ing the hogs and transport-ing them to the hog station.

Robinson Wild Hog Station in Leesville part-nered with the students of Nixon-Smiley to buy all of the hogs they caught. All of the hogs caught had to be alive to be counted for the competition.

Green brought in a welder from Austin College to teach his students how to weld the traps and a representative from Texas A&M AgriLife to

teach them how to trap the hogs.

Each team built their own traps and laid them in their respective areas. Ryan Smith and his Hog Slayer team-mates took a challenging approach in building their hog trap.

“We agreed on the most difficult trap to make,” he said.

Green knew this activ-ity required students to use what they learned in class-room as well as teamwork to achieve a goal.

“We hope to continue this program,” said Green. “It’s a good way for the kids to practice their welding, cut-ting and mechanical skills.”

This competition is win-ner-take-all. Green made the competition this way to show his students about real-world situations. Green preached that in business, not every-one can be a winner.

“We want the students to learn about business and competition,” he added.

The contest lasted from March 1 to midnight on April 16. The winner of the competition was the Hog Busters, who captured three hogs. They received the prize of about $1,500. The prize is still pending because it con-sists of donations and the money earned from selling the traps.

Green said he was very proud of his students and hopes next year the com-petition will draw in more students. The buzz around the school is that more stu-dents can’t wait to take part. Green’s goal is to continue with the competition, while becoming the leader of hog trapping in the area.

Freshman John Rawls, a member of the Hog Busters, said the strategy for next year is very simple.

“We need to build more traps,” he said. “More traps equal more hogs.”

The money from the sale of the hogs will go to the Nixon-Smiley FFA.

BUILDING FOR THE TEAM: High school students at Nixon-Smiley High School in Nixon are trapping hogs for a project. Along with learning about teamwork, they are ridding the county of pesky porkers. Photo by George Green.

Classmates build traps, catch and sell pigs


A break in the action — TDA hosts BBQ cook-off

After a busy hunting season and in the midst of an even busier leg-islative session, members of the Texas Deer Association hosted its Pasture Pachanga BBQ Cook-off and Concert, where 41 cooking teams competed for prizes and Texas country bands performed.

Held along the Frio River in Concan, cooking teams sported clever names and T-shirts, but the brisket, chicken, ribs and dessert competitions were serious affairs.

The overall championship was won by High Strung BBQ. Giant BBQ won the brisket and rib categories and fin-ished second overall. Pure Party Cooking Team topped the chicken category and finished third.

In other categories, Team Chupacabra captured the Dessert contest, Three Little Pigs won the Chef’s Choice, Sonora Trophy Whitetails were the best in Beans and Texas Land & Ranch Co. made the best Bloody Mary.

Concerts from Rodney Hayden, Thom Sheppard and headliner Kyle Park entertained the crowd. And Park was even on the winning team in the washer-throwing contest.

— Staff report

Photos by Craig Nyhus and TDA.


FISHING

Green is good


Eddie Gonzales likes to go fishing at night near his home on Canyon Lake.

He usually manages to catch fish, but things have picked up for the angler since he installed a pair of green LED lights on the side of his small boat.

Instead of hunting the fish, he now has them coming to him, or at least the bait balls that attract the bigger fish he targets.

“As for the crappie and white bass on Canyon Lake, it has been awesome this last month,” he said. “Mostly due to the green LED light strips. I can’t say enough about them. Six trips at night while using them and we have had a great record.”

Gonzales said the lights illuminate the water, which attracts shad, which then attracts loads of crappie, striper and largemouth bass.

“We have been filling

the live well each time,” he said. “The first trip we drew in a bait ball of shad with over 10,000 shad in it. No kidding. And every trip out has been just like the last — awesome.”

Gonzales said he has taken more than 60 pounds of crappie home the last four weekends using the lights.

Alex Ramirez, owner of First Class Tackle which recently started selling the LED light strips for small boats and kayaks, said the demand has been tremendous, especially when anglers see the suc-cess at night.

“They work great,” he said. “I can’t keep them in stock. I have another company in the aquarium business, so I’ve known about the different types of lighting forever. I devel-oped these lights to sit on top of the water and attract the baitfish.”

Actually, Ramirez said, the lights attract phyto-plankton in the water that are illuminated by the lights. Humans can’t typically see the micro-scopic plankton, but spe-cies like shad can. Baitfish

LED lights help anglers attract fish

SHINING BRIGHT: Anglers are using green LED lights to attract fish on boats and boat docks. The method is proving effective in lakes and along the coast. Photo by Eddie Gonzales.

See GREEN, Page 25

The unpredictable O.H. Ivie


After a string of monster bass ruled the waters of O.H. Ivie Reservoir sev-eral years ago, anglers from across the state have come to the lake to see if they can catch some of that magic.

In the past few years, O.H. Ivie has dropped 34 feet. New fishermen don’t notice much difference, but to expe-rienced anglers, the structure that some of the bass would call home is now visible above the water’s surface.

What was a big bass lake is now a “hit-or-miss” lake for many anglers. That’s where experience, patience and practice come into play.

Sandy Scott, San Angelo district field biologist, sees the low-water lev-els as a pattern that ends up affecting the lake negatively.

“The dropping lake provides less

bass cover,” she said. “When the water is higher, hydrilla grows, giving bass great cover and a spot for anglers to cast into.”

Scott said the bass fishery is very healthy but if the water continues to fall, the bass will become skinnier and won’t grow to trophy size.

O.H. Ivie provides cities like San Angelo and Abilene with their drink-ing water, and it is a tug of war between the cities’ needs and the wishes of anglers.

Despite what others say, guide Tommy Hagler said the lake is “on fire.”

A veteran to the lake, Hagler knows that the low lake has brought out cover once used by the young crap-pie. Hagler hasn’t focused on crap-pie because he believes the low water caused many of the young crappie to be eaten by hungry bass while seek-ing new structure. Hagler expects the crappie are stacked up in the river in 15 feet of water, in Elm Creek or in the deeper parts of the lake.

The bass bite on the lake has been

great due to the bass chasing shad into the shallows.

Hagler said some bass are in spawn-ing mode, and others are in a post-spawn pattern. The spawn will make its way to the dam by May 15, accord-ing to Hagler. He has caught bass in 2 to 7 feet on crankbaits, spinners and jigs. Many of the females caught were full of eggs, but he reported some had already spawned.

Guide J.R. Howard believes the best fishing of the year will be the next two weeks in the shallows.

After a recent cold snap, Howard con-siders the water “shocked;” but with a few days over 90 degrees, the water tem-perature is getting back to normal.

Howard has seen the bass spawning in the shallows but estimates it will be over soon.

Most of his fish have been caught on spinner baits, crankbaits and soft plastics in the shallows.

Tommy Hagler, (325) 668-6882J.R Howard, (325) 812-8558

Lake is low, but still producing good bass

FIND THE GOOD WATER: Anglers are searching out the correct-colored water when chasing trout this month. Photo by David J. Sams, LSON.

Spring trout bite onBy Jacob LongoriaLone Star outdoor newS

Water color along the Texas coast is the main fac-tor on where the trout are being caught, according to local guides and anglers.

“It’s very spotty,” said Trinity Bay Capt. Dean Muckleroy.

Muckleroy looks for days

with an early tide and low winds for his best fishing. Currently, dirty water has hampered Muckleroy, but he has found pockets of clear water and good trout at Jack’s Pocket.

Muckleroy is catching trout in 2 to 3 feet of water on soft plastics. Currently, the trout are still in their winter pattern feeding in

shallow flats near deep water, he said. The water temperature is between 68 and 69 degrees.

“If the water gets to about 72 degrees, the trout will go deeper closer to Texas City,” he said.

The fishing in East Matagorda Bay has been good, according to Capt. Tommy Countz.

Countz is catching trout up to 25 inches using pop-ping corks with live shrimp in water 5 to 6 feet deep. When light winds come in, the trout move to the bay reefs. When they do, he trolls artificials slowly near the bottom.

Countz expects good fishing for the rest of this

Good numbers of nice trout being caught up and down coast

See TROUT, Page 11

KNOW WHERE TO LOOK: With water levels being down, anglers need experience when looking for bass on O.H. Ivie Reservoir. Photo by David J. Sams, LSON.



Anglers are missing the boat when it comes to catching trophy-sized blue catfish on Lake Ray Hubbard.

That was the sentiment of Texas Parks and Wildlife Inland Fisheries biologist Rafe Brock, whose team recently completed their biannual gill net survey on the lake for hybrids and catfish.

“Well, we consider Ray Hubbard to be one of our better catfish and hybrid striper lakes,” Brock said. “We sample it every other year, even though we are only required to gill-net it every four years. The catfish population is very good, and we already

Gill net surveys on

Ray Hubbard show great trophy blue cat fishery

UNDERRATED TROPHY SPOT: Blue cats like this one caught in a TPWD net survey on Lake Ray Hubbard are becoming more common and plenti-ful on the oft-overlooked lake. Photo by TPWD.

Lake Ray Hubbard has the blues

See BLUES, Page 11

Texas sues Feds over snapper decision

The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department and the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries and its commission joined together to file a lawsuit in United States District Court in Brownsville, Texas challenging an emergency regulation enacted by the federal National Marine Fisheries Service that, if left in place, would allow the NMFS regional administra-tor to significantly reduce the recreational red snap-per season in federal waters off the coasts of Texas and Louisiana.

“While we would prefer a cooperative regional manage-ment approach and are still hopeful that we can reach such a resolution, TPWD has a responsibility to take legal action to protect our state’s authority to manage the red snapper fishery within Texas waters,” said T. Dan Friedkin of Houston, Texas Parks and Wildlife Commission chairman. “We have heard loudly and clearly from our anglers and other stakeholders that they expect nothing less from us.”

The joint lawsuit alleges that there is no emergency to justify such a rule. The two states also allege that the emergency rule violates the federal policy of coopera-tive federalism by improperly attempting to regulate the red snapper season in state waters.

Although TPWD and LDWF are continuing to work with NMFS and the other Gulf

states on a solution, the short deadline for challeng-ing the emergency regulation required filing the lawsuit to preserve the states’ ability to address the issue in a timely and effective manner.

— TPWD

Texans rule on Texoma

Del Rio pro Tim Reneau had placed second in three previous FLW EverStart Series Texas Division events, but had never cracked the winner’s circle.

That changed April 20 on Lake Texoma, when Reneau broke through and claimed victory with a final-day sack weighing 16 pounds, 4 ounces to bring his total weight to 58 pounds, 10 ounces.

He beat second-place angler Jeff Cade from Richardson by 3 pounds, 7 ounces.

“I knew I had the bites to win, so (those second places) were pretty tough to swal-low,” Reneau said. “The way (Lindner) had been catch-ing them, I thought ‘Here’s another second,’ so this is pretty amazing.”

California pro Troy Lindner held the lead going into the final day after catching a huge sack on day one weigh-ing 27 pounds, 8 ounces.

Reneau looked for some-thing the bass hadn’t seen to catch his fish.

Reneau, who owns Del Rio-based Power Tackle, caught his day-one fish on a Strike King KVD 1.5 square-billed crankbait before switching to a Strike King titanium umbrella rig baited with Strike King caffeine shads.

— Staff report


SEE MOREn Saltwater fi shing reports: Page 14

TEXAS FRESHWATER FISHING REPORTClear water, big fi sh

HOUSTON COUNTY LAKE — According to guide Simon Cosper, the geography of the lake keeps the water clear all the

time and that makes for great fi shing. “The lake is so narrow, the weather can’t affect the water clarity,” he said.

Right now, the bass are in a post-spawn mode and are in brush piles in 10-15 feet. Cosper used prop baits and imitation frogs to catch 15-20, 3- to 4-pound largemouth bass, with a few being more than 6 pounds.

During the summer months, Cosper will continue to work the brush piles with an assortment of top-water lures and lily pads with Carolina rigs. Cosper hasn’t focused on crappie but knows they are in the shallows. While returning from his trips, he has seen other anglers fi shing the docks catching their limit of big crappie.

To contact guide Simon Cosper, call (936) 355-2889.

Everything at 24 feetLAKE TAWAKONI — While fi shing the dam to the north side, guide Jim Taylor caught the

majority of his fi sh between 20 to 24 feet. “Everything hit the shad,” Taylor said.Taylor expects the weather to push in a few fronts but knows that the lake will be back very

quickly with sunny days. “The fronts shouldn’t affect fi shing too much,” he said.

Down 24 feet, Taylor caught hybrids up to 8 pounds, blue cats up to 6 pounds and limits of white bass.

Taylor knows the key is fi nding the bait balls, with the game fi sh not far behind. Taylor caught a few crappie while fi shing for hybrids and catfi sh, and he said

the crappie are near bridge pilings and brush piles. To contact guide Jim Taylor, call (903) 355-4176.

Tough timesSTILLHOUSE HOLLOW LAKE — Guide Dave Hogge has seen

better days on Stillhouse Hollow. But better fi shing could be right around the corner.

“The grass starts growing and it is fantastic in the summer for fi shing,” he said.

Hogge has seen a lot of the bass waiting for the perfect time to spawn, but they haven’t received the right weather to do so.

When the water is in the upper 60s, Hogge uses soft plastics to catch black bass in 10-12 feet of water. The white bass bite has been good on watermelon soft plastics and minnows. The crappie bite

has been solid on minnows.The catfi sh bite has been slow.To contact guide Dave Hogge, call (254) 702-8329.

— Jacob Longoria

ALAN HENRY: Water lightly stained; 59–65 degrees; 11.28’ low. Largemouth bass are slow to fair on spinner baits, jigs and drop-shot rigs. Crappie are fair to good on live minnows.

AMISTAD: Water clear; 70–74 degrees; 53.12’ low. Largemouth bass are very good on watermelon Senkos, spinner baits, crankbaits, swimbaits and soft plastic worms and lizards. Yellow catfi sh are good on live perch.

ATHENS: Water clear, 62–67 degrees; 2.35’ low. Largemouth bass are good on green pumpkin Texas-rigged soft plastics and weightless worms. A few fi sh have been spotted on beds. Crappie are good on jigs and minnows. Catfi sh are good on cut shad.

BASTROP: Water clear; 66–70 degrees. Largemouth bass are fair on minnows and green pumpkin soft plastics. Crappie are good on minnows and chartreuse tube jigs. Channel and blue catfi sh are very good on live bait, frozen shrimp, and stinkbait.

BELTON: Water clear; 65–69 de-grees; 7.51’ low. Largemouth bass are good on watermelon crankbaits and spinner baits. White bass are good on minnows and white riversides under lights at night. Crappie are good on minnows and white riversides. Channel and blue catfi sh are good on hot dogs, shrimp, Spam and frozen shad. Yellow catfi sh are good on juglines baited with live perch.

BOB SANDLIN: Water clear; 64–68 degrees; 4.78’ low. Largemouth bass are good on Texas-rigged soft plastics.

BONHAM: Water stained, 62–66 degrees; 1.67’ low. Largemouth bass are good on weightless soft plastics, medium crankbaits and Carolina-rigged soft plastics in shallower water. Crappie are good along the bank and pier in the park, also in cattails and boat docks, and along the bridges around the lake. Best catches have been on minnows and jigs. Catfi sh are good on drifting cut bait along.

BRAUNIG: Water clear. Largemouth bass are fair on chartreuse crank-

baits and lipless crankbaits. Striped bass are good down-rigging spoons near the dam and jetty. Channel and blue catfi sh are very good on shrimp, cheesebait and cut bait.

BRIDGEPORT: Water clear; 62–67 degrees; 15.94’ low. Largemouth bass are good on crankbaits around shallow cover as well as Texas-rigged craws in Bama Bug. White bass are good on slabs. Channel catfi sh are good on trotlines.

BROWNWOOD: Water stained; 63–67 degrees; 11.11’ low. Largemouth bass to 5 pounds are good on Bass Hogg jigs, water-melon and green pumpkin soft plastics and spinner baits around docks. White bass are excellent on minnows and chartreuse jigs off Kirkland docks. Crappie are very good on minnows and chartreuse tube jigs over brush piles. Blue catfi sh to 8 pounds are good on trotlines baited with live bait. Yel-low catfi sh to 40 pounds are good on trotlines baited with live bait.

BUCHANAN: Water lightly stained; 66–70 degrees; 28.63’ low. Largemouth bass are good on Bleeding Shad lipless crankbaits, white spinner baits, and weight-less wacky-rigged green pumpkin Whacky Sticks along break lines of fl ats in 6–18 feet. Channel catfi sh are good on live bait and cut bait. Yellow and blue catfi sh are good on juglines and trotlines baited with live bait.

CALAVERAS: Water clear. Large-mouth bass are fair on watermelon red soft plastic worms and crank-baits near the park store. Blue catfi sh are good on cut bait and live bait. Yellow catfi sh are slow.

CANYON LAKE: Water lightly stained; 67–71 degrees; 9.54’ low. Largemouth bass are fair on root beer/green fl ake Baby Brush Hogs along break lines and deep fl ats in bays, and on top-waters and fl ukes in feeder creeks. White bass are good on Road Runners upriver in 5–15 feet. Crappie are fair on blue tube jigs and live minnows over brush piles. Channel catfi sh are fair in the upper end of the lake.

CEDAR CREEK: Water clear; 63–67 degrees; 3.16’ low. Largemouth bass are good on fi nesse jigs and

weightless wacky worms. White bass are good on slabs. Hybrid striper are good on live shad.

CHOKE CANYON: Water clear; 70–74 degrees; 19.34’ low. Large-mouth bass are good on water-melon spinner baits, Texas-rigged lizards and large worms. Crappie are good on minnow-tipped jigs.

COLEMAN: Water lightly stained; 65–69 degrees; 14.39’ low. Largemouth bass are slow. Hybrid striper are fair on silver striper jigs. Crappie are good on minnows.

CONROE: Water clear; 66–70 degrees; 2.97’ low. Largemouth bass are good on watermelon Carolina- and Texas-rigged soft plastics, spinner baits and lipless crankbaits. Catfi sh are good on stinkbait, liver and cheesebait.

COOPER: Water clear; 64–68 degrees; 7.83’ low. Largemouth bass are fair on weightless Senkos and wacky-rigged fi nesse worms. Crappie are fair on minnows. White bass are good on slabs. Hybrid striper are fair on live shad. Catfi sh are good on cut bait.

FALCON: Water stained; 72–76 degrees; 41.52’ low. Largemouth bass are fair on watermelon and green pumpkin soft plastics, spin-ner baits and deep-running crank-baits. Channel and blue catfi sh are excellent on frozen shrimp, stinkbait, nightcrawlers and cut bait under cormorants.

FAYETTE: Water stained. Large-mouth bass are good on pumpkin-seed soft plastic worms, spinner baits and lipless crankbaits.

FORK: Water clear; 64–69 degrees; 4.39’ low. Largemouth bass are slow on Texas-rigged craws in green pumpkin –— some fi sh being caught on beds. Best bed baits have been craws in white. Catfi sh are good on prepared bait.

GIBBONS CREEK: Water clear. Largemouth bass are fair on watermelon and green pumpkin soft plastics, spinner baits and crankbaits. Crappie are good on minnows and chartreuse tube jigs.

GRANBURY: Water stained; 64–68 degrees; 5.68’ low. Largemouth bass are good on green pumpkin soft plastics, crankbaits and lip-

less crankbaits. Catfi sh are good on doughbait, shrimp, and liver.

GRANGER: Water stained; 66–70 de-grees; 0.52’ high. Largemouth bass are fair on spinner baits around fl ooded willows near the mouth of the river. Crappie are good on char-treuse jigs in coves and sloughs. Blue catfi sh are good on prepared bait and shad in 4–15 feet. Yellow catfi sh are good on trotlines baited with live bait upriver.

GRAPEVINE: Water clear; 63–67 degrees; 5.34’ low. Largemouth bass are good on Texas-rigged Baby Brush Hogs and square-billed crankbaits near rocky points. Crappie are good on jigs. Catfi sh are good on cut shad.

JOE POOL: Water clear; 64–68 de-grees; 0.62’ low. Largemouth bass are good on Texas-rigged soft plas-tics. White bass are good on jigs.

LAVON: Water lightly stained; 64–69 degrees; 7.76’ low. Largemouth bass are slow on white bladed jigs. Catfi sh are good on trotlines.

LBJ: Water clear; 66–70 degrees; 0.35’ low. Largemouth bass are good on chartreuse top-waters, watermelon fl ukes and green pumpkin tubes along break lines of fl ats. Crappie are good on minnows and chartreuse/white tube jigs over brush piles. Channel catfi sh are good on live bait and stinkbait. Yellow and blue catfi sh are good on trotlines baited with live bait.

LEWISVILLE: Water clear; 62–67 de-grees; 4.82’ low. Largemouth bass are good on fl ipping jigs, Texas rigs and shallow crankbaits. White bass are good on slabs and jigs.

LIVINGSTON: Water fairly clear; 66–70 degrees; 0.23’ high. Large-mouth bass are good on water-melon spinner baits, soft plastics and lipless crankbaits. Crappie are good on minnows and blue tube jigs.

MARTIN CREEK: Water clear; 71–78 degrees; 1.53’ low. Large-mouth bass are fair on bladed jigs and spinner baits in shallow areas. Catfi sh are good on prepared bait.

MONTICELLO: Water fairly clear; 62–66 degrees; 0.23’ high. Largemouth bass are fair on Texas-rigged lizards and top-water

poppers around shallow timber. Crappie are good on jigs. Catfi sh are good on cut bait.

NAVARRO MILLS: Water lightly stained; 65–69 degrees; 0.55’ low. Largemouth bass are fair on watermelon and pumpkinseed crankbaits and spinner baits near the dam. Blue catfi sh are good on trotlines and juglines baited with minnows and shrimp. Yellow catfi sh are good on trotlines baited with perch and goldfi sh.

O.H. IVIE: Water stained; 59–64 de-grees; 36.77’ low. Largemouth bass are fair on shaky heads, jigs, lipless crankbaits and Texas rigs. Crappie are fair to good on minnows and jigs.

OAK CREEK: Water stained; 58–63 degrees; 18.42’ low. Largemouth bass are fair on spinner baits, Texas rigs and jigs. Crappie are good on jigs and live minnows over brush piles. Catfi sh are good on chartreuse nightcrawlers and prepared bait.

PALESTINE: Water clear; 64–68 degrees; 0.71’ low. Largemouth bass are fair on shaky heads around docks. Crappie are good on minnows and jigs. Hybrid striper are good on slabs. White bass are good on jigs.

POSSUM KINGDOM: Water fairly clear; 59–65 degrees; 10.33’ low. Largemouth bass are fair on medi-um-running crankbaits, drop-shot rigs and Texas rigs. Crappie are fair to good on minnows and jigs. White bass are fair to good on slabs.

PROCTOR: Water lightly stained; 63–67 degrees; 3.63’ low. Largemouth bass are good on watermelon crankbaits off points. White bass are good on live shad. Crappie are good on minnows.

RAY HUBBARD: Water clear; 63–67 degrees; 3.47’ low. Largemouth bass are good on Texas-rigged soft plastics and jigs. Crappie are good on min-nows. White bass are good on 1 oz. slabs. Hybrid striper are good on slabs. Catfi sh are good on cut shad.

RAY ROBERTS: Water clear; 63–68 degrees; 3.99’ low. Largemouth bass are good on Texas-rigged lizards along creek channels with timber. White bass are good on slabs.

RICHLAND CHAMBERS: Water clear; 62–67 degrees; 5.23’ low.

Largemouth bass are slow on shal-low crankbaits and spinner baits. White bass are good on slabs. Crappie are good on minnows. Catfi sh are good on prepared bait.

SAM RAYBURN: Water lightly stained; 66–70 degrees; 1.63’ low. Largemouth bass are fair on water-melon Senkos, lizards and Brush Hogs. White bass are good on silver slabs. Crappie are good on minnows and white tube jigs in shallow areas. Bream are good on nightcrawlers and crickets. Catfi sh are good on trotlines baited with nightcrawlers.

SOMERVILLE: Water murky; 67–71 degrees; 1.94’ low. Largemouth bass are fair on chartreuse lipless crankbaits and crankbaits. White bass are good on slabs and pet spoons. Channel and blue catfi sh are good on stinkbait and shrimp.

TEXOMA: Water clear; 61–66 de-grees; 4.94’ low. Largemouth bass are slow on Texas-rigged soft plas-tics and weightless soft plastics. Striped bass are good on slabs.

TOLEDO BEND: Water lightly stained; 63–67 degrees; 1.74’ low. Largemouth bass are good on green pumpkin soft plastics and crankbaits. Crappie are good on minnows and chartreuse jigs. Channel and blue catfi sh are good on trotlines baited with live bait, cut bait, and shrimp.

TRAVIS: Water clear; 66–70 de-grees; 50.07’ low. Largemouth bass are good on watermelon crankbaits and chartreuse top-waters in 8–16 feet. White bass are good on chrome jigging spoons and white jigs. Crappie are good on minnows.

WHITNEY: Water lightly stained; 64–68 degrees; 8.77’ low. Large-mouth bass are fair on chartreuse and pumpkinseed Texas- and Carolina-rigged soft plastics. Crap-pie are good on minnows.

— TPWD


month and into May. “May is one of the better

months,” he said. “It’s a lot warmer, causing more bait activity.”

If anglers like to wade, Countz recommends East Bay. He has seen specks up to 28 inches caught by people wading the south shore using soft plastic and top-waters.

The Lower Laguna Madre seems to be the place to head out early, fish and catch a limit before lunch-time.

Capt. Charles Quinn has been fishing the south end of the Lower Laguna Madre near the causeway early in the mornings. The trout have been hungry and biting hard, according to Quinn.

Quinn is using live shrimp on popping corks and scented plas-tics. He has been regularly catching 24-inch trout in 2 feet of water.

Dean Muckleroy, (281) 660-4280Tommy Countz, (281) 450-4037Charles Quinn, (956) 456-9414

BluesContinued From Page 9

TroutContinued From Page 8

know that, but we like to check on the hybrids because the stockings have been cut back.”

Brock said the trophy blue cat population might not be as publi-cized as places like Lake Tawakoni, but if you want to catch a big fish, Ray Hubbard is a great choice.

“We found good numbers of big fish,” he said. “Thirty-seven pounds was the biggest, but we also found a lot of fish in the 10-, 15-, 20-pound range. It seems we are catching big-ger ones this year as opposed to two years ago.

“Before, we had a lot of 5- and 10-pound fish. Now, we are seeing that age class reach into the 15- to 20-pound class.”

Recruitment is also good, accord-ing to Brock.

“The catfish are feeding on giz-zard shad, threadfin shad and prob-ably some yellow bass,” he said. “I would assume they are mowing those down. We saw lots of fish in the 15-inch range, which tells us the population is in really good shape.”

In all, TPWD biologists netted 124 blue catfish, with a catch rate of 8.3 fish per night. The biggest fish was a 36-pound, 3-ounce monster that was released back into the lake.

“All of our nets were randomly set all over the lake,” Brock added. “We caught blue cats all over — on the East Fork, in the main lake south of I-30 and in the creeks.”

Anglers on the lake mostly target largemouth bass and hybrids.

New lake record blue cat on LewisvilleBy Conor HarrisonLone Star outdoor newS

Elm Mott angler Chris Fuller just wanted to catch a few catfish on his brother’s birthday trip last month on Lewisville Lake with guide Bobby Kubin of Bobby’s Catfish Guide Service.

He didn’t realize he’d soon have the new catch-and-release lake record to brag about. He was just hoping to beat his brother Donnie’s ear-lier catch of a 38-pounder.

“It was a cold day that morning,” Fuller said. “We

were fishing with cut shad and right before the big one hit, my brother caught one 38 pounds. I said, ‘I can’t let my brother beat me’ about 10 seconds before the rod bent.”

Fuller said the big fish almost spooled the reel, taking all of the line right to the end before tiring and coming to the boat.

“This one is going to need the net,” Fuller said as the big cat got close to the boat. “Bobby’s client caught the old lake record last year, so he knew as

61 pounds, 2 ounces just misses state catch-and-release marksoon as we weighed it that it was the new record. We just weren’t sure about the state record.”

After weighing the fish at 61 pounds, 2 ounces and measuring the length at 47 3/4 inches, the big blue cat was released alive and healthy. It was 2 ounces shy of a state mark.

“I couldn’t believe how big the fish was,” he said. “I’ve never had an expe-rience like that. I caught a 52-pound cat on Cedar Creek, but this one was a lot bigger. And we caught

a lot of catfish. We probably threw back more than 300 pounds of fish — anything over 20 pounds went back in the lake.

“I still came home with 40 pounds of fillets.”

Fuller said the fishing trip will now be a twice-a-year trip for he and his brother. Even with catching the new lake record, Chris still had one regret on the day.

“I wish my brother would have caught it,” he said. “It was his birthday present. But that just gives us a good excuse to get back out there.” LET HER GO: Chris Fuller, right, has help from his brother Donny to hoist his record

catch. Photo by Chris Fuller.


MEN FISHING COULDN’T RESIST THE DUCKS

Near Sam Rayburn Reservoir, Sabine County Game Warden Sam Smith observed two subjects fishing from the bank. As Smith checked the subjects’ fishing licenses, he heard gunshots nearby. Smith finished the contact and walked through the thick brush in the direction of the gunshots. Smith observed five men standing near the water; two of the men were fishing. Smith waited and another shot rang out. One of the men was shooting at ducks that were in the water. Smith announced his presence and made contact with the men. The men did not have fishing licenses, and two of them admitted to shooting ducks off the water. Cases pending.

DEER BREEDER FAILED TO PROPERLY TAG, MOVE DEER

Atascosa County Game Warden Derek Iden came across a parked trailer with live deer at a gas station. The breeder deer were being shipped to a buyer. The deer had apparent ear tag violations, and Iden escorted the load back to the deer breeder facility in Atascosa County. Twenty deer were offloaded back into a holding pen, where Iden discovered another 20 deer being held. In less than 24 hours, the Law Enforcement and Wildlife divisions worked together to handle all 40 breeder deer. Twelve deer were set aside for further investigation. Iden issued the deer breeder 42 cita-tions for having adult deer without any unique numbers and moving deer out of the facility without any indication of a tattoo in an ear. The driver of the load was cited for failing to mark the trailer with “TXD.”

MAN CAUGHT KEEPING BIG BLACK DRUM Nueces County Game Warden Scott

Lindner responded to a call regarding an individual retaining oversized black drum on a fishing pier in the Laguna Madre. Lindner located an individual who had in his possession three over-

sized black drum ranging in size from 35 to 38 inches. Additionally, the man did not have a valid fishing license and saltwater endorsement. Cases pending.

AD TO BUY DEER MEAT COMES BACK TO HAUNT BUYER

Tarrant County Game Wardens Patricia Vannoy and David Vannoy worked covertly to apprehend an indi-vidual soliciting to purchase white-tailed deer meat. The wardens contacted the man after his ad was found on a popu-lar Internet site. A meeting was arranged, and the man agreed to purchase various forms of deer meat from the warden pos-ing as the seller. The cash from the sale was seized, and the case is pending.

FOLLOW THE BEER CAN ROADWhile checking white bass fishermen

on the Neches River, Smith County Game Wardens Chris Swift and Dustin Dockery observed four subjects who were trespassing and fishing. Following a trail of empty beer cans, the war-dens made contact with the subjects — none of whom had a fishing license. Several fish were returned to the river and citations were issued. Later that evening, the wardens observed a truck driving through a pasture with red and blue lights flashing. The volun-teer fire chief was sent on a call for

two lost fishermen. The wardens were able to determine that the two subjects were some of the fishermen they had checked earlier. The subjects were lost in an oxbow in the river, did not have a flashlight, and had been walking in cir-cles. Swift and Dockery returned to the area and located the men. A local bow fisherman’s airboat was utilized in help-ing get the subjects across the river.

CATFISH RUSTLER FROM JUG LINE CAUGHTTarrant County Game Warden David

Vannoy contacted the operator of a vessel that displayed an expired regis-tration decal on Joe Pool Lake. Vannoy also discovered that the man was in possession of a large blue catfish. The issue arose when Vannoy found that he had caught the fish from a jug line that did not belong to him. The subject did not have a fishing license. The fish was seized, and cases are pending.

BOAT REGISTRATION BLUNDERWhile conducting a water safety

inspection of a vessel on Joe Pool Lake, Tarrant County Game Warden David Vannoy discovered that the vessel’s registration was not quite right. The operator stated that he had recently acquired the vessel but hadn’t trans-ferred the title or registration. What the subject did transfer, however, were cur-

rent registration decals from another boat to the new boat to cover up the actual expired decals. Claiming that this was the way the boat came to him, the man could no longer deny wrong-doing once Vannoy informed him that the decal in question had his name on it in TPWD’s database. Case pending.

ROADKILL WITH A BULLETMilam County Game Warden Charlie

Mayer received a call from a sheriff’s deputy who had a vehicle stopped that had a freshly killed buck in the bed of the truck. Mayer responded and sepa-rated the three passengers and got each of their stories. They all said they had picked up the deer from the side of the road after it was hit by a car. There was no weapon in the truck, just a spot-light. There were no apparent injuries to the deer other than a bullet wound in the deer’s neck. After about an hour of discussion with the three passengers, the driver gave up. Mayer was taken to the rifle that they had stashed, and he received statements from the three pas-sengers. Case pending.

TRESPASSERS SHOOT AXIS ACROSS RIVER, USE BOAT TO RETRIEVE

Kimble County Game Warden Tyler Zaruba received a phone call from a landowner reporting three

men had shot across the South Llano River and were in a boat pad-dling across the river to retrieve an axis doe. After a short investigation, the firearm and axis were seized. Cases pending.

WHAT’S A SLOT LIMIT?AND I NEED A LICENSE?

While patrolling Lake Pinkston, Shelby County Game Warden Nathan Skeen stopped a boat with two occu-pants for a water safety inspection. Upon inspecting the day’s catch, he found they had six bass, all in the restricted slot of 14–21 inches, and one occupant did not possess a valid fishing license. The live fish were released back into the lake. Cases and civil restitution pending.

THOSE ARE REALLY SMALL TURKEYSZavalla County Game Warden Chris

Stautzenberger received information that persons were hunting dove dur-ing turkey season. Stautzenberger witnessed the suspects hunting, real-ized he had dealt with these suspects before and called Uvalde County Game Warden Javier Fuentes to assist. Stautzenberger made contact with the hunters, who insisted that they were tur-key hunting. However, several dove were found in their possession. Charges filed.

SEARCH FOR DRUGS ALSO FINDS DEER, DOVE

During the execution of a search warrant, Austin Police Department officers discovered a freshly killed deer in a cooler and a mourning dove in a chest freezer, along with a kilo of cocaine. Travis County Game Warden Jeff Hill was called. The dove was suspected of being shot in the resi-dential neighborhood with a pellet gun. Numerous semi-automatic rifles and handguns were seized with the narcotics. Dozens of fighting roost-ers and a sewage leak added to the squalid living conditions the drug dealer was living in. Cases pending.

GAME WARDEN BLOTTER

Kenedy County Game Warden Matt Strauss received a call regarding possible poaching on a local ranch. Strauss and Brooks County Game Warden Royce Ilse made contact with the ranch foreman. The foreman showed them a vehicle gun scabbard that he found that morning. The scabbard was covered with what appeared to be deer blood and hair. Also found on the road next to the scabbard was a hot-flavored potato chip and tire tracks not consistent with any vehicle on the property. The wardens proceeded to the adjoining property and located a hunting jeep that matched the

tire tread. In the back of the jeep, the wardens found blood, deer hair and two spent .22 shell casings. A dozen or so hot-flavored chips were scattered on the floorboard. The wardens then found four subjects who had been hired to build a sidewalk at the camp. After some questioning, the subjects admitted to taking the jeep out the night before without permission of the property owner, using a .22 Henry rifle from the lodge, and shooting a doe around 12:30 a.m. The wardens located the deer hide, gut pile and the rest of the deer meat. Multiple citations issued.

WORKERS BORROW JEEP, RIFLE TO SHOOT DEER, BUT POTATO CHIPS GIVE THEM AWAY



TEXAS SALTWATER FISHING REPORT

NORTH SABINE: Trout are fair to good on the Louisiana shoreline on top-waters and Corkies. Flounder are fair on jigs tipped with shrimp around marsh drains.SOUTH SABINE: Sheepshead, redfi sh and black drum are good at the jetty on live shrimp. Trout are fair to good around Garrison Ridge on top-waters and Corkies.BOLIVAR: Trout are fair to good on the south shoreline on soft plastics and plugs. Black drum and redfi sh are good at Rollover Pass.TRINITY BAY: Trout are good for drifters work-ing pods of shad and mullet on soft plastics and twitchbaits. Catfi sh are good in the marsh on shrimp.EAST GALVESTON BAY: Trout are good on the south shoreline on Catch 5s, MirrOlures and Catch 2000s. Whiting and sand trout are good on the edge of the Intracoastal on fresh shrimp. Black drum are fair to good in the Ship Channel on crabs.

WEST GALVESTON BAY: Trout are fair to good for drifters working shell on live shrimp. Sheepshead, redfi sh and black drum are good at the jetty on shrimp and crabs. Redfi sh are good in the back lakes on shrimp and scented plastics.TEXAS CITY: Redfi sh are good in Moses Lake on shrimp and mullet. Croaker, sheepshead, black drum and redfi sh are good in the chan-nel on natural baits.FREEPORT: Sand trout and sheepshead are good on live shrimp on the reefs in Christmas Bay. Black drum are good at the jetties on cracked blue crabs.EAST MATAGORDA BAY: Trout are fair for drift-ers in the back lakes on live shrimp. Redfi sh are fair to good on the edge of the Intracoastal on crabs and mullet. Bigger trout have been taken by waders on top-waters.WEST MATAGORDA BAY: Redfi sh are fair to good on the edge of Oyster Lake on shrimp

and crabs. Black drum and redfi sh are fair to good at the jetty on crabs. Trout are fair on the south shoreline on live shrimp.PORT O’CONNOR: Trout and redfi sh are fair on soft plastics over soft mud. Trout and redfi sh are fair for drifters working the back lakes with live shrimp.ROCKPORT: Trout are fair to good in Morris–Cummings Cut on free–lined shrimp. Black drum are good in the Lydia Ann Channel on crabs. Redfi sh are good in the back of Allyn’s Bight.PORT ARANSAS: Black drum are good in the Shrimpboat Channel on crabs and fi nger mul-let. Redfi sh and sheepshead are fair to good at the jetty on shrimp.CORPUS CHRISTI: Trout are fair to good on the edge of the spoils on Scented plastics and live shrimp. Black drum and redfi sh are fair to good in the Packery Channel on crabs.BAFFIN BAY: Trout are fair to good for waders

tossing plastics over sand and grass along the Upper Laguna Madre shoreline. Black drum are good in the Land Cut on crabs. Trout are fair to good in the Land Cut on live shrimp.

PORT MANSFIELD: Trout are fair to good on top-waters around sand and grass south of the harbor. Redfi sh are fair to good while drifting pot holes. Black drum and redfi sh are good on crabs at East Cut.

SOUTH PADRE: Trout are good around the spoil islands, channel edges and color changes on DOA Shrimp and scented plastics. Black drum, redfi sh and jack crevalle are fair at the jetty. Flounder are fair to good on the spoils along the ICW.

PORT ISABEL: Trout and redfi sh are fair to good at Gas Well Flats on live shrimp. Redfi sh are fair at Mexiquita Flats and South Bay on DOA Shrimp, scented plastics and live shrimp.

— TPWD

Waiting on bigger croakerESTES FLATS — Capt. Larry Robinson is waiting for

the croaker to get a little bit bigger. When they do, it is a sign that the trout bite is about to pick up.

“They need to be big enough to grunt,” he said.Robinson anticipated by the fi rst of May, the fi sh-

ing in the Aransas Bay and Estes fl ats will be going strong. Currently, Robinson has been fi shing the fl ats with cut mullet, catch-ing slot redfi sh in 1 to 1 1/2 feet of water. Robinson recommends using cut menhaden if anglers can fi nd any. He says that boaters catch a lot of menhaden, but it sells out quickly in local bait shops.

The black drum bite has been good along shallow shorelines. Robinson uses dead shrimp along the shorelines looking for traveling schools.

The weather has brought in a few fronts, giving the water an off-color that Robinson prefers. “That off-color holds the fi sh in that area,” said Robinson. To contact Capt. Larry Robinson, call 361-549-4389.

Getting better everyday WEST BAY — With the water being very muddy, Capt. Ron Ward evaluates if and where the

fi sh moved since his last trip. Anglers have had a tough time getting out to their spot when the winds blow from the north.

The fi sh scatter, making it hard to fi sh the schools, according to Ward.The sand trout bite has been decent on live shrimp. Ward is catching redfi sh up to 28

inches on cut shad.“The redfi sh like it a little muddy,” he said. Ward knows April is not his best fi shing month of the year, but he expects the

fi shing will get better as the month comes to a close. “April is a windy month,” he said. “May is better and June is even better.”

To contact Capt. Ron Ward, call (409) 698-7124.

High salinityALAZAN BAY/BAFFIN BAY — Capt. Les Cobb has expe-

rienced the pain and frustration of fi shing Baffi n Bay and its surrounding waters.

“It is some hard fi shing,” he said. “You have to just grind it out.”Cobb said the brown tide and the high salinity in Baffi n Bay and in the back bays have kept the

area hard to fi sh. Because of it, the sand bars in areas of Alazan Bay have disappeared and the grass has died.

The winds have caused the back bays to be extremely muddy, making it very diffi cult to deter-mine where to fi sh.

“All it takes is a puff of wind to muddy up that water,” he said. Cobb has to do some prospecting before going out, but recently he used multi-colored top-

waters to catch trout up to 8 pounds. He said everyone is looking for that trophy trout. The redfi sh are in the muddy, shallow fl ats and are biting on small top-waters and soft plastics.

The drum are in the 4 to 6 feet of water biting on dead shrimp along the coasts of Baffi n Bay. To contact Capt. Les Cobb, call (361) 548-5511.

— Jacob Longoria

Sponsored by

ing in the Aransas Bay and Estes fl ats will be going strong.


crappie are currently in a full-on spawn. Crappie are being caught in shallow water under boat docks and above brush piles using Stanley Wedgetail jigs.

On Lake Ray Roberts, the crappie are in the middle of their spawning season.

Guide Paul O’Bier fished the north part of the lake in the shallow waters from 6 inches

to 3 feet with black/chartreuse and white/chartreuse jigs around structure.

O’Bier has been catching more males than females on his trips. The males being caught are 1 to 1 1/2 pounds compared to 2-pound females. O’Bier knows not all of the females are ready to spawn.

“The females haven’t all moved up yet,” he said.

The water clarity is lightly stained from the north end to the dam, but O’Beir pre-fers the water to be a little

CrappieContinued From Page 1

WHAT DEPTH? Crappie are biting at different depths throughout the day as the sun heats the water and the fish move to spawning areas. Photo by Conor Harrison, LSON.

stained. “In the clear water, they are easy to

spook,” he said. The water temperature is 68 to 69

degrees, with the small variances not affecting the movement of the fish. As the water temperature rises, more crappie will go to their protected areas.

Granger Lake has been described as “slow” by guide Dave Biester.

According to Biester, Granger Lake is at the end stage of its crappie spawn, so anglers have to be patient. The spawn started two weeks ago, so Biester is catching post-spawn females with very few eggs. The crappie, not as shal-low as other lakes, are being caught in 6 to 12 feet of water using jigs and live minnows over brush piles.

Biester knows that crappie get stressed after a spawning season, which causes them not to eat. He expects the crappie bite to pick up for the next few weeks.

“The bite will stay hard all the way to September,” he said.

On Cedar Creek, guide Claude Locke is taking advantage of the crappie in the shallows but warns anglers that it won’t last forever.

“The bite will be on for about a week to 10 days,” he said. “Then they will go back deep.”

Locke has been catching mostly males in the shallows, but he said the females are mostly full of eggs. Locke believes that the female crappie don’t respond well at this stage of the spawn. He uses the spawning season to only catch crappie he is going to eat.

“I don’t need to catch them all,” he said. “You have to throw some back to keep them around.”

Locke fished 2 to 2 1/2 feet of water using live minnows. He says that anglers can find success on jigs but nothing is better than their real food.

The water clarity on the lake is a lit-tle stained but clears up quickly after sunny days.

Paul O’Bier, (972) 816-2481Dave Biester, (512) 826-5326Claude Locke, (214) 762-9411

Water temperatures have been between 67 and 70 degrees in Galveston Bay, but Capt. Michael Meza ideally wants those tempera-tures between 72 and 75 degrees. When it hits that mark, he believes the fish become very predictable.

“They all go to the reefs,” said Meza. “Then the croaker bite is on until mid-May.”

The redfish have been very picky in the area, according to Meza.

He has been getting them to bite on soft plastics. But he noticed that one day they bite on one color and another day they don’t bite on that color at all.

“If they don’t bite, change your lure color accordingly,” said Meza.

Lighter colors have been the ticket.The trout in the area are in the

shallows less than 5 feet in sandy green water. Even though the trout are shallow, the visibility of the water is only about 2 feet. The low visibility doesn’t affect the bite and anglers have to know that trout will still be there, biting on soft plastics around reefs.

In West Bay, the magic number

is 72, according to Capt. Thomas Barlow. At 72 degrees the water tem-perature is perfect for fishing, he said. Barlow also said the shad have started moving, which has him excited about the fishing.

Since early March, the flounder have been visible in 3 to 5 feet of water. Barlow found the flounder biting hard on bright-tailed soft plas-tics during low tide in marsh greens.

“Since the new limits for the November closure, the flounder have rebounded great,” he said.

The trout bite in all of the Galveston Bay complex depends on the wind. Barlow has been heading to shallow water throwing red shad soft plastics and catching good numbers of trout up to 26 inches.

Barlow has also found schooling redfish — some schools with larger fish and some full of slot-sized reds. Depending on what size redfish his customers want to reel in, Barlow targets those specific schools. He has been catching redfish in 1 to 3 feet of water with top-waters.

Barlow said the redfish are strik-ing harder on lighter-colored lures.

Gary Francis, (979) 201-6960Michael Meza, (281) 904-6925Thomas Barlow, (281) 827-6815

GalvestonContinued From Page 1

STRINGERS TO BE HAD: Throw soft plastics around shallow reefs and shell bottoms for trout this month in Galveston. Photo by David J. Sams, LSON.


followed by another drought.”Nelle studied the land burned

in three of the major fi res, the Wildcat, Oasis and Deaton Cole, and said his conclusions should not have been a big surprise.

“Henry Wright out of Texas Tech wrote Fire Ecology, consid-ered the bible on Texas wildfi res,” he said. “He studied fi res in times of drought and found the recov-ery of grasses and rhizomes takes three years after the rains return.”

Nelle said soil moisture is the key.“If there is adequate soil mois-

ture at the time of the burn and afterwards, there will be a quick recovery,” he said.

When the moisture isn’t there, though, the damages are stagger-ing, the recovery is delayed and plants die.

“In the area of the Wildcat fi re, a miraculous 7-inch rain was received one month later,” he said. “Still, since there was no soil moisture at the time of the fi re, 72 percent of the shallow grasses were dead. On the steep slopes, up to 100 percent died.”

Soil erosion followed. “Bad things happen when rain-

drops strike bare ground,” Nelle said. “Much of the life of the ranch was washed to the bottoms like lava fl ows of mud.”

Areas of the other fi res didn’t receive the big rain and did not see the new growth.

“A lot of grass and habitat went up in smoke and a lot of soil went downhill,” he said.

Forbs and woody plants fared better than grasses after the fi res.

“New forbs came out within weeks and woody plants after sev-eral weeks, even before any of the rains,” he said. “The deer subsisted on them. And, on a positive note, other desirable plants popped up that took advantage of the cedar canopy removal.”

Nelle, a proponent of the use of prescribed burns, cautioned those who believe in them during the Texas summer.

“They are a great tool if used right,” he said. “But make sure there is adequate moisture in the soil, and defi nitely not in the sum-mer during a drought.”

After examining the areas in April, Nelle said there are signs of recovery, but very slow signs.

“It’s dry, but there are grasses there, just not the top-tier grasses,” he said. “The fi res plus the drought has caused a severe economic and emotional impact.

“One rancher told me the even-tual recovery of the land is assured, but added, ‘will any of us live to see it?’”

West TexasContinued From Page 4

Gillam said his group did not run into hordes of jakes, but he said the ranch manager reported he had been seeing them all spring.

“I think most of the hens have been bred,” he said. “That should have made the hunting really good, but we saw a lot of mature birds that didn’t act like spring turkeys. They acted like fall turkeys.”

Reports from the Hill Country were solid during the last few weekends of the sea-son. Gobbling action was good around Fredericksburg, accord-ing to one hunter.

He said the birds were hot and

gobbled well on the roost, then again around midday. Most of the hens had been bred and if you got a bird to gobble at your calling, there was a great chance he was coming, although the big toms were leery of decoys.

Farther north, good reports of gobbling have come from counties just south of the Red River, especially in Grayson County.

In the Eastern Panhandle, hunters who have access to roost sites reported good suc-cess as the season goes on, espe-cially on the river bottoms of the Canadian River.

Although some toms are still henned up, many hens are breaking off midmorn-ing to nest, and hunters have taken advantage of lonely toms searching for love.

JakesContinued From Page 4

FEED ME: Having already been bred in many areas, hens are sitting on nests and feeding when corn is on the ground. Photo by David J. Sams, LSON.

Executive EditorManaging EditorAssociate EditorGraphics Editor

Business/Products EditorIntern

Operations ManagerAccounting

Website

Automotive AdvertisingFounder & CEO

Craig NyhusConor HarrisonMark EnglandAmy MooreMary Helen AguirreJacob LongoriaMike HughsGinger HoolanBruce SoileauMike Nelson

Dave IrvineDavid J. Sams

National Advertising Accounts Manager

Lone Star Outdoor News, ISSN 2162-8300, a publication of Lone Star Outdoor News, LLC, publishes twice a month. A mailed subscription is $30 for 24 issues. Newsstand copies are $2, in certain mar-kets copies are free, one per person. Copy-right 2013 with all rights reserved. Repro-duction and/or use of any photographic or written material without written permission by the publisher is prohibited. Subscribers may send address changes to: Lone Star Outdoor News, P.O. Box 551695, Dallas, TX 75355 or email them to [email protected].


The slam included trophy hunts for pronghorn, mule deer, white-tail and the ultimate prize, the desert bighorn.

All of the hunts were completed last season, but the bighorn adven-ture at the Sierra Diablo Wildlife Management Area last summer tops the list.

Schweitzer chose his father-in-law to accompany him on the trip.

“He had guided in Alaska and was in good shape,” he said.

The hunt was nowhere near easy.

“I work out all the time, but learned my body wasn’t totally pre-pared for the mountains,” he said. “It was July and we hiked seven to 12 miles each day through rough terrain — I was kind of winded.”

The first day brought rains the area hadn’t seen in years and included getting the truck stuck.

“They said I was good luck in bringing the rain,” he said.

Several animals were seen, but not the one the guides were look-ing for.

“And I got a spine or some-thing in my knee,” Schweitzer

said. “It swelled up pretty good.”Halfway through the second day,

guide Clay Brewer saw the ram they were seeking and told Schweitzer the shot would be 220 yards.

“I said, ‘Let’s go.’”Then it got tough.“Clay said we would have to

belly crawl on a cliff, and then he asked if I was OK with rock climb-ing,” Schweitzer said. “I said OK and he replied, ‘If you fall, you aren’t coming home.’”

They crawled, climbed and crept around a cliff and saw the ram across a ravine on another mountain.

“I leaned over the cliff around a large rock to shoot,” Schweitzer said. “When he got up he was looking right at me.”

“Shoot when you’re ready,” Brewer told him.

“I made the shot and felt really good about it,” Schweitzer said. “But the ram began running off.”

The group went around the mountain, got close to the area of the shot and saw blood, but the day was over.

“And I got a spine from another

plant jammed in my other leg,” Schweitzer said. “That night, I began to worry and have second thoughts, wondering if I didn’t make a good shot.”

The next day’s search came up empty.

“We were baffled,” Schweitzer said.On the fourth day, still nothing.“I didn’t want to be the only

unsuccessful winner of this hunt,” he said. “I was hobbling on both legs and everyone had pretty much given up — I think they were just going through the motions.”

The last day of the hunt, the group went to the bottom of the mountain and fanned out, while Schweitzer and a guide took the truck to the top to glass. They then heard Schweitzer’s father-in-law yelling on the radio.

“I thought he had either bro-ken his leg or was eye-to-eye with a mountain lion,” Schweitzer said.

Hurrying back down and wor-ried, they heard the voice of guide Mike Pittman on the radio.

“I thought it said congratula-tions,” he said. “I asked him to repeat it.”

He heard correctly.“It turned out, my father-in-law

was going up a ravine, looked to his right, and saw the ram on top of a giant white rock,” he said. “It was visible from a half-mile away with the glasses.”

The shot ended up being good but the ram bled internally, explaining the difficulty of the search.

“The fact that my father-in-law found it made it great,” he said. “Although I’ll hear about it for the rest of my life.”

And Schweitzer’s first stop where he returned home was a trip to the emergency room to get the spines pulled out of his legs.

BighornContinued From Page 1

SHEEP SUCCESS: Guides glass the Sierra Diablo, looking for big-horns. After the long search for the ram was over, TPWD officials scored the bighorn at 164 4/16. Photos by Britton Schweitzer.


HEROES

MCKINZEE ORSAG, 8, of New Braunfels, took her first deer, a 9-point buck, in Bee County near Beeville on Jan. 3.

SHARE AN ADVENTUREn Want to share hunting and fishing photos with other Lone Star

Outdoor News readers? Email them with contact and caption information to [email protected]. High-resolution original jpegs only. Mail prints to Heroes, Lone Star Outdoor News, P.O. Box 551695, Dallas, TX 75355.

Ten-year-old MICHAEL BALLOW took this great buck Thanksgiving Day at a ranch in Henderson County.

CODY SEKULA, 7, took his second buck, this 10-point, at 100 yards with one shot from a .223.

Austin hunter AARON YOUNG took his first deer this past season in Uvalde.

TEDDY HENDERSON and his friend MEMPHIS THARPE caught these two nice Guadalupe rainbows below Canyon Dam.

COLE COOPER, 12, took his first gobbler with an 11-inch beard and a feral hog within minutes of each other during last spring’s youth season.

This big, 34-inch axis was taken near Roosevelt on a low-fenced ranch by JOSH SCATES in December.

JAYCE TOSCANO caught this 29-inch trout at the end of the North Jetty in Port Aransas on March 15 using live shrimp on a lemon rig.

Friends (from left to right) MEA GONZALES, ALYSA RAMIREZ and DESTINIE GONZALES were fishing at Camp Huaco on the Guadalupe River when they caught these fish.



A recent spate of headline-making drug busts by Texas Parks and Wildlife Department game wardens has cast light upon the fact that the group does a whole lot more than just chase poachers and check boaters.

Earlier this month, wardens seized more than two tons of mar-ijuana from a drug house in Starr County.

“A game warden received infor-mation that marijuana was being stashed at a residence in the Salineno area. Game wardens then requested assistance from the U.S. Border Patrol,” said TPWD Maj. Alan Teague.

The bust was one of the largest in state history, but busting drug deal-ers, assisting sheriff departments with a range of cases and appre-hending illegal aliens is just part of the job for many game wardens.

“Texas game wardens routinely come across illegal drug smug-gling operations, especially in rural areas and along the border region,” said Chief of Special Operations Grahame Jones, “but this seizure was particularly significant.”

Game wardens say it varies by area how much they need to assist other law enforcement depart-ments, with wardens in the border and rural counties helping more than in urban areas.

“Since 9/11, we do a lot besides wild-life enforcement,” said state Game Warden Chris Swift. “We receive fund-ing from the Department of Homeland Security. We’re state police officers too, which a lot of people don’t know.”

Swift said wardens routinely deal with drugs.

“It depends on the county, but in some counties we deal with a lot of meth, a lot of dope, et cetera. We try and stay out of town and deal-ing with things like domestic dis-putes, but in rural counties, there might only be one deputy working and one game warden on patrol. Then we absolutely will assist.”

Along the border, the need for game wardens to be ready for any-thing is heightened.

“On those border counties, we deal with dope a lot,” Swift added. “We could be checking boats at night for illegal gill nets, but we are also looking for drugs. It’s not exactly just checking bass fishermen.”

Capt. Ramiro Coronado over-sees wardens in Starr, Jim Hogg and Zapata counties, and said he can’t put an exact percentage on how much time wardens spend dealing with wildlife violations as opposed to other criminal activity.

“Typically, it is anywhere between none and a full day,” he said. “One day we could spend eight hours on non-wildlife stuff and the next day we spend eight hours checking anglers on a border lake.”

Coronado said wardens typi-cally work closely with agents from other agencies such as Border Patrol, Department of Homeland Security and local sheriff’s offices.

“Human smuggling is a big prob-lem,” he said. “It’s not just Mexicans. There are a lot of other nationalities that come through Mexico. With that comes the drug smuggling.”

Coronado said the grant money his department receives goes toward equipment such as new boats for patrolling and outfitting our people in the field. “The sequester has not hit us, yet,” he said

The alleged drug dealers arrested in the large marijuana bust were turned over to Border Patrol.

“We certainly appreciate the assis-tance of the Border Patrol in this case,” said Lt. Col. Danny Shaw. “TPWD has a close working relationship with the Border Patrol and other law enforce-ment agencies along the border, and this is a perfect example of how that pays off for the citizens of Texas.”

Not just wildlifeState game wardens do a lot more than

bust poachers

WHERE ARE THE ANTLERS? Drugs, not wildlife, are often in the job description for TPWD game wardens, especially in border counties. Photo by TPWD.


NATIONAL

OUTDOOR BUSINESS

Hunters headed to Washington

On May 9, the voice of hunters will be heard throughout the halls of the Capitol building, as 150 members of Safari Club International will come to Capitol Hill to lobby for legislation to improve hunting throughout the U.S.

The members of SCI will have break-fast with members of the Congressional Sportsmen’s Caucus, face-to-face meetings with Senate and House members, and dis-cussions with critical legislative staff.

“The Congressional Sportsmen’s Caucus is the largest bipartisan and bicameral cau-cus in Washington, D.C., and Safari Club International is proud to be one of its biggest supporters,” said SCI President John Whipple. “Members of Congress care about hunting and they care about the outdoors. SCI will make sure they understand the future of our outdoor heritage depends on the passage of compre-hensive legislation protecting the right to hunt on millions of acres of public lands.”

More than 200 meetings will take place during the day.

— SCI

CCA Louisiana to help build floating islands

Coastal Conservation Association’s Building Conservation Habitat Program, in partner-ship with Shell Oil Company, Keep Terrebonne Beautiful, Martin Ecosystems, Terrebonne Parish Government, Terrebonne Parish Schools and the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries join together again to help rebuild the coastline in Terrebonne Parish with Phase II of the Floating Islands Restoration Project.

On Friday, April 19, and Saturday, April 20, project volunteers and partners will place approximately 1,000 feet of synthetic mats in the water. The 5-foot by 20-foot mats can hold 150-200 plants, and will be placed end-to-end and anchored to the water bottom. The “floating islands” technology allows the

plants to take root in the water bottom while providing protection from the natural elements.

— CCA

Florida proposes catch-and-release-only for tarpon, bonefish

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, at its April 17 meeting, moved forward unanimously with a proposal to make tarpon and bonefish catch-and-release-only fisheries.

The tarpon and bonefish catch-and-release-only proposal includes the following potential changes for management in state and federal waters off Florida:• Eliminating all harvest of tarpon with the

exception of the harvest or possession of a single tarpon when in pursuit of an IGFA record and in conjunction with a tarpon tag.

• Keeping the tarpon tag price at $50 per tag but limiting them to one tag per person, per year.

• Modifying the tarpon tag program, includ-ing reporting requirements and shifting the start and end date for when the tarpon tag is valid.

• Discontinuing the bonefish tournament exemption permit that allows tournament anglers to temporarily possess bonefish for transport to a tournament scale.The proposal will be brought back before

the commission for a final public hearing at its June meeting.

— FWC

Illinois bill would outlaw PETA anti-hunting drones

An Illinois House committee endorsed a proposal last week to criminalize the use of drones to interfere with someone’s hunting and fishing.

State Rep. Adam Brown, R-Champaign, proposed an addition to an Illinois criminal

law that prohibits interference with hunting and fishing.

Brown’s addition would make it a misde-meanor to use a drone to interfere with a hunter or fisherman who is lawfully taking wildlife or aquatic life. The proposal defines “drone” as any aerial vehicle that does not carry a human operator.

Brown said he proposed the measure when he read that one animal rights group used a drone over hunters in Pennsylvania and another announced plans to buy drones “to stalk hunters” nationally.

The People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals on April 8 publicly announced it would “go high-tech this fall to bust law-breakers who leave animals to die.”

The group said it was shopping for “one or more drone aircraft with which to monitor those who are out in the woods with death on their minds.”

“Slob hunters may need to rethink the idea that they can get away with murder, alone out there in the woods with no one watching,” PETA President Ingrid E. Newkirk said in a news release.

Brown said hunters should not be “stalked and tormented” by drones.

— Laura Hlavach, Bloomington Pantagraph

Louisiana busts turkey poachers

Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries Enforcement Division agents made six illegal turkey hunting cases during the April 12-14 weekend.

On April 12, agents cited Michael A. Kowalski, 34, of Katy, Texas, in Webster Parish for obtaining a license by fraud, hunt-ing turkey without non-resident basic and big game licenses, and hunting turkey without a non-resident turkey stamp.

Agents cited Stephen K. Breaux, 37, of Houma, in East Feliciana Parish on April 13 for hunting turkey over a baited area, with an electronic device and failing to comply with turkey tagging regulations. Agents seized the

electronic call.Alton D. Cook, 44, of Denham Springs, and

Shane M. Johnston, 19, of Walker, were cited in East Feliciana Parish on April 13 for hunt-ing turkey over a baited area, possession of an illegally taken turkey and criminal tres-passing. Agents also cited Johnson for failing to comply with turkey tagging regulations. Agents seized the shotgun Cook and Johnston used and the illegally harvested turkey.

On April 13, agents cited Ashtin J. Willis, 21 of Grosse Tete, for taking over the limit of turkeys with two gobblers in the same day and possession of an illegally taken turkey on the Sherburne Wildlife Management Area in Iberville Parish.

Agents cited Ryan E. Dowden, 22, of Deridder, for possessing a loaded gun in a vehicle and possession of a rifle during turkey season while on the Peason WMA on April 14.

— LWDF

NRA to produce Pennsylvania outdoors show

The Pennsylvania Farm Show Complex in Harrisburg, site of the nation’s largest out-doors-related consumer show for nearly 65 years, has chosen the NRA to produce the show Feb. 1-9, 2014.

Renamed the Great American Outdoor Show, the event will take the place of the Eastern Sports and Outdoor Show that was canceled in February after its promoter, Reed Exhibitions, banned the display of certain types of modern sporting rifles and more than 200 exhibitors pulled out.

The show typically drew upward of 1,200 exhibitors and nearly 200,000 attendees each year.

“We look forward to expanding this event by inviting national firearm manufacturers to join more than 1,000 hunting, fishing, and camping related vendors as well as outfitters from around the world,” said David Keene, National Rifle Association president.

— Great American Outdoor Show


Nikon will send your 10x42 ProStaff 7

binoculars. You can check out

the entire line at the nearest dealer:See a full selection of

Nikon products at:

McBride’s Guns2915 San Gabriel St.

Austin, TX, 78705mcbridesguns.com

(512) 472-3532 Tim Croley, 13, of Leander, harvested his fi rst game animal on a hunt in

Gonzales County. Tim took his black-and-white hog with a shot of 180 yards

from a pop-up blind using a Sako .243.

ADVERTISEMENT


PRODUCTS

STILETTO SIDELINER FOLDING KNIVES: Bear OPS, the tactical knives

division of Bear & Son Cutlery, has introduced a series of fold-ing knives that can be opened one-handed. The knives in the MC-300 series feature a 3 1/4 -inch

long satin fi nish dagger blade made from a corrosion- and rust-resistant premium stainless steel for superior edge retention. Outdoorsmen can choose between smooth, contoured handles in check-ered cocobolo ($150), abalone ($200), or G10 ($140), which is a black lightweight aluminum that

can be used in extreme hot and cold conditions. There also is a special model in the series (the MC-300-CB2-LD) that has a Damascus steel blade and a checkered cocobolo handle ($245).

(256) 473-9455www.bearandsoncutlery.com

www.bearopsknives.com

>>

CLASSIFIEDSBIG CUTTING BOARDS24"x48" Cutting Boards for hunters and fi sher-men. Made in the U.S.A.BigCuttingBoards.com

UTAH, NEVADA HUNTING

Deer, Elk, Sheep, Mountain Lion, Antelope, Moose, Mountain Goat. Bow, Rifl e, Muzzloader.

(435) 623-2744

SOLAR GENERATORENCLOSED TRAILER MOUNTED3500 Watt. 6000 Watt surge. Larger sizes available. Plenty of gear storage room inside. [email protected].

(512) 789-9667

SOUTH PADRE FISHING

Reds, Trout, Flounder, Snook. Everything sup-plied but food and licenses. Multiple trip discounts. Call Capt. Thomas for details or [email protected]

(956) 551-1965

DECOYS WANTEDWOODEN

Duck and Goose. Top prices paid. Ask for David.

(214) 361-2276

TDHA - JOIN TODAYTEXAS DOVE HUNTERS ASSOC.www.texasdovehunters.com

(210) 764-1189

NEW MEXICO PRIVATE RANCH

Mule deer and Elk. Hunting lions year round, bear starting in August. w w w. e l k o u t f i t t e r. c o m

(505) 321-8202

LEASE WANTEDLooking for a year round hunting lease. Fishing included. Camp house is needed. North, Central or West Tx.

(214) 361-2276

FULL TEXAS STATE DUCK STAMP COLLECTION

Signed and Numbered.(817) 832-8078

DISCOVER ARCHERYTEXASARCHERY.INFO

KABA 3D SHOOTKERRVILLE ARCHERY AND

BOWHUNTERS ASSOCIATION3-D Archery Tournaments, 11:00am-2:00pm. March 24, April 14, May 5, May 26, June 9. Center Point, TX 78010. www.kabatexas.org

(830) 634-2878

CATCH MORE REDFISHCATHMOREREDFISH.COM

LEARN TO FLY FISH CASTING LESSONS

Lessons by a certifi ed cast-ing instructor in Dallas. Group lessons available.

(214) 677-6307

PER WORD

$12 issues minimum

Call (214) 361-2276 oremail [email protected]

ing knives that can be opened one-handed. The knives in the MC-300 series feature a 3 1/4 -inch long satin fi nish dagger blade made from a corrosion- and rust-resistant premium stainless steel for

superior edge retention. Outdoorsmen can choose between smooth, contoured handles in check-ered cocobolo ($150), abalone ($200), or G10 ($140), which is a black lightweight aluminum that

can be used in extreme hot and cold conditions. There also is a special model in the series (the MC-300-CB2-LD) that has a Damascus steel blade and a checkered cocobolo handle ($245).

PROSTAFF 3 FIELDSCOPE OUTFIT: Nikon Sport Optics’ take-any-where waterproof spotter, with its fully multicoated optics and

integral 16-48x zoom eyepiece, now comes packaged with a compact tripod. The fi eldscope can be close focused

to just under 33 feet and has a fi eld-of-view at 1,000 yards of 120 feet at 16x. It also features 19mm of

eye relief, making it convenient for outdoors-men who wear glasses (as well as those who do not). The 12.3-inch-long scope, which weighs a whisper under 22 ounces, provides

bright, high-contrast images in most lighting conditions. Its MSRP is $329.95.

(800) 645-6687www.nikonhunting.com

ANTLERMAX EXTREME ENERGY: Purina combines its AntlerMax technology, mineral technology and

nutritional enhancements in this premium feed sup-plement for deer. Featuring a high-fat content (30 percent of fat from vegetable sources), this new feed delivers energy directly to a deer’s growing tissues. Its highly digestible nutrients supply calo-ries without the negative effects of a high starch feed like corn while its trace minerals help promote antler production at an early age. The feed also offers increased levels of vitamin D and tocopherols, which aide in effi cient oxygen utilization. A 50-lb. bag of the supplement sells for $45.

(800) 227-8941www.wildlife.purinamills.com

TREES: Realtree Nursery offers a starter package of trees that can be part of an easy-to-maintain food plot for those who have deer and other wild game on their land. The variety of trees includes the Dunstan Chestnut tree, which was bred for high disease resistance and heavy annual production of nuts plus the persimmon tree, which bears fruit that deer will pick right off the tree. The trees are easy to grow and will bear fruit (and nuts) in a few years. For smaller plots of land, the nursery suggests its 10-tree pack-age, which includes three Dunstan Chestnuts, three American Persimmons, two Southern Crabapples, and two Sawtooth Oak tree for $89.95. It also has a 25-tree combo for larger areas of land. This includes seven Dunstan Chestnuts, six American Persimmons, six Southern Crabapples, and six Sawtooth Oak trees for $189.95.

(855) 386.7826www.realtreenursery.com

MAC REEL: This advanced carbon-fi ber sealed drag reel by Bauer Fly Reels features a clean, traditional design based on the CFX platform. The reel’s corrosion-resistant components are

precision-machined from aluminum and stainless steel for strength and

durability. The large arbor spool and drag system rotate on sealed, precision stainless

steel ball bearings for smooth performance. Also, the drag incorporates a “zero-backlash” clutch that permits the angler to easily change retrieve direction without tools. The reel is available in three sizes and starts at $275.

(888) 484-4165www.bauerfl yreels.com

STILETTO SIDELINER FOLDING STILETTO

& Son Cutlery, has introduced a series of fold-

SIDELINER FOLDING Bear OPS,

the tactical knives division of Bear

SIDELINER FOLDING

>>

>>

>>

>>


Breeding big bassThese pictures show a collec-

tion of the biggest largemouth bass caught so far this season in Texas. Angler have caught bass weighing more than 13 pounds all across the state before turn-ing them into Texas Parks and Wildlife. Three of these big lunk-ers were pulled from Fork, which leads all lakes.

Many of the bass were bred in the ShareLunker program, attest-ing to the success of the selec-tive breeding.

— Staff reportPhotos by TPWD

Johnny Spruiell, Lake Amon G. Carter on March 19, 13.75 pounds caught on a 7-inch Power Worm.

Richard Scibek, Lake Fork on Feb. 2, 16.04 pounds caught on live bait.

Lindell Booth Jr., Lake Palestine on March 2, 13.14 pounds caught on a green pumpkin Brush Hog.

Casey Martin, Toledo Bend

Reservoir on Feb. 15,

13.06 pounds caught during a tournament.

Thomas McCraven, Lake O’ the

Pines on Feb. 14, 13.23

pounds caught on a Baby

Brush Hog.

Colin Pack, Lake Austin on

March 27, 13.29 pounds caught

on a Carolina rig.

Isacc Denson, Falcon International Reservoir on Feb. 7, 13.4 pounds caught on a top-water.

Mark Hall, Lake Fork on Feb. 19, 13.11 pounds caught on a swim bait.

Donald Deville, Lake Fork on

March 20,14.06 pounds caught

on a Brush Hog.


April 26Shooting for the Stars2013 Sporting Clay ShootDallas Gun Club(214) 421-8723bigtex.com

April 27Kayak Angler Tournament SeriesLake Travis(512) 719-4386fi shkats.com

Bass ChampsCentral #3Belton Lake(817) 439-3274basschamps.com

Ducks UnlimitedWinnie Dinner and AuctionWinnie-Stonewall Community Building(409) 267-7116ducks.org/texas

April 28Coastal Conservation AssociationHill Country Chapter Social and Fish FryRed Bard, Seguin(210) 573-1143ccatexas.org

May 2Coastal Conservation AssociationFort Worth Chapter BanquetJoe T’s(800) 626-4222ccatexas.org

Coastal Conservation AssociationSan Antonio Chapter BanquetFreeman Coliseum Expo Hall(210) 837-5500ccatexas.org

Coastal Conservation AssociationWest Houston Chapter BanquetHouston Farm and Ranch Club(713) 626-4222ccatexas.org

May 3Ducks UnlimitedCaldwell County BanquetMaxwell Social Club(512) 826-2138ducks.org/texas

Coastal Conservation AssociationMainland Chapter BanquetNessler Center, Texas Cityccatexas.org

May 3-5National Rifl e AssociationAnnual MeetingGeorge R. Brown Convention Center, Houston(877) 672-7632nraam.com

May 4Texas Team TrailBelton Lake(210) 788-4143texasteamtrail.com

Bass ChampsSouth #4Amistad Reservoir(817) 439-3274basschamps.com

May 9CASA13th Annual Pulling for Kids Sporting Clay TournamentDallas Gun Club(940) 243-2272casadenton.org

Boy Scouts of AmericaBoy Scouts Charity Sporting Clays TournamentNational Shooting Complex, San Antonio(210) 341-8611 ext. 140Padgett-cpa.com

Ducks UnlimitedSan Antonio Chapter Sportsman’s Night OutMacArthur Park(210) 381-8299ducks.org/texas

Coastal Conservation AssociationAustin Chapter BanquetPalmer Events [email protected]

Texas Deer AssociationSportsmen’s Night Out Richard M. Borchard Regional Fair Grounds, Robstown(210) 767-8300texasdeerassocation.com

May 11Dallas Safari ClubYPG Crawfi sh BoilBarley House(972) 980-9800biggame.org

Bass ChampsNorth #3Lake Tawakoni(817) 439-3274basschamps.com

Coastal Conservation AssociationMatagorda Bays Lil’ Salties Fishing Tournament(979) 541-9901ccatexas.org

National Wild Turkey FederationHarrison County BanquetMarshall Visual Arts Center(903) 407-2305nwtf.org/texas

May 16Dallas Safari ClubMonthly MeetingBent Tree Country Club(972) 980-9800biggame.org

May 17-19Legend of Lake Fork9th Annual Bass TournamentLake Fork Marina(903) 383-7748legendofl akefork.com

May 18Kayak Angler Tournament SeriesCanyon Lake(512) 719-4386fi shkats.com

Bass ChampsCentral #4Lake Travis(817) 439-3274basschamps.com

May 18-19Texas Gun and Knife ShowAbilene Civic Center(830) 285-0575texasgunandknifeshows.com

May 25Third Coast Fishing TournamentBluff’s Landing Marina and Lodge(361) 992-5152winthirdcoast.com

DATEBOOK


starting with Tucker, the Santa Anna Hunting Preserve and West Texas Wings,” he said. “Santa Anna is one of the best. I had the chance to show him bird after bird in good fields — it made him an unbelievable dog — you have to be able to train where they will see thousands of birds.”

Training at the preserves also affords the chance for the dogs to work with hunt-ers who aren’t very mobile.

“We hunt out of a planta-tion wagon — the dogs find the birds, and just like at the southern plantations, the hunters get out and shoot and the dogs fetch the birds and bring them back to the wagon,” Fisher said.

When it comes to the ani-mals, Fisher says it’s all about

the dog.“It’s starts with the nose,

then the brain,” he said. “And the dog needs to be athletic and have a lot of drive. Skeet has it all — you can’t stop him.”

Fisher now has a partner and they own and train more dogs.

“I have 11 dogs in the back yard right now,” he said. “Two, Skeet and Andy, are Grand Champions and Clay, the son of Skeet, is an open champion.

“And we’re bringing up a female.”

In 2012, both Skeet and Fisher were inducted into the Upland Classics Hall of Fame; Skeet with his 15 times as a champion, a Dog of the Year award and 300 lifetime points.

And Skeet has earned another award, Fisher’s wife, Carla, said.

“He’s earned the right to sleep in the house at night.”

DogContinued From Page 4

DSC YPG crawfish boil on tap

Hungry sportsmen in the Dallas Metroplex should mark their calen-dars for Saturday, May 11 between noon and 4 p.m. and join the Dallas Safari Club’s Young Professionals Group Annual Crawfish Boil at the Barley House, 5612 SMU Boulevard.

The event has grown from a small gathering of friends several years ago to an all-day, all-you-can-eat-and-drink affair with live music, cold beer and tons of mudbugs.

Grant Jones and the Pistol Grip Lassos will be playing tunes for the expected crowd of 200 to 300 people, and 500 pounds of crawfish will be boiled, meaning plenty of good food for everyone.

Four or five “really cool” silent auction items, including a Yeti cooler and fishing trips, will be available to bid on.

And all of the event’s proceeds will go toward the Sportsmen’s Alliance for Alaska’s Save Bristol Bay campaign.

The mudbugs will be provided by Heads or Tails Cajun Crawfish.

For more information, call (972) 980-9800.

— Staff report

GreenContinued From Page 8

are drawn to the now-visible food source, which in turn attracts spe-cies that feed on the baitfish.

“On boats with a motor and bat-tery, you can power the lights off of that,” Ramirez said. “For small boats and kayaks, I have a unit that is housed in waterproof casing that runs off of a deer-feeder battery. That can power the lights for three to four hours.”

The lights are mounted onto a kayak or jonboat using Velcro strips.

Ramirez said anglers should fish the edges of the lights, not directly through the middle of them.

“The stripers will circle the bait ball, but we’ve also caught gar, white bass, crappie and largemouth bass,” he said. “They’ve all come to check out the action around the lights.”

Other companies are also mak-ing lights that attach to boat docks.

Terry Boike of Texas-based Underwater Green Fishing Lights said his company has been in busi-ness for five years, and he has seen the LED lights overtake mercury-vapor lights as the choice for anglers who want to fish from their docks.

“I really liked night fishing and couldn’t find a lot of stuff,” Boike said about what made him begin the business. “LEDs are just start-ing to come in. When we used to night fish, we had to bring gen-erators that were loud. With these LEDs, a car battery will run 20 of them. It is clean, easy and quiet.”

Boike said green is the color of choice because it penetrates the water better than other colors and doesn’t spook fish.

“It is a subtle light that fish don’t find too contrasting,” he said. “And, the longer the light is turned on in the water, the better the fish-ing will become.”

Boike said the position of the lights also plays a factor in how fish react.

“Predators like to stay on the edge or underneath the light,” he said. “Don’t fish through the light. Fish the outer rings. Trout will strike from outside the light inward and bass will sit in the light and attack the outside.

“Rig the light to shine about 3 feet below the surface, leaving room at the bottom. Don’t let the light go all the way to the bottom.”



Huge Lake Nacinoche fish has large family treeOn Dec. 4, 2004, Jerry Campos was fishing for largemouth bass on Falcon

International Reservoir when he caught a 14.28-pound fish that became ShareLunker 370.

On April 13, 2013, Allen Lane Kruse of Nacogdoches caught a 12.54-pound bass from Lake Naconiche, pictured, that has been submitted as a water-body and catch-and-release record for the new impoundment near Nacogdoches.

The connection? DNA testing revealed that ShareLunker 370, which spawned at the Texas Freshwater Fisheries Center in Athens, is the mother of the Lake Naconiche fish. If Campos had not entered his fish into the program, Kruse would not have had the opportunity to catch his fish, because it would not have existed.

“This is the perfect example of why the ShareLunker program was established,” said Allen Forshage, direc-tor of TFFC. “It’s called ShareLunker because the pro-gram gives anglers the opportunity to share their catch with others. Fingerlings from ShareLunkers that spawned have been stocked into more than 60 reservoirs across Texas.”

The father of the Lake Naconiche fish has deep roots in the program as well. Genetic data showed its mother is ShareLunker 305 (caught by Nathan Strickland from Lake Fork in 2000), and pedigree data showed its grandmother is ShareLunker 184 (caught by Richard Crow from Lake Fork in 1994), and its great-grand-mother is ShareLunker 9 (caught by Troy Johnson from Gibbons Creek in 1988).

ShareLunker 370 produced 12,699 fingerlings, some of which were held at TFFC as possible future broodfish. The Kruse fish was one of 173 adult offspring that were released into Lake Naconiche in 2009 along with 95,389 fingerlings. The adult fish are now 8 years old and are on the threshold of being old enough to attain the 13-pound size necessary to be entered into the program.

— TPWD

Regional Lone Star Land Steward Awards honor Texas conservationists

At a time when punishing drought underscores the importance of man-aging our land and water to help Texas weather the worst, two land owners, two organizations and a mining company are being rec-ognized by the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department’s Lone Star Land Steward program for their efforts in rejuvenating native habitat and wildlife across the state.

The awards will be presented May 21 at the Hyatt Regency in Austin. In addition, the winner of the pres-tigious Leopold Conservation Award for Texas — to be presented by the Sand County Foundation — will be announced. Featured speaker will be Mrs. Laura Bush, former First Lady of the United States and founder of Taking Care of Texas.

This year’s recipients are:Blackland Prairies – Daphne Prairie, Franklin CountyCross Timbers and Prairies – Thomsen Foundation, Montague CountyRolling Plains – JA Ranch, Armstrong and Donley CountiesWildlife Management or Landowner Association – South Llano River Watershed Alliance, Edwards and Kimble CountiesCorporate/Non-Government Organization – Jewett Mine, Texas Westmoreland Coal Co.

— TPWD

Photo by TPWD.


Solunar | Sun times | Moon timesMoon Phases

FOR THE TABLEOUTDOOR PUZZLER | By Wilbur “Wib” Lundeen Solution on Page 30

Legend: Major=2 hours. Minor=1 hour. Times centered on the major-minor window. F=Full Moon, N=New Moon, Q=Quarter > = Peak Activity. For other locations, subtract 1 minute per 12 miles east of a location, and add 1 min-ute per 12 miles west of a location.

Sun Moon Tides| |

2 cups cooked, cubed wild turkey2 (10 3/4-ounce) cans cream of mushroom soup1/2 cup sour cream1/2 cup diced green chilies1 cup Monterey Jack cheese1 cup cheddar cheese1/2 cup chopped onionNonstick cooking spray12 tortillas (fl our or corn)Sliced black olives (optional)Additional shredded cheese (optional)

Combine soup, sour cream and

chilies. Heat thoroughly. Warm tortillas in damp paper towel in microwave. Coat a 13x9x2 inch baking pan with cooking spray.

Mix cheeses, onion, turkey and 1 cup soup mixture. Put two tablespoons of cheese-turkey mixture in the cen-ter of each tortilla. Roll tortillas and place in baking pan. Pour remaining soup mixture over the top. Cover and bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. Uncover and top with black olives and additional cheese if desired. Heat till cheese is melted.

— backwoodsbound.com

1 tbsp. olive oil1 1/2 pounds fl ounder fi lletsSalt and ground black pepper to taste1 tbsp. chopped fresh dill1/2 cup sour cream2 tbsps. capers, drained and rinsedLemon, zested1 lemon, cut into wedges

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil and coat with olive oil. Arrange

fl ounder fi llets on prepared baking sheet and season with salt and pep-per. Bake in preheated oven for 10 minutes and sprinkle evenly with dill. Continue baking until fi sh fl akes easily with a fork, about 2 minutes more. Stir sour cream, capers, and lemon zest in a bowl; season with salt. Serve fi sh with lemon wedges and sour cream caper sauce.

— allrecipes.com

Baked fl ounder with dill and caper cream

LastMay 3

FullMay 25

NewMay 10

FirstMay 18

Texas Coast TidesSabine Pass, northDate Time Height Time Height Time Height Time HeightApr 26 5:20 AM 2.1H 10:55 AM 1.2L 3:35 PM 1.7H 10:49 PM -0.3LApr 27 6:12 AM 2.1H 11:39 AM 1.3L 4:06 PM 1.7H 11:37 PM -0.3LApr 28 7:08 AM 2.0H 12:26 PM 1.4L 4:43 PM 1.7HApr 29 12:30 AM -0.2L 8:09 AM 1.9H 1:21 PM 1.4L 5:27 PM 1.6 HApr 30 1:26 AM -0.1L 9:15 AM 1.9H 2:33 PM 1.4L 6:29 PM 1.6 HMay 01 2:29 AM 0.1L 10:23 AM 1.8H 4:06 PM 1.3L 8:24 PM 1.4 HMay 02 3:38 AM 0.3L 11:24 AM 1.7H 5:30 PM 1.1L 10:39 PM 1.4HMay 03 4:52 AM 0.5L 12:13 PM 1.7H 6:27 PM 0.9LMay 04 12:21 AM 1.5H 6:07 AM 0.7L 12:52 PM 1.6H 7:10 PM 0.7LMay 05 1:40 AM 1.6H 7:18 AM 0.9L 1:25 PM 1.6H 7:47 PM 0.5LMay 06 2:44 AM 1.7H 8:20 AM 1.0L 1:54 PM 1.6H 8:22 PM 0.3LMay 07 3:38 AM 1.8H 9:13 AM 1.1L 2:19 PM 1.5H 8:55 PM 0.2LMay 08 4:25 AM 1.9H 9:59 AM 1.2L 2:41 PM 1.5H 9:27 PM 0.1LMay 09 5:06 AM 1.9H 10:37 AM 1.3L 2:58 PM 1.5H 10:01 PM 0.0LMay 10 5:43 AM 1.9H 11:10 AM 1.4L 3:11 PM 1.5H 10:35 PM 0.0L

Galveston Bay entrance, south jettyDate Time Height Time Height Time Height Time HeightApr 26 5:49 AM 2.5H 10:44 AM 1.8L 3:02 PM 2.0H 10:14 PM -0.3LApr 27 6:46 AM 2.6H 11:31 AM 1.9L 3:27 PM 2.1H 11:02 PM -0.4LApr 28 7:45 AM 2.5H 12:21 PM 2.0L 3:56 PM 2.1H 11:55 PM -0.3LApr 29 8:48 AM 2.5H 1:25 PM 2.0L 4:29 PM 2.1HApr 30 12:53 AM -0.2L 9:51 AM 2.3HMay 01 1:58 AM 0.1L 10:50 AM 2.2HMay 02 3:12 AM 0.4L 11:40 AM 2.1H 5:56 PM 1.5L 10:01 PM 1.7HMay 03 4:36 AM 0.6L 12:19 PM 2.0H 6:33 PM 1.2LMay 04 12:00 AM 1.7H 6:02 AM 0.9L 12:50 PM 2.0H 7:09 PM 0.9LMay 05 1:36 AM 1.9H 7:18 AM 1.1L 1:15 PM 1.9H 7:43 PM 0.6LMay 06 2:52 AM 2.0H 8:23 AM 1.4L 1:36 PM 1.9H 8:14 PM 0.4LMay 07 3:52 AM 2.2H 9:20 AM 1.5L 1:54 PM 1.9H 8:43 PM 0.2LMay 08 4:43 AM 2.3H 10:09 AM 1.7L 2:10 PM 1.9H 9:11 PM 0.0LMay 09 5:26 AM 2.3H 10:51 AM 1.8L 2:24 PM 1.9H 9:39 PM 0.0LMay 10 6:06 AM 2.3H 11:25 AM 1.9L 2:36 PM 1.9H 10:08 PM -0.1L

San Luis PassDate Time Height Time Height Time Height Time Height Apr 26 6:19 AM 1.5H 11:40 AM 1.1L 3:32 PM 1.2H 11:10 PM -0.2LApr 27 7:16 AM 1.5H 12:27 PM 1.2L 3:57 PM 1.3H 11:58 PM -0.2LApr 28 8:15 AM 1.5H 1:17 PM 1.2L 4:26 PM 1.3HApr 29 12:51 AM -0.2L 9:18 AM 1.5H 2:21 PM 1.2L 4:59 PM 1.3HApr 30 1:49 AM -0.1L 10:21 AM 1.4HMay 01 2:54 AM 0.0L 11:20 AM 1.3HMay 02 4:08 AM 0.2L 12:10 PM 1.3H 6:52 PM 0.9L 10:31 PM 1.0 HMay 03 5:32 AM 0.4L 12:49 PM 1.2H 7:29 PM 0.7LMay 04 12:30 AM 1.0H 6:58 AM 0.5L 1:20 PM 1.2H 8:05 PM 0.5LMay 05 2:06 AM 1.1H 8:14 AM 0.7L 1:45 PM 1.1H 8:39 PM 0.4LMay 06 3:22 AM 1.2H 9:19 AM 0.8L 2:06 PM 1.1H 9:10 PM 0.2LMay 07 4:22 AM 1.3H 10:16 AM 0.9L 2:24 PM 1.1H 9:39 PM 0.1LMay 08 5:13 AM 1.4H 11:05 AM 1.0L 2:40 PM 1.1H 10:07 PM 0.0 LMay 09 5:56 AM 1.4H 11:47 AM 1.1L 2:54 PM 1.1H 10:35 PM 0.0LMay 10 6:36 AM 1.4H 12:21 PM 1.1L 3:06 PM 1.2H 11:04 PM 0.0L

Freeport HarborDate Time Height Time Height Time Height Time HeightApr 26 5:33 AM 2.1H 12:35 PM 1.2L 2:43 PM 1.3H 10:16 PM -0.2LApr 27 6:31 AM 2.1H 11:03 PM -0.3LApr 28 7:32 AM 2.1H 11:56 PM -0.3LApr 29 8:35 AM 2.1HApr 30 12:54 AM -0.2L 9:37 AM 2.0HMay 01 2:00 AM 0.0L 10:35 AM 1.9HMay 02 3:16 AM 0.2L 11:23 AM 1.7H 6:27 PM 1.1L 9:38 PM 1.2HMay 03 4:44 AM 0.4L 12:00 PM 1.6H 6:47 PM 0.9L 11:37 PM 1.3HMay 04 6:14 AM 0.7L 12:29 PM 1.5H 7:14 PM 0.7LMay 05 1:15 AM 1.4H 7:38 AM 0.8L 12:52 PM 1.4H 7:43 PM 0.5LMay 06 2:33 AM 1.6H 8:54 AM 1.0L 1:11 PM 1.3H 8:14 PM 0.3LMay 07 3:36 AM 1.7H 10:05 AM 1.1L 1:27 PM 1.3H 8:44 PM 0.1LMay 08 4:29 AM 1.8H 11:14 AM 1.2L 1:40 PM 1.2H 9:13 PM 0.1LMay 09 5:15 AM 1.9H 9:42 PM 0.0LMay 10 5:57 AM 1.9H 10:11 PM 0.0L

South Padre IslandDate Time Height Time Height Time Height Time HeightApr 26 5:50 AM 1.6H 9:57 PM -0.6LApr 27 6:57 AM 1.7H 10:45 PM -0.7LApr 28 8:06 AM 1.7H 11:37 PM -0.6LApr 29 9:13 AM 1.7HApr 30 12:33 AM -0.5L 10:12 AM 1.7HMay 01 1:34 AM -0.3L 10:58 AM 1.6HMay 02 2:39 AM 0.0L 11:28 AM 1.5HMay 03 3:49 AM 0.3L 11:47 AM 1.4H 6:11 PM 0.9L 10:41 PM 1.0HMay 04 5:06 AM 0.6L 11:59 AM 1.3H 6:33 PM 0.6LMay 05 12:51 AM 1.2H 6:26 AM 0.8L 12:05 PM 1.2H 7:04 PM 0.3LMay 06 2:25 AM 1.3H 7:48 AM 1.0L 12:06 PM 1.2H 7:38 PM 0.1LMay 07 3:38 AM 1.4H 9:14 AM 1.1L 11:57 AM 1.1H 8:13 PM -0.1LMay 08 4:40 AM 1.5H 8:48 PM -0.2LMay 09 5:36 AM 1.5H 9:22 PM -0.3LMay 10 6:28 AM 1.5H 9:56 PM -0.3L

Port O’ConnorDate Time Height Time Height Time Height Time HeightApr 26 10:31 AM 1.0HApr 27 12:30 AM 0.1L 11:43 AM 1.0HApr 28 1:22 AM 0.1L 1:04 PM 1.1HApr 29 2:19 AM 0.1L 2:31 PM 1.0HApr 30 3:22 AM 0.1L 3:29 PM 1.0HMay 01 4:28 AM 0.2L 3:40 PM 0.9HMay 02 5:35 AM 0.3L 3:40 PM 0.9HMay 03 6:44 AM 0.4L 3:43 PM 0.8HMay 04 7:51 AM 0.5L 3:22 PM 0.7H 9:21 PM 0.5LMay 05 4:58 AM 0.7H 9:00 AM 0.7L 2:00 PM 0.7H 9:56 PM 0.4LMay 06 6:45 AM 0.8H 10:33 PM 0.3LMay 07 8:25 AM 0.9H 11:07 PM 0.2LMay 08 9:46 AM 0.9H 11:38 PM 0.2LMay 09 10:39 AM 1.0HMay 10 12:06 AM 0.2L 11:17 AM 1.0H

RockportDate Time Height Time Height Time Height Time HeightApr 26 1:06 AM 0.2L 2:46 PM 0.5HApr 27 2:00 AM 0.2L 3:40 PM 0.5HApr 28 2:57 AM 0.2L 4:46 PM 0.5HApr 29 3:55 AM 0.2L 6:00 PM 0.5HApr 30 4:53 AM 0.2L 7:17 PM 0.5HMay 01 5:47 AM 0.2L 8:38 PM 0.5HMay 02 6:34 AM 0.2L 10:07 PM 0.5HMay 03 7:10 AM 0.3L 3:24 PM 0.4H 5:59 PM 0.4L 11:57 PM 0.4HMay 04 7:30 AM 0.3L 2:09 PM 0.4H 8:15 PM 0.4LMay 05 2:23 AM 0.4H 7:23 AM 0.4L 1:43 PM 0.4H 9:35 PM 0.3LMay 06 1:38 PM 0.5H 10:34 PM 0.3LMay 07 1:48 PM 0.5H 11:24 PM 0.2LMay 08 2:07 PM 0.5HMay 09 12:10 AM 0.2L 2:35 PM 0.5HMay 10 12:55 AM 0.2L 3:11 PM 0.5H

Houston2013 A.M. P.M. SUN MOONApr-May Minor Major Minor Major Rises Sets Rises Sets26 Fri > 6:14 12:05 6:43 12:29 06:43 07:54 9:13p 7:16a 27 Sat > 7:17 1:01 7:47 1:32 06:42 07:54 10:19p 8:10a 28 Sun 8:23 2:08 8:54 2:39 06:41 07:55 11:21p 9:08a 29 Mon 9:31 3:16 10:01 3:46 06:40 07:56 NoMoon 10:10a 30 Tue 10:37 4:22 11:06 4:51 06:39 07:56 12:18a 11:14a 01 Wed 11:38 5:24 ----- 5:51 06:38 07:57 1:09a 12:18p 02 Thu Q 12:09 6:20 12:33 6:46 06:38 07:58 1:54a 1:21p 03 Fri 12:57 7:09 1:22 7:34 06:37 07:58 2:35a 2:22p 04 Sat 1:43 7:54 2:06 8:18 06:36 07:59 3:12a 3:20p 05 Sun 2:24 8:36 2:47 8:59 06:35 08:00 3:48a 4:17p 06 Mon 3:05 9:16 3:27 9:39 06:34 08:00 4:23a 5:13p 07 Tue 3:45 9:57 4:08 10:20 06:33 08:01 4:59a 6:09p 08 Wed > 4:27 10:39 4:51 11:02 06:33 08:02 5:36a 7:05p 09 Thu > 5:12 11:24 5:36 11:48 06:32 08:02 6:16a 7:59p 10 Fri N 6:00 ----- 6:24 12:36 06:31 08:03 6:58a 8:53p 11 Sat > 6:50 12:38 7:15 1:03 06:31 08:04 7:42a 9:44p 12 Sun > 7:43 1:31 8:07 1:55 06:30 08:04 8:29a 10:32p 13 Mon 8:35 2:24 8:59 2:47 06:29 08:05 9:19a 11:17p 14 Tue 9:28 3:16 9:51 3:40 06:29 08:05 10:09a NoMoon 15 Wed 10:19 4:08 10:42 4:31 06:28 08:06 11:01a NoMoon

Port Aransas, H. Caldwell PierDate Time Height Time Height Time Height Time HeightApr 26 5:48 AM 2.1H 10:04 PM -0.3LApr 27 6:52 AM 2.2H 10:51 PM -0.4LApr 28 7:57 AM 2.2H 11:42 PM -0.4LApr 29 9:02 AM 2.1HApr 30 12:38 AM -0.3L 10:01 AM 2.0HMay 01 1:38 AM -0.2L 10:49 AM 1.8HMay 02 2:44 AM 0.0L 11:25 AM 1.6HMay 03 3:56 AM 0.2L 11:51 AM 1.5H 6:25 PM 0.8L 10:54 PM 1.0 HMay 04 5:13 AM 0.5L 12:09 PM 1.4H 6:42 PM 0.6LMay 05 12:56 AM 1.2H 6:33 AM 0.8L 12:22 PM 1.3H 7:10 PM 0.4LMay 06 2:22 AM 1.4H 7:53 AM 1.0L 12:29 PM 1.3H 7:40 PM 0.2LMay 07 3:29 AM 1.6H 9:13 AM 1.2L 12:29 PM 1.3H 8:13 PM 0.0LMay 08 4:26 AM 1.8H 8:46 PM -0.1LMay 09 5:18 AM 1.9H 9:19 PM -0.1LMay 10 6:08 AM 1.9H 9:53 PM -0.2L

San Antonio2013 A.M. P.M. SUN MOONApr-May Minor Major Minor Major Rises Sets Rises Sets26 Fri > 6:26 12:12 6:56 12:41 06:56 08:06 9:26p 7:30a 27 Sat > 7:29 1:14 8:00 1:44 06:55 08:06 10:32p 8:24a 28 Sun 8:36 2:21 9:07 2:51 06:54 08:07 11:34p 9:22a 29 Mon 9:44 3:28 10:14 3:59 06:53 08:08 NoMoon 10:24a 30 Tue 10:49 4:35 11:18 5:04 06:52 08:08 12:31a 11:28a 01 Wed 11:50 5:36 ----- 6:04 06:51 08:09 1:22a 12:32p 02 Thu Q 12:21 6:32 12:45 6:58 06:50 08:10 2:07a 1:35p 03 Fri 1:10 7:22 1:34 7:47 06:50 08:10 2:47a 2:35p 04 Sat 1:55 8:07 2:19 8:30 06:49 08:11 3:25a 3:33p 05 Sun 2:37 8:48 3:00 9:11 06:48 08:12 4:01a 4:30p 06 Mon 3:17 9:29 3:40 9:51 06:47 08:12 4:36a 5:26p 07 Tue 3:58 10:09 4:21 10:32 06:47 08:13 5:12a 6:22p 08 Wed > 4:40 10:52 5:03 11:15 06:46 08:14 5:50a 7:17p 09 Thu > 5:25 11:37 5:49 12:01 06:45 08:14 6:29a 8:12p 10 Fri N 6:13 ----- 6:37 12:49 06:44 08:15 7:11a 9:05p 11 Sat > 7:03 12:51 7:27 1:15 06:44 08:15 7:56a 9:56p 12 Sun > 7:55 1:43 8:19 2:07 06:43 08:16 8:43a 10:44p 13 Mon 8:48 2:36 9:12 3:00 06:42 08:17 9:32a 11:29p 14 Tue 9:41 3:29 10:04 3:52 06:42 08:17 10:23a NoMoon 15 Wed 10:32 4:20 10:55 4:43 06:41 08:18 11:15a 12:11a

Amarillo2013 A.M. P.M. SUN MOONApr-May Minor Major Minor Major Rises Sets Rises Sets26 Fri > 6:40 12:25 7:09 12:55 07:01 08:27 9:51p 7:34a27 Sat > 7:43 1:27 8:13 1:58 07:00 08:28 10:58p 8:26a 28 Sun 8:49 2:34 9:20 3:05 06:59 08:29 NoMoon 9:23a 29 Mon 9:57 3:42 10:27 4:12 06:58 08:30 NoMoon 10:26a 30 Tue 11:03 4:48 11:32 5:17 06:57 08:30 12:56a 11:31a 01 Wed ----- 5:50 12:03 6:17 06:56 08:31 1:45a 12:37p 02 Thu Q 12:35 6:46 12:59 7:12 06:55 08:32 2:28a 1:42p 03 Fri 1:23 7:35 1:48 8:00 06:54 08:33 3:06a 2:45p 04 Sat 2:08 8:20 2:32 8:44 06:53 08:34 3:41a 3:46p 05 Sun 2:50 9:02 3:13 9:25 06:52 08:34 4:14a 4:46p 06 Mon 3:30 9:42 3:53 10:05 06:51 08:35 4:47a 5:44p 07 Tue 4:11 10:23 4:34 10:46 06:50 08:36 5:21a 6:42p 08 Wed > 4:53 11:05 5:17 11:28 06:49 08:37 5:56a 7:40p 09 Thu > 5:38 11:50 6:02 12:14 06:48 08:38 6:33a 8:36p 10 Fri N 6:26 ----- 6:50 1:02 06:47 08:39 7:14a 9:31p 11 Sat > 7:16 1:04 7:41 1:29 06:46 08:39 7:58a 10:22p 12 Sun > 8:09 1:56 8:33 2:21 06:46 08:40 8:44a 11:10p 13 Mon 9:01 2:49 9:25 3:13 06:45 08:41 9:34a 11:55p 14 Tue 9:54 3:42 10:17 4:06 06:44 08:42 10:26a NoMoon 15 Wed 10:45 4:34 11:08 4:57 06:43 08:43 11:19a 12:35a

Dallas2013 A.M. P.M. SUN MOONApr-May Minor Major Minor Major Rises Sets Rises Sets26 Fri > 6:19 12:05 6:49 12:34 06:44 08:03 9:25p 7:17a 27 Sat > 7:22 1:07 7:53 1:37 06:43 08:04 10:32p 8:09a 28 Sun 8:29 2:14 9:00 2:44 06:42 08:05 11:34p 9:07a 29 Mon 9:37 3:21 10:07 3:52 06:41 08:06 NoMoon 10:09a 30 Tue 10:42 4:28 11:11 4:57 06:40 08:06 12:30a 11:14a 01 Wed 11:43 5:29 ----- 5:57 06:39 08:07 1:20a 12:19p 02 Thu Q 12:14 6:25 12:38 6:51 06:38 08:08 2:04a 1:23p 03 Fri 1:03 7:15 1:27 7:40 06:37 08:09 2:43a 2:25p 04 Sat 1:48 8:00 2:12 8:23 06:36 08:09 3:19a 3:25p 05 Sun 2:30 8:41 2:53 9:04 06:35 08:10 3:54a 4:24p 06 Mon 3:10 9:22 3:33 9:44 06:35 08:11 4:27a 5:21p 07 Tue 3:51 10:02 4:14 10:25 06:34 08:12 5:02a 6:19p 08 Wed > 4:33 10:45 4:56 11:08 06:33 08:12 5:38a 7:15p 09 Thu > 5:18 11:30 5:42 11:54 06:32 08:13 6:16a 8:11p 10 Fri N 6:06 ----- 6:30 12:42 06:31 08:14 6:57a 9:05p 11 Sat > 6:56 12:44 7:20 1:08 06:30 08:15 7:42a 9:56p 12 Sun > 7:48 1:36 8:12 2:00 06:30 08:15 8:28a 10:44p 13 Mon 8:41 2:29 9:05 2:53 06:29 08:16 9:18a 11:29p 14 Tue 9:34 3:22 9:57 3:45 06:28 08:17 10:09a NoMoon 15 Wed 10:25 4:13 10:48 4:36 06:28 08:18 11:02a 12:10a

Turkey enchiladas

*email LSON your favorite recipe to [email protected].

ACROSS1. The _______ dove

6. Ants, insects, etc. 9. A horse color11. A type of gunsight12. The wild pig13. A grouse species17. Appendage on a tur-

key’s foot

18. A male duck19. Male turkeys21. A deer lure, scent ____23. A hard-bodied lure25. A group of decoys27. Number of fi sh or

game allowed28. A male Dall29. A habitat of the brookie

33. A deer food36. Name for the

Whitetail of the North

37. A duck38. Parts of antlers41. Very tasty panfi sh44. Bring catch into

the boat46. Fly-pattern term for

the steelhead47. The outdoor law48. A fi shing favorite in

Florida, Texas49. Term for a crack in

a bow stave

DOWN1. They burrow

2. A grouse species 3. A handy item to

have along 4. The blue species

found in the Rockies 5. A cave dweller 6. A northern freshwa-

ter fi sh 7. A bass 8. Fisherman’s aid at

times10. Squirrel food

14. Expert fi shermen earn this title

15. A good beartrap bait

16. To follow a game closely

20. A silvery minnow bait

22. A hunter’s prey24. Young goose, ___ling26. The fur seeker30. Material for large

nests31. A duck species32. Trapped for the fur34. Commercial ships

use large ones35. A predator to the

wild turkey36. A type of fl y lure39. Name for an open

sight40. Ram’s mates41. The pheasant’s

food source42. A kind of fi shbait43. Line grommet on a

fi shrod44. A gun organization45. To construct a fl y

lure



LONE STAR MARKET

To advertise in this section, call Mike Hughs at (214) 361-2276 or email him at [email protected].

Puzzle solution from Page 28

That sound you heard last weekend in the Dallas Metroplex wasn’t a massive thunder-storm somewhere around Ennis.

It was most likely coming from Trinity Outfi tters, where 36 members of Dallas Safari Club gathered to shoot their big bore rifl es — .375 calibers were the minimum.

Contestants were only shooting for Texas-sized bragging rights, but the competition was

fi erce between the bwanas.Three stations were set up

for the shooters, who had three shots at each station to hit a small area on a lifelike target. The event was a sim-ulation of a real-world safari scenario.

First, a 70-yard shot on shooting sticks, followed by a 30-yard offhand shot

and, fi nally, a 15-yard off-hand shot on a “running” cape buffalo target. Points were awarded for accuracy and speed — many shooters could not get a second shot on the moving buffalo.

Waxahachie shooter Karl Evans won the event shoot-ing his .470 Nitro Express.

Boyt resident Marty Markl fi nished second shooting a .375 H&H, followed by Bo Ferguson in third.

“It was a fun day at a new location,” said DSC’s Ben Kimmel. “We’ll defi nitely be going back out there.”

– Conor Harrison

Bringing out the big gunsDSC Big Bore Shoot a big deal for bragging rights

Karl Evans

Marty Markl

Bo Ferguson



Documents

April 26, 2013 - Lone Star Outdoor News - Fishing & Hunting