December 24, 2010 - Lone Star Outdoor News - Fishing & Hunting

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December 24, 2010 Texas’ Premier Outdoor Newspaper Volume 7, Issue 9

INSIDE: Visions, the 2011 Dallas Safari Club show program

Inside

❘❚ LSONews.com

❘❚ CONTENTSClassifi eds . . . . . . . . . Page 18Crossword . . . . . . . . . Page 24Fishing Report . . . . . . . Page 11For the Table. . . . . . . . Page 24Game Warden Blotter . . . . Page 12Heroes. . . . . . . . . . . Page 17Outdoor Datebook . . . . . Page 26Outfi tters and Businesses . . Page 19Products . . . . . . . . . . Page 25Sun, Moon and Tide data . . Page 24

Anglers suggest cold-water baits, tactics for bass.

Page 8

Chill out❘❚ FISHING

Hunters can now turn to the Internet to learn a live buck’s B&C score.

Page 4

Buckscore

Fishing for tuna can be time-consuming and expensive, but worth it, say coastal captains.

Page 9

Yellowfi n tuna

Three rut-craze bucks lock antlers, die fi ghting in Ohio.

Page 21

Ohio death grip

❘❚ HUNTING

Milestone limits

Friends do the impossible, shoot 500 straight limits

By Conor HarrisonLONE STAR OUTDOOR NEWS

How many times have you sat in a deer camp after a day of hunting and heard the following?

“I saw a really nice buck tonight,” says one hunter.“How big was he?” asks another.“Big. His G1s were at least six inches and he must

have had 12-inch G2s. His G3s were also great, maybe 10 inches.”

Everyone in the deer camp automatically knows what the hunter is talking about when he describes a deer’s size with terms like G1 and G2.

Often, H1, H2, H3 and H4 also are used to describe the circumference measurements of a buck.

But where did these terms come from and for what do they stand?

The answers were at the Boone and Crockett Club

How to be the smartest (sounding) hunter in deer camp

By Bill MillerLONE STAR OUTDOOR NEWS

The state wildlife offi cial in charge of the recent kill-ing of 70 breeder deer in Hunt County has agreed with critics of the operation — partially.

No scientifi c benefi t resulted from the killing the deer Dec. 6 at the Anderton ranch near Quinlan, said Mitch Lockwood, big game program director for Texas Parks and Wildlife Department.

Lockwood said TPWD had no choice; operators of the ranch could not prove the deer did not come from a state free of Chronic Wasting Disease or other illnesses.

A Dallas television news crew videotaped the Dec. 6 operation, and the fall-out, according to one TPWD spokesman, was “scathing.”

That wasn’t the worst part for biologists, Lockwood said.

“The hard thing was the actual act of going out there and exterminating animals,” said Lockwood, who was at the Anderton ranch on Dec. 6.

“No good can come out of this situation like what hap-pened in Hunt County,” he added, “other than being sure there was no transmission of

What does the ‘G’ in G2, G3 stand for?

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NICE G2S: A hunter in West Texas admires a recently harvested mule deer. The deer sports large G2s and G3s — terminology used todescribe tine length. Many hunters know the lingo, but don’t know where the terms originated. Photo by David J. Sams, LSON.

No choice

By Craig NyhusLONE STAR OUTDOOR NEWS

“Fifty, maybe 100 years from now, there will be people saying, ‘Those were the days. I wish I had been around back then. I heard about two guys that shot their limit of ducks 500 straight times.’”

That’s what outfi tter Bill Sherrill with WS Sherrill Waterfowl in Wharton said to Tim Mercer and James Perry (J.P.) after they did just that on Saturday, Dec. 11.

The Houston men, Mercer, in the off-shore drilling business, and Perry, a retired professor of architecture at the University of Houston, didn’t initially set out to accomplish a feat — they just wanted to

THE STREAK: James Perry, left and Tim Mercer, center, shot their 500th consecutive limit of ducks on Dec. 11 with guide Robert Korenek. Photo by Craig Nyhus, LSON.

TPWD defends Hunt County

deer event

See NO CHOICE, Page 14

Presentation key to Guadalupe rainbows

By Nicholas ConklinLONE STAR OUTDOOR NEWS

Quality over quan-tity has been the benchmark when fl y-fi shing for rainbow trout in December on the Guadalupe River.

Guide Steve Bowka said the Hill Country portion of the river, below Canyon Dam, has

been producing quality trout since the third week of November.

He said fi sh have averaged 16 to 18 inches, due in part to the annual stocking by Guadalupe River Trout Unlimited and carryover from previous stockings.

Fishing has been picking up in the tailwater, Bowka said,

See RAINBOWS, Page 23

RAINBOW: Trout have averaged between 16-20 inches in December on the Guadalupe River. There just hasn’t been that many of them. Photo by LSON.

See HOW TO, Page 14

See MILESTONE LIMITS, Page 23

Page 2 December 24, 2010 Lone✯Star Outdoor News LSONews.com

LSONews.com Lone✯Star Outdoor News December 24, 2010 Page 3


HUNTING


Estimating a buck’s Boone and Crockett score is now possible with a few clicks from a “mouse,” and the deer doesn’t have to be dead.

Buckscore™, a new online data collection tool, was launched in October. Its arrival cul-minates four years of testing and develop-ment at Mississippi State University’s Deer Ecology and Management Lab in Starkville.

Scores can be estimated by loading trail-camera photos into Buckscore software, which is available online for $10. It currently operates only on PCs, but a Mac version is planned for 2011.

The technology uses a Geographic Information System, or GIS, commonly used in map making.

It gauges facial features, such as eyes and ears, on a photographed deer. The infor-

mation is compared to stored data taken from thousands of deer measured in various regions of the U.S.

“We knew the average eyeball length on deer in Texas is 1 inch,” said Jeremy Flinn, general manager for Buckscore. “Then if you measure the inside spread on a deer, it does it in eyeballs, instead of inches.”

The user receives a printout of the estimate after completing the process. Calculations are accurate to within an inch and a half, said Flinn, a wildlife biologist.

“It gives you an estimate,” he said. “But I don’t see there being a 3-inch error in the program.”

Flinn earned his master’s degree at MSU while helping to develop the new technology.

Dr. Steve Demarais, a professor at the uni-versity’s deer ecology lab, said the new tech-nology expands opportunities for people seri-ous about managing deer.

“In the past, our management strategies

were based on harvested animals,” Demarais said. “You had to have the antlers in hand.”

But that method, he explained, involves “hunter bias” which might yield data only from trophy-size deer, or those bucks covered by state-mandated antler restrictions, like those in dozens of Texas counties.

“The problem with that is you can’t evalu-ate a random sample of a population,” said Demarais, who taught for 13 years at Texas Tech University.

Buckscore, however, lets landowners take samples of any living deer, and from any age group, Demarais said.

The data can be used to gauge the effective-ness of protein-feeding programs or to deter-mine which deer to harvest during the hunt-ing season.

Flinn said he hopes to launch the Mac ver-sion in spring 2011.

For now, the software downloads rapidly to PCs using the new Windows 7 operating sys-

tem from Microsoft. Buckscore can also be used on older

Windows Vista and Windows XP systems, but users have to be patient.

A test conducted by Lone Star Outdoor News showed that the software takes much longer — about 30 minutes — to download on a PC with Windows XP.

But, once the process was completed and the computer rebooted, the software operated smoothly.

The Lone Star Outdoor News testers used the system to score a white-tailed buck shown on a nighttime photo taken by a trail camera.

According to Buckscore, the deer scored about 136, which was confi rmed by deer experts, including David Brimager of the Texas Wildlife Association, who evaluated the deer without the software.

For more information, go to LSONews.com and type Buckscore in search.

Hunters still leasing land

Online service offers to score antlers

Doves might eat more in winter, linger longer in feeding areas

By Ralph WininghamFOR LONE STAR OUTDOOR NEWS

Summer or winter, mourning and white-winged doves will cram their craws with seed.

And they’ll eat even more when it’s cold.Researchers at Texas A&M University say doves

have a high metabolic rate and digest all of the food in their craws between 12 and 30 hours, depending on what they eat.

There appears to be no difference between September and December in the number of times the birds will feed, said Corey Mason, dove program leader for the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department.

But while the feeding times might remain the same, the birds might linger longer in places where they eat. Hunters who understand that subtlety will fi nd doves when the winter season opens on Christmas Day.

“When there are cold temperatures, the doves do tend to feed a little more and may stay out in the midday and afternoon a little longer,’’ Mason said.

Hunters also should understand that the birds eat the same food, particularly their favorite small seeds, year-round. Their fl ight patterns are also consistent.

“All the food is broken down and consumed during the day,” Mason said, “so the birds must fi nd food and water each day.”

Some birds are fatter and larger than others, possibly feeding and eating more than others, just like some hunters eat and drink more than their outdoor companions.

“There are more energy demands on their bodies, but the individual requirements may vary,” Mason said. “Some birds will just eat more than others.”

Sammy Nooner, owner of the Nooner Ranch at Hondo that plays host to thousands of dove hunters each year, said he has observed a slight change in the pattern of birds coming into his fi elds during the winter.

WHAT’S FOR DINNER: Hunters can learn a great deal about what late-season doves are feeding on by checking the craws of harvested birds. Small seeds are a continu-ous favorite for many doves. Photo by David J. Sams, Lone Star Outdoor News.

After presents are opened, go dove hunting


Dove season reopens across the state Christmas day. After the presents have been opened and a big meal has been eaten, it’s time to head to the dove fi elds for some wing shooting that should be good.

After positive reports during the early sea-son, hunters can expect more of the same as the state dries out and birds become more localized and easier to pattern.

Corey Mason, dove specialist for the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, said good spring rains made for good hunting during the fi rst split of the season, even if it did scatter birds.

“In the early season, 80 percent of the birds killed are local birds,” he said. “Hunter suc-cess can be spotty because the birds are spread out taking advantage of natural food.”

Mason said he received good reports from hunters in the Brownwood-Coleman area and across South Texas. He also hunted around Midland the fi rst week of the season and said the area received heavy rainfall dur-ing his trip, scattering birds.

“The South Zone has a more sustained harvest,” he said. “People down there stick with it longer. Not a majority participates in (the late season hunts), but those that do really enjoy it.

“Birds are more concentrated and they don’t receive near the pressure. It might take more scouting, but you can key in on birds. If there is small grain available, that is where you will see activity.”

Mason said dove researchers expect good recruitment numbers across the state that will make for good hunting during the late season and next year.

White-winged dove enthusiasts in the special zone in South Texas can expect good shoots on doves during the late season.

Dr. Bret Collier, a hunter and research ecologist at Texas A&M, is in the fourth year of a joint study with TPWD to determine the movement of white-winged doves through-out the state.

“Recruitment was good this year,” he said. “The rains created a lot of forage in a lot of places, and the white-winged doves were widely scattered (in September) because of the abundance of food.

“Even with that, everyone has had a good season, from people I’ve spoken with.”

Collier said early in the season, doves focus on food sources such as mulberry trees and other mast and fruit-bearing trees for forage, but as the season wears on, the birds focus more on seeds and grains.

“They’re generalists,” he said. “They eat a lot of things and as the season progresses, we see them eating more grains, seeds and that kind of stuff.

“But the birds have to eat every day and

See WINTER DOVE, Page 16

See DOVE CRAWS Page 16


Texas hunters still have dollars to spend on leases, according to many landowners.

A 2006 Texas Parks and Wildlife study on the economic benefi ts of hunting, stated that more than $300 million is spent annually to

lease land for deer and other game animals.But although the nation’s economy is now

struggling to right itself, many hunting leases this season have not been affected.

Hunters continue to lease land for hunting in Texas, where most land is privately owned.

Internet message boards seem to confi rm that, with hunters expressing an eagerness to

fi nd leases this year and beyond.“I’ve actually had an increase

in hunters looking to lease land,” said Louie Esparza of Cross Timbers Ranches, which leases more than 7,000 acres in North Texas. “I’ve never

See LEASING, Page 16


Goose hunters waitingfor more geese

Ethical transport of game prevents misunderstandings


True story: A pickup truck was recently seen going 70 mph down a Central Texas highway with a fi eld-dressed deer dangling from a hitch-mounted game hoist.

Another hunter pho-tographed the scene and e-mailed the image to Lone Star Outdoor News. The photo, taken with a cell phone cam-era, was too dark to print in the newspaper.

But similar incidents can be seen on highways leading from deer camps. It’s those images that rile anti-hunt-ers and make ethical hunters cringe.

In the old days, many hunt-ers threw a deer across the hood of a vehicle and drove through town to show off. These days, a more likely image is the one of hooves and antlers sticking out of the bed of a pickup.

While showing off a trophy by letting a rack stand above a truck is acceptable in most instances, showing a bloody carcass isn’t.

Instead, hunters can wrap carcasses in tarps in the bed of the truck. Wipe blood from around animals’ noses and mouths, as well as bullet entry and exit wounds.

Scott Estes, partner at Clay’s Processing and Smoke House in Dublin, agreed.

“Personally, I’m an out-of-sight, out-of-mind kind of guy,” he said. “I try to keep my animals down in the bed of the truck where people can’t see them.

“I try to keep it my business when I’m traveling down the road.”

According to the Center for the Study of Ethics, hunt-ers should be sure not to draw unwanted attention by dis-playing dead animals while traveling.

“There are many thought-ful, well-intentioned people who fi nd the sight of dead game unattractive,” accord-ing to the center’s Web site. “Showing off a bloody ani-mal draped across your vehi-cle only adds fuel to the fl ame started by animal-rights activ-ists and anti-hunting groups.”

Proper handling of game animals, especially when the weather is hot, also pre-vents meat spoilage.

Derek Hardy, manager at Joshua Deer Processing in Joshua, said fi eld dressing the animal immediately goes a long way toward that goal.

“Do all you can to make sure the meat doesn’t get warm,” he said. “If you have to drive a ways, keep the hide on the animal and throw a bag or two of ice into the body cavity to keep it cool.”

Hardy said when temper-atures are above 45 degrees, the meat quickly begins to spoil.

“If it’s cold out, you can hang a deer (or other ani-mal) out for a couple of days,” he said. “If it’s warm, get it here quick.”

Estes agreed.“Really, the main thing

is get the animal into a cold storage as quickly as possible,” Estes said. “The quicker you bring that tem-perature down, the better the meat will taste.”

Good shoots reported in some areas


The goose hunting in the Texas Panhandle has been good in cer-tain areas so far this season.

Good, but not great.Mother Nature has

not cooperated, with warm weather domi-nating and keeping geese up north during the early season.

Outfi tters and game wardens said that hunters who have access to areas with suffi cient water are see-ing good numbers of birds and are getting good shooting.

Adam Clark, the game warden in Dallam and Huntley counties, said goose numbers were average compared to years past, but more geese were moving into the area, especially snow geese.

“The geese were late getting here this year and there are a lot more snows this year,” Clark said. “Hunters are killing average numbers of geese. It’s mostly guided hunts in this area.

“Very few locals set up decoys and sit in blinds. They might do some pass shooting, but the guides have been doing OK.”

Clark said the majority of geese in the past had been Canadas, but that is changing with the arrival of more snow geese.

“Snows are a lot harder to decoy,” Clark said. “I’ve also seen more greater (Canadas) this year.

“A few guys I checked (during the Dec. 18-19 weekend) had been killing a few greaters. I mostly checked local hunters this week.”

Reports from the Talon Point Lodge in Channing were more positive.

The lodge caters to bird hunters in the win-ter and said hunters that were hunting with Straight Line Outfi tters had been doing “great.”

The lodge manager said their hunters had better shoots earlier in the season, but hunters still were fi lling limits through the weekend of Dec. 18-19.

According to Straight Line Outfi tter’s Web site, “The goose hunting has been good. The

birds that should be in the Etter area are not there. Ducks are slim pickings, but the goose hunting has been good. We need more cold.”

Lubbock County Game Warden Chelsea Estrada said Canada geese have arrived around Lubbock in good numbers, and the hunters she had checked were doing well.

“There are lots of Canadas on the lakes around Lubbock,” Estrada

said. “We had two days last week that were cold, but this week it’s back to the mid-60s.”

Estrada said she hasn’t noticed an infl ux of snow geese like other wardens reported.

But hunters in drier areas are having a bleak season.

Derek Nalls, game warden in Armstrong and Donley counties, said his areas are lacking water and the goose hunting has been poor.

“It’s real dry and we’ve had very few goose hunters and very few geese,” Nalls said on Dec. 20. “There are a few geese in the Greenbelt, which is holding a little water.

“I checked a few hunters in that area last week, but nobody was out this morning. I saw one little fl ock of geese this morning.”

Nalls said unusually warm weather — it was supposed to reach 70 degrees Monday — has kept many birds farther north, in his opinion.

On the coast, Matagorda County game warden David Janssen said the goose hunting in his area has been tough so far this season.

“We’re seeing a whole lot more ducks than geese,” Janssen said. “A lot of our birds haven’t made it down here. We’ve seen a few Specklebellies, but mostly blues and snows this year.”

Janssen said reports out of Wharton County also have been slow this year.

“It’s pretty much like it is here all along the coast,” he said.

NEED MORE GEESE: Panhandle goose hunting has been average this year, hunters in West Texas said. They said lack of water and warm temperatures have hampered fl ock movement. On the coast, birds have been arriving late. Photo by LSON.

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The holiday season is here.Hunters stuck at home this

winter because of bad weather, family obligations or a myriad of other reasons can beat cabin fever with a large number of out-door video games currently on the market.

Danny Hammett, vice pres-ident and partner of Mastiff Games, is one of the creators of the hunting and fi shing video game genre. He currently makes the Remington line of hunting games for Mastiff.

Hammett said the industry has grown tremendously from the grainy PC games that fi rst came onto the market in the mid-1990s.

The fi rst game, Cabela’s Big Game Hunter, hit the market in 1995, Hammett said.

“We then made Zebco Pro Fishing and sold them with a Zebco rod and reel at Walmart,” he said. “We sold 600,000 and realized there was a market here.”

Hammett spent seven years at Activision, the maker of the Cabela’s line of outdoor video games.

“(The industry) evolved really quickly,” he said. “It went from a very profi table, controlled brand to a very cost- and infrastructure-heavy product.”

Hammett said the video games released in the past several years have focused on a real-life simula-tion, meaning gamers would walk or sit in a stand and “hunt” for hours without seeing anything.

“There’s a lot of walking and not much action,” he said. “Mastiff began developing games that were more arcade-like. Consumers were getting bored.

The game had become too real.“If people have four hours to

sit and play video games (before they shoot something), they most likely will really go hunting.”

Hammett currently works on the Remington Super Slam series of hunting games and other arcade shooting simulations such as “Reload.”

“We created an entire new line by blending the best of both worlds,” he said. “It’s faster paced with great graphics.”

Many of the games have become more affordable — in the $20 range instead of $49.95. Demographics might surprise people.

“Fifty percent of the peo-ple buying these games off the shelves are women,” Hammett said. “We recognized pretty quick that the ‘Target mom’ was buying games for males in the

household.”Outdoor video games account

for more than $400 million in annual sales.

“Cabela’s alone has gener-ated more than $1 billion in rev-enue on their hunting games,” Hammett said. “Two compa-nies really control the market: Activision (which makes Cabela’s line of games) and Mastiff.”

Michael Meyers, owner of a public relations fi rm that markets the Mastiff games, said after the success of early outdoor games, it was natural for the market to expand quickly.

“The latest game is the third Remington series they’ve done,” Meyers said. “Deer Drive (one of the earlier Remington games) sold a ton, and it convinced Mastiff it was a fi eld they needed to be in.”

New outdoor video games faster, with better graphics

CHARGE: A screen grab of Mastiff Games’ Remington Super Slam series of hunt-ing games simulates an African safari. The outdoor video game industry generates more than $400 million in annual sales.


A whoosh and a bang are excit-ing sounds at a 4th of July fi re-works display, but sheer terror inside the close confi nes of a Texas deer blind.

That’s what Gus Wheeler, 14, of San Antonio endured the Saturday after Thanksgiving at his grandfa-ther’s ranch in Val Verde County.

Gus and his older brother, Brad, were out for an afternoon hunt, but it started to get chilly as the sun made its descent. They decided to light a heater attached to a large, white propane bottle.

“I started fi ddling with it, but I didn’t know what I was doing,” Gus said. “Brad said, ‘Scoot over.’”

They smelled propane, and then they heard the whoosh.

“And the next thing I knew there was a fi reball inside this blind,” Gus said.

The brothers scrambled out the door before the blind collapsed in fl ames.

“We heard an explosion and ran away,” Gus said. “I stood there shak-ing in my boots.”

Lost in the blind were binoculars, a book, an iPhone and a custom-built rifl e belonging to Gus’ dad, Jim Wheeler. The heat was so intense that the fi berglass stock unraveled.

“But,” the teen noted, “we saved the $30 fl ip phone.”

Human error is at the root of most accidents, said Mike Mendiola,

safety offi cer for Texas Parks and Wildlife Department.

“A true accident, in my opinion, is when lightning strikes and causes something unavoidable,” he said. “But that’s (an) act of nature.

“Ninety-nine-point-nine percent of accidents are avoidable.”

Gus knows how to prevent another heater fi re.

He said his family determined that the heater wasn’t properly screwed onto the fuel bottle.

“Somehow, a spark or some kind of static happened,” Gus said, “and it started shooting fl ames.

“I would say, in the future, don’t turn the propane on all the way.”

If the brothers had done that, they could’ve stopped and tight-ened the fi tting when they detected the fumes, Gus said.

Mendiola urged hunters to take extra precautions as cold weather coincides with the final days of deer season.

TPWD, he explained, does not recommend heaters in blinds.

The ones that are draft-proof may not be properly ventilated. That can allow deadly carbon monoxide gas to accumulate if the heater isn’t properly combusting the fuel.

People who choose to heat their blinds should at least crack the win-dows to ensure safe ventilation.

And, in case of fi re, bring along some extra water to quickly douse the fl ames, Mendiola said.

Another option, he added, is to bring a fi re extinguisher to the blind.

Heater mishap in deer blind reveals safety reminders



Bobby Minchew wanted a three-person deer blind and necessity being the mother of invention he went ahead and built one.

Several years ago, the bow hunter from Humble needed a blind big enough to hunt with his sons, but he found that big-ger ones sold between $1,000 and $2,000 — money he didn’t want to spend on a deer blind.

“I built the blind for fi nancial reasons,” Minchew said. “I saw a Web site with guys making blinds out of shipping crates and thought it looked interesting.”

Judges for the Southern Deer Stands 2010 Best Deer Blind Contest agreed, and named Minchew their grand prize win-ner for his design.

He started with a plywood shipping crate from a Houston airport. The 7-by-7-foot crate was 5.5-feet deep and held together by L-shaped clips.

After work with the Skilsaw to cut shooting windows and a door, and lum-ber to build a base, the blind was ready for the family’s Schleicher County deer lease.

“It was a long process,” Minchew said. “I’m not a real handy person, so it prob-ably took me longer than most.”

So far, the blind has helped produce six deer for the family.

“If someone has the time, I’d recommend building one,” he said. “We didn’t treat the wood, which was fi ne for the western Hill Country where we hunt. Someone in East Texas might have a problem with the rain, though.”

Andy Watts of Richardson was the sec-ond place winner and Mitch Krivokucha of Georgetown took third place.

Rob Griffi n, president of Southern Deer Stands, said the judges this year were Texas Rangers former outfi elder Rusty Greer and Bassmaster Elite Series pro Kelly Jordon.

“The judges were looking for what made each blind unique, the stories behind them

and something we missed in our categories — youth,” Griffi n said. “You will notice that the grand prize winner had his four sons helping him build their family blind.

“What really makes our contest unique is that not only do the contestants enter their deer blinds that they have worked very hard on, but also the stories that go with them. Just like setting around deer camp, sometimes the best parts of the season are the stories.”

For winning, Minchew will receive an NRA leather jacket, 40 bags of Purina AntlerMax Deer pellets, custom muzzle break rifl e work from Mac’s Gunworks, a GameGuard camo clothing package, a one-year subscription to Lone Star Outdoor News, along with a cap and a decal from the newspaper.

Crate converted intoaward-winning deer blind

TOP BLIND: Bobby Minchew and his sons cut shooting win-dows and a door into an old wooden shipping crate to make their bow blind. Photo by Bobby Minchew.


FISHING

Tie on crankbaits, jerkbaits, jigs for winter bass

By Alan ClemonsFOR LONE STAR OUTDOOR NEWS

Conventional wisdom says in winter, when air and water temperatures get colder, bass anglers should slow down and be more methodical with presentations of lures.

Longtime pro angler and guide Matt Reed of Madisonville ignores conventional wisdom.

“You’ll get the answers about jigs and drag-ging something slowly, but in lakes that have vegetation, the Xcalibur One-Knock rattle-bait is my No. 1 choice,” Reed said. “It comes in everything from 1/4- to 1-ounce and can be fi shed at all speeds and depths depending on the cover.”

Discussions about cold water bassin’ span the gamut. Some anglers do slow down and drag football jigs on structure or soak soft plas-tics and work jerkbaits that mimic dying shad.

Others speed up their retrieves with lipless crankbaits, as Reed mentioned, because the body design has a tight shimmy, like a fl it-tering baitfi sh.

It’s probably best to have all three tied on. What works one day may not trigger bites the next. Weather condi-tions — bright sun, or cloudy skies — also play a role in lure selection and location, even in winter.

Veteran anglers say bigger lipless crankbaits, in 1/2-, 3/4- or even 1-ounce sizes, can mimic forage species and are good for pre-spawn and late-winter reaction bites. A few days of sun-shine can warm up shallow areas and stimu-late roaming bass. Lipless baits also are great for covering water quickly.

Lakes with vegetation, and even those without, should get a workout with a sus-pending jerkbait. Something like a Lucky

Craft Slender Pointer 127, Smithwick Rogue or SPRO McStick can be deadly. Stick with shad colors, or try variations like chrome with a black or blue back, fi retiger or chrome with a black back and orange belly. Throw the jerk-

bait around the edge of old grass beds and the lipless bait over the vegetation.

A few feet of good water clarity is needed with jerkbaits, too. When water tempera-tures are below 60 degrees, the jerkbait can be a killer option.

Reed throws the lipless bait in the same areas, and says a "yo-yo" or burning retrieve will trig-ger strikes depending on the mood of the fi sh.

“My favorite cold weather retrieve would be the yo-yo type retrieve, but you must experiment to fi nd the optimum presenta-tion,” he said. “Some days you can trigger a reaction bite by burning it even in cold water. Any speed of retrieve around vegeta-tion should be allowed to contact the cover and rip out of it from time to time.”

Reed throws his lipless baits on Bass Pro Shops XPS fl uorocarbon, typically in 14-pound test, with a BPS Johnny Morris 6.3:1 reel and 7-foot-6 medium-action rod. The action gives the bait the ability to work properly while the line’s invisibility and strength keep bigger fi sh secured.

One plus to winter fi shing is bass may gang up on familiar haunts and, once they’re there, they can be picked apart by a patient angler.

Mike Bradshaw did that Dec. 11 on Boerne City Lake while fi shing with his friend, Mike Todd. The Boerne anglers were working GrandeBass 4-inch Baby Rattlesnake, 4-inch Senko and Lake Fork Tackle Ring Fry baits on shaky head jigs about 15 feet deep on the edge of a 40-foot drop-off.

Bradshaw hauled in an 8-pound, 8-ounce largemouth from the same area where a year earlier he caught 7-2 and 7-6 largemouths. This year’s big bass came on a day when the water temperature was 56 degrees and a cold front from the northwest was edging into the area.

“The lake is small and has broken bottom and deep drops, like from 10-15 feet falling into 45-50 pretty quickly,” Todd said. “We found some deep points about 18 feet dropping into the main channel, located some fi sh and shad, and started catching fi sh on our fi rst cast.”

Todd said the slower fall of the baits, combined with a slow retrieve, has been a top autumn tactic for him and Bradshaw on the lake.

They let the bait hit the bottom and then give it small hops up the point

from deep water. This technique is the opposite of the conventional method of

working down the point, but it works for them.

Todd said they boated about 25 bass and had another 20 or so that bit but didn’t stay hooked.

“I think their metabolism starts slow-ing down some when the water gets into the 50s,” he said. “A lot of the takes weren’t

aggressive. It felt like dragging through weeds … just dead weight when they bit. But that’s been a good technique for us. I’ve never been skunked on the lake in fi ve years.”

By Kyle CarterFOR LONE STAR OUTDOOR NEWS

Kelly Jordon spent two days on the Louisiana Delta in early December and didn’t make a single cast at a bass.

He was more concerned with reac-quainting himself with the expanse of the Delta’s shallow bayous, ponds, bays, canals and fl ooded marshes.

Jordon and 49 other pros will be fi sh-ing the Bassmaster Classic on the Delta a couple months from now, but the Classic rules only allowed scouting there through Dec. 12.

“It’s as big as always,” said Jordon, a Bassmaster Elite Series pro from Mineola. “I haven’t been there since Katrina. It’s changed a little bit but not as much as I had anticipated.”

The water is now off limits until the offi cial practice days of Feb. 11-13 and Feb. 16. The event will be Feb. 18-20 out of New Orleans with a fi rst-place prize of $500,000.

This will be Jordon’s third Classic on the Delta, and he thinks that experience will serve

him well. The Delta contains countless acres of water. With tides and regular river fl uctuations, it can be tough to navigate.

“When it comes to locating fi sh, previous experience doesn’t do much good, but I have a much better idea of where things are than I’ve had in the past,” Jordon said. “It’s an advantage, but it’s also something a guy can get from going down there and spending a couple weeks.”

That guy spending a couple weeks was Keith Combs, a pro out of Del Rio who qualifi ed for his fi rst Classic through this season’s Bassmaster Central Opens. He took a trip to New Orleans in late November and stayed all the way through Dec. 12. It was his fi rst time to fi sh the Delta, and it took some getting used to.

“For the fi rst two or three days I was just con-fused,” said Combs, who unlike Jordon spent most of his time there with his bait in the water. “I liked it, but it’s a complicated place. It’s a lot harder to fi gure out than your typical reservoir, but it should be a fun tournament.”

Bass fi shing professional Todd Faircloth, of

Jasper, said the Delta is more than just confusing, and “can be a whole lot of intimidating.”

Faircloth, who fi nished fi fth on the Delta in 2001 and 15th in 2003, spent three days in the fi rst week of December to reacquaint himself with the area. He didn’t do much fi shing, but did identify two or three areas where he’ll start when the offi cial practice begins in February.

“This place is so big, the guy who ends up fi shing the winning area could fi sh all

three days and never see another boat,” Faircloth said. “It’s all about options and there are a lot of them. But once you commit to something, you’re pretty much stuck with it.”

That’s because getting to a new location might take too long on the massive Delta — time better spent casting for bass.

“There’s no checking out an area for a half hour and running somewhere else,” Faircloth said.

There will be a lot of big decisions to make come February, but for the fi ve Texans that qualifi ed this year (Gary Klein of Weatherford and Clark Reehm of Lufkin are the other two), the next two months are just a waiting game.

Big Delta: Texas anglers get their fi rst look at Bassmaster Classic water

CHILLING: Mike Bradshaw of Boerne was wearing shorts Dec. 11 on Boerne City Lake, but the water was 56 degrees when he caught this 8 1/2-pound bass on a GrandeBass Baby Rattlesnake in olive/watermelon. Photo by Jeff Todd.

ALL THREE WORK: Rapala's silver husky jerkbait is a good choice for winter bass. They can be caught on jigs, crankbaits and jerkbaits depending on vegetation and the mood of the fi sh. Photo by LSON.

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Clark ReehmGary KleinKelly Jordon


Yellowfi n tuna is on for anglers willing to commit time, moneyBy Art Chapman FOR LONE STAR OUTDOOR NEWS

Tuna fi shing, especially for the highly desired, bulky yellowfi n, has been very strong in late fall along the Gulf coast, and captains say they hope the bite will continue through early spring.

“It has been really good the last three months,” said Capt. John Brennan of Deep Sea Headquarters in Port Aransas. “We ran a trip Dec. 2 and went out about 150 miles. We caught our limit in record time; they were just fl ying out of the water everywhere.”

Brennan, a tournament fi sherman who divides his time between the Texas Gulf Coast and Costa Rica, said the 10 fi shermen he had aboard the 70-foot Pelican landed their limits of 30 yellowfi n in fi ve hours.

“We run trips about every week, and every

time out we’ve been able to catch our limit,” he said.

But if that sounds like an easy outing, be warned: tuna fi shing is not for the faint-hearted.

The shortest trip most outfi tters offer is a 36-hour run; some offer 80-hour trips. The cost can vary anywhere from $650 a person to more than $1,200, depending on the dis-

tance traveled and the accom-modations.

“Our trips are usually any-where from 135 to 155 miles out,” Brennan said.

YELLOWFIN ACTION: Gulf coast captains say yellowfi n tuna has been phenomenal in recent weeks, and they hope the bite continues through early spring. Photo by David J. Sams, Lone Star Outdoor News.

CHECK IT OUT■ Record Tuna: Huge yellowfi n tuna caught in Mexican waters.

Page 21

See YELLOWFIN, Page 10


Smartphone ‘apps’ enhance sportmen's skills

By Mary Helen AguirreLONE STAR OUTDOOR NEWS

One of the most helpful high-tech tools in a sportsman's or wom-an's gear box might just be a smart-phone. That iPhone, Android or Blackberry is a convenient way to receive a wealth of information that is out there for anglers and hunters.

There are an increasing number of “apps” that can help an angler plan a fi shing trip, master a particu-larly tricky fi shing knot, or just have some fun.

Why download that app before hanging out the “gone fi shing” sign?

“Because all fi sh and animals move at predictable times,” said John Lehman, president of DataSport Inc., the company that offers the FishCast and FishMate apps.

“So,” Lehman added, “if you are going to take a vacation, you should take a vacation when you’re more apt to catch fi sh than taking a dart and throwing it at a calendar.”

There are a wide variety of apps out there: some are free but most will run between $5 and $10.

Anglers can start trolling for apps at the Android (www.androlib.com),

Apple (www.apple.com), iTunes (www.itunes.apple.com) or BlackBerry (www.appworld.blackbery.com) app stores. They should also check their favor-ite online publications or information sources to see if they offer an app.

Here are just a few of the apps that anglers might want to try:Invaluable

FishCast 2011 by DataSport ($4.99). This provides fi shing fore-casts and other necessary informa-tion that will help anglers plan their next fi shing vacations. For Android; iPhone app will soon be available.

FishMate Pro by Sammy Lee Enterprises ($19.99). Another good app for planning fi shing outings. Developed by a former professional bass angler, this app offers informa-tion on major and minor feeding times, moon phases and weather forecasts. For iPhone.

Fly Fishing Reporter by Micro Integration Services ($0.99). Want to fi nd the best trout stream in the U.S.? This app provides informa-tion on the best fl y-fi shing desti-nations in America. It is integrated

with Google Maps to pinpoint loca-tions. For iPhone.

My Anchor Watch by IT Tack ($19.99). For those fi shing off boats, here is an app that will help anglers make sure a boat stays within designated bound-aries. Using GPS, this app monitors a boat’s position and displays movement on the phone. For

BlackBerry.T i d e B e r r y

($9.99). This offers real-time

data on tide infor-mation from more

than 3,000 tidal stations on the U.S. coast. For BlackBerry. Informative

Ultimate Fly Fishing Guide by Orvis

($24.99). This is from the fl y-fi shing experts

at Orvis. The app offers fl y-casting instruction,

an animated guide to tying knots, information on top trout fl ies as well as updated fi shing conditions from more than 200 of the best fi sh-ing spots for fl y fi shermen. For the Android and iPhone.

Animated Knots by Grog ($4.99). This is a comprehensive animated step-by-step guide on how to tie numerous fi shing knots. The easy-to-navigate app lists knots alphabet-ically or by category. For the iPhone.

Fish ID from MEDL Mobile ($2.99). This app offers specifi cs on different fi sh species: baits, tech-niques, and tactics that are effec-tive on that species. This app also provides links to state regulations, which can give a visiting angler such info as size limit on the fi sh he or she just hooked. Also, if some strange

fi sh is at the end of the line, this app will help identify it. For iPhone.Just plain Fun

FishNotes by Jimmy Houston ($12.99). Anglers can use this app to start bragging about their big catches immediately. It helps them keep a record of every fi sh caught. Once a fi sh is on the line, pull up the app, hit the “fi sh on” button, and record the time, tide, loca-tion, wind direction and temper-ature. Then, digitally record the catch. The messaging feature allows anglers to spread the word on Twitter, Facebook or YouTube. For iPhone; Android app coming soon.

Flick Fishing by Freeverse Inc. ($1.99). Because virtual fi shing is better than not fi shing at all, here’s a game that provides different loca-tions, a nice selection of bait and tackle, a dozen tournaments, and many different species of fi sh to snag. For iPhone.

Bass Fishing Mania by Digital Bridges ($4.99). In this virtual bass tournament, anglers will need all their skills to win the competition. Buy equipment, pick out lures and then go reel in that monster bass. For BlackBerry.

There also are apps for shooters.For example, Nikon’s ballistic

matching program, Spot On, is now available as an app for the iPhone. Spot On allows users to select from the largest database of factory ammo and reloading components to build a plan for sighting in any fi rearm.

Shooters around the world now have a tool to help them match their preferred load to their style of shooting and to their style of rifl e-scope and reticle.

“Spot On has been a huge hit with shooters and hunters around the world,” said Jon LaCorte, senior product marketing manager Nikon Sport Optics. “Now with the new iPhone app they can access it any-time they have their phone.”

e

oo

Lone Star Outdoor News, a publication of Lone Star Outdoor News, LLC, publishes twice a month. A mailed subscription is $30 for 24 issues. Newsstand copies are free, one per person. Copyright 2010 with all rights reserved. Reproduction and/or use of any photographic or written material with-out 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 e-mail them to [email protected].

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FISH ON (YOUR SMARTPHONE): New “apps” for the iPhone, Android or Black-berry help anglers do a myriad of functions, from fi nding the right spot to wet a line, to using a GPS to pinpoint a boat’s exact location on the water.

But on the Big E, a 130-footer, powered by three diesel engines, that runs out of Freeport, the distances can be double that.

Capt. Raul Reyes recently made a 300-mile-plus trip east of Freeport that took 60 hours. “It was an exploratory trip,” he said. “We went to an area called Green Canyon and it’s a place we don’t normally travel to.”

Reyes explained that the fi shermen usually get an opportunity to bottom fi sh on the way out and back; it gives them a chance to pick up some amberjack, grouper, and vermillion snapper. Then, the nighttime is reserved for tuna.

On the latest trip, however, all 40 fi shermen aboard the Big E agreed not to stop on the way out or back because of the long travel distance to the tuna grounds. The cost of that 60-hour trip was $700 a person.

Most, if not all, the better tuna fi shing spots are 100 miles or more out in the Gulf, well into federal waters. They are around the huge, multi-storied oil rigs that fl oat over the deeper Gulf waters. Those rigs, which look like glittering cities afl oat, fl ood the waters around them with extraordinarily bright lights. Those lights draw small baitfi sh.

The baitfi sh, in turn, draws the predators, tuna among them.Brennan said he’s certain the tuna fi shing for 2010 has been better than it was last year.“I know that in December last year, the bite fell off about the middle of the month,” he

said. “This year it has just kept going; it hasn’t let up at all.”Capt. Russell Sanguinet, who skippers both the Scat Cat, and the Wharf Cat, two catama-

rans out of Fisherman’s Wharf in Port Aransas, said the fi shing this year has been “awesome.”“Tuna fi shing doesn’t get any better,” he said. “On our last two trips we limited out on

yellowfi n in about fi ve hours and the majority of the fi sh were 60 to 80 pounds. The larg-est was 124 pounds.”

Sanguinet said Shibuki and Maguroni jigs are the most popular on his boats, but the fi sh-ermen also use chunk bait and top water poppers as well. “On one of our trips we had one guy catching yellowfi ns with a fl y on a fl y rod.”

Like the other boats, the Scat Cat and Wharf Cat will pull off the yellowfi n when the limit of three per angler is reached, and then they’ll move on to look for amberjack, grouper, and sometimes shark.

“Our boats have enough storage for the whole trip,” he said. “Some boats will fi sh until their boxes are full, then they’ll have to return to the dock. We can stay out longer.”

Sanguinet said a 56-hour trip is the standard for his boats. The charge is $650 per person. He said Fisherman's Wharf is already scheduling trips into April and May.

YellowfinContinued From Page 9

BUCKETS FULL: Deck hands unload yellowfi n tuna at Fisherman's Wharf in Port Aransas. Charter trips for tuna can be expensive; boats range far to reach prime tuna fi shing waters. Photo by Fisher-man's Wharf.


ALAN HENRY: Water lightly stained; 48–52 degrees; 1.77’ low. Largemouth bass are fair on jigs and drop-shot rigs. Crappie are fair on live minnows over brush piles. Catfi sh are fair on cut shad.

AMISTAD: Water clear; 66 degrees; 0.33’ high. Largemouth bass are good on spinnerbaits, crankbaits, and soft plastics. Striped bass are good on slabs and crankbaits. White bass are good on slabs and crankbaits. Catfi sh are fair on nightcrawlers, shrimp, and cheesebait. Yellow catfi sh are good on trotlines and throwlines baited with live perch.

ATHENS: Water fairly clear, 50–58 degrees; 1.8’ low. Largemouth bass are fair on 4” Yum Dingers, chatterbaits and jigs. Crappie are fair on live minnows. Catfi sh are fair to good on Redneck’s Catfi sh Bait.

BASTROP: Water clear. Largemouth bass are good on watermelon spinnerbaits, crankbaits, and Rat–L–Traps. Crappie are fair on live minnows. Channel and blue catfi sh are good on shrimp, nightcrawlers, and stinkbait. Yellow catfi sh are slow.

BELTON: Water clear; 66 degrees; 3.28’ low. Largemouth bass are fair on spinnerbaits in coves, and trolling Rat–L–Traps. Hybrid striper are good on live shad and white Riversides. White bass are good on minnows under lights at night. Crappie are good on minnows under lights at night. Channel and blue catfi sh are good on stinkbait, frozen shad, and snails. Yellow catfi sh are slow.

BOB SANDLIN: Water off-color; 52–58 degrees; 3.46’ low. Largemouth bass are fair on wacky rigs, Rat–L–Traps and spinnerbaits. White bass are good on slabs. Crappie are good on minnows and jigs around the Hwy 21 bridge columns a few cranks off the bottom. Catfi sh are fair to good on nightcrawlers and cut bait.

BRAUNIG: Water clear; 68 degrees. Largemouth bass are good on crankbaits and spinnerbaits. Striped bass are fair on liver and shad. Redfi sh are good on crawfi sh, shad, shrimp, tilapia, and silver spoons. Channel catfi sh are good on shrimp, cut bait, and cheesebait. Blue catfi sh are good on cut bait.

BRIDGEPORT: Water fairly clear; 51–57 degrees; 2.8’ low. Largemouth bass are fair on chrome/blue back Rat–L–Traps, crankbaits and jigs. Catfi sh are fair on stinkbait and cut shad. White bass are fair on jigging spoons and minnows. Crappie are slow.

BROWNWOOD: Water clear; 65 degrees; 9.36’ low. Largemouth bass are fair on Bass Hogg spinnerbaits, craw-colored jigs, and craw-colored crankbaits. Hybrid striper are slow. White bass are good on Li’l Fishies, minnows, and shad-colored crankbaits off lighted docks at night. Crappie are good on Li’l Fishies and tube jigs over brush piles under lights at night. Channel catfi sh are good on shrimp and stinkbait over baited holes. Yellow catfi sh are slow.

BUCHANAN: Water clear; 67 degrees; 10.63’ low. Largemouth bass are good on watermelon spinnerbaits, Skip–N–Pop topwaters, and Texas-rigged soft plastics in 10–20 feet. Striped bass are fair on swim baits, crankbaits, and Rat–L–Traps in 20–30 feet near the dam, and on live bait in 20–40 feet. White bass are fair on Li’l Fishies over brush piles in creeks. Crappie are good on chartreuse crappie jigs and live minnows. Channel catfi sh are good on shrimp and stinkbait. Yellow and blue catfi sh are good on live bait.

CADDO: Water murky; 49–57 degrees; 0.1’ low. Largemouth bass are fair on jigs, white spinnerbaits and Texas-rigged Senkos (with a light weight). Crappie are excellent on red/white or red/green jigs in the pads along deeper creeks. White and yellow bass are good on small spoons and tail spinners.

CALAVERAS: Water clear; 68 degrees. Largemouth bass are good on water-melon soft plastic worms, spinnerbaits, and crankbaits. Striped bass are slow. Redfi sh are fair on live bait, crawfi sh,

and tilapia. Crappie are fair on minnows. Channel and blue catfi sh are good on shad, shrimp, and cheesebait.

CANYON LAKE: Water clear; 63 degrees; 1.05’ low. Largemouth bass are good on watermelon Rat–L–Traps and spinnerbaits, and on tequila sunrise soft plastics along lay downs. Striped bass are fair on Pirk Minnows and deep-running crankbaits on main lake points early. White bass are fair on small spinnerbaits and Rat–L–Traps. Smallmouth bass are fair on pumpkinseed soft plastics over rock piles. Crappie are fair on minnows and blue tube jigs in 10–16 feet. Channel and blue catfi sh are fair on shrimp and liver. Yellow catfi sh are good on throwlines baited with live perch.

CEDAR CREEK: Water stained; 50–57 degrees; 3.13’ low. Largemouth bass are fair on jigs, spoons and Texas rigs. White bass are fair to good on chartreuse/white slabs. Hybrid striper are slow to fair on live shad and Sassy Shad. Crappie are fair on minnows and jigs. Catfi sh are fair to good on nightcrawlers and cut shad.

CHOKE CANYON: Water clear; 68 degrees; 5.56’ low. Largemouth bass are fair on watermelon spinnerbaits, crankbaits, and Rat–L–Traps. White bass are fair on min-nows and silver spoons. Crappie are good on minnows. Drum are fair on live worms. Channel and blue catfi sh are good on shrimp and stinkbait. Yellow catfi sh are fair on live perch.

COLEMAN: Water fairly clear; 66 degrees; 10.52’ low. Largemouth bass are fair on chartreuse spinnerbaits and Rat–L–Traps. Hybrid striper are fair on live minnows and chartreuse Rat–L–Traps. Crappie are good on live minnows. Channel catfi sh are fair on stinkbait and shrimp.

COLETO CREEK: Water fairly clear; 68 degrees (84 degrees at discharge); 1.01’ low. Largemouth bass are fair on spinnerbaits and Rat–L–Traps. Striped bass are slow. White bass are fair on min-nows. Crappie are fair on minnows. Chan-nel and blue catfi sh are good on trotlines baited with live perch. Yellow catfi sh are fair on trotlines baited with perch.

CONROE: Water fairly clear; 1.72’ low. Largemouth bass are fair on pumpkin-seed soft plastics and Rat–L–Traps early. Striped bass are fair on minnows and chartreuse striper jigs. Crappie are fair on minnows. Catfi sh are good on shrimp and liver.

FALCON: Water clear; 69 degrees. Largemouth bass are very good on crankbaits, spinnerbaits, and Brush Hogs. Striped bass are slow. Crappie are slow. Channel and blue catfi sh are excellent on cut bait and stinkbait.

FAYETTE: Water fairly clear; 70 degrees. Largemouth bass are very good on red bug, plum, and watermelon Carolina-rigged Finesse worms, and on Rat–L–Traps and shallow-running crankbaits over grass. Channel and blue catfi sh are slow.

FORK: Water fairly clear; 49–56 degrees; 3.37’ low. Largemouth bass are fair on slow-rolled spinnerbaits, spoons and Texas rigs. Crappie are fair to good on minnows and jigs. Catfi sh are good on prepared baits and nightcrawlers.

GRANBURY: Water clear; 0.99’ low. Largemouth bass are good on soft plastic worms, spinnerbaits, and crankbaits. Striped bass are fair on minnows and silver striper jigs. White bass are fair on minnows, hellbenders, and pet spoons. Crappie are good on minnows. Catfi sh are good on shrimp and stinkbait.

GRAPEVINE: Water stained; 51–57 degrees; 1.77’ low. Largemouth bass are slow to fair on crankbaits, spinnerbaits, drop-shot rigs and fi nesse jigs. Crappie are fair on minnows and jigs. White bass are fair on slabs and Humdingers. Catfi sh are fair on cut bait and chartreuse (use Worm–Glo) nightcrawlers.

JOE POOL: Water off-color; 52–58 degrees; 0.33’ low. Largemouth bass are good on

drop-shot rigs and crankbaits in 6–10 feet. Crappie are fair on minnows and jigs around bridge columns and brush piles. White bass are fair on slabs. Catfi sh are fair on nightcrawlers and prepared baits.

LAKE O’ THE PINES: Water lightly stained; 51–57 degrees; 0.57’ low. Largemouth bass are good on spinnerbaits, crankbaits and black/blue Power Worms. Crappie are good on minnows and jigs in 20–25 feet (December 1st thru February 28th anglers keep their fi rst 25 crappie regardless of size). Catfi sh are good on bloodbait. Bream are slow to fair on cut nightcrawlers.

LAVON: Water stained; 52–57 degrees; 5.88’ low. Largemouth bass are fair on crankbaits and Texas-rigged worms fi shed around riprap. Crappie are good on minnows in 20–30 feet. White bass are fair on white/chartreuse slabs fi shed vertically on main lake points in 15–25 feet. Catfi sh are fair to good drifting fresh shad around main lake points.

LBJ: Water stained; 67 degrees; 0.34’ low. Largemouth bass are good on chartreuse topwaters and on watermelon red Whacky Sticks along lay downs in 8–16 feet. Striped bass are fair on tequila sunrise crankbaits and spinnerbaits in the river channel. White bass are fair on minnows and jigging spoons early and late. Crappie are good on Curb’s crappie jigs and live minnows over brush piles. Channel catfi sh are good on shrimp and stinkbait. Yellow and blue catfi sh are good on trotlines baited with live bait.

LEWISVILLE: Water stained; 52–58 degrees; 0.96’ low. Largemouth bass are fair on chrome Rat–L–Traps, crankbaits and Carolina rigs. Crappie are fair on minnows. White bass are fair on slabs. Catfi sh are fair to good drift fi shing cut and live shad.

LIVINGSTON: Water fairly clear; 66 degrees; 0.01’ low. Largemouth bass to 4 pounds are good on spinnerbaits, crankbaits, and soft plastics. Striped bass are slow. White bass are slow. Crappie are good on minnows. Blue catfi sh are good on shad. Yellow catfi sh are slow.

MACKENZIE: Water lightly stained; 49–54 degrees; 78.11’ low. Largemouth bass are fair on spinnerbaits, jigs and shad pattern crankbaits. Crappie are fair to good on minnows and jigs. White bass are fair on slabs. Smallmouth bass are fair on suspending Rogues. Walleye are fair on minnows and jigs with a nightcrawler. Catfi sh are fair on stink bait.

MEREDITH: Water lightly stained; 50–55 degrees; 89.2’ low. Largemouth bass are fair on Rat–L–Traps, jigs and Texas rigs. Crappie are fair on jigs and minnows. White bass are fair on slabs. Smallmouth bass are fair jigs and clown pattern suspending Rogues. Walleye are fair on live baits and shallow-running crankbaits. Channel catfi sh are good on minnows and cut baits.

O.H. IVIE: Water lightly stained; 49–57 degrees; 27.16’ low. Largemouth bass are fair on Rat–L–Traps burned over fl ats, Texas rigs and spinnerbaits. Crappie are fair on live minnows. White bass are fair on Road Runners. Channel catfi sh are fair to good on nightcrawlers.

PALESTINE: Water lightly stained; 51–57 degrees; 2.73’ low. Largemouth bass are fair to good on Carolina-rigged wa-termelon lizards, chatterbaits and jigging spoons. Crappie are fair on minnows and jigs in 20–25 feet around brush piles and creek channels. Catfi sh are fair on trotlines with live perch. Bream are slow. Hybrid striper and white bass are fair on shad and slabs.

POSSUM KINGDOM: Water stained; 52–58 degrees; 1.51’ low. Largemouth bass are fair on jigs, Texas rigs and drop-shot rigs. Crappie are fair on jigs and live minnows over brush piles. White bass are fair to good on slabs and minnows. Striped bass are fair on live shad. Catfi sh

are fair to good on cut shad.

RAY HUBBARD: Water fairly clear; 52–58 degrees; 3.35’ low. Largemouth bass are fair on white/chartreuse spinnerbaits, Carolina rigs and Rat–L–Traps. Crappie are fair on minnows and jigs over brush piles. White bass are fair on slabs and minnows. Hybrid striper are slow to fair on slabs. Catfi sh are fair on chartreuse (use Worm–Glo) nightcrawlers.

RAY ROBERTS: Water clear; 51–58 degrees; 1.31’ low. Largemouth bass are fair on XCaliber jerkbaits and 3” Yum grubs. No report on crappie. White bass are excellent on 3/8 and ½ oz. CC Jigging Spoons — drop to the bottom, crank once and keep them still. Catfi sh are good on prepared bait under the cormorant roosts.

RICHLAND CHAMBERS: Water off-color; 50–58 degrees; 2.34’ low. Largemouth bass are fair to good on crankbaits, Tex-as-rigged purple worms and jigs. White bass and hybrid striper are fair to good on live shad and white/chartreuse slabs on main lake humps. Crappie are fair on minnows and jigs around deep–water trees. Catfi sh are fair on nightcrawlers, prepared bait and liver.

SAM RAYBURN: Water lightly stained; 68 degrees; 8.50’ low. Largemouth bass are fair on watermelon/green soft plastic worms and Rat–L–Traps. White bass are good on minnows and jigging spoons. Crappie are fair on minnows. Bream are fair on worms. Catfi sh are good on live perch.

SOMERVILLE: Water murky; 67 degrees; 1.97’ low. Largemouth bass are fair on spinnerbaits and shallow-running crankbaits. Hybrid striper are slow. White bass are slow. Crappie are good on min-nows. Channel and blue catfi sh are good on shrimp and cut bait. Yellow catfi sh are fair on live bait.

TAWAKONI: Water fairly clear; 52–57 de-grees; 3.03’ low. Largemouth bass are fair on white/chartreuse spinnerbaits, fl ukes and black/blue jigs. Crappie are fair on minnows and jigs over brush piles. White bass are fair on slabs and live minnows. Striped bass and hybrid striper are fair on live shad and topwaters. Catfi sh are fair on prepared baits.

TEXOMA: Water off-color; 49–57 degrees; 1.27’ low. Largemouth bass are fair on spinnerbaits, buzzbaits, chrome crankbaits and Carolina rigs. Crappie are slow on minnows and jigs. Striped bass are good on slabs, Sassy Shad and live shad

TOLEDO BEND: Water fairly clear; 67 degrees; 8.19’ low. Largemouth bass are fair on white/gold fl eck soft plastics and spinnerbaits. Striped bass are fair on min-nows and silver striper jigs. White bass are good on minnows and buzzbaits. Crappie are fair on minnows over brush piles. Bream are fair on worms. Channel and blue catfi sh are good on live minnows. Yellow catfi sh are slow.

TRAVIS: Water fairly clear; 67 degrees; 13.63’ low. Largemouth bass are fair on watermelon crankbaits and chartreuse soft plastics in 10–20 feet. Striped bass are fair on live bait. White bass are fair on minnows and Li’l Fishies at night. Crappie are fair on minnows. Channel and blue catfi sh are fair on shrimp and cut bait.

WEATHERFORD: Water lightly stained; 51–57 degrees; 2.92’ low. Largemouth bass are good on fi nesse worms, jerkbaits and spinnerbaits around docks and on rocky points. Crappie are good in the fi shing barge and boat slips on minnows and green/chartreuse with pink head jigs. Channel catfi sh are good on minnows. dough bait. Yellow catfi sh are good on live sunfi sh. White bass are good on minnows and slabs. Bream are good on worms.

WHITNEY: Water stained; 9.37’ low. Largemouth bass are fair on chartreuse spinnerbaits, crankbaits, and some topwaters. Striped bass are fair on min-nows and silver striper jigs. White bass are fair on minnows. Crappie are fair on minnows. Catfi sh are good on shrimp and stinkbait.

NORTH SABINE: Trout and redfi sh are fair while drifting mud and shell. Waders have taken better trout on the Louisiana shoreline on slow–sinking plugs in the afternoon. Tides are below normal.

SOUTH SABINE: Redfi sh are fair on the edge of the channel on mullet. Sheepshead and black drum are good at the jetty on live shrimp.

BOLIVAR: Trout are fair to good on the south shoreline on slow–sinking plugs. Black drum and redfi sh are good at Rollover Pass.

TRINITY BAY: Trout are good for drifters working pods of shad and mullet on Bass Assassins, Trout Killers and Sand Eels. Redfi sh are good at the spillway on crabs and mullet. Tides are below normal.

EAST GALVESTON BAY: Whiting and sand trout are good on the edge of the Intracoastal on fresh shrimp. Trout are good over the deep reefs on plas-tics when the wind allows.

WEST GALVESTON BAY: Trout are fair to good for waders working the mud and shell in the afternoon on MirrOlures and Corkies. Sheepshead, redfi sh and black drum are good at the jetty on shrimp and crabs.

TEXAS CITY: Redfi sh and sand trout are fair to good in the holes in Moses Lake on fresh shrimp. The channel edges have held trout, black drum and a few fl ounder on Gulps and shrimp.

FREEPORT: Sand trout and sheepshead are fair to good on live shrimp on the reefs. Redfi sh are fair to good at San Luis pass on cracked blue crabs.

EAST MATAGORDA BAY: Trout are fair for drifters on live shrimp over humps and scattered shell. Redfi sh are fair to good on the edge of the Intracoastal on crabs and mullet.

WEST MATAGORDA BAY: Trout are good in the Colorado River on glow plastics. Redfi sh are fair to good on the south shoreline in the guts and bayous. Trout are fair on shell on soft plastics.

PORT O’CONNOR: Trout and redfi sh are fair on Corkies over soft mud in waist–deep water in San Antonio Bay. Trout and redfi sh are fair for drifters working reefs on live shrimp. Redfi sh are good at the mouths of drains.

ROCKPORT: Trout are fair on the edge of the ICW on glow DOA Shrimp. Redfi sh are fair to good in the holes on the Estes Flats on mullet and shrimp.

PORT ARANSAS: Redfi sh are fair to good on the East Flats on Gulps and mullet. Sand trout are good on shrimp in the channel. Tuna are good offshore.

CORPUS CHRISTI: Redfi sh are good in the Humble Channel on crabs and table shrimp. Trout are fair to good on the edge of the fl ats on live shrimp and Gulps.

BAFFIN BAY: Trout are fair to good in mud and grass on Corkies, MirrOlures and Catch 2000s. Trout are fair to good in the guts along the King Ranch shoreline on Corkies.

PORT MANSFIELD: Redfi sh are fair to good on DOA Shrimp and Gulps under a popping cork around grass holes. Trout are fair to good on mud along the edge of the ICW and around the spoils on Corkies and MirrOlures.

SOUTH PADRE: Trout and redfi sh are fair to good on the edge of the Intracoastal on DOA Shrimp and Gulps. Redfi sh, black drum and mangrove snapper are fair to good in the channel on shrimp.

PORT ISABEL: Trout are fair on the edge of the fl ats on soft plastics and Gulps under popping corks. Redfi sh are fair to good in South Bay on the edge of the channel on shrimp.

TEXAS FISHING REPORT

HOT BITES SALTWATERSCENE

ood in mud and grass on

g g

BAY: Trout are good in

dfi sh dfi sh

LARGEMOUTH BASS

BRAUNIG: Good on crankbaits and spinnerbaits.

CANYON LAKE: Good on watermelon Rat–L–Traps and spinnerbaits, and on tequila sunrise soft plastics along lay downs.

FALCON: Water clear; 69 degrees. Largemouth bass are very good on crankbaits, spinnerbaits, and Brush Hogs.

LAKE O’ THE PINES: Good on spinnerbaits, crankbaits and black/blue Power Worms.

CRAPPIE

CADDO: Excellent on red/white or red/green jigs in the pads along deeper creeks.

CHOKE CANYON: Good on minnows.

WEATHERFORD: Good in the fi shing barge and boat slips on minnows and green/chartreuse with pink head jigs.

Sponsored by

Trout are fair to good

CATFISH

BROWNWOOD: Channel catfi sh are good on shrimp and stinkbait over baited holes.

MEREDITH: Channel catfi sh are good on minnows and cut baits.

SOMERVILLE: Channel and blue catfi sh are good on shrimp and cut bait.

TOLEDO BEND: Channel and blue catfi sh are good on live minnows.

napper are fair to good

WHITE, HYBRID, STRIPER

AMISTAD: Striped bass are good on slabs and crankbaits. White bass are good on slabs and crankbaits.

BELTON: Hybrid striper are good on live shad and white Riversides. White bass are good on minnows under lights at night.

BOB SANDLIN: White bass are good on slabs.

SAM RAYBURN: White bass are good on minnows and jigging spoons.


TRAFFIC STOP LEADS TO MULTIPLE CHARGES

A Department of Public Safety highway patrol trooper in Wise County made a traffi c stop on a truck and noticed blood and deer parts in the bed. The trooper contacted Wise County Game Warden Chris Dowdy. The driver stated he brought three bucks back from Kansas and was going to process them in Texas and return the meat to Kansas. However, there were only two tags. It was also discovered that the driver had shot a buck two weeks ago in Montague County and never tagged it. The war-dens went to the individual’s house and located a six-point buck from Montague County along with the Kansas tags. Unfortunately, the two tags were for one buck and one doe. Cases pending.

GOOD DEED GOES PUNISHEDA deer with its head cut off was

found by a roadway and reported to Wilson County Game Warden Jesse Garcia. The caller agreed to meet with Garcia at the site of the dead deer and arrived appearing very unsteady. The man said he loved drinking beer in the afternoon. He said that he hoped Garcia wouldn’t arrest him for DWI, but that’s what happened. It was the man’s second arrest for driving while intoxicated.

FEEDER, FENCE DON’T MIX A live doe was impaled on a bar of

a decorative iron fence in a new hous-ing subdivision. Grayson County Game Warden Dale Moses responded. The doe had to be put down. The owner of the fence advised he would either remove the deer feeder or alter the fence.

DEER IN COOLER THWARTS DENIALS When Polk County Game Warden David Johnson checked a local hunt-ing camp, a man said he had just

arrived at camp and was unaware of any deer being killed that weekend. A check of the skinning rack proved otherwise. An inspection of the man’s ice chest resulted in the discovery of a freshly cleaned deer, in a trash bag, with no proof of sex or tag. The man then admitted to killing a buck that did not meet the Polk County antler restrictions. The head was retrieved from the woods and several citations were issued.

DOGS CAN FIND GUNS, TOO Constables from Spring notifi ed

Game Warden Kevin Malonson that they had encountered an individual hunting near a neighborhood with two fi rearms, and upon making contact, the subject ran back into the woods. Later the subject emerged from the woods without the fi rearms. A Precinct 4 Constable's K-9 Unit was brought out and they immediately found a rifl e and shotgun. Case pending.

DECOY DEER BRINGS SURPRISING ACTIONS

Van Zandt County Game Warden Steve Stapleton and Rains County Game Warden Nathan Wilson teamed up to run the decoy deer in a problem-atic road hunting area. After several hours, a vehicle slowly approached, stopped and headlighted the decoy. After several minutes, a passenger in the vehicle began screaming at the deer. Soon the passenger exited the vehicle and approached the decoy

in an attempt to scare the deer away from the road. The man, concerned about the welfare of the deer, was found to have an arrest warrant for aggravated assault. In Rusk County, Game Wardens Chad Gartman and Kirk Permenter watched a truck pass by and then turn around. After the truck’s occupant located the decoy in his headlights, the driver accelerated and ran over the decoy, breaking it all to pieces. In Milam County, Game Wardens Charlie Mayer, Justin Valchar and Braxton Harris had a car roll by the decoy slowly, go a couple of miles down the road, and then turn around. The car came back and stopped and the occupants shone their lights on the decoy. An individual got out of the car and tackled the deer decoy. Before the wardens could get to their trucks and get to the county road, the individual had jumped back into the car and taken off. The wardens were unable to catch up with the car.

SPECIES IDENTIFICATION ERRORS BRING CITATIONS

Floyd County Game Warden Mark Collins and Hockley County Game Warden Jay Oyler encountered a group of waterfowl hunters with many ducks, geese and sandhill cranes. The hunters were fi lleting the meat from the breasts and discarding the carcass, and failing to leave a wing attached for species identifi cation. The group also had hunted the pre-vious day and had many more birds

in an ice chest back at their hotel. The ice chest was located, and as suspected, contained a multitude of fi lleted waterfowl breasts.

EXCITEMENT TURNS TO IMPROPER TAGGING

Harris County Game Warden Kevin Malonson encountered a deer hunter in possession of two white-tailed bucks. The man was proud to dis-play the fi rst two deer that he had ever taken. While inspecting the tags, Malonson discovered that both bucks had been tagged as turkeys.

PROCESSOR DUMPS DEER CARCASSES IN CREEK

Anderson County Game Warden Karen Gray received a call from a landowner that someone was throwing deer carcasses in a creek on his prop-erty. The investigation revealed it was a processer who dumped the deer. He had 15 doe deer come in, matching the number of deer in the creek. Case fi led and the judge instructed the sub-ject to pick up the carcasses.

MAN IN ILLEGAL AREA NEEDS SHOOTING LESSONS

A man hunting illegally on City of Fort Worth park property was appre-hended by Tarrant County Game Wardens Clint Borchardt and John Padgett. After checking the area mul-tiple times, the wardens pulled into the area believing no one was there and ended up pulling up right next to

the man, who was sitting on a crate with a .22 rifl e equipped with a laser sight. The man admitted to shooting at a deer only 10 minutes before the wardens’ arrival. The man also admit-ted to shooting at two other deer with a bow and also missing. The rifl e was purchased the day before in hopes of improving his accuracy. No deer was found. Cases pending.

WOMAN DROWNS AFTER FALL IN CRAPPIE HOUSE

Young County Game Warden Brent Isom responded to Lake Graham for a possible drowning. Upon arriving at the local crappie house, Isom discov-ered an older woman's body fl oating in the middle of the fi shing area. It is suspected that the lone female was attempting to take a fi sh off the line and fell into the water during the night. Apparently the victim was unable to get out of the water. During the body retrieval, a fi shing line was found that still had a crappie attached.

MAN’S BEST FRIEND TURNS HIM INBurleson County Game Warden

Sophia Hiatt was driving down a county road and saw a dog walk-ing with a deer head in its mouth. After chasing the dog away from the head, Hiatt removed the tag from the antlers and found the deer to be in violation of the antler restriction. She found the responsible hunter and a citation was issued.

DEER DECOY DOWNEDBurnet County Game Wardens

Ronnie Langford and Brent Whitus set up their decoy deer on a county road. At 11 p.m., two individuals drove down the road shining a fl ash-light from one side of the road to the other. When they got to the decoy, they shot at it two times. The men were stopped and cited for multiple charges. Cases pending.

GAME WARDEN BLOTTER

A white-tailed buck in Brown County had been living on a landowner’s property for seven years and would not jump a fence. Trespassers shot the deer, breaking its back. A neighbor called the landowner and stated that some-thing was wrong with the buck. Around dark the landowner found the deer down and did not know what had happened

to the deer. The next morning the deer was gone and there were drag marks and blood throughout the property. Brown County Game Wardens Travis Allen and Matt Marek located and cited the two trespassers for taking a white-tailed deer without landowner consent. The buck scored approximately 155. Cases pending.

TRESPASSERS SHOOT POPULAR NEIGHBORHOOD BUCK



deer diseases from that facility.“But that’s not something

you ever envision when you dream about being a wildlife biologist. You go to school to learn how to manage and pro-duce whitetail populations, to help them flourish and survive, not to euthanize them in a pen.”

James Anderton and his son, Jimmie, went to prison earlier this year after pleading guilty to transporting stolen property and the illegal traffi cking of wildlife — in this case, white-tailed deer from Arkansas.

Offi cials had tried to get documents on the deer since 2006 when game wardens started investigating the Andertons.

Arkansas hasn’t had any reports of CWD, but TPWD offi cials said the Andertons couldn’t prove the deer came from the state if they didn’t have the right documents.

Lockwood said he autho-rized the extermination when it appeared the records didn’t exist.

He said biologists originally tar-geted 71 deer, but one was already dead when they came to the ranch on Dec. 6.

Lockwood said the brain stems of the deer killed Dec. 6 were removed to test for CWD. He said that couldn’t be done without fi rst killing the deer and that new “live” tests for the dis-ease are yet unproven.

Other tests, meanwhile, would check for tuberculosis, which Lockwood said, “is at least as big, if not a bigger concern for deer and livestock in this state.”

But critics accused TPWD of government overreach.

Jeff Jones, a deer breeder from Ennis, said people in his indus-try don’t condone what the Andertons did, but they also believe TPWD could have waited

longer before taking action. “The only thing we learned

as breeders,” Jones said, “is that Texas Parks and Wildlife can come onto someone’s ranch, do what they want to, when they want to.”

Jones is a member of the Texas Deer Association, which promotes healthy deer herds in Texas, including high-fence breeding operations like the Anderton ranch.

TDA issued a statement criti-cizing the Dec. 6 event, calling it a “wholesale destruction of a deer herd” and “an unnecessary slaughter.”

TDA offi cials also noted in the statement that State Sen. Mike Jackson, R-Shoreacres, has fi led a bill that would create “a stronger appeal and review process” for breeder permit-holders accused of violations.

Lockwood said TDA’s state-ment was a disappointment.

“It is a little discouraging,” he said, “to see some of the termi-nology they used — like ‘whole-sale destruction’ and ‘unneces-sary slaughter.’”

He said the protocol used on Dec. 6 was developed in 2005, but

TDA didn’t object to it then, even though some of its members were on an advisory committee for the program.

“They make it sound like this was some sort of punitive action, but that comes with citations and, in this case, prison time,” Lockwood said. “You don’t pun-ish the deer to punish a violator.”

Lockwood also addressed other criticisms from the Dec. 6 incident.Small calibers

Some complained about the use of small-caliber rifl es to kill the deer — .17 HMR and .22 Magnum — guns that the state itself has outlawed for deer hunting.

Lockwood said the smaller cal-ibers were used out of safety con-cerns for neighboring ranches. But, he said, because of the pub-licity, he’ll convene an advisory committee of wildlife veterinar-ians to discuss the calibers.

“It’s certainly not a static pro-tocol,” Lockwood said. “It is dynamic. If we need to make changes, we’ll make changes.”No feed

James Anderton’s wife, Sharon, said TPWD officials informed her

that they were coming, and on Dec. 3 a game war-den called and asked her not to feed the deer for two days prior to their arrival.

Lockwood explained that was because biolo-gists anticipated that bait might be needed to lure the deer from pen to pen.

Lockwood noted, however, that the direc-tive was to suspend only supplemental feeding.

“Please don’t assume the only food available is artifi cial feed, “ Lockwood said. “Food was available in the natural form.” Prior deer sales

Lockwood confirmed that the Andertons were allowed to sell some deer before they went to prison.

Jones questioned why those deer could be trans-ported last spring, but the other deer were extermi-nated on Dec. 6.

Lockwood said the deer sold in the spring had proper documents.

But, he said, investiga-tors informed him in July that those deer may have been connected to the ones brought in from Arkansas. Had he known sooner, per-mits for the sale probably would have been declined.

Jones said he didn’t buy any of the Anderton deer last spring, but people who did are probably worried that TPWD will visit their ranches soon.

Lockwood said that wouldn’t happen if tests on the deer killed Dec. 6 come back negative.

“Let’s look at best-case sce-nario,” he said. “I hope all the results come back neg-ative for tuberculosis and CWD. Then I will have con-fi dence that no deer with disease left that facility.”

No choiceContinued From Page 1

headquarters in Missoula, Mont.

The terms o r i g i n a t e from the sec-tion of the Boone and C r o c k e t t Club’s scor-ing sheet that m e a s u r e s tine length and circum-ference. The ‘G’ section measures the lengths of the tines and the ‘H’ sec-tion measures mass.

Boone and Crockett has one of the oldest trophy scoring meth-ods, and the current scoring system dates to the early 1950s, said Justin Spring, the club’s assistant director of big game records.

“We get this ques-tion once or twice a month,” Spring said. “People are often a little disappointed when I tell them it’s nothing more than how the scoring sheet was written.

“If you go right down the scoring sheet, section ‘A’ is number of points, ‘B’ is tip-to-tip spread and so on until you get to section ‘G,’ which is tine length.”

On the scoring sheet, section ‘C’ measures greatest spread. Section ‘D’

measures the inside spread of the main beams, section ‘E’ is total length of all abnormal points and section ‘F’ main beam length.

When computing a fi nal score for a typical deer, section ‘E’ is sub-tracted. For a non-typi-cal deer, those points are added to the fi nal score.

Spring said as far as he knows, the terms became accepted hunt-ing lingo soon after the scoring system was updated around 1950. From then on, hunt-ers across the country have used the terms, often without knowing where they came from.

So the next time you are in camp and some-one describes a buck by the size of its G2s, you can now sound like the smartest hunter in the group by telling them where the term originated.

How toContinued From Page 1

Illustration by Boone and Crockett Club

GRIM TASK: Biologists and other personnel from TPWD process parts from deer that were killed Dec. 6 at the Anderton breeding farm near Quinlan in Hunt County. A TPWD offi cial said he hoped tests on the deer will be negative for Chronic Wasting Disease. Photo by TPWD.



“In September, the birds will come in and feed in the morn-ing, then leave and come back to feed in the afternoon,’’ Nooner said. “In the winter, they seem to stay all day and then will head back into the city to roost about 4 p.m.”

Rather than the huge fl ights of white-winged doves fl ocking to his fi elds in September, Nooner said the winter birds are more of a mix of mourning doves and whitewings, probably because

of the availability of seeds.“The doves also seem to be sitting on the ground a lot

more because that is where the seeds are after dropping off of the sunfl owers.

“I also believe the birds stay together in groups — maybe 20 to 60 birds in a bunch — to feed more in the winter than they do in September,’’ he said.

that can make them predictable for hunters.”

Collier hunted throughout the fi rst part of the season and had some “good days.”

He said in the past four years, his research team has banded more than 50,000 birds. Hunters usually turn in

between 800 and 1,500 banded birds each year that have been harvested dur-ing the season.

“We’ve seen some interesting things,” he said. “We’ve seen birds banded in McAllen that were shot in El Paso. Some birds we banded in the DFW area only go to Austin. Some populations seem to sit tight and others have birds that move along.”

He said banded birds have been shot

as far north as Kansas and as far south as the Yucatan.Correspondent Ralph Winningham con-tributed to this article.

Winter doveContinued From Page 4

LATE SEASON: Hunters who get out and take advantage of the late dove season can expect unpressured birds and good shooting. They might have to do a little legwork to fi gure out what the doves are eating. Find small grains and hunters will fi nd birds. Photo by David J. Sams, LSON.

■ Dove late season dates: North and Central Zones: Dec. 25 – Jan. 9South Zone: Dec. 25 – Jan. 18Special White-winged dove area: Dec. 25 – Jan. 14

Dove crawsContinued From Page 4

seen as much enthusiasm to get out in the out-doors as this season.”

Esparza said because of poor hunting condi-tions last year, many people contacted him who were not happy with their current leases and were searching for better properties.

“We’re pretty picky about who we let hunt on our leases,” he said. “Our annual turnover, at best, is 20 percent.”

Esparza said location is a key concern for hunters.

“Our properties’ close proximity to the DFW Metroplex is a big advantage,” he said. “But even in tough economic times, people still spend enter-tainment dollars. They just might be a little more picky in this economy.”

In Comanche County, Barbara Bryant, who leases three properties, said this was the fi rst year she didn’t fi ll all of their spots, but that might have been due to an illness in the family during the summer and not being able to post the leases in time.

“Normally, we have all of our spots fi lled,” Bryant said. “This year we were late getting it fi lled and one of the properties didn’t get fi lled. That’s never happened to us before.

“But I’m not really anticipating any problems (for next year). I’ve had a lot of calls from people who are looking to move for next year.”

Bryant said the main issue with people looking for new leases wasn’t money — it was lack of deer.

“The main thing we’ve heard is they aren’t happy with where they are at because of the hunt-ing,” she said. “We have had a few people we spoke to that have been affected by the economy and just couldn’t afford to be on a lease, but we’ve leased all of (our leases) in the past, no problem.”

Lease prices have not fallen across the state according to lease owners and hunters. The good news is if a hunter wants to search, leases can be found in most regions of the state for all price ranges.

Depending on location, leases, on average, can range between $5 and $20 per acre. Expect to pay more for well-managed properties with year-round feeding programs and better trophy prospects.

“It hasn’t slowed down,” Esparza said. “People already are starting to look for next year. I really haven’t seen a decrease in the past 10 years.”

LeasingContinued From Page 4


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Hanna Jones shot her fi rst duck, a mottled duck, during the Youth Waterfowl Season

on Choke Canyon Reservoir.

ROBBY MCCUTCHEON shows his pronghorn near Marfa.

SANDRA QUIROGA caught her fi rst black drum while night fi shing in the Lower Laguna Madre. It measured 28 inches long.

MATTHEW HORAK, 10, of Haslet, recently caught his fi rst kingfi sh on a charter trip with Deep Sea Headquarter's in Port Aransas.

JAMES TREVINO shot this buck with a bow at the Native Outdoors Ranch.

CASE DICKEY, 9, of Wolfforth, took this deer on a Callahan County ranch

with his Uncle David’s .243.




CONSERVATIONApplications available for Texas Big Game Awards Scholarship Program

Applications are now available for the 11th Annual Texas Big Game Awards Wildlife Conservation College Scholarship Program, sponsored by Carter’s Country Outdoor Stores and the Wildlife Heritage Foundation of Texas.

Applicants must be majoring in agriculture or natural re-source management.

The overall top applicant will receive a $3,000 scholarship. Eight other scholarships — one per TBGA region — will be awarded at $1,500 each.

To be eligible, applicants must be entering their freshman, sophomore or junior years in college.

A short essay is required with the application. Participation in the Texas Big Game Awards program is not required, but students in the TBGA program will receive prefer-ence in the application process.

— Staff report

Desert Bighorns moved to Big Bend Ranch State Park

Fourteen Desert Bighorn sheep were captured Dec. 21 at El-ephant Mountain Wildlife Management Area near Alpine, and will be transported later in the day to begin a new herd at Big Bend Ranch State Park.

Starting at dawn, three rams and 11 ewes were captured by Quicksilver Air, the private contract helicopter service hired by Texas Parks and Wildlife Department for the capture.

The bighorn sheep were placed in bags slung from cables below the helicopter and delivered to ground crews, who carried the sheep to work stations where they were fi tted with radio transmitting collars and loaded into vehicle trailers for transport.

By mid-afternoon, trailers carrying sheep departed for the release site.

It’s the latest phase of a multi-partner wildlife restoration project begun in

1954, and the fi rst bighorn reintroduction at a Texas state park.At Big Bend Ranch State Park, the department and its partners

are taking various steps to prepare for the reintroduction of big-horn sheep, including control of exotic species and construction of “water guzzlers” to catch rainwater for sheep to drink.

Water guzzler construction, captive rearing facilities and other Texas efforts have been paid for or built with volunteer labor donated by the Texas Bighorn Society.

Since its founding in the early 1980s, the group has provided materials, volunteer labor and funds for bighorn restoration worth several million dollars.

“Our mission is to restore bighorn sheep to all of their native range in Texas,” said Robert Joseph of Lubbock, Texas Bighorn Society president. “Why do we care? They’re a magnifi cent spe-cies. If they’re viable in a habitat, it seems for the most part every other animal there is doing well too.

“Some biologists call them a keystone species. If you’ve got the proper habitat for sheep, you’ve got the snakes and the horny toads and javelinas and everything all the way to the top of the mountain in good shape.”

Dollars raised by hunters contribute to the long-term success of Bighorn sheep in Texas.

Every year the Wild Sheep Foundation and Dallas Safari Club auction permits to hunt wild bighorn sheep in Texas, which sell for $70,000 to $115,000 per permit. Money raised goes to support research and habitat management for Texas bighorn restoration.

The last two years Texas has issued 16 sheep hunting permits annually.

Permits depend on annual population surveys and are issued for state and private lands where harvestable rams are observed.

A harvestable ram is an older, 7-to-12-year-old male that has passed prime breeding age and is deemed a surplus to the population.

— Staff report

TPWD considers closing eastern turkey hunting in15 counties

Since 1995, when Texas’ fi rst spring eastern turkey hunting season was opened in Red River County, the state’s wildlife offi cials maintained a conserva-tive approach.

They created a 30-day season, mandatory check stations, and a one-gobbler bag limit to help the birds establish themselves in new haunts.

After turkey fl ocks expanded into new areas, Texas Parks and Wildlife Department opened a spring season in 43 East Texas counties.

But in some counties, the telltale “gobble, gobble, gobble” of a big tom courting hens has gone silent and that has wildlife biologists concerned.

In 15 East Texas counties, birds were not being harvested and they weren’t being seen, either. Conse-quently, TPWD offi cials are considering closing those counties to hunting.

Those counties include: Cherokee, Delta, Gregg, Hardin, Houston, Hunt, Liberty, Montgomery, Rains, Rusk, San Jacinto, Shelby, Smith, Tyler and Walker.

“When populations in those counties can sustain hunting, we will reopen,” said Jason Hardin, TPWD’s turkey pro-gram leader. “But, we were seeing more harvest 10 years ago in these counties and most have not had one turkey har-vested in the last fi ve seasons or longer.”

By closing hunting seasons, TPWD offi cials hope they will create an oppor-tunity to stock birds, where habitat is available, and reduce the potential for loss of brood stock before the popula-tion is capable of sustaining harvest.

“We use the data collected from mandatory check stations as a trigger point in identifying areas of concern,” Hardin said. “And in some of these counties, like Smith County, we haven’t had any harvest in 12 years.

“That tells us there are very few birds out there and we need to protect them, and where possible, go back into those counties and use our new super-stocking program.”

TPWD also is considering a regula-tion change that would delay the spring eastern turkey season in the remaining counties by two weeks. The delay, said Hardin, would give hens time to begin nesting before the season opening.

“Once hens begin nesting, they typi-cally spend up to 23 hours a day on their nest,” Hardin said. “This makes them less available for accidental harvest.

“It also makes the gobblers go into a second peak in gobbling activity, which should provide excellent hunting.”

TPWD will hold scoping meetings during the fi rst week in January to give the public an opportunity to weigh in on these considerations prior to any offi cial proposed regulation change in 2012.

— TPWD

RELOCATION: A desert bighorn ram is offl oaded from a helicopter to be made ready for transport to Big Bend Ranch State Park. This will be the fi rst herd rein-troduced into a state park. Photo by Chase Fountian, TPWD.


NATIONALBattle royal: Three Ohio bucks lock up for fi ght to the death

World-record yellowfi n tuna caught

The world record for yellowfi n tuna on rod and reel has been unbroken since 1977, but a re-cently retired school administrator from California may have busted it last month in Mexican waters.

A giant yellowfi n weighing 405.2 pounds was caught Nov. 30 by Mike Livingston, 63, of Sunland, Calif., according to reports.

Livingston was fi shing aboard the Vaga-bond, an 80-foot deluxe sportsfi sher an-chored west of Magdalena Bay on the south-ern Baja California peninsula.

The International Game Fish Association has approved the application for the record. Because it was caught in Mexico, the IGFA's records coordinator said it will take at least 90 days to proclaim it as a record.

If that happens, Livingston's fi sh would

replace the existing record, a 388-pound, 12-ounce yellowfi n caught April 1, 1977 by Curt Wi-esenhutter, according to the IGFA records.

Livingston caught his fi sh with a PENN International 30SW. He described the 5 1/2-foot rod as a $20 “no-name” that he custom wrapped himself.

“After all those years, since 1974, I’ve been out fi shing on many boats, and I get this one on a no-name rod! My best yellowfi n before was about a 100-pounder,” he said.

The potential record-breaker was caught with sardine on a 9/0 Owner Super Mutu hook.

“When he struck, I had 26 pounds of drag pressure on the reel,” Livingston said. “I’ve never had a big one hooked before, so I listened when (crewman) Timmy DePhilippis said to put the lever all the way up to full drag.

“Boy, that took me to my toes! I used all that the reel had and my fi ngers.”

— Staff report

Hunter shoots unusually large coyote in NW Missouri

A Missouri man who feared he had shot a wolf on the opening day of Missouri’s November fi rearms deer season got good news before

Christmas.DNA tests show that the 104-pound canine

shot in Carroll County, Mo., was an unusually large coyote.

Coyotes are legal game during deer season in Missouri. However, when the hunter saw the animal’s size, he wondered if he had mistakenly shot a wolf.

He reported the kill to Conservation Agent Marc Bagley.

Bagley took possession of the animal and turned it over to the Missouri Department of Conservation’s Resource Science Division for identifi cation.

Resource Scientist Jeff Beringer said the MDC staff took measurements and collected tissue and hair samples for DNA analysis. The test showed the animal was a coyote.

According to Beringer, the coyote was a male approximately 3 years old. It had no tat-

toos, microchip or evidence of ear tags that would indicate it might have escaped or been released from captivity.

The coyote’s size and the size and shape of its feet were similar to those of a wolf, lead-ing to speculation it could be a coyote-wolf hybrid. Gray wolves once inhabited northern Missouri but were gone from the state by the late 1800s, due to hunting and habitat loss. Wolves persisted in Minnesota. From there, they dispersed into Wisconsin and Michigan,

which now have wolf populations of their own.The last record of a gray wolf in Missouri

was of a young male mistaken for a coyote and killed by a bow hunter in Grundy County in October 2001. A radio collar and ear tag linked that 80-pound wolf to Michigan.

Coyotes in the state of Missouri usually weigh between 18 and 30 pounds. However, much larger specimens have been document-ed in other states.

— Staff report


Evidence at the scene indicated there had been a violent struggle.

Everything around the pool was demolished, and three dead bodies were in the water.

But this wasn’t a home invasion or a triple homicide. The location was a hilly, wooded area of Meigs County in southeast Ohio.

And the victims were mature white-tailed bucks, their antlers locked in a three-way death grip. The water was a pool off of Leading Creek.

The deer were discovered in mid-November by a forester checking trees on the Burke family farm. The fam-ily notifi ed the Ohio Department of Natural Resources.

Photos were taken and now the demise of the bucks has become an Internet sensation.

“I get a half dozen calls a day on this,” said State Wildlife Offi cer Josh Shields, who responded to the scene. “And I’ve been getting calls from all over the country.

“One man in Michigan who collects

antlers said he knows of only fi ve inci-dents like this, and two were out of Ohio.

“But at least one came out of Texas.”A month later, Internet chat room

commentators still speculated on how the Ohio bucks got into the water, but Shields has a pretty good idea.

“This was mid-November, the peak of the rut,” he said. “For a battle like that to take place, there had to have been a doe in estrus in the area.”

Trees were gouged, bushes were knocked over and the ground near the pool was tore up, probably by the hooves of the battling bucks.

“I don’t think anyone will ever know exactly what happened,” Shields said. “But, I would make the assumption that at least two of the deer were fi ght-ing and the third one came in and joined the battle.

“I’ve never seen that in the woods, but I have seen a video that had two deer fi ghting and another one came in and nudged the others.”

The duration of the battle is also up for speculation, but it continued long enough to make the mess around the pool.

“Whether they were exhausted or there was a lack of coordination … I

don’t know, but they fell into a pool.”And then they drowned.Shields, however, said the Burke fam-

ily did the right thing by not touching the animals before he arrived.

He gave them permits to legally pos-sess the deer. Together they helped remove “600 pounds of waterlogged deer” from the frigid pool.

The bucks’ antlers gross scored at 122, 140 and 169 — a total of 431 inches.

Shields explained that two of the heads had to be removed in the cold water before the tangled trio could be recovered.

The offi cer said he couldn’t speak for the family, but he noted that the heads were “zip tied together to preserve the integrity of the position they were found in.”

A good taxidermist, he said, could attach the capes from other deer onto full-body forms to make a display that recreates the fi ght.

AFTERMATH: State Wildlife Offi cer Josh Shields displays the heads of three white-tailed bucks that drowned last month in Meigs County, Ohio. He said the heads were “zip tied together to preserve the integrity of the position they were found in.” Photo by Brien Burke.

BIG FIN: A picture on the dock in San Diego shows the potential new IGFA all-tackle world-record yellowfi n tuna caught by California angler Mike Livingston. The fi sh, caught west of Southern Baja, weighed 405.2 pounds. Photo by Paul Sweeney.


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and he reported catching trout over 20 inches on recent trips.

And the quality of December trout com-pensates for smaller catch totals, Bowka said.

“That’s kind of the deal with the Guadalupe — it’s always quality over quantity,” Bowka said. “In the Guadalupe, there are only a cou-ple of hundred of trout per mile, so you’re not going to go out and catch 50-60 fi sh in a day.”

To catch those larger trout, Bowka approaches the winter season in two different ways.

Shortly after new trout are stocked in the river, he likes to throw fl ies that will attract newly planted fi sh. His philosophy is to “turn heads,” and he will fi sh with attractor pat-

terns and fl ies with large rubber legs.After the fi sh acclimate to the river, Bowka

switches to more realistic and smaller patterns such as midges and tricos.

“As we get a little bit further into the season, and these fi sh start acclimating better to their surroundings, then they are going to start keying on the natural forage,” Bowka said.

Although the early pattern generally lasts between two and three weeks, guide Kevin Hutchison said the patterns have progressed much faster than usual this season.

“They have moved almost directly into the eating-smaller-stuff mode, so that has made it a little tougher,” Hutchison said.

Presentation is important, according to Hutchison, especially when fi sh are stacked in some the deeper pools that are common throughout the river.

Because of the somewhat lower water lev-

els, Hutchison said that it is not uncommon to make 20 to 30 casts to one area before get-ting a strike.

Hutchison said some anglers have reverted to egg patterns as part of a two-fl y attack to entice trout.

“A lot of guys,” he explained, “will fi sh egg patterns and use them as an attractor. Then they’ll drop something off the back of them like a copper john.

“More times than not you’ll get a hit on the egg pattern; it’s kind of doubling down on it.”

The ability to change fl ies and the will-ingness to experiment throughout the Guadalupe’s “trophy zone” has become even more relevant because of lower water levels.

Guide Alvin Dedeaux said clear water will force an angler to try several different patterns.

“I think the biggest change is that we’re changing fl ies a lot more, catching fi sh on

something that might work for a day or two,” he said. “(But) it might now only work for 15 to 20 minutes.”

Most anglers have been successful with 4x and 5x tippets, but some have been forced to go smaller due to water clarity.

In the early winter, guide Dan Cone sug-gests focusing on the deep pools and swift currents.

Cone said that, on average, the fi sh he has seen have been about 17 inches, although some over 20 inches have been holding in the deeper pools.

“It’s rare for us to see trout in the ripples and shallow water,” Cone said. “Anywhere you see that deeper shade of green and a lit-tle bit of current, that’s where you’re likely to fi nd good fi sh.” Go to LSONews.com for a schedule of Texas Parks and Wildlife Department trout stockings.

RainbowsContinued From Page 1

hunt together. “We started hunting together 20

years ago,” Mercer said. “We hunted here before Bill had the place.

“We wanted to have our hunts with just us, so we made Bill a pro-posal about 12 years ago.”

The proposal was not that compli-cated, and, for Sherrill, not that hard to accept.

“We hunt four in a group but they wanted to just hunt with the two of them and a guide,” Sherrill said. “But they agreed to pay the price for four hunters — and they paid up front. I’m not stupid.”

The proposal was all on a pre-set schedule. The two friends would hunt each day of early teal season. Then they would hunt the opening week-ends, including the weekend after the split, and the closing weekend.

There’s more. They would hunt each Tuesday and Thursday throughout the season.

“We set that up because J.P. was still working and he could get away those mornings,” Mercer said.

They could change a date only if Thanksgiving or Christmas interfered.

They shot their limits the fi rst day. And the second. Then it became a habit.

“We didn’t set it up for a streak,” Mercer said. “But then it was 36 times in a row. Then 84. Then we started to talk about it.”

Once talk of the streak began, Sherrill got worried.

“I told them it’s impossible,” Sherrill said. “Mother Nature. No rain. No ducks. Something would go wrong.”

Then the streak hit 100 limits. Then 200.

“We had every kind of weather you could imagine,” Perry said. “And lots of other things went wrong.”

“J.P. hit a hog,” Mercer said.“You hit a deer,” Perry responded.“You lost your gun.”“You overslept.”“You locked your keys in the car.”“They closed the freeway.”“You couldn’t shoot straight.”“You showed up with a .410.”“You showed up with three

friends.”At the end of each season, the

hunters would order caps with the number of limits embroidered on the canvas.

Their guide on most of the trips was Robert Korenek, and he described what might have been the toughest hunt.

“A cold front hit with 45 mph winds,” Korenek said. “The ducks were stopping short in the pond — they couldn’t get to our spread. I said ‘Grab your guns; we’re going to the corner of the lake.’ They pass shot their limits.”

Korenek praised the hunters’ abilities.

“They are good hunters — and good shooters,” he said. “That makes a big difference.”

But even the best shooters have an off day.

“We’ve had to share shells a few times,” Perry said.

The streak almost ended around limit 130.

“We left the lake one bird short, but there was one cripple we couldn’t fi nd,” Mercer said. “We thought it was over. Then we found the duck on the way out.”

And the choice of duck species suffered some. Most hunts lasted

less than 30 minutes, but some were more diffi cult.

“We’ve shot plenty of spoonies,” Perry said. “And ruddy ducks.”

But they shot some interesting species as well.

“We shot a ringed teal that must have gotten lost in Argentina,” Perry said.

“And a surf scoter last year,” Mercer added.

The most banded ducks came in one year.

“One year, we got 10 bands,” Mercer said. “I got all three types of teal with bands.”

It’s been a few years since the pair has brought down a banded duck, but they don’t seem to mind. Nor do they seem to mind the cost of the adventure. Mostly they just praised the area they hunt — and the 75-plus separate ponds over the thousands of acres of prime duck and goose habitat.

“There’s no other place in the U.S. where you could do this,” Perry said.

Mercer agreed, and he should know. He’s hunted birds all over the world.

“This is the most consistent area for wild birds,” he said.

The hunters bagged their lim-

its early on the morning of Dec. 11. Korenek, again the guide, showed obvious relief.

Were the hunters relieved enough, having reached the milestone, to take a day off or let the streak end?

“No, we’ll keep going,” Perry said. “I’m going until I drop — you’ll know I’m done when I’m under the ground.

“And I’m making a special cap this year. With the number 500.”

Sherrill, never at a loss for words, shook his head.

“I told them it was impossible,” he said. “I was wrong.”

And the friends were back the next day. It was on the schedule.

And, of course, they shot their limits.

Milestone limitsContinued From Page 1

THE 12-YEAR JOURNEYLimit: Date:

100 Thurs., Sept. 27, 2001

200 Tues., Dec. 9, 2003

300 Wed., Sept. 13, 2006

400 Sun., Nov. 2, 2008

500 Sat., Dec. 11, 2010

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Solunar | Sun times | Moon timesMoon Phases

FOR THE TABLEOUTDOOR PUZZLER | By Wilbur “Wib” Lundeen Solution on Page 26

ACROSS 1. A trout food source 5. A bass habitat 9. A deer food source10. A lake bird11. Used to make simple tents12. Used in making fl y rods13. A female bear14. To fi rm a hook16. Trapped for the fur17. Most populated state for elk20. Game searching for food22. A good bear scent24. Act of carrying canoe overland27. A shotgun model, ____ and under29. Trapped for the fur31. A type of fl y lure33. A type of gunsight34. Name for the chinook salmon35. Term for shooting at random targets37. A grouping of pheasants38. The home of a trout species40. Mammals trapped for fur46. From the sunfi sh family47. A trophy48. A species of deer49. A very good breed of gundog

DOWN 1. A quick-to-erect type tent 2. A typer of fi shing lure 3. The chinook or king 4. To scare deer from area 5. Stream anglers wear ____ suits at

times 6. Large appendage on the mule deer 7. A top predator fi sh 8. To pull back a bowstring

12. A trout species14. A very large bass15. To construct a fl y lure18. A small game19. A game bird20. The trapper's interest21. To analyze freshness of a track22. Large game of the plains23. This lunchmeat will catch crappies25. A name for a largemouth26. The rules of hunting and fi shing

28. A wildfowl on the move30. Canoe that can be folded up32. A line with many hooks36. Code for ammo grain measurement38. The inside of a gun barrel39. A class in a shoot meet41. A duck species42. Brings in the catch43. A protective device, ____pad44. Finger protector, shooting ___45. A male Dall

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 tbsps. oil4 oz. ground duck/goose1⁄4 minced onion1 tbsp. chopped green pepper1 minced clove garlic3/8 tsp. chili powder1⁄4 tsp. salt1⁄4 tsp. ground black pepper2 tbsps. sour cream6 corn tortillas (5-6 inches diameter)2 oz. grated cheddar cheeseFor salsa1 cup chopped ripe tomatoes1⁄2 cup chopped yellow onion1⁄2 tsp. (canned) chopped jalapeño pepper2 tsp. chopped fresh cilantro

In a large skillet, heat the oil over medium heat and brown the ground meats. Add the onion, green pepper

and garlic, and sauté until soft-ened. Add the chili powder, salt and pepper. Turn the heat off and add the sour cream. Cover and set this aside. Prepare the salsa, chop the tomatoes coarsely and add to the onion, jalapeño pepper and cilantro. Mix well. Preheat the oil in a deep fryer. Cut the tortillas into eight pie segments, fi rst in half, then in half twice again. When the oil is hot, dip each segment into the hot oil and fry until crisp, about 3-4 min-utes each. Drain on paper towels. To assemble, spread some of the meat mixture on the tortilla chips, then a bit of the shredded cheese and top with the salsa. Makes about 40 bite-sized snacks.

— Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation

Tostaditas (from ducks or geese)

8 trout fi lets2 tbsps. Italian dressingSalt and pepper to taste12-ounce beer1 tbsp. basil2 tsp. garlic powder1 tsp. Old Bay Seasoning

Pour beer over fi sh. Add basil, salt, pepper, Old Bay Seasoning and garlic powder. Stir in the Italian dressing. Chill for 20 minutes. Cook on hot grill until trout fl akes.

— West Virginia Division of Natural Resources

Italian trout

FullJan. 14First

Jan. 7Last

Dec. 24

NewDec. 31

Texas Coast TidesSabine Pass, jettyDate Time Height Time Height Time Height Time HeightDec 24 1:46 a.m. 2.0 H 10:18 a.m. -0.9 L 6:39 p.m. 2.0 H 10:56 p.m. 1.4 L Dec 25 3:08 a.m. 1.8 H 11:06 a.m. -0.5 L 7:04 p.m. 1.8 H Dec 26 12:24 a.m. 1.1 L 5:16 a.m. 1.4 H 11:56 a.m. 0.0 L 7:26 p.m. 1.6 H Dec 27 1:47 a.m. 0.5 L 7:46 a.m. 1.3 H 12:55 p.m. 0.5 L 7:46 p.m. 1.6 H Dec 28 2:53 a.m. 0.0 L 10:07 a.m. 1.4 H 2:20 p.m. 1.1 L 8:04 p.m. 1.6 H Dec 29 3:48 a.m. -0.5 L 12:02 p.m. 1.8 H 4:46 p.m. 1.4 L 8:21 p.m. 1.6 H Dec 30 4:39 a.m. -1.1 L 1:20 p.m. 2.0 H Dec 31 5:27 a.m. -1.4 L 2:15 p.m. 2.1 H Jan 01 6:17 a.m. -1.4 L 2:57 p.m. 2.1 H 8:15 p.m. 1.6 L 10:21 p.m. 1.8 H Jan 02 7:02 a.m. -1.4 L 3:38 p.m. 2.1 H 8:36 p.m. 1.6 L 11:12 p.m. 1.8 H Jan 03 7:44 a.m. -1.4 L 4:16 p.m. 2.0 H 8:49 p.m. 1.6 L Jan 04 12:00 a.m. 1.8 H 8:24 a.m. -1.4 L 4:49 p.m. 1.8 H 9:03 p.m. 1.6 L Jan 05 12:45 a.m. 1.8 H 9:01 a.m -1.1 L 5:19 p.m. 1.8 H 9:28 p.m. 1.4 L Jan 06 1:30 a.m. 1.6 H 9:35 a.m. -0.9 L 5:45 p.m. 1.6 H 10:10 p.m. 1.3 L Jan 07 2:18 a.m. 1.4 H 10:07 a.m. -0.7 L 6:08 p.m. 1.4 H 11:09 p.m. 1.1 L

Galveston Bay entrance, south jettyDate Time Height Time Height Time Height Time HeightDec 24 2:33 a.m. 1.6 H 10:44 a.m. -0.7 L 7:26 p.m. 1.6 H 11:22 p.m. 1.1 L Dec 25 3:55 a.m. 1.4 H 11:32 a.m. -0.4 L 7:51 p.m. 1.4 H Dec 26 12:50 a.m. 0.9 L 6:03 a.m. 1.1 H 12:22 p.m. 0.0 L 8:13 p.m. 1.3 H Dec 27 2:13 a.m. 0.4 L 8:33 a.m. 1.0 H 1:21 p.m. 0.4 L 8:33 p.m. 1.3 H Dec 28 3:19 a.m. 0.0 L 10:54 a.m. 1.1 H 2:46 p.m. 0.9 L 8:51 p.m. 1.3 H Dec 29 4:14 a.m. -0.4 L 12:49 p.m. 1.4 H 5:12 p.m. 1.1 L 9:08 p.m. 1.3 H Dec 30 5:05 a.m. -0.9 L 2:07 p.m. 1.6 H Dec 31 5:53 a.m. -1.1 L 3:02 p.m. 1.7 H Jan 01 6:43 a.m. -1.1 L 3:44 p.m. 1.7 H 8:41 p.m. 1.3 L 11:08 p.m. 1.4 H Jan 02 7:28 a.m. -1.1 L 4:25 p.m. 1.7 H 9:02 p.m. 1.3 L 11:59 p.m. 1.4 H Jan 03 8:10 a.m. -1.1 L 5:03 p.m. 1.6 H 9:15 p.m. 1.3 L Jan 04 12:47 a.m. 1.4 H 8:50 a.m. -1.1 L 5:36 p.m. 1.4 H 9:29 p.m. 1.3 L Jan 05 1:32 a.m. 1.4 H 9:27 a.m. -0.9 L 6:06 p.m. 1.4 H 9:54 p.m. 1.1 L Jan 06 2:17 a.m. 1.3 H 10:01 a.m. -0.7 L 6:32 p.m. 1.3 H 10:36 p.m. 1.0 L Jan 07 3:05 a.m. 1.1 H 10:33 a.m. -0.6 L 6:55 p.m. 1.1 H 11:35 p.m. 0.9 L

San Luis PassDate Time Height Time Height Time Height Time Height Dec 24 3:03 a.m. 0.9 H 11:40 a.m. -0.4 L 7:56 p.m. 0.9 H Dec 25 12:18 a.m. 0.7 L 4:25 a.m. 0.9 H 12:28 p.m. -0.3 L 08:21 p.m. 0.9 H Dec 26 1:46 a.m. 0.5 L 6:33 a.m. 0.7 H 1:18 p.m. 0.0 L 8:43 p.m. 0.8 H Dec 27 3:09 a.m. 0.3 L 9:03 a.m. 0.6 H 2:17 p.m. 0.3 L 9:03 p.m. 0.8 H Dec 28 4:15 a.m. 0.0 L 11:24 a.m. 0.7 H 3:42 p.m. 0.5 L 9:21 p.m. 0.8 H Dec 29 5:10 a.m. -0.3 L 1:19 p.m. 0.9 H 6:08 p.m. 0.7 L 9:38 p.m. 0.8 H Dec 30 6:01 a.m. -0.5 L 2:37 p.m. 0.9 H Dec 31 6:49 a.m. -0.7 L 3:32 p.m. 1.0 H Jan 01 7:39 a.m. -0.7 L 4:14 p.m. 1.0 H 9:37 p.m. 0.8 L 11:38 p.m. 0.9 H Jan 02 8:24 a.m. -0.7 L 4:55 p.m. 1.0 H 9:58 p.m. 0.8 L Jan 03 12:29 a.m. 0.9 H 9:06 a.m. -0.7 L 5:33 p.m. 0.9 H 10:11 p.m. 0.8 L Jan 04 1:17 a.m. 0.9 H 9:46 a.m. -0.7 L 6:06 p.m. 0.9 H 10:25 p.m. 0.8 L Jan 05 2:02 a.m. 0.9 H 10:23 a.m. -0.5 L 6:36 p.m. 0.9 H 10:50 p.m. 0.7 L Jan 06 2:47 a.m. 0.8 H 10:57 a.m. -0.4 L 7:02 p.m. 0.8 H 11:32 p.m. 0.6 L Jan 07 3:35 a.m. 0.7 H 11:29 a.m. -0.3 L 7:25 p.m. 0.7 H

Freeport HarborDate Time Height Time Height Time Height Time HeightDec 24 1:55 a.m. 1.4 H 10:41 a.m. -0.5 L 6:48 p.m. 1.4 H 11:19 p.m. 0.7 L Dec 25 3:17 a.m. 1.2 H 11:29 a.m. -0.3 L 7:13 p.m. 1.2 H Dec 26 12:47 a.m. 0.5 L 5:25 a.m. 1.0 H 12:19 p.m. 0.0 L 7:35 p.m. 1.1 H Dec 27 2:10 a.m. 0.3 L 7:55 a.m. 0.9 H 1:18 p.m. 0.3 L 7:55 p.m. 1.1 H Dec 28 3:16 a.m. 0.0 L 10:16 a.m. 1.0 H 2:43 p.m. 0.5 L 8:13 p.m. 1.1 H Dec 29 4:11 a.m. -0.3 L 12:11 p.m. 1.2 H 5:09 p.m. 0.7 L 8:30 p.m. 1.1 H Dec 30 5:02 a.m. -0.5 L 1:29 p.m. 1.4 H Dec 31 5:50 a.m. -0.7 L 2:24 p.m. 1.5 H Jan 01 6:40 a.m. -0.7 L 3:06 p.m. 1.5 H 8:38 p.m. 0.8 L 10:30 p.m. 1.2 H Jan 02 7:25 a.m. -0.7 L 3:47 p.m. 1.5 H 8:59 p.m. 0.8 L 11:21 p.m. 1.2 H Jan 03 8:07 a.m. -0.7 L 4:25 p.m. 1.4 H 9:12 p.m. 0.8 L Jan 04 12:09 a.m. 1.2 H 8:47 a.m. -0.7 L 4:58 p.m. 1.2 H 9:26 p.m. 0.8 L Jan 05 12:54 a.m. 1.2 H 9:24 a.m. -0.5 L 5:28 p.m. 1.2 H 9:51 p.m. 0.7 L Jan 06 1:39 a.m. 1.1 H 9:58 a.m. -0.5 L 5:54 p.m. 1.1 H 10:33 p.m. 0.6 L Jan 07 2:27 a.m. 1.0 H 10:30 a.m. -0.4 L 6:17 p.m. 1.0 H 11:32 p.m. 0.5 L

South Padre IslandDate Time Height Time Height Time Height Time HeightDec 24 10:31 a.m. -0.4 L 7:32 p.m. 1.6 H Dec 25 11:19 a.m. -0.1 L 7:36 p.m. 1.4 H Dec 26 1:54 a.m. 0.9 L 4:34 a.m. 1.0 H 12:07 p.m. 0.3 L 7:32 p.m. 1.3 H Dec 27 2:13 a.m. 0.6 L 7:42 a.m. 0.9 H 12:59 p.m. 0.6 L 7:19 p.m. 1.2 H Dec 28 2:51 a.m. 0.2 L 10:55 a.m. 1.0 H 2:04 p.m. 0.9 L 6:53 p.m. 1.2 H Dec 29 3:36 a.m. -0.2 L 1:29 p.m. 1.3 H Dec 30 4:26 a.m. -0.5 L 2:43 p.m. 1.5 H Dec 31 5:17 a.m. -0.8 L 3:37 p.m. 1.6 H Jan 01 6:13 a.m. -0.9 L 4:22 p.m. 1.6 H Jan 02 7:03 a.m. -0.9 L 5:05 p.m. 1.6 H Jan 03 7:51 a.m. -0.8 L 5:44 p.m. 1.6 H Jan 04 8:37 a.m. -0.7 L 6:17 p.m. 1.5 H Jan 05 9:18 a.m. -0.5 L 6:41 p.m. 1.4 H Jan 06 9:57 a.m. -0.3 L 6:55 p.m. 1.3 H Jan 07 10:31 a.m. -0.1 L 7:01 p.m. 1.2 H

Port O’ConnorDate Time Height Time Height Time Height Time HeightDec 24 2:19 a.m. 0.8 H 1:46 p.m. -0.4 L Dec 25 3:20 a.m. 0.6 H 2:16 p.m. -0.2 L Dec 26 4:24 a.m. 0.4 H 2:31 p.m. 0.0 L 10:31 p.m. 0.3 H Dec 27 4:59 a.m. 0.1 L 7:44 a.m. 0.2 H 1:58 p.m. 0.1 L 9:20 p.m. 0.4 H Dec 28 5:59 a.m. 0.0 L 8:41 p.m. 0.5 H Dec 29 6:55 a.m. -0.2 L 8:30 p.m. 0.6 H Dec 30 7:50 a.m. -0.4 L 8:43 p.m. 0.7 H Dec 31 8:44 a.m. -0.6 L 9:11 p.m. 0.8 H Jan 01 9:41 a.m. -0.6 L 9:58 p.m. 0.7 H Jan 02 10:32 a.m. -0.6 L 10:40 p.m. 0.7 H Jan 03 11:20 a.m. -0.6 L 11:25 p.m. 0.7 H Jan 04 12:04 p.m. -0.6 L Jan 05 12:11 a.m. 0.6 H 12:46 p.m. -0.6 L Jan 06 12:57 a.m. 0.5 H 1:23 p.m. -0.5 L Jan 07 1:36 a.m. 0.4 H 1:57 p.m. -0.4 L

RockportDate Time Height Time Height Time Height Time HeightDec 24 4:02 a.m. 0.16 H 3:00 p.m. -0.23 LDec 25 4:38 a.m. 0.10 H 3:25 p.m. -0.19 LDec 26 4:26 a.m. 0.03 H 3:30 p.m. -0.14 L 11:30 p.m. -0.01 HDec 27 2:43 p.m. -0.10 L 10:27 p.m. 0.01 HDec 28 7:17 a.m. -0.15 L 10:04 p.m. 0.05 HDec 29 7:55 a.m. -0.23 L 10:11 p.m. 0.08 HDec 30 8:39 a.m. -0.30 L 10:40 p.m. 0.11 HDec 31 9:27 a.m. -0.34 L 11:33 p.m. 0.10 HJan 01 10:23 a.m. -0.33 LJan 02 12:29 a.m. 0.11 H 11:16 p.m. -0.35 LJan 03 1:23 a.m. 0.1 H 12:07 p.m. -0.35 LJan 04 2:16 a.m. 0.08 H 12:55 p.m. -0.35 LJan 05 3:07 a.m. 0.05 H 01:36 p.m. -0.34 LJan 06 3:55 a.m. 0.02 H 02:10 p.m. -0.33 LJan 07 4:41 a.m. -0.02 H 02:36 p.m. -0.31 L

Houston2010-11 A.M. P.M. SUN MOONDec-Jan Minor Major Minor Major Rises Sets Rises Sets24 Fri 7:45 1:32 8:12 1:58 07:13 05:27 9:19p 9:48a 25 Sat 8:44 2:31 9:09 2:56 07:13 05:27 10:24p 10:26a 26 Sun 9:40 3:27 10:04 3:52 07:14 05:28 11:28p 11:02a 27 Mon 10:33 4:20 10:57 4:45 07:14 05:28 NoMoon 11:37a28 Tue Q 11:23 5:11 11:49 5:36 07:14 05:29 12:32a 12:13p 29 Wed ----- 6:00 12:13 6:26 07:15 05:29 1:36a 12:52p 30 Thu 12:34 6:48 1:02 7:15 07:15 05:30 2:42a 1:35p 31 Fri 1:23 7:37 1:51 8:05 07:15 05:31 3:46a 2:22p 01 Sat 2:13 8:27 2:41 8:55 07:16 05:31 4:48a 3:14p 02 Sun 3:04 9:18 3:32 9:46 07:16 05:32 5:47a 4:10p 03 Mon > 3:57 10:10 4:24 10:37 07:16 05:33 6:40a 5:09p 04 Tue N 4:50 11:02 5:15 11:28 07:16 05:33 7:27a 6:08p 05 Wed > 5:42 11:26 6:06 ----- 07:16 05:34 8:09a 7:06p 06 Thu > 6:33 12:22 6:56 12:45 07:17 05:35 8:45a 8:02p 07 Fri > 7:23 1:12 7:44 1:33 07:17 05:36 9:18a 8:57p 08 Sat 8:10 2:00 8:31 2:20 07:17 05:36 9:48a 9:49p 09 Sun 8:56 2:46 9:16 3:06 07:17 05:37 10:17a 10:41p 10 Mon 9:40 3:30 10:00 3:50 07:17 05:38 10:45a 11:33p 11 Tue 10:24 4:13 10:44 4:34 07:17 05:39 11:15a NoMoon12 Wed Q 11:07 4:56 11:29 5:18 07:17 05:40 11:47a 12:26a

Port Aransas, H. Caldwell PierDate Time Height Time Height Time Height Time HeightDec 24 2:26 a.m. 1.3 H 10:23 a.m. -0.4 L 7:19 p.m. 1.3 H 11:01 p.m. 0.6 L Dec 25 3:48 a.m. 1.1 H 11:11 a.m. -0.2 L 7:44 p.m. 1.1 H Dec 26 12:29 a.m. 0.5 L 5:56 a.m. 0.9 H 12:01 p.m. 0.0 L 8:06 p.m. 1.0 H Dec 27 1:52 a.m. 0.2 L 8:26 a.m. 0.8 H 1:00 p.m. 0.2 L 8:26 p.m. 1.0 H Dec 28 2:58 a.m. 0.0 L 10:47 a.m. 0.9 H 2:25 p.m. 0.5 L 8:44 p.m. 1.0 H Dec 29 3:53 a.m. -0.2 L 12:42 p.m. 1.1 H 4:51 p.m. 0.6 L 9:01 p.m. 1.0 H Dec 30 4:44 a.m. -0.5 L 2:00 p.m. 1.3 H Dec 31 5:32 a.m. -0.6 L 2:55 p.m. 1.4 HJan 01 6:22 a.m. -0.6 L 3:37 p.m. 1.4 H 8:20 p.m. 0.7 L 11:01 p.m. 1.1 H Jan 02 7:07 a.m. -0.6 L 4:18 p.m. 1.4 H 8:41 p.m. 0.7 L 11:52 p.m. 1.1 H Jan 03 7:49 a.m. -0.6 L 4:56 p.m. 1.3 H 8:54 p.m. 0.7 L Jan 04 12:40 a.m. 1.1 H 8:29 a.m. -0.6 L 5:29 p.m. 1.1 H 9:08 p.m. 0.7 L Jan 05 1:25 a.m. 1.1 H 9:06 a.m. -0.5 L 5:59 p.m. 1.1 H 9:33 p.m. 0.6 L Jan 06 2:10 a.m. 1.0 H 9:40 a.m. -0.4 L 6:25 p.m. 1.0 H 10:15 p.m. 0.5 L Jan 07 2:58 a.m. 0.9 H 10:12a.m. -0.3 L 6:48 p.m. 0.9 H 11:14 p.m. 0.5 L

San Antonio2010-11 A.M. P.M. SUN MOONDec-Jan Minor Major Minor Major Rises Sets Rises Sets24 Fri 7:58 1:44 8:24 2:11 07:25 05:40 9:32p 10:00a 25 Sat 8:56 2:43 9:22 3:09 07:25 05:40 10:37p 10:38a 26 Sun 9:52 3:40 10:17 4:05 07:25 05:41 11:41p 11:14a 27 Mon 10:45 4:33 11:10 4:58 07:26 05:41 NoMoon 11:50a 28 Tue Q 11:36 5:23 ----- 5:49 07:26 05:42 12:45a 12:26p 29 Wed 12:01 6:12 12:25 6:38 07:26 05:43 1:49a 1:06p 30 Thu 12:47 7:01 1:14 7:28 07:27 05:43 2:54a 1:48p 31 Fri 1:36 7:49 2:03 8:17 07:27 05:44 3:58a 2:36p 01 Sat 2:25 8:40 2:54 9:08 07:27 05:45 5:01a 3:28p 02 Sun 3:17 9:31 3:45 9:59 07:28 05:45 5:59a 4:24p 03 Mon > 4:09 10:23 4:36 10:50 07:28 05:46 6:52a 5:22p 04 Tue N 5:02 11:15 5:28 11:41 07:28 05:47 7:39a 6:21p 05 Wed > 5:54 11:38 6:19 12:07 07:28 05:47 8:21a 7:19p 06 Thu > 6:46 12:34 7:08 12:57 07:28 05:48 8:58a 8:16p 07 Fri > 7:35 1:24 7:57 1:46 07:28 05:49 9:30a 9:10p 08 Sat 8:23 2:12 8:43 2:33 07:28 05:50 10:01a 10:02p 09 Sun 9:08 2:58 9:29 3:18 07:28 05:50 10:30a 10:54p 10 Mon 9:53 3:43 10:13 4:03 07:29 05:51 10:58a 11:46p 11 Tue 10:36 4:26 10:57 4:47 07:29 05:52 11:28a NoMoon12 Wed Q 11:20 5:09 11:41 5:30 07:29 05:53 12:00p 12:39a

Amarillo2010-11 A.M. P.M. SUN MOONDec-Jan Minor Major Minor Major Rises Sets Rises Sets24 Fri 8:11 1:58 8:38 2:24 07:52 05:39 9:40p 10:21a 25 Sat 9:10 2:57 9:35 3:22 07:53 05:39 10:49p 10:56a 26 Sun 10:06 3:53 10:30 4:18 07:53 05:40 11:56p 11:29a 27 Mon 10:59 4:46 11:23 5:11 07:54 05:40 NoMoon 12:01p 28 Tue Q 11:49 5:37 ----- 6:02 07:54 05:41 1:03a 12:34p29 Wed 12:12 6:26 12:39 6:52 07:54 05:42 2:11a 1:10p 30 Thu 1:00 7:14 1:27 7:41 07:55 05:42 3:19a 1:50p 31 Fri 1:49 8:03 2:17 8:31 07:55 05:43 4:26a 2:35p 01 Sat 2:39 8:53 3:07 9:21 07:55 05:44 5:30a 3:26p 02 Sun 3:30 9:44 3:58 10:12 07:55 05:44 6:29a 4:22p 03 Mon > 4:23 10:36 4:50 11:03 07:55 05:45 7:21a 5:22p 04 Tue N 5:15 11:28 5:41 11:54 07:55 05:46 8:07a 6:23p 05 Wed > 6:08 11:52 6:32 12:20 07:55 05:47 8:46a 7:23p 06 Thu > 6:59 12:48 7:22 1:10 07:56 05:48 9:20a 8:22p 07 Fri > 7:48 1:38 8:10 1:59 07:56 05:48 9:50a 9:19p 08 Sat 8:36 2:26 8:57 2:46 07:56 05:49 10:17a 10:15p 09 Sun 9:22 3:12 9:42 3:32 07:55 05:50 10:43a 11:09p 10 Mon 10:06 3:56 10:26 4:16 07:55 05:51 11:09a NoMoon 11 Tue 10:50 4:39 11:10 5:00 07:55 05:52 11:36a 12:04a12 Wed Q 11:33 5:22 11:55 5:44 07:55 05:53 12:06p 1:00a

Dallas2010-11 A.M. P.M. SUN MOONDec-Jan Minor Major Minor Major Rises Sets Rises Sets24 Fri 7:51 1:37 8:17 2:04 07:26 05:24 9:22p 9:57a 25 Sat 8:49 2:36 9:15 3:02 07:27 05:25 10:28p 10:34a 26 Sun 9:45 3:33 10:10 3:58 07:27 05:25 11:34p 11:08a27 Mon 10:38 4:26 11:03 4:51 07:27 05:26 NoMoon 11:41a28 Tue Q 11:29 5:16 11:54 5:42 07:28 05:27 12:40a 12:16p29 Wed ----- 6:05 12:18 6:31 07:28 05:27 1:46a 12:53p 30 Thu 12:40 6:54 1:07 7:21 07:28 05:28 2:53a 1:34p 31 Fri 1:29 7:42 1:56 8:10 07:28 05:29 3:59a 2:20p01 Sat 2:18 8:33 2:47 9:01 07:29 05:29 5:02a 3:12p 02 Sun 3:10 9:24 3:38 9:52 07:29 05:30 6:01a 4:08p 03 Mon > 4:02 10:16 4:29 10:43 07:29 05:31 6:54a 5:06p 04 Tue N 4:55 11:08 5:21 11:34 07:29 05:31 7:40a 6:07p 05 Wed > 5:47 11:31 6:12 12:00 07:29 05:32 8:20a 7:06p 06 Thu > 6:39 12:27 7:01 12:50 07:29 05:33 8:55a 8:04p 07 Fri > 7:28 1:17 7:50 1:39 07:29 05:34 9:27a 9:00p 08 Sat 8:16 2:05 8:36 2:26 07:30 05:35 9:55a 9:54p09 Sun 9:01 2:51 9:22 3:11 07:30 05:35 10:22a 10:48p 10 Mon 9:46 3:36 10:06 3:56 07:29 05:36 10:50a 11:41p11 Tue 10:29 4:19 10:50 4:40 07:29 05:37 11:18a NoMoon 12 Wed Q 11:13 5:02 11:34 5:23 07:29 05:38 11:48a 12:36a


PRODUCTS

BACKTRACK 5: This is GPS technology at its sim-plest. Bushnell’s BackTrack allows outdoorsmen to set the location and then get back to that location with a press of a button. They just follow the arrow for the distance dis-played and they should fi nd them-selves back where they started. The BackTrack 5 allows users to store up to fi ve separate locations. The 2-ounce device features improved screen graphics, an inte-grated digital compass, and latitude and longi-tude coordinates when in compass mode. The BackTrack 5 displays time, temperature and al-titude. It sells for about $90.

(800) 423-3537www.bushnell.com

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RANGER BACKPACK:This 2010 ICAST award winner features storage galore for anglers. There is top storage plus a drop-open main compartment that holds sever-al divided trays (three trays are included). Plus, there are multiple pockets throughout. The 10-inch-by-17-inch by 25.5-inch tackle back-pack is made from a high-grade 900-denier rip-stop fabric. It has molded corrosion-resistant zippers and a zip-out storm fl y. It also features a waist belt and padded shoulder straps for comfort while carrying. We spotted it at several online retailers for about for about $150. For retailers, visitwww.cart32hostingred.com/cgi-bin/cart32.exe/HYI-store?epid=29

BOW CASE:Plano Molding Co. and Bone Collector have collaborated to create the new Plano Bone Collector Edition bow case. This lockable case has extra-thick wall construction with high-density foam padding on one side so that the bow is safely nestled inside. On the opposite side of the case, an elasto-meric arrow storage rack accommodates up to 12 standard or carbon fi ber arrows. An optional mounting bracket is available for the storage of a fully loaded quiver. Accessory tie-downs are included for securing other items inside the case. The bow case sells for about $115. (800) 226-9868www.planomolding.com

SONIC-PRO ZIP FRONT WADERS:Redington’s waders are comfortable and dura-ble. Utilizing an ultrasonic “sew-free” welding technol-ogy, the waders affi x wa-terproof and breathable fabrics without holes that water can penetrate. Be-cause no thread is used, the waders are less bulky and lighter. The Sonic-Pro Zip Front Waders feature fi ve layers of fab-ric on the lower legs and seat for added durabil-ity; ergonomic hand-warmer pockets lined with brushed micro fl eece; and laser-cut exterior pockets with water-resistant zip-pers. They cost about $350.

(800) 253-2538www.redington.com

PACKER KNIFE: Browning’s new series of fi xed-blade knives are de-signed with ergonomic handles that will maximize the blade cut while reducing wrist fatigue. This model features a stag handle and big belly semi-skinner blade. The knife comes with a leather sheath and sells for about $70. (800) 333-3288www.browning.com

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DATEBOOKJanuary 6-9Dallas Safari Club ConventionDallas Convention Centerwww.biggame.org

January 7-16Houston Boat ShowReliant Center(713) 526-6361

January 11Gilmer Ducks UnlimitedGilmer DinnerGilmer Civic Center(903) 576-6680

Alamo Chapter Safari Club InternationalAwards BanquetHoliday InnSan Antonio(210) 317-7601

January 12Austin SCI, Hunters Heritage Banquet Renaissance Austin Hotelwww.sciaustin.org

January 13Dallas Woods and Waters ClubMonthly MeetingSheraton North Dallas Hotel(214) 570-8700www.dwwcc.org

January 14-16Houston Safari ClubConventionThe Woodlandswww.houstonsafariclub.org

January 15-16Texas Gun and Knife Association ShowAbilene Civic CenterAbilene(830) 285-0575

January 20-23Austin Boat, Sport, and Outdoor ShowAustin Convention Center(512) 494-1128www.austinboatshow.com

January 26-29Safari Club International Annual ConventionReno, Nevadawww.showsci.com

January 27-30San Antonio Boat and RV ShowThe Alamodome(512) 481-1777www.sanantonioboatshow.com

January 28-30Coastal Bend Marine Dealers Boat Show The American Bank Convention Center, Corpus Christi(361) 991-0369www.ccboatshow.com

February 3Tomball Ducks Unlimited Dinner Tomball VFW Hall(832) 303-9464www.ducks.org/texas/events/23477/tomball-ducks-unlimited-dinner

February 4-5Texas Hill Country Chapter SCICampfi re Memories BanquetInn of the Hills Resort, Kerrville(830) 928-4344www.texashillcountrysci.org

February 4-6, 9-13Dallas International Boat ShowDallas Market Hall(469) 549-0673www.dallasboatshow.net

February 10-12Big Country Celebrity Quail HuntAbilene(325) 677-6815www.driabilene.org

February 18Ducks Unlimited, Pearland DinnerEpiphany Lutheran Church(713) 907-4264www.ducks.org/texas/events/23144/pearland-dinner

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Documents

December 24, 2010 - Lone Star Outdoor News - Fishing & Hunting