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In the thick of it And we’re off. Big bass are being caught on many lakes around Texas this month, but the first 13-pounder was finally hauled in last week, and the location won’t surprise anyone. David Roulston of Frisco kicked off the current big bass season with his catch of a 13.88- pound largemouth bass from Lake Fork Nov. 20. Roulston was fishing in 25 feet of water with a Brush Hog when the fish slammed his lure. Roulston and guide Lee Livesay had been looking for spots throughout the day that held big fish, and actually saw the bass on the sonar before catching her. “It was really hard to tell if it was a bass at first because it was real slow in coming up and wasn’t coming out of the water like a big bass would,” Roulston told Texas Parks and Wildlife Department. “Once I noticed it was a big large bass, it was on. Time Sensitive Material • Deliver ASAP November 28, 2014 Largest Hunting and Fishing Newspaper in Texas Volume 11, Issue 7 PRSRT STD US POSTAGE PAID PLANO, TX PERMIT 210 FISHING CONTENTS Classifieds . . . . . . . . . Page 11 Crossword . . . . . . . . . Page 23 Freshwater Fishing Report . Page 10 For the Table . . . . . . . . Page 23 Game Warden Blotter . . . . Page 12 Heroes. . . . . . . . . . . Page 24 Outdoor Datebook . . . . . Page 34 Saltwater Fishing Report . . Page 14 Sun, Moon and Tide data . . Page 15 Prime Time . . . . . . . . . Page 33 A pair of Texas transplants are venturing into the wilds of Bolivia to find golden dorado. Page 8 In search of gold INSIDE HUNTING Duck, crane and quail hunters are enjoying early- season success. Page 4 Birds abound Lone Star Outdoor News Holiday Gift Guide FEEDING FOR THE COMING RUT: Lots of corn is hitting the ground, as well as lots of bucks across the state. Rutting activity is high in some areas, but in some southern parts the bucks are still in bachelor groups that should break up any day. Photo by David J. Sams, Lone Star Outdoor News. FIRST OF THE YEAR: David Roulston of Frisco caught this 13.88-pounder Nov. 20 on Lake Fork. The fish was 26.75 inches long and 20.5 inches in girth. Photo by Larry Hodge, TPWD. DOUBLE DROP-TINES: This mainframe 13-point buck was taken last week in Atascosa County by Poteet hunter Larry Bartek. Photo by Codi Crouch. By Conor Harrison LONE STAR OUTDOOR NEWS A buck killed earlier this month in Atascosa County near Poteet just might be one of the biggest free-range bucks killed in Texas this year — and possibly the big- gest buck ever taken in Atascosa County. Sixty-nine-year-old hunter Larry Bartek had seen the buck last year on his 300 acres, and knew neigh- bors around him were also hunting the big deer. “I knew he was on my place and I hunted him almost every day since the beginning of the season,” Bartek said. “Yesterday morning World-class Atascosa County buck taken Please turn to page 27 By Conor Harrison LONE STAR OUTDOOR NEWS A friendly bet between two friends has turned into a race to catch the most Texas fish species in one calendar year, and both anglers have topped 100 with a little more than one month to go. Bastrop angler Trent Lake, 33, and Corpus Christi angler Jon Mcintyre, 33, have been best friends and fishing buddies since they were kids, so the bet became a way to share their catches and try and best the other angler. “He’s a saltwater guy,” said Lake, “so when- ever I’d go fishing with him we’d try and catch all these different species. It became a fun game. We just decided to make it into a bet.” Lake figured he was at a disadvantage living near freshwater, so the pair decided to handi- cap the bet, with Lake paying Mcintyre $1 for each species if he won, while Mcintyre would pay lake $5 for every species if he won. So far, Lake has caught 101 different spe- cies, while Mcintyre is winning with 107 (Lake currently owes $6). Both anglers have gone far and wide to catch as many species as possible — the pair, not counting duplicate fish, have caught 137 different types of Texas fish. “I have no clue about the total number of fish species in Texas,” Lake said. “I’ve caught everything from a 5-foot blacktip shark to a 2-inch minnow with the tiniest available hook and a tiny piece of bread.” Mcintyre said he has learned a lot about the saltwater species he focuses on, especially baitfish. The pair would often perform a nec- A friendly wager NECK AND NECK: Trent Lake and Jon Mcintyre, pictured, have a friendly wager going until Dec. 31 on who can catch the most Texas species of fish. Photo by Trent Lake. Please turn to page 14 Bet turns into more than 100 species caught by each this year Fork heats up 13-pounder caught after being spotted on sonar Please turn to page 25 Page 26
Transcript
LSONews.com LoneOStar Outdoor News November 28, 2014 Page 1
In the thick of it
And we’re off.Big bass are being caught on
many lakes around Texas this month, but the first 13-pounder was finally hauled in last week, and the location won’t surprise anyone.
David Roulston of Frisco kicked off the current big bass season with his catch of a 13.88-pound largemouth bass from Lake Fork Nov. 20.
Roulston was fishing in 25 feet of water with a Brush Hog when the fish slammed his lure. Roulston and guide Lee Livesay had been looking for spots throughout the day that held big fish, and actually saw the bass on the sonar before catching her.
“It was really hard to tell if it was a bass at first because it was real slow in coming up and wasn’t coming out of the water like a big bass would,” Roulston told Texas Parks and Wildlife Department. “Once I noticed it was a big large bass, it was on.
Tim
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Del
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ASA
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November 28, 2014 Largest Hunting and Fishing Newspaper in Texas Volume 11, Issue 7
A pair of Texas transplants are venturing into the wilds of Bolivia to fi nd golden dorado.
Page8
Insearchofgold
INS
IDE
HUNTING
Duck, crane and quail hunters are enjoying early-season success.
Page4
Birdsabound
LoneStarOutdoorNewsHolidayGiftGuide
FEEDINGFORTHECOMINGRUT:Lots of corn is hitting the ground, as well as lots of bucks across the state. Rutting activity is high in some areas, but in some southern parts the bucks are still in bachelor groups that should break up any day. Photo by David J. Sams, Lone Star Outdoor News.
FIRSTOFTHEYEAR:David Roulston of Frisco caught this 13.88-pounder Nov. 20 on Lake Fork. The fi sh was 26.75 inches long and 20.5 inches in girth. Photo by Larry Hodge, TPWD.
DOUBLEDROP-TINES:This mainframe 13-point buck was taken last week in Atascosa County by Poteet hunter Larry Bartek. Photo by Codi Crouch.
ByConorHarrisonLone Star outdoor newS
A buck killed earlier this month in Atascosa County near Poteet just might be one of the biggest free-range bucks killed in Texas this year — and possibly the big-gest buck ever taken in Atascosa County.
Sixty-nine-year-old hunter Larry Bartek had seen the buck last year on his 300 acres, and knew neigh-bors around him were also hunting the big deer.
“I knew he was on my place and I hunted him almost every day since the beginning of the season,” Bartek said. “Yesterday morning
World-class Atascosa County
buck taken
Please turn to page 27
ByConorHarrisonLone Star outdoor newS
A friendly bet between two friends has turned into a race to catch the most Texas fi sh species in one calendar year, and both anglers have topped 100 with a little more than one month to go.
Bastrop angler Trent Lake, 33, and Corpus Christi angler Jon Mcintyre, 33, have been best friends and fi shing buddies since they were kids, so the bet became a way to share their catches and try and best the other angler.
“He’s a saltwater guy,” said Lake, “so when-ever I’d go fi shing with him we’d try and
catch all these different species. It became a fun game. We just decided to make it into a bet.”
Lake fi gured he was at a disadvantage living near freshwater, so the pair decided to handi-cap the bet, with Lake paying Mcintyre $1 for each species if he won, while Mcintyre would pay lake $5 for every species if he won.
So far, Lake has caught 101 different spe-cies, while Mcintyre is winning with 107 (Lake currently owes $6).
Both anglers have gone far and wide to catch as many species as possible — the pair, not counting duplicate fi sh, have caught 137 different types of Texas fi sh.
“I have no clue about the total number of fi sh species in Texas,” Lake said. “I’ve caught everything from a 5-foot blacktip shark to a 2-inch minnow with the tiniest available hook and a tiny piece of bread.”
Mcintyre said he has learned a lot about the saltwater species he focuses on, especially baitfi sh. The pair would often perform a nec-
A friendly wager
NECKANDNECK:Trent Lake and Jon Mcintyre, pictured, have a friendly wager going until Dec. 31 on who can catch the most Texas species of fi sh. Photo by Trent Lake.Please turn to page 14
Page 2 November 28, 2014 LoneOStar Outdoor News LSONews.com
LSONews.com LoneOStar Outdoor News November 28, 2014 Page 3
Page 4 November 28, 2014 LoneOStar Outdoor News LSONews.com
HUNTING
Tough to fi nd
BOBSANDBLUESONPUBLICLAND:Hunters on WMAs are fi nding the hunting tough so far this season, due to ample cover, even though quail numbers are up. Photo by David J. Sams, Lone Star Outdoor News.
Public land quail hunting offers plenty of birds, plenty of cover
ByConorHarrisonLone Star outdoor newS
The rains finally came to several West Texas wildlife management areas this fall, and although it was great for the region, it has made quail hunting tough so far this season.
“The birds are out there,” said Chip Ruthven, a Texas Parks and Wildlife Department biologist who overseas Matador and Gene Howe WMAs in the
Panhandle. “Bird numbers are the best they’ve been since 2010, so we do have some, but it has been tough to find them.”
Ruthven said Gene Howe hunters have had better success than hunters on the Matador.
“Gene Howe is good from the surveys the hunters have turned in,” he said. “I’d say it has been good at Gene Howe and fair at the Matador. Hunter success is about double what it was last year, but that still only gets it to fair based on his-
torical averages.”Ruthven said as the weather gets colder
and cover becomes more scarce, the hunt-ing should pick up.
In West Texas, hunters at Elephant Mountain and Black Gap WMAs are also finding the hunting to be tough, despite good numbers of blue quail.
“The number of harvested blues at Elephant Mountain is not good,” said Area Manager Mark Garrett. “Survey num-
Please turn to page 7
REDHEADHEAVEN:Coastal hunters are reporting good numbers of redheads in coastal bays. Photo by Lone Star Outdoor News.
Duck hunters
enjoying early
seasonsuccess
ByConorHarrisonLone Star outdoor newS
The sandhill cranes have arrived in large numbers throughout parts of North and West Texas, as well as the Panhandle.
Guide Mike Lambert, who hunts areas around Wichita Falls and Amarillo, said his hunters all shot limits in Wichita County for the Zone B opener on Nov. 21. Zone A, which covers much of West Texas and the Panhandle, opened on Nov. 1.
“We had a great hunt on Friday,” said Lambert, who owns Muddy Waters Outfi tters. “We have really good num-bers up here, as well as in the Panhandle
around Amarillo. I just started getting into cranes this season because there is usually a bunch around here.
“This year, it seems like we have more than average.”
Lambert said the cranes decoyed well on a fl yway to a cut milo fi eld, with most shots in the 10- to 15-yard range.
“It’s almost like you can’t miss them when they are that close and that big,” he said. “It is pretty intense.”
Lambert said the key is to have lifelike decoys and get to where the cranes want to go.
“After the big rain we had last week, the birds really wanted to be on cut milo and winter wheat,” he said. “The farmer
Hunters, outfi tters report large sandhill numbers in
southern Panhandle, North Texas
Please turn to page 21
Lots of cranes
Please turn to page 25
ByConorHarrisonLone Star outdoor newS
The ducks have arrived in many spots in Texas, with more on the way, according to reports.
In East Texas, Jared Laing, a Texas Parks and Wildlife Department waterfowl biologist, said the birds are arriving and hunter success is on the upswing.
“I wouldn’t say there are a ton of ducks, but defi nitely more than there were before,” he said. “Some hunters are starting to see some mallards and they are being selec-tive about shooting only green-heads. There are some places where there are normally ducks, and they don’t have ducks. We still need water in some places that tradition-ally hold ducks.
“There are some big mudfl ats that could use some rain to bring in
LSONews.com LoneOStar Outdoor News November 28, 2014 Page 5
HOGHEAVEN:First-time hunter Trey Gonzalez takes a moment to appreciate his first animal, while hunting with the Lone Star Outdoor News Foundation. Photo by Craig Nyhus, Lone Star Outdoor News.
ByCraigNyhusLone Star outdoor newS
They came knowing little about hunt-ing and ranch life. They left with a bit of an understanding of both.
Trey Gonzalez of San Antonio had never hunted. His dad, Tony, hunted a little as a youngster, with little success.
Thanks to the Texas Deer Association, Trey received a college scholarship after writing an application essay describing his learning
about leadership and listening to his par-ents. And thanks to TDA’s support of Lone Star Outdoor News Foundation, he was on his first-ever hunt.
Now a freshman at St. Mary’s University in San Antonio, he plans to pursue those skills through a degree in psychology with an emphasis on business applications.
Trey and his dad arrived a bit late at the ranch in Dimmit County to pursue a feral
Young hunter tastes success, disappointment on first hunt
Many firsts
Please turn to page 22
Page 6 November 28, 2014 LoneOStar Outdoor News LSONews.com
MLDP proposals may simplify
program, paperworkByCraigNyhusLone Star outdoor newS
Managers of hunting properties under the Managed Lands Deer Permit program fill out a lot of paperwork on each deer harvested. One of several changes to be proposed at the January Texas Parks and Wildlife Commission meeting may change that — beginning in 2016.
Current forms require information on the deer’s age, sex and weight — and for bucks, the number of points and measurements of beam lengths, inside spread and antler mass. Scoring of the deer is optional, but
with all of the measurements required, it is merely a matter of math.
While wildlife managers may desire the numerous measurements and data, Alan Cain, white-tailed deer program leader with Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, said all of the information collected isn’t neces-sarily needed.
“We may not need all of the data,” he said. “What we really need is population and har-vest data — the deer numbers on the ranch and the sex (and possibly estimated age) of the deer harvested.”
LSONews.com LoneOStar Outdoor News November 28, 2014 Page 7
bers are up, but harvest is down. We got good rain this year and the quail had two or three clutches in many areas. There is so much cover right now and the birds are hard to find. Hunters without dogs and a lot of luck are having a hard time.”
Garrett said hunter turnout has been lower this season, leaving plenty of birds still available for hunters who want to hunt public land.
“Black Gap is much better,” he said. “We had a little less rain there and because of that, hunters are faring a little bit better.”
Garrett said those planning on a hunt
should be ready to cover some ground in search of coveys.
“There is lots of ground to cover,” he said. “We have all blue quail. We are sure hoping it gets better later in the season.”
The West Texas WMAs require a pub-lic lands permit, and Garrett encour-ages quail hunters to call before coming to hunt, as the area shuts down on some weeks because of mule deer hunting.
“Check the website and call us to make sure, but we have a lot of land and a lot of birds,” he said.
TOOMUCHCOVER:Blue quail numbers are up in West Texas, but recent rains have provided plenty of cover and made locating birds tough. Photo by David J. Sams, Lone Star Outdoor News.
Public hunts offer plenty of birds, and challengesContinuedfrompage4
Page 8 November 28, 2014 LoneOStar Outdoor News LSONews.com
ByStevenSchwartzLone Star outdoor newS
Federico Marancenbaum is searching for gold, and he’s finding it in his home country of Bolivia.
He and his business partner, Patrick Taender, are Bolivian natives who have been living in Texas for more than a decade. Now they are working to set up an expedition-style guiding service to find one of the country’s most prized game fish: golden dorado.
“If you could give us any fish to catch in the entire country, it would be the golden dorado,” Marancenbaum said. “It’s mostly about the places the dorado live in: they need clear, run-
ning water and a mountainous region. They are also very aggressive, acrobatic fighters.”
Marancenbaum and Taender’s service is not exactly orthodox. They fly clients in to Santa Cruz, Bolivia, where they then shuttle them to an established basecamp. Their setup is com-plete with canvas tents, heaters and food ser-vice.
“It’s pretty much a glamorous camping kind of deal,” Marancenbaum said. “But once we head out, we are defi nitely roughing it.”
The groups then head out in dugout canoes carved from the bark of an ochoo tree, up an undisclosed river to fl y-fi sh for the large game fi sh.
It’s an in-depth process that requires overcom-
ing some logistical diffi culties, and it’s an idea that was born in Texas several years ago.
“My family lives in Texas, and I moved here about 14 years ago,” Marancenbaum said. “Education is highly valued here, but in Bolivia it isn’t as highly valued and the schools are not the best.”
Marancenbaum attended the University of Texas at Dallas, and is now teaching a 3rd-grade bilingual class for the Garland Independent School District. Taender attended Texas A&M University to become a biologist.
“He was basically the one who was a pioneer, and set up many of the camps,” Marancenbaum
Please turn to page 18
Money is starting to fl ow into Texas from criminal settlement funds from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.
The National Fish and Wildlife Foundation announced $13.2 million in grants for eight Texas projects to add land to coastal wildlife refuges, restore threatened marshes and protect vital habitat from erosion.
The monies are the second obligation from NFWF’s Gulf Environmental Benefi t Fund, created 18 months ago as part of the settlement between the U.S. Department of Justice, BP and Transocean to resolve cer-tain criminal charges against both companies in relation to the spill. Under the allocation formula and other provisions contained in the plea agree-ments, a total of $203 million will be paid into the Gulf Fund over a fi ve-year period for conservation projects.
“The Texas coast is an eco-logical treasure, and these grants make strategic use of BP spill restoration dollars to conserve critical coastal habi-tats in ways that benefi t fi sh, wildlife and people,” said Carter Smith, Texas Parks and Wildlife Department executive director.
In early 2013, a U.S. District Court approved two plea agreements resolving certain criminal charges against BP and
Transocean related to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. Provisions within the plea agreements direct a total of $2.544 billion to the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation over a fi ve-year period. The funds are to be used to support projects that remedy harm or reduce the risk of future harm to natural resources that were affected by the oil spill.
Texas 2014 ProjectsAnahuac N.W.R. Coastal
Marsh Acquisition — $4,363,200
Coastal Heritage Preserve Initiative: Bayside Acquisition and Easement — $2,632,500
Virginia Point Shoreline Protection and Estuarine Restoration — $2,000,000
Oyster Lake Shoreline Protection and Restoration — $1,200,000
Greens Lake Protection and Marsh Restoration: Engineering & Design — $125,000
Dollar Bay—Moses Lake Shoreline Enhancement and Restoration — $130,300
Egery Flats Marsh Restoration — $1,587,000
Nueces Bay Rookery Islands Restoration — $1,145,000
— NFWF
Texas to receive oil funds for coast
MONEYFORCONSERVATION:Texas will receive funds for conservation thanks to the settlement with BP. The funds will help protect and restore barrier island like this one. Photo by David J. Sams, Lone Star Outdoor News.
TexasTVstarfishingFLWTourthisseason
Alligator hunter T-Roy Broussard, star of the History Channel’s hit series Swamp People, will be joining the 2015 Walmart FLW Tour to compete as a professional bass angler.
“I’m going in there to com-pete,” Broussard said. “I’m going to do everything that I can to prepare and make sure that I am ready to fi sh against the best anglers in the world on the FLW Tour. My work ethic has prepared me to compete at this level, and I have very high expectations for myself.”
As a teenager in Beaumont, he was an avid duck and goose hunter as well as a world-class duck caller. Broussard took over his father’s alligator hunting business in 2006 before joining Swamp People in 2013.
Broussard competed this year at the AAA-level Rayovac FLW Series, where he notched two top-10 fi nishes and qualifi ed to compete on the FLW Tour.
— FLW
In search of gold
Texas transplant has high hopes for Bolivian fl y-fi shing experience
LSONews.com LoneOStar Outdoor News November 28, 2014 Page 9
ByStevenSchwartzLone Star outdoor newS
The consensus from charter captains at Sabine Lake may not be the most exciting, but it proves that in most conditions, the upper Gulf Coast area is one of the most productive areas for anglers — and defi-nitely a go-to.
“The fall bite is just about over,” Capt. Robby Trahan said. “You have to work to find the fish, but you can find them — there are good sizes in there.”
Overall, fishing at Sabine Lake has seemed to stabi-lized, for better or worse, as cold fronts swept across
the state during the middle of November. Shrimp are slowly moving out across the bays from the estuaries, and trout and redfish are staging in their predictable winter patterns.
The good news? Predictability means catching fish.
“The fishing is good when the birds are work-ing,” Capt. Steve Davis said. “Most of the fish have switched to their winter patterns, and the shrimp are coming out of the marsh. We are still working for some schools of trout, with a few reds mixed in.”
While the tail end of the schooling is producing
Talk about beginner’s luck.
A team made up of orphans from a local shel-ter took advantage of a new rule in the Bisbee’s Black & Blue Fishing Tournament on Oct. 26 in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, and came away with the winning blue marlin and a check for $258,325 in prize money.
The tournament almost didn’t happen thanks to Hurricane Odile, which hammered the Cabo San Lucas area five weeks before the scheduled start.
But a combination of local determination and help from Dallas-based Bisbee’s Fish and Wildlife Conservation Fund made it the most successful Bisbee's in recent years. The Casa Hogar team pledged their $258,325 prize to the home they share with 42 other children without parents.
Any other year, the boys would not have had the opportunity to fish the tournament due to the pro-hibitive entry fee. This year, however, Bisbee’s Fish and Wildlife Conservation Fund’s “Cabo Relief Fund” introduced the “Bisbee Cabo Charter Hook-up” as a way to stimulate the economy by putting local charter cap-tains — a group that was in real post-hurricane peril
— back to work. An anony-mous donor pledged to pay the entry fee through the fund to any team that agreed to hire a local boat, simul-taneously injecting money into the economy and giving anglers a chance to check an item off personal bucket lists. It was through this pro-gram that the Casa Hogar boys were able to enter, and the program was so success-ful that it accounted for doz-ens of the 127 total teams competing this year.
“In all honesty, up until a couple weeks ago I thought we were going to rally who-ever was here at the time, throw some money in a hat and just go fishing to keep the tournament streak going,” said Tournament Director and Fund Founder Wayne Bisbee. “But thanks to all our fantastic anglers and sponsors, somehow we pulled it off. The results are just insane. We helped put a lot of people back to work, caught some good fish and even gave away $2.1 million in prizes and we're definitely leaving Cabo in better shape than we found it.”
Angler Omar Casteneda caught the winning, 385-pound blue marlin aboard the local fishing boat Mucho Bueno.
Holding steadyBite predictable, good at Sabine Lake
Please turn to page 14
Page 10 November 28, 2014 LoneOStar Outdoor News LSONews.com
ALANHENRY:Water stained; 48–55 degrees; 9.78’ low. Largemouth bass are fair to good on chatterbaits, Texas rigs, jigs and drop-shot rigs.
AMISTAD: Water murky; 67–71 degrees; 30.73’ low. Largemouth bass are fair on top-waters, spinner baits, crankbaits, and soft plastics.
ATHENS: Water clear; 49–54 degrees; 1.80’ low. Largemouth bass are slow on weightless Senkos and black and blue jigs on docks. Lipless crankbaits working, as well. Crappie are good on minnows.
BASTROP: Water stained; 70–74 degrees. Largemouth bass are very good on spinner baits, crankbaits, and char-treuse lipless crankbaits.
BELTON: Water murky; 67–71 degrees; 12.42’ low. Largemouth bass are good on watermelon soft plastics and white spinner baits.
BOBSANDLIN: Water clear; 49–53 degrees; 2.84’ low. Largemouth bass are slow on fl ipping jigs and bladed jigs near shallow cover.
BONHAM: Water stained, 50–54 degrees; 3.21’ low. Largemouth bass are slow near cattails, boat docks and points. Creek channel swings are pro-ducing as well. Best baits are jigs, Texas-rigged soft plastics and shaky heads.
BRAUNIG: Water stained. Largemouth bass are good on watermelon spinner baits and lipless crankbaits. Striped bass are good on liver and shad near the pier.
BRIDGEPORT: Water lightly stained, 50–53 degrees; 23.94’ low. Largemouth bass are slow on jerkbaits in pro blue.
BROWNWOOD: Water clear; 65–69 degrees; 12.92’ low. Largemouth bass are fair on
June bug worms, buzzbaits and watermelon red soft plas-tic worms over brush piles in 8–15 feet.
BUCHANAN:Water murky; 66–70 degrees; 33.82’ low. Largemouth bass are fair on white spinner baits, lipless crankbaits and white/chartreuse crankbaits in 8–20 feet.
CADDO: Water stained; 51–55 degrees; 0.25 high. Largemouth bass are slow on lipless crankbaits and fl ipping jigs.
CALAVERAS: Water stained. Largemouth bass are fair on dark soft plastic worms, spin-ner baits and crankbaits around reed beds.
CANYONLAKE: Water murky; 68–72 degrees; 12.00’ low. Largemouth bass are fair on watermelon red Whacky Sticks on wacky rigs, Smokin’ Green Devil’s Tongues on drop-shot rigs, and Texas-rigged 6” pumpkin worms in 12–25 feet.
CEDARCREEK: Water clear; 49–53 degrees; 5.91’ low. Largemouth bass are fair on square-billed crankbaits and bladed jigs.
CHOKECANYON:Water stained; 72–76 degrees; 27.79’ low. Largemouth bass are good on soft plastic lizards and large worms in 12–20 feet.
COLEMAN: Water clear; 67–71 degrees; 19.17’ low. Largemouth bass are good on chartreuse crankbaits and watermelon red soft plastic worms.
COLETOCREEK:Water murky; 56 degrees in main lake, 78 degrees at hot water discharge; 4.49’ low. Largemouth bass to 4 pounds are fair on chartreuse soft plastics and spinner baits near the hot water discharge in 8–10 feet.
CONROE: Water stained; 67–71 degrees; 0.83’ low.
Largemouth bass are good on watermelon/chartreuse tailed soft plastic worms, spinner baits and top-waters in 10–20 feet.
FALCON: Water murky; 64–68 degrees; 30.10’ low. Largemouth bass are good on top-waters and on deep-running crankbaits.
FAYETTE:Water stained. Largemouth bass are good on shad-colored Pop–R’s and soft plastics early. Red ear perch are good on worms in 2–10 feet.
FORK:Water clear; 49–53 degrees; 6.96’ low. Largemouth bass are fair on black and blue fl ipping jigs and bladed jigs with shad trailers.
FT.PHANTOMHILL: Water clear; 47–55 degrees; 17.04’ low. Largemouth bass are fair to good on Texas rigs and crank-baits.
GIBBONSCREEK: Water clear. Largemouth bass are good on chartreuse/black soft plastics, spinner baits and lipless crank-baits. Crappie are good on minnows and blue tube jigs.
GRANBURY:Water murky; 66–70 degrees; 10.22’ low. Largemouth bass are fair on watermelon spinner baits, crankbaits and soft plastics off points.
GRANGER:Water clear; 67–71 degrees; 0.55’ high. Largemouth bass are slow.
GRAPEVINE: Water clear; 49–54 degrees; 12.52’ low. Largemouth bass are slow on shaky heads and drop-shot worms in California 420. Crappie are good on minnows and jigs.
HOUSTONCOUNTY: Water stained; 65–69 degrees; 0.04’ high. Largemouth bass to 4 pounds are fair on square–billed jigs, dark grape soft plastic worms and pumpkin-seed Brush Hogs.
HUBBARDCREEK:Water off-color; 48–53 degrees; 29.68’ low. Largemouth bass are fair to good on shad-pattern crankbaits, jigs, Texas rigs and drop-shot rigs.
JOEPOOL: Water clear; 49–53 degrees; 2.03’ low. Largemouth bass are slow on weightless Senkos and soft plastic jerk-baits.
LAKEO'THEPINES:Water lightly stained; 50–55; degrees; 0.07’ high. Largemouth bass are fair on lipless crankbaits and bladed jigs as well as fl ip-ping jigs.
LAVON:Water lightly stained; 51–55 degrees; 12.79’ low. Largemouth bass are slow on lipless crankbaits and char-treuse/white spinner baits. Crappie are good on minnows and jigs. Catfi sh are good on trotlines.
LBJ:Water stained; 68–72 degrees; 0.29’ low. Largemouth bass are fair on buzzbaits, clear swim baits and chartreuse Whacky Sticks in 2–12 feet at daylight.
LIVINGSTON:Water fairly clear; 68–72 degrees; 0.68’ low. Largemouth bass are fair on chartreuse lipless crankbaits and crankbaits. Striped bass are slow. White bass are good on Li’l Fishies.
MONTICELLO:Water clear; 72–85 degrees; 0.36’ low. Largemouth bass are fair on bladed jigs and lipless crank-baits. Crappie are good on minnows and jigs.
NAVARROMILLS:Water stained; 67–71 degrees; 1.88’ low. Largemouth bass are good on shad-colored crankbaits and spinner baits.
O.H.IVIE:Water stained; 46–51 degrees; 42.53’ low. Largemouth bass are fair to good on Texas rigs, chatter-baits, jigs and shaky heads.
OAKCREEK:Water stained; 47–53 degrees; 25.19’ low. Largemouth bass are fair to good on Texas rigs, spinner baits and jigs.
PALESTINE:Water clear; 52–56 degrees; 0.85’ low. Largemouth bass are slow on shaky heads and spinner baits.
POSSUMKINGDOM: Water fairly clear; 48–55 degrees; 15.14’ low. Largemouth bass are fair on spinner baits, drop-shot rigs, Texas rigs and medium-running shad-pattern crankbaits.
PROCTOR:Water murky; 67–71 degrees; 12.62’ low. Largemouth bass are good on black and purple soft plastic worms. Striped bass are good on silver/blue lipless crankbaits.
RAYHUBBARD: Water clear; 53–56 degrees; 10.30’ low. Largemouth bass are good on crankbaits and suspending jerkbaits. Crappie are good on minnows.
RAYROBERTS:Water clear; 51–55 degrees; 7.80’ low. Largemouth bass are slow on umbrella rigs and shaky heads. Crappie are good on minnows.
RICHLANDCHAMBERS:Water lightly stained; 53–56 degrees; 10.22’ low. Largemouth bass are slow on green pumpkin shaky heads and Senkos. White bass are fair on slabs.
SAMRAYBURN:Water murky; 69–73 degrees; 2.85’ low. Largemouth bass are good on watermelon top-waters, soft plastic worms, and spinner baits early.
SOMERVILLE:Water murky; 67–71 degrees; 1.16’ low. Largemouth bass are fair on green pumpkin soft plastics and crankbaits.
STILLHOUSE: Water murky; 68–72 degrees; 13.57’ low. Largemouth bass are good on perch-colored lipless crank-
baits, crankbaits and spinner baits.
SWEETWATER: Water murky; 43–52 degrees; 28.08’ low. Largemouth bass are fair to good on Texas rigs, chatterbaits and jigs.
TAWAKONI:Water stained; 51–54 degrees; 11.88’ low. Largemouth bass are slow on fl ipping jigs and lipless crank-baits. Crappie are good on minnows.
TEXOMA:Water clear; 50–53 degrees; 6.96’ low. Largemouth bass are fair on suspending jerkbaits and shaky head worms in green pumpkin. Crappie are good on jigs.
TRAVIS: Water murky; 66–70 degrees; 58.94’ low. Largemouth bass are fair on top-waters, dark soft plastic worms and crankbaits in 5–15 feet.
WALTERE.LONG: Water lightly stained. Largemouth bass are good on watermelon/chartreuse soft plastics and lipless crank-baits.
WHITNEY: Water murky; 66–70 degrees; 10.51’ low. Largemouth bass are fair on green pumpkin spinner baits and crankbaits, and on water-melon top-waters early and late.
WRIGHTPATMAN:Water lightly stained; 53–57 degrees; 3.92’ high. Largemouth bass are slow on fl ipping tubes and fl ipping jigs near shallow cover.
— TPWD
TEXAS FRESHWATER FISHING REPORT
nSaltwaterreports:PleaseturntoPage14
ProductiveinthefallMARTIN CREEK LAKE — The small lake southeast of Longview might not be the fi rst
place anglers think when they want a big bass, but the largemouth bass bite has been really good this month, according to local anglers.
The lake has a hot-water discharge, so one side of the lake usually stays about 72 degrees, while the colder side has been as low as 56 degrees in November.
The largemouth bass bite has been good during midday, with bass up to 6 pounds being caught and lots of action on drop-shot rigs and crappie rigs near bridges.
Spinner baits and lipless crankbaits have also caught fi sh.
The crappie bite has been picking up on min-nows and jigs.
HolyToledoTOLEDO BEND RESERVOIR — The largemouth bass bite has been very good on
Toledo this month, with anglers catching good bass between 14 and 24 feet, according to guide Joe Joslin.
“One producer for some time now is the Texas rig worked in depths of 14 to 24 feet,” he said. “Since the water temperatures have fallen to 58-60 degrees, we are using a fl at tail worm and not a swimming tail. When cold temperatures arrive, I seem to have better luck with a straight-tailed worm. We are working these in deep grass from 12 to 25 feet and 18 to 22 feet seem to be our most targeted depths with our Texas rig. However, we
have found some groups of fi sh in the 14 to 16 feet. Another hint is that when you catch a bass, slow down and work the area closely.”
The crappie bite is also picking up.“The crappie are defi nitely moving deeper and are holding close to major creeks and the
river channel from 25 to 35 feet,” Joslin added. “Live shiners fi shed vertically are what most anglers are using. The better catches continue to be caught on baited brush piles. They are also catching yellow bass and white bass while crappie fi shing.”
To contact Joe Joslin, call (337) 463-3848.
CrappieintheslipsLEWISVILLE LAKE — The famous crappie bite on Lewisville Lake is picking up as water
temperatures drop into the 50-degree range.Anglers are reporting a good crappie bite in 8 to 14 feet of water, with reports of some
big crappie moving into marina slips. Small jigs with a 1/32-ounce head have been catching fi sh with a dead-sticking tech-
nique.When the sun comes up later in the morning has been the best time.
Along with crappie, white bass have been active and largemouth bass have been decent on chartreuse and black
medium-running crankbaits. — Conor Harrison
TEXAS FRESHWATER FISHING REPORT
LSONews.com LoneOStar Outdoor News November 28, 2014 Page 11
CSSCgets$250,000grant
Coastal Conservation Association Texas recently gave a $250,000 grant to the Center for Sportfish Science and Conservation that will fund ongoing research into many of the key scientific issues facing the ecosystems that support Gulf of Mexico sportfishing.
The CSSC is housed within the Harte Research Institute for Gulf of Mexico Studies at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi.
Since 2012, CSSC has done extensive work on the impact that passes like Cedar Bayou have on bay ecosystems and on the effect of diminishing Gulf habitat. It is also helping to pioneer development of an extensive array of sensors and track-
ing technology to gain critical insight into the migratory patterns of fish throughout the Gulf of Mexico. The latest $250,000 grant from CCA Texas will be applied over five years to continue these and other research efforts.
“Recreational anglers are our natural partners in the conservation of marine resources, and the Center is uniquely positioned to develop science that sup-ports the multi-billion dollar recreational fishing industry on the Texas coast and the Gulf of Mexico,” said Dr. Greg Stunz, director of CSSC and Endowed Chair for Fisheries and Ocean Health at the Harte Research Institute. “This is a unique partnership that is focused solely on improving the marine environment, and we are excited to have additional resources to fulfill that mission.”
— CCA Texas
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Reds, Trout, Flounder, Snook. Everything sup-
plied but food and licenses. Multiple trip discounts. Call Capt. Thomas for details or
Trout stockings began in late November — with some small changes in effect — in a program that has become what seems to be a worthwhile effort statewide.
Marcos DeJesus, a biologist with the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department in the Austin area, said the department is implementing a new slot regulation along the Guadalupe River stocking area, in hopes to maintain a healthier year-round fishery.
“There’s going to be a new 14- to 18-inch slot limit, with anglers being able to keep one over 18 inches,” DeJesus said. “Water temperatures are more adequate in that area, so that’s why we decided to implement the change.”
He said TPWD, along with Trout Unlimited and the Water Oriented Recreation District, will stock around 30,000 trout in the Guadalupe River dur-ing the winter months. While the fish-ery does have some fish that survive the summer months, DeJesus said the supple-mental stockings are necessary for ade-quate fishing.
“We are hoping to see some more car-ryover with the new regulations,” he said. “Hopefully with some holdover, we could start seeing some sizeable fish from year to year and make it a more viable fishery.”
In addition to the Guadalupe, DeJesus’ region started stocking the Llano River just a few years back, and he said the area is quickly becoming one of the better trout fisheries from December through
March. “That’s definitely one people will want
to pay attention to,” he said. “It’ll pro-vide consistently good fishing.”
Trout are also stocked at several bridge crossings between Castell and Llano.
Carl Kittel, the stocking director for TPWD, said the trout program has become more and more popular with Texans every year, and this year the department will be stocking more than 292,000 fish in rivers, lakes, ponds and even some swimming pools for childrens’ events.
“Overall the idea is to promote fishing; I think it’s good for everyone,” Kittel said. “All of the money that comes in through the program is used to pay for more trout for people to fish — that’s the purpose.”
Kittel said the state pays $1.30 per trout from fisheries in Missouri, and through the Trout Partner Program, it makes fish available for groups and people in public areas.
The stocking process begins in the last week of November, when water temper-atures begin to drop reliably across the state. Kittel said notable cold fronts, like the front that rolled across Texas in mid- November, do not have an effect on the schedule, as coordination efforts for the stockings begin months in advance.
There are currently 140 sites slated for rainbow trout between late November and March. Go to LSONews.com for more information and to see the specific sites listed for stocking.
Page 12 November 28, 2014 LoneOStar Outdoor News LSONews.com
LANDOWNERTURNSINDOVEBAITERS
Bell County Game Warden Brandt Bernstein checked a field of dove hunters and discovered they had been hunting over bait and cita-tions were issued. The landowner knew nothing about the bait but was determined to find out who was responsible. A few days later, the landowner called and provided the names of two suspects who admit-ted to placing out the bait but said that “it should all be gone by now.” Bernstein interviewed both sus-pects and one admitted to hunting over the bait while the other sus-pect admitted he placed the bait. Case pending.
GATORSHOTATBIRDSANCTUARYChambers County Game Warden
Patricia Vannoy responded to a call in High Island where an alli-gator had been shot in one of the Houston Audubon bird sanctuaries. One of the workers came across a few young men pulling a flatbottom boat out of one of the ponds with a rifle and an 8-foot alligator. The worker detained the shooter until the sheriff’s office and Vannoy could arrive. The subject was arrested for hunting without landowner consent and cited for hunting in a closed season. Cases and restitution pend-ing.
BULLETHOLEINDOEDURINGARCHERYSEASON
Val Verde County Game Wardens Aaron Willoughby and Andrew Banda followed mud tracks into a ranch and found a camp of archery hunters out hunting. While they waited for the group to return, they found evidence of a fresh kill near the hanging rack. When the hunters arrived they were evasive and act-ing suspicious. Their behavior led
the wardens to perform a thorough check, which lead to the discovery of a doe that had been shot with a rifle during the archery-only sea-son. Several citations pending.
GROUPSHOOTINGDOVEBYFEEDERSFINALLYNABBED
Game Wardens Justin Solis of Webb County and Carson Wardlow of Zapata County heard shots from a ranch known for hunting around baited feeders. When the wardens searched the ranch, they found corn and several boxes of spent shells on the ground near the feed-ers. Three hunters confirmed they were hunting by the feeders and citations were issued. Several dove and two quail were seized.
THISLEASEMAYNOTLASTLONGRunnels County Game Warden
Lane Pinckney received a call from a landowner who had found a buck that had been shot and drug into the brush behind a deer feeder. Pinckney questioned the only hunter left on the ranch and was able to exclude all but two of the hunters who had hunted that blind within the past few days. After some phone calls, a juvenile admit-ted he killed the buck and hid it because it didn’t meet the ranch
harvest rules and he wasn't sup-posed to shoot bucks in the first place. Case pending.
WARDENSBUSTMANSELLINGREDFISH,TROUTANDFLOUNDERAfter receiving a tip about a per-
son selling fish on Facebook, Game Warden Billy Lucio forwarded the information to wardens in Cameron County. Game Wardens Santana Torres and Mark Vela made con-tact with the subject and set up a buy. Vela arrived at the subject’s residence where he was selling fish that included red drum, spotted seatrout, flounder and sheepshead. After the subject offered to sell the fish to Vela, Torres and warden Jarret Barker made contact with the subject and citations were issued. The charges included no retail fish dealer license, sale and purchase of commercially protected finfish and possession of undersized red drum.
ROADHUNTERSLOOKFORCOYOTE,WARDENFINDSDEER
A report of shots being fired from a roadway near a landowner’s home was received by Hunt County Game Warden Benny Richards. Richards contacted the landowner and was told the suspects had left the area,
only to be called back and told few minutes later that the subjects had returned and were now in the land-owner’s pasture with flashlights. Richards located five suspects who claimed to be looking for a coyote they had shot from the roadway. More information led to several trucks parked at a high school Ag barn. Fresh deer hair and blood was located in one of the trucks. The investigation eventually led to the recovery of a white-tailed deer. Three suspects received numerous charges.
ILLEGALBUCKNOTCHECKEDINATFORTHOOD
An illegal deer was posted on a Facebook page and Bell County Game Warden Brandt Bernstein was notified. As Bernstein was looking over the photos and gather-ing evidence for the investigation, the suspect called the warden and wanted to tell his side of the story. He said the processor informed him the game warden had seized his deer. Bernstein discovered the deer was shot on Fort Hood and made contact with Fort Hood Game Warden Don Mathis who charged the suspect for not checking the deer out at the check station and for har-vesting an illegal buck.
K-9FINDSBURIEDDEERCARCASSTrinity County Game Warden Sam
Shanafelt received a call about a yearling deer that was skinned at a logging site by some workers. With fellow Game Warden William Watts, the site was located and K-9 Blitz was deployed. The K-9 worked a dirt pile about 50 yards away from the deer remains. The wardens went back the next morning and made contact with the loggers who said the foreman hit a small yearling buck the day before and brought the deer back to the site. Blitz found the buried deer carcass. Case pending.
PAIRSTEALSFISH,CRABSFROMTRAPS
Orange County Game Warden Daylan Damron responded to a call from the Orange County sher-iff’s office concerning illegally taken fish and crabs. Damron made contact with two subjects who pos-sessed a boat full of fish and blue crabs. The two suspects admit-ted to illegally running someone else’s commercial traps at night and stealing the crabs and the 59 fish that Damron located. Only one of the suspects had a valid fishing license. Numerous cases pending.
FELONNOTTRESPASSINGBUTSTILLGOESTOJAIL
Starr County Game Wardens Mark Anderson and Jack Pearl responded to a call of a possible trespasser hunting without land-owner consent. Upon investigating, it was discovered the hunter was not trespassing, but he was a convicted felon unlawfully in pos-session of two firearms and several illegally taken dove. The hunter was arrested for unlawful possession of a firearm and multiple citations were issued.
GAME WARDEN BLOTTERLONGTIMEFISHSHOCKERSSHOCKEDTOSEEWARDENS
Robertson County Game Warden Charles Westerman and Brazos County Game Warden David Thorne made contact with a group of fisherman on the Brazos River who had just pulled their boat out of the water. Westerman had been investigating an ongoing case of illegal fishing for more than two years, and he had reason to believe these were the suspects involved. As the wardens approached, an individual immediately went around the back to the
other side of the boat. When Westerman rounded the corner of the boat, he observed the individual try-ing to pull a fish shocker and cables from the boat. The boat owner admitted using the device to catch nine catfish. After obtaining consent to search the vehicles, another electronic shocking device was located. The two individuals with the devices were arrested. Cases also are pending against five other individuals involved.
LSONews.com LoneOStar Outdoor News November 28, 2014 Page 13
Page 14 November 28, 2014 LoneOStar Outdoor News LSONews.com
ropsy on fi sh they would catch to see what they were eating, and then match their bait to what they were seeing.
“We cast-netted a lot to see what was around and what things were eating,” Mcintyre said. “This has defi nitely gotten me out and doing some things I normally wouldn’t do. I caught my fi rst permit in Texas this year in shallow water — it was about 6 inches long. But I’ve also caught a tarpon and a snook, so I doubt many Texans can say they’ve caught those three species this year.”
Mcintyre said he hooked about seven or eight tarpon on a pier before he landed one.
“I was fi shing for Spanish mackerel when I caught the tarpon,” he said. “I’m still looking for a bull shark; Trent’s got one. I don’t have a bonita, either.”
The pair have both caught some interesting fi sh they needed help identifying.
“I’ve been plagued by a few fi sh,” Lake said. “I worked really hard to catch a rock bass and I’m still working on a warmouth and a rainbow trout. My goal is to catch three more freshwater species by the end of the year. I got lucky on a lizard fi sh, and I caught an orange fi lefi sh on the coast, which was pretty cool.”
Mcintyre has also had his share of weird catches.“The last fi sh I caught in Port Aransas was an
oscillated fl ounder,” he said. “I had never heard of it. I may make it inland one more time, but I plan on heading offshore again and there are still a cou-ple of stingrays I need around here.”
Lake’s sheepshead helped him place third in the CCA STAR Tournament this year, and his 17-pound channel catfi sh was one of the biggest to come out of the Colorado River.
Even though they have a competition going and often talk trash to each other, it has been a great experience for both.
“We are total nerds about fi shing,” Lake said.
Competing friends catch more than 100 species in TexasContinuedfrompage1
IT’SSTILLAPERMIT:Corpus Christi angler Jon Mcintyre added a per-mit to his list after catching this 6-inch long juvenile in a coastal bay, above. Angler Trent Lake holds one of the many catfi sh he caught in pursuit of multiple species. Pho-tos by Jon Mcintyre and Trent Lake.
some fish, Davis said they are finding a good amount of their redfish on the flats in Sabine Lake, and the trout are holding in deeper water — normal for winter behavior.
Flounder seem to be taking their time heading out into the Gulf, however, and anglers are taking advantage of the longer run.
“We’ve been nailing the flounder,” Capt. Jerry Norris said. “They’re all moving around in the ship channels right now, and there are some big fish in there.”
Davis reported similar catches.
“There are some really good flounder in the drains,” Davis. “Overall this fall, we’ve had some excellent flounder in Sabine; it’s been really good.”
Water temperatures are holding in the mid-60s, and Davis said he hopes the good bite will hold on until late December, if conditions hold steady. As of late November, a warming trend across the Gulf Coast was stabilizing the fish-ing conditions.
“It’s going to be good for a few more weeks at least,” he said. “When we’re not battling the wind, I’m really liking the conditions.”
He said they’ve been keep-ing the lures simple for the majority of his charters, toss-ing swimbaits on 1/8- to 1/4-ounce jigheads. If he can find some schooling trout under-
neath birds, topwater lures like SkitterWalks are produc-ing some big blowups on top.
Norris said the swimbaits have been doing well, and he is drifting his boat over shal-low water, picking off larger trout one by one.
Trahan reported he has been having the most consistent luck wading the flats, and cov-ering as much ground as pos-sible.
“The cold front pushed a lot of the fish (up into the flats) and the trout are a little bit slower,” Trahan said. “It’s actually pretty decent clear water, so the wading thing is working out pretty well right now.”
He said minnow imitations on jigheads have been doing well, with a slow retrieve for the larger trout he’s been pick-ing up. Live finger mullet have been doing well for the bait fishermen as well.
“If you show up, there are still a lot of fish to catch,” he said.
Overall, Sabine is in a pre-dictable patter, Norris pointed out, and that may not mean it is red hot, but those who know their way around the area will be able to get on the fish.
“It hasn’t been lights out,” Norris said. “But it’s definitely been steady.”
Sabine Lake good across the boardContinuedfrompage9
WorkingforitWEST BAY — The wade fi shing has been good according to multiple reports by anglers
wading around West Bay, although the bite has been tougher due to higher-than-normal tides.
Jig heads with soft plastics are catching a mixed bag of trout, fl ounder and redfi sh in 2 to 5 feet of water. The bite has been lighter, so anglers should pay attention.
Marsh ditches and points have been producing for wade anglers, especially around Virginia Point.
BirdsstillworkingSABINE LAKE — According to Capt. Lindy Hebert, conditions on Sabine Lake have
been good and the fi sh are biting.“Huge fl ocks of birds are still working mostly shrimp,” he said. “The fi shing gets bet-
ter as the day and the wind progressed. Seems like we caught more reds in shallower water, even in the marsh when we were taking a break from the
wind. When we switched to a bigger metal fl ake Hoagie, it seemed to increase our hookups. With the
rough wind and water, it gave the fi sh a bigger target.
Several times we could see the schools of redfi sh plowing through the water, and had a hard time getting them to take the bait. Even in rough conditions, the redfi sh were easy to scare and a stealthy approached seemed to help a lot. We caught and released all of the reds, they were very frisky even after landing them.
“Double hookups were not uncommon, as the reds were mostly in schools. Most every one fi shing in Sabine Pass was catching fl ounder.”
To contact Capt. Lindy Hebert, call (409) 720-8148.
RunningforthepassARANSAS PASS — The fl ounder run has been good for anglers pitching soft plastics
and shrimp in Aransas Pass, especially when the tide is moving.Although you can only keep two fl ounder by rod and reel this
month, the bigger fl atfi sh are showing up in good numbers.According to multiple guides and anglers, color
does not mean as much as the correct presen-tation to hook bigger fi sh. The fl ounder are aggressive and in good numbers when water tem-peratures heat up during the day.
— Conor Harrison
NORTHSABINE: 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.
SOUTHSABINE: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.
TRINITYBAY: Trout are good for drifters working pods of shad and mullet. Redfi sh are good at the spillway on crabs and mullet. Tides are below normal.
EASTGALVESTONBAY:Whiting and sand trout are good on the edge of the Intracoastal on fresh shrimp. Trout are good over the deep reefs on plastics when the wind allows.
WESTGALVESTONBAY: 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.
TEXASCITY: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 scented plastics 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.
EASTMATAGORDABAY:Trout are fair for drifters on live shrimp over humps and scat-tered shell. Redfi sh are fair to good on the edge of the Intracoastal on crabs and mullet.
WESTMATAGORDABAY:Trout are good in the Colorado River on glow and scented plas-tics. Redfi sh are fair to good on the south shoreline in the guts and bayous. Trout are
fair on shell on soft plastics.PORTO'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 mul-let and shrimp.
PORTARANSAS:Redfi sh are fair to good on the East Flats on scented plastics and mullet. Sand trout are good on shrimp in the chan-nel. Tuna are good offshore.
CORPUSCHRISTI: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 scented plastics.
BAFFINBAY: Trout are fair to good in mud and grass on Corkies and MirrOlures. Trout are fair to good in the guts along the King
Ranch shoreline on Corkies.PORTMANSFIELD:Redfi sh are fair to good
on DOA Shrimp and scented plastics 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.
SOUTHPADRE: Trout and redfi sh are fair to good on the edge of the Intracoastal on soft and scented plastics. Redfi sh, black drum and mangrove snapper are fair to good in the channel on shrimp.
PORTISABEL:Trout are fair on the edge of the fl ats on soft plastics and scented plastics under popping corks. Redfi sh are fair to good in South Bay on the edge of the channel on shrimp.
— TPWD
TEXAS SALTWATER FISHING REPORT
LSONews.com LoneOStar Outdoor News November 28, 2014 Page 15
SolunarSuntimes
Moontimes
MoonPhases
FirstNov. 29
TEXAS SUN, MOON AND TIDESLast
Dec. 14New
Dec. 22Full
Dec. 6
Houston2014 A.M. P.M. SUN MOONNov.-Dec. Minor Major Minor Major Rises Sets Rises Sets
SanAntonio2014 A.M. P.M. SUN MOONNov.-Dec. Minor Major Minor Major Rises Sets Rises Sets
Amarillo2014 A.M. P.M. SUN MOONNov.-Dec. Minor Major Minor Major Rises Sets Rises Sets
Dallas2014 A.M. P.M. SUN MOONNov.-Dec. Minor Major Minor Major Rises Sets Rises Sets
Legend: Major=2 hours. Minor=1 hour. Times centered on the major-minor window. For other locations, subtract 1 minute per 12 miles east of a location, and add 1 minute per 12 miles west of a location.
TexasCoastTides
SabinePass,northDate Time Height Time Height Time Height Time HeightNov 28 2:14 AM 1.0L 6:13 AM 1.2H 1:48 PM 0.1L 9:22 PM 1.5HNov 29 3:33 AM 0.8L 8:46 AM 1.1H 2:56 PM 0.3L 10:07 PM 1.5HNov 30 4:34 AM 0.5L 10:48 AM 1.2H 4:10 PM 0.5L 10:47 PM 1.4 HDec 01 5:24 AM 0.2L 12:16 PM 1.3H 5:24 PM 0.7L 11:24 PM 1.4 HDec 02 6:09 AM -0.1L 1:25 PM 1.4H 6:31 PM 0.9L 11:58 PM 1.4 HDec 03 6:52 AM -0.3L 2:22 PM 1.6H 7:30 PM 1.0LDec 04 12:32 AM 1.4H 7:33 AM -0.5L 3:13 PM 1.6H 8:21 PM 1.0LDec 05 1:04 AM 1.4H 8:13 AM -0.6L 4:00 PM 1.6H 9:05 PM 1.1LDec 06 1:33 AM 1.4H 8:53 AM -0.6L 4:44 PM 1.6H 9:45 PM 1.1LDec 07 1:59 AM 1.3H 9:33 AM -0.6L 5:27 PM 1.5H 10:23 PM 1.1LDec 08 2:20 AM 1.3H 10:12 AM -0.5L 6:10 PM 1.5H 11:04 PM 1.1LDec 09 2:37 AM 1.2H 10:52 AM -0.4L 6:54 PM 1.4H 11:55 PM 1.1LDec 10 2:50 AM 1.1H 11:33 AM -0.2L 7:40 PM 1.3HDec 11 12:16 PM 0.0L 8:26 PM 1.3HDec 12 1:02 PM 0.1L 9:07 PM 1.2H
GalvestonBayentrance,northjettyDate Time Height Time Height Time Height Time HeightNov 28 2:26 AM 1.0L 6:54 AM 1.2H 1:47 PM 0.3L 9:21 PM 1.7HNov 29 3:27 AM 0.8L 9:04 AM 1.2H 2:42 PM 0.5L 9:57 PM 1.6 HNov 30 4:50 AM 0.5L 11:05 AM 1.2H 4:08 PM 0.8L 10:33 PM 1.5 HDec 01 5:37 AM 0.2L 12:22 PM 1.4H 5:37 PM 1.0L 11:04 PM 1.5 HDec 02 6:15 AM -0.1L 1:35 PM 1.6H 6:33 PM 1.1L 11:30 PM 1.5 HDec 03 6:53 AM -0.2L 2:46 PM 1.7H 7:33 PM 1.2L 11:55 PM 1.4 HDec 04 7:36 AM -0.4L 3:35 PM 1.8H 9:23 PM 1.3LDec 05 12:25 AM 1.4H 8:24 AM -0.4L 4:14 PM 1.9H 10:18 PM 1.2LDec 06 1:02 AM 1.4H 9:12 AM -0.4L 4:52 PM 1.8H 10:59 PM 1.2LDec 07 1:50 AM 1.3H 9:53 AM -0.4L 5:36 PM 1.8H 11:54 PM 1.2LDec 08 2:42 AM 1.3H 10:31 AM -0.3L 6:28 PM 1.7HDec 09 1:02 AM 1.1L 3:20 AM 1.2H 11:08 AM -0.2L 7:17 PM 1.6 HDec 10 1:35 AM 1.1L 3:51 AM 1.1H 11:48 AM -0.1L 7:56 PM 1.6 HDec 11 1:54 AM 1.0L 4:20 AM 1.0H 12:31 PM 0.1L 8:29 PM 1.5 HDec 12 2:17 AM 0.9L 4:51 AM 0.9H 1:11 PM 0.2L 8:59 PM 1.4 H
SanLuisPassDate Time Height Time Height Time Height Time Height Nov 28 3:29 AM 1.0L 5:56 AM 1.0H 2:05 PM 0.2L 10:06 PM 1.2 HNov 29 4:48 AM 0.8L 8:57 AM 0.9H 3:17 PM 0.4L 10:41 PM 1.1 HNov 30 5:34 AM 0.5L 11:08 AM 0.9H 4:43 PM 0.5L 11:12 PM 1.1 HDec 01 6:16 AM 0.3L 12:50 PM 1.0H 6:13 PM 0.7L 11:41 PM 1.1 HDec 02 6:56 AM 0.0L 2:09 PM 1.1H 7:31 PM 0.8LDec 03 12:09 AM 1.1H 7:36 AM -0.1L 3:11 PM 1.2H 8:35 PM 0.9LDec 04 12:38 AM 1.1H 8:15 AM -0.3L 4:04 PM 1.3H 9:29 PM 1.0LDec 05 1:06 AM 1.1H 8:53 AM -0.4L 4:52 PM 1.3H 10:13 PM 1.0LDec 06 1:34 AM 1.1H 9:31 AM -0.4L 5:36 PM 1.3H 10:49 PM 1.0LDec 07 2:02 AM 1.1H 10:07 AM -0.4L 6:19 PM 1.2H 11:22 PM 1.0LDec 08 2:26 AM 1.0H 10:44 AM -0.3L 7:01 PM 1.2H 11:56 PM 1.0LDec 09 2:45 AM 1.0H 11:20 AM -0.2L 7:43 PM 1.1HDec 10 11:56 AM -0.1L 8:23 PM 1.0HDec 11 2:32 PM 0.0L 9:01 PM 1.0HDec 12 1:10 PM 0.1L 9:34 PM 0.9H
FreeportHarborDate Time Height Time Height Time Height Time HeightNov 28 1:16 PM 0.3L 9:16 PM 1.7HNov 29 4:29 AM 1.0L 8:18 AM 1.2H 2:37 PM 0.6L 9:50 PM 1.6HNov 30 4:53 AM 0.8L 10:20 AM 1.3H 4:18 PM 0.8L 10:21 PM 1.5 HDec 01 5:25 AM 0.5L 12:01 PM 1.5H 6:01 PM 1.0L 10:48 PM 1.4 HDec 02 6:02 AM 0.2L 1:23 PM 1.7H 7:32 PM 1.1L 11:12 PM 1.3 HDec 03 6:40 AM 0.0L 2:28 PM 1.8H 8:53 PM 1.2L 11:34 PM 1.3 HDec 04 7:20 AM -0.1L 3:25 PM 1.9HDec 05 7:59 AM -0.2L 4:15 PM 2.0HDec 06 8:37 AM -0.3L 5:00 PM 1.9HDec 07 9:15 AM -0.2L 5:41 PM 1.9HDec 08 9:50 AM -0.2L 6:20 PM 1.8HDec 09 10:25 AM -0.1L 6:55 PM 1.7HDec 10 10:59 AM 0.1L 7:28 PM 1.6HDec 11 11:34 AM 0.2L 7:59 PM 1.5HDec 12 12:12 PM 0.4L 8:28 PM 1.5H
RolloverPassDate Time Height Time Height Time Height Time HeightNov 28 1:54 AM 1.2H 5:29 PM 0.2LNov 29 1:37 AM 1.1H 8:30 AM 0.7L 11:21 AM 0.8H 6:41 PM 0.4LNov 30 1:37 AM 1.1H 8:56 AM 0.5L 1:44 PM 0.8H 8:09 PM 0.6LDec 01 1:48 AM 1.0H 9:28 AM 0.3L 4:02 PM 0.9H 9:31 PM 0.7LDec 02 2:03 AM 1.0H 10:04 AM 0.1L 5:49 PM 1.0H 10:46 PM 0.9LDec 03 2:18 AM 1.1H 10:43 AM -0.1L 7:09 PM 1.2H 11:57 PM 1.0LDec 04 2:35 AM 1.1H 11:24 AM -0.3L 8:21 PM 1.2HDec 05 12:07 PM -0.3L 9:33 PM 1.3HDec 06 12:51 PM -0.4L 10:45 PM 1.3HDec 07 1:35 PM -0.3L 11:53 PM 1.3HDec 08 2:16 PM -0.3LDec 09 12:45 AM 1.2H 2:51 PM -0.2LDec 10 1:13 AM 1.1H 3:15 PM -0.1LDec 11 1:17 AM 1.1H 3:33 PM 0.0LDec 12 1:05 AM 1.0H 3:55 PM 0.1L
PortO’ConnorDate Time Height Time Height Time Height Time HeightNov 28 1:34 AM 1.0H 3:43 PM 0.3LNov 29 1:35 AM 0.9H 4:29 PM 0.4LNov 30 1:03 AM 0.8H 7:46 AM 0.6L 10:52 AM 0.6H 5:10 PM 0.5 15LDec 01 12:01 AM 0.8H 7:48 AM 0.4L 11:22 PM 0.8HDec 02 8:25 AM 0.3L 10:36 PM 0.8HDec 03 9:08 AM 0.1L 10:31 PM 0.9HDec 04 9:53 AM 0.0L 10:40 PM 0.9HDec 05 10:39 AM 0.0L 11:11 PM 1.0HDec 06 11:24 AM -0.1L 11:50 PM 0.9HDec 07 12:05 PM -0.1LDec 08 12:26 AM 0.9H 12:43 PM 0.0LDec 09 12:53 AM 0.8H 1:16 PM 0.0LDec 10 1:06 AM 0.8H 1:47 PM 0.0LDec 11 12:54 AM 0.7H 2:19 PM 0.0LDec 12 12:53 AM 0.7H 2:51 PM 0.1L
RockportDate Time Height Time Height Time Height Time HeightNov 28 5:51 AM 0.4H 4:40 PM 0.2LNov 29 2:29 AM 0.4H 4:58 PM 0.2LNov 30 12:58 AM 0.4H 4:47 PM 0.3LDec 01 12:21 AM 0.4H 8:43 AM 0.2LDec 02 12:08 AM 0.4H 9:24 AM 0.2LDec 03 12:14 AM 0.4H 10:07 AM 0.1LDec 04 12:35 AM 0.4H 10:51 AM 0.1LDec 05 1:07 AM 0.4H 11:36 AM 0.0LDec 06 1:45 AM 0.4H 12:21 PM 0.0LDec 07 2:29 AM 0.4H 1:06 PM 0.0LDec 08 3:15 AM 0.4H 1:50 PM 0.0LDec 09 4:02 AM 0.4H 2:31 PM 0.0LDec 10 4:48 AM 0.3H 3:08 PM 0.0LDec 11 5:32 AM 0.3H 3:39 PM 0.0LDec 12 6:12 AM 0.2H 4:04 PM 0.0L
PortAransasDate Time Height Time Height Time Height Time HeightNov 28 12:45 PM 0.2L 8:38 PM 1.0HNov 29 3:54 AM 0.8L 7:09 AM 0.8H 1:48 PM 0.4L 9:05 PM 1.0 HNov 30 4:39 AM 0.5L 9:18 AM 0.8H 3:33 PM 0.6L 9:33 PM 1.0 HDec 01 5:23 AM 0.3L 12:22 PM 0.8H 5:30 PM 0.7L 10:00 PM 1.0 HDec 02 6:05 AM 0.1L 1:58 PM 1.0H 6:54 PM 0.8L 10:27 PM 1.0 HDec 03 6:47 AM 0.0L 3:07 PM 1.1H 8:04 PM 0.9L 10:54 PM 1.0 HDec 04 7:28 AM -0.2L 4:04 PM 1.1H 9:05 PM 1.0L 11:20 PM 1.0 HDec 05 8:07 AM -0.2L 4:56 PM 1.1HDec 06 8:44 AM -0.2L 5:42 PM 1.1HDec 07 9:17 AM -0.2L 6:24 PM 1.0HDec 08 9:47 AM -0.2L 6:59 PM 1.0H 11:38 PM 0.9LDec 09 1:39 AM 0.9H 10:14 AM -0.1L 7:24 PM 0.9H 9:41 PM 0.9LDec 10 2:18 AM 0.9H 10:41 AM 0.0L 7:32 PM 0.8HDec 11 11:11 AM 0.0L 7:27 PM 0.8HDec 12 11:44 AM 0.1L 7:47 PM 0.8H
SouthPadreIslandDate Time Height Time Height Time Height Time HeightNov 28 1:11 PM 0.2L 9:25 PM 1.2HNov 29 4:13 AM 0.9L 7:11 AM 0.9H 2:21 PM 0.5L 9:39 PM 1.2 HNov 30 4:38 AM 0.6L 10:12 AM 0.9H 3:49 PM 0.7L 9:51 PM 1.1 HDec 01 5:13 AM 0.4L 12:30 PM 1.1H 5:24 PM 0.9L 9:58 PM 1.1 HDec 02 5:52 AM 0.1L 2:07 PM 1.2H 6:55 PM 1.1L 9:54 PM 1.1 HDec 03 6:32 AM -0.1L 3:19 PM 1.4HDec 04 7:13 AM -0.2L 4:19 PM 1.5HDec 05 7:54 AM -0.3L 5:14 PM 1.5HDec 06 8:34 AM -0.3L 6:05 PM 1.5HDec 07 9:14 AM -0.3L 6:54 PM 1.5HDec 08 9:52 AM -0.2L 7:37 PM 1.4HDec 09 10:29 AM -0.1L 8:10 PM 1.3HDec 10 11:05 AM 0.0L 8:32 PM 1.3HDec 11 11:39 AM 0.1L 8:46 PM 1.2HDec 12 12:12 PM 0.3L 8:57 PM 1.2H
EastMatagordaDate Time Height Time Height Time Height Time HeightNov 28 12:37 AM 0.4H 3:06 PM 0.1LNov 29 12:45 AM 0.4H 4:02 PM 0.2L 11:44 PM 0.4HNov 30 6:26 AM 0.2L 12:02 PM 0.3H 5:39 PM 0.2LDec 01 12:02 AM 0.4H 6:44 AM 0.1L 4:01 PM 0.3H 6:04 PM 0.3LDec 02 12:14 AM 0.4H 7:02 AM 0.1L 11:38 PM 0.4HDec 03 8:53 AM 0.0L 7:01 PM 0.4H 9:38 PM 0.4L 11:57 PM 0.5HDec 04 9:29 AM 0.0L 6:44 PM 0.4H 10:04 PM 0.4LDec 05 12:23 AM 0.5H 9:50 AM 0.0L 7:35 PM 0.5H 9:59 PM 0.4LDec 06 12:51 AM 0.5H 10:08 AM 0.0LDec 07 1:17 AM 0.5H 10:33 AM 0.0LDec 08 12:11 AM 0.5H 11:07 AM 0.0LDec 09 3:43 AM 0.4H 1:38 PM 0.1L 11:23 PM 0.4HDec 10 2:04 PM 0.1L 11:49 PM 0.4HDec 11 2:20 PM 0.1LDec 12 12:16 AM 0.4H 2:45 PM 0.1L
Page 16 November 28, 2014 LoneOStar Outdoor News LSONews.com
NATIONALPossibleworld-recordAlaskangrizzly
On the morning of the eighth day of his hunt, after a standoff at 10 yards, bowhunter Rodney Debias made a perfect 30-yard shot at a monster grizzly bear.
The bear has an initial record book entry score that is likely to best the current Pope and Young World’s Record, once it is verified. The current record-holding grizzly bear is 26 3/16, taken in Unalakleet, Alaska, in 2004 by Dennis Dunn.
Debias’ grizzly bear has an initial entry score that is a full inch larger than the existing record. Its initial entry score, 27 3/16, is yet subject to panel judging verification.
Grizzly bears are the interior relatives of the coastal Alaskan brown bears. They are found in huntable populations in Alaska (north of the Alaska Range and the 62nd Parallel), British Columbia and the Yukon Territory.
The P&Y score on bears is taken on the skull and is the sum of the length of skull and the width of skull, to the nearest 1/16th of an inch.
— Pope and Young
DuckStampActof2014passesHouse,movestoSenate
The federal duck stamp has remained at $15 for more than 20 years, but recently the House of Representatives passed the Duck Stamp Act of 2014, that would increase the cost of the federal duck stamp from $15 to $25.
“Ducks Unlimited strongly supports this effort to increase the conservation impact of the federal duck stamp,” said Ducks Unlimited CEO Dale Hall. “The additional duck stamp funding provided by waterfowl hunters and other conservationists will not only conserve critical waterfowl habitat, but will also help ensure the future of our waterfowling tradi-tions.”
Since 1991, the last time the price of the duck stamp was increased, its purchasing power has declined due to inflation and ris-ing land costs. The Duck Stamp Act of 2014 would build on this program’s long tradition of helping to conserve vital waterfowl habi-tat across America, especially in the Prairie Pothole Region, one of the continent’s most important production areas.
Since the federal duck stamp’s introduction in 1934, it has raised more than $750 million and has conserved more than 6 million acres of waterfowl habitat.
The Senate is expected to take up the legis-lation sometime in the next few weeks.
— DU
Coloradoguidesentencedtoprison
Hunting outfitter and guide Christopher W. Loncarich, 56, of Mack, Colorado was sen-tenced to 27 months in prison, and three years probation for conspiring to violate the Lacey Act, a federal wildlife protection law. During his probation he is prohibited from hunting or fishing.
On January 7, a grand jury in the District of Colorado returned a 17-count indictment charging Loncarich and Nicholaus Rodgers, one of Loncarich's assistants, with illegally capturing and maiming mountain lions and bobcats in order to make taking the cats easier tp hunt for their paying clients. The investiga-tion uncovered approximately 18 clients, since 2004, who had taken part in the illegal killing of more than 30 mountain lions and bobcats.
Loncarich's daughters, Caitlin and Andie, and assistant guide Marvin Ellis, previously pled guilty to violations of the Lacey Act or conspiracy to violate the Lacey Act.
— USFWS
Redsnappercommentssought
NOAA Fisheries is seeking public comment on a proposed rule that would add long-term recreational accountability measures for red snapper.
Accountability measures are measures taken to prevent the harvest from exceeding the quota. The proposed rule published in the Federal Register on November 21, with the
comment period ending December 22. The proposed rule would establish two
accountability measures to either mitigate or correct for an annual harvest overage. The first accountability measure would establish a recreational annual catch target. The annual catch target would be 20 percent less than the recreational quota. Projected recreational seasons would be based on the annual catch target rather than the quota. This measure is expected to reduce the probability of exceeding the quota in any given year from 50 percent to 15 percent.
The second accountability measure would be an overage adjustment to apply as long as the population is considered overfished (population is too low). In the event the recreational quota is exceeded, the recreational quota would be reduced in the year following the overage by the amount of the overage. This quota reduc-tion could be modified if the best scientific information available determines that a greater, lesser, or no overage adjustment is necessary. Under this measure, the recreational annual catch target would be set at 20 percent below the adjusted quota.
— NOAA
Floridalegalizeshuntingwithsuppressors
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission voted unanimously to repeal the 57-year-old prohibition on the use of firearm suppressors for taking deer, gray squirrels, rab-bits, wild turkeys, quail, and crows. Following the passage of the new regulation, the com-mission then voted unanimously to authorize an executive order to allow the measure to take effect immediately. Minutes later, Executive Order #EO 14-32 was signed, making hunt-ing with suppressors for all animals in the state legal.
With the enactment of the new regulation, Florida becomes the 33rd state to allow hunt-ers to use legally possessed suppressors in the field for all game animals. Earlier this year, Alabama, Georgia and Louisiana all enacted similar pro-suppressor hunting reforms. Of the 34 states where suppressor hunting is legal, Montana is now the only state that restricts their use to certain types of animals.
— ASA
NewOrleansmansentencedforsellingfish
A New Orleans man pleaded guilty to the illegal selling of game fish violations on Nov. 18 in the New Orleans Municipal Court in Orleans Parish.
Judge Desiree Charbonnet sentenced Paul Haptonstall, 35, to 120 days of imprisonment suspended and fined him $3,730.80 for the illegal selling of game fish.
Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries Enforcement Division agents cited Haptonstall on June 13 in New Orleans for ille-gal selling of game fish and undersized fish.
Agents started the investigation after receiv-ing complaints about the subject selling red drum in the New Orleans area. Haptonstall sold a total of 11 black drum, three sheepshead, two spotted seatrout, two catfish and 138 red drum to Special Operation agents throughout the investigation.
— LDWF
Oklahomawildlifecommissionerremembered
Longtime Wildlife Conservation Commissioner Harland Stonecipher of Centrahoma died Nov. 10 at the age of 76.
Stonecipher, an avid hunter, represented the sportsmen of Oklahoma as a member of the Oklahoma Wildlife Conservation Commission beginning in 1993, after being appointed by Gov. David Walters. He was reappointed to eight-year terms in 2001 and 2009.
"Harland Stonecipher was a great advocate for Oklahoma's outdoorsmen for more than two decades, balancing the interests of anglers and hunters with the conservation efforts that are central to the mission of the Wildlife Department," said Richard Hatcher, direc-tor of the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation.
— ODWC
LSONews.com LoneOStar Outdoor News November 28, 2014 Page 17
Page 18 November 28, 2014 LoneOStar Outdoor News LSONews.com
Texans looking to guide in home country of BoliviaContinuedfrompage8
Water temperatures are dropping across North Texas, and for catfi sh anglers that means one thing — it’s trophy blue season.
“We are just now getting to the beginning of our trophy season,” guide Dusty Dooley said, while out on Lake Ray Hubbard. “Last week we fi lled up our coolers every day; it’s a good time to be out on the lake.”
He and guide Larry Lawley have been out on Ray Hubbard recently, and haven’t had a bad day. Lawley said they are starting to see the big fi sh moving into shallower water.
“We are starting to see them in the trees pretty close to the shore-lines, which is a good sign,” Lawley said. “We had over 300 pounds of fi sh on our tailgate the other day — that translated to about 6 gallons of fi sh meat when it was all said and done.”
To the southeast, on Cedar Creek Lake, guide Jackie Kennedy said the blue catfi sh are starting to move shallow, but aren’t quite as far along as lakes in the northern part of the state.
“We are starting to catch some
Trophy time of
yearBig blue cats up
north, eating-sized fi sh farther south
Please turn to page 22
said of his partner.They spent time working multiple jobs in
order to save enough for their dream of run-ning fly-fishing expeditions to Bolivia. Any time they had off, Marancenbaum said, they spent scouting new locations in Bolivia and searching for the golden dorado — that’s where they came across their current loca-tion, and the Tsimani tribe.
“The Tsimani people are one of the few tribes who live fully off of the land,” Marancenbaum said.
He and Taender struck up a deal with the tribe. The Tsimanis receive a portion of the profit from expeditions, and the busi-ness — which the two have named Angling Frontiers — will employ some of the tribes-men for work on the expeditions.
As for the region, Marancenbaum simply referred to it as Casaré, which means golden dorado in the Tsimani language. He prefers to keep the exact location under wraps.
“The populations of the fish are very healthy where we are, and the rivers are a piedmont-type area; essentially the headwa-ters of the Amazon River,” he said. “We take clients for 10-day excursions up the river in our canoes looking for dorado.”
Marancenbaum and Taender, along with the Tsimani porters, guides and boatsmen, travel with the clients, camping in a dense jungle environment. When they do find the fish, it takes ample preparation to take them on the fly. The guides equip the anglers with 40- to 60-pound titanium leaders (to protect against the dorado’s numerous teeth) and generally cast large streamers to fish that can be anywhere from 8 to 10 pounds, but sometimes as large as 20 pounds.
In addition to dorado, Marancenbaum said they bring in numerous other species on a fly, including pacu, surubi (catfish) and muturo (giant catfish that can weigh up to 200 pounds).
While the fishing is important, Marancenbaum said the relationship with
the Tsimani people has been priceless.“We’ve taught them that catch and release
can be a viable alternative to simply eating the fish,” he said. “We’ve made it economi-cal for them to want to protect this species, since their income can depend on it. Before that, they thought the best place for the dorado was in their stomach.
“This sport-fishing operation is more than just fishing. It not only provides jobs for them, but it creates an incentive for con-servation.”
Yet, this lifestyle for Marancenbaum and Taender is only part-time, for now. Marancenbaum is currently working two jobs, but hopes this will be his last year teaching in Garland. He will then spend six to eight months of the year guiding clients in his home country of Bolivia. While he is in Texas, however, he makes the best out of it.
“I’ll try and catch anything and every-
thing when I get the chance,” he said. “I like to go fly-fishing for bass, panfish, anything. I go fish up to Broken Bow (Oklahoma) a lot.”
But free time is tough to come by.“It definitely is a sacrifice, you have
no idea,” Marancenbaum said of he and Taender’s efforts. “I get to see my wife every couple of days, just from working so much of the time.”
If anything, his time in Texas has given him the chance to chase his dream, ironi-cally in a completely different country.
LSONews.com LoneOStar Outdoor News November 28, 2014 Page 19
Page 20 November 28, 2014 LoneOStar Outdoor News LSONews.com
landowners practicing habitat improve-ment measures, began in 1996 and has been a victim of its own success. Currently, approximately 9,500 participants and 25 million acres are under the program.
Additional changes to be proposed are aimed at simplifying the process for the state’s 78 wildlife biologists who meet with landowners and issue MLDP harvest tags.
“The biologists spend more and more time performing administrative work,” Cain said, “including handling applications, doing the paperwork and getting permits to landowners.”
There are currently three levels under the program, with fairly complex information and biologist involvement required, and the new proposal would narrow it to two — the harvest option and the conservation option.
“The harvest option would be intended for people needing less assistance from the department,” Cain said. “It would not require a habitat management plan and tag issuance would be based on survey data in the area. Antler restrictions would apply where applicable and tag issuance would be more conservative so as not to deplete the resource.”
The harvest option would likely be the method of choice for landowners want-
ing the extended hunting season and per-mits from the department, but not actively involved in numerous habitat improvement practices.
The conservation option would be simi-lar to the Level 3 MLDP plans, and would still require a survey of the deer population on the ranch and a written wildlife man-agement plan outlining habitat improve-ment practices. The plan would have to be approved by a TPWD biologist.
“Under the conservation option, the property must be large enough to manage a deer population,” Cain said.
Final recommendations are expected to be presented to the Texas Parks and Wildlife Commission in January, 2015, with the hope of the popular program becoming more effi cient.
Gary Caulkins, a wildlife biologist in East Texas, said approximately 60 percent of the landowners in his area would go to the harvest option where they were previously required to complete wildlife management plans, involving a site visit and approval from the TPWD biologist.
“It would free up time for us to work on the other 40 percent that are actively involved in habitat improvement,” he said.
Proposed changes may cut paperwork for landowners, biologistsContinuedfrompage6
FormerTexasA&M,NFLplayerdiesafterfallwhilehunting
Larry Kelm, 49, an original member of the Texas A&M “Wrecking Crew” defense who later spent six seasons with the Los Angeles Rams, died Nov. 22 from a fall while deer hunting in Webb County.
Kelm was the president of Environmental Improvements Inc., a waste management firm based in Houston.
His hunting and business partner, former A&M quarterback Bucky Richardson, told the Corpus Christi Caller-Times that Kelm fell from a windmill blind. Strong thunder-storms also were reported on the evening of the incident. An autopsy is being per-formed.
—Staff report
LSONews.com LoneOStar Outdoor News November 28, 2014 Page 21
Ducks moving across the stateContinuedfrompage4
FLYINGHIGH:Duck hunters are seeing more and more birds arrive in Texas as the season heads into its sec-ond month. Photo by David J. Sams, Lone Star Outdoor News.
Huntershot,killednearWoodville
An 18-year-old Louisiana hunter died after being accidently shot by his cousin on a family deer lease near Woodville on Nov. 23, accord-ing to reports.
Doctors at a Beaumont hospital pronounced Dane Marcotte dead after he was accidentally shot, Tyler County Sheriff Bryan Weatherford said.
Marcotte's cousin told investiga-tors that he mistook Marcotte for a deer and fi red from his deer blind as the sun was going down. The cousin said immediately after he fi red the shot, someone yelled his name and he realized that he shot his cousin, according to police reports.
The cousin has not been charged and the case will possibly be brought before a grand jury to determine if charges will be fi led, according to a report from KATC.com in Lafayette.
— Staff report
more birds.”Laing said along with mallards, hunters are
still seeing lots of teal — especially bluewings with some greenwings mixed in — gadwalls, some wigeon and a few canvasbacks.
“There are a lot of shovelers as well,” he said. “They’ve defi nitely made a push. We’ve been seeing some canvasbacks on Lake Athens.”
Near Coleman, outfi tter Sam Janca from Double Barrel Outfi tters said their season is off to a good start.
“The birds have been coming in waves and leaving in waves,” he said. “Around the sec-ond week of the season, we got a huge push of birds. It was stupid good. There are still plenty of ducks around and good ducks — wigeon, pintails and redheads. We have lots of wigeon.”
Janca said he has seen more ducks in his area by this point in the season than he has in the past three or four years.
“We killed a three-man limit in about 30 minutes earlier this week,” he added, “so the hunting is still very good.”
Along the coast, hunters have reported good numbers of divers, particularly red-heads, bluebills and pintails.
Midcoast biologist Kevin Hartke said hunt-ing at coastal WMAs has been good, with hunters averaging between two and four ducks per hunter depending on weather and the overall number of ducks.
“There are plenty of diving ducks on the bays and we had really good aquatic veg-etation in the marshes this year because of timely rains, so a lot of ducks like wigeon and gadwalls are being shot in the marshes,” he said. “A lot of blue-wing teal and shovelers are being shot closer to the bay.
“We’ve got a lot of good grass in the WMAs.”
Page 22 November 28, 2014 LoneOStar Outdoor News LSONews.com
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of the heavier fi sh,” Kennedy said. “It’s in a transition period. Thirty- to 40-pound-ers are very realistic for this time of year, but they start in deeper water and are moving shallower as the day goes on. It helps if it’s a sunny day outside.”
He said it’s important for anglers to keep track of the conditions, and keep moving if they aren’t having luck in a particular area. Fresh cut bait is key, as the larger catfi sh will key on the fresh scent of blood in the water.
“I will use the smaller threadfi n (shad) if I can’t get them to bite,” he said. “But I think the more bait the better for this time of year. If I have to use smaller bait, I will stack sev-eral on top of each other.”
At Lake Conroe, guide Phillip James said the blue cats are both shallow and deep, depending on what size fi sh you are looking for.
“Some of the bigger blues are moving into the shallower water,” James said. “We are catching eating-size fi sh in about 18 to 20 feet of water on any sort of cut bait — drift-ing or we’ll put down an anchor if we need to.”
He said creek channel intersections for those with electronics are key areas in deeper
water to fi nd the larger fi sh. Large humps and points are also areas where larger blues will hold, especially at night.
“I’ll head to the back, shallow end of the lake and drift out,” James said. “They’ll gen-erally hit on either cut shad or brim, and sometimes I’ll just go to Walmart and get some tilapia fi llets and cut them up. That seems to work pretty well.”
Either way, he said the bite at Conroe is equally as good as up north, and water tem-peratures are a bit cooler than normal for this time of year (57 degrees), which has the big cats staging in several different areas.
Kennedy said the water temperatures at Cedar Creek are in the high 50s currently, but hopes to see them drop soon — in his mind the lower the temperature, the larger the fi sh that move into the shallower waters.
“The good news is that if the fi sh are there, they are defi nitely feeding,” he said. “It’s just about fi nding where they are.”
Dooley’s clients had just caught a 23-pound fi sh on Ray Hubbard, the morning of Nov. 21, and he said the catch bodes well for a stout trophy season. Just as Kennedy said to the south — the colder the better.
Cold, sunny days best for big blue catsContinuedfrompage18
hog and/or a white-tailed deer with Lone Star Outdoor News Foundation.
“We’ll give you the house tour later,” I told them, “let’s go to the range.”
Trey had been practicing. His fi rst shot at 100 yards was less than 1-inch from the center mark.
“Let’s go hunting,” I said.Twenty minutes later, we were in the
blind.“We’ve had some good bucks here, but
the pigs showed up recently — sometimes the deer don’t like the pigs,” I told them.
Not 10 minutes later, a sow showed up and headed straight for the corn placed at about 90 yards from the blind.
We went through the checklist, and Trey said he was ready.
A few seconds later, the pig was down.“Nice shot,” I said. “You have been prac-
ticing.”Questions and answers dominated the
trip, some of them unexpected.“You mean we don’t have to wear orange
caps?”“No, maybe the store will take them
back.”“Why are the cows following us?”“They think we have food for them.”“Will the piglets make it now that their
mother is gone?”“Probably, though we hope not.”
After spending time with us doing chores involving fi lling feeders and updating trail cameras around the ranch, the next eve-ning hunt didn’t go quite so well. A nice 8-pointer was a regular at one spot on the ranch, and didn’t disappoint.
“You see the one on the left,” I asked Trey.“Yes,” he said.“Let’s slowly get your gun out the win-
dow and see if he gives us a shot.”A few minutes passed while the buck was
in some brush.“He’s calm, don’t worry, he’ll come out,”
I said.After a few minutes, he did and presented
a broadside shot at the same distance the pig did the day before.
But the sight of antlers can do things to both young and old hunters that pigs can’t.
“Remember to breathe like we talked about, pick out the spot and slowly squeeze the trigger whenever you’re ready,” I said.
The rifl e blast was followed by the sound of a whirr, a cloud of dirt, and an unharmed buck sprinting away.
“I felt like I was right on him,” Trey said about the shot.
Now he is a deer hunter.Trey’s email after his return home told
the rest of the story.“If you ever need any help on the ranch,
let me know,” he wrote.
LSONF hunting trip offers new experiencesContinuedfrompage5
LSONews.com LoneOStar Outdoor News November 28, 2014 Page 23
1/2 cup Panko breadcrumbs1/2 cup grated Parmesan 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted 4 fl ounder fi llets (1 1/2 lbs.) Salt and pepper
Preheat oven to 425°F. Mist bottom of a large baking dish with nonstick cook-ing spray. Combine Panko, Parmesan and butter in a small bowl and stir mixture well. Sprinkle both sides of fl ounder gen-erously with salt and pepper. Arrange fi sh in prepared baking dish. Sprinkle Panko-Parmesan mixture over fi sh. Bake until fi sh is cooked through and crumbs are golden, about 15 minutes. Serve immediately.
1 pheasant, 3-4 pounds1/3 cup olive oil2 tbsps. balsamic vinegar2 tsps. dried rosemary2 tsps. dried thyme12 cloves garlic, thinly sliced4 sprigs fresh rosemary4 sprigs fresh thymeSalt and pepper1 medium onion, sliced1 stalk celery, coarsely chopped1 cup dry white wine or chicken stock1 tbsp. cornstarch
Whisk together the oil, vinegar, dried rosemary, thyme and garlic.
Slide your fi ngers in the skin of the bird starting at the neck to loosen the skin from the body. Leave the tail end intact. Take your fi ngers and rub some of the marinade under the skin. Place the sprigs of rosemary and thyme under the skin, along with some of the garlic. Place the bird in a large zip lock bag and pour on the remaining marinate. Seal and refrigerate over-night. Turn bag occasionally.
Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Remove the bird from the bag and reserve the marinade. Season the bird inside and out with salt and pepper. Place breast side down on a rack in a shallow roasting pan. Bake uncovered
for 15 minutes.Reduce heat to 250 degrees and
baste with the reserved marinade. Roast for 45 minutes. Flip bird breast side up, baste, and increase heat back to 450 degrees and cook for 15 minutes. Remove the bird to a warm platter and tent with foil. Discard excess fat from the drippings. Place the pan on burner or transfer to a saucepan. Add the wine or stock and bring to a boil stirring to scrape bits from the pan. Stir the cornstarch and water together and slowly add to the gravy. Stir and simmer until smooth and bubbly.
— backwoodsbound.com
Garlicherb-roastedpheasant
FORTHE
TABLE
ACROSS 1. A group or family of lions 3. Solution used to wash gundog's eyes 8. A perch 9. A device on a reel to tire a fi sh 11. Female elk 13. A duck 15. Constructing a fl y lure 16. The hawk is one 20. Good bluebill bait 21. Scanning an area for game 23. Comfort item in a blind 26. A large lake trout 29. Forward end of a gun
barrel 30. A male elk 31. Very large game of the plains 35. To relocate seasonally 37. A sight for a gun 38. Connects leader to fl y 39. A name given a deer by tribesDOWN 1. To take game illegally 2. Shells that fail to fi re 3. A grouse 4. Den is full, bear is ___ 5. Line grommet on a rod 6. Tiring out a catch 7. Deer will feed on these
10. The skunk's weapon12. A military event14. A lure, scent17. A part of a antler18. A popular food fi sh19. Wood used in arrow shafts21. The formation fl yers22. The hunting area24. A bowman's protector25. Make a lure27. Game or fowl home area28. The wild sheep32. Part of a fi shline33. A brand of bowman's optic34. The furseeker's gear36. Animal resting place
OUTDOOR PUZZLER By Wilbur “Wib” Lundeen SolutiononPage33
Page 24 November 28, 2014 LoneOStar Outdoor News LSONews.com
HEROES
SHAREANADVENTUREnWanttosharehuntingandfishingphotoswithother Lone Star Outdoor Newsreaders?Emailthemwithcontactandcaptioninformationtoeditor@lonestaroutdoornews.com.High-resolutionoriginaljpegsonly.MailprintstoHeroes,Lone Star Outdoor News,P.O.Box551695,Dallas,TX75355.
Ten-year-old AlyssaClark from Round Rock harvested this doe with her cross-bow hunting with her dad, Robert, on Oct. 11.
AndyandMargaretPhillips spent an afternoon near their home in Port Aransas on the water with Capt. Dan Kelly and caught a few nice redfish.
JohnWalter, along with his grandson, BenjaminWalter, 14, with Benjamin’s nice buck taken off a ranch in Cooke County opening weekend of last season.
MarkScheurer, owner of Native Outdoors, traveled to Oregon and took this big elk.
HeatherRay killed this big pig in September.
JohnGibson caught this
32.5-pound catfish on Lake
Lavon.
ConnorLevandowski, of Katy, caught and released this 25-inch, 4 1/2-pound speckled trout on a live shrimp in Matagorda Bay.
LSONews.com LoneOStar Outdoor News November 28, 2014 Page 25
She gave up once she got on top.”Roulston said they did a lot of
graphing before finally finding the right spot. Livesay said he keys on certain things this time of year to locate big bass on Fork.
“I’m looking at a ton of main lake offshore structure,” Livesay said. “It changes everyday this time of year on Fork. It could be a channel swing or a big hump, old roadway or big ridge. I’ll check any structure in about 20 to 25 feet of water with access to deeper water.
“These big fish will get active once or twice a day and come up from deep to chase baitfish on the structure.”
Livesay said he noticed a big group of sand bass on the point where they caught the big bass, and also saw a big fish on the down graph that he knew was a trophy bass.
“She never came up the whole time,” he said. “She just wal-lowed on the surface with her mouth open. She was too big to jump. I just stick my hand down and she wallowed right into it — I didn’t even grab a net.”
Livesay said he thought the bass would be around 10 pounds, but she surprised him when he lifted her out of the water.
“I’ve caught four over 11 pounds the past few years and I knew this one was bigger than those,” he said.
Livesay said Lake Fork is back on an upswing after a few down years.
“There are lots of small sand bass and other baitfish out here and the bass are gorging on them right now,” he said. “I expect a true giant to be caught here in the next year or two. It wouldn’t surprise me to see a state record come out of here.”
— Staff report
Anglers rely onelectronics to track down bassContinuedfrompage1
next door with the milo fi eld wouldn’t let us hunt there, so we set up on a nearby wheat fi eld and they decoyed great.
“There are really good numbers for North Texas right now and our Panhandle area is loaded.”
That was confi rmed by Amarillo area Game Warden TJ Tweedle, who said large numbers of sand-hills are already in the area south of town.
“Deaf Smith and Castro coun-ties are probably holding around 10,000 cranes,” Tweedle said. “There are not a ton of hunters out right now. We usually see a big push of cranes in early December, and that is when the hunting really gets going. In Bailey County, we just did a crane survey and there
are 25,000 to 30,000 cranes already down there.
“It should be a good season — there are plenty of birds.”
Texas Parks and Wildlife Department’s migratory game bird leader Kevin Kraai said the upper Panhandle was covered up with sandhill cranes until the massive cold front several weeks ago that dropped temperatures into the sin-gle digits.
“The front we had really changed them up,” Kraai said. “Around the fi rst of November, they were all over the northern Panhandle and across the high plains. The front came in and cranes will not stand ice for more than a day. They headed toward Lubbock and a few are fi ltering back in now.”
Sandhill crane reports are in from PanhandleContinuedfrompage4
Page 26 November 28, 2014 LoneOStar Outdoor News LSONews.com
YACHTSMANPOLO: This 100-percent pique Tanguis cotton polo shirt from the TejasYachtClub boasts the club’s martini yacht fl ag logo and its “let's grab a toddy” attitude. Wear it for a day out on the boat, or while hanging out by the coast. Available in
four colors in sizes medium to XXL, the polo sells for $75.
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ARROWID5000:Nikon’snewest laser
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optics with advanced laser rangefi nder tech-nology, has been built to help ensure that ar-
rows arrive at their intended destination. It is its “ID” — or incline/decline — technology that allows bowhunters to range horizontal distance
to targets from a treestand or in steep terrain with the same ease as ranging over fl at ground
by simply aiming, pushing the button and plan-ning the shot. The rangefi nder allows archers to select between fi rst target priority mode, which
displays the distance of the closest subject, and distant target priority mode, which displays the range of the farthest target among a group of targets measured. The pocket-sized range-fi nder features long-eye relief, an adjustable diopter and 6x multicoated optics. It has an
MSRP of $279.99.
(800)645-6687NIKONSPORTOPTICS.COM
BXWAKINGMINNOW:Sure to fi ll any angler with holiday cheer isRapala’s attention-grabbing top-water bait, whose broad waking action will whip predator fi sh into a
feeding frenzy. Hand-tuned and tank-tested, this tough lure has an ultra-responsive balsa core and a durable polymer shell that withstands the attention of the toothi-est of gamefi sh. This minnow swims just below the surface, fl ashing and rolling on
the retrieve — a presentation that entices big strikes from big bass, powerful pike and everything in between. Armed
with two treble hooks, the lure is available in six color patterns. It sells for
about $13.
RAPALA.COM
MEGAVENTPFG:Slip ColumbiaSportwear’sfi shing shoe under the tree this year for your boater or angler. This 2014 ICAST award
winner in the footwear category has such features as ports in the midsole that will quickly drain water and vent air back toward the
foot; razor-siped rubber soles for greater traction on wet, sway-ing boat decks; and an enhanced footbed for comfort. The shoe
is treated with a “blood and guts” repellant that makes it a breeze to rinse off anything icky and sticky that lands on the shoe. It sells for about
$105.
(800)622-6953COLUMBIA.COM
A300OUTLANDERMAX5:This is the latest evolution of Beretta’s300-series gas-operated semiau-tomatic shotguns. With its 3-inch chamber, Mobilchoke barrel and self-cleaning piston, the A300 adapts to different shooting styles. It offers the option to customize the drop and cast of the stock by means of spacers that upland or waterfowl hunters can insert between the action and the pis-tol-grip. The shotgun is a well-balanced lightweight gun that feels lively in the hands and easily
follows the eyes to the target, thanks to the low-profi le action. The A300 Outlander breaks down into four major components, making it simple to take apart and clean even under less-than-ideal fi eld conditions. Also, the self-cleaning gas piston makes this shotgun shoot much cleaner than other actions. This fi rearm has an MSRP of $875.
BERETTA.COM
GS3GAMESENSINGRIFLE-
SCOPE:The new Stein-er scope utilizes CAT (color adjusted transmission) lens
coatings. This amplifi es the con-trast in the peak human vision sensi-
tivity range to separate game from leafy or shadow-dappled backgrounds and exposes targets for a
clean accurate shot. The rifl escope, which has a 5x zoom, can be paired with a hunter’s favorite centerfi re, rimfi re or
muzzleloader rifl e. Available in four models (2-10x42mm, 3-15x50mm, 3-15x56mm and 4-20x-50mm), the water-proof scope offers a viable solution for virtually any hunt-ing situation. Other features include a versatile mounting length of 5.4 inches for mounting on short actions, muz-zleloaders, or lightweight mountain rifl es; ergonomically
designed, a power ring with deep knurling to make remov-al and adjustments easier; turrets with 1/4-MOA adjust-
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scopes sell for about $920 to $1,150, depending on the model.
(888)228-7747
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SIMPLYSHARP:Sometimes simpler is bet-ter, especially when it comes to sharpen-
ing fi shing and hunting knives. Made en-tirely by hand by the Ray family, Tony’s
Sharpener fi ts in a pocket or attached to a keychain or cord. Used on a bench or table, just draw the blade down
through the center of the carbide bits at a 45-degree angle. Tony’s
Sharpener works on all types of knives, including serrated
and electric, and also works on scissors and broadheads (keep them on the arrow shaft when
sharpening). We tested the sharpener on pock-et and hunting knives at the offi ce,
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with a straight edge for added safety.The black anodized aluminum version costs $18.95.
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LSONews.com LoneOStar Outdoor News November 28, 2014 Page 27
(Nov. 18), I had six does and a yearling behind the feeder and one of the does began to get really ner-vous. Then she crouched down and I thought, ‘It’s either a pig or a buck.’ Well, I’ll be, here he came.”
But it wasn’t the fi rst time this season Bartek had seen the buck.
“About a week ago, I came upon a 6-point and didn’t realize this guy was behind him,” he said. “When the 6-point broke, the big guy followed and also ran. I took a stupid shot and missed him.”
Bartek said the buck has always been elu-sive. He has trail cam-era pictures of the deer for the past sev-eral years, but said the buck never came to a corn feeder.
“I only saw him once last year a week after the season closed,” he said. “He was a straight typical 10-point last year. He came back as an outstanding nontypical this year. He had 12-inch plus tines last season, so I think he gave up a little length, and we thought he would score in the 190s. I never thought he’d break 200.”
When the big deer once again showed in front of Bartek, it was brief. The buck made
one pass through Bartek’s shooting lane, never stop-ping or offering a shot.
“I thought I’d missed my opportunity,” Bartek said. “But the doe came back about fi ve minutes later and he walked out again.”
Bartek made a perfect shot on the buck, which fell immediately.
“I hate to wound a deer,” he said. “So to shoot this buck perfectly was important. There was no ground shrinkage.”
Bartek imme-diately showed the buck to neighbors and was relieved everyone had nothing but kind words for him harvesting the buck.
“They were all so good about it,” he said.
The buck has been scored by two deer con-tests, with a fi nal gross Boone and Crocket score of 224 7/8 nontypi-cal.
The buck is a mainframe 12-pointer with several kickers and two large, matched drop-tines.
STILLSMILING:Larry Bartek is all smiles after shooting this 224-inch buck on his 300-acre farm. Photo by Codi Crouch.
Hunter takes huge buck in Atascosa CountyContinuedfrompage1
The Dallas Safari Club con-vention and expo — Texas’ biggest showcase of hunting, sporting and outdoor adven-ture — is set for Jan. 15-18.
The public-welcome event, set in downtown Dallas at the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center and Omni Hotel Dallas, also is one of America's premier fundrais-ers for conservation. Over the past five years, it has generated more than $4.5 million for wildlife programs, public edu-cation and hunter advocacy worldwide.
In the Dallas region, it trails only the HP Byron Nelson Golf Championship in raising funds for worthy causes, according to the Dallas Business Journal.
"Last year we hosted a record 43,000 people. Together, we raised more than $1 million for wildlife, plus another $350,000 specifically for black rhino pop-ulations in Namibia," said DSC Executive Director Ben Carter. "We're thinking even bigger for 2015 because all attendance predictors, including advance sales of registrations and room blocks, are up from last year."
The expo (daily admission $20 per person, with multi-day and family discount pack-ages available) offers 2015's first opportunity to shop for hunts with top outfitters from around the globe. Displays
also include world-class sport-ing gear, firearms, art, collect-ibles, entertainment, seminars, auctions and more. Together, attractions cover the space of nearly nine football fields.
For registered attendees, additional events, galas, awards and fundraisers are available.
Other highlights:• Returning from its inau-
gural year in conjunction with the DSC convention and expo, Weatherby Foundation International will present its prestigious Weatherby Award.
• Presentations of the esteemed Conklin Award, Capstick Award and others.
• Exhibits from top conser-vation organizations, outfitter associations and Texas Parks and Wildlife Department.
• Daily seminars by author-ities in hunting, conserva-tion, wildlife management and more.
• American Custom Gunmakers Guild exhibits, demonstrations and member events.
• Special attractions in a section of the show called “Wingshooter's World” with Quail Coalition.
• Unique taxidermy exhibits throughout the expo hall.
• Public-welcome, volunteer-driven, family-friendly atmo-sphere — all for a great cause.
— DSC
DSC convention on tap in January
Page 28 November 28, 2014 LoneOStar Outdoor News LSONews.com
LSONews.com LoneOStar Outdoor News November 28, 2014 Page 29
TROUTBITESTILLGOOD:Wading in Port Mansfi eld produced a few nice trout for Get-A-Way Adventures Lodge owner Mike Sutton. Photo by Craig Nyhus, Lone Star Outdoor News.
ByCraigNyhusLone Star outdoor newS
Texas coastal duck hunters and fi shermen sometimes tire of the number of hunters, blinds, fi sher-men and activity during their hunt.
They may want to try heading far-ther south.
Hunters in Port Mansfi eld and south to Port Isabel have enjoyed a relative calm during their hunts, but the word is getting out.
“We have amazing numbers of redheads and bluebills and good numbers of pintails,” said Port
Mansfi eld guide Ruben Garza. “We have received a lot of rain, so most of the teal, gadwall and wigeon will be inland until the freshwater areas from the rains dry up.”
On November 18-19, one thing that made hunting a little more dif-fi cult was the number of birds. Large rafts of hundreds of divers each dot-ted the bay, making bringing ducks into 75 or so decoys harder.
Garza guided a blast-and-cast through Get-A-Way Adventures Lodge during the recent cold front that dropped water temperatures to a
Please turn to page 30
Shoot-'em-up down South
Port Mansfi eld hunting, fi shing solid this month
CollinswinsRayScottChampionshipBassTournament
Albert Collins won the American Bass Anglers' Weekend Bass Series Ray Scott championship tournament, held Nov. 12-15 at Wheeler Lake near Decatur, Alabama.
For his winning effort, Collins pock-eted the $100,000 championship prize plus an additional $50,000 from the Triton Gold contingency award program
Collins, a veteran Sam Rayburn Reservoir bass guide from Nacogdoches, bagged a total of 20 bass weighing 56.18 pounds dur-ing the four-day event. He used a Yumbrella Flash Mob Jr. umbrella rig equipped with 3.5-inch Kicker Fish swim baits to catch bass holding on submerged stumps in 4 to 10 feet of water along the main river channel.
— Triton
Page 30 November 28, 2014 LoneOStar Outdoor News LSONews.com
chilly 52 degrees, making the trout slug-gish.
“They are hugging the bottom in the deeper water,” Garza said. “You have to barely drag your jighead.”
The group managed to land several nice trout, including Garza’s 5-pounder and lodge owner Mike Sutton’s 3-pounder.
After the trip, the normal, warmer South
Texas winter returned and fi shing picked up as the fi sh sought shallower water. And the ducks are still arriving daily.
Trout and ducks at Port Mansfi eldContinuedfrompage29
BRINGTHEMIN:Along with redheads, other divers are making appearances along the Lower Laguna Madre. Photo by Craig Nyhus, Lone Star Outdoor News.
TPWDseeksillegalborderfishinginformation
The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department’s Law Enforcement Division and the U.S. Coast Guard are distributing a wanted poster seeking any information related to illegal fi shing activities along the Texas-Mexico border.
Both agencies are currently investigating multiple cases of Texas and federal conser-vation law violations, including illegal long lining, gill netting, crabbing, hoop netting, shrimping and other offenses.
“The Gulf of Mexico, Rio Grande, Falcon Lake and Amistad Lake are included in the affected areas,” says Grahame Jones, chief of Special Operations. “These acts of ille-gal and unreported fi shing adversely impact both the recreational and commercial fi sh-ing industries.”
Anyone seeing illegal fi shing equipment in the Gulf or other border water bodies, or who has any information about individuals involved in this activity, is urged to contact TPWD’s Operation Game Thief hotline at 1-800-792 GAME. Tips also may be sent by text message to 847411. Include the letters TPWD in the text. The U.S. Coast Guard may be contacted at (361) 939-6393.
— TPWD
LSONews.com LoneOStar Outdoor News November 28, 2014 Page 31
Page 32 November 28, 2014 LoneOStar Outdoor News LSONews.com
To advertise in this section, call Mike Hughs at (214) 361-2276 or email him at [email protected].
LONE STAR MARKET
LSONews.com LoneOStar Outdoor News November 28, 2014 Page 33
Huntingwithalittlewrestlingflair
I’m not a big fan of pro wrestling, but former wrestling champion Shawn Michaels does a pretty good job of tran-sitioning into the hunting world on the show MacMillan River Adventures.
The show has quickly become one of the most pop-ular of all hunting shows with Michaels as the host. MacMillan River Adventures has been nominated for five Golden Moose Awards, includ-ing: “Best Series!” MRA won the Golden Moose Award in 2011 for airing the “Best Conservation” show of the year for their highly acclaimed “Wolf Episode.”
The editing is well-done and the action is fast-paced.
Join cohosts Shawn Michaels and Keith Mark for Chapter 9, Season 4 of MacMillan River Adventures when the pair heads to Kansas for some upland pheasant shooting.
“Sometimes the best action is a new experience,” said Michaels. “Although every MRA hunt is engraved in my memories, the video Josh (Ishmael) captured of our pheasant and quail hunt is nothing short of breathtaking. We invite you to join us on a cold winter’s day in western Kansas, and witness how this dog does hunt.”
MacMillan River Adventures airs on Outdoor Channel:
Tuesday at 7 a.m. (all times CT)
Tuesday at 10:30 p.m. Saturday at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday at 10 a.m.
LSONRatings(1-4horns)
Production Quality:
Narration:
Kill Shots:
Overall:
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PURSUIT CHANNEL Honey Brake ExperienceFlyway HighwayThe GrindDU TVAvian XSportingdog AdventureHunting with HECSCampfi re Stories
Show of SupportWhere in the World is Colorado BuckJust HuntGun Talk TV
PURSUIT CHANNELCarnivoreJason Peterson's Into the WildHeadhunter ChroniclesThe High Road w/Keith WarrenDeer ThugsWinchester & Drury’s Natural BornNWTF 365BloodlineBrush Country MonstersSave the Habitat, Save the HuntJust HuntHunting with HECSDU TV
SPORTSMAN CHANNELMeet the McMillans
Guns & AmmoDavidson’s Gallery of GunsHandguns and Defensive WeaponsRuger Inside and OutBeyond the Battlefi eldWinchester Archery’s Whitetail FrenzyGuns & AmmoDavidson’s Gallery of GunsHandguns and Defensive WeaponsRuger Inside and OutBeyond the Battlefi eld SPORTSMAN CHANNEL Meet the McMillans
Realtree’s Monster BucksMajor League BowhunterRival WildWhitetail PropertiesSavage OutdoorsBrad Farris’ Game PlanRealtree’s Monster BucksMajor League BowhunterRival WildWhitetail PropertiesSavage Outdoors
SPORTSMAN CHANNEL Meet the McMillans
North American WhitetailDestination WhitetailMathews Dominant BucksBuckventuresBig Deer TVAdrenaline JunkiesNorth American WhitetailDestination WhitetailMathews Dominant BucksBuckventuresBig Deer TV
SPORTSMAN CHANNEL MeatEater
Dropped Project Alaska 2.0Meet the McMillansThe Outfi ttersFresh Tracks with Randy NewbergThe ZoneThe PriefertsDropped: Project Alaska 2.0Meet the McMillansThe Outfi ttersFresh TracksThe Zone
SPORTSMAN CHANNEL Bohning's Whitetail JourneyHardcore PursuitBowhunter TVRelentless PursuitName the GameMidwest WhitetailOutback OutdoorsAmerican RebelBowhunter TVRelentless PursuitName the GameMidwest WhitetailOutback Outdoors
SPORTSMAN CHANNEL Full Draw AdventuresWhitetail FixHardcore PursuitWorld of Sports Afi eldWorld of BerettaThe WildlifersBlue Collar AdventuresOn The Road with Rock and AaronHardcore PursuitWorld of Sports Afi eldWorld of BerettaThe WildlifersBlue Collar Adventures
SPORTSMAN CHANNELBohning’s Whitetail JourneyWhitetail SlamPigman: The SeriesGun It with Benny SpiesPetersen’s Hunting AdventuresOff-Grid HunterPure HuntingTravelin’ HunterPigman: The SeriesGun It with Benny SpiesPetersen’s Hunting AdventuresOff-Grid HunterPure Hunting
OUTDOOR CHANNELHeadHunters TVWhitetail FreaksLegends of the FallGregg Ritz’s Hunt MastersRidge ReaperHeartland BowhunterGregg Ritz's Hunt Masters Scentblocker’s Most WantedJim Shockey’s Uncharted
OUTDOOR CHANNELInside Outdoors TVFlesh and BloodThe Hit ListTed Nugent Spirit of the WildMossy Oak’s Hunting the CountryDriven with Pat and NicoleDrury’s THIRTEENDream SeasonEastman’s Hunting TVShawn Michael’s MRAPrimos Truth About HuntingDrury’s THIRTEENA Fight to Survive
American Rifl eman TVNRA’s All Access Midway USA’s Gun StoriesThe GunfatherShooting USA
Midway USA’s Gun Stories
OUTDOOR CHANNELThe Fowl LifeSummit’s High PlacesBeyond the HuntThe Hunt with Greg and JakeRealtree RoadtripsRealtree’s NASCAR Outdoors Bow MadnessJim Shockey’s Uncharted
PSE’s Wild OutdoorsThe Jackie Bushman ShowThe Crush with Lee and TiffanyUltimate Hunting
OUTDOOR CHANNELSolo HunterJim Shockey’s Uncharted
Winchester LegendsFear No EvilPrimal InstinctRazor Dobbs AliveWinchester Rack MastersDriven with Pat and NicoleDeadliest HuntsMossy Oak’s Hunting the CountryMichael Waddell’s Bone CollectorJim Shockey’s Uncharted
OUTDOOR CHANNEL Under Wild SkiesShawn Michael’s MRABest of the WestSteve’s Outdoor Adventures TVRoger Raglin OutdoorsUltimate HuntingTrophy QuestChoose Your WeaponHeartland BowhunterFight to SurviveTed Nugent Spirit of the WildCraig Morgan’s All Access OutdoorsLive 2 Hunt
OUTDOOR CHANNELMathews TV with Dave WatsonCrush with Lee and TiffanyJim Shockey’s Hunting AdventuresWildgame NationRealtree OutdoorsPrimos Truth About HuntingThe Jackie Bushman Show Michael Waddell’s Bone CollectorCraig Morgan All Access OutdoorsRed ArrowJim Shockey’s Hunting AdventuresRealtree RoadtripsDream Season
WORLD FISHING NETWORKMark Berg's Fishing Addiction
Wheels and ReelsSouthbend's LunkervilleKnow FishingFLW Tour
Bass 2 Billfi shThe Scott Martin ChallengeFacts of FishingWheels and ReelsSouthbend's LunkervilleKnow Fishing
WORLD FISHING NETWORK Beyond the CastThe Next Bite TVRod and Rucksack
Sportfi shing on the FlyFishing the FlatsSportsman 360 TVOrvis Guide to Fly FishingThe Legacy ExperienceIGFA Saltwater AdventuresRod and Rucksack
Sportfi shing on the FlyWORLD FISHING NETWORK
Fishing with Bill MillerThe Fish FindersPescaWestcoast Sporting JournalLindner's Ultimate AnglerIn the LoopHooked on AfricaGeorge Poveromo's Saltwater FishingFins N SkinsIGFA Saltwater AdventuresPescaWestcoast Sporting JournalLindner's Ultimate Angler
WORLD FISHING NETWORK Krappie KingsWild Fish Wild PlacesHooked Up with Tom ColicchioBig Coast Sportfi shingReel AnimalsFins N SkinsFishful ThinkerCanadian Sportfi shingLost LakeIGFA Saltwater AdventuresHooked Up with Tom ColicchioBig Coast Sportfi shingReel Animals
WORLD FISHING NETWORK Inside Sportfi shingGuided with Mark MelnykJohn Gillespie's Water and WoodsFish TVMitch and Matt's Big FishFlatsClassBob Izumi's Real Fishing
IGFA Saltwater AdventuresFacts of FishingJohn Gillespie's Water and Woods Fish TVMitch and Matt's Big Fish
WORLD FISHING NETWORK Fising Expedition AmazoniaHooked on AfricaThe Fish FindersHooked Up with Tom ColicchioSouth Bend's LunkervilleFishing the FlatsSportsman 360 TVSportfi shing on the FlyKnow FishingFacts of FishingHooked on AfricaThe Fish FindersHooked Up with Tom Colicchio
WORLD FISHING NETWORK Mark Berg's Fishing AddictionWild Fish Wild PlacesLindner's Ultimate AnglerWorld Fishing JournalWheels and ReelsPescaBig Coast Sportfi shingRod and Rucksack
Mitch and Matt's Big FishWild Fish Wild PlacesLindner's Ultimate AnglerWorld Fishing Journal
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