NORTH ZONE DOVE Hunters near Lubbock had good shoots over sunflowers. Milo and corn produced mourning doves near Amarillo. Good hunts have been posted around playa lakes. Hunters said the afternoon flight was much better than the morning. Abilene and Knox City hunters had good shoots over corn and milo. The cool front last week deposited new birds to the area and the forecasted front this week should bring new recruits as well. The season runs through Oct.30. Prospects are fair to good. more >>
CENTRAL BASTROP: Water clear. Black bass are good on live minnows. Crappie are very good on minnows and pink tube jigs. Channel and blue catfish are fair on bait shrimp and stinkbait. Yellow catfish are slow. more >>
The Victoria 4-H Rifle Club will be hosting a Hunter’s Education Class on Oct. 24-25 at the 4-H Activity Center. Every hunter (including out-of-state hunters) born on or after Sept. 2, 1971, must successfully complete a hunter education training course. more >>
NORTH SABINE Trout are fair in the river on live shad and shrimp. Redfish are good on Stanley Ribbits in the marsh. Flounder are fair on the Louisiana shoreline on jigs tipped with shrimp. more >>
NORTH ZONE DOVE Mourning doves continue to use milo, corn and soybean fields along the Red River. Cooler mornings and north winds have pushed new birds to the area, but best hunts have come in the afternoon around water and trees. Playa lakes around Amarillo and Dumas have been fair in the afternoon. more >>
CENTRAL BASTROP: Water clear. Black bass are good on live minnows. Crappie are very good on minnows and pink tube jigs. Channel and blue catfish are fair on bait shrimp and stinkbait. Yellow catfish are slow. more >>
CENTRAL ZONE DOVE Fair to good shoots were posted along the border dividing the Central and South zones, once shooters began banging in the South Zone. Areas around Del Rio and Uvalde saw the best action. Whitewings continue to find corn fields around San Antonio and Castroville. Good hunts have been had around Seguin and San Marcos around trees where birds have been coming to roost. Birds have been building on the coast since hunting has been the last thing on many residents minds. Rice and sunflowers produced good shoots near Hankamer and Winnie. Dayton, Sealy and Brookshire were best around goatweed, milo and rice. Prospects are fair to good. more >>
TRINITY BAY Black water continues to drain from the marsh. A few redfish were taken near the mouth of the river on Gulps and soft plastics. Warning: A low-lying power line is crossing Red’s Bayou about four feet above the water and is hard to see. Mariners should beware. The line is about half-mile from the mouth of the bayou leading to the bay. more >>
Monday I viewed firsthand the destruction that occurred on the east side – or dirty side – of Hurricane Ike. I grew up in Chambers County and my parents and many dear friends still reside there, so I felt a burden to head east and help. The pictures you have seen of Freeport, Surfside, Galveston and the Bolivar Peninsula are surreal and numbing – I saw the same images along a few bayfront communities in Chambers County. more >>
CENTRAL BASTROP: Water clear. Black bass are fair on chartreuse and chartreuse/white Rat-L-Traps over grass. Crappie are good on minnows and blue tube jigs. Channel and blue catfish are good on shrimp, nightcrawlers, and punchbait. Yellow catfish are slow. more >>
CENTRAL ZONE DOVE: The San Antonio corridor was spared from the rains of Hurricane Ike. Hunting continues to be steady around corn, milo and sunflowers. Hondo, Uvalde and Castroville have been steady in the afternoon around water. A new group of birds showed up with the recent cool front. Harrison County fields remain steady around plowed ground and goatweed. Marion County fields have been fair, but new birds have arrived on the winds of the front. Fields along the coast on the east side of Houston have seen few hunters since Hurricane Ike. SOUTH ZONE DOVE PROSPECTS: The Sept. 20 opener should be a good one in South Texas, especially around the border of the South and Central zones. Fields around Uvalde, Del Rio and San Antonio are loading up with birds moved by hunting pressure in the Central Zone. Laredo, McAllen, Harlingen and fields around Port Mansfield are holding strong concentrations of birds. El Campo and Bay City fields look good for both whitewings and mourners. Large storm surges along the middle coast moved some birds farther inland from agricultural fields near the marsh and along the bayfront. Prospects are good. more >>
One of us isn’t a spider fan, period. Seems some 10-year-old boy messed with a wolf spider that bit him in return. But surveying plants along a heavily-wooded trail in Saxet Lakes Park reminded us late summer is good for viewing/running into some really impressive spiders in our woods and gardens. We literally ran into a dozen or more circular webs strung across the trail, up 6 to 12 feet. Each was 3 feet across, with a spider in the center – a spider with a 1-inch long, orange-brown body with 12 distinct spots along its abdomen and 2-inch long legs with black hairs at the leg joints. Impressive. Their webs were strong. We dodged around and under them to survey. The spiders were female golden silk orb-weavers, called Batik golden-web spiders. That refers to the color of the spider’s silk and its back pattern (Batik-like), but not body color. Their silk is almost the strength of Kevlar used in flak jackets. more >>
NORTH SABINE: Trout are fair in the river on live shad and shrimp. Redfish are good on Stanley Ribbits in the marsh. SOUTH SABINE: Flounder are fair around Blue Buck Point on jigs tipped with shrimp. Trout are fair while drifting slicks and birds on soft plastics. more >>
NORTH ZONE DOVE: Best hunts have been had over plowed sunflowers and cut milo fields. Hunts near Amarillo and counties north have taken good numbers of dove over watering holes in the afternoon. The region received enough rains in August to fill some dry playas. Areas north of Abilene have been solid over row crops and water in the afternoon. Fields north of Fort Worth have seen scattered birds since the opener. A few new birds arrived with the north winds last week. Lamar County saw better shoots in soy beans. Prospects are fair to good. more >>
BASTROP: Water clear. Black bass are good on watermelon red deep diving crankbaits and soft plastics. Crappie are good on minnows. Channel and blue catfish are very good on shrimp, minnows, and stinkbait. Yellow catfish are slow. COLORADO RIVER: (At Colorado Bend State Park) Water stained. Black bass are slow. Striped bass are slow. White bass are slow. Crappie are slow. Catfish are fair on perch. more >>
TRINITY BAY: Trout are fair to good around the shell pads of the Sun Getty lease. Trout are fair to good while drifting slicks and deep shell. Redfish are good on the north shoreline on gold spoons. EAST GALVESTON BAY: Trout are fair to good on mid-bay reefs on live shrimp and plastics. Trout are fair around the wells on live bait. more >>
Monday I stood chest-deep in the Matagorda surf as a lazy sun eased below the dunes. Trout were bashing She Pups on the edge of the third bar as the tide gently receded, blue-winged teal were buzzing the marsh just over my shoulder and my bare feet felt every undulation the current had created as I scuffled from guts to sand bars. more >>
