Hometown News For Orange County, Texas
Hometown News For Orange County, Texas
Sorted by date Results 1 - 25 of 201
In every sport there are different levels of accomplishment, different levels of skill. In baseball you have rookie leagues, minor leagues, and then you have the guys in the majors who are at the top of the food chain so to speak. Far too many times in magazines the writers take for granted that everyone out there fishes just like they do. Nothing could be farther from the truth if you just get right down to it. On more than a regular basis I get asked about certain...
First of all before we get started on the fish I want to say on behalf of all the concerned outdoor folks “welcome back” to President Donald J. Trump and congratulations on the landslide victory. I found it incredibly interesting, as did many others, that the only states Kamala Harris won were ones that required no voter ID. As we have mentioned in this column many times as a hunter or fishermen you must present ID in order to purchase a license, seems like common sense tha...
Saturday morning will officially usher in the 2024-2025 waterfowl season for all our local hunters and expectations run the gamut from cautiously optimistic to gung ho. Texas duck and goose hunters cranked up last weekend and the initial reports were good overall. Many local marshes that are historically proven early season producers had limits on average which was a welcome sight. High water during the late summer jump started vegetation growth in many areas so the food sourc...
"You remember when...." is a question that I am hearing all too often these days, especially when I am talking to water fowlers. Less than a decade ago our area marshes were a haven for all types of migratory birds, world class wing shooting at its best. The skies were filled with ducks and geese and the local hospitality and great Cajun cuisine made this part of the world a magnet for hunters from all around the globe. Well the food and hospitality are still here but the...
One of perhaps the most anticipated hunting days of the year is upon us; Saturday morning starts off the annual youth hunting weekend in Texas. Young hunters and adults alike look forward to this very special weekend for a variety of reasons. For many young hunters this is their opportunity to take center stage and reap the benefits of all the practice and preparation they have been through during the off season. The trips to the range, the work at the hunting lease, or...
All along the Texas gulf coast the pattern is the same, cool fronts signal the much anticipated frenzy that is fall fishing. Anglers of every description ready themselves with the latest technology and gear in hopes of finding flocks of gulls working over schools of hungry speckled trout and redfish. Shiny fiberglass cruisers masquerading as bay boats are stocked up with an array of tackle that would make most anglers drool with envy. It is the same scenario in each bay...
I have no idea why we as anglers are constantly trying to complicate things, always re-inventing the wheel and adding corners. In our never ending quest to catch more and bigger fish we often stray down the path which we think leads to discovery only to find that out that if we had just read the street signs we’d be in much better shape. Over the years it seems like we have become so detailed and specific that the average fisherman suffers from “paralysis by analysis”. Fishi...
We have all heard the saying “time flies when you are having fun” but there aren’t many times you can actually watch it happen. The 16 day early teal season will come to a screeching halt on September 29th just about the time the biggest migration is forecast to enter our part of the flyway. By all accounts most hunters saw a healthy influx of new birds beginning this past Saturday and the numbers have continued to build in many areas. To our east, across the state line into...
Consistent hunts and good numbers of birds have been the norm for many local waterfowlers enjoying the early teal season so far. Opening weekend of early teal season can best be described as a classic case of "have or have not". For many hunters it was one end of the spectrum or the other and no in between. Rarely will you see birds as concentrated as they are right now and that pattern doesn't look it will change any time soon. If you were one of the fortunate ones who were...
In what has become a highly anticipated yearly ritual, wingshooters from all over Texas will make there way to the fields and marshes as the 2024-2025 waterfowl hunting season officially gets underway Saturday. The teal season opener has become a real gathering of sorts, almost a social get together if you will. Hunters eagerly awaiting each new hunting season head to the fields for their first taste of what is in store and this one looks promising thanks to some recent...
The sleek silhouette coasted over the tree line with that familiar darting flight pattern, the volley of shots only confirmed the obvious and the dove continued on its way toward the stock tank to get a much needed drink. This scene is played out thousands of times in the state of Texas as hunters take to the field suffering the effects of a long off season without much, if any, practice. Shooting these fast flying birds is enough of a challenge without any other...
It doesn’t make any difference if you’re a hunter or a fisherman because this time of the year has something for everyone and it’s all good. The brief cool down from near triple digit heat has both hunters and fishermen alike thinking of what’s in store for the coming weeks. The very first hint of hunting season starts with teal and dove season in September and if you look at the calendar it's here. Hunters of all shapes and sizes flock to the field to take advantage of the...
Locals only or Worldwide? “Pssst…..hey buddy? I got what you need, GPS coordinates, reef names, secret spots full of shell guaranteed to give you what you’re looking for. I got it all.” In a wide eyed frenzy the unsuspecting and overly enthusiastic angler who’s hungry for information does exactly what you would guess, he buys it all. Anything for an edge and everything for a big fish. The quest for these big fish drives many folks to extreme measures and often different...
Chance Hobbs took advantage of a late afternoon summer bite. Texas 2 a Days Now unless you live under a rock in a far dark corner of the planet you probably have some sort of idea about how completely fanatical Texas folks are about football. The summer months in our great state are often looked upon with great enthusiasm as thousands of football players begin their preparations for the fall campaign by first trying to beat the Texas heat. The football term “2 a days” ref...
The list of "honey do's" posted on the refrigerator is a dead give away, the longer the list the better the fishing is at the moment and vice versa. Every now and again it's a must to get off the water and get caught back up on things around my house that have been pushed back to the point of being ridiculous. You know the fishing is good when you are cutting your grass at night with the help of a q-beam mounted to your riding mower. Don't laugh, I know some of you will employ...
Say the words “sight fishing” and a few thoughts that immediately pop into your head are “tails” “clear water” and “shallow”. None of the previously mentioned words conjure up thoughts of the upper coast of Texas, sight fishing is a lower coast activity and can only be done down there. Well if you subscribe that line of thinking then you have either have a rude awakening coming or you are cringing at this article because you have already figured out how good this style of fish...
For the majority of upper coast anglers the thought of actually seeing a fish before you cast to it is more of a foreign concept than going to a restaurant that doesn't serve sweet tea, it's just not natural. In the minds of most anglers who fish with me the thought of water with clarity good enough to see fish in is usually reserved for venues farther south or some Caribbean island where the white sand is nearly blinding, not the upper coast of Texas or Louisiana. Now don't g...
No matter how hard lure manufacturers try they will never be able to create a lure that works better than real thing, period. The typical profile of the weekend angler is not that of the high end trophy trout hunter who chunks artificial lures for hours on end looking for one big fish, it’s the fisherman who takes a quart of live shrimp or a bucket of mud minnows and looks for anything that will bite. Much has been made of the big trout phenomenon and all the hoopla that s...
"Be careful what you wish for because you just may get it" is what I was often told as a kid. Things that seem like great ideas at the time will often turn out to be unwanted nuisances that are worse than the original option. For months Texas anglers, myself included, cursed the constant high winds and prayed that they would stop in order to make the bay systems mote user friendly. Well, the winds have subsided and the now the temperatures have just gone through the roof...
I would bet a sizable sum of money that if most saltwater anglers were to be asked to describe what a picture perfect fishing scenario looks like that I could easily describe it before they even started. The classic thigh deep flat with clear green water dotted with potholes and very defined grass edges. Or perhaps an even shallower flat with a little less grass so visibility would be at a maximum in order to see cruising fish or even a few tailing reds. These are the images t...
No matter how hard lure manufacturers try they will never be able to create a lure that works better than real thing, period. The typical profile of the weekend angler is not that of the high end trophy trout hunter who chunks artificial lures for hours on end looking for one big fish, it’s the fisherman who takes a quart of live shrimp or a bucket of mud minnows and looks for anything that will bite. Much has been made of the big trout phenomenon and all the hoopla that s...
In many ways our freshwater counterparts have it made; no tides to worry about, no fish stealing sharks, and you couldn’t step on a sting ray if you tried. The saltwater folks on the other hand have plenty of positives as well like how many hard pulling species of fish one can encounter on a single trip, or the simple fact that you have the potential to hook a creature that may indeed be bigger than your boat. Both sides have great arguments that back up their claims to b...
The slick surface of the lake was disrupted by skipping shrimp and the familiar sound of trout crashing the helpless crustaceans. Each cast with a soft plastic was met the familiar thump of an aggressive fish that thought they were much larger than they really were. One small trout after another continued to hammer the jigs and also continued to be too small. The next logical thought for catching bigger fish was to go to a topwater plug, which usually works well under these...
Years ago there was an incredibly popular ad campaign started by the athletic shoe giant known as Nike that coined the phrase “Just Do It”. The catchy slogan has become entrenched in our pop culture mindset and in some ways represents the way people nowadays think they should act regardless of how it affects others around them. It’s no secret the population near the Texas coast is growing and the gravitational pull felt farther inland by vacation loving tourists makes the b...
“You can’t see the forest for the trees” is a well-used phrase that I’m sure each of us has not only heard but can completely relate to in some form or fashion. On more than one occasion over the past few weeks my wife and I have laughed while watching different groups of people in places like restaurants become living examples of the phrase about seeing the forest. Case in point, a family of 4 at the table and each one has an electronic device in their possession, so they ha...
