Hometown News For Orange County, Texas
Hometown News For Orange County, Texas
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I was walking out the gate at the end of a recent junior varsity game when a young man called out my name. He was already asking a question as he approached which was of no use since I now strain just to hear a train whistle. “I would like to ask you something,” he said in a much louder and clearer voice. “I have these two soft plastic tails that are my favorites, but the trout aren’t biting them. Are they the wrong size or wrong color or what?” I don’t know how many high school youngsters are walking around with plastic tro...
Everything regarding our current monthly storm event is still “iffy” as we are well aware of the potential consequences of a rain maker that decides to park on top of us. Even as I am writing this column, our power is blinking on and off! There is no doubt that fish adapt to the conditions Mother Nature throws their way, but they have really been challenged over the past three years. In the last two weeks the trout that had been holding on the beaches and jetties went from moving into the lake to wondering what the hell is...
The 33rd annual O.C.A.R.C. weigh-in started a little differently for me than the previous thirty-two and it wasn’t for the better. No sooner had I parked my truck than I noticed a young woman nearby crying on her cell phone with her two sweating toddlers and an irate wiener dog only making the situation worse. The young Mother had a flat on her mini- SUV with no idea what to do. After getting everyone a bottle of water, including Fritz the wiener dog, we managed to locate the instructions as well as the spare. That alone i...
“We kinda found the fish by mistake,” said Jason Bell.Ronnie Tate and I were burning up and ready to call it a day when we had to run to the back of a cut in Cow Bayou to hide from a thunderstorm headed our way. ” The lightning laced storm mercifully skirted their hiding place and they resumed fishing under a more user-friendly cloudy sky.“ A tide change probably helped us, but Jason caught two keepers right off the bat on a grape Wacky worm. When we figured out that the bass were hanging on the color change we really...
It is OCARC tournament time again!John Thomas and his special needs clients are set to host their annual fishing event August 6th and 7th. Just as in past years, the tournament will start at 5:00 p.m. on the sixth with weigh-in set for 5:00 p.m. the following afternoon. Certification for eligible winning fish will start at 3:00 p.m. You will have to excuse Thomas and his hard working group of clients if they seem a tad giddy about this year’s event. For the first time in the history of the tournament they will be working u...
The pandemic interrupted one of the longest running saltwater tournaments in the state of Texas last year, but it is "game on" again starting at 5:00 p.m on the 16th and concluding at 2:00 p.m. on the 18th. The S.A.L.T. Club will renew its annual event this weekend and it promises to be bigger and better than ever. This year's tournament not only caters to the entire family, but also features several new categories and $18,000 in cash and prizes as well. Some lucky youngster...
Every fisherman, whether he or she prefers salt or fresh water, owns a lure that is their “go to” lure. When that lure fails them, their confidence usually bottoms out and everything else in the tackle box is relegated to little more than a piece of plastic. Having guided for nearly a half century, I have techniques that I feel that way about, but no single lure. I am convinced that if you hope to catch your favorite species consistently on artificial lures, it is unwise to bank on a single technique, lure or color to get...
“Hey y’all, I’m not having fun anymore,” announced Julian Holland’s wife, Lynne. “I no longer give a hoot whether we have a fish fry at the house tonight or not.” At the time of her expressing her disdain for both Sabine lake and ever accepting her husband’s invitation to share a day on the water, we had three trout and a slot redfish in the ice box. As meager as it sounds, it was only 9:30 in the morning and we had steadily caught and released a number of smaller fish working the birds since first light. “I have never d...
Rather than totally waste an unexpected trip to Merryville earlier this week, I took a less than direct route trying to get a feel for just how much standing water has yet to make its way into Sabine lake. The short answer is LOTS! As a matter of fact, in some areas it wasn’t just standing, but moving through the woods fast enough to create eddies around the pines. We aren’t really feeling the pain right now, but even a modest storm prior to drawing down these levels could leave a lot of folks around here filling sand bag...
Prior to the recent flooding, I thought that conditions could not have been much tougher for the teams fishing the second of four tournaments in the Sabine Redfish Series last Saturday. If nothing else, the high water altered more than one game plan as only sixteen of the thirty-four teams weighed in fish.After four days of torrential rains and even higher water, it looks as though they were fortunate to get this one in. The tough conditions apparently didn’t bother the w...
Not that it is something new for the teams that show up every Tuesday afternoon to compete in the Sabine River Shootouts, but it looks as though they will have to add even more rain to the already challenging conditions this afternoon. The river is high and off-colored, Toledo Bend is running both generators 24/7 with five gates open and additional rain won’t make it any easier. High water was apparently no problem last week as it took almost twelve pounds to cash the first place check and the big bass just missed the six p...
It comes as no surprise that it coincides with the opening of the Game Reserve, but nonetheless, the flounder catching is currently getting most of the attention. The size of the fish has been above average and the numbers are there as well. It can be a little frustrating to rush straight to one of the narrow bayous leading into the Reserve only to discover that an armada set their alarm clocks a little earlier.On an outgoing tide, the mouth of the bayou can be as productive as the bayou itself, but make no mistake about...
Few, if any other, fishing organizations are as attuned to the needs and future for not only their members, but the resource as well. Having said that, it has been a stressful year for the CCA. The pandemic limited the fund raising while a parade of hurricanes and a record freeze wreaked havoc on the trout population. So much so, that even the popular statewide S.T.A.R. tournament made several changes to help advance the recovery efforts. It was like a breath of fresh air when I received an e-mail earlier this week...
Last weekend’s Bassmaster Elite tournament held out of the Orange Public Boat Ramp could best be described as a happening. Mother Nature did her part, every volunteer did their part and record crowds packed the park all four days! The competition itself was entertaining enough for most, but even those afternoon crowds were dwarfed by the number of folks that wedged in to enjoy the concerts Friday and Saturday night. One spectator that drove in from Houston probably best summed it up with, “I bet ninety percent of the peo...
The combination of some seriously low tides and a little more north wind than needed are keeping Sabine Lake clarity on the muddy side, but the trout are apparently adapting to successfully hunting down their next meal. The most encouraging aspect is that most of these fish are in the two to three pound class! The big trout are still missing in action, but improving numbers of solid fish is something to get excited about. It was a long time coming. I have only had two...
Okay….you only have 359 days left in 2021 to catch the largest bass of your life and you are burning one of them today. The game changed for bass fishermen in 1986 when limits were reduced to protect the resource and ever since that day, “catch and release” has become the accepted norm. More importatntly….it has worked even better than anticipated! While it was initially painful for anglers that had built their reputations on consistently returning to the dock with limits, goals were suddenly changed, but most of those e...
More often than not, the joy of receiving a new rod and reel for Christmas is somewhat diminished by inclement weather that is not conducive to spending even a few minutes on the water. That, however, has not been the case of late and eight-year old Joey Lane was already trying out his new rod at his Grandfather’s pond the morning after Santa left town. The only problem for Joey was that Santa failed to leave enough lures to get him through a morning of fishing.Spinner baits are not the best choice of lures for fearless y...
The Upper Coast Kayak Association hosted the final event of their One Fish Wonder Series out of The Salt Club on Pleasure Island and the winner came as no surprise to the rest of the field. Each competitor is allowed to weigh in only one redfish and once again, Blaze Roberts made his way to the scales with that coveted fish! A single redfish can actually win one of seven different prizes at each event, but the largest red eventually earns the biggest payday. An angler earns the Angler of the Year title with the heaviest...
LCM bass clubbers, Dakota Posey and Brendon Brones, teamed up to take care of business early last Saturday. Their third place finish on Sam Rayburn qualified them for the FLW National High School Championship tournament set for this summer on Lake Hartwell in South Carolina. The duo finished only one three-pound bass out of first with a 13-pound 1-ounce catch. The early qualification not only takes the pressure off the youngsters for the remainder of the upcoming season, but gives them plenty of time to gather information on...
My thoughts were somewhere between wrestling the remaining two broken 4X4 fence posts out of the ground in the back yard and purchasing tickets for Friday’s game when my slow retrieve came to an abrupt halt. The only question as I reeled down to set the hook was, “What kind of fish will this be?” When the tug of war ended I released another undersized red and replaced the badly mangled Gulp shrimp with a four inch Lil’ John.Having already caught fifteen to twenty fish on that same Lil’ John, I had switched in hopes of catchi...
Congratulations to Nellie Stephens Miller and her LCM high school bass fishing team on their performance in last weekend’s National High School championship on Kentucky Lake. While the fishing conditions could not have been more foreign to a group of southeast Texas high school fishermen, the Bears proved to be quick learners. The team of Dylan Istre and Mckee Ridgaway managed to fish their way through the massive field of 250 qualifiers from all over the country and earn the opportunity to fish championship Saturday with onl...
Larry Sellers and his wife, Loraine, were drifting a short stretch of Louisiana shoreline and was obvious that Larry was more than a little frustrated as he closed the distance between our boats on his troll motor. “It isn’t unusual for me to not catch fish, but there is no doubt that they are here and we can’t get a bite! I was a little frustrated as well as I was steadily catching trout, but the majority of them were too small to keep.“I don’t even want to know what y’all are using,” I replied, “but if you just want to ge...
If you were one of the few that stayed home and rode out Laura, you probably considered Hurricane Delta to be little more than a pre-game warm-up. That is not to say that it wasn’t a little scary at times, but the loss of power proved to be the biggest inconvenience for folks still in the process of putting things back together. Delta’s wind certainly blew hard enough to peel blue tarps off a number of roofs, but Laura had already eliminated an incredible number of trees and wooden fences all over Orange. The following mor...
Five years ago, the picture of Jay and Donnie Williams” recent catch would not have warranted a second look, but that was five years ago and things have changed! Immediately following Monday’s brief downpour, the cousins decide to at least give it a try rather than return home without even launching the boat. “It was Donnie’s idea to go ahead and fish and I am glad we did,” said Jay. “I was still tying on a topwater when we rounded the corner at Blue Buck Point and saw three different schools of reds on the surface. ”The fish...
I was not surprised by the pods of dead shad we saw floating in both Cow and Adams Bayou following Hurricane Laura, but two texts and a short video I received regarding the dead fish in the Nibletts Bluff-West Bluff area were very concerning. Several area bass fishermen said the water in the river both smelled and looked bad the week after the storm, but none of them reported seeing anymore dead fish.Something that depletes the oxygen content like flooded dead grass or leaves is most often the culprit, but there are other...
