Hometown News For Orange County, Texas
Hometown News For Orange County, Texas
Sorted by date Results 158 - 182 of 271
Capt. Dickie Colburn For The Record The Triangle Tailchasers hosted their year-end championship event this past Saturday and had it been a horse race rather than a fishing tournament, the winning ticket would not have earned you much at the windows.The “odds-on” favorites once again showed why they were the “odds-on” favorites. In spite of the fact that there are some very skilled teams that participate in this local redfish circuit throughout the year, the Vaughans have been all but unbeatable from start to finish. Michael a...
Dickie Colburn - For The Record While it made life outdoors slightly more tolerable, the stiff wind that churned up white caps across Sabine Lake Saturday afternoon made the catching a little tougher for the field of 260 plus local anglers.The wind was not, however, a factor for the anglers that started Friday evening nor was it that bad Saturday morning. OCARC Director, John Thomas, was obviously pleased with exceeding the 260 entry number for the 29^th annual tournament.“Our business sponsors as well as the fishing c...
People of all ages take part in the annual OCARC fishing tournament each year. The family oriented event is the oldest local tournament in Orange with hundreds of people participating. File Photo Capt. Dickie Colburn - For The Record Having run much farther up Black’s Bayou than I intended to in an attempt to elude a quick moving thunderstorm, I nosed the bow of the boat into the mouth of a small cut to wait it out.I managed to stay dry, but a southwest wind continued to b...
Capt. Dickie Colburn - For The Record Due to the low salinity level in Sabine Lake and a howling south wind that seems to blow every day just because, this reminder is probably more pertinent for area bass fishermen than saltwater enthusiasts.Your non-resident Louisiana fishing license expired June 30^th ! It is easy to overlook with the July Fourth weekend and vacations, but the Game Wardens don’t forget.It has been my experience that they are somewhat lenient for the first two weeks of July, but I wouldn’t push my luc...
Capt. Dickie Colburn - For The Record After consuming way too much barbeque and homemade peach ice cream, Mason Sawyer decided to climb in his bass boat and watch the fireworks from the open lake.“I couldn’t talk the kids or grandkids into joining me,” said Sawyer.“I think they enjoy the adrenalin rush of lighting the fuse and running for cover as much as the explosions and you can’t do that in a boat.” Once the fireworks show in front of his own camp had subsided, he decided to fish his way back in and that is when his ow...
THANK GOD FOR OUR INDEPENDENCE Lower gas prices, strong consumer confidence and a strong economy will lead to more families hitting the road this Fourth of July weekend. A record 41.3 million Americans will be traveling. This tops the previous record set in 2007. This summer, for the same reasons, all time vacation travel records are expected to be broken. The number of travelers is expected to be 10.7 percent higher than the average number during the last 15 years. AAA estimates that United States drivers have saved $20...
Gene and Micah teamed up on this nice redfish! Capt. Dickie Colburn - For The Record “I was already pretty good, but I am really good now,” announced the youngster as he launched his quarter ounce jig well out into deeper water.As far as I was concerned, the first part of that statement was right on the money while the second part could best be termed an overly exuberant fabrication. The truth in its entirety was that thirty minutes prior to that very proficient cast, eig...
Capt. Dickie Colburn - For The Record While the bass fishermen would very much like to see the lake level a little lower on Toledo Bend, Sabine Lake anglers are benefiting from the lighter discharge of water out of the massive impoundment.The water continues to clear up not only in the lake, but in the bayous and river as well and more folks are now enjoying more consistent catches. Depending on where you are at the moment, daily local rains have had little effect on clarity or salinity.If you are in the wrong place at the wr...
Capt. Dickie Colburn - For The Record I was mired in my own world and strolling aimlessly through the fishing department of the Beaumont Academy store last Monday when I snapped to the fact that I was being followed by a young teen-ager. When I glanced at him he would widen the gap, but he was never far behind. Finally, before he could hastily retreat once again, I asked him if he was looking for a particular lure or just killing time while his Mom shopped. “I don’t know how you knew my Mom was shopping with my sis...
DEADLIEST MASS SHOOTING IN UNITED STATES HISTORY A 29-year-old American will go down in history for committing the worst mass shooting in U.S. history. Omar Mateen was born in New York where he attended public schools. The shooting that killed 49 people and injured 58 others took place in the wee hours of Sunday morning, June 12, in an Orlando, Florida gay night club. The act of terrorism was also a hate crime. Mateen used an assault rifle to shoot over 100 people, some as man...
Capt. Dickie Colburn - For The Record “Lots” is not a very definitive word when it comes to speculating as to how many bass fishermen filled every cove and creek on Toledo Bend last weekend in search of a big pay day, but I can assure you it was a “lot”! There was no doubt that it was going to take a double digit bass to win the Sealy Big bass Splash event, but even the most seasoned T-Bend anglers were shocked by the numbers of quality bass brought to the scales over the thr...
Dickie Colburn - For The Record “This Swim Bait is tough to fish through this slimy moss,” barked Marvin Denmer as he hurried his slime covered lure back across the surface.“I know this goo is in patches, but if you don’t hit an open spot, ninety percent of your cast is wasted.” His analysis was on the money, but our better redfish and flounder were holding in the small pockets in the slime and, while it was a lot more work, we were catching some pretty solid fish. Needing only two more flounder to fill their limits, I...
Capt. Dickie Colburn For The Record Surrounded by lightning and miserably engulfed by a driving rain, Redfish Elite officials and the seven finalists patiently sought cover while hoping to out wait the storm and get Day 3 of the tournament under way.To avoid having to cross the open lake, the anglers had trailered around the lake to a more protected launch in the back of Johnson’s Bayou. If anything, the conditions the prior day had proven even more precarious as a full field of anglers found themselves struggling to s...
Captain Dickie Colburn - For The Record The pro anglers fishing the first qualifying tournament of the year on the Elite Redfish Circuit are back on Sabine. The Pt. Arthur Convention Center will host this event, but the anglers will be plying the same waters they fished in the Classic hosted out of Orange only two weeks ago. The tournament kicks off Friday morning. Even with the benefit of having fished the area so recently, I don’t see the winner posting a heavier winning weight than Clark Jordan brought to the scales.I d...
FLOOD WATERS AND LOOPS The rains came Monday morning. Several places got more than we did but I saw water on roads, in yards and everywhere. In several places the water was too deep to drive through. I saw way more water coming out of the river banks after Monday’s rain than I did during the ten day mandatory evacuation. I still can’t get over how silly that was. A big waste of money. Over the last four weeks, it’s been a guessing game where and when commissioners court would meet. They met in Vidor, met on Wednesday, didn...
Flounder stealing the show on Sabine. Capt. Dickie Colburn - For The Record “I can’t believe that I let you talk me into this,” mumbled Jim Ray while climbing into the boat with a sack of soggy kolaches, his signature lukewarm diet Dr.Pepper and a pair of really smelly Frogg Toggs.“We darned sure couldn’t have white perch fished at my place today……it was already pouring when I crossed the dam.” “Did you bring that rain suit I gave you just to prove that you haven’t lost it o...
RIDE ‘UM COWBOY IT’S RODEO TIME The annual Orange County Sheriff’s Posse Rodeo will be held this Friday and Saturday at the arena on Highway 105. We hear there will be plenty of brave cowboys coming from different parts of the country to try their luck at riding. The stock will be as good as we’ve seen in years. A couple of those mean ol’ bulls ain’t never been rode, but there is always some cowboy out there who doesn’t believe that any bull is too bad to ride. It should be a lot of fun. Bring the kids for special activ...
Captain Dickie Colburn - For The Record While I prefer to believe that no one needs this reminder, there are still a lot of folks in Orange and Newton County that need help getting back into their homes following the flood.It is far from over for them! At least one trio of working women, all of whom assured me that they would have to kill me if I mentioned their names, have been using their noon breaks to unexpectedly provide lunch for random families burdened with the chore of cleaning up. “It makes you feel so good as they...
Captain Dickie Colburn - For The Record It wasn’t until we unpacked the computer that I realized that I had failed to send in my column last week.It got packed up and moved to higher ground along with other items that my wife deemed irreplaceable when the emergency center declared a mandatory evacuation for our area. When I hooked it back up, the amount of unread emails was endless. Many of them were from folks asking why my column wasn’t in the paper, but the majority of the...
“Howdy Tex” was a common greeting from other anglers as Bink Grimes and I strode down the sidewalk towards our waiting boat. “I wonder how they know we’re from Texas” I thought to myself, then I looked down at my rods and it hit me as gazed at the fist full of baitcasters. We were in Florida and baitcasters are a dead giveaway that you are from the Lone Star State, down in the Sunshine State spinning tackle rules the angling world. Now before you go get in a fired up huff and quit reading this article because you think it...
Capt. Dickie Colburn - For The Record High school bass fishing may well be the fastest growing team sport in southeast Texas and I have been amazed at the winning weights posted in several of these tournaments.The fact that they have very little time to pre-fish due to minor obligations like going to class and in many cases, even participating in other sports, makes those numbers even more impressive. My only concern thus far with the rapid growth of the sport is the equally rapid growing number of youngsters that cannot...
Local Fishing with Capt. Dickie Colburn Dickie Colburn - For The Record The talk in local tackle shops and fishing department aisles is more about bass fishing on the river than anything going on in Sabine Lake and for good reason. Backwater areas off the river and bayous continue to clear up and not only are local bass fishermen catching better numbers, but larger bass as well. After returning from a tough morning of looking for trout in the lake last week, I ran up the river just to check out the water clarity.I ran only as...
Capt. Dickie Colburn - For The Record If you take folks fishing long enough you will witness any number of things that you would never even imagine happening and something that took place last week ranks well up on that list! I was fishing a middle aged couple, as if age made any difference, and we were catching well enough considering the conditions.The wind was howling out of the southwest and we were catching a redfish or two on virtually every high speed drift across the...
Staying warm equals more catching! Captain Dickie Colburn - For The Record After carefully shuffling their way across the frost covered dock, my clients hunkered down behind the leaning post in an effort to avoid the dreaded chill of the upcoming frigid boat ride.When I eased under the Adams Bayou Bridge the surface temperature in the bayou was a balmy fifty-one degrees, but we were about to deal with the chill factor of a 15 mile per hour northwest wind in 35 degree weather!...
The Wilkes had their way with the redfish last week. Dickie Colburn - For The Record When I saw Jim Morrissey’s number pop up on my phone I initially thought that he had yet another stat to report concerning last weekend’s Tailchaser Open Trout Tournament. If it weren’t for Jim, the results of virtually every redfish or trout tournament held on Sabine would never get shared with anyone that wasn’t on hand for the weigh-in. He does a fantastic job of not only updating live weig...
