Hometown News For Orange County, Texas
Hometown News For Orange County, Texas
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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...
In all my years on the water I would have to think hard to remember ever having this much wind for this long during the spring. It has just absolutely howled for nearly a month straight and according to the forecast it doesn’t look like it plans to let up any time soon. For obvious reasons the folks wanting to get out on Sabine Lake or Calcasieu has been pinned down to very small areas that offer the most protection. These spots tend to get crowded in a hurry which only a...
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...
Regardless of what lies ahead for the LCM team of Gavin Cooper and Justin James, this has been a year of bass tournament fishing that neither will ever forget. Simply qualifying for the Bassmaster National High School Championship early on was an indication that it could be a year to remember, but this duo was just getting started. Winning is tough enough, but it is consistency that keeps you on top and this pair of anglers proved to be the model of consistency throughout the...
MAYOR McDONALD HONORED AT LUNCH BUNCH By Dave Rodgers Justice took a lunch break in Orange Wednesday to honor the longtime leadership of retiring West Orange Mayor Roy McDonald. No fewer than eight Orange County judges, three county commissioners, one current and one past neighboring mayor and a rondo lawyer or two came to Wednesday Lunch Bunch on April 14 to honor retiring West Orange Mayor Roy McDonald. Roy Dunn, owner and publisher of The Record Newspapers, called the first...
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...
Outside of not even leaving the dock, the single biggest impediment to consistent fishing success is getting in a rush to get it done. One of our better local bass fishermen was quick to point that out earlier this week. “If I don’t get to make a single weigh-in this week,” he said, “I have already benefited from the Bassmaster Elite coming to town. Three years ago I was more concerned with where my favorite angler was fishing than how he was fishing.” The lesson learned w...
I don’t think that we are quite there, but it is evident that the spawn is at the very least in the final stages on both Rayburn and Toledo Bend. Smaller males and females can be seen running the banks in the back end of virtually every major creek and while that final rush to propagate affords the easiest bite of the year, it serves up very few trophy fish. Even if you have the patience and determination to target deeper water, you will still be hard-pressed to earn a s...
Surprise, surprise….the LCM bears dominated yet another SETX high school bass tournament on Rayburn Saturday and it resulted in well-earned paydays for several of their teams. They not only took home first and third place money, but celebrated three other Bear teams earning scholarship money as well. The feat is more impressive considering the fact that they were competing in a field of over 400 other anglers. I have suggested several times over the past year that an LCM b...
The LCM bass club has dominated the southeast Texas high school circuits this year and they were at it again last weekend. As if to say, "We just like Rayburn a little more," the club took four of the top ten spots fishing Toledo Bend. They have consistently posted impressive numbers on Rayburn and fish the majority of their tournaments on the older of the two impoundments. Last weekend they took their winning ways to T-Bend and Layne Pevey teamed up with Logan Freeman to best...
I cannot recall ever getting as many reports of personal best bass as I did this past week and most of them were caught either Saturday or Sunday.Of the reports I received, six were caught on Rayburn, eight on Toledo Bend and one in a pond just north of I-10. All of which bade the question, “How many more were caught that we don’t know about?” Jackson Lefebre got it all started with a 7.2-pound bass that he caught Saturday morning. J.J. caught his bass fishing a plastic crick...
True trophy trout, like this one Carlin Leavelle caught, pushing 10 pounds and 30 inches long are what saltwater fisherman dream about. You ever wonder what a 64 pack of Crayola crayons, 31 flavors of ice cream at Baskin Robbins, or bags of assorted candy have in common? The answer is they offer something for everyone because we all don't have the same taste. If everyone did things exactly like everyone else then life would be ridiculously boring and mundane. It's choices and...
I have seen enough pictures of dead fish over the past couple of days to last me a lifetime.We lost some fish in the immediate area, but nothing compared to the devastation along the lower coast. The majority of the fish in the pictures and videos I have seen were shad, mullet, sand trout and lady fish, but a staggering number of game fish were frozen as well. In the Sabine Lake and Galveston areas, redfish and drum took a significantly bigger hit than the trout. We will...
Thankfully, there are those occasions when not finding what you are looking for is a good thing. Partly because it was comfortably warm enough for the first time in over a week and partly because we hoped to not find what we were looking for, Johnny and I made a quick round through the north end of the lake and several bayous. What we were hoping to not find was dead fish floating against the shoreline.With the exception of a few shad and small sand trout, the mortality rate...
I knew before Jay even answered the phone that he and Laura were either freezing their behinds off in their trailer on Toledo Bend or had optedto ride the record freeze out with their son in Leesville. That question was answered when he announced, “It is cold in Hornbeck,” without even saying hello. Their waterfront trailer actually sits on a huge piece of land on the Louisiana side of the lake, but he enjoys claiming Hornbeck as his adopted home town. Hornbeck makes Deweyvill...
You ever wonder what a 64 pack of Crayola crayons, 31 flavors of ice cream at Baskin Robbins, or bags of assorted candy have in common? The answer is they offer something for everyone because we all don’t have the same taste. If everyone did things exactly like everyone else then life would be ridiculously boring and mundane. It’s choices and options that give each individual the opportunity to succeed and sometimes those options and choices are a little different than wha...
BEARS DOMINATE ON RAYBURN The LCM bass club took advantage of the ideal conditions last weekend and again dominated the top ten in the second of five SETX High School events. While Toledo Bend continues to garner most of the attention lately, you will have to excuse the bears for being in no hurry to leave Rayburn! The team of Cameron Dougharty and Braxton Rambo bested the field with a winning five fish stringer that weighed 18.33-pounds. Dougharty's thick-shouldered...
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...
The early morning call from Jay was a little unexpected as I had not heard from him in over a year. “News travels slowly up here, but Lisa just told us about your Mom. Our neighbor recently died from Covid-19 so I guess there isn’t any place to hide from it.” His condolences were appreciated as was his invitation. “I caught my first double digit fish of the year last Thursday and I think you ought to take a little break and come fish with me next week.” I do not consider it to...
THE WAY I SEE IT Well, its come down to inauguration day, January 20, 2021. It really seemed like it was a long time getting here. Joseph R. Biden, Jr. becomes the 46th President of the United States. Making history is Kamala Harris, the first Black, South Asian and female to serve as Vice President. She is the 49th V.P. Today is a great day for America. I relate it to the days when Franklin D. Roosevelt took over as president from a failed president Hubert Hoover. President B...
Billie Jean Whitaker Colburn, 93, of Orange, passed away peacefully on January 17, 2021. Due to COVID restrictions, a private family celebration of life will be held at First Presbyterian Church in Orange. Public viewing of the service will be available Monday, January 25, 2021, at 2:00 p.m. online through Claybar Funeral Home's Facebook page or at www.firstpresorange.com Billie Jean Whitaker, the daughter of Paul and Pauline Simmons Whitaker, was born July 3, 1927, in...
“I think we can get the boat in the water, but I don’t know if we can get it out,” said Cade Sensat as he and his fishing partner, Gail Livingston, took one more look before trying to launch their boat Monday evening. I have known Cade for a long time so it came as no surprise that they weren’t at all concerned with the miserable conditions. He stays mad at the fish whether it be bass or speckled trout. “We were going to run up to Rayburn,” said Sensat, “but Gail couldn’t...
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...
