Hometown News For Orange County, Texas
Hometown News For Orange County, Texas
Sorted by date Results 907 - 931 of 4238
As I ease the truck forward out of the launch I can already see the blur of motion in the rear view mirror, a cat squirrel with Costa Del Mar sunglasses disguised as a fisherman has begun to clean and straighten up what little mess that has been made in the 5 whole minutes he has been on board. I patiently wait at the dock until the deck of his ultra cool Hell's Bay Waterman is exactly as he likes it and ready for my arrival. My partner for the day and the one responsible for...
“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’s a familiar scene that is played out all along the gulf coast from Texas to Florida, anglers armed with light tackle weapons probe the shallow shorelines for the bullies of the marsh. The whole encounter is a sensory overload from the get go, it is always visually stimulating to see cruising redfish roam the banks and wreak havoc like only they can. Your ears are often treated to the sounds of vicious strikes as these heavyweights flex their muscles on mullet or crabs w...
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...
Last week’s All-Star Game, which was won by the American League 5-2 without any help from the four missing Houston Astros players, created a lull in the regular season for most major league players. But the baseball writers corralled MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred and grilled him on future plans or changes he anticipates trying to help speed up the games and produce more offense than during the first half of the 2021 season. Manfred’s major gripe is the defensive shifts tha...
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...
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...
Last month the big news about last night's All-Star Game was that the Houston Astros had seven players nominated, which led the major league teams. After the ballots were compiled a couple of weeks ago, four Astros players were selected for the American League All-Star roster-the entire Astros' infield with Alex Bregman at third, Jose Altuve at second, Yuli Gurriel at first and Carlos Correa at shortstop. Then the players voted for the game's eight starting position players...
Bipartisan Wildlife Proposal Would Enhance Fish and Wildlife, Add Jobs, and Grow Businesses in Texas AUSTIN- During the pandemic, Texans headed back to nature in record numbers, with more people visiting state parks, hunting, fishing, and boating than ever before. A new congressional proposal aims to tap that exploding interest by investing more than $50 million per year in Texas for wildlife recovery and related public education and recreation, a move expected to boost the st...
Easily one of the most alluring features of Sabine Lake area is the fact that you can catch so many different species of fish in a relatively small area. The brackish water holds both fresh and saltwater fish in good numbers as well as quality. It’s never uncommon to see a stringer of fish include flounder, redfish, speckled trout, and an occasional really nice largemouth bass. If you play your cards right you may even throw in a striped bass just for good measure. The p...
When all nine justices of the U.S. Supreme Court acted unanimously last week to decide that the NCAA's $5,000 limit on the education-related benefits that athletes can receive violates federal anti-trust laws, it opened a clear new path for collegiate athletes to receive compensation for their name, image and likeness (NIL) while playing their sport for their college or university. "This led to the NCAA Board of Directors approving one of the biggest changes in the history of...
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...
One of the biggest and most intriguing factors that keep fishermen coming back day after day is the process of discovery, figuring out the puzzle so to speak. The task of sifting through all the variables and making sense out of all the factors in order to establish a pattern is what drives many anglers. Unknowingly we all go through the same process every time we fish but without the fanfare. Most of us don’t realize we are even doing it, establishing a pattern, but just a...
Here it is the final day of June, which over the past few decades has been a month when our Houston Astros have had problems winning baseball games. That wasn’t Houston’s problem this season—at least for the first three-and-one-half weeks—until they traveled to play the lowly and rebuilding Tigers at Detroit last weekend. In a reversal of most seasons, the 2021 Astros have had a huge winning record against opponents who were in the top echelon of their respective divisio...
Tony Viator and Jeremy Reeves squeezed the most out of a very tough fishing day and won everything there was to win in last weekend's third qualifying event in the Sabine Redfish Series. The east Texas Safe Floor team won first place money with a 20.96-lb. stringer, the big fish side pot with a 9.26-lb. red and the most spots side pot with nine. The fact that only ten of the twenty-one teams managed to weigh in fish was a testament to the difficulty of the day. All of these...
In yet another blow to the gun control advocates the state of Texas officially passed the “Constitutional Carry” law this past week and it will go into effect on September 1st. House Bill 1927, aka Constitutional Carry, will allow Texas residents to carry handguns without getting a license as long as they meet certain requirements. Not just any Texan can carry around a handgun without a license. The constitutional carry bill directly states that “persons who are curre...
“Black Monday” two days ago began a new era for many major league pitchers when the new rule on the “use of sticky substances” was enacted by Major League Baseball whereby the umpires may begin to check pitchers for using foreign substances on the baseball they throw in a game. The umps can call for the game ball regardless of whether they suspect a violation. Pitchers found with foreign substances are subject to immediate ejection and a 10-day suspension. Teams with the gui...
“Have you got a second,” asked the approaching gentleman that appeared to be nearly as old as me.“My name is Harold Steele. I know you don’t remember me, but I want to return something you gave me a long time ago.” “My grandson was digging through my old tackle boxes and he found a lure that you gave me while fishing on Toledo Bend in the early seventies. I told him he could have everything else, but I was going to give you the lure back after all of these years. I knew I woul...
AUSTIN – Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD) has issued an “emergency order” to impose additional movement and testing restrictions on deer breeding facilities that are affiliated with six deer breeding facilities where Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) has been positively detected. Existing rules already restrict the movement of deer from 264 sites in 95 counties that are directly linked to these CWD-positive facilities, but further measures are necessary given the gravi...
“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 wo...
The following items are compiled from recent Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD) law enforcement reports. He’s a Rescue Texas Game Wardens and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Agents inspected some antique resale stores. These locations had alligator skulls, black bear mounts, waterfowl mounts, raptor mounts and migratory bird mounts for sale. During the inspection of one store, an individual entered with a pet possum. In order to possess, sell, or purchase a fur-bearer, a person must have a valid Fur-bearing Propagation P...
A great performer is one who can step on any sized stage and have a successful show (or game in this instance). Orange native Chad Dallas has had that kind of success throughout his young career as a baseball player. He began to be noticed while a member of the West Orange-Stark Mustangs baseball program where he was a catcher as well as a good pitcher. Chad would often catch his older brother Jack when he was on the mound for the Mustangs. Jack graduated and earned a...
Very seldom, if ever, will you run into anyone who doesn’t like it when everything happens just right. Fishermen especially love it when they plan for a day on the water and everything from the weather to the fish ends up working in their favor. On occasion those types of trips happen and they help to erase the memory of the bad ones from the past. For many of the folks who fish with me the hope of catching just the right day is a high priority, especially the ones that t...
“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...
