September gets it all started

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 first opportunities to get back into the sport they love, the whole episode is like “big kid therapy”. 

Along the coast we look forward to the arrival of the bluewing teal because they will be the first ducks to visit our area on the annual migration south. This year, the Texas Parks and Wildlife Commission approved a proposal to set the teal season to run Sept. 14-29 after the bluewing population reached the 16-day threshold. Federal waterfowl hunting guidelines allow Texas a 16-day teal-only season when the bluewing population index exceeds 4.7 million birds. If the bluewing population is 3.3 million to 4.6 million, current federal guidelines allow Texas a nine-day teal season. It has already been reported that Texas will indeed have a 9 day early teal season in 2025 but we will have to wait and see if that actually happens. The next full moon will usher in big waves of teal into our area and that trend will continue for the next couple of weeks. We just had the full moon in August and we have seen some great numbers of birds, especially this early. The next full moon in September, which happens to be on the 17th, will bring the really big groups of teal to our area and that falls out perfectly with the opening day being on the 14th. 

Conditions along the Central flyway could not be better for this time of the year as constant rains have made everything to the north of us green and fertile unlike last year. Locally our marshes are in tremendous shape as the big flush of freshwater has certainly sweetened up our marshes and promoted plenty of growth. On a recent pass through some local marshes I noticed several areas that had begun to grow a couple of different types of grass that had not been in there in a couple of years. The rich fresh water has been a blessing all the way around for everyone except the fishermen in Sabine Lake but that will hopefully change as we get closer to the fall where things in the lake should begin to get back to normal.

Speaking of normal it was nice to see a few birds working in Sabine lake over the weekend. For a few weeks now the best bite in town has been south of the Causeway as the north end of the lake has been quiet. Due to some windier than forecasted conditions I was forced to stay away from the Gulf and spent a day trying to figure out a pattern in the lake. I ran into a few sets of gulls working over mostly ladyfish but we did manage a few nice redfish along with a couple of trout which was a welcome sight. The conditions in the lake are better than what most folks think and there is good salinity as well. I happened up on a few sharks along the Louisiana shoreline and some really big Jack Crevalle patrolling the same water so it's plenty salty enough for the usual suspects such as speckled trout and redfish. Hopefully the first batch of north winds usher the shrimp into the open lake and kick start the fall patterns that we all enjoy so much. After seeing what was swimming around I will definitely need top make a few more trips closer to home because it may break wide open any day now.

I know that first front seems like a long way off so I guess we will have to pass the time by shooting a few doves as the season opens for the North and Central zones on September 1st. Several hunters I have spoken with recently have been reporting large numbers of doves in our area which always seems to be the case before opening weekend. Historically we get a huge rain or some goofy storm come through and blows all the birds out, hopefully that’s not the case this year and we get to take advantage of a better than average population of birds locally.

The coming weeks are full of promise and the seasons will overlap causing sportsmen to make a choice to either hunt or fish, either one will certainly be a winner.