Teal season set to close as fishing continues to get better

We have all heard the saying “time flies when you are having fun” but there aren’t many times you can actually watch it happen. The 16 day early teal season will come to a screeching halt on September 29th just about the time the biggest migration is forecast to enter our part of the flyway. By all accounts most hunters saw a healthy influx of new birds beginning this past Saturday and the numbers have continued to build in many areas. To our east, across the state line into southwest Louisiana, the reports have been solid for the last several days as hunters in both the marshes and the rice fields have enjoyed some excellent hunts. The biggest surprise this week is the numbers of green winged teal that have shown up along side all the blue wings. Typically this means another part of the migration has begun and that should only bolster the numbers of birds coming into our part of the state.

More often than not the first wave of teal during the migration are mature adult males. After that the juveniles and mature females begin to show up. Based on harvest information it looks as if we are seeing a big influx of the younger birds right now and that has really helped out on the decoying action. On a couple of my own personal hunts recently it was very evident how the population had seemed to change with more younger birds showing up along with good numbers of green wings as well. There has also been an increasing number of big ducks such as shovelers and gadwalls visiting the decoy spreads and that is a welcome sight as well. With the early teal season providing a brief taste of what’s ahead you can bet area waterfowlers will be anxiously waiting on that opening weekend in November for the regular season get kicked off.

Now if you haven’t been in the field to take advantage of some the early hunting opportunities hopefully you have been on the water where the bite in Sabine lake has gradually gotten better. Speckled trout have gotten a bit more consistent towards the mid lake area and that bite keeps inching farther north each day we go without rain. A legitimate north wind helping to dump some water would do wonders for the overall bite right now as plenty of white shrimp are still residing in the marshes. That first decent push of north wind should kick start the fall fishing that so many folks look forward to.

One other program that has been picking up some momentum as well has been the flounder bite. We are still a little early from the big migration but there are some good numbers of fish being caught right now and that’s only going to get better. As we close in on the full moon in October look for the numbers and size of flounder being caught to increase rapidly before the season closes on November 1st and reopens on December 14th.

There are still folks taking advantage of a steady bite along the jetties and beachfront where some really nice quality speckled trout, triple tail, and even tarpon have been hanging out all summer. The offshore folks took advantage of some fabulous conditions this past week and boated some impressive snapper and plenty of king fish as well. As long as that light wind forecast holds up you can bank on a steady stream of boats heading for the blue water because it’ll be gone as quick as it got here and won’t be back for a while.

On an unrelated note I read last weeks paper with both amazement and disappointment as the “Kamala Harris love fest” continued in full display while there was no mention of a second assassination attempt on former president Trump. The media blitz to legitimize Kamala Harris as a real candidate while painting Donald Trump as an evil “super villain” is beyond comical and borders on frightening. Let this sink in a minute, just this week the IRS endorsed the Harris-Walz ticket, yes the same Internal Revenue Service who stand to gain 87,000 new agents if a certain party gets voted into office. Remember two things, first is the same people who told the world for over 3 years that Joe Biden was “sharp” and “competent” are the same ones telling you Kamala Harris will be a good president. Also remember “the same ones who sell the panic sell the cure”. Educate yourself and then go vote.