October 2018 Issue Contents

In This Issue: Mallard Matters; The Lost Art of Blood Trailing; Squirrel Hunting’s Heritage; Are We Due for Trout Trouble; Another Redfish War Coming?  

 

 

Published by Texas Fish & Game Publishing Co., LLC. TEXAS FISH & GAME is the largest independent, family-owned regional outdoor publication in America. Owned by Ron & Stephanie Ward and Roy & Ardia Neves. PUBLISHER Roy Neves […]

The Best Time of the Year OCTOBER HAS ALWAYS been our favorite month. Sure, December has Christmas and one of our birthdays (hint: Roy can never have too many t-shirts, size XL), and the spring and summer […]

You’re Bleeding All Over the Carpet RZ WORTHAM, I’ve been welding steps and a platform in order to avoid using a ladder to get up into my deer blind come this next season.  August, midday on […]

A Look at Texas’s Outback AUSTRAILIA’S OUTBACK IS ONE OF THE WILDEST and biologically diverse chunks of habitat left on the planet. It is also a place where tracts of ground exist that have felt no human […]

Law and Order in the Outdoors LATE IN JULY, THE TEXAS PARKS & WILDLIFE DEPARTMENT graduated 23 new game wardens and seven state-park police into outdoor law enforcement. Those men and women are sorely needed—as are a […]

The Lost Art of Blood Trailing MUCH HAS BEEN WRITTEN about how to get to the point of releasing an arrow into a whitetail deer. However, not much has been said about what you should do […]

A Dying Heritage That Still Lives in the Hearts of a Few FOR MANY YOUNGSTERS, it all started with deer, doves or ducks. For me, hunting began with squirrels — thick, juicy fox squirrels that were […]

The Texas Trout Fishery is in Great Shape. But What Threats Do Our Specks Face, and What is Being Done to Avoid Them? SPECKLED TROUT ARE doing great in Texas. Angler catchrates are high and the quality of the fishery is considered […]

Decades After a Hard Won Victory, Redfish Anglers Still Feel Pressure from Commercial Interests DID YOU KNOW THERE ARE FORCES wanting to make the redfish a commercially harvested species again?  To look at where the future […]

’Toon Time THERE’S NO DENYING THE POPULARITY of pontoon boats these days, but can they function as effective fishing boats in both fresh and saltwater? Do they have any redeeming qualities for hunters? Might they do […]

The Basics of Fishing Shore Cover IT IS NO SECRET that bass are cover nuts. Find some grass, brush, lily pads, lay down logs, boat docks, piers or other assorted forms of cover, and it is […]

Lowen Goes Shallow When Things are Tough ALTHOUGH HE’S EXPERIENCED A NUMBER of great days of fishing throughout the country in the early fall, nine-time Bassmaster Classic qualifier Bill Lowen makes no bones of what he […]

MALLARD OR MOTTLED? Making Sure You Don’t Pull the Trigger on the Wrong ‘Mallard’ I’VE ALWAYS HAD A SOFT SPOT in my heart for the mottled duck. But before I ever heard the name “mottled duck,” hunters talked about “black mallards.” The […]

Whoo Hoo IT’S FINALLY OCTOBER. Let the games begin. Believe me, it really is a game. It is up to you whether you win or lose. If you have done your preparations, practiced enough and have […]

Natural Point of Aim FINDING YOUR NATURAL POINT OF AIM will help you train your body to find its shooting position efficiently so you can get your gun on target quickly and consistently. Far too often […]

THE KNOWLEDGE AND SKILLS a bow hunter needs are vast. Not only must you do the right thing at the right time, but you must do several things simultaneously with ease.  With all that’s going on, […]

Public Land Enhanced for Waterfowl DUCKS UNLIMITED AND the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD) are working to improve wetland habitat on Richland Creek Wildlife Management Area in Freestone County. The first phase of the project […]

King Mackerel Port O’Connor Turkey Florida   Post your own Action Photos and Check Out the TEXAS HOT SHOTS Photo Contest    

Fish Between the Fronts IT IS ALL ABOUT TIMING when fishing Sabine in October. Although highly regarded as one of the best months of the year by many saltwater specialists, you definitely want to be here between […]

October… Fall Has Fell? THE FALL MONTHS are among the most pleasant on the upper Texas coast. This reasoning comes from the pleasant weather and enjoyable outdoor activities—and fishing is right at the top of those […]

Try Something Different FISHING WOULD NOT BE CHALLENGING if you always caught fish, but when you are not catching, change and keep changing until you are catching. Change the underwater terrain that you are swimming your lure […]

Fall Into the Back Lakes SPARKLING SUNSHINE WITH much milder conditions is what October should have in store for the coastal bend area. This month marks the beginning of the fall fishing pattern where cooler water […]

Sherpas of Fishing AS I STOOD at the starting line of my first triathlon, I looked around, most of the athletes were young not 62 years old like yours truly. They were slim and fit, built […]

Nueces Bay Produces a Trout Leader in CCA STAR ON A WINDY AFTERNOON IN JULY, Corpus Christi angler, Chris Grapentine was tucked inside some islands in Nueces Bay doing what the often does after work—fishing for speckled […]

Fall Brings Great Fishing  SUBTLE SIGNS OF FALL ARE ALL AROUND NOW, from the quacking of ducks, geese and sand hill cranes overhead, to the tilted angle of the sun tinting the landscape with more golden […]

Beat a Southern Drum MENTION SOUTH BAY and most Texas Gulf Coast anglers, and they will think of big speckled trout, burly redfish, and of course, the flamboyant and acrobatic snook. Mention South Bay to Captain […]

UPPER TEXAS COAST LOCATION: Keller Bay HOTSPOT: Mud Reef GPS: N 28 36.467, W 96 28.059 (28.6078, -96.4677) SPECIES: Redfish BEST BAITS: Pink Skitter Walk topwater bait CONTACT: Capt. Tommy Countz 281-450-4037 tcountz@sbcglobal.net www.matagordafishing.com TIPS: “Topwater […]