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LETTERS TO THE EDITOR – April

Animal ID and Fish Question

My name is Robert Lyons and I live just outside of Beaumont. I’m 47 years old and have been reading and enjoying your writings for many years.

I had a couple of questions for you if you have a minute

1. I’ve spent a lot of time on Pine Island Bayou near Hwy. 105 for the last 20 years or so. I’ve seen a few beavers and lots of trees that beavers have cut, but never an otter. The attached picture is about 50 yards from the bayou. It looks like an otter to me, but some other people are saying it’s a beaver. What do you think?

2. I’ve fished the Sabine Lake/Jetty area off and on my entire life. I caught a fish this summer that I’ve never seen before. It’s been a while, so I don’t remember the exact details, but I’ll do my best. It was caught around lighthouse cove. I believe it was on a free-lined live shrimp, but it could have possibly been on dead shrimp on the bottom. It was around 10-12 inches long and a brownish color. Its body was a little similar to a croaker, but it was much thinner around the mid body. It had sharp pointy teeth, but not very many of them. I know this description isn’t very good, but I was wondering if you had any idea what it might be?

Thank you very much,

Robert Lyons

Editor: Thank you so much for the great photo and the interesting question. The photo is definitely an otter. No question about that.

Otters are generally shy animals and capturing one on a game camera is quite an accomplishment.

I am not 100 percent on the fish, but it sounds like a sand trout which is brown and has big Dracula-looking teeth. It also could have been a small mangrove snapper, a species showing up more frequently on the Upper Coast.

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Bobcat Truth

Hey Chester, great article about the livelihood of bobcats, and I couldn’t agree with you more. I hunt in Alice, and we see bobcats quite often in the area. One time in particular, it was 2014 in mid-December as I was deer hunting near a small pond that had a high levee encompassing it.

This bobcat photo graced the cover of our February 2013 issue. (photo by Chester Moore)

At the time it was holding water and was having some decent whitetail action the past couple days, so I had my eyes scouting the area frequently. It was getting later in the afternoon when I noticed some low stealth movement in the brush. Five minutes later, I couldn’t believe my eyes, out of the south Texas mesquite thicket strolls 3 bobcats graciously walking together. Surprisingly enough they all three made their way to the pond to get a drink of water. After doing so, they roamed around in the area for 10 minutes or so and made their way back into the thicket. It was one of those hunting moments that you will never forget, it was truly an amazing sight to witness.

Best Regards,

Robert Brown

Editor: Thanks for the great story. The bobcat has become one of my favorite animals due to their agility, beauty and ability to survive and thrive in the shadow of man. I know you will always cherish that memory.

Email your comments to: editor@fishgame.com

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