Texas Fish & Game Magazine

CURRENT ISSUE

July/August 2025

In This Issue

Night Fishing Basics: from the Fish & Game Saltwater Playbook • So… You’ve Lost Your Hunting Lease… Now What? • Successes and Failures in Wildlife Stocking • Fish/Tech: Smart Gadgets for Anglers • Doggett’s Serpentine Life, Part 2 • TF&G Profile: Serious Saltwater Fun with Kelly Groce … plus Columns, Outdoor News, Saltwater Focus Reports, Tides & Prime Times, and more…

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ISSUE COVER – July August 2025

INSIDE THIS ISSUE: Night Fishing Basics: from the Fish & Game Saltwater Playbook • So... You've Lost Your Hunting Lease... Now What? • Successes and Failures in Wildlife Stocking • Fish/Tech: Smart Gadgets for Anglers • Doggett's Serpentine Life, Part ...

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INSIDE FISH & GAME by Roy and Ardia Neves

THE AMERICAN SPORTFISHING ASSOCIATION (ASA) has taken a leadership role in addressing the threats posed by the chaos and uncertainty of the on-then-off-then-on-again tariffs initiated by the current federal executive branch. It is also speaking up in defense of sportfishing as ...

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Striking a Chord on Cormorants “Who Put Cormorants in Charge of Our Fisheries?” DOUG, THANKS FOR THE article. (“Who Put Cormorants in Charge of Our Fisheries,” Pike on the Edge Column by Doug Pike, March/April 2025) When will TPWD ...

EDITOR’S NOTES by Chester Moore

‘HE MAKES MY FEET like those of a deer and enables me to climb on mountain heights.” Those words echoed through my head as I watched my daughter Faith take photos of a beautiful Rocky Mountain goat at 14,000 feet in ...

PIKE ON THE EDGE by Doug Pike

REGISTERED BOATS are required to carry specific safety gear that’s designed to save lives, but none of that gear matters if the boat’s going so fast that everyone in it is ejected in a collision. In a two-week span earlier this ...

FEATURE ARTICLE: The Basics of Night Fishing

THERE'S SOMETHING ABOUT the Texas coast after dark that feels like a different world. But for seasoned anglers, nightfall doesn’t signal the end of a fishing trip but the beginning. Night fishing on the Texas coast can be as productive ...

FEATURE ARTICLE: Stocking Up

WHEN IT COMES TO STOCKING animals, Texas doesn’t just think big. It thinks bold, wild, and sometimes just a little bit weird. From restoring Eastern wild turkeys in the Pineywoods to attempting to raise Nile perch in power plant lakes, ...

FEATURE ARTICLE: Lost Your Lease?

LOSING YOUR DEER LEASE can feel like getting gut kicked. For many hunters, that annual lease isn’t just access to land but is a tradition, a refuge, and a connection to friends, family, and nature. But whether it’s due to rising ...

BARE BONES HUNTING by Lou Marullo

HERE WE GO AGAIN. Trying to get all those honey-do chores done before the whitetail season begins! It seems that as I get older, that honey-do list is getting larger. Or maybe I am just getting slower at getting things done. ...

FEATURE ARTICLE: Fish/Tech

LIKE IT OR NOT, technology is here to stay. Advancements continue to surface in the tools we use in virtually every aspect of life ranging from cutting the grass, to preparing meals, communicating and even vacuuming the floors of our homes. ...

TEXAS BOATING by Lenny Rudow

HERE WE ARE a quarter of the way through the 21st century—wow, time really does fly. Remember Y2K, hanging chads, and America Online? It seems like eons ago, but one thing that’s progressed as rapidly as any is the tech found ...

FEATURE STORY: Charmed by Snakes, Part 2

DURING THE DECADE of the ‘60s, between years at Lamar High School and the University of Houston, my snake collecting was pushed aside in favor of fishing, hunting, falconry and, increasingly, surfing. Following higher education, in 1969 I had a ...

FEATURE ARTICLE: Gone Coastal

KELLY GROCE IS A TEXAS-BASED outdoor writer, photographer, and angler who brings the Gulf Coast to life through her vivid storytelling and firsthand fishing adventures. As the author of our “Going Coastal” column she takes a deep and fun look at ...

SPECIAL SECTION: Getting Ready for the Fall

THE SUMMER HEAT is brutal across the Lone Star State. But make no mistake, fall is on the way. And for Texas outdoorsmen, that means it’s go time. Whether you’re gearing up for the thrill of opening day dove hunts, ...

THE FISH & GAME REPORT July/August 2025

East Texas Gets New 6,900 Acre WMA LISTEN: (5 min, 33 sec) FOR THE FIRST TIME IN almost two decades, the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD) has added a new Wildlife Management Area (WMA) to its East ...

UPPER COAST FOCUS—Sabine Lake & Pass

IF YOU'D LIKE TO EXPERIENCE the best of everything our beautiful bay system has to offer, all you have to do is load up and make a trip down here to Sabine during the super hot months. Despite the triple-digit heat ...

UPPER COAST FOCUS—Galveston

I AM HOPING THIS SUMMER, as we head into the middle of our hottest months, we are spared the extreme heat we have become accustomed to, but more than likely hot and steamy days lie ahead for us all, but that ...

UPPER COAST FOCUS—Matagorda

IT IS THE MIDDLE OF THE summer grind. Daily near triple digit temperatures have worn out their welcome. I am looking forward to some fall weather. It’s been a hot dry one. We have been leaving early and returning to the ...

MIDDLE COAST FOCUS—Port O’Connor

THERE'S SOMETHING TIMELESS about a Texas summer morning on the water—the orange glow of dawn creeping over the bay, mullet flipping in the shallows, and the distant splash of a speckled trout breaking the surface. For anglers across the Lone Star ...

MIDDLE COAST FOCUS—Upper Laguna Madre

DAWN BREAKS SLOWLY over the Laguna Madre, the sky brushed in pale pink and orange before the sun could turn mean. In South Texas summer, the window is short—by midday, the heat presses down like iron. I say it’s like a ...

MIDDLE COAST FOCUS—Rockport

IT'S SUMMERTIME and we all know our favorite summer spots. Wading is cool and easy with nice hard sand with mixed grass. Knee high water is holding big trout just waiting on the right lure to wiggle by...

LOWER COST FOCUS—Baffin Bay

SUMMER IS IN FULL SWING in our part of the world, and although the heat can get to us, we are enjoying it. Now that July and August are here and the weather and water are both heating up, this is ...

LOWER COST FOCUS—Lower Laguna Madre

ONCE JULY COMES AROUND, I’ll be spending 90% of my time chasing big fish, really big fish. Time will be spent fishing deep water such as deep channels, nearshore wrecks, offshore structure, and the local surrounding inlets...

FORECAST CENTER: Saltwater Hotspots – Upper Coast -July/August 2025

SALTWATER FISHING HOTSPOTS with GPS coordinates, interactive thumbnail maps, best baits and techniques... plus insights from top pro anglers on the Texas Coast.

FORECAST CENTER: Saltwater Hotspots – Middle Coast -July/August 2025

SALTWATER FISHING HOTSPOTS with GPS coordinates, interactive thumbnail maps, best baits and techniques... plus insights from top pro anglers on the Texas Coast.

FORECAST CENTER: Saltwater Hotspots – Lower Coast -July/August 2025

SALTWATER FISHING HOTSPOTS with GPS coordinates, interactive thumbnail maps, best baits and techniques... plus insights from top pro anglers on the Texas Coast.

FORECAST CENTER: Freshwater Hotspots – East – July/August 2025

FRESHWATER FISHING HOTSPOTS with GPS coordinates, interactive thumbnail maps, best baits and techniques... plus current water levels for all major reservoirs.

FORECAST CENTER: Freshwater Hotspots – Central – July/August 2025

FRESHWATER FISHING HOTSPOTS with GPS coordinates, interactive thumbnail maps, best baits and techniques... plus current water levels for all major reservoirs.

FORECAST CENTER: Freshwater Hotspots – West – July/August 2025

FRESHWATER FISHING HOTSPOTS with GPS coordinates, interactive thumbnail maps, best baits and techniques... plus current water levels for all major reservoirs.

SPORTSMAN’S DAYBOOK-Tides & Prime Times – July 2025

The following tables contain TIDE and SOLUNAR predictions for Galveston Channel.

SPORTSMAN’S DAYBOOK-Tides & Prime Times – August 2025

The following tables contain TIDE and SOLUNAR predictions for Galveston Channel.

OPEN SEASON by Reavis Z. Wortham

Survival Skills LISTEN: (6 min, 31 sec) THE GRANDCRITTERS GATHERED around the cabin’s firepit on an evening so hot the added temperature of a campfire would blow the top out of a thermometer. I wiped sweat out of my eyes. ...

Fish & Game Photos

LARGEMOUTH BASS • Sam Rayburn | Six-year-old Brooks Warhola fished the SWLA Junior Anglers Tournament and, as the youngest angler in the tournament beat out a field of 42 other kids ranging in age from 12-17 with first place overall ...

FORECAST CENTER: Saltwater Hotspots – July/August 2025

Upper Texas Coast HotSPOTLight: Upper Sabine Lake • • • LOCATION: Christmas/Bastrop Bay HOTSPOT: Cox Lake GPS: N 29 4.488, W 95 13.952 (29.0748, -95.2325) Christmas/Bastrop Bay: Cox Lake SPECIES: Redfish BEST BAITS: Spoons, topwaters, live bait TIPS: Fish topwaters, ...

FORECAST CENTER: Freshwater Hotspots – July/August 2025

Reported by TF&G STAFF More Hotspots Available in the 2024 Texas Lakes & Bays Fishing Atlas www.FishGame.com/fishgamegear CURRENT WATER LEVELS • • • East Texas HotSPOTLight: Lower Lake Fork • • • LOCATION: Lake Bob Sandlin HOTSPOT: Dam Area ...