The Penny Record (Bridge City, Tex.), Vol. 42, No. 17, Ed. 1 Wednesday, November 14, 2001 Page: 19 of 26
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deer hunters all over the state
have been doing about average
for this early in the year.
Last week we told you about
a big South Texas buck that was
arrowed on opening morning of
bow season. This buck at the
time, was the new pending No.
4 Pope and Young non-typical
for the state of Texas. Since that
article came out, another huge
buck was taken near the Texas-
Oklahoma border. This monster
Capt. Chuck Uzzle
Cuzzle@pnx.com
Chuck's Guide Service
www.sabineadventures.com
886-5222
reporting slow
1
last year at this time
The early season cold fronts
really pushed the ducks farther
down the flyways this year
instead of stalling them out to
the north area like years past.
Combine that with low water
conditions on places like
Toledo Bend, and you can see
this year may be a tough one for
those folks, especially since
they had record years the past
couple of seasons.
Goose hunters on the coastal
prairies are reporting really
good numbers of birds for this
early in the season. Compared
to years past, most guides agree
the geese are a couple of weeks
ahead of schedule. The
increased numbers of geese
early in the season make for
some superb combination
hunts. Right now your chances
at a limit of ducks along with a
hefty strap of geese are really
good if you are in the right
places. These odds should
increase as the weather contin-
ues to cool and more birds
reach our area.
will be the new No. 1
Pope and Young
non-typical for
Texas. Jeff Duncan
of Sanger took the
giant buck on the
Hagerman National
Wildlife Refuge. The
buck scored an
amazing 230 6/8
inches, surpassing
the previous No. I
buck by some 16
inches. The big buck had been
seen in the Hagerman Refuge,
which borders up on Lake
Texoma, for several years and
had grown to be quite a legend
among local hunters.
Duncan took the buck Nov. 4
while participating in the
archery only hunt on the refuge.
The giant buck has 27 scoreable
points and should easily take
over the No. I spot once the
mandatory drying period and
official scoring is complete.
Local deer hunters in East
Texas report plenty of rutting
activity despite the warmer
temperatures that have been
present since opening day.
Overall success rates have been
about average, according to
several lease managers I spoke
with this week. Some of the
best reports I have gotten have
been from the lakes area.
Several leases near Toledo
Bend have had some nice bucks
taken during the past week.
Almost all of the better bucks
that were taken from that area
were chasing does.
Hunters concentrating on
food plots and com feeders
have reported slow action. The
woods are full of forage, and
the deer don't have to depend
1 on outside sources tor
I food. After the first
J frost or two. this will
I most certainly
I change.
I North zone duck
9 hunters have reported
1 tough going over the
weekend. Hunters all
are i _ i-------
Capt. Chuck Uzzle hunts compared
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CmOKKI
It’s official. Hunting season
in Texas is now 100 percent
open, and the results so far have
been outstanding.
South zone duck and goose
hunters have been covered up
with birds along coastal marsh-
es for the last two weeks while
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1311 Green Ave
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3011 Sixteenth St
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Bridge Citv, IX
270 Main St
Vidor, TX
883-3555 883-0355 769-7021 735 7313
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Big Bucks and Plenty of Ducks
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Craig Burnet takes advantage of perfect conditions on Sabine Lake.
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group was tickled to death to
catch keeper fish on soft plas-
tics was I a little on the slow
side in coming up with a solu-
tion.
The solution was a pumpkin
or limetreuse Bass Assassin
threaded on a 4/0-worm hook
and attached to* a foot or so of
leader material. An in-line
swivel helped in casting and
Dickie Colburn
will be blowing 20 miles per
hour!"
1 can look at my logs and tell
you that Mr. Duhon wasn't too
far off in his assessment, but
area guides will tell you the
wind has been a problem this
entire year and not just on the
weekends. This past weekend
was an exception, and the fish
paid the price.
The projected front tiptoed
through like a lamb, and outside
of pleasant morning tempera-
tures, there was little evidence
that it had ever arrived.
Out of respect for the antici-
pated blow, I caught baitfish
early in the week and did my
best to keep them alive through
the weekend. I just knew the
lake would turn upside down,
and live bait would be the only
alternative.
Anyone fortunate enough to
fish Sabine Lake across that
period, however, will tell you
that it may well have been the
best four consecutive days of
the year, and I eventually
released that hard-earned bait.
With so many birds working
and so much lake accessible,
i.J
Calvin Corkran had just fil-
leted the initial trout from a
three-man limit of
both reds and trout
when Ellis Duhon
approached the clean-
ing table.
"Man, 1 knew
someone was killing
them when I saw the
flags just hanging on
their poles," Mr.
Duhon said. "By the
time 1 get on the lake
Saturday that northern
pleasant surprise. It is not going
to replace the top-water, lure,
but we caught several fish when
it was a foot or so under the
water that we may not have
caught with other lures. I
would definitely keep it tied on
another rod as a back up when
trout are only blowing up on a
top water lure. It could prove to
fill the gap like the Catch 2(MM>
or Corky does.
Aside from coming up with a
safer option for clients. I also
decided that sunglasses should
be a must on the fisherman's
list. That was a little different
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fish ate the larger Assassin like
it was candy and the single
hook was much easier to deal
with when everyone had a fish
flopping in the bottom of the
boat.
If you've not yet tried fishing
the Assassin like a jerk bait in
salt water, then you are in for a
"I caught some great fish
today on the She Dog, and I
caught most of them after the
birds left the area and the peo-
ple followed them. The trout
were definitely above average,
and the reds are all in the slot,"
he said before closing with,
"Have you ever seen better con-
ditions?"
Because Craig gets in his fair
share of time on Sabine lake,
and because he spends much of
that time fishing alone, he
focuses on what the better fish
want, thus wasting very little
time experimenting with easier
patterns. His report came as lit-
tle surprise after watching the
fish chase shrimp across the
mirror-like surface for two
days, but he managed to light a
fire that resulted in a painful
learning experience. By the
time I pulled away from the
dock the following morning, I
was already throwing both cau-
tion and years of experience to
the wind in my desire to put my
clients on some really big trout.
When we rounded the comer
into the Intracoastal Canal, I
already had either a She Dog or
Top Dog Jr. tied on every rod
including my own.
Ten minutes into the lake and
the first group of birds were
already wheeling and screech-
ing over surfacing fish. The
first Top Dog that hit the water
disappeared in a geyser of clear
black water, and we never saw
it again. The second Top Dog
Jr. was inhaled by a 24-inch
trout, and the third was intend-
ed for the churning water but
never made it any farther than
the seat of my warm-up pants!
I am not sure if the initial
hook-set or tearing it loose hurt
the most as only a burning flash
of time separated the two. The
youngster on the other end of
the line actually appeared dis-
gusted that my rear end had
aborted his cast. I never made
• the fourth cast as 1 opted to
inspect the equal portions of
nylon and meat adorning the
rear hook of his lure.
Still determined to take
advantage of the incredible top-
water bite, I set aside my own
rod. Assuming a defensive pos-
ture for the next school of fish
suddenly felt like the thing to
do. Several keeper redfish and
three more large trout later and
all was working well. The
throbbing had ceased, and I was
even able to smile at the young-
ster from time to time. The
relief, however, was to be short-
lived!
I had just lowered the troll
motor when 1 heard a noise
unlike any I could recall hear-
ing while fishing. When I
looked back, the youngster was
looking dumbfounded at his
father, who was covering his
eye with one hand. In his haste
to cast, he had hit his father m kept line twist to a rrqpimum. It
the eye with the top water,
knocking out the lens and
breaking the frame in half. In an
attempt to grab the still flailing
lure, I caught the business end
and was stuck
Miraculously, Dad
received even a scratch.
That was enough to put an
end to the top water fishing.
The dilemma was how to catch
the larger fish when soft plas-
tics had produced only numbers
of 15- to 19-inch keepers for the
past two days. Only tiecause my
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was the ticket with nowind and
worked so well that I eventual-
ly clipped off my own She Dog
to join the action. Any kind of
wind would have made distance
a real problem, but those big accident, but I have a number ol
fishing friends that have been
injured by lures that have
returned faster than they left for
a number of reasons. Yon
Moms can add glasses to the list
for Dad to include for both he
and the kids along with hats,
water and sun- screen ! ,
you could work a school of fish
for long periods of time, and
most folks did just that. It may
have simply been the perfect
conditions, but it was very
refreshing to find most every
angler I encountered to be
exceptionally cour-
teous.
Saturday the birds
IjaSgawl worked all day long,
and those who just
wanted to enjoy the
action remained
after finishing out
limits early that
morning.
I don't think you
could have fished
the wrong bait as I saw anglers
catching both trout and redfish
on everything from soft plastics
to top waters, but the larger
trout seemed to be more sus-
ceptible to the top water lure.
There was one other choice that
I personally know of, and I
turned to it out of necessity!
When fishing clients,
depending on their level of
expertise, you locate fish and
let them do what they do best.
They fish with my equipment,
so the only basic limiting factor
is their ability to cast a particu-
lar type of lure any distance. In
many cases, that means resort-
ing to spinning tackle and soft
plastics threaded on slightly
heavier jig heads than you
would fish by choice. That tac-
tic worked well enough as the
fish were eating anything, but I
knew that the size factor would
improve if they could handle
top water lures.
The first two days I could
only speculate as I did little
more than tie on lures and net
fish, but a phone call from
Craig Corder Friday night con-
firmed my best guess.
Bass Assassin Provides Top Water Alternative
i
THE COUNTY RECORD AND THE PENNY RECORD • THE COMMUNITY NEWSPAPERS OF ORANGE COUNTY, TEXAS
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Childress, Jerry. The Penny Record (Bridge City, Tex.), Vol. 42, No. 17, Ed. 1 Wednesday, November 14, 2001, newspaper, November 14, 2001; Bridge City, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1293844/m1/19/?q=%22%22~1: accessed July 14, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; .