The Suburbia News (Seagoville, Tex.), Vol. 36, No. 5, Ed. 1 Thursday, December 27, 2007 Page: 3 of 8
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Page 3, The Suburbia News, December 27, 2007
Outdoors
LAKE WHITNEY WINTER WHITES
By Luke Clayton, Outdoor Editor
Sports
PIRATE CRUISE PAST ATHENS
By Greg Rhea, Sports Editor
Much is written about the
white bass ‘run’ when the pro-
lific spawners pack the creeks
and river systems above major
reservoirs during their annual
breeding ritual. Granted, fishing
and catching can be red hot
during these brief periods of
frantic action when large num-
bers of fish pack themselves
tightly into relatively small wa-
ters. I enjoy fishing for white
bass during the spawn as much
as anyone but I also understand
that several factors must be just
right in order to locate spawn-
ing whites. Water clarity, cur-
rent, temperature and, of course
time of year are all paramount
to enjoying a good day fishing
streams for spawners.
Each year, I am amazed
at how many white bass anglers
seem to forget all about their
favored species during late De-
cember and well into January,
waiting for the time, some-
where between February and
early April, depending upon
many factors, when the urge to
procreate causes the white bass
to spawn. These folks are miss-
ing out on some very good pre
spawn fishing, and the action is
taking place right now in just
about any reservoir with a
healthy white bass population.
Just yesterday, I got off
the water at Lake Whitney with
guide Randy Routh who guides
not only for stripers and catfish
but white bass as well. The days
prior to our trip, the wind had
blown from the south for sev-
eral days and action was red
hot. Limits of big whites aver-
aging 1.5 pounds apiece were
the norm and most trips pro-
duced a few of the big stripers
Whitney is known well for.
Yesterday morning, the wind
was steady at about 15 knots,
directly out of the north.
As Randy pulled his boat
up to the general vicinity of the
submerged Brazos River in the
lower lake, not far from the
Island, his graph began to plot
clouds of baitfish and accompa-
nying larger inverted ‘V’s that
denoted large schools of white
bass. “They are still here and
many of the schools are stacked
vertically in a typical feeding
pattern. Even with the North
wind, we should be able to
catch a nice ‘mess’ for your fish
fry.” said Routh as he broke out
rods and reels rigged with half-
ounce lead slabs. “These fish
will probably be on a very sub-
tle bite. I’ve been using Kistler
rods for a long time and these
new medium heavy action 7
footers are made from Carbon
Steel. They will soon be avail-
able in both bait cast and spin
cast models and provide not
only the sensitivity to detect
subtle bites from white bass but
the backbone to handle even the
bigger stripers. Let’s get our
baits down close to bottom and
see if we have any takers.”
We were anchored
within a few yards of the sub-
merged Brazos River ledge and
clouds of baitfish and accompa-
nying mixed schools of white
bass, drum and stripers moved
below our boat, plotting that
inverted Christmas tree pattern
on sonar that spells feeding
fish.
Although the whites
were marking throughout the
clouds of shad, they would not
take a bait unless it was within
a couple feet of bottom.
Routh’s yo-yo presentation with
the bait was obviously the most
productive-the ONLY produc-
tive method. He would ‘feel’
bottom with the half-ounce
White bass are currently stacking up on deep water structure, hitting
slab spoons fished near bottom. Photo by Luke Clayton
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elongated slab, then simply lift
the bait up a couple feel and
allow it flutter back to bottom,
mimicking a dead or wounded
shad. The trick is to let the bait
fall naturally but keep the ma-
jority of slack out of the line so
that even a soft ‘peck’ from a
white bass or striper can be de-
tected. My buddy, Dubb Wal-
lace and I were quick to pick up
on the bait presentation and we
soon began to connect with
white bass and, hard pulling
(and very good eating) freshwa-
ter drum. Early into the trip,
Dubb’s bowed heavily toward
the water’s surface and Randy
immediately knew it was not a
white bass our buddy was fight-
ing. “That’s a Gaspergou
(drum), see how he is pulling
straight down rather than run-
ning with the bait?” Sure
enough, after a brief but intense
battle, Dubb brought a big drum
to the net. Smaller drum that
weigh two pounds or less are
excellent eating but the larger
ones, just like their saltwater
cousins called ‘bull reds, are
best released to thrill another
angler with their mule-like
habit of fighting directly below
the boat.
Regardless which lake
you choose to fish, this ‘ledges
and edges’ approached used by
Routh will produce big divi-
dends when fishing for white
bass during the dead of winter.
Find submerged ledges in water
20 or more feet deep, falling
quickly into deeper water- and
you’re in prime white bass win-
ter haunts.
In a few weeks, white
bass and stripers will begin fol-
lowing shad into pockets off the
main lake and, sometime within
the next two to three months,
many of them will be moving
into feeder streams above the
reservoirs. Usually a late winter
rain on the watershed above the
reservoir will trigger this an-
nual spawning run. But, as
Routh is quick to point out,
many white bass never leave
the main lake to spawn; that’s
why windy points with a bit of
current are such good places to
catch whites during the spawn.
The gentle wave action created
by wind creates the same
spawning conditions for the
white bass as does moving wa-
ter in streams and rivers.
If you’re ‘fish hungry’
and beginning to experience a
bit of cabin fever during the
holidays, take a tip from my
friend Randy Routh and a host
of other savvy white bass an-
glers and get out on the water
BEFORE the spawn. Besides,
timing a fishing trip during the
peak of the spawn for white
bass usually requires a very
flexible schedule-a schedule
that most folks with a busy
work schedule find it hard to
meet.
Guide Randy Routh fished
out of Uncle Gus’ Marina and
can be reached at 817-822-5539
or online at
www.teamredneck.net
TIPS FOR CATCHING
WINTER WHITE BASS
DOWNSIZE BAITS- Use
Lake Whitney guide Randy Routh shows off a couple of big white bass.
Photo by Luke Clayton
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jigging spoons and slabs that
are smaller than those used dur-
ing much of the year. Usually
half-ounce baits work best.
FISH CLOSE TO BOT-
TOM- Most actively feeding
white bass will hit baits worked
slowly within a couple feet of
bottom-very often right on bot-
tom. It’s not uncommon to find
(Continued on page 7)
On Tuesday December
18th, the Crandall Pirates wel-
comed the Athens Hornets to
Crandall for a non district bas-
ketball game. The Pirates have
been playing some good basket-
ball to start the season off and
they have gotten off to one of
the best starts in Crandall his-
tory. The Pirate have won 13 of
their first 14 games, including
the Emory Rains Tournament a
few weeks ago. Most of these
wins have come without the
Pirates’ big man in the middle
Brett Russell as he had been out
with an ankle injury suffered
during football season. “We are
still hoping to get everyone
back and playing all at once,”
said Coach Short, Pirate Head
Coach. “We are going into this
game with Athens without Dil-
lon Good, one of our guards.
We once again have a very
competitive district this year
and these non district games are
important to help us get ready.”
With an athletic Athens team in
town, the Pirates were looking
to improve their record to 14-1.
The first quarter started
out with both teams trying to
get a feel for one another. The
Pirates jumped out to an early
lead but Athens hung right in
there with them. Brett Russell,
Clay Rich and Tyler Gray each
scored 4 points in the quarter,
while point guard Travis Dyk-
man added 2 to give the Pirates
a 14-9 lead at the end of the
quarter.
After a competitive first
quarter, the Pirates turned it up
another notch in the second
quarter, sparked by 12-0 run to
start the quarter off. Just like
that the Pirates had turned a 5
point lead into a 17 point lead
at 26-9. Athens would eventu-
ally stop the Pirates run by
making a basket but Travis
Dykman answered the basket on
the Pirates next possession by
nailing a 3-pointer to make the
score 29-11. Athens could not
match the hustle and intensity
of the Pirates. Pirate big man
Brett Russell left no doubt as to
weather his ankle was feeling
better as he made a great play
diving after a loose ball while
also have the whereabouts to
pass the ball up court to Dyk-
man for an easy lay up. The
Pirates capped off the first half
with a Curt Cornelius lay up
and the buzzer thanks to a beau-
tiful pass by Dykman. The Pi-
rates raced into the locker room
with all the momentum and a 22
point lead, 35-13. The Pirates
spread the scoring around in the
second quarter as 7 players
scored for the Pirates.
The Pirates came out in
the 3 rd quarter and continued to
play good basketball on the
offensive and defensive end.
Midway through the quarter,
Dykman hit his second 3-
pointer of the game to give the
Pirates their biggest lead of the
game at 44-15. Sophomore
guard James Kirbie would also
knock down a 3-pointer in the
quarter. The Pirates would
stretch the lead out to 32 at the
end of the quarter, leading 51-
19.
With the game well in
hand heading into the 4th quar-
ter, the Pirate players continued
to play with great intensity on
the defensive end. Senior for-
ward Tyler Gray displayed
some of that intensity as he
dove into the scorers table try-
ing to save a ball that was going
out of bounds. With a comfort-
able lead, it would have been
easy for him to just stand there
and watch the ball go out of
bounds. But that’s not what this
Pirate team does. They don’t
just stand around and wait for
things to happen, they go out
and make them happen. The
Pirates limited Athens to just 6
points in the final quarter and
25 the entire game as they im-
proved to 14-1 on the season
with an impressive 59-25 win.
The Pirates put together a
very balanced scoring attack as
Travis Dykman, Clay Rich, and
Tyler Gray each led the Pirates
with 10 points a piece. James
Kirbie came off the bench to
score 9 points while Brett Rus-
sell scored 8. Randall Hender-
son, Curt Cornelius, and Casey
Leamon rounded out the scor-
ing for the Pirates scoring 6, 4,
and 2 respectfully.
The Pirates will be com-
peting in the Sherman Invita-
tional Tournament the weekend
of Dec. 27-29th and then will
welcome FW Country Day on
Wednesday January 2nd. The
game against FW Country Day
will start at 2pm. The Pirates
finish up their non district
schedule in Commerce on Mon-
day January 7th against the Ti-
gers and then on Friday, Janu-
ary 17th, district play begins as
the Pirates travel to Ferris to
take on the Yellow Jackets.
Send Sports News, Scores & Photos to
Sports@SuburbiaNews.com
or call Greg at 972-287-3277
A SPORTING VIEW
By Mark Vasto
What’s Next for Mayweather
As is the case after any
fight, the question for boxing
fans and Floyd Mayweather is,
"Who's next?"
Now possessing a record
of 39-0 and proving without a
doubt that he is the best boxer,
pound for pound, in the world
right now, Mayweather says
there is no one left for him to
fight, nothing left for him to
prove.
"I need a vacation. I'm
not trying to call out no wel-
terweights," Mayweather said
after notching a lOth-round
knockout of Rickey Hatton.
"I've done what I had to do.
Now it's time for me to be-
come a promoter. I won't let
the sport of boxing retire me.
I'll retire from the sport."
Mayweather retired after
his epic bout with Oscar De
La Hoya earlier in the year,
but said he was compelled to
take the Hatton fight after
Hatton denigrated his per-
formance in a post-fight inter-
view.
Mayweather says he's
going to take at least two
years off from the sport, so
the door is open apparently.
Miguel Cotto, also undefeated
at 31-0 and the current WBA
welterweight champion, dearly
wants to fight him, but don't
expect to see it happen. Cotto
is promoted by Bob Arum, the
guy that Mayweather fired a
few years back. Cotto needs
Mayweather, but Mayweather
doesn't need him, and it's
doubtful the fight would raise
enough pay-per-view totals to
warrant the risk of fighting
him.
Meanwhile, in Britain,
Hatton says "he'd rather die
than retire." A fight with jun-
ior-welterweight champion
Paulie Malignaggi in Madison
Square Garden seems likely,
and that's going to be an easy
sell on pay-per-view.
There is little doubt that
Hatton's already huge fan base
grew because of the fight.
HBO's "24/7" documentary of
the boxers in the weeks lead-
ing up to the fight showed the
world a self-effacing man who
still played in his dart league
in Manchester. How could you
not root for the guy?
And Mayweather was so
easy to hate — his pre-fight
egotism and overall childish
and classless behavior had
most of the world rooting
against him in the fight. That,
more than ducking Cotto and
running from De La Hoya all
fight long, will tarnish his leg-
acy. It's one thing to be cocky
-- Sugar Ray Leonard and Mu-
hammad Ali certainly talked
their share of smack, but they
knew when enough was
enough ... ask someone who
knows.
"When he was young he
was a loveable little fella, but
something went wrong and
changed inside him," George
Foreman commented before
the fight. "Now he is always
cursing and bad-mouthing
other fighters. The guy de-
serves an Oscar for some of
the stuff he says. There is no
way I would consider him to
be the best pound-for-pound
fighter in the world."
You gonna argue with
George?
Mark Vasto is a veteran
sportswriter and publisher of
The Parkville (Mo.) Luminary.
(c) 2007 King Features
Synd., Inc.
The Suburbia News
Suburbia News is a registered periodical #(USP991100).
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The Suburbia News (Seagoville, Tex.), Vol. 36, No. 5, Ed. 1 Thursday, December 27, 2007, newspaper, December 27, 2007; (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth636403/m1/3/: accessed July 17, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; .