Hometown News For Orange County, Texas
Hometown News For Orange County, Texas
Sorted by date Results 26 - 50 of 73
In all my years on the water I would have to think hard to remember ever having this much wind for this long during the spring. It has just absolutely howled for nearly a month straight and according to the forecast it doesn’t look like it plans to let up any time soon. For obvious reasons the folks wanting to get out on Sabine Lake or Calcasieu has been pinned down to very small areas that offer the most protection. These spots tend to get crowded in a hurry which only a...
It comes as no surprise that it coincides with the opening of the Game Reserve, but nonetheless, the flounder catching is currently getting most of the attention. The size of the fish has been above average and the numbers are there as well. It can be a little frustrating to rush straight to one of the narrow bayous leading into the Reserve only to discover that an armada set their alarm clocks a little earlier.On an outgoing tide, the mouth of the bayou can be as productive as the bayou itself, but make no mistake about...
Regardless of what lies ahead for the LCM team of Gavin Cooper and Justin James, this has been a year of bass tournament fishing that neither will ever forget. Simply qualifying for the Bassmaster National High School Championship early on was an indication that it could be a year to remember, but this duo was just getting started. Winning is tough enough, but it is consistency that keeps you on top and this pair of anglers proved to be the model of consistency throughout the...
Few, if any other, fishing organizations are as attuned to the needs and future for not only their members, but the resource as well. Having said that, it has been a stressful year for the CCA. The pandemic limited the fund raising while a parade of hurricanes and a record freeze wreaked havoc on the trout population. So much so, that even the popular statewide S.T.A.R. tournament made several changes to help advance the recovery efforts. It was like a breath of fresh air when I received an e-mail earlier this week...
Last weekend’s Bassmaster Elite tournament held out of the Orange Public Boat Ramp could best be described as a happening. Mother Nature did her part, every volunteer did their part and record crowds packed the park all four days! The competition itself was entertaining enough for most, but even those afternoon crowds were dwarfed by the number of folks that wedged in to enjoy the concerts Friday and Saturday night. One spectator that drove in from Houston probably best summed it up with, “I bet ninety percent of the peo...
Outside of not even leaving the dock, the single biggest impediment to consistent fishing success is getting in a rush to get it done. One of our better local bass fishermen was quick to point that out earlier this week. “If I don’t get to make a single weigh-in this week,” he said, “I have already benefited from the Bassmaster Elite coming to town. Three years ago I was more concerned with where my favorite angler was fishing than how he was fishing.” The lesson learned w...
I don’t think that we are quite there, but it is evident that the spawn is at the very least in the final stages on both Rayburn and Toledo Bend. Smaller males and females can be seen running the banks in the back end of virtually every major creek and while that final rush to propagate affords the easiest bite of the year, it serves up very few trophy fish. Even if you have the patience and determination to target deeper water, you will still be hard-pressed to earn a s...
Surprise, surprise….the LCM bears dominated yet another SETX high school bass tournament on Rayburn Saturday and it resulted in well-earned paydays for several of their teams. They not only took home first and third place money, but celebrated three other Bear teams earning scholarship money as well. The feat is more impressive considering the fact that they were competing in a field of over 400 other anglers. I have suggested several times over the past year that an LCM b...
The LCM bass club has dominated the southeast Texas high school circuits this year and they were at it again last weekend. As if to say, "We just like Rayburn a little more," the club took four of the top ten spots fishing Toledo Bend. They have consistently posted impressive numbers on Rayburn and fish the majority of their tournaments on the older of the two impoundments. Last weekend they took their winning ways to T-Bend and Layne Pevey teamed up with Logan Freeman to best...
I cannot recall ever getting as many reports of personal best bass as I did this past week and most of them were caught either Saturday or Sunday.Of the reports I received, six were caught on Rayburn, eight on Toledo Bend and one in a pond just north of I-10. All of which bade the question, “How many more were caught that we don’t know about?” Jackson Lefebre got it all started with a 7.2-pound bass that he caught Saturday morning. J.J. caught his bass fishing a plastic crick...
I have seen enough pictures of dead fish over the past couple of days to last me a lifetime.We lost some fish in the immediate area, but nothing compared to the devastation along the lower coast. The majority of the fish in the pictures and videos I have seen were shad, mullet, sand trout and lady fish, but a staggering number of game fish were frozen as well. In the Sabine Lake and Galveston areas, redfish and drum took a significantly bigger hit than the trout. We will...
Thankfully, there are those occasions when not finding what you are looking for is a good thing. Partly because it was comfortably warm enough for the first time in over a week and partly because we hoped to not find what we were looking for, Johnny and I made a quick round through the north end of the lake and several bayous. What we were hoping to not find was dead fish floating against the shoreline.With the exception of a few shad and small sand trout, the mortality rate...
I knew before Jay even answered the phone that he and Laura were either freezing their behinds off in their trailer on Toledo Bend or had optedto ride the record freeze out with their son in Leesville. That question was answered when he announced, “It is cold in Hornbeck,” without even saying hello. Their waterfront trailer actually sits on a huge piece of land on the Louisiana side of the lake, but he enjoys claiming Hornbeck as his adopted home town. Hornbeck makes Deweyvill...
BEARS DOMINATE ON RAYBURN The LCM bass club took advantage of the ideal conditions last weekend and again dominated the top ten in the second of five SETX High School events. While Toledo Bend continues to garner most of the attention lately, you will have to excuse the bears for being in no hurry to leave Rayburn! The team of Cameron Dougharty and Braxton Rambo bested the field with a winning five fish stringer that weighed 18.33-pounds. Dougharty's thick-shouldered...
The combination of some seriously low tides and a little more north wind than needed are keeping Sabine Lake clarity on the muddy side, but the trout are apparently adapting to successfully hunting down their next meal. The most encouraging aspect is that most of these fish are in the two to three pound class! The big trout are still missing in action, but improving numbers of solid fish is something to get excited about. It was a long time coming. I have only had two...
The early morning call from Jay was a little unexpected as I had not heard from him in over a year. “News travels slowly up here, but Lisa just told us about your Mom. Our neighbor recently died from Covid-19 so I guess there isn’t any place to hide from it.” His condolences were appreciated as was his invitation. “I caught my first double digit fish of the year last Thursday and I think you ought to take a little break and come fish with me next week.” I do not consider it to...
“I think we can get the boat in the water, but I don’t know if we can get it out,” said Cade Sensat as he and his fishing partner, Gail Livingston, took one more look before trying to launch their boat Monday evening. I have known Cade for a long time so it came as no surprise that they weren’t at all concerned with the miserable conditions. He stays mad at the fish whether it be bass or speckled trout. “We were going to run up to Rayburn,” said Sensat, “but Gail couldn’t...
Okay….you only have 359 days left in 2021 to catch the largest bass of your life and you are burning one of them today. The game changed for bass fishermen in 1986 when limits were reduced to protect the resource and ever since that day, “catch and release” has become the accepted norm. More importatntly….it has worked even better than anticipated! While it was initially painful for anglers that had built their reputations on consistently returning to the dock with limits, goals were suddenly changed, but most of those e...
More often than not, the joy of receiving a new rod and reel for Christmas is somewhat diminished by inclement weather that is not conducive to spending even a few minutes on the water. That, however, has not been the case of late and eight-year old Joey Lane was already trying out his new rod at his Grandfather’s pond the morning after Santa left town. The only problem for Joey was that Santa failed to leave enough lures to get him through a morning of fishing.Spinner baits are not the best choice of lures for fearless y...
Unfortunately, I don’t know that I have ever had a more inclusive idea as to what is going on both here on Sabine Lake and Toledo Bend than I do right now.Thanks to Covid, however, I have been unable to put even a single tip to use for the better part of two weeks. I have been absolutely overwhelmed by the non-stop texts I have received wishing me well.In my case, however, that is a little misleading as I don’t text and trying to answer even one can tie up the remainder of any...
If you are headed to the lake this weekend and you are looking for a hot tip, you would be hard pressed to do any better than talking with Tyler Shearin or Kameryn Henderson. The Orangefield duo just blew the rest of the field away in last week’s Texas Elite Student Anglers Tournament hosted on Rayburn. Shearin and Henderson’s 18.81 pound bag earned them a $400 check and their 6.83-pound bass took big bass honors as well. Two of the LCM teams managed top ten finishes as wel...
The Upper Coast Kayak Association hosted the final event of their One Fish Wonder Series out of The Salt Club on Pleasure Island and the winner came as no surprise to the rest of the field. Each competitor is allowed to weigh in only one redfish and once again, Blaze Roberts made his way to the scales with that coveted fish! A single redfish can actually win one of seven different prizes at each event, but the largest red eventually earns the biggest payday. An angler earns...
The Upper Coast Kayak Association hosted the final event of their One Fish Wonder Series out of The Salt Club on Pleasure Island and the winner came as no surprise to the rest of the field. Each competitor is allowed to weigh in only one redfish and once again, Blaze Roberts made his way to the scales with that coveted fish! A single redfish can actually win one of seven different prizes at each event, but the largest red eventually earns the biggest payday. An angler earns the Angler of the Year title with the heaviest...
“Meet Bill and I at that little boat ramp in Bridge City at 3:00 and bring your waders. ”I didn’t even know who sent the text, but the unexpected message merited a return call at the very least.” “Hey man, this is Marler Cal and I have limited on trout up to four pounds twice this week wading the north end of your lake and today looks perfect.” I hadn’t waded in over a year so in agreeing to meet them for a quick trip, I had no intention of exercising that option. On th...
LCM bass clubbers, Dakota Posey and Brendon Brones, teamed up to take care of business early last Saturday. Their third place finish on Sam Rayburn qualified them for the FLW National High School Championship tournament set for this summer on Lake Hartwell in South Carolina. The duo finished only one three-pound bass out of first with a 13-pound 1-ounce catch. The early qualification not only takes the pressure off the youngsters for the remainder of the upcoming season, but gives them plenty of time to gather information on...
