The Record Newspapers - Hometown News For Orange County, Texas

For some strange reason I feel like I’m stuck keep repeating the same week over and over. We continue to have extreme heat, no rain, plenty of southwest wind and more of the same nonsense from those engaged in the witch hunt of our former president. It’s just more of the same stuff we can’t control but unfortunately have to live with but good things are on the horizon. It doesn’t make any difference if you’re a hunter or a fisherman because this time of the year has something for everyone and it’s all good. A brief glance at the calendar has both hunters and fishermen alike thinking of what’s in store for the coming weeks. The very first hint of hunting season starts with teal and dove season in September and if you look at the calendar that’s not too far off. Hunters of all shapes and sizes flock to the field to take advantage of the first opportunities to get back into the sport they love, the whole episode is like “big kid therapy”.

Along the coast we look forward to the arrival of the bluewing teal because they will be the first ducks to visit our area on the annual migration south while still others will be looking to take advantage of good numbers of doves that are currently calling our area home. Conditions along the Central flyway are really all over the board as inconsistent rainfall has left many hunters staring at empty skies and dry rain gauges. The drought and excessive heat have done little to help out most hunters and many are starting to get antsy the closer we get to opening day. Locally our marshes are in pretty fair shape overall but a good dose of rain or freshwater wouldn’t hurt any feelings. We have had extremely low tides for a while and the salt content in most marshes is unseasonably high. The annual wigeon grass die off has begun and we won’t see another bloom for several weeks or even longer if the water doesn’t freshen up a little. On a recent pass through some local marshes I noticed several areas had begun to grow some grass so it’s not complete gloom and doom. I also so our first blue winged teal of the year and that wipe away any frown I may have had at the moment. Be assured that good things are coming as the calendar pages continue to turn because the really good stuff is not far away.

Speaking of “good things” it’s been good to see the huge populations of shrimp in the marshes and bayous. I was running up Black’s Bayou last week and stopped to take advantage of some gulls picking shrimp that had been pushed to the surface by a herd of hungry trout. The fish we caught were small but there were plenty of them and plenty of shrimp. When we get that first little cold front towards the end of September and the north wind blows all the water out of the marsh Sabine Lake will go nuts with schooling activity and the fishing will be as hot as the summer was.

I know that first front seems like a long way off so I guess we will have to pass the time by shooting a few doves as the season opens for the North and Central zones on September 1st and South Zone on the 14th. Several hunters I have spoken with recently have been reporting large numbers of doves in our area which always seems to be the case before opening weekend. Historically we get a

huge rain or some goofy storm comes through and blows all the birds out, hopefully that’s not the case this year.

The coming weeks are full of promise and the seasons will overlap causing sportsmen to make a choice to either hunt or fish, either one will certainly be a winner.