Outdoors Digest
Calendar
Through March 13 – Texas East Zone Light Goose Conservation Order Season.
Through March 13 – Texas West Zone Light Goose Conservation Order Season.
Through March 30 – Oklahoma Light Goose Conservation Order Season.
March 19-May 1 – Texas South Zone Spring Turkey Season.
March 20 - JC Outdoors Lake Texoma Spring Teams Event out of Alberta Creek Resort at 6:45 p.m.. To register for the derby (which has an entry fee of $120), send a text to (214)773-5451. For more info, visit www.jcoutdoors.com
March 23-24 – TPW Commission Meeting in Austin.
March 23-27 – Bass Pro Tour REDCREST Championship on Oklahoma’s Grand Lake. For info, visit www.majorleaguefishing.com .
March 24 – Texoma Ducks Unlimited Couple’s Spring Fundraising Dinner at the Mayor Arena at Loy Lake Park. Doors open at 6 p.m. For information, visit www.ducks.org or call Paul Terrell at (903) 267-4108 or Newt Wright at (918) 557-2622.
April 2-May 15 – Texas North Zone Spring Turkey Season.
April 2 – Bois D’arc Creek Ducks Unlimited Dinner at the Magnolia Grace Ranch in Leonard. For info, visit www.ducks.org .
April 5 – Monthly meeting of the Red River Fly Fishers in the Rec Hall at Eisenhower State Park. For information, including the night’s speaker and fly tying schedule info, visit www.rrff.org .
April 8-10 – Ducks Unlimited Expo at Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth. For information, visit www.duckexpo.com .
April 9-14 – Bass Pro Tour Heavy Hitters Tournament out of Tyler, Texas at Lake Palestine. For information, visit www.majorleaguefishing.com .
April 16 – Oklahoma spring turkey season.
April 22-May 14 – East Texas spring turkey season (including Grayson, Fannin, and Lamar Counties).
May 3 – Monthly meeting of the Red River Fly Fishers in the Rec Hall at Eisenhower State Park. For information, including the night’s speaker and fly tying schedule info, visit www.rrff.org .
May 19-22 - Simms Bassmaster Elite Series tournament on Lake Fork. For information, visit www.bassmaster.com .
Notes
Last week’s 52nd Bassmaster Classic on Lake Hartwell near Greenville, South Carolina was won by Oklahoma angler Jason Christie, who had finished second in 2016 and third in 2018. Christie notched a narrow five-ounce win over Kyle Welcher by finishing with a three day total of 15-bass weighing 54-pounds even…Hank Cherry, the 2021 Classic Champion at Lake Ray Roberts, was seeking to become the only angler to ever win three Classics in a row. Cherry finished in 17th place at 42-pounds, 9-ounces and remains in the exclusive back-to-back Classic Winner’s Club with Rick Clunn, Kevin VanDam, and Jordan Lee…Major League Fishing has announced that the Bass Pro Tour REDCREST Championship and Expo will see country music star Clayton Anderson (Visionary Media Group) perform a free concert on the Mossy Oak Music stage at the SageNet Center at Expo Square in Tulsa on Sunday, March 27, beginning at 4 p.m…BPT officials note that the REDCREST 2022 event, hosted by VisitTulsa, is being presented by Costa and will take place March 23-27, 2022, with competition set for Grand Lake O’ the Cherokees. Meanwhile, the REDCREST Outdoor Sports Expo, also presented by Costa, will showcase the top 41 Bass Pro Tour anglers from the 2021 season as they compete for the prestigious REDCREST Championship and the top prize of $300,000…Speaking of the BPT REDCREST derby, defending REDCREST champ and Alabama pro Dustin Connell continued his winning ways in his home state last week, notching the Bass Pro Tour Stage Three win on Alabama’s Smith Lake. In gaining the win, Connell posted 17 fish for 36 pounds, 7 ounces in the first period and never looked back en route to a 33-fish day for 71-2…
Fishing Reports
At Lake Texoma, water is lightly stained; water temp is 49 degrees; and the lake is 1.30 feet low. Guide John Blasingame of Adventure Texoma Outdoors tells TPWD that the 2022 striped bass spawn is approaching and that stripers are seeking shallow, warmer water while working river ledges, drop-offs and humps. Blasingame says to look for success on swimbaits right now. Meanwhile, guide Trey Franklin of Tight Lines Guide Service says that stripers are good in 60-75 feet of water for those using live bait. He is also finding success in 15-25 feet of water while dead-sticking Flukes. Also, blue catfish are good in 5-20 feet of water on cut shad, carp, and drum. Crappie are staging in 15-20 feet of water on structure and warmer weather next week should keep pushing crappie shallower for the spawn…At Lake Ray Roberts, the water is lightly stained; water temp is 47 degrees; and the lake is 0.73 feet low. Blue catfish and channel catfish are good in 3-10 feet of water for those using cut shad according to guide Trey Franklin of Tight Lines Guide Service. He also tells TPWD that crappie are good in the main creek channel bridges and near structure. Largemouth bass are good on structure in 15-18 feet of water for those anglers who are using umbrella rigs…At Lake Fork, the water is stained; water temps are 46-47 degrees; and the lake is 6.38 feet low due to repair work on the dam. Guides Marc Mitchell and Jason Hoffman tell TPWD that largemouth bass are good on square bills and Chatterbaits, the former when fished around ditches and big wood in 4-6 feet of water and the latter in 3-5 feet of water. Creature style baits and Texas-rigged soft plastics are also good in 3-5 feet of water on big wood and lay downs. And Viper XP jigs are catching fish in 3-5 feet of water on big wood and near drop-offs…Meanwhile, the Lake Fork crappie bite has been good over the past week on both minnows and jigs according to Jacky Wiggins of Jacky Wiggins Guide Service. With water temperatures about to rise, fish are on the move. Wiggins says that right now, you can still catch numbers of crappie in 35 feet of water and on deeper on timber since some slabs are still suspended and roaming. A few bigger crappie are being caught in the mid-range depths around 18-25 feet of water, although Wiggins is getting a few reports of a handful of crappie in shallow water less than 10 feet. Even so, he says that the general consensus is the Fork crappie spawn is still a few weeks out. And keep in mind that the low lake levels will create new challenges due to exposed timber on the shallow north end. The Fork crappie guide says that in the next few weeks, low water conditions will show just how difficult it may be to get to some of those bigger fish that push up into 5-18 feet of water to spawn. Even so, Wiggins says that Lake Fork is still one of the premier crappie lakes in the country and he expects to see some huge crappie being caught for the next two months…Finally, down on the Texas Gulf Coast as spring break begins at South Padre Island, Capt. Lou Austin tells TPWD that the fishing can still be good. The saltwater guide on the Lower Coast says that sheepshead are just about done spawning, but they are still being caught around jetties and heavy structure. And as the crowds of college students and vacationers prepare to come to SPI, expect to find a few redfish mixed in with the sheephead…As spring break starts on the Texas Coast at South Padre Island, there’s no word on speckled trout in the South Padre Island at the moment…
Tip of the Week
Looking for some spring break fishing fun? Then head for the Blue River near Tishomingo, Okla. as the river’s put-and-take rainbow trout season begins to wind down. According to the latest ODWC fishing report, the Blue River is below normal, the water temperature is 39-degrees, and the water is running clear. ODWC’s Ethan Lovelace says that rainbow trout fishing remains excellent on in-line spinnerbaits and PowerBait fished along channel seams and near rocks. For fly fishing enthusiasts, midges and nymphs continue to work along with egg patterns. If you’re using egg patterns out of your fly box, Lovelace says to use brighter colors. And if you’re using PowerBait, the color of choice last week was the brightly hued “Mouse-Tails Floating Egg,” which has brought numerous trout in and some big ones too. Metallic colored 1/8-oz. Super Dupers and Little Cleo’s Spoons are also producing as the trout season begins to wind down towards a mid-spring conclusion, especially with a slow and steady retrieve applied that keeps the lures just off the bottom. If you can find a deep pocket in the Blue, or some moving water, there’s likely a willing fish there, and maybe more than one!
This article originally appeared on Herald Democrat: March 10 Outdoors Digest Calendar Fishing Hunting reports tip
