September 26, 2025
Texas’ Hunting and Fishing Newspaper Since 2004
Volume 22, Issue 3
Back in the swing An angler with a recent slab of a crappie from Lake Palestine. Photo by Duwayne Benson.
Summer continues
Dove season open in the south By Nate Skinner
For Lone Star Outdoor News
Crappie anglers hoping for cooler weather will just have to keep on waiting for now. Crappie are still in their summertime pattern on Lake Fork. The tasty fish have “been really finicky and really what we call window shopping,” said Donny Fleenor with Crappie Freaks Guide Service. “They will follow your bait but just turn away instead of committing. It has been kind of tough the last 6 to 8 weeks.” Fleenor and his clients are having most of their luck using live bait and on jigs tipped with minnows. “Outside of that, it’s been pretty tough,” Fleenor said.
Dove hunters in the South Zone were able to knock the rust off their wing shooting skills for two weekends of Special White-winged Dove Days, before the zone opened on Sept. 14. Since the opener, strong reports of both white-wings and mourning dove have come from many areas within the southern portion of the state. Fields with crops and native, seed-bearing weeds have held the highest concentrations of birds. However, there has been some scattered action over pastures with stock tanks, as well. According to Tanner Crim of 4-C Outdoors, the first weekend of the Special White-winged Dove Days produced good hunts for his hunters over croton fields in Devine. He said the birds moved out quickly after rains hit the area at the end of the weekend, so he moved his hunters for the second weekend of the special season to milo fields in Jourdanton. “Our hunters harvested about 750 birds during the first weekend of Special Whitewinged Dove Days, and only about 20 were mourning dove,” Crim said. “During the second weekend of the Special Whitewinged Dove Days, our hunters were absolutely covered up with white-wings. They harvested over 1,000 birds, and some youth hunters were even able to bag their limits with single shot .410 shotguns.” Crim said the consistent action in
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Please turn to page 6
Finicky fish frustrating anglers By Cory Byrnes
For Lone Star Outdoor News
Waylon Skinner, 7, shot his first dove after the South Zone dove season began while hunting near a stock tank before sunset. Photo by Nate Skinner, Lone Star Outdoor News.
PRSRT STD US POSTAGE PAID DALLAS, TX PERMIT 3814
Slowly transitioning Specks remain consistent; fall patterns emerging By Nate Skinner
Anglers up and down the coast have been hooking up with speckled trout consistently, as they eagerly await the onset of cooler weather. Photo by Nate Skinner, Lone Star Outdoor News.
Many hardcore speckled trout fanatics are eagerly waiting for the first significant cool fronts of fall to arrive. While water temperatures haven’t dipped much
Freshwater Fishing Report . . Page 10 Grip & Grin . . . . . . . . . . . Page 16 Saltwater Fishing Report . . . Page 19 Sun, Moon & Tides . . . . . . Page 20 Crossword . . . . . . . . . . . Page 24 Datebook . . . . . . . . . . . . Page 26 Classifieds . . . . . . . . . . . Page 26
tics and top-waters over heavy seagrass beds. The trout she has been catching have ranged from right at 15 inches up to 27 inches in length. Garza was an instructor for the annual Texas Women Anglers fish camp held recently out of Port Mansfield. The event included six lady anglers who were eager to learn, as well as expand their knowledge and gain confidence in their angling skills. Please turn to page 17
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CONTENTS
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For Lone Star Outdoor News
yet, anglers are still catching plenty of specks in a variety of areas across Texas bay systems. Both artificial lures and live bait have produced solid catches from the surf to main bay waters. Erica Garza has been wade fishing along the Lower Laguna Madre from the mouth of the Arroyo to Port Mansfield and further north, where she has been catching speckled trout in kneeto-waist deep water on soft plas-
HUNTING
FISHING
Archery opener (P. 4)
Fishing the FADs (P. 8)
Texas hunters ready for the bow season.
Offshore fish attractors working.
Gatorbait (P. 4)
Bass report (P. 11)
Alligator hunters have successful season.
Both summer, fall patterns.