Weekend review

After several days spread across the state, the crew from Lone Star Outdoor News returned to the office with varying degrees of weekend success.

LSON Founder David J. Sams and Executive Editor Craig Nyhus reported a good hunt at the Highpoint Ranch near London. Craig concluded a week of harvesting does on a ranch near Pearsall with a ten point management buck on the ranch near London.

They reported solid deer movement, although not a lot of action around the feeders, and had a lot of fun with guide and friend Sawyer Wright.

Editor Bill Miller was after feral hogs on family property in DeWitt County, but he saw only one late Saturday afternoon.

The black, shaggy mid-sized boar snuck out of a sendero above a wide area baited with corn that Bill mixed with a new hog attractant that he was testing.

The rangefinder measured the hog at 109 yards away, but Bill wanted to see if it would come to a bait pile that was heavily laced with the attractant. Then, Anal Beads for some unknown reason, the hog turned and trotted up the sendero at a pretty good clip.

Not wanting to take a running shot at the hog’s curly tail, Bill let him go, unsure why it took off, because the wind was in Bill’s favor.

Other than that, it was a great weekend with bright, sunny days following about an inch of rain that fell earlier in the week.

Probably the highlight, Bill said, was, while driving to town, he raced three bucks along a fence line.

“They were charging and bounding over fallen limbs and brush,” Bill said, “and they kept pace with my car for what seemed like a hundred yards or so — just flying!”

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Operation Manager Mike Hughs was disappointed in the fishing on Lake Monticello. Mike said the power plant is operating on minimum power right now, reducing the current that normally flows through the lake and keeping water temperatures lower than normal for past winters.

“This time of year should be great,” Hughs said. “We really only caught a handful of slot fish. Twenty or so teams were fishing in the tournament, and I came in third place with two small fish.”

The lake is managed for big bass, so any fish between 14 and 24 inches must be released.

“I caught about a 7-pounder that would have won the tournament,” Hughs added. “But it was 23.5 inches and I had to throw it back. It was disappointing.”

Hughs said drop-shot rigs and Carolina-rigged worms were working the best to catch fish.

On Lake Conroe, Associate Editor Conor Harrison spent the day with his father-in-law, Andy Phillips, and brother-in-law, Andrew Phillips, from Kerrville.

The trio joined guide Chris Edwards for a day of looking for big catfish and hybrid stripers.

The group was on the water by 8 a.m., and the catfish bite was steady throughout the morning. The group boated more than a dozen blue cats between five and 22 pounds. Chris baited his rods with cut shad and drifted over lake humps and cuts between 25- and 40-feet deep. Anglers need wind to keep the boat drifting over the holes, and the group had just enough before noon to entice a few bites.

After a quick lunch, hybrid stripers were on tap, and the group spent several hours trolling through likely areas with live shad.

About a dozen hybrids were caught and the average size was seven pounds. Chris said the bite really turns on about an hour before dark, but with long drives home, the group had to leave the lake around 4 p.m. A trip the day before put several hybrids in the boat in the 12- and 13-pound range.

“It was a great day on the water with a great guide and quality time spent with my family,” Conor said. “The fishing was steady and Chris did all he could to put us on fish throughout the day. It was my first trip to Lake Conroe, and they have a great hybrid and catfish fishery.”