Amistad Catches Attention Many Heading to Texas Lake for Big Year
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ADVENTURE British Columbia wilderness odyssey * March 10, 2006 Texas’ Premier Outdoor Newspaper Volume 2, Issue 14 * See Page 19 www.lonestaroutdoornews.com INSIDE HUNTING Amistad catches attention Many heading to Texas lake for big year By Alan Clemons One of the nation’s most under- rated lakes may soon receive the Texans aren't flocking to attention it deserves if expectations hunt geese during the Light are met or exceeded in this week’s Goose Conservation Order. Bassmaster Elite Series. Guides say they're not seeing Long known in Texas as a top fish- many hunters eager to go after ery, and perhaps as an “under- the birds after the end of the ground” fishing lake among anglers regular season, and admit who didn’t want to share the secret, they're also ready for a break. Amistad is poised for one of its See Page 6 biggest years ever. Just weeks after the FLW Outdoors Stren Series tour- One Texas family is gobbling nament anglers set records on up trophies for best turkey call- Amistad, the Bassmaster Elite Series ing. The Nixon family's two eld- field will hit the lake during its peak. est daughters in particular are “This will be the greatest bass acclaimed callers who credit tournament in history,” said Zell practice for their expertise - Rowland of Montgomery, a 30-year which they say also pays off in veteran of the pro circuits. “If I were the field. in a wheelchair and could not walk, See Page 6 I would be there. I would have a han- dline out the back of the boat or FISHING something.” The spring white bass run is Amistad’s growing reputation as under way in central Texas and an outstanding fishery is well will run through late April. deserved. At the most recent Stren Experts say that despite a lin- Series event, the biggest four-day gering drought the fishing is total weight was 105 pounds, 8 good. ounces caught by David Mauldin. See Page 9 Anglers fish two days and then the top 10 start over with zero weight. NATIONAL See AMISTAD, Page 10 CAUGHT IN THE ACT: A largemouth bass clears the water after being hooked by a soft plastic bait. Photo by David J. Sams. Ohio and Pennsylvania have joined the list of states that per- mit parents to pass on the hunting tradition to their chil- dren minus legal barriers such Anglers gearing up as a minimum hunting age and hunter-education require- ments. See Page 4 to walk the planks CONSERVATION Piers lined with rods as spring nears The annual $1 million Star of Texas Anglers Rodeo put on by Texas coast fishing piers. CCA Texas gives students a By Danno Wise One of the longest running, best- chance to land a scholarship known piers on the Texas coast, the San Luis Pass Fishing Pier should and their parents and others Generations of Texas coastal the opportunity to drive off in a see some impressive catches hit the anglers have flocked to beachfront boards this spring, including some new truck or boat. The tourna- piers. More often than not, these ment, which functions as a jaw-dropping trout. fishermen were rewarded with a membership drive, is also an “Trout will be the most sought- attempt to boost the number of handsome catch for their efforts. after species we have in the spring,” young anglers in the state. As 2006 heads toward spring, said pier employee Galen Pruett. See Page 5 many modern-day anglers are also “Every year we see fish in the 27 to finding a bounty awaiting them 30-inch range. A lot of folks will be FISHING LINE: Anglers line the 83rd Street Pier in Galveston. beneath the planks of many upper See PIERS, Page 10 DEPARTMENTS Travis County man infected PRSRT STD Across the Nation Page 5 US POSTAGE PAID Product Picks Page 13 with plague after hunt PLANO, TX Heroes Page 14 PERMIT 210 By Mary Helen Aguirre Austin/Travis County Health and Outdoor Puzzler Page 15 A hunter who was hospitalized Human Services Department. and treated for plague in a Travis “This is a very unusual case for a Wild in the Kitchen Page 15 County hospital was most likely Travis County resident,” said Dr. exposed while skinning rabbits dur- Adolfo Valadez, medical director for Weather Page 15 ing a hunting trip to a Lea County the Austin/Travis County Health Game Warden Blotter Page 16 ranch in New Mexico. and Human Services Department. The Travis County resident tested “There have only been 35 cases of Outdoor Datebook Page 17 positive for non-contagious, sep- plague in the state of Texas in the last ticemic Yersinia pestis, according to century. The Travis County patient Fishing Report Page 18 a Feb. 23 statement issued by the See PLAGUE, Page 11 Page 2 * March 10, 2006 Clausen claims Classic crown Luke Clausen’s hometown is listed as enough. (a week earlier) and the start of the tourna- Spokane Valley, Wash., but the 27-year-old Veteran Ron Shuffield missed his second ment. More fish got on the beds, and it made sold his house there last fall. Why does that chance at a Classic victory in what was likely it even more viable.” matter? He just became one of the richest his final appearance when he boated just He relied on one bait for the entire 3 days vagabonds in history. three of 13 bites for a 7-15 bag that left him in — a Mann’s HardNose Worm (junebug). He On day three of the Bassmaster Classic, the 3rd with 47-14. caught his final fish of the day on Toho with wind howled across Lake Toho with all the Hometown favorite Terry Scroggins had to a spinnerbait. fury a Florida cold front can deliver. The tem- abandon the group of big fish he found on “All day I was thinking that I didn’t have perature dropped, the weights plummeted, day two due to the weather and caught only enough,” he said. “I thought I had a chance, but Clausen rode the strength of his day one 7-11 to finish 4th with 46-15. Defending but I didn’t think it was a very good one.” super-sack and fought off hard-charging Rick champion Kevin VanDam, the No. 1 ranked This victory differed from his FLWTC win Morris to win the competition’s $500,000- angler in the world, whacked the day’s best because he began the day trying to protect a prize by a 5-pound margin. sack (15-07). He moved up seven spots to fin- lead. In the FLWTC, he was one of 12 anglers Along with his FLW Tour Championship ish 5th with 44-08. who started the final day at zero weight. (FLWTC) victory in 2004, he’s won $1 mil- Clausen in Disbelief He said the pressure of being the frontrun- lion in 18 months. Immediately after the weigh-in, Clausen ner never affected him. “I never got nervous Some at this year’s Classic surged one day said he felt surreal. “It still hasn’t sunk in. It’s until the weigh-in. Once there was nothing only to fall the next. Others were consistent. like I’m in the middle of a dream. I’m in total else I could do to change anything, that’s But Clausen caught them every day. He never disbelief.” when I started to worry.” topped his 29-06 day-one bag, but he never His explanation for why he won the tour- Clausen will not fish the 2006 Bassmaster fell from the lead spot either. He led all three nament was pretty simple — he was on the Elite Series, and does not have an automatic days and his victory left no doubt he’s a ris- best fish. He found an area in the southern berth in the 2007 Classic. The registration ing power in the sport. part of Kissimmee (one of four lakes in the deadline has passed for the 2006 Elite Series, He was the youngest angler in the 51-man Kissimmee Chain that anglers could choose and he chose not to register. BassFan asked field and his 56-02 total also broke the record from) during the pre-practice period, and it BASS whether it would make an exception for for heaviest winning weight in the five-fish- turned red-hot the day before the tourna- Clausen if he wished to fish the Series. A BASS limit era. Davy Hite set the old mark of 55-10 ment began. official said: “No, registration has passed.” in 1999 at the Louisiana Delta. “I think I just had the strongest area on the Tyler angler Jay Yelas finished 22nd, $500,000 VICTORY: Luke Clausen holds up the trophy as he Morris, a 44-year-old who was fishing his lake, and I understood how to fish it pretty winning a purse of $12,500. celebrates winning the 2006 CITGO Bassmaster Classic in first Classic in eight years, caught the second- well,” he said. “And my pattern got stronger Kissimmee, Fla. Photo by ESPN. biggest bag (13-11), but it wasn’t nearly during the warm period between pre-practice —A BassFan.com report Poachers face charges in Lacy Act violations The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has announced that the Department of Justice has charged various individ- uals associated with a San Leandro Church, and other individuals in the aquarium business, with viola- tions of the Lacey Act for allegedly illegally harvesting and selling undersized California leopard sharks.