Spring bass Many largemouth bass spawned later April 23, 2010 Texas’ Premier Outdoor Newspaper Volume 6, Issue 17 than normal in Texas this spring. Page 9 Inside From bank or boat Popular and lesser-known lakes producing spring crappie By Craig Nyhus LONE STAR OUTDOOR NEWS Cody Neace and his father, Junior, landed limits of crappie several days this spring at Lewisville Lake, includ- ing three days in a row. That’s not unusual, maybe, except they did it from the bank. “The fi sh have been real shallow,” Cody said. “Although ❘❚ HUNTING sometimes they have been suspended at 6 feet over 20 feet of water.” Frustrated yet? Cody prefers the jig, while his father chooses min- Turkey hunters know well the frustrations of nows. chasing the wary birds. “It has been incredible,” Cody said. “We’ve been catch- Page 4 ing one every fi ve minutes, but a lot of them are small.” As with all types of fi shing, location is the key. Probiotics, pro deer “Fortunately, we know a couple of good spots where there are brush piles close to the bank,” he said. Companies are manufacturing additives, Caddo Lake is one of the state’s most famous crappie such as probiotics, for deer feed. lakes, and it is holding to form this Page 4 spring. Dennis North guides at the lake, fi shing orange/white/orange INSIDE Caddo Lake Dream Team Jigs primar- ■ Crappie: ily on the river. Not a lot of “It’s pretty darn good,” North said. stocker crappie “We’re catching 30 to 40 a day, and at in Texas. least half are keepers. We’ve had good Page 6 weather, and there isn’t any current, which is good for crappie fi shing.” North said the best fi shing has been in the river in 12 to 15 feet of water. “And the redear perch are hitting the crappie jigs, too,” he said. While lakes like Caddo, Fork and Texoma draw more crappie chasers, crappie fi shing can bring attention to spots some anglers may not know exist. ❘❚ FISHING “We spent a few days fi shing Lake Gilmer,” said Kevin Kubiak, who guides part-time at Lake Granger. “We caught Attention, race fans YOUR PICK: Anglers are fi nding crappie by land and watercraft during the spring spawn. Photo by David J. Sams, Jamie McMurray won the Daytona 500 and Lone Star Outdoor News. See CRAPPIE, Page 27 took on anglers, hunters and golfers in Texas. Page 7 Pioneer Dargel dies Shallow-water boating changed forever when Russell Dargel started building — in the ’30s. Page 6 BEARDED WONDERS: Welcome to Lake X ❘❚ CONTENTS Turkeys with Classifi eds . Page 29 multiple Crossword . Page 28 beards mean TPW studying bass at Fishing Report . Page 8 a lot to hunters For the Table . Page 28 but apparently private lake in Game Warden Blotter . Page 10 not much to Heroes . Page 19 the birds. former coal mine Outdoor Datebook. Page 20 Photo by Outfi tters and Businesses . Page 24 Lone Star By Thomas Phillips Products . Page 12 Outdoor News. LONE STAR OUTDOOR NEWS Sun, Moon and Tide data . Page 28 Lake X’s are supposed to be secret. Mercury ❘❚ LSONews.com Motors for about 30 years had its famed Lake X for testing new equipment before it hit the market. Now, Texas Parks and Wildlife has its own Lake X: a secret private lake where the department is Much unknown studying largemouth bass in its Operation World PAID Record program. The secret is out thanks to two PLANO, TX PRSRT STD PRSRT PERMIT 210 US POSTAGE US videos on the Internet. about multiple The 100-acre water body is a reclaimed lig- nite coal mine pit, located at the Big Brown beards on birds Mine in East Texas. The location was confi rmed by Luminant, the power company that owns the property, in an online video about the fi sh Extra tufts don’t appear research being done at the lake. Pro angler Alton Jones of Waco also has writ- to affect breeding ten about the lake on his blog and hosted another Internet video fi lmed at the lake. By Thomas Phillips Lake X is stocked with fi sh from TPW’s LONE STAR OUTDOOR NEWS largemouth bass breeding program — which only grows offspring from pure Florida-strain A turkey with multiple beards is a rare largemouth bass. The purpose of the lake is to NO BOATS: At Lake X in East Texas, bass genetic research thing, and it’s also a mystery. study how big the fi sh grow and how fast they is being conducted by Texas Parks and Wildlife. Photo by “This, I guarantee, is a totally random grow. Luminant. occurrence,” said Bret Collier, a research The lake is off-limits to the public, and restricted ecologist at Texas A&M University. “There is access helps keep fi shing pressure controllable. for 15 years. Time Sensitive Material • Deliver ASAP Sensitive Material • Deliver Time no rhyme or reason or logic or environmen- TPW has a contract with Luminant so it can The contract started fi ve years ago, said Allen tal factor or what you feed them or where conduct its research there. Luminant approached Forshage, director of the Texas Freshwater TPW about using the lake, and the company See BEARDS, Page 25 donated access and management rights to TPW See LAKE X, Page 26 Page 2 April 23, 2010 Lone✯Star Outdoor News LSONews.com LSONews.com Lone✯Star Outdoor News April 23, 2010 Page 3 Page 4 April 23, 2010 Lone✯Star Outdoor News LSONews.com HUNTING Ranch accused of bait and switch South Texas operation allegedly boasted of being big, wild but wasn’t By Bill Miller Efforts to reach the couple for criminal, to the game wardens,” pletely unacceptable.” FOR LONE STAR OUTDOOR NEWS comment were unsuccessful. said Tom Kelley, the spokesman. In the Candelaria Ranch case, However, Paul Candelaria “I think some cases involving the five former clients claim in affi- Texas’ top law enforcement told the Houston Chronicle that sale of some sick pets — puppies davits that the ranch’s Web site, official is accusing a Gonzales Abbott’s allegations surprised or some sick horses — are the wildhoghunttexas.com, offered County hunting operation of him, and that he was eager to closest we’ve come to this. world-class, open-range hunts defrauding clients. fight them in court. “But the same law applies — for hogs, deer, antelope, var- A lawsuit was filed in early A spokesman for Abbott said deceptive trade practices.” mints and exotics. April by Attorney General Greg he couldn’t remember an AG Kelley explained that these But, according to Abbott’s Abbott against Candelaria Ranch lawsuit that focused on a hunt- civil lawsuits are the result of staff, the Candelarias “wholly LLC, operated by Paul and Angela ing operation. “promising to give one thing and Candelaria of Pasadena. “We refer matters, if they’re then giving something else com- See BUSINESS, Page 23 EXTRA INGREDIENTS: Companies are manu- facturing additives for deer feed in an effort to help the deer grow. Photo by LSON. Turkey hunters know best the Probiotics challenges of bringing in a bird and tout edge Frustrated the pain of being busted by one for deer Additives gaining in popularity for people, but not yet for wildlife By Ralph Winingham FOR LONE STAR OUTDOOR NEWS White-tailed deer breeders in Texas are always looking for an edge — some way to create bigger, better, healthier animals that will feed the demand for big bucks by thousands of trophy hunters every year. A potential factor into the big buck formula that has reached Texas in the past two years is probiotics, a mixture of naturally occurring enzymes com- bined with deer feed. Kirby Vanover, a nutritionist for Angelo Pellets, which supplies feed in San Angelo, said one product the com- pany sells is DeerZyme. The product contains seven enzymes that aid deer in digestion. “With ruminant animals, it really helps the efficiency of vegetable utili- zation,” Vanover said. Simply put, the product allows deer to get more out of what they eat, Vanover said. Deer eating the product HIDE AND HOPE: Turkey hunters go to great lengths to hide from turkeys, but sometimes the birds do not cooperate, though the hunter may be all but invisible. The wary are showing improved body condition nature of turkeys causes many frustrating days for some hunters. Photos by Lone Star Outdoor News. and health, Vanover said. But the jury is still out on whether deer eating it By Kyle Carter grow bigger antlers. FOR LONE STAR OUTDOOR NEWS “It’s gotta help the overall picture and, in turn, the overall antler devel- Josh Chilton had been sitting there in the hot opment,” he said. sun all day. One deer breeder, Pete Smith of the A huge group of turkeys had come hair-rais- Diamond S. Ranch near Cranfills Gap, ingly close to shooting range almost 12 hours is looking forward to giving probiotics earlier, which had been enough to keep Chilton a try after obtaining excellent results and his two friends sitting in a blind and skip- with a similar supplement called ping lunch in 90-degree heat. Chaffhaye. Finally, with the sun departing, they packed “We started using Chaffhaye about up their things and decided to head home. About two years ago, and we have had out- the time they stood up, three big toms topped standing success,” Smith said. “Our the hill in front of them. Chilton dropped, deer love it, and they are healthier, fat- grabbed his bow and started calling.