One Bass-Happy Year for Lewisville Lake
By Bob Hood, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Texas, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Texas
Jan. 1–The hunting and fishing have been great, but that has been only part of the outdoors excitement in 2005.
The year also brought three national fishing tournaments to the Metroplex, the stocking of 4.6 million striped bass in Texas lakes and the openings of the Great Texas Coastal Birding Trail centers and the Government Canyon State Natural Area near San Antonio.
But none of those rank among the top 10 outdoors happenings of the year.
1. Hurricane Rita
Hurricane Rita wreaked havoc on Southeast Texas ecosystems, state parks facilities, wildlife management areas, the Jasper State Fish Hatchery and hunting camps.
Almost all of the major rivers and their tributaries from the Trinity River eastward experienced substantial fish kills, and winds topping 100 mph felled numerous mature hardwood trees in the Pineywoods. The loss of the nut and acorn-producing trees are expected to limit the important food source for deer and squirrels for many years.
At least 20 state parks were closed temporarily by the storm; four are still closed.
2. Lewisville Lake records
Professional angler Kevin VanDam, above, astonished many anglers June 1 when he set a lake record for largemouth bass by catching an 11.81-pounder in a Bassmaster tournament. Seven months later, the record has been broken three more times.
Houston Rogers caught a 12.23-pound bass July17, then Charles Pratt caught a 12.67-pounder July 31. On Nov. 28, Jon Babich of Lewisville was fishing for crappie in the Lake Lewisville Fishing Barge when he caught a 13.63-pounder.
3. Deer hunting changes
New regulations allow hunters in one-buck counties to take up to two additional bucks in other one-buck counties or in two-buck counties. Previously, hunters who shot a buck in a one-buck county could not take a second buck in another one-buck county.
4. Splash dies
The former world record blue catfish caught Jan. 12, 2004, at Lake Texoma died Dec. 6 but not before attracting thousands of visitors to the Texas Freshwater Fisheries Center, where he had been kept on display in a giant aquarium.
Splash weighed 121.5 pounds when caught. The fish lost its world record status last year when a 124-pound blue catfish was caught in the Mississippi River. Splash holds the lake and state records.
On the first anniversary of her arrival at the Athens center, Splash attracted about 800 people, including 133 children with birthday cards.
5. Seagrass protected
The Texas Parks and Wildlife Commission adopted “no prop” zones for boaters to protect seagrass beds in Redfish Bay State Scientific Area. The shallow-water seagrass that provides protection and nursery areas for several types of fish and other marine life has all but disappeared from numerous coastal bays. The new measure also prohibits the uprooting of five seagrass species by any means.
6. Shooter sentenced
A man who shot game warden Billy Heffey near the Canadian River in late 2004 was given two life terms after pleading guilty to two charges. The incident left one person dead and Heffey injured with gun shots to the face and arm.
Seledonio Sanchez Cabrera pleaded guilty to charges of murder and assault of a public servant. Heffey was shot after responding to a 911 call about a woman having been shot.
7. Dallas angler sets record
Josh Hill, 22, landed a world record smallmouth buffalo fish on a self-tied fly and fly rod March 29 while fishing on the Pedernales River.
Hill, a graduate student at the University of Texas, went to the river with professor Gibbs Milliken to collect data for a thesis Hill was to write on fly fishing. They were fishing for sand bass when Hill hooked and landed a 20.89-pound smallmouth buffalo.
Who held the former record? That would be Milliken.
8. ShareLunker success
The ShareLunker program’s 2004-05 season closed in April with 24 fish entered, the highest number since 1996. Lake Alan Henry led the barrage of 13 pound and larger bass with nine entries, followed by Lake Fork with seven.
Nine of the fish spawned at the Texas Freshwater Fisheries Center, producing 200,000 fry for future stockings.
9. Golden algae strikes
Lakes Whitney and Granbury suffered major fish kills last year due to toxic blooms from golden algae, but 4.6 million striped bass fingerlings were stocked in several lakes during the summer to help replenish populations hit by the toxins.
Lake Granbury lost approximately 2.2 fish — mainly shad, carp and sunfish — in a three-week period in January. A fish kill that began in late January at Whitney claimed fish of all species. Parks and wildlife department biologists estimated that the lake lost 4.9 million fish during one week (Feb. 20-26) alone.
10. New bird stamp
A Migratory Bird Stamp replaced the white-winged dove and state waterfowl stamps, and combined them into one that also includes dove hunting. The $7 stamp is required for anyone who hunts doves and all other migratory birds.
blhood@star-telegram.com
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