Texas Parks & Wildlife Magazine - March 2013

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magazine cover and angler with fish

March 2013 - Texas Parks & Wildlife Magazine

Cure midwinter crazies with some warm-water fishing in Texas’ power plant lakes. Find out if Splash, a dainty 121.5-pound blue catfish, will do for Texas catfish what Ethel did for Texas bass. Read about lucky hunters who head into J.D. Murphree’s 24,000-acre marsh to land an American alligator. Then learn about the monarch butterfly/antelope horn connection, find out what’s to see in Big Spring, help Texas Parks and Wildlife Department celebrate its 50th anniversary and more.

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Feature Articles

Hot on Fishing

‘Electric’ lakes generate warm water for great cold-weather outings.

3 men lak fishing, power plant towers behind

By Larry D. Hodge

Texas has about 20 lakes used to supply cooling water for electric generating plants that also furnish good public opportunities for fishing. These lakes offer anglers a cure for the midwinter crazies that can strike as a result of too-short days, too much televised sports and too much couch time. 

Admit it: After a couple of wintry months spent not fishing, seeing Bill Dance pull a big old bass or catfish out of the water and wave it in front of the TV camera makes you want to just snatch it out of his hand and smack him in the kisser with it.

Read more.

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The Cat's Meow

With abundant supply and new research, Texas may become a top destination for catfishing.

close up catfish in hand

By Dyanne Fry Cortez and Ken Kurzawski

It all started with Ethel. In 1986, Mark Stevenson caught a record-breaking largemouth bass from Lake Fork. Weighing in at 17.67 pounds, his fish was the first entry in the ShareLunker program. Ethel, as she was named, became a legend in the fish world. She drew thousands of visitors to Texas Parks and Wildlife Department’s old Tyler Fish Hatchery and lived out her retirement years in a display aquarium at the first Bass Pro Shops store in Springfield, Mo. Ethel’s celebrity generated public support for hatchery programs and conservation-minded regulations. You could say she helped create the world-class bass fishery that Texas enjoys today. 

 

In 2004, Cody Mullenix landed a blue catfish that made Ethel look like small fry.

Read more.

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The Gator Wranglers

Landing alligators is an exciting mix of hunting and fishing.

boat in marsh, 3 hunters, 3 dead alligators

By Abe Moore

It’s a muggy, buggy afternoon in an East Texas marsh. While hungry alligators lurk nearby, the “gator boys” jump out of the boat to scramble around with rotten chicken — all part of the fun of gator hunting.

It’s mid-September at the J.D. Murphree Wildlife Management Area near Port Arthur, time for the annual public alligator hunt. During September, 100 or so lucky hunters win the chance to come out to this wild and remote coastal marsh habitat to try to hook, tussle and land an American alligator.

Read more.

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More Articles

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