Young guest of a corporate family event at Bay Flats Lodge.

Texas anglers, or any anglers who may have visited Texas for any measurable length of time, know that Texas weather can be quite unpredictable. Heck, some folks even say that if you don’t like the Texas weather, just stick around for five minutes and it will probably change. And there’s no place in the state where this is more evident than along the vast stretches of coastline along the Gulf of Mexico. One minute it’s muggy and raining, and the next thing you know the sun is shining – just like nothing ever happened. Another thing Texas coastal anglers know is that the month of December can place them amongst a wide range of cloud, water, wind, and temperature ranges and conditions on any day of the month. The weekend may bring clouds, rain, and blustery winds that help drop temperatures into the 30’s and 40’s for Monday and Tuesday, and then by Wednesday or Thursday the thermometer climbs back into the 70’s, or maybe even the low 80’s. Times like these can be very frustrating for anglers, especially for those who don’t get to spend a lot of time out on the water. When this happens to you, utilizing a little common sense based upon your prior experiences can help you save an otherwise dreary day.

Let me use a recent trip of mine to help explain what I mean. It was a couple days following a very substantial cold-front which had made its way down to the Coastal Bend region all the way from Canada. And although the winds and the rain had already blown past us, there remained a great deal of cloud cover – I couldn’t see a star in the sky while I was prepping the boat before sunrise. As I made my way across the bay to what has proven to be a good place for me locating cold-water trout over the years, I could also tell that the water color wasn’t what I’d hoped it would be. The strong winds accompanying the frontal passage had significantly muddied the water, at least out in the open-water of the bay. It was just as the sky was brightening that I arrived at the location. I eased the boat close to the protected shore where I knew it would be shallow enough to start my first wading session. I still couldn’t see very well, so I just dropped the anchor and sat to enjoy the quiet for a few more minutes.

The air was still extremely cold, and a dunk of my hand into the water next to the boat told me the water temperature had dipped also. A few minutes had passed, and I could now clearly see down the shoreline for quite some distance. I could also now tell that the cloud cover appeared as though it might be breaking up. As I looked out across the water, I never saw any “signs” of action, at least not at the surface. However, I knew that the bay floor beneath me tapered away from the shoreline into about a six-to-eight foot depth. Experience told me that the fish were going to be cold this morning, and that if I remained patient, this shoreline that is covered with a brief topping of mud, grass, and shell might just come alive at the first hint of sunshine. So, I tied-on a dark, slow-sinker mullet imitation and made my way into the water. Due to the coldness of the water, I knew the fish would be nibbling at my bait, so I began working the lure at a painstakingly slow pace across the mid and lower portions of the water column. I persevered in this fashion for the next half-hour with no results, and had made my way out into waist-deep water that was not exceedingly clear.

The sun had since peered from behind the clouds and was now beaming down strong upon the shallow water at my back. I knew that once the sun began to shine, the water along the bank would begin to warm much faster than out deep where I was, so I slowly started my way back to skinnier water. As I walked, I attached one of my favorite bottom-dwelling plastic tails to the end of my line and began broadcasting my presentation of the bait in patterns from my nine o’clock to my three o’clock, all the while attempting to create a small mud cloud across the bay floor directly behind the path of my lure. I got to about thigh-deep water when I got my first strike. It was brief, and I think it took me off-guard to the point to where I simply got too excited and jerked the rod tip way too fast.

The sky was blue, and the sun was bright now, and the hits just kept coming from the very shallow water as the morning progressed. I fished until about noon, and ended the trip with a half-dozen sizeable trout. Even managed a small flounder? Anyhow, I’m convinced that I was only able to do as well as I did that morning because I relied on what I had learned from experience, and because I was able to force myself to be patient enough to take advantage of the conditions as they changed around me.

We hope everyone has a safe and happy Christmas holiday, and we want you to remember that this year’s annual Bay Flats Lodge 2014 Winter Fishing Special is just around the corner. It’s a time during the months of January, February, and March when you and your guests can fish at the Lodge and receive our standard fishing package at a tremendously discounted rate. Remember to practice CPR, “Catch, Photo, and Release”, whenever possible on trophy Trout and Reds…Guide Chris Martin, Port O’Connor/Seadrift region. www.BayFlatsLodge.com…1-888-677-4868

Bay Flats Lodge Harold Dworaczyk teaming up with longtime guests M. Lemke party.

I fell in love with duck hunting the very first moment I stepped into a blind at a very young age. Call it silly if you will, but there’s just something special about being out in the cold, wet, salty marsh on a dark winter morning that thrills me. To this day, I still do not think much can match the level of excitement I feel each time a shot opportunity arises. I can feel my heart pounding, and my pulse increasing. I can feel the blood rushing throughout my head and my body. My focus narrows on the inbound target, and my stomach feels as though it has suddenly filled with fluttering butterflies. These are all familiar feelings that anyone who has faced down an approaching flock of ducks from within their blind has felt at one time or another during the years that they have been hunting. But not everyone has had a chance to experience the rush of adrenaline that duck hunting can provide. But they can, because duck hunting is not hard to grasp for anyone who has the desire to do so.

I hunt with a lot of different people each hunting season, some of whom are novice hunters who are trying duck hunting for the very first time in their life. Most of these people continue to hunt today, and I’ve attempted to stay in touch with a lot of them over the years. It may sound funny, but I think I’ve shared one common conversation with most of them at some point in those years. Almost all of them left their first hunt with the misconception that duck hunting is easy. And it is. It’s easy from a learning perspective, but I can guarantee you won’t ever be at a loss for new things to notice and to realize. Duck hunting is much more than simply sitting in a duck blind with a shotgun in your lap while waiting for the ducks to fly overhead. It combines a bevy of preparation, equipment, and knowledge. Here are the basics.

In preparing for the beginning of duck season along the coastal regions of Texas, you can contact the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPW&D) to find out the rules and regulations, legal hunting methods, and the bag and possession limits. Once you have this information, you can go to almost any sporting goods store in order to purchase a Texas hunting license and required stamp(s), or you can order online directly from TPW&D if you’d like.

While duck hunting, you’re going to be around a lot of water that is more than likely going to be cold, so your next assignment needs to be to find the proper clothes for the challenge – waders, jacket, gloves. When temperatures drop and winds increase, things can get rather cold in a very short period of time, especially out in a duck blind. Choosing the right clothes to protect you from the elements can mean the difference between you being comfortable and miserable. Because you will be walking around in mud and marsh, you are going to need to invest in a pair of chest waders. A pair of neoprene waders will put you in one of the more popular materials used by wader manufacturers. Neoprene will keep you dry, and it will keep you warm. My preference, however, are a pair of lighter, more breathable waders that allow me to stay dry while I regulate how much warmth I need. If it is going to be really cold, I put on a pair of fleece pants before pulling on my waders. For additional protection from the wet and cold, I also recommend you buy a waterproof hunting jacket that has a removable liner inside of it for those warmer days that you may be hunting. Because we do walk through so much water when hunting along the coast, I always like my jacket to be about the length of a wading jacket. I’ve tried longer ones in the past, but always come back to the shorter lengths because they seem to be much more compact in size and they don’t get as wet when wading through water. And, because of the water, you will also need to have some warm gloves on your hands, especially if you are the one tossing decoys prior to sunrise. If you get the neoprene gloves, make sure they are insulated, as the neoprene alone will not always keep your hands and your wrists from freezing once they get wet.

Next, you will need a gun that can get the job done. A semi-automatic 12-gauge shotgun is my weapon of choice. The size of the 12-gauge shell is definitely big enough to do what is being asked of it, and the semi-automatic action lets me volley a second and a third shot very rapidly when needed. For beginners and younger duck shooters, I might recommend the use of a 20-gauge shotgun until you get the feel for shooting at the ducks. It will be a lighter gun, and consequently will be more gracious with regards to recoil and so forth. You’ll be able to hit the birds that are landing directly in your decoys, but don’t look to make the long shots, and don’t expect to knock a goose out the sky, as a 20-gauge is simply too light of a weapon for large or long-range ducks and geese. Another topic for consideration while gun shopping is chokes. Chokes intentionally narrow the muzzle of the gun barrel which, in turn, controls the size and the density of the shotgun shell pellet pattern. If you expect you will be mostly shooting ducks that will be setting down close-in by the decoys, then you may opt for the use of an improved cylinder, which provides a much wider shell pellet pattern. On the other hand, if you’re looking to having to make some of those longer range shots, you may consider a full choke which will produce a much tighter pattern. For everything in between a close-up shot and a long range shot, a modified choke will probably fit the bill. These differing chokes that hunters can screw into the end of their shotgun barrel are really nice because they allow the hunter to be able to use the same gun for different ranges and for a wider variety of different bird species.

Once you settle on which gun you prefer, the next thing you will be faced with is making a decision as to which shells to buy for your duck hunting needs. Making the selection of the right shotgun shell for duck hunting is as important as you having the right shotgun. Lead shot is no longer allowed, so most hunters shoot steel shot today, although there are other choices besides steel out on the market that include such materials as bismuth, tungsten and a various array of other alloys. Steel is the most common because of its cost, but some of the more avid hunters simply won’t think of shooting anything other than bismuth or tungsten. You’ll be better able to make your shotgun shell decision as you spend more time with your gun and discovering what tends to work best for you based upon your gun, your chokes, the distance you are normally required to shoot, and the size and type of your primary target. Examining variances between different type shells can be fun and interesting, and the effort of doing so can pay off significantly whenever you find yourself in different situations throughout the course of the season. You may also like to spend a little bit of time at a gun range, or with a friend who can toss some skeet or sporting clays for you, in order to allow you to sharpen some of your shooting skills before the season starts, or as a general practice throughout the course of the entire year.

As you can see, there are a lot of things one needs to try to learn about the sport of duck hunting. I could continue to go into detail about such things as the need for you to be able to properly identify the ducks before shooting at them, the importance for proper camouflage and concealment, the use of a dog when duck hunting, and the strategies and tactics behind proper use and placement of duck decoys. But instead of trying to fill your brain to the point of explosion, I believe I will instead just make one last recommendation to you, and that is that you may be better served by hunting with someone who knows about the ducks and how they operate. Whether it’s your grandfather, dad, uncle, brother, neighbor, friend, or a professional duck hunting guide, choosing someone as your duck hunting coach can help you with things like hunting locations, duck movements and feeding patterns, rules and regulations, and a myriad of other things that you can learn only from an experienced duck hunter. In the end, duck hunting is a great way to enjoy all that our Texas outdoors has to offer. If you’ve never tried it, maybe it’s time you did!

Wishing all of you a very safe and happy holiday season!

James H. Madden, III, January 16, 1936 – December 3, 2013:

James (Jimmy) Henry Madden, III, 77 was born January 16, 1936 in Seadrift, Texas. He went home to be with his heavenly father on December 3, 2013. He passed away at home in Seadrift with his wife, Martha J. Madden, daughter and son-in-law at his side.

Jimmy grew up in Seadrift and had careers as a tugboat captain and a business owner. He later moved to Langdon, ND with his family and owned the Terry Hotel. In 1978, he moved to Walhalla, ND where he served as pastor of the Son Shine Baptist Church and drove school bus for the Walhalla Public Schools. Jimmy and Martha were married in July 1981 and lived in Walhalla until his retirement in 2001. He and his wife, Martha, loved to travel across the country and did so often. His love for his Lord and Savior was foremost in his life, followed by his love for Martha. Jimmy lived a full and rich life filled with family and friends. Having his siblings, children, grandchildren and great grandchildren surround him made him happy and content. If he could involve anyone in discussing politics or religion, his life was complete. Jimmy loved playing cards with his children, gardening, traveling, and living on the Gulf with his memories of his tugboat captain days. He will be forever remembered and missed by all those who loved him.

Jimmy is survived by his wife, Martha J.; his mother Edith; his siblings, Jackie Hamilton and husband William of Sequin, Texas, John Madden and wife Glenda of Birmington, Wash., and Joyce Bradshaw and husband Jim of Churchhill, Texas. Jimmy’s children are James Henry Madden, IV and wife Dynelle of Vidor, Texas, Cindy Timian and husband David of Seadrift, and Charlene Madden and husband Jim Everette of Mesa, Ariz. His step-children are Deborah Heuscher and husband Dee of Big Fork, Mont., Wayne Hogan of Hammond, Ind., Joan Meidinger and husband Todd of Fargo, ND, Clinton Hogan of Hammond, Ind., and Michelle Hogan and Bob Miesen of Fargo, ND. Also left behind are Jimmy’s 25 grandchildren and 14 great-grandchildren.

Those who preceded him in death were his father, James Henry Madden, II; his brother, Jerry (Rick); children, Edith Lynne and Stephen Douglas and a grandson, Austin Rieger. Memorial services were held on Dec. 7, 2013 at 2 p.m. at the First Baptist Church in Seadrift, Texas with Pastor Gerry Wiley officiating.