Texas Hunters for the Hungry, a program administered by the Texas Association of Community Action Agencies, Inc., has exceeded two million pounds of venison donated over the last 20 years. This year the program has contributed 178,662 pounds of venison to more than 100 organizations (food banks, pantries and soup kitchens) that serve low income people across Texas. Hunters take legally harvested deer to a participating meat processor, pay a nominal fee to cover basic processing costs and the meat processor does all the rest. For more information: 1-800-992-9767, ext 506 or www.tacaa.org/hunters-for-the-hungry .

Capt. Henry reports that although catching was a little slow at times last week, kids had fun fishing with their dads and granddads, as the photos below show.

According to Bay Flats Lodge veteran guide Harold Dwoarczyk “This is the best trout fishing we’ve experienced in the past 5 years.” From boat fishing with live live bait to wade fishing with top waters or soft plastics, trout fishing has been good as it gets for most groups.The big push on monster size reds is already taking place as well. Just the other day our guests released a 42” & 38” red.

This year in the Northern Hemisphere, Autumn begins on September 23, 2011, at 6:05 A.M. (CDT). It’s a time that is both pleasant and regretful at the same time for some, but for others it’s their favorite time of the year. This is the beginning of fall, when baseball season is coming to an end and when football season is just getting underway. Temperatures will begin to get lower, and nights will begin to get longer. In most of the northern parts of our country the foliage will be turning vibrant shades of red and orange and there will be a noticeable newness and cleanness to the air that’s unsurpassed by any other time of the year. For the southern portion of the country, however, this is the time of the year when we look forward to our first opportunity at relief from summer’s relentless heat as we welcome some of our initial encounters with the year’s coolness. And, if you’re one of those southern anglers who like to hunt redfish with artificial lures, then the end of August and the beginning of September is a great time of the year for you along Texas’ Gulf coast. Redfish action, for us, has already increased over the course of the past couple weeks, as some catches have provided our clients with personal-best records – the most recent being a 42-inch redfish that was caught (and released) in mid-August. We’re discovering these fish to be located in the upper water column above grass patches in the sand in one to three feet of water in our local bay systems, and that the bait of preference is the smaller-sized top water baits, like the new GunDog Little Dummy from the fine folks at Texas Tackle Factory. Now then, by the time you read this article, some of the year’s most awesome fishing for redfish will probably have already begun to take place. Each passing day will begin to bring with it reduced winds, with some of those being out of the north, and these light winds will tend to flatten both the bays and the surf. Some fast action can’t help but be experienced during the low light conditions associated with the first two hours of daylight in the fall, so make your plans accordingly.

The September forecast for Texas coastal fishing is looking favorable as long as the weather gods don’t deal us any extreme tropical weather during this year’s hurricane season. So far, this year has been, for the most part, quiet. But that’s not completely unusual for this time of the year, as some of the most historical and disastrous Texas hurricanes have decided not to hit shore until later in the month of September. The latest La Nina events have come and gone, and weather forecasters say its once again time for things to begin working back to normal for our region, so we’ll keep our fingers crossed in hopes that the experts know what they’re talking about and that this means we’ll experience a somewhat minimal storm season this year (although a big hurricane might just supply us with the much needed rain across the state).

Regardless, locating both trout and reds in the upcoming month of September will continue to include the necessity of first locating active mullet. We’ve recently run across redfish feeding in knee-deep water along leeward shorelines of Espiritu Santo and San Antonio Bay, and within those schools of reds have been some really nice trout ranging from three to five pounds. But like I said earlier, the taking of these really nice trout, for the most part, has been a hit-or-miss opportunity for most of us. This record-setting hot summer has placed us in a pattern where we have gotten familiar with fishing deep during low tides and an outgoing current, and fishing tight to the grass during periods of higher tides with an incoming current.

Given these circumstances, I continue to hear reports of spectacular trout catches in areas west of Seadrift – areas like that of West Matagorda Bay such as…the Cedars, the Ranch House shoreline, Cottons, and Greens Bayou. Recent fishing reports from these areas indicate that sand flats surrounded by grass beds have been the most productive for the redfish, while deeper shell that happens to be located between waist and shoulder depth has been proven to be the ticket for picking-up most of the trout over the past couple weeks.

In my last article, I spoke of my anticipation that redfish shall begin to school in greater numbers along our neighboring shorelines in the not-so-distant future. Well, it now seems as though my anticipation and anxiety over this future event may be coming true.

Just after the middle of August we began experiencing winds out of the southeast and southwest, bringing with them some somewhat higher water. And these higher tides will only become more predominant as we make our way further into the month of September. But higher water levels are not the only favorable conditions that we welcome at this time of the year. We’ll also begin seeing minor cooling to area water temperatures – almost always a result of the higher water levels at this time of the year, even in the absence of any pre-autumn northern frontal passages. This mild cooling effect upon the water temperature is generally affiliated with higher water levels, and generally will boost bait activity along area grassy shores where both the trout and the reds will begin to feed on a more regular basis throughout the course of the entire day. The fish will once again begin lurking in camouflaged locations that were previously uninhabitable due to low tides – places such as back lakes, marshes, sloughs, and coves. So, before you spend an enormous amount of time and effort wading up to your neck out deep, think about all the possibilities of the shallows first, as it was just yesterday that we took the majority of our fish out of waters that were no more than two feet deep, and the bite was ‘on’ from early morning through late afternoon……just sayin’ !!!!!

When it comes to a world-class level of wing-shooting, it’s hard to beat the Seadrift and Port O’Connor areas for Pintail, Widgeon, Redheads, and a wide variety of ducks. This upcoming season, let Bay Flats show you the hunt of a lifetime with an action-packed day of waterfowl hunting, fishing, or even both. Our “Blast & Cast” packages include morning shooting for ducks and geese followed by a relaxing afternoon on the water while bay fishing for trout, redfish, and flounder (or, returning to the blind to finish-out your duck limit with an afternoon of hunting). Either way, your afternoon is completely fun filled. Until next time, be courteous while on the water, and remind yourself to always approach wade fishermen while idling slowly, or pass them with good distance.

Captain Chris Martin, Owner, Bay Flats Lodge, Inc.
Seadrift, Texas 1.888.677.4868 Office 1.361.785.4176 Fax
www.BayFlatsLodge.com BayFlatsLodge@gmail.com

Guest of TAS of Dallas enjoyed releasing this big red with Bay Flats Lodge Jason Wagenfehr, August 2011.

42 inch red released by Trish, who attended a corporate sales meeting & fishing trip to Bay Flats Lodge with Capt. Harold, San Antonio Bay with live bait on 8-17-11.

Personal best trout, 7 pounds, Sharon T. from Houston with Bay Flats Lodge David McClelland, using live croaker in San Antonio Bay, August 2011.

“The Way I See It” is an attempt by the guest columnist to enlighten readers on a subject, as he views it, and does not necessarily reflect the views of this publication. Comments on this article may be addressed to: Dolphin Talk, P.O. Box 777, Port O’Connor, TX 77982; Email: dolphin1@tisd.net

The Ten Planks of the Communist Manifesto

I have written before of “The Rules of Ten”. The first is The Ten Commandments. I think most of us are familiar with these and will agree they are the better part of Western Civilization. The second is the Bill of Rights, or the first ten Amendments to the Constitution. These Rights express the basis of a Constitutional Republic, the basic duty of government is to protect the individual rights of the citizens, and to limit the power of the Federal Government. We all should be familiar with these, also.

The third group is the ‘Ten Planks of the Communist Manifesto’. Unfortunately many Americans are not familiar with these rules espoused by our enemies, so I will quote them here (with my comments and clarifications in parenthesis). The following is taken from a 1948 reprint by International Publishers of “The Communist Manifesto” by Karl Marx and Frederick Engels, the 1888 edition, translated and edited by Engels.

1. Abolition of (private) property in land and application of all rents of land to public purposes. (This is the basis for government ownership of all “means of production”. The government ‘may’ choose to rent some property to you, but you cannot own it. The creation of real wealth by mining, agriculture, manufacturing, or some combination of the three, require ownership of the property.)

2. A heavy progressive or graduated income tax. (This prevents the accumulation of the necessary capital to invest in any business.)

3. Abolition of all right of inheritance. (If one generation does start any business, no matter how small, it reverts to the government at their death.)

4. Confiscation of the property of all emigrants and rebels. (You can’t leave the country with anything, and if the government brands you as a “rebel” they can confiscate anything you have.)

5. Centralization of credit in the hands of the state, by means of a national bank with state capital and an exclusive monopoly. (Think a Federal Reserve System run by Charles Shumer and Barney Frank. Fannie Mae squared.)

6. Centralization of the means of communication and transportation in the hands of the state. (Only NPR & MSNBC? No free press, no privately owned vehicles.)

7. Extension of factories and instruments of production owned by the state, the bringing into cultivation of waste lands, and the improvement of the soil generally in accordance with a common plan. (All mining, Agriculture, and manufacturing belongs to the state.)

8. Equal obligation of all to work. Establishment of industrial armies, especially for agriculture. (Community service, or slavery?)

9. Combination of agriculture with manufacturing industries; gradual abolition of the distinction between town and country, by the more equable distribution of the population over the country. (Total control over the population.)

10. Free education for all children in public schools. Abolition of child factory labor in its present form. Combination of education with industrial production, etc. (Total indoctrination of children, youth trained to serve as the state needs. No freedom of choice for career.)

I challenge each of you to study and understand these principles and ask yourself who is pushing for these and why they wish to enforce them on a free people. See how these ‘planks’ have been gradually forced on us: #1 & 7 are gradually enforced by bureaucracy and regulation. You are only allowed to do what Zoning, EPA, OSHA, and host of other bureaucracies allow you, permits must be purchased for every step, and you still get to pay taxes on property you don’t truly own.

#2,3, & 4 are self explanatory. I think #5 is demonstrated by the current ‘Debt Crisis’ and the constant expansion of Federal Debt and the money supply for the benefit of the ‘Progressive/socialists’.

#6 is demonstrated by the “Fairness Doctrine” and the subservience of the MSM to the far left and by the administration’s dictating to the auto industry what they can sell. #8 has been demonstrated by Obama’s insistence of students perform ‘Community Service’ to graduate from High School and College. #9 is just beginning, the failed Wildings Project of the Clinton era and now the UN’s Agenda 21 are examples; more regulations are coming and many are on the books, often under FEMA, but not generally enforced.

The first part of #10 is obvious, Public schools now teach socialism and whatever agenda the Elites demand. They do not need to apply these ‘Planks’ as Marx wrote them, in fact it is far more efficient to apply control gradually, hiding behind a facade of “Democracy”. Under the “Wetlands” laws they can deny you any use of a portion of your property, but you still must pay taxes on it. If they condemn it all you would cease to pay the taxes and let it escheat to the government.

Compare these to the two previous “Rules of Ten” and consider which set you would like to live under and to pass on to your descendants. Then consider who is trying to enforce these and the “45 Declared Goals of the Communist Party” on us.

Political Cartoon, Chicago Tribune, 1934