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It was with mixed emotions that I learned of Dr. Larry McKinney’s departure from the ranks of the Texas Parks & Wildlife Department. I have worked with Dr. McKinney on a great many print and broadcast stories over the past two decades, and without exception, he exhibited a degree of candor and integrity that is the epitome of media professionalism.

Yes, I am sad to hear that my friend Larry McKinney is leaving TPWD. He has been a tremendous asset to the department, and fought a great many battles on our behalves. On the other hand, I am really happy for a first-class guy who has earned everything he has achieved through sheer hard work and determination.

I most recently spoke with Dr. McKinney at the Texas Outdoor Writers Association’s annual conference in College Station. Once again, I was impressed by his dogged determination to steadfastly represent the interests of the fishing community … and in that particular instance, those of us who are having to deal with a set of federally-mandated red snapper regulations that at their best can only be described as convoluted and ill-conceived.

Congratulations on a job well-done, Dr. McKinney. And best wishes to you and yours as you move into place with the Harte Research Institute for Gulf of Mexico Studies at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi.

Something tells me that we are a long way from done in terms of working together. I certainly hope so.

Good sources are hard to find. Good sources who are also bona fide good guys are even rarer.

Boz
McKinney Leaves Environmental Legacy at TPWD
AUSTIN, Texas — Dr. Larry McKinney, known affectionately as “Dr. Doom” for his candid, outspoken approach to addressing environmental issues, is leaving the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department a legacy not built on despair, but on hope.
For more than 20 years with the department, McKinney has championed endangered and threatened species and served as a proponent for resource conservation, water resources in particular. McKinney, director of Coastal Fisheries and senior director of Aquatic Resources for TPWD, has been named executive director of the Harte Research Institute for Gulf of Mexico Studies at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi. He assumes his new role in July.
“All of us at Texas Parks and Wildlife Department will miss Dr. McKinney’s extraordinary leadership, scientific acumen, vision, and conservation ethic while serving as Director of Coastal Fisheries,” said Carter Smith, TPWD executive director.
“During his nearly 25 year tenure with the agency, he has been at the forefront of innovative conservation efforts to protect our

Read: Dr. Larry McKinney Leaves a Sterling Legacy at TPWD »

I covered this topic in an issue of Salt Water Sportsman last fall, and have gotten enough requests for the info that it arguably merits another look.
The subject?
A handy little technique that I simply call “stationary downrigging.”
Most fishermen, understandably, equate downriggers with trolling. “Controlled-depth fishing” is the name of the game, but unknown to many, it works just as well with the placement of stationary bait.
 Downriggers are invaluable to light-tackle enthusiasts who otherwise would have to use heavy-duty gear to take baits deep into jetty channels and other current-prone locales. Simply clip the line (or, depending upon its length, the forward end of the leader), ahead of the bait, to the downrigger clip on the unit’s “cannonball” weight. It’s than a matter of just lowering the combo to the preferred depth and waiting for the strike.
 When that strike finally comes, and the bait pops free of the retainer clip, the angler can enjoy all the advantages of heavyweight tackle but still manage to experience the thrill of tackling large, deep-water species on considerably lighter rod-and-reel combos.
 It’s not uncommon to have to use 8 ounces of lead to hold a bait in place during periods of heavy tidal flow while fishing off the generally-deep waters of a channel adjacent to a jetty. One of my favorite spots, an oft-proven place where I regularly go to affirm the fish-catching propensity of live offshore-size Black Salty baitfish via great-big bull reds, large speckled trout and other species, is a deep hole on the ship channel side of the North Galveston Jetty.
 At this particular locale, there is a bedroom-sized hole between the rocks only 30 or 40 feet off of the jetty. The water around the hole is roughly 40 feet deep, but inside the hole it slightly … but significantly … drops to 43 or 44 feet. Baitfish take advantage of that hole, since it affords much-needed relief from the overwhelming power of currents in which the forage species have to fight to stay in place, or simply get washed offshore, making them easy prey for waiting, opportunistic predators like redfish, trout, black drum and other species that typically roam the length of the water column in search of forage.
 Until the advent of stationary downrigging (again, my own pet name for the technique), we used heavy boat rods, heavy reels and heavy line with heavyweight leads (usually, rigged “Nassau”-style) to get the wiggling Black Salty or other live bait down into the sweet spot. It works, but it takes an exhausting toll on the angler (think deep-water snapper fishing, but on a slightly lesser scale, nonetheless involving the cranking of mucho-heavy lead off of the bottom).
 Be forewarned: It takes experience and effort to get this just right in terms of placement, both with the boat and the line.
 First of all, you find the hole off of the rocks via a depthfinder readout (and the spot I describe here is only one of many more much like it situated on the ship channel side

Read: “Stationary Downrigging” Affords a Calculated Deep-Water Angling Edge »

SURFSIDE, TX – If you have driven over the Surfside Bridge lately, you’re bound to have seen it. As you’re heading toward Surfside Beach, cresting the bridge, to your right is situated a brand-new (and really big) facility that has changed the face of sport fishing amenities on the Upper Texas Coast.
 My friend and video production partner Dave Aitken and I visited the marina during its grand opening a few weeks ago, courtesy of a gracious offer from Surfside Marina General Manager Dwayne Von Schmidt. The place is something else … and I mean that in a good way.
 The Freeport/Surfside area has always hosted its share of fishing outlets. However, with the exception of a small but effective collection of individual charter boat operators, the majority of those have been comprised of partyboat operators or commercial fishing entities.
Surfside Marina, Von Schmidt says, “Is all about sport fishing.”
 Specifically that entails, among other amenities and features, a full-service, 260-boat dry stack storage facility that is custom-designed to store and protect power boats from 20 to 42 feet in length. The marina also accommodates 38 deluxe wet slips via a high-end floating aluminum dock system situated atop steel pilings.Whether storing a boat at the facility or simply stocking it up while on the way out to the Freeport jetties and beyond (the jetties are only minutes away, a quick run down the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway), visiting skippers can take advantage of diesel and gasoline fuel stations, an onsite restaurant, retail sales center, well-stocked ship’s store and all the bait, ice and supplies any angler requires for a full day of fishing on the open expanse of the Gulf.
 Aitken and I got a chance to personally tour the facility during the grand opening. It’s all first-class.
The “dry stack” boat storage concept is making more and more sense to owners of boats both large and small as fuel and towing costs continue to soar … and that’s without even considering the sheer convenience aspects. It’s really nice to know your rig is ready to go when you get there, and via this setup, it will be. From fueling it up before you head out the rigs to washing it down (or even waxing the hull) after you get back in, Von Schmidt and crew are ready to rock.
 If you see a 33-foot Donzi with Deadline and the Bozka Outdoor Media logo emblazoned on the hull while you’re down that way, that’ll be Aitken and me. We understand the benefits, not the least of which is shared experience garnered from some of the Upper Coast’s most knowledgeable skippers.
One of the many great things about launching out of a facility like this, or especially keeping your boat onsite, is that by the essential nature of the setup you’ll rub elbows with a lot of other folks who make it a point to stay abreast of gamefish opportunities offshore out of Freeport. They tend to be surprisingly willing to share information and tips. There are also going to be more than a few serious tournaments held out of this brand-new location in the months to come (tournament scheduling is currently in progress, and we’ll keep you posted here on CoastalAnglers.com).
 Again, this is a fishing-focused facility, built for serious sport fishermen by guys who themselves are serious sport fishermen. The Surfside/Freeport area has needed something exactly like this place for quite a while, and now that it’s there I hope you’ll take the time to check it out.
 You can find more details, including boat storage rates (dry stack and wet slip) by logging on to the Web at www.surfside-marina.com. Or, give Von Schmidt a call at 979-230-9400. He’s a competent, personable and professional guy if ever you’ve met one.
 Surfside Marina is located one-half-mile north of Surfside Beach (827 Gulf Road) on the southwest side of the Surfside Bridge. Turn right on Cobia Drive to Shark Lane as you come off the bridge.
It’s virtually impossible to miss this place, unless the fog is so thick you shouldn’t be on the water anyway.
 And in that case, we’d be talking some serious fog.
 Hope to see you there.

Read: Surfside Marina Now Open to Sport Fishermen »

Although a bit windy, we just said goodbye to a very pretty springtime weekend blessed with blue skies and pleasantly cool temperatures. It was also one that my friends Danny Marshall and Mike Pickell of Seabrook are not likely to forget anytime soon.
 Fishing the Matagorda Bay System for only the second time in their lives, Marshall and Pickell (who constitute fishing tournament team “Team Shake N Bake”) took second place in the 2008 Plugger Open Pro-Am Trout Series event held out of Matagorda Saturday, April 19. The duo’s three-trout catch came to 15 pounds, 5 ounces.
Congratulations as well to tournament competitor Chris Ramsey and partner, who, with a collective trout catch of 17 pounds, 2 ounces, netted first place honors in the event. Forty-eight avid trout anglers competed in the one-day event, held out of Matagorda Harbor. (I do not currently have any details from Ramsey, but will post more information as it becomes available. Why? We can all learn a lot from the folks who fish events like this, especially if you apply that information to your every-day angling approaches.)
 Marshall is a longtime friend who, as a day job, serves as the animal control officer for the City of Seabrook. Pickell, whom I met recently, is an officer with the Seabrook Police Department.
 These guys fish with a vengeance, and remind me of the Gonzo days when the concept of sleep took a distant,  last-place finish after the always-overriding necessities of

Read: Variety Pays: Team Shake N Bake Takes Second in Plugger Open Pro-Am Trout Series Matagorda Tournament »

I received this news release several days ago from the good folks at the Texas Parks & Wildlife Department. It brought to mind a macro photo I took last summer of a ruby dragonfly, a beautiful insect that upon close inspection sent me and my good friend, photographer Mark Hall of CoastalPhotos.net, scurrying for our Nikons.

After getting back home from the trip to Lavaca County, I did a little homework and learned that the species we encountered, the Ruby meadowhawk dragonfly (S. rubicundulum) is a common species. When I subsequently discovered that the creatures possess a decided affinity for mosquitoes as preferred menu offerings, I decided that I really like these colorful critters. Just about anything that eats mosquitoes is my buddy. It was not surprising to discover that the spindly, long-legged insects we call “mosquito hawks” are essentially dragonflies as well.

Interesting dragonfly facts: The largest known dragonfly buzzed above the rainforests of the massive collective continent “Pangaea” over 270 million years ago, during the Carboniferous period and had a wingspread of 29 inches. That is one big honkin’ bug.

The Ruby meadowhawk is actually a species of damselfly (a type of insect well known to trout stream fly-fishers who tie various fly patterns to mimic the aquatic stages of the insects’ development. Brook trout apparently like to eat damselflies as much as damselflies like to eat mosquitoes.

Like a magnified version of a house fly, the head of an adult dragonfly is largely comprised of the compound eyes. Being a popular food item for various birds, it’s no wonder that … like wild turkeys … these creatures are built for super-wide-angle vision. The dragonfly’s mouthparts are adapted for biting and for scooping prey from the air as they fly about. The insect’s spindly legs are located on the far-forward portion of its body and enable it to firmly grasp a nesting spot such as a twig (or, in the instance Hall and I encountered, the ball-rounded end of a radio antenna extending from the hood of a Chevy Suburban).

Not surprising to learn, either, was the fact that the Ruby meadowhawk dragonfly is generally tolerant of close observation. Mark and I were both amazed when the insect, after being alerted by our a-bit-too-close photo work, returned to the truck antenna to rest on several subsequent occasions. Wind was no deterrent, either. Its legs, like those of most insects, are incredibly strong in proportion to the size of the creature.

Males like the one Mark and I observed are apparently very territorial creatures, which perhaps explains the dragonfly’s stubborn persistence in staking out and maintaining his location.

If you find any of this even remotely interesting (and forgive me if you don’t, but the older I get, the more I enjoy learning this kind of thing), you will no doubt enjoy the event detailed in the press release that follows. Just think of it this way: Next time you go fishing at your local pond and Junior gets bored, you can always steer him (or

Read: Dragonfly Days Weekend, May 15-18, Showcases Colorful New Pursuit »