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I Will Gladly Accept the Change
Lots of hardcore anglers will say September is not their favorite - transition month and all that just another month of summer.
The change in the weather will come slowly, summer lingering but eventually giving way to autumn. In my mind this is a good thing. And even if it comes slowly, I am "up to here" with dog days.
We will still have some scorchers, hopefully not too many. The beauty of September though is the array of activities for the avid outdoorsman and this is the change that excites me. Apart from bay fishing possibly continuing to be generally slow in the early going, look at everything else we can get out and do.
The general dove season opens September 1 for North and Central Zones. The special whitewing season in South Texas gets under way September 1st and 2nd and again on the 8th and 9th. Teal season cranks up on the 15th and continues through the 30th. And somewhere long about that time we should see our first cool breezes from the North Country.
'Tis the season of cast and blast. Being nearly equally addicted to angling and wingshooting I am ready. Somebody please shout Amen!
The autumnal equinox will occur on September 22. Straight from the Latin, equinox means equal night. It also means that with continually shorter periods of daylight the water will begin cooling. How 'bout another Amen! Oh Somehow I forgot to mention that South Zone dove kicks off on September 21, the day before the equinox.
If all goes according to plan, Pam and I will begin the month wading the shallows of the Lower Laguna near Port Mansfield at dawn and busting whitewings in the afternoon. I am dying for her to sight-cast an arm-long trout and September should be full of opportunity. Might even try to squeeze in another day or two down at Port Isabel with Capt. Ernest Cisneros for snook.
Mid-month we will flip-flop, shooting teal at daybreak and hitting the Matagorda Island marsh for reds later. Tripletail action in Matagorda Bay and along nearshore weedlines will continue to taunt us and of course there is always a run down the beach to chase the bulls. The joy of merely seeing migrating tarpon rolling and hounding bait would be reward enough. A few fat surf trout would not hurt my feelings.
The kink in this planning would of course be the dreaded "H" word pray that we are spared. Across most of Texas fields and woodlands are still too dry and a tropical system settling over the state would surely help but, nothing ranked in categories, thank you.
So to all who say September is nothing more than another month of summer, I say humbug. September is one of the finest months for Texas sportsmen and I intend to make it a busy one.
Get your dove Mojos whirling and dust off your teal decoys. Head for the surf and wrestle a bull. Wade shallow and cast at the shadows along the grassbeds. It is going to be a glorious month and I don't want to hear any of that "transition" baloney as a reason to stay home!
The change in the weather will come slowly, summer lingering but eventually giving way to autumn. In my mind this is a good thing. And even if it comes slowly, I am "up to here" with dog days.
We will still have some scorchers, hopefully not too many. The beauty of September though is the array of activities for the avid outdoorsman and this is the change that excites me. Apart from bay fishing possibly continuing to be generally slow in the early going, look at everything else we can get out and do.
The general dove season opens September 1 for North and Central Zones. The special whitewing season in South Texas gets under way September 1st and 2nd and again on the 8th and 9th. Teal season cranks up on the 15th and continues through the 30th. And somewhere long about that time we should see our first cool breezes from the North Country.
'Tis the season of cast and blast. Being nearly equally addicted to angling and wingshooting I am ready. Somebody please shout Amen!
The autumnal equinox will occur on September 22. Straight from the Latin, equinox means equal night. It also means that with continually shorter periods of daylight the water will begin cooling. How 'bout another Amen! Oh Somehow I forgot to mention that South Zone dove kicks off on September 21, the day before the equinox.
If all goes according to plan, Pam and I will begin the month wading the shallows of the Lower Laguna near Port Mansfield at dawn and busting whitewings in the afternoon. I am dying for her to sight-cast an arm-long trout and September should be full of opportunity. Might even try to squeeze in another day or two down at Port Isabel with Capt. Ernest Cisneros for snook.
Mid-month we will flip-flop, shooting teal at daybreak and hitting the Matagorda Island marsh for reds later. Tripletail action in Matagorda Bay and along nearshore weedlines will continue to taunt us and of course there is always a run down the beach to chase the bulls. The joy of merely seeing migrating tarpon rolling and hounding bait would be reward enough. A few fat surf trout would not hurt my feelings.
The kink in this planning would of course be the dreaded "H" word pray that we are spared. Across most of Texas fields and woodlands are still too dry and a tropical system settling over the state would surely help but, nothing ranked in categories, thank you.
So to all who say September is nothing more than another month of summer, I say humbug. September is one of the finest months for Texas sportsmen and I intend to make it a busy one.
Get your dove Mojos whirling and dust off your teal decoys. Head for the surf and wrestle a bull. Wade shallow and cast at the shadows along the grassbeds. It is going to be a glorious month and I don't want to hear any of that "transition" baloney as a reason to stay home!