Texas
Fishing for bass on a small Texas lake brings back great memories of past days | Leggett
MULDOON — My friend Maurice Estlinbaum sat, boat tied to a dead tree, casting into a bathroom-sized spot along the outside edge of a line of aquatic vegetation in a small lake on land owned by his neighbor in this small community on the outskirts of La Grange.
For more than an hour, I don’t think either of us was able to retrieve the plastic lizards and creature baits we threw without getting a strike and catching or hooking a bass. Most were in the 1½-pound to 3-pound range, but every once in a while we’d latch on to a fish that would weigh as much as 6 or 7 pounds.
Leggett: Hunting big deer is one thing, but when will we know enough is enough?
It was the ultimate adventure in small lake fishing, much like the times I fished in my childhood with my brothers and father and grandfather in East Texas. We were able to switch around to different lakes and properties owned by Maurice’s friends and still catch about as many fish as one person could stand.
More: On this particular weekend, the spring turkeys were too smart for us
One morning on a rather large lake on property owned by a neighbor, the two of us caught and released more than 100 bass on top water plugs, spinner baits, worms and lizards.
All through turkey season, Maurice had harangued me about coming down to visit him on the ranch he’d bought several years before just on the outskirts of the Muldoon community. We used to fish together in Galveston Bay, always wading for speckled trout, and Maurice is legendary for his ability to find and catch trout. He’s been doing that for nearly 50 years.
A great start on a day walking the lake
We met in 1981 during a trip arranged by our mutual friend Charlie Paradoski, shortly after Maurice had retired and began fishing full time. Not guiding, just fishing, from an old yellow Lamar that he still uses. He just changes out the engine every few years. I knew if he was willing to pass up time fishing for speckled trout, then the bass fishing must be truly remarkable. And it was!
I caught a fish on the first cast I made the first afternoon we fished, which was following a huge rainfall event that had left the lakes off color and the creeks running bank full.
Obviously, if you’re catching bass at rates such as these, you’re fishing lakes that probably are holding far too many fish. However, the lakes have been around for many, many years and are still producing large fish, so the adult bass are getting enough to eat in the form of bass fry and fingerlings and the occasional bluegill. The fish are healthy and fat and not showing signs of not having enough to eat.
One of his friends has 16 lakes on his place, from swimming hole size to more than 100 acres. One of those lakes produced a bass over 15 pounds a few years ago. The largest I caught was between 6 and 7 pounds, so I’m planning my next trip right now.
The times have changed, but the fishing’s the same
We walked the banks of several lakes, which carried me back to my childhood in Panola County. We would climb a fence to reach the lakes (most of which we had permission to fish) and throw spinner baits such as H&Hs to catch the fish.
It was fun and productive fishing, especially when a friend and I could sneak onto the golf course and fish at night. I’m not recommending poaching like that since the worst that would happen to us then was maybe getting yelled at and run off by the landowner. Now things like that can be felonies, and people don’t have as casual an attitude about snot-nosed kids sneaking in to fish their lakes.
But you didn’t need a fancy boat to fish, just a kind of strong belief that those things brushing against your legs aren’t snakes or snapping turtles or alligators and that the next cast could be the big one.
Maurice knew where to go to catch fish walking the banks of the lakes, and I used my instincts honed over years of fishing like that to find my own. I caught two fish around 5 pounds the first afternoon we fished. I saw Maurice hook and land maybe 50 bass on a tiny white lure he called a jig. I explained that in freshwater it was called a “swim bait.”
It was the only time I could gain a little advantage over him, but it felt pretty good. If I could have had a moderate-sized water snake bang into his leg as he walked, that would have felt even better.
Not long ago, the Texas Longhorns were a once legendary program in decline.
Now Head Coach Steve Sarkisian and surprise QB Quinn Ewers have put the Longhorns back in the national championship conversation. But as Uncle Ben once told Peter Parker, aka Spiderman, with great expectations comes great pressure to win the whole damn thing… (or something like that.)
Head coach and former Alabama Crimson Tide offensive coordinator Steve Sarkisian has steadily improved his Texas Longhorns since taking over in 2021. He found a projected top 10 NFL Draft pick in Ewers, brought in his heir apparent with the most famous last name in football, No. 1 overall recruit Arch Manning, won the Longhorns’ first Big 12 title since 2009, and took his team to the College Football Playoff for the first time in program history.
Now expectations are higher than ever. Texas is preseason ranked No. 3 with the third best odds to win it all in 2024. What do the Longhorns have to do to turn high hopes into reality?
Shut down opposing QBs
The glaring weakness in an otherwise impressive 2023 campaign from the Longhorns was a young secondary without much depth that finished 113th in the country against the pass. This included a 430 yard, two touchdown torching by Washington Huskies phenom Michael Penix Jr. in a season-ending loss at the Sugar Bowl in the College Football Playoff.
But the Longhorns have taken measures to turn this weakness into a strength. They’ve snagged the No. 1 ranked safety in the transfer portal, Clemson standout Andrew Mukuba, who helped lead the Tigers to a top-5 defense against the pass. They also managed to bring back NFL-calibur cornerback Jahdae Barron, a fifth-year senior with loads of much-needed experience who had entertained leaving for the draft at the end of the 2023 season.
With the continued development of second-year starter Derek Williams Jr., and incoming freshmen talent like four-star recruit and track athlete Xavier Filsaime, improved secondary play will be essential, especially in an all-important matchup against the top-ranked Georgia Bulldogs QB Carson Beck, who threw for nearly 4,000 yards in 2023.
Excellence from Quinn Ewers
High-level quarterback play is a no-brainer for any team, but Quinn Ewers will have to rise above multiple challenges most signal callers never face, much less simultaneously.
For starters, Ewers lost his top four pass catchers from the 2023 season to the NFL Draft: wide receivers Xavier Worthy, Adonai Mitchell, and Jordan Whittington, plus tight end Ja’Tavian Sanders. On top of that, the Longhorns’ moving from the Big 12 to the SEC comes with a significant rise in the defensive capabilities of their opponents.
Only one defense Texas played in 2023 ranked higher than 50th in total defense – and that was Alabama at No. 18, a team Texas managed to upset by only a field goal. In 2024, against a host of SEC foes, Texas will face six such defenses, including their new SEC rival Georgia Bulldogs, who come in at No. 9.
Ewers will have to quickly gel with his new receiving corp, including heralded Alabama transfer Isaiah Boyd, if he hopes to repeat his 2023 success and lead his team through a tough SEC and extended College Football Playoff.
Watch out for Oklahoma
Who would ever think that the Red River Rivalry, an unbroken, heated, 95-year matchup that is one of the most celebrated in all of college football, against all-time nemesis and fellow Big 12 escapee Oklahoma, could be a sneaky trap game?
It might seem especially unlikely given last year’s huge upset at the hands of the Sooners, led by a monster, 398 total-yard performance from uber-talented QB Dillon Gabriel, now of course surprisingly an Oregon Duck. But when Texas and Oklahoma face off on October 12th, the Longhorns will be coming off their first SEC matchup against the always tough Mississippi St. Bulldogs on September 28th, then will have the biggest matchup on their calendar the very next Saturday, a visit from top SEC QB Carson Beck and the unanimous preseason No. 1 Georgia Bulldogs, a game teeming with SEC Championship and playoff bye implications.
The good news is that Texas’ bye comes right before this brutal stretch. The Longhorns will have to somehow keep Georgia off their minds for those two weeks prior and handle business in Dallas before turning their attention to their toughest matchup of the season.
Expectations are high for the breakout Longhorns in 2024, yet so are the challenges they will have to overcome. But on the other side of those obstacles is a realistic shot at a national championship trophy they haven’t hoisted since 2005.
NORTH TEXAS — Highs Sunday hit 93°, the same as Saturday. The heat index also stayed under 100° both days.
Since the sixth Day of June, DFW has only logged 0.10″ of rain. Rain is back in the forecast this week.
Deep tropical moisture is pouring into North Texas over the next 48 hours. That is because our first tropical system of the season is rapidly developing in the Gulf of Mexico.
The forecast shows a developed tropical low in the Gulf by early Wednesday.
There is a chance for significant flooding in Texas due to this system. The heaviest rain will likely fall along the coast and into the Hill Country and south.
The best rain chances for North Texas will start on Wednesday and go to Thursday morning.
Localized flooding is a threat from these storms. Once the rain starts to push southwest of North Texas by late Thursday, the weather returns to hot and dry. Just after summer starts, North Texas is back to the typical summer weather: hot and dry.
Posted:
Updated:
ROUND ROCK, Texas (KXAN) — Two people are dead and multiple others were injured after a shooting at a Juneteenth celebration in Texas.
Police in Round Rock, a city located less than 20 miles north of Austin, said the shooting began just before 11 p.m. at Old Settlers Park after a fight between two groups who were at the Juneteenth event.
“The unfortunate part is that we had innocent victims as a result of this reckless actions of certain subjects,” Police Chief Allen Banks said during a media briefing. “We’re here to celebrate Juneteenth and the unfortunate part is these folks could care less about someone’s life and take someone’s life and on a day we’re here to celebrate community.”
Banks shared that officers and members of the Round Rock Fire Department who were there immediately tried to help the victims of the shooting. Austin-Travis County EMS medics also responded to the incident and said four adults and two kids had potentially serious injuries.
Two people were pronounced dead at the scene. Their ages and identities have not yet been released.
Those injured, who were not part of the fight, were taken to area hospitals.
“My thoughts and my prayers go out to the victims,” said Banks. “My condolences go out to the families of the deceased.”
Watch the briefing from RRPD Chief Allen Banks:
No additional details were immediately available. Banks said police believe the suspects fled the scene but that there is no threat to the public.
Anyone with video or information about the incident is asked to reach out to the Round Rock Police Department at 512-218-5500.
CBRE: New York/New Jersey ranks No. 1 nationally for life sciences manufacturing talent | ROI-NJ
New Mexico food banks say food insecurity is on the rise – NM Political Report
North Carolina’s Collective Negotiated Slick NIL Deal For Incoming Lineman
Letter: ND senators should support AADAPT Act
Ohio’s most dangerous spiders in midst of mating season
See it: Tesla crashes into Columbus convention center at 70 mph
Colorado Rockies game no. 116 thread: Zac Gallen vs José Ureña
Fox News Politics: Georgia the whole day through
Death of missing Oregon girl found in stream ruled homicide
At least 2 dead as tornadoes hit Alabama, damage homes across Southeast
Biden campaign targets 'convicted felon' Trump with $50M media buy ahead of 1st debate
Russia sets date for closed-door trial of US journalist
Russia will hold Evan Gershkovich’s espionage trial behind closed doors, state media reports | CNN
Trump resurrects Biden's 'devastating' 1994 crime bill as he courts Black Detroit voters: ‘Super predators'
Protesters in Brussels march against right-wing ideology
-
News1 week agoWould President Biden’s asylum restrictions work? It’s a short-term fix, analysts say
-
Politics1 week agoNewson, Dem leaders try to negotiate Prop 47 reform off California ballots, as GOP wants to let voters decide
-
World1 week agoDozens killed near Sudan’s capital as UN warns of soaring displacement
-
News1 week agoRead Justice Clarence Thomas’s Financial Disclosures for 2023
-
World1 week ago‘Bloody policies’: Bodies of 11 refugees and migrants recovered off Libya
-
Politics1 week agoGun group vows to 'defend' Trump's concealed carry license after conviction
-
Politics1 week agoShould Trump have confidence in his lawyers? Legal experts weigh in
-
Politics6 days agoGOP releases Jan. 6 clip of Pelosi saying 'I take responsibility' as she discussed National Guard absence