La Niña would help Texas duck hunters; bobwhite quail wearing gps transmitters




The weather forecasts that call for a La Niña winter may be good news for Texas duck hunters.
The La Niña weather effect occurs when temperatures in the equatorial Pacific Ocean cool down. For southern parts of the country, a Niña winter is usually warmer and dryer than normal. The weather phenomenon has the opposite impact for northern parts of the U.S. To push migrating ducks south, hunters need colder weather in the northern portion of the Central Flyway.


The Quail-Tech Alliance, a quail research group at Texas Tech, is doing studies with bobwhites wearing GPS transmitters. Quail-Tech Supervisor Brad Dabbert said he expects the eventual results to unlock the mysteries of the bobwhite's home range and how coveys interact.

"I am very excited about the information this study will reveal," Gabbert said. "These GPS-enabled transmitters can record locations at five-minute intervals, allowing us to examine covey movements and habitat use at a very fine scale."

Gabbert said coveys will intermingle, but preliminary data show coveys can maintain a remarkable separation, almost as if there is a fence or boundary present in the landscape. More information is available on the new Quail-Tech Alliance Facebook page.




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Wednesday Night

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Lake Texoma

Fishing Report from TPWD (Apr. 17)

GOOD. Water normal stain; 58 degrees; 1.53 feet below pool. Striped bass fishing is great drifting live shad around the islands or past the bridges near the rivers. Rain should finish off the spawn and look for bait on the banks with feeding fish near them. Top waters are working on sandy flats in 2-8 feet of water. Smallmouth bass are good on live shad along the bluffs on the banks in 2-4 feet of water. Also fair on spooks early and look for largemouth off the banks in 6-12 feet of water on main lake points near rocks. Catfish are fair on cut shad along the rocks in 30-45 feet of water. Drifting cut rough fish or gizzard shad in 5-10 feet of water near the river could produce a big fish after a rain with an inflow of dirty water. Crappie are good on brush piles in 12-18 feet of water on jigs using electronics to locate active fish working in and out of the brush. Look for spawners shallow with warmer temperatures in the forecast. Report by Jacob Orr, Guaranteed Guide Service Lake Texoma. Threadfin shad are spawning along the banks. Hybrid stripers are good on topwaters in the morning along rocky banks. Some days the egrets are working leading the way to fish. Some schooling activity under gulls. After the morning bite ends switch to swimbaits and Alabama rigs in 10-25 feet of water on the edges and dropoffs. This pattern should hold for the next 4-6 weeks while shad spawn near docks and banks. Report by John Blasingame, Adventure Texoma Outdoors.

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