By Luke Clayton

Winter weather has finally arrived in the Lone Star State and with it came that long awaited influx of waterfowl that has been a bit slow in arriving. Those fat mallards and pintails that have been eating well on the harvested grain fields in the upper Midwest were forced to head south, their dinner tables are now covered with snow in many areas. Duck hunters should enjoy some great hunting and tasty bowls of duck and goose gumbo from now until the end of the season.

We deer hunters finally have some cold weather that will hopefully get the deer up and moving. The peak of the rut is over and the heavy acorn crop in many areas is about depleted. Those corn feeders and food plots will pay big dividends until the end of the season. Until recently it just hasn’t seemed like deer season but with the cooler nights we can now hang our venison a day or two without having to worry about rushing to a processing plant immediately or quartering and icing the meat.

It’s been a typical winter’s week for me, a little hunting and even a little bass fishing coupled with the general pre-Christmas duties around the house making ready for a big day with the family soon. I made the jaunt up to Grayson County to hunt with my friend Bill Carey with Striper Express.

 Grayson is a bow only county and well known for some bruiser whitetail bucks. The game cameras on Bills place had evidenced several heavy antlered bucks and fat does coming to the feeders and food plots. Our mutual friend Jeff Rice, who produces our “A Sportsman’s Life” TV show joined was able to break away from his video editing for a short afternoon sit in the deer stand.

Bill hunted deer a lot in his younger years but for the past four decades, serving as head honcho for his Striper Express guide service on Texoma has kept him busy. Bill invited me to hunt turkey on his place last spring and while setting down to a lunch of freshly killed fried turkey nuggets on the banks of his pond after the hunt, I think I lit a spark that got his hunting blood pumping again.

 After all man cannot live by fish along (although Bill comes close)! The weather was warm and deer movement slow but just before dark a 2.5-year-old spike came easing out of a bedding area through a heavy stand of broom sedge. The buck walked within 23 yards, stopped and turned perfectly broadside presenting the perfect shot opportunity.

I came very close to drawing the bow from inside our pop up see- through blind but I held off. I was amazed that he was a two-year-old with such short spikes, much like one would

expect on a 1.5-year-old buck. My friend Larry Weishuhn aka “Mr. Whitetail” later informed me that six- or seven-month-old does often give birth to “late blooming” buck fawn that can produce heavy antlers later in life. A deer hunt with good friends is always a success, venison on the meat pole or not!

BASS FOR LUNCH Another highlight of the week, one which I refuse to take for granted, is my access to some great deer and hog hunting close to home. I’m talking about ¼ mile from my home! A neighbor allows me to hunt and fish on his ranch which has a deep 5 acre spring fed sand and gravel pit. The pond is not really managed but full of native Texas bass, I drive past it on my way to check the camera on one of my feeders and I often carry a bass rod rigged with either a Rat L Trap or Texas rigged worm.

I mostly catch and release until I am in the mood for very fresh fish for lunch. I was in the mood for fish on this outing! I made four casts and caught two bass on the Rat L Trap, I kept the one that weighed about 1.75 pounds and back at the house, filleted it and cut the fillets into small chunks. I love fried fish but I do an altered form of blackening that most folks really enjoy, it’s a fast and easy way to cook fish. Seasoned well with blackening seasoning, I added the chunks to a cast iron skillet with enough butter to sizzle the fish.

About two minutes on each side is all that’s needed to create some tasty blackened fish. You don’t want to overcook the fish and dry it out. The butter coupled with the blackening seasoning is the perfect combination! I’ve tried this on everything from walleye and pike up in Saskatchewan to catfish here in Texas and it’s always tasty!

A NEW TRICK FOR CATFISH I have a good friend that has been a catfish guide for many years. He’s been guiding for well over a quarter-century and catfishing since a boy. When he talks catfishing, I listen! He recently gave me a tip that might revolutionize the way I fish for channel catfish. He recently witnessed a fellow limit out using this technique. Most ‘catters’ know that cattle range right out of the sack makes an awesome chum for attracting both blue and channel catfish but especially channels.

My buddy puts a few range cubes in a coffee can and adds just enough water to create a thick slurry. Then he soaks small pieces of cloth form a dish towel or even very small pieces of sponge in the solution. Using just a single J type hook, he says the scent from the cubes is very effective in attracting strikes from catfish. I haven’t tried this method just yet but I am confident it will work.

On many occasions, when fishing straight under the boat with punch bait, I have caught channel catfish with just a tiny bit of cattail (used for a binder for punch bait} left on the hook. Range cubes have become the go-to chum for many catfish anglers; catfish are accustomed to the smell and are readily attracted to it. Why wouldn’t this be a good bait? I’m about to find out on my next fishing trip.

Email Luke Clayton through his website www.catfishradio.org Catch his weekly podcast “Catfish Radio with Luke Clayton and friends” just about everywhere podcasts are found.