OUTDOORS

WITH LUKE CLAYTON

You probably don’t need this outdoor scribe to tell you it’s summertime in Texas and it’s HOT! What do we outdoor types do when midday temperatures are hot enough to blacken a striper fillet on the sidewalk or cook a berry cobbler in a Dutch oven without any coals? I take a cue from wildlife and move early and late and do my best to seek shade during the middle of the day! Thankfully I’m an early riser. I’m usually up well before sunup and, if I have anything outdoor related on the agenda, I make sure I am on the water at first light or in the woods during the ‘cool’ part of the morning. By 10 a.m., I can be found in my truck heading home with the AC on high or in a cool café with my buddies discussing the big bass we lost that morning or possibly how we’re going to cook that fresh pork that is chilling in the cooler in the truck. I save my ‘work’ for midday when I can often be found inside hammering out a magazine article or possibly recording segments for the current radio show.

This time of year, I usually get out a couple times each week to fish local farm ponds or possibly join one of my guide buddies for some early morning catching at an area lake. I’ve also been known to take a fat wild porker for the freezer before the sun is visible in the eastern sky. Most fishing guides also admonish their clients to be early risers and leave the dock as soon as there is enough light to safely navigate. Bill Carey with Striper Express at Lake Texoma is a longtime friend, and he pretty well sums up a midsummer fishing trip.

“The early morning top water striper action in the lower lake is red hot right now, which is a big draw for our clients. When booking trips, we tell them the plan is to be easing out of Mill Creek Marina by 6 a.m. and be back at the cleaning station before midmorning with a big box of stripers. We’ve found this to be the best plan to enjoy a summer fishing trip. As fast paced as fishing has been lately, after three hours of throwing big top water plugs and landing stripers, most everyone is ready for our guides to fire up the big engine and make the run back to dock. As a general rule, the top water feeding stripers quit blowing up on the surface when the sun begins to heat things up.”

When homebound, I can often be found outside well before breakfast sipping a cup of coffee, honing my archery kills or possibly visiting my neighbor’s rifle range with one of my big bore air rifles. I’m not suggesting we outdoor folks stay in the house under an AC Unit until next October; there’s lots we can do. But outdoor activities are much more fun this time of year when enjoyed when the sun just begins to peek over the eastern horizon in early morning or during the last hour or so of daylight. Most readers of this column know I love to hunt ‘eater’ size wild hogs. I enjoy the pursuit and later the meat. This time of year, wild hogs endure the midday heat with their nose above water in creeks or ponds. Without sweat glands to keep their bodies cool, hogs need water and shade during the heat of summer to survive. But when the sun sets and the temperature drops into the eighties, they do get up and moving, foraging for food. A fun and comfortable way to hunt them is at night using a thermal scope.

Because I hunt hogs primarily for pork, a bit of preparation is necessary before going out for an evening hunt. Sunset is close to 8:30 p.m., and it’s light enough to see the crosshairs on a conventional rifle scope until just after 9 p.m. This is when I usually head out with my little .223 topped with a Rattler thermal scope by AGM Global Vision. Most folks think thermal scopes cost thousands of dollars, and the higher end ones do sport a hefty price tag. But the Rattler I use sells for about a thousand dollars, not much more than a quality rifle scope. It is ideal for shooting hogs at night at ranges out to about 100 yards. Since I do much of my nighttime hunting around corn feeders, I’ve found these ‘entry level’ scopes to be more than adequate at identifying and shooting stationary hogs at reasonable ranges. I also have an AGM Global Vision Adder that is a higher end thermal made for shooting hogs or predators out to several hundred yards. I use my Adder mostly during the winter months when hunting on big open fields, but even with the advantage of the super clear optics I still keep my shots within reasonable distances.

Many anglers enjoy fishing at night during the heat of the summer, and this is a very relaxing way to spend a few evening hours during the coolest part of the day. The drawback is obviously loss of sleep, but when possible a midafternoon nap is the solution to that problem. If you could see directly below just about any highway bridge over our local lakes at night, you would see several boats, tied to the bridge columns, anchored with green lights in the water and rods rigged with minnows. You never know what you might catch at night fishing in this manner, and mixed bags of white bass, stripers, yellow bass, catfish, crappie and even an occasional drum or buffalo are common.

One last tip, if you are young and tough enough to spend time out on the lake during the hottest part of the day, do wear long sleeves, a wide brimmed hat and protect your skin. You might not worry about this when you are 25 but, trust me, it will become a factor when you are 50. Protect your face and exposed skin with a good sunscreen with a high SPF (sun protection factor). A 30 rated SPF blocks 97% of ultraviolet rays, an SPF of 50 blocks 98% and an SPF rating of 100 blocks 99%. Use sunscreen on a regular basis, wear lightweight long sleeve ‘fishing shirts’.

Email outdoors writer Luke Clayton through his website www.catfishradio. org.