Sharelunker Bass and Major League Fishing

There’s bass in dem there lakes! Lake Brownwood is full of big fish and H Squared Guide Service talks about how to catch them. Book a fishing trip with Dylan but don’t fall out of the boat unless you want to get roasted. Major League Fishing is back in the area with big league money on the line. 

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:06

Welcome to Lone Star Trail, a new outdoor show aimed at bringing you hunting and fishing updates and compelling stories from around Texas and right here at home. Get ready to join us down the trail. Now, here's your host, Nathan Smith.

SPEAKER_07 0:24

Hello, friends, and welcome to the Lone Star Trail. I'm your host, Nathan Smith, and I'm glad you're here. Whether you're listening online or with one of our affiliate stations, we're thrilled to have you here. The weather is warm and the water is ripe for bass spawning, and we have a guide service to put you on some crappie and some bass this spring right here on Lake Brownwood. H Squared Guide Service gives us an update on the fishing conditions today on the show. The lake has also captured the attention of national pros. Major League Fishing is on its way back to the area, and Denise with the City of Early tells us more about what's on the way for MLF the end of this month. Finally, we go on a hog hunt with Dayton House as he ends a seven-month drought and kills two pigs and talks about his favorite thermal tool. All this and more right here. Stay tuned. Whether you're looking to buy your next hunting property or have acreage to sell, you need Brian Clark and Ranch Pro Real Estate in your corner. They use the latest in technology to make listings easy for sellers to maximize value. In the market to buy that perfect ranch or hunting getaway, call Ranch Pro Real Estate at 325-642-3630. That's RanchPro Real Estate at RanchProRealEstate.com. The land is their life.

SPEAKER_01 2:20

But remember, nobody's waterproof. Play it safe. Wear a life jacket, designate a driver for the boat and for a safe ride home. Follow these tips are gonna be a lot more days for you to play in this great state of Texas. Nobody's waterproof, yeah. That's a helmet truth, and you know it ain't no lie.

SPEAKER_03 2:42

Sponsored by Texas Parks and Wildlife.

SPEAKER_07 2:46

You're listening to the Lone Star Trail. We're glad you're here. Now let's get back to the show. Good morning on the show today. We're honored to have Dylan Hickey. He's uh owner, operator, uh chief of H Squared Guide Service, uh right here in Brownwood, locally. So, Dylan, thanks for being here with us today.

SPEAKER_02 3:09

Yes, sir. Happy to be here.

SPEAKER_07 3:12

Well, uh it is it is that time of year where uh you're probably getting pretty busy.

SPEAKER_02 3:18

Oh yeah. Getting slam with clients. I mean, I don't hardly have enough time to fish for myself.

SPEAKER_07 3:23

Well, I guess that's a that's a good and bad problem. At least you're still on the water. Uh yes, sir. For for that. But let's uh let's first talk about uh a little bit about your business and the scope, uh where where you guide, and uh we talked a little bit before we got on air about that. But tell us if you will, um primarily the lakes that you that you guide on.

SPEAKER_02 3:43

Primarily I guide on brownwood, with an exception I go to Ivy every now and then if you know if there's somebody wanting to go over there, but strictly pretty much brownwood, that's about it.

SPEAKER_07 3:56

Brownwood's a big lake. I mean, there's lots of there's lots of water. Uh the the water level, how is it looking in brownwood right now?

SPEAKER_02 4:03

The lake is a little low, but it's I mean the lake is very healthy. We've got aquatic vegetation growing everywhere that we typically don't have. I mean the water temperature and stuff is perfect for the fish to be spawning and getting on beds right now, but cold fronts kind of pushing fish back.

SPEAKER_07 4:26

So this is uh this is Saturday uh March the 21st and um 99 degrees, I think, high for today. So unusually warm for March, but knowing that that cold front could be around the corner pretty much in in any time. I know we've you know, I mean we've had snow on Easter before.

SPEAKER_08 4:49

Okay.

SPEAKER_07 4:49

In Texas, you know, you know, never can't count on the weather to do what it's supposed to, but uh okay, so fish are spawning uh or or or the weather, the water temperatures uh at least ideal for that activity to start and to begin soon. We have, as you're aware, that big major league fishing tournament uh coming up at the end of this month. And and uh man, that thing kind of put Ivy and Brownwood on the map uh last year or two years ago, I guess, when they were here. Talk a little bit about your uh volume uh of of clients. Has that have have you seen that increase since that time?

SPEAKER_02 5:24

I haven't really seen an increase from them coming here, but I know that a lot more people know about the lake just from watching, you know, the live footage they put out there. Now that I mean I haven't really seen, I've seen people, you know, tell me MLF is with reason I've came here, but I'm sure it has.

SPEAKER_07 5:45

Yeah. Well, I think a lot of people are not, especially if you're not an avid angler, you're probably not aware of what an awesome awesome uh thing we have right here in our backyard in Brown County, and that's uh the lake is a is a is awesome for a lot of reasons, but it is it's a it's an amazing bass fishing lake.

SPEAKER_02 6:04

It is, and it is a sleeper lake that people really don't know about, and we try to keep it in our back pocket and not say too much about it. It's our little honey hole.

SPEAKER_07 6:14

Right. No, I I get that for sure. Um and here you are on the radio talking about how great it is. So I'm just trying to help drum up business though for you.

SPEAKER_02 6:23

Yeah, for sure.

SPEAKER_07 6:24

Yeah. So let's talk a little bit about that. So, what's a typical guide experience? Uh, like if I'm gonna book tomorrow for H squared guide service, what what do I need to know and what do I what do I get with that experience?

SPEAKER_02 6:36

So typically we you know, you want to set the species you want to go after. I do crappie and bass. I prefer doing the bass fishing because I think it's more of an experience. But pretty much, you know, we just get together, make a date, and we go off of that. You I all you need is a fishing license practically. You do everything else. I do everything else. I supply rods, rails, tackle, everything you'll need.

SPEAKER_07 7:03

That makes it pretty that makes it pretty easy.

SPEAKER_02 7:06

Yes, it's seamless.

SPEAKER_07 7:09

How did you get into guiding?

SPEAKER_02 7:11

So I went to marine mechanics school in Dallas. My goal was to open up a boat repair shop here around Brown County. And I have two kids, so the way that the student loans and stuff were set up, I needed to find a way to get, you know, some income coming in. So I go to all these Bass Pros and all these boat shops, and everybody wanted me to work on weekends. I'm like, man, that's I really can't because I've got two kids at home. That's the only time I get to see 'em. I'm doing school during the week. So I just came home and I was like, you know what, I'm gonna start a guide service. We'll just see how it works out. And I mean, it's just all history from there. It's took off, and it's what I'm doing full time now. That's great. I enjoy it more than you know, it doesn't feel like a job.

SPEAKER_07 8:00

Well, sure. You're living all of our dream getting out to be on the It's probably not all rainbows and sunshine every day, but uh more good days than not, right?

SPEAKER_02 8:10

Oh, yeah, 100%. I mean you're you're constantly working. I tell everybody if you're wanting to start a guide service, it is not easy. It's not you're just not going to the lake and going to fish. You're getting home, you're rigging rods, doing maintenance on the boat all the time, talking to clients, making sure everything's coordinated correctly. A lot of quickly.

SPEAKER_07 8:34

Yeah, yeah, no doubt. So tell me a little bit, uh, if you will, about uh we talked a little bit about water conditions. What's what's working right now on the lake? What's what if I'm gonna go try to try to catch some bass right now or crappie, what what do I need to do?

SPEAKER_02 8:50

So the new baits that are coming out, I don't know, you know, a lot of people don't know what they are. Fuzzy dice looking style lure. They came from Japan. It's kind of a sleeper. I really don't want to talk about it, but no, I gotcha. It's I mean it's the guys that you know watch hardcore bass fishing and stuff like that, they know exactly what it is.

SPEAKER_07 9:13

Right, right. That's working right now, huh?

SPEAKER_02 9:17

That is I mean, I don't I don't think it'll stop working. They have never seen it before. Ford facing sonar, you throw it out there to the fish, and I mean they come unglued on it.

SPEAKER_07 9:26

That's really cool. What's not working? Maybe you can talk about what's not working right now.

SPEAKER_02 9:32

Man, all your moving baits, typically you can catch fish on crankbaits, jerk baits, this, that, and the other. The fish really don't want to move for anything. So you want something that can stall in front of their face and you can hold it there, and they can make the decision. If you got it and you're pulling it away from them, they'll hardly follow a bait back.

SPEAKER_07 9:53

It's gotta be right in front of 'em.

SPEAKER_02 9:55

It's I mean it's gotta, yeah.

SPEAKER_06 9:58

You talked about the vegetation. Why is that important right now?

SPEAKER_02 10:02

So we're getting I think it was two years ago, we started getting some mill pool growing up in the lake. And it's really cleared up the lake a lot. Two years ago, I th the visibility was five or six foot on brownwood, and it's never been that before. And that was also kind of due to the zebra mussels, but kind of they worked they worked together to really clear up the water. So I think the fish don't really know how to use it yet, because I haven't caught a lot of fish in it. But I mean it is prime habitat, and once they, you know, figure it out, I mean it's definitely gonna be a deal where you can win tournaments and stuff on that stuff.

SPEAKER_07 10:43

That kind of brings up another thought. You said winning tournaments. What's the talk talk about some of your records, whether that's personal or or guiding for for folks? What what's some of the biggest fish you guys have have caught?

SPEAKER_02 10:56

Well, last night we have a Wednesday nighter that gets put on every day or every week here in Brownwood. I don't typically fish because I do guide, but I had some tournament stuff this weekend I was gonna go fish. Well, they ended up falling through, so I said, you know what, I'll go scratch the itch in the Wednesday nighter. I caught a 1011 last night and an 894, and I had a 23 pounds, which broke the record for the biggest three fish stringer in the Wednesday nighters.

unknown 11:23

Wow.

SPEAKER_02 11:25

I mean it's the lake is fishing phenomenal right now. If you know it, I mean there's certain little deals. You can either you can miss it and not catch anything, or you can hit it, and I mean you're gonna have the time of your life.

SPEAKER_07 11:38

Yeah, absolutely. Talk about Ivy a little bit. When's the last time you're on Ivy and what were the conditions of it?

SPEAKER_02 11:48

How was that lake? That lake is fishing really good. It is fishing the best I've seen at fish in three or four years. And a lot of that is to do with we were having a lot of boat pressure when you know the guys from YouTube and everybody blew it up. You could go out there and there's always a hundred boats. Well, that's starting to slow down. The fishing's kind of getting back to where it's kind of needs to be. The fish are still kind of finicky to a bait, but you're getting a lot more fish to commit. And we're what was it? I think 18 or 19 pounds one, which is not a great bag out there, but the conditions you're dealt with and how smart those fish are, it's it's phenomenal actually.

SPEAKER_07 12:33

When you're when you're thinking about, and you know, we all have those days, whether we're sitting in a deer blind or on a boat or a bank, whatever it is, and everything you're throwing is just not working. Uh it doesn't sound like you're having that problem right now, which is great. But I know you have had that problem in the past because we all have. Where does your mind go? What what do you start doing to troubleshoot those those those days that are like that?

SPEAKER_02 12:58

If I go out and it's 10, 11 o'clock in the morning, I don't have any fish, I will sit down, I will take a little break, kind of get my mind reset on what I'm doing, and then you know, just tie on some things that super finesse. That's what I say, just bite getters, small worms, small swim baits, stuff like that. And that's usually how you can get yourself out of that slump and you can start kind of putting a pattern together that way, and then typically you can start running into your bigger fish.

SPEAKER_07 13:30

When when I book my next uh trip with you, are you walking people through some of that? Are y'all talking about some of the strategy? And so it's not just handing somebody a rod and saying, here, put this here. You're actually kind of walking people through that.

SPEAKER_02 13:49

When I get somebody out there before we make the first cast, I give you a full breakthrough of what we're doing, what we're fishing, how we're fishing it, what not to do, and then during your cast, hardly ever do we fish without live scope. Live scope's a new trend in fishing, that's what people want to do. That's how you're gonna catch your PB most of the time. So, I mean, I'm literally talking to you through the whole cast of what not to do and what to do. And it is a lot harder said than done.

SPEAKER_07 14:18

No, I believe that. So, Tom, talk to me a bit more about live scope. What is that?

SPEAKER_02 14:24

Forward-facing sonar. So you can look out, see the fish in front of you, see structure in front of you, watch your bait go down to the fish. You can react to you can pretty much play cat and mouse with the fish and get that fish to bite. Now, it's not that easy. A lot of the misconception with live scope is you throw your bait out there, you catch a fish, reel it back in, that's how you did it. No, there's so much that goes into it. From the rod, the reel, the line, there is a system. I mean, it's all a system. Everything has to work together. If anything is off, you're not gonna get that bite. I mean, it's just it's a literally a game changer in fishing.

SPEAKER_07 15:02

So it it's kinda like uh thermal in coyote calling.

SPEAKER_02 15:07

It would yes. They some people like to call it spotlighting.

SPEAKER_07 15:10

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 15:11

And some people are against it. You know, the older generation that has fished, you know, for thirty years and did the same thing, or this, that, or the other, that never really learned anything else.

unknown 15:23

Right.

SPEAKER_02 15:24

They're kind of against it, but it's it's really not easy. You have to be so efficient with your boat control. I mean, it's it's a lot that goes into it. And the classic winner of this year, Dylan Nutt, he's 23 or 24 years old. He is catching a bunch of flack for winning the classic with live scope. But people that have never live scoped and have never seen that before don't really understand what he did. I mean, it is incredible.

SPEAKER_07 15:53

Right. A lot more to it than what meets the eye.

SPEAKER_02 15:57

Yes, sir.

SPEAKER_07 15:59

So what's next for uh for Dylan and for H Squared Guide Service this this year rest of 2026? What's what are your goals? What's what's coming up for you?

SPEAKER_02 16:11

Uh right now I'm fishing the Bass Nation, which is like the working man's way to go pro without spending forty-five thousand dollars in entry fees. So I'm trying to work my way up. Last year in the team division, me and my dad had made it all the way to the national championship. We were literally fishing for a Bassmaster Classic spot in the 2026 classic. Well, it did not go as planned. There's a little guy named Fisher Anaya there that is running the game literally. Uh he's also, I think, 19 or something like that, and he has won already an elite series event, he won that event, and he's doing well. So we literally didn't have a shot, he kind of ran away with it.

SPEAKER_06 16:59

Yeah. Right.

SPEAKER_02 17:01

But as far as guiding, just kind of do the same thing, just progress and get better and learn more, and you actually learn more being out there with clients, I think, than you learn when you're fishing.

SPEAKER_06 17:15

Right.

SPEAKER_02 17:16

Because you can see everything from kind of like a different perspective.

SPEAKER_07 17:21

Good point. I can see how that would work. Yeah. Well, in all your time as a guide, I'm sure you've had some uh interesting experiences. Uh does anything kind of come to mind in terms of crazy story or a crazy client?

SPEAKER_02 17:36

I took these these guys out right after the the whole Kerrville incident. There was a bunch of electricians and stuff down there. And they had no more work to do, so they booked a trip, some of the electricians did. I took three guys out, and we just I mean we were catching crappie, we were on a giant school of them. And uh this guy stepped a little too far to the side and went straight in the water. No harm, no foul, but he didn't know how to swim.

SPEAKER_07 18:06

Oh no.

SPEAKER_02 18:08

And we're right next to a dock, and he's kind of struggling to get up, and he's keeps saying the dock is sucking him under, and we're trying to just calm him down and get him in the boat. We finally get him in the boat and he's calming down, and I mean it was just I didn't ever think we were gonna get him in the boat because he was flailing and kicking so hard.

SPEAKER_07 18:27

I bet his buddies never let him live that down.

SPEAKER_02 18:30

Oh yeah. It it it started right away, the hazing started right away.

SPEAKER_07 18:36

Oh man. Well, what about uh what about non-target species? If you're going out there for a bass or crappie, you ever ever run across um um a big snake or giant turtle or something, anything like that that's crazy?

SPEAKER_02 18:51

No, not typically. We usually run into big catfish on accident. Yeah.

SPEAKER_08 19:02

Sure.

SPEAKER_02 19:03

Yeah, the Lake Brownwood is fishing phenomenal. I've never seen it fish as good as it is now. Granted, the weather is kind of messing with them, but your crappie and your bass, I've never seen the quality of the fish come out and and the number of fish that I'm seeing on live scope. It's incredible. I honestly think you have a better time or a better chance of catching an eight to ten pounder out of brown wood not knowing how to live scope than going to like Ivy or one of these big lakes where they have a numerous amount of eight-pounders that get pressured all the time.

SPEAKER_07 19:38

Right. Good point. Dylan Hickey, H Squared Guide Services. Uh, Dylan, how can folks get a hold of you if they want to book a trip with you?

SPEAKER_02 19:48

I have a Facebook page, it is H Squared Guide Service. My phone number and email are on there. Just shoot me a text, and I'm always available, so call me whenever.

unknown 20:00

All right.

SPEAKER_02 20:01

I'll get you on the water for sure.

SPEAKER_07 20:03

Sounds good. I'm gonna do it this year, man. I've uh I've got to I've gotta take some time and do it myself. So I'll be I'll be in touch with you soon. And you can also find Dylan's information on the Lone Star Trail Facebook page. Dylan, thanks for being with us today.

SPEAKER_02 20:15

Well, thank you for having me on.

SPEAKER_07 20:19

Stay tuned, right here. Lone Star Trail will return after these messages.

SPEAKER_05 20:25

We're here talking to one of the fastest growing invasive species in Texas. Hi, I'm Giant Salvinia, nasty invasive species. I double in size every week. I understand you destroy Texas lakes and ruin fishing. Oh yeah, that's my thing. And that would be why boaters, fishermen, and skiers hate you. Yep, but they do give me rides from lake to lake. Folks, Giant Salvinia clings to boats, trailers, and gear, so remove even the smallest piece and put it in the trash. Don't tell them that! Hello, Giant Salvinia. Goodbye Texas Lakes. A message from Texas Parks and Wildlife.

SPEAKER_07 20:57

Whether you're looking to buy your next hunting property or have acreage to sell, you need Brian Clark and Ranch Pro Real Estate in your corner. Use the latest in technology to make listings easy for sellers to maximize value. In the market to buy that perfect ranch or hunting getaway, call Ranch Pro Real Estate at 325-642-3630. That's Ranch Pro Real Estate at RanchProRealEstate.com. The land is their life. You're listening to the Lone Star Trail. We're glad you're here. Now let's get back to the show. We're honored to have Denise Hudson Bryan on the phone with us with the city of Early. Uh Denise, welcome. Thanks for having me. Hey, so we're talking about Major League Fishing. And uh for the second year in a row, Major League Fishing is coming to Brown County and the central, west central Texas area. And that's really exciting on its own. Uh you guys Guys have a lot of things planned. They have a lot of things planned to do here when they're here for the few days that they're going to be here. And I want to talk about that later. But first, I really want uh for our listeners who are not familiar with major league fishing, I'd love for you to just kind of give us an overview. What is Major League Fishing? And how in the world did they find early Texas?

SPEAKER_03 22:21

Well, I mean, Major League Fishing, I tell people it's just like the NFL or the NBA. Uh, it just involves uh anglers, people who fish and that are professional fishermen. And so how they found us was we get fish stocked. Our bass comes from a company called Texas Pro Lakes. And he, the guy that owns Texas Pro Lakes, Stephen Barden, is on major, is part of Major Leagues Fishing uh habitation crew. So when Major League Fishing started looking at coming uh coming to this area, you know, OHIV is one of the premier lakes um in Texas in the in the nation. And so they called Stephen and said, hey, we're gonna be in your in, you know, semi in your neighborhood. Can you tell us, you know, who would be a good partner for us to work with? So he said, he recommended, he said, absolutely, uh, the city of early crew, they've been great to work with and and they and they they would they would do a good job for you. So that's how we got them here in uh it was actually 24. 20 they were here in 24, and then they'll be here in 26. So in 24, they came with the team series, which was a much smaller uh footprint and a more relaxed that as they tell me, this tournament is completely different kind of than the other one because the the team series is more of a fun, it's just an extra tournament, they're not having to qualify for the next round. I mean, to be in the to be in the Bass Pro you have to qualify. So in the pre-last year they had to do so well in the standings and different things in order to be able to qualify uh for this tournament.

SPEAKER_06 23:57

So this is a bigger deal, in other words.

SPEAKER_03 23:59

Yes, this is a great, a great bigger deal. When they were here before, um This is like the NFC playoffs. Yes, yeah, yeah. This is like this is like the playoffs, yes. And so um when they were here, I mean they just thought it was so great. The people were great, the hospitality, you know. Uh Wesley Strader said, you know, I feel like a movie star, and I he this was an interview he did with the city.

SPEAKER_07 24:23

Yeah, he talked to Wesley last year. Yes, 24.

SPEAKER_03 24:26

And he said, Yeah, he he said, you know, I feel like the way we've been treated here by this, you know, the city of Early and just all the people in general. He said, I think they're gonna give me a car before I leave, you know. And so they went back, the anglers that were here and the boat officials went back. At that time, we did not realize that the Bass Pro Chore was cutting down to 51 anglers. It was, I believe, a hundred before this. And so they told Major League Fishing, they're like in 26 when we go to the 51 angler format, both of those lakes would be able to handle uh this tournament. And so they really pushed for us to uh for you know for this tournament to come here. Uh our guy that we work with said when they were planning the 26 uh schedule, the very first meeting they had when they came in there, there were several people that said, please tell us we're going to early Texas in 26. So, you know, from everybody they could um pick, and they only pick eight cities a year to go and visit. So it's a huge uh huge thing. Steven helped us get it here, but the community and everybody here helped us deliver a first class um time when they were here in 26 and um made the English remote officials want to come back.

SPEAKER_07 25:41

And having you know world-class Sherlock lakes doesn't hurt either.

SPEAKER_03 25:45

Yeah, yeah. OH IV is great. And fishing march on OH IV, that is when you see some of your big uh Sher Lunker type fish uh caught.

SPEAKER_07 25:54

Absolutely. You know, we've reviewed the Sherlunker program on this show and uh talked about uh what that program is and definitely the uh Ivy and Brownwood both are our candidates for some large fish. So it makes sense with the hospitality and the size of fish why uh why they'd want to be here. Talk a little bit about the format. So not maybe so much this year because I know some things have changed, but what is it in general at in general terms? How does this tournament work? Uh what what are they how are they structured?

SPEAKER_03 26:25

So it's a lot like when they were here before. I mean, they have the first two days are what they call qualifying rounds. And if you win either of day one or day two, you automatically get a birth to the uh championship. And then on the there's day three and four, those are your uh those are your final uh you know your final championship days and the top um the top 25 fish in those two days. So you start with 51. The first two days they'll fish on Ivy with 51 anglers, and then the top 25 will come to Brownwood and fish on Lake Brownwood, and that's where the championship will be.

SPEAKER_06 27:07

And that's just determined by pounds or yes, yeah. So the most pounds.

SPEAKER_03 27:11

It's just like the number of fishes you this one doesn't have some some of your bass tournaments. Have you can only catch, you know, three of that, you can only turn in three a day to be weighed. But this one is as many as you uh want to fish. I looked at earlier, they're on Lake Gunter in Alabama right now, and and that at the end of the first period there were some some 48 pounds caught.

SPEAKER_06 27:31

So I mean and these guys are in pairs, right? Pair teams.

SPEAKER_03 27:34

They were when they were here before. When they are here this time, they will be in separate boats.

SPEAKER_06 27:40

Is every man for himself?

SPEAKER_03 27:41

Okay, so every man for himself. They're qualifying these tournaments, even though it just started, they're qualifying to make sure that they get into the next round because get me into how the all the qualifications go, but they have to qualify to stay in the tour each year.

SPEAKER_07 27:56

Right.

SPEAKER_06 27:56

Right.

SPEAKER_07 27:57

It's kind of like uh golf. I mean, you gotta you gotta keep doing well to continue to make those bigger tournaments and qualify. I get that. Okay, so there's uh getting into this year, uh talk a little bit about the prize money.

SPEAKER_03 28:13

So prize money, so this one, the minimum if you get 25th place, you get fifteen thousand dollars. If you win it, you get 125,000. So there's from 125,000 to 15,000. It kind of just goes down. Second place is 45,000 and it goes to 35. Basically, just the top five, it goes down by five once you get to or second place. Second place is 45, 35,000, 30,000, 25,000. And then it starts getting a little different into I think it goes by thousands, and then it goes down to hundreds, it decreases by the hundreds as you get down to the the 25th place. Each day there's a daily big bass, and so whoever gets a daily big bass of the day gets a gets a thousand dollars uh from that. So a lot of big money. Also get them into what they call the angler of the year, and there's money for the angler of the year. I mean, Jacob Wheeler's a four four-time uh angler of the year, and he will be back to fish in this. And he fished, he was here in when they fished in 24. Him and Dustin O'Connell both, which were at the time were the number one and the number two angler in the world.

SPEAKER_07 29:25

Well, that's pretty amazing to have uh that caliber of anglers coming to our area in the near future. And it's you know, like you said, it's a testament to uh the great lakes that we've got in this area, but also just the level of hospitality and and uh everybody was made to feel welcome when they were here last time. So that's a great, a great testament to uh just you know how you treat people matters.

SPEAKER_03 29:48

Yeah, it does, it does. And uh so I think I told you earlier this one is they do three three activation stages for the whole year. And what that what that means is it's it's a bigger format, uh a bigger format of who's coming as far as their the sponsors that sponsor these and getting into the watch party. And we were really nervous whether we would be picked, especially there's two tournaments in Texas this year, and one of them is Waco. So when you're comparing Waco to early Texas, you know, if you haven't been here before, you would think, and you look at it on the map, you're like, that's really small. Should would we rather go to, you know, would we rather take everything to Waco or go to early Texas? But here again, the people who were here before convince them that this would be uh this would be a great, this would be a great place to do the activation.

SPEAKER_07 30:43

Well, it is, and it will be again, I'm sure. Let's talk a little bit now about the Columbia PFG uh student class that's that's gonna be happening. Tell me about that.

SPEAKER_03 30:54

Yeah, so the Clumber what they the clin, it's an angler clinic. There will be um professional anglers that are actually in the clinic, uh I mean that are actually helping teach the clinic, and it is here to teach them um you know what your steps are if you want to be a professional angler. You know what here again I'll go back to uh Wesley Schrader when he was here, he said, you know, if I could go back and do it over, he said, and they had the pro fishing like I mean the college fishing like they do now, I would have gone to college, got a degree in marketing and business. He said, because it's not just about fishing, it's about it's a business. Because, you know, he said you gotta you gotta do budgets and all that stuff to figure out how you're gonna do all these tournaments. And also the marketing, he said you can't do it if you don't have all these sponsors, you know, you don't have all these endorsements from, you know, like I said, Bass Pro, Mercury Boats, those kind of things. So he said it really is. If I could tell anglers one thing, it would be go to college, get your degree in business and marketing, and uh then you'll know how to uh be successful in this. So they teach them that they're gonna give them some pointers as well, you know, telling them, you know, give them some tips on fishing and that kind of stuff.

SPEAKER_07 32:11

And what age range is that? I know there's been these, I think there's some conf conflicting information.

SPEAKER_03 32:16

There is some confusing we were originally told it's sixth grade through uh the collegiate level. Um, I read on their website it says high school and collegiate. So next week we're gonna we're having a meeting with them to get all of that uh all that stuff uh uh lined out. And once we do, we'll have all that information uh on our website. We can share it with you uh for you to share as well. Um and it's an hour and a half clinic on that on that Saturday uh afternoon.

SPEAKER_06 32:44

Yeah, that'll be March 28th afternoon, right?

SPEAKER_03 32:48

So the tournament itself will start on OH Ivy on the uh 26th. They'll fish Ivy March 26th and uh 27th, and then they'll fish Brownwood the 28th and the 29th. The tournament starts every day at 745 and lines are out of the water at 345.

SPEAKER_06 33:05

Got it. Okay.

SPEAKER_03 33:07

Live streamed on ML MLF now if you want to watch it, or you can watch it from the early town center as well.

SPEAKER_07 33:14

Yeah, you guys you guys have that huge screen, right?

SPEAKER_03 33:16

Yes, well it's going up now. Yeah, it's getting ready to go up. We'll have all of our TVs by the time they're here. So we're gonna live stream it every day from uh 745 to uh eight uh three forty five.

SPEAKER_06 33:28

Very cool. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 33:29

In conjunction with major in conjunction with this, we're going to Major League Fishing will stream on the big screens down there, like I said 745 to 345, and then we will switch gears. The first two days will be the sweet 16, Saturday and Sunday will be the Elite 8 for the men uh basketball. So you can watch that down there.

SPEAKER_07 33:50

Great. Lots of stuff going on early. I know that is the case. Um, you know, we you and I have not talked. How was your deer season?

SPEAKER_03 33:58

It was good. I got a good uh I got a good 10 point. Uh he came 92 degrees weather. We'd seen him earlier in the day, but it's down with the dough, and so he was the only deer that came that whole day. I guess you know he had he had he had done what he was supposed to and he was hungry, and so he came in even before the feeder threw.

SPEAKER_07 34:18

So it's such a weird uh weird season this year as the weather was so warm. Um didn't really have a strong cold front at all during the buck season.

SPEAKER_03 34:29

So 92 degrees.

SPEAKER_07 34:31

Maybe they just they you know they're just gonna grow bigger for next year. That's the deal.

SPEAKER_03 34:35

Yeah, we had some come up on the feeder. I mean, I'm not gonna an hour and a half after, and once it went dark the last day of the season. We're like, well, at least they made it to next year.

SPEAKER_07 34:45

Exactly. Yeah, they'll be there next year, so that's great. Okay. Well, Denise, thank you so much for your time and information. And we're gonna check in again before uh the tournament and then also have some live from the the water uh reports as well when they come the end of uh March. So looking forward to continue talking about the major league fishing tournament gonna be held here in uh Brown County.

SPEAKER_03 35:08

All right, thank you. Thanks for having me.

SPEAKER_07 35:09

Thanks for joining the show again this morning. We appreciate your time. Uh, if you have hunting stories, pictures, uh you want to reach out to us, you can always email us at Lonestar Trailradio at gmail.com. That's LonestarTrailradio at gmail.com. And I'd love to hear your feedback on this next topic. And as somebody who enjoys the outdoors and loves a Texas sunset, who enjoys uh being outside with family and friends, uh there is a concerning project on the horizon that threatens a way of life. This project will impact landowners, wildlife populations, hunters, conservationists, and threatens historical landmarks and family heritage. Certainly, as Texas grows, so do our needs, and that includes electricity. However, this project I'm talking about is one of several 765 kilovolt transmission line projects. The project I'm talking about is the dinosaur switch to longshore project proposed by Encore. Encore proposes to construct a new 765-kilovolt transmission line from about three miles north of the city of Glenrose in Somerville County to Encore's existing longshore switch located approximately 4.5 miles west of Forsan in Howard County. While the project promises improved reliability and service, it also raises concerns among all the landowners who are potentially impacted, and that's thousands of landowners from uh about 250 mile span between point A and point B. Now, depending on the route, the Public Utility Commission of Texas approves, uh again, that line could be from 200 to 270 miles long. The line will be constructed on a self-supporting steel lattice towers. These are anywhere from 100 to 120 feet in height. Uh the project is planned for completion in 2029, but could be earlier than that, uh, with a key milestone including the application filing that's already happened as of the early part of this year, and then uh the expected PUC decision sometime this year. So there's a lot of concern about this uh transmission line for a lot of reasons. Uh the transmission line can bring about uh a lot of different things, obviously, potential impacts on property values, land use restrictions, uh, visual and environmental effects of those towering structures. Uh, and obviously those transmission lines change the landscape. You're used to looking out the door, the window, sitting on a porch, uh, and seeing the sunset in the evenings. Instead, you're gonna look be looking at these 120-foot tall towers uh going across your property if you're if you're picked on the route. Encore is proposing a 500-foot construction temporary easement and then a 200-foot permanent easement. So perpetual contact with uh Encore as they maintain this right away after the construction phase is over. You'll have uh, if you're a landowner on this line that gets picked, you'll have uh uh maintenance uh for the life of the project. Um they they can either notify you or possibly not notify you when they're on your own property. Uh there's a lot of issues and a lot of concerns about uh this particular project, the transmission line from the dinosaur to longshore switch uh that Encore is projected. And I bring it up on the show because uh if you're a follower of the show, if you enjoy what we talk about, then conservation is everything to you. Whether we're talking about water conservation, uh soil conservation, wildlife conservation, and when there is a large infrastructure project that stretches across hundreds of miles in the state of Texas, uh the impact is huge to all of us, whether we are directly involved as landowners or not. Uh to learn more about this project or to register your opposition, you can visit uh the PUC website. And I'd encourage all of our listeners to go there and just find out more information for themselves, www.puc.texas.gov. And Texas is spelled out T-E-X-A-S. W.puc.texas.gov. Uh you have only until March 24th to register your uh complaint or opposition to this project and let uh the PUC know of uh possible impacts to your property or uh as a neighbor of this property. Uh if you are impacted, you should have already got a packet in the mail with uh about 12 or 14 different pages full of possible routes. Uh there's a lot of uh hundreds of combinations, it looks like, on these on these legs. So it's it's virtually impossible to tell where the line is going to go. Um the PUC has to make that determination after they've heard public comment. And that time period is ending very quickly. So uh visit the PUC website once again at www.puc.texas.gov to learn more about this uh major infrastructure project that does stand to impact lots of the state of Texas. Uh, that's it for me on that topic. We're gonna get uh to a commercial break here. After that, we'll have uh House Rules with Dayton House. So stay tuned. Whether you're looking to buy your next hunting property or have acreage to sell, you need Brian Clark and Ranch Pro Real Estate in your corner. They use the latest in technology to make listings easy for sellers to maximize value. In the market to buy that perfect ranch or hunting getaway, call Ranch Pro Real Estate at 325-642-3630. That's Ranch Pro Real Estate at RanchproRealEstate.com. The land is their life. You're listening to the Lone Star Trail, and it's time once again for House Rules with Dayton House. Dayton is a retired government trapper, a firearms expert, an outdoors enthusiast, and a true Texan. At 76 years old, he's still going strong and enjoys sharing his passion of the outdoors with others. Welcome back to the show. It's time for House Rules on the Lone Star Trail. We're back with Dayton House. Dayton, uh, we were talking a second ago, and uh you made another trip around the sun.

SPEAKER_04 41:35

Yes. 77 now.

SPEAKER_07 41:38

77.

SPEAKER_04 41:39

All right. And a lady told me a few years ago that I was over the hill and I never made it to the top.

SPEAKER_07 41:48

Is there any truth to that?

SPEAKER_04 41:50

Yes, I believe so. I think so. It wasn't hard to climb, though. Well, that's good. I've got a little feedback for you. Owen Bean from Blanket Area listens quite often, and he wanted me to put a plug in for a website. It is a search engine. It's called Ammo Seek. And you can find live or loaded ammo or reloading components. You can find a few guns, all kinds of powder primers, anything that you want to use for hand loading. Well, that's one of the best places to go first. And it starts out the first items are always the cheap ones, so it's easy to see what's the bargains you can get. And I've bought lots of things over the years, and uh I'd recommend ammo seek.

SPEAKER_07 42:47

Mmosek.com.

SPEAKER_04 42:49

Yeah, so last time I used it was a month ago, and they had what's called pool brass. Some companies of the military will have uh loaded rounds that won't work right, or they won't feed through some of the Army machine guns, so they send them back and they pull the bullets and dump the powder, and then sell these brass that already has the primer in it. And I got what was called blemish brash, and it has some neck problems and cracks and splits and bumps, and about 10% of them you have to take a file and file them down before they'll even chamber, but it was 10 cents a round for a primed brass, and that that's the biggest bargain that I've found on there. But all kinds of reloading components is easy to find. MOC. Owen and I'd recommend that.

SPEAKER_07 43:49

Owen being from Comanche, yeah. Glad Owen listens. That's good. He's a good guy. Well, it's been a while since we've had a chance to catch up, and um I I want to I want to to I know you got some stuff to go through. I want to get to that in a second, but I've had some folks ask and talk we've talked a little bit about this already, but uh you just kind of gave me a live demo before we got going here on on setting a snare. I wonder if you might might run through that again for our listeners that might be out there wondering about the best way to have some success with snares.

SPEAKER_04 44:22

Well you need to find a hole where the coats are sliding under the fence. Usually barbed wire they go anywhere they want to but occasionally they'll use the same slide and you can snare barbed wire just like you can net wire. But uh tie the snare onto the bottom of the fence and hang it from a little clip on the bottom wire and hopefully you'll get lucky and catch something. But the snare needs to be clean. When they're manufactured well they have an oil on there and oftentimes cows like to lick that and so I'd recommend when you buy snares, hang them up on a fence or under a tree and wash them off once a week and usually within six weeks or a month well they'll be clean enough to put out and you shouldn't have any problem with the cows licking on them and getting their tongue in them catching that.

SPEAKER_07 45:17

That'd be a problem. You you showed me something that I hadn't really thought of before and that's kind of um when you're setting up on a on a grade on a fence line making sure that that that slide uh can still slide but it's it's kind of backward thinking really you don't want it sliding too fast.

SPEAKER_04 45:39

You want to set it where it's kind of opposite of uh the gravity flow right uh tie the swivel onto the lowest end of the fence if the fence sloping uphill will tie the snare downhill so the lock mechanism on the snare will slide always more open. Rabbits and skunks and armadillas go through the same hole that Kyle uses and you want that snare to always slide in more open rather than in the closing position. So always tie it downhill. And don't tie your hog snares to the barbed wire right unless you want to redo your fence that's right hogs are terrible on fence you tie it to the bottom wire or steel post they're gonna pull that post out of the ground and tear the fence at least half of the fence up maybe 15 or 20 feet up and down there. I recommend tying it on a cedar post or a cross tie and let them drag that off and it's a lot easier to look for a cross tie or a steel cedar post than it is to repair the fence. Well what else has been going on since we last had a chance to catch up we're out here we're out here looking for hogs this evening hopefully we're gonna find some uh I've not killed a hog in over seven months the areas that I normally hunt the landowners didn't want me in there interfering with the deer hunters so I've had a real problem locating hogs right now we're on my brother's place at Beatty northwest of Comanche he's seen some fresh rooting in his coastal and I would recommend investing your money in a rover dark 30 or some type of thermal that would be mounted on top of the cab with a pickup this is the biggest game changer that I've ever had I bought one 10 or 12 years ago and it mounts on the top of the cab. You can sit in the cab on a cold night like this and it'll rotate 360 and you can enjoy hunting hogs.

SPEAKER_07 48:01

Oh yeah this is the only way to do it right here.

SPEAKER_04 48:03

But there are four brands that uh I'm familiar with one of them's called a night ride 360 a dark 30 IRA makes one and Rover makes one and they'll vary from $3,000 to $8,000 but that's a good investment.

SPEAKER_07 48:24

It'll change the way you hunt and is this the same one you've had for 10 years?

SPEAKER_04 48:29

That's correct. Same one I've not had any problems with it it is the uh rover R-O-V-I-R how many revolutions do you think this thing may have made millions millions I would agree there's a joystick in the cab and you can just play with it and it'll pan tilt and zoom PTZ yeah how far out do you think you can you can identify uh about two or three hundred yards on identity now you may detect them six or eight hundred yards yeah uh oftentimes a cow half a mile away you know there's something there but you can't identify it we're here in a coastal field so we can tell that what we're looking at now is cattle out there and by the way they're walking but the more hours you've got looking at this thing probably also you can tell pretty quickly what something is yes practice makes perfect so to speak and uh hogs show up different if you can see under the body of an animal chances are it's not a hog a hog's just low to the ground and then this coastal you should never be able to see underneath them and hogs tend to group up and travel in a group kind of like fire ants they just don't move where deer will stop and eat more and stay in the same area and uh a deer with its head down looks like a hog uh your kill rate will definitely increase your success will go up if you have a camera you don't uh have to hold a rifle up you don't have to hold a monocular you can sit here in the coldest night and a warm pickup I let the pickup run all night long during the summer when we were hunting my average gas mileage one week was 1.6 miles to the gallon so I don't get very good gas mileage but I'd rather stay warm or stay cool.

SPEAKER_07 50:46

Absolutely well this really you know you got the height advantage too you know you and I talked about hunting out of a rack before and just how much that height advantage gives you and with this camera mounted on the top of your your cab it's really kind of the same thing. You're able to uh to see it. And it's it's quiet too. I mean you you've called coyotes in with this thing the engine's running the camera's spinning you know and coyotes have come in pretty close.

SPEAKER_04 51:14

I don't recommend it on coyotes but a hogs they seem to they don't m notice the sound that much and unless you're moving well they don't care. I've had hogs to come up within 10 or 15 yards. If they've never been shot at well they don't care whether the engine's running or not they're going to come all the way around you.

SPEAKER_07 51:35

I know you said it's been several months and you since you've seen a pig but what you know we're we're we got brush on either side of us to the east and the west uh we've got and and then to the north also behind us where we're sitting we've got some brush what what are you thinking about in terms of what's driving these pigs through this place? What's the reason they're coming through is it from water to to pasture or food source? Do you got any thoughts?

SPEAKER_04 52:03

Yeah food. I think it's the food. They eat a lot of grubs and worms and everything they root up's got moisture in it and I think a hog could go months without drinking water. And brother feeds a lot of hay here and the grubs are in that old hay and hogs just love rooting in that I'd recommend parking at least a hundred yards downwind of where you think the hogs are going to be coming and let them come to you. And if they want to come within 30 yards well then get out and go to shooting.

SPEAKER_07 52:41

There you go well that's all the time we have for the show today we thank you for stopping by and joining us on the Lone Star Trail. We invite you to come back next week same time same place and you can find us on Facebook and write to us at Lone Star Trailradio at gmail.com we'd love to see those hunting pictures and stories from all of us here at the show thanks for listening so long