There were 18 participants in the Wednesday Evening Jackpot Fishing Tournament held at Lake Brownwood on October 10th.  Each Wednesday, sign up is from 4:45 to 5:20 pm at the lake dam ramp and fishing hours are from 5:30 to 9:00 pm sharp.

The results of the tournament are below:

Lake conditions:

Weather was clear to mostly cloudy.

Wind: 5 to 11 mph North gust to 20

Air Temp: Start 77° End 64°

Water was dirty to muddy 69° to 73°

There were 20 fish weighed in for a total of 44.06lbs

Out of 18 contestants, 11 people weighed in fish with 4 limits.

Contestants

1. Paul Hutchings...................................8.75

2. Steven Armstrong...............................6.37

Endangered whooping cranes have begun their annual 2,400-mile fall migration from Canada to Texas. As the rare birds approach Texas, a new citizen science initiative is inviting Texas residents and visitors to help collect sightings of whoopers.

Texas Whooper Watch (http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/whoopingcranes/) is a new volunteer monitoring program that is a part of Texas Parks and Wildlife Department’s Texas Nature Trackers program.   According to Lee Ann Linam, biologist in the Wildlife Diversity Program, Texas Whooper Watch is being developed to keep track of an ever-expanding population of whooping cranes.

Since beginning their slow recovery from a low of 16 birds in the 1940s, whoopers have, with few exceptions, always wintered on the Texas coast on and near Aransas National Wildlife Refuge.  However, in the winter of 2011-12, several groups of whooping cranes expanded their wintering areas to include more coastal areas and even some inland sites in Central Texas—patterns that surprised crane biologists.  “Texas Whooper Watch is a program that asks the public to help us discover more about where whooping cranes stop in migration and to be ready to learn more about these potential new wintering areas,” according to Linam.

Below are the fishing reports for area lakes as reported by the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department this week.

Lake Brownwood

Water stained; 73–77 degrees; 9.63' low. Black bass are good on dark red crankbaits, watermelon Bass Hogg spinnerbaits, and Grande Bass Rattle Snakes early. Hybrid striper are fair on white striper jigs. White bass are good on small spinnerbaits and Li'l Fishies off lighted docks at night. Crappie are good on minnows and blue tube jigs over brush piles and under lighted docks at night. Channel catfish are good on cut bait and stinkbait over baited holes. Yellow catfish to 20 pounds are good on trotlines baited with perch.

There were 15 participants in the Wednesday Evening Jackpot Fishing Tournament held at Lake Brownwood on October 3rd.  Each Wednesday, sign up is from 4:45 to 5:20 pm at the lake dam ramp and fishing hours are from 5:30 to 9:00 pm sharp.

The results of the tournament are below:

Lake conditions:

Weather was clear to partly cloudy.

Wind: 8 to 15 mph SSE gust to 20

Air Temp: Start 82° End 73°

Water was dirty to muddy 72° to 78°

There were 10 fish weighed in for a total of 20.84lbs

Out of 15 contestants, 7 people weighed in fish with 0 limits.

The National Weather Service issued a special weather statement Thursday morning regarding a cold front headed to the area this weekend.

A strong cold front will drop across West Central Texas early on Saturday with strong north winds and much colder temperatures following the front. The coldest temperatures so far this fall are likely, with readings behind the front dropping quickly into the 40s and 50s by Saturday afternoon. Strong north winds will also be noted, dropping wind chill readings into the 30s in some locations. Patchy rain will also be possible, although any totals will be very light.

Below are the fishing reports for area lakes as reported by the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department this week.

Lake Brownwood

Water lightly stained; 78–82 degrees; 10.33' low. Black bass are good on dark red crankbaits, watermelon Bass Hogg spinnerbaits, and Grande Bass Rattle Snakes early. Hybrid striper are fair on white striper jigs. White bass are good on small spinnerbaits and Li'l Fishies off lighted docks at night. Crappie are good on minnows and blue tube jigs over brush piles and under lighted docks at night. Channel catfish are good on cut bait and stinkbait over baited holes. Yellow catfish to 20 pounds are good on trotlines baited with perch.

Grab the Global Positioning System device of your choice and head to a Texas State Park to try to locate hidden “caches” of weatherproof containers in the latest Texas State Park Geocache Challenge. The family friendly challenge kicked off October 1st at almost 90 state parks, historic sites and other TPWD properties.

Geocaching (pronounced GEE-oh-cash-ing) is attracting a growing legion of millions of modern-day scavenger hunters who comb the outdoors for locations of intentionally hidden film canisters or boxes containing a variety of items ranging from a logbook where you can sign your name to token trinkets. Participants use hand-held GPS gadgets, vehicle units and mobile phone apps on this high-tech treasure hunt to locate caches using GPS coordinates. Geocaching today attracts more than four million people to the great outdoors for fun, adventure and exercise.

Below are the fishing reports for area lakes as reported by the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department this week.

Lake Brownwood

Water lightly stained; 79–83 degrees; 13.70' low. Black bass to 3 pounds are fair on redbug and green pumpkin Grande Bass soft plastics, and on crankbaits and topwaters early and late. Hybrid striper are slow. White bass are excellent on minnows, spinnerbaits, and Rat–L–Traps under lights at night. Crappie are fair on minnows over brush piles under lights at night in 5–18 feet. Channel catfish are slow. Yellow catfish to 25 pounds are fair on live bait.

There were 11 participants in the Wednesday Evening Jackpot Fishing Tournament held at Lake Brownwood on September 19th.  Each Wednesday, sign up is from 4:45 to 5:20 pm at the lake dam ramp and fishing hours are from 5:30 to 9:00 pm sharp.

The results of the tournament are below:

Lake conditions:

Weather was clear.

Wind: 3 to 8 mph SE gust to 16

Air Temp: Start 86° End 73°

Water was Clear 76° to 78°

There were 25 fish weighed in for a total of 43.28 lbs

Out of 20 contestants, 10 people weighed in fish with 5 limits.

Contestants

1st  Jack Saling.........................................5.30

2nd  Brandon Anglin.................................5.17

3rd  Paul Hutchings...................................5.04