< Previous80 COASTMONTHLY.COM / November 2018Coastal Bays and marshes present hunters with some phenomenal public land opportunities for ducks. COASTMONTHLY.COM / November 2018 81Land of opportunityUpper Texas coast offers plenty of public and private waterfowl hunting groundsStory and photos by Capt. Nate SkinnerWith November upon us, it’s time to put out the decoys and enjoy the whistling of wings as cupped feathers cut through the air like a knife.There are plenty of options on the upper Texas coast for those longing to get in on the wing-shooting action.The miles of main bay shorelines and coastal marshes provide waterfowl hunters, willing to put in some time and effort, with public land opportunities. Areas around lower west Galveston Bay, Christmas Bay, Freeport and Sargent are known for attracting flocks of redheads, scaup, pintails, buffleheads, gadwalls and teal.Hunters should do their research before setting up to hunt in an area to make sure they’re not trespassing on private property and there isn’t a permit required to hunt from the particular stretch of coastal terrain they have selected.Several of the best sites to hunt waterfowl along the upper Texas coast are within Wildlife Management Areas. Some notable Wildlife Management Areas that can produce dynamite shoots are the Justin Hurst and the J.D. Murphree sites.Wildlife Management Areas require hunters to possess an annual public hunting permit. This $48 permit provides access to more than 1 million acres of public land throughout the Lone Star State. An inter-active map of Texas public hunting areas along with more information 82 COASTMONTHLY.COM / November 2018about public hunting can be found at tpwd.texas.gov/huntwild/hunt/public.One surefire way to tap into some excel-lent waterfowl action during November is to spend some time along the coastal rice prai-ries west of Houston, in and around commu-nities like Eagle Lake, Wharton, Garwood and El Campo. These areas are just a short drive away and provide significant winter habitat to migrating ducks and geese every year.The downside of hunting the rice prairies to the west is that most of these properties are leased by groups of hunters or outfitters. Booking a hunt with an outfitter will provide you with the most bang for your buck, as they often have access to a large number of fields and ponds that have been scouted before your arrival.One excellent outfit on the Garwood Prairie is Red Bluff Prairie Hunting Club, and another good one that operates out of the Co-lumbus area is Top-Flight Hunting Preserve.The advantage to going on a guided hunt with one of these operations is that the hard work needed for success already has been done for you. These outfits will transport you to one of their comfortable blinds in an all-terrain vehicle, and your hunt will take place on a well-managed pond that’s chock full of prime food and habitat for both ducks COASTMONTHLY.COM / November 2018 83and geese. All you have to do is show up and get ready to make some great shots.Waterfowl hunters should consider a few factors as they prepare to set up in an area. Ducks always land into the wind, so hunters should try to set up with the wind at their backs. Hunters at all costs should avoid setups that put the wind blowing into their faces. Crosswinds will work fine, but head-on winds only produce tough shot opportunities.In a perfect scenario, with the wind blow-ing from behind the blind, hunters should leave a gap in the center of the decoy spread so decoying birds have an area to land. This hole should have an even number of decoys on each side of it.In a crosswind situation, there should still be a hole in the spread that’s positioned in front of the blind. More decoys should be positioned on the upwind side of this hole, while significantly less should be set up on the downwind side. The larger concentration of decoys on the upwind side of the spread should draw birds across the hole in front of the blind as they cup into the wind to land.A huge part of waterfowl hunting is excel-lent dog work, and retrievers also get to join in on the action in November after a long hiatus. Above all, waterfowl hunting is an addicting adventure that many cherish. (Clockwise from left) Coastal rice prairies attract swarms of ducks each and every year. The wait is over — waterfowl hunters can now put out the decoys and enjoy the sport that they hold dearest to their hearts. Nothing makes a duck hunt better than a hard-working and loyal retriever.Features84 COASTMONTHLY.COM / November 2018An Unfair Lures Rip-N-Slash fooled this cold water trout for wade fisherman Brandon Skinner. COASTMONTHLY.COM / November 2018 85HookedNate’s baitsTry one of these slow-sinking and suspending twitch baits and hang onStory and photos by Capt. Nate SkinnerNovember is a time on the upper Texas coast when things start to cool down. Cold fronts are arriving on a fairly regular basis and both air and water temperatures are falling. It’s an excellent time to pursue speckled trout and redfish in Galveston Bay and its surrounding estuaries.Pressure from on-the-water crowds is considerably lower as many anglers turn their attention to other outdoor sports like hunting. Gamefish behavior also can be somewhat predictable as they transi-tion into their fall and winter patterns.As water temperatures plunge into the 60s and below, specks and reds will adjust their diet. As shrimp exit the bays with the onset of winter, these predators will begin to target mullet and other larger fin fish as prey. Anglers must make adjustments with their bait presenta-tions accordingly.Here are five incredibly versatile and effective slow-sinking and sus-pending, mullet-imitation plugs. These twitch baits will entice strikes throughout the cooler months of the year and will render some colos-sal catches. Not to mention, they are some of my absolute favorites.52MR MIRROLUREFrom now through the end of February, my favorite go-to plug when drift fishing over oyster shell is the 52mr classic mirrolure. The sinking twitch bait comes in a vari-ety of fish-catching color schemes and has the line attachment rigged on top of its head. This makes it an outstanding lure to use when fishing out of a boat, as it allows the bait to slowly sink through the water column in a horizontal posi-tion, just like a wounded baitfish. This bait works best in 3 to 8 feet of water. my preference is to cast the 52mr in mirrolure’s number 28 color scheme, which is red, gold and yellow.RIP-N-SLASHThe rip-N-Slash is a slow-sinking hard bait made by Unfair Lures. It casts a country mile and is great for both wade fishing and drifting applications. The lure comes in two model sizes — the 70mm and the 90mm. I prefer the larger, 90mm, model because it more accurately imitates the larger meal the fish are in search of. my two favorite colors for the rip-N-Slash are Pink Ghost and Hot orange. PAUL BROWN’S FAT BOYmanufactured by mirrolure, the Fat boy is a suspending twitch bait known for producing monster strikes. It gets its name from its chunky profile. Although it moves through the water like a hard bait, it sports a soft body. This makes it feel like a real baitfish, so the fish chomp it and won’t let go. I’ll use this bait both while wading and drifting, and I prefer it in the following color schemes: Pink/Silver, Tequila Sunrise and Dayglow.PAUL BROWN’S ORIGINALPaul brown’s original Corky once held the Texas state record for speckled trout, with a fish weigh-ing in at more than 13 pounds.The slow-sinking plug, now produced by mirrolure, has a more slender profile than the Fat boy, and it sports a soft body. The shape of the lure’s body can be tuned to help the bait stay shallower or deeper, depending on what the situation calls for. Pink/Silver, Tequila Sunrise and Chartreuse/Gold with a white belly are the best colors.PAUL BROWN’S SOFT-DINE XLAs one of the newer additions to mirrolure’s Paul brown line up, the Soft-Dine XL doesn’t disappoint. It has tantalizing action, soft body and produces strikes from finicky fish. my favorite colors for this slow-sinking and suspend-ing twitch bait are TX Chicken, Pearl with a Chartreuse back and Dayglow.This redfish couldn’t resist inhaling a Fat Boy.The Soft-Dine XL is a trophy trout catching machine during the cooler months.86 COASTMONTHLY.COM / November 2018Nathan Martens looks out before driving a 13-foot Boston Whaler out of his dock in Jamaica Beach. Martens enjoys taking the boat out in the canals to enjoy the lights in the evenings. COASTMONTHLY.COM / November 2018 87Stem to SternBoston Whaler An unsinkable legend from the 1950sStory by David Canright | Photos by Kelsey WallingNathan Martens of Jamaica Beach, and Jerry Seinfeld, the comedian who can afford any boat or car he wants, have something in common: the Boston Whaler.In the first season of “Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee,” the long-running series on HBO, Seinfeld takes “Late Night” host Jimmy Fallon for a spin in his vintage aqua blue Corvette, and they end up on the water aboard his vintage 17-foot Boston Whaler, with a matching aqua blue interior.Martens’ Whaler, a 13-foot Dauntless model, is owned by his next-door neighbor, Keith Considine, but it’s stored in the lift under Martens’ deck over the canal. In return, Martens is free to use it, and he does.“I take it out to go fishing, or picking up crab traps, or just to cruise the canals of Jamaica Beach, or out to the bay,” Martens said. “It’s the ideal boat for West Galveston Bay, because it only draws about 2 feet, or less with the motor trimmed up.”Dick Fisher invented the Boston Whaler in Massa-chusetts in 1958, but the company he founded is now based in Edgewater, Florida. Other than its state of origin, the boat has nothing specifically to do with Boston, or with whaling, aside from the harpoon in the design of the company logo. With no resemblance to the light, double-ended pulling boats used in the 19th-century whale fisheries, it was a completely origi-nal design, using post-World War II technologies in an innovative way.Had it been available at that time, the boat probably would have been more suitable to the work of those whaleboats. For one thing, the Boston Whaler is unsink-able, even in the event that the powerful jaws of a sperm whale chomped the boat in half — a fate not unknown to the whaling fleet.The Boston Whaler company famously demonstrated this feature, not with a sperm whale, but with a chainsaw. In a promotional clip, two men take the boat out into the harbor and saw it in half from under them. Both halves 88 COASTMONTHLY.COM / November 2018Stem to Stern COASTMONTHLY.COM / November 2018 89continue to float, and the after half, with the outboard motor, then tows the forward half back into the dock.This magic trick is made possible by the boat’s construction of molded closed-cell polyurethane foam and epoxy. Flotation is thus inherent in the very fabric of the hull — not dependent on the ability of the hull to keep the water on the outside of the boat.The hull form is equally innovative, developed by Fisher in the mid-1950s through careful testing of prototypes. It features a small keel on either side, and a slightly larger keel in the center, flattening out near the stern so the boat can plane at higher speeds. The design is called a “cathedral” form: a section through the middle of the boat, turned upside down, resembles a classic cathedral, with a cen-tral spire flanked by two smaller ones. The result is a very fast and stable hull with little draft, suitable for the shallows off Jamaica Beach.From above, the boat is nearly rectangular, with side benches and thwarts for seating, and a small console and wheel near the center. A rail along the sides provides safety to the passengers, and a folding Bimini top gives essential protection from the Gulf Coast sun.“It takes less than 10 minutes to drop the boat on the lift and get out on the water, and another 10 minutes to hoist it back up and hose-clean the hull,” Martens said. “It doesn’t take much maintenance.”A 40-horsepower outboard motor supplies the power.“The boat is so light that it doesn’t take any more than that to get up to 35 knots or so,” Martens said.He often takes his niece and nephew, age 9 and 10, out on the boat.“They love being on the water, and they love the boat,” Martens said. “They are both learning to steer. It’s an easy boat to run.” (Opposite page, from top) Nathan Martens drives a 13-foot Boston Whaler down a canal in Jamaica Beach. Martens stores the boat in the lift under his deck for his neighbor, who owns the vessel and in ex-change lets Martens take it out whenever he wants. A small console and wheel near the center of the boat. A storage compartment underneath the bow seating.Next >