Central Texas is a great place to live. Despite the 100-plus degree temperatures during the summer and the occasional ice storm or tornado warning, residents of the area can take part in outdoor activities pretty much on a year-round basis.

While a night-time round of golf isn’t yet feasible, overnight fishing trips offer good times without the blast furnace sensation of a July afternoon. However, there are plenty of relatively cool hours to spend outdoors both early and late in the day.

My daughter Haley and I were joined Friday at Lake Waco’s Koehne Park by my brother Derek and his kids Evan and Bekah, along with friends Jack McVey and Mark Terry, for an early morning fishing trip, and the fish were ready for breakfast.

We were primarily focused on making sure the kids had a good time, but also planned to stretch any kinks out of our own fishing lines, as well. We quickly ran through a box of nightcrawlers, thanks to some hungry sunfish, catfish and bass, and we also hauled in some others on artificial baits. Derek even showed off his fly-fishing skills with a flurry of midmorning action near a tree hanging over the water.

One of the kids’ favorite things was watching me cast the throw net, which snagged some minnows and sunfish, along with a slab-sized gizzard shad that was sure to attract the attention of the lake’s population of hybrid-striped bass.

Texas Parks and Wildlife stocked hybrids into the lake back in 2009 as part of a multifaceted effort to improve the taste and smell of Waco’s water supply. Hybrids, a cross between striped bass and sand bass, typically reach keeper size within three years, and adults can weigh in the midteens. The bag limit is five per angler, and fish must be a minimum of 18 inches long.

Hybrids are voracious feeders that keep the number of a lake’s gizzard shad in check. Shad are the culprits that eat the beneficial zooplankton that control the lake’s water-fouling phytoplankton.

Also prowling the lake’s shore last week was Waco angler Mark Fallon, and he “accidentally” caught two whopper largemouth bass while trying to catch catfish for his barbecue pit.

Fallon was fishing for yellow cats with live perch on the bottom when one of his clicker rods started singing to him. He set the hook and fought in a 9.2-pound black bass.

“It’s actually the biggest largemouth I’ve ever caught, but it was skinny as a rail,” he said. “It was 31  1/2 inches long. It will be an 11- or 12-pounder this winter.”

As he was releasing the fish back into the lake, another reel started screaming, and another bass was on the other end of the line — this time a 6-pounder.

“What bad luck,” Fallon grumbled with his tongue in cheek. “I thought I had a good flathead for the pit!”

Hunting education

A Texas Hunter Education class is set for July 30-31, with both dates making up one complete course. The class will be held at the Texas Farm Bureau Conference and Convention Center, located next to the Farm Bureau building between Highway 6 and Fish Pond Road.

Class times are Saturday from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Sunday from 1 p.m. to 6 p.m.

The Saturday session will include a one-hour lunch break. Students can leave for lunch or they can bring their own.

This is a “structured class” course, instructor Jim Gardner said, which means that the entire course will be conducted indoors.

“There will be no outdoor exercises, and no live-firing exercises. Everything will be done in air-conditioned comfort,” he said.

Cost of the course is $15 per student. Cash and checks are accepted, but not credit or debit cards. Early sign-up is encouraged so that training staff will be able to order enough course materials. The youngest age eligible for certification in Texas is 9 years old.

The certification is good for life and is recognized in all 50 states, as well as some hunting provinces in Canada and Mexico.

For more information, call Gardner at 751-2569 or 717-1858.

Tournament champion

Robin Hill of China Spring won the 2011 Navarro Mills Lake Marina Big Crappie Tournament with a 2.42-pounder she caught while fishing a 3.5-inch Yum soft plastic bait back in April.

Hill was fishing with her husband James around the dam in 10 feet of water when the award-winning crappie took the bait.

The Big Crappie Tournament begins in January when the marina’s store opens. The tournament pays $100 to the angler who catches the biggest overall crappie of the season, and the winner is announced July 4.

Monthly crappie tournaments run from Feb. through May, with $5 entry fees and 100 percent payback.

For more information, call Brenda Wallen at 578-1131.

www.centexoutdoors.com

717-8907