TOP STORIES OF 2025

I don’t know how you’ll remember 2025, but I’ll always recall it as the year a black bear gone run about set up camp in eastern Texas…. the year Ross Gomez of Lubbock double dipped on whopper bass…. the year javelina got some well-deserved the respect as a big game animal…. the year small tracts of land in eastern Texas kicked out some biggest free-ranging whitetail bucks taken statewide.

These and a few other tales gathered over the last 12 months make the cut in our annual Top Outdoor Stories of the Year round-up. Here’s a random list:

Outlaws Bans FFS, TTO says Catch 5 First

In June, Outlaw Outdoors founders Clint and Stacy Wade announced an outright ban on the usage of forward facing sonar during its 2026 schedule of Outlaw Outdoors bass tournaments. The popular amateur bass fishing trail hosts events in Sam Rayburn and Toledo Bend.

In July, Team Trail Outdoors founder Donny Moore of Fort Worth announced that TTO anglers will be required to keep forward-facing sonar electronics on their boat turned off until they have secured a legal limit in their livewell first. FFS may be used from that point forward and during all practice days.

Double Dipper

In February, Ross Gomez of Lubbock caught a 14.78 pound Legacy Lunker while fishing from the public dock at the Sam Wahl Recreation Area at Lake Alan Henry. The angler was crappie fishing using a lightweight spinning outfit, four-pound line and a Bobby Garland crappie jig for bait. He subsequently loaned the big bass to Texas Parks and Wildlife’s Toyota ShareLunker program for spawning and genetics research.

Biologists discovered the fish had previously been implanted with a passive integrated transponder (PIT tag) that emits a unique code when scanned with a special antenna. This allows scientists to easily identify the fish if happens to get caught again.

Interestingly, the tag identified the big bass as the same fish Gomez caught from the same location in Feb. 2023. It weighed 13.22 pounds the first time it was caught.

Gomez’ 14 pounder lands him in pretty tall cotton. He is the first angler in the 39-year history of the program to catch the same Legacy Lunker twice on public water.

Black Bear Walkabout

A black bear documented on trail cameras and in real sightings over the last six months in multiple East Texas counties appears to have set-up camp on 200-300 acre tract of property along the Anderson/Cherokee county line, according to Texas Parks and Wildlife Department wildlife biologist Randall Kroll of Lufkin. How long the juvenile male will stick around is anybody’s guess.

The bear was first documented in mid-July by two different landowners in trail camera pictures in Cherokee County. It has since been seen, photographed or videoed dozens of times in several surrounding counties.

Experts believe the bear originated from a neighboring state like Oklahoma, Arkansas and Louisiana. All three states have sizable bear populations with limited hunting seasons.

It is not uncommon for juvenile bears to breach state lines in attempts to establish their own home range. It happens most frequently in far northeast Texas along the Red River corridor. Eastern Texas does not have a resident bear population. Kroll says TPWD has no intentions of stocking them.

It is illegal to kill, injure, take, possess, capture or transport a black bear in Texas. Penalties for killing one could result in fines up to $10,000, added civil restitution fines, jail time and loss of all hunting privileges.

Kroll and several other biologists have been monitoring the movements of the bear by game camera pics and sighting reports from the start. The biologist recently shared a humorous story from the bear’s lair, where game camera pics showed the animal turning over a landowner’s deer feeder to get at the corn inside.

According to Kroll, the landowner refilled the feeder and secured the legs to prevent the feeder from being tipped over again. A few nights later, the bear returned to the feeder and improvised. He knocked the lid off the feeder bin and crawled inside. “He sat down, made himself comfortable and ate corn for about 45 minutes,” Kroll chuckled.

Javelina

In August, the Boone and Crockett Club and Pope and Young Club announced that a scoring procedure is now place for javelina that makes the animals eligible for entry to their respective record books. B&C accepts entry of qualifying animals taken by rifle, archery as well as those picked up or found. P&Y recognizes animals taken with approved archery gear.

The creation of the javelina category is the first new species made eligible to the B&C record book in 27 years. The proposal for the new category was issued by wildlife managers from Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, Mexico various conservation groups.

Alan Cain, Texas and Wildlife’s wildlife division director, was among those who encouraged the creation of a category for javelina, also called collared peccary..

“I’m hopeful the new status will point a positive spotlight on this under-appreciated big game animal and promote conservation of the species,” Cain said. “I expect to see more interest in javelina hunting. It’s a very affordable hunting opportunity that can be enjoyed by hunters of all ages.”

B&C says javelina will be scored using skull measurements, similar to bears and cats.

Kaufman County Record

In November, Courtland Sewell of Scurry brought down a 22-point, free-ranging buck on 56 acres in Kaufman County that is sure to be one of the top scoring low fence whitetails taken statewide this season. Sewell’s buck is also a new all-time record for Kaufman County.

The deer was “green scored” at 232 4/8 gross and 227 net by Boone and Crockett scorer Kyle Easley of McKinney. Easley will rescore the buck for entry to the clubs all-time record book after non-typical antlers have dried for the mandatory 60 days. The buck is a shoo-in to make the 195 net minimum with plenty of room to spare.

Bird of a Different Color

Just call it a bird of a different color.

Last April, Jaret Barrett of Waxahachie was spring gobbler hunting on family land in Eastland County when he bagged a Rio Grande gobbler that was unlike anything most turkey hunters have ever seen.

The bird was cloaked in snow white plumage likely resulting from “Leucism.”

Wildlife biologists say Leucism results from a recessive gene that causes a wide variety of conditions that result in partial loss of pigmentation in an animal. It can result in white, pale, or patchy coloration of the skin, hair or, in the case of Barrett’s gobbler, white feathers and pearly claws. Albinism means there is no pigment at all.

Texas Parks and Wildlife Department wild turkey program leader Jason Hardin has seen photographs of Barrett’s white gobbler. He agreed the bird is extremely rare.

“They are not unheard of, but they aren’t very common at all,” Hardin said. “I’d say one in 10s of thousands.”

Cain takes over TPWD wildlife division

Last January, veteran wildlife biologist Alan Cain was selected as the new wildlife division director for the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department.

Cain has been with the department since 2000. He first hired on as a private lands biologist in Fort Bend County. That position eventually led to a district leader slot in South Texas before taking over as white-tailed deer program leader in 2010. He transitioned to big game program director in 2023.

BASS Rankings

Several Texas lakes made the cut in the 2025 BASS annual Top Bass Lakes in America rankings. O.H. Ivie ranks No. 2 among the overall Top 10 this this year. It was voted the best lake in America in 2023 and second in 2022 and 2024. Lake Fork grabbed the No. 3 overall spot this year.

Texas placed seven lakes in the Top 25 Central Division besides ‘Ivie and and Fork.

Sam Rayburn ranked fourth, followed by Toledo Bend (6th), J.B. Thomas (9th), Lake O’ the Pines (16th), Bois d’ Arc (18th), Caddo (19th), Conroe (22nd).

BASS says the rankings were developed through a combination of tournament data, fishery reports from state wildlife agencies and feedback from thousands of anglers across the country. More than 500 bodies of water were evaluated this year.

Weston’s World

Kentucky light line specialist and IGFA records holder Art Weston was back in Texas last April and he found the big ones biting.

Using ultralight fishing gear in combination with razor thin 2-pound test line, Weston boated a 153 pound alligator gar at Lake Livingston that is an International Game Association line class world record. It’s also the heaviest freshwater fish of any kind ever caught worldwide on 2-pound test.

This ain’t Weston’s first records rodeo. He has wrangled dozens of really large fish using exceptionally small tackle. Plus, he is the first angler in IGFA history to complete a “clean sweep” of all line class world records, and to reel in the all-tackle world record for the same species.

Weston’s clean sweep of records centers on alligator gar. All were caught in Texas over the last five years. The largest was a certified 283 pounder. Weston caught and released the massive 8-foot, 4-inch fish in September 2023 at Sam Rayburn while fishing with guide Capt. Kirk Kirkland. He was using a spinning outfit in combination with six-pound test main line line and a 175-pound test steel leader.

The huge fish eclipsed the former IGFA all-tackle world record of 279 pounds record that at the time had stood for 72 years. It also stands as the current six-pound line class world record.

Matt Williams is a freelance writer based in Nacogdoches. He can be reached by email, mattwillwrite4u@yahoo.com.