Who hunted the two freezes of 1983 & 1989

[Preacher Man]

I remember the freeze of 83. Dad and I hunted on the ground. He had me all bundled up and wrapped in a blanket like an Eskimo.

[S-3 Ranch]

One more. Sometime around 86 to 88, maybe as late as 89. There were at least two freezes, where it got down in the teens and lower 20s for about four days. After about two or three days, the fish had all either died or moved into deeper holes and channels. Well we kept getting told that Conn Brown harbor was crazy. So we went to Conn Brown, one night that first night might have been as early as 85, I don't think any of us had our driver's licenses at that point. I think my step father dropped us off around 10:00 PM and picked us up around 2:00 AM. It was cold enough there was ice on the water, it was only about 1/2" or so thick, but there was ice on salt water in south Texas. That was a first for me.
We fished, till we ran out of bait, then figured out, it did not matter what we threw in the water, there were so many reds packed in that channel that night, that anything we threw in there, that would fall at least 3 ft. down, they would hit on. We caught so many reds that night it was crazy. I think we only brought home maybe 10 to 12, between the three of us, but we probably caught 50 or more.

A year later, when I had my driver's license and my first truck. It froze and got down in the teens and lower 20s for multiple days in a row again. So we went back to Conn Brown Harbor. It was basically the same thing all over, except that when we got there. There was some crazy guy going off of the point of the harbor, then wading out about thirty to forty yards and casting out into the deep water off of the point. There is a boat ramp in that spot now, but not back then. We watched that crazy guy pull one huge red after another out of the water, then had his kids hauling the fish back to shore. All of them wading through that cold water with ice on the surface. I have never seen red fish that big in my life. I am guessing they were all over 40". I would bet one was over 50".
So after seeing that, we decided what the hell, they are doing it, lets go for it. So we waded out there, wearing boots or tennis shoes. Waded up to as deep as we could tolerate, then started casting out. I remember every time a boat went by and made a wake, we would all be yelling. The wake would splash our crotches, man that hurt like hell. But we caught some big reds. We really did not have the tackle for fish that large, so we lost all of the really big fish we hooked. It was crazy, but fun. I wound not do that for any amount of money today. I remember after we got out of the water, you would get about 10 steps, then you could hear ice crunching with every step, because the ice in your shoes had frozen already.
The last time a couple years ago, they had a good freeze down there, TPW shut down all fishing in the channels. I guess it was a good thing, but I think it's something everyone should get to experience at least once. Possibly only allow catch and release. The fishing is crazy in the deep channels, when it gets that cold for numerous days.

Yep I caught 10 speckled trout over 30 inches in the port Mansfield turn basin during the 89 freeze in about 2 hours! now TP&W has it all protected during cold weather events !!!
I probably could have sunk the boat picking up frozen specks on the shore line south west of town

[hpdrifter]

yes sir, worked and hunted both of them.

83 went dove hunting Jan 3. -4 degrees. Dove were in every cedar tree it seemed, but they flew straight away from it and I only got one shot. Lasted about 2 hours. at work we had to build "tents" over our MOVs on the pipeline so they'd open/close.

89 busting ice on Richland Chambers lake to duck hunt. Last about 3 hours in ice cold water up to the waist.

[Abcdj]

5-6 years ago I never left gate of our lease for 7 days. I was alone for 5 days. The high was 19. The wind didn't blow much which makes it doable up around the Red River. The best 7 days I think I ever spent out there.

[kkp005]

Maybe some folks don't realize there's a lot of Texas north of I-10 too - every year.

I know that’s right. Coldest I’ve ever been in my life was on a rig floor in Wheeler. Ain’t nothing between there and Canada to block the wind except barbed wire!

[S-3 Ranch]

Old post about 1983 from here

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=15&ved=2ahUKEwjqhN6_iLnlAhVOiqwKHRvSDokQFjAOegQICBAB&url=https%3A%2F%2Fdiscussions.texasbowhunter.com%2Fforums%2Fshowthread.php%3Ft%3D431890&usg=AOvVaw0UYWWtzLA-6EmLafCWDyJH

[Muddy Bud]

I hunted in Falfurrias in 89. Slept in a old 1979 van shell for two days and that's about all I could stand. Didn't see a thing in those two days. We had a tall 16' 4X4 blind that sat on a doubled 2X4 stand. It was pretty western up there on a calm day, but on that day a big branch from a bull mesquite froze, broke off and landed on the guy wire and about brought me and the blind down. That's when we figured that we probably shouldnt be out there.

[sharpstick35]

my hometown hunting grounds from the cold snap of 1983

In an unfortunate 11-day period from Dec. 15 through Dec. 25, 1983, Minot citizens endured an average overnight low of 29 degrees below zero. Four all-time record lows were set minus 31 on Dec. 19, minus 30 Dec. 22, minus 36 Dec. 23 and minus 28 on Christmas Eve.
Those are the official lows published by the National Weather Service in Bismarck. However, the NWS also has records showing it was even colder minus 33 on Dec. 19, and minus 39 Dec. 23 and 24, 1983. According to the NWS, those temperatures were reported from a location listed in their records only as “north of Minot.” The NWS official temperature readings are taken at the Minot International Airport.
Still, no matter which sub-zero readings are most accurate, the 11-day stretch in Dec. 1983 remains one of the coldest periods in state history. On three of those days, Dec. 22 through 24, the daytime high did not reach above minus 20.
A headline in the Dec. 19, 1983 edition of The Minot Daily News read: “Frigid Front Stalls Over The Nation’s Heartland.” Indeed, the thermometer plunged to minus 40 that night in Williston. An astounding 30 cities engulfed by the cold front set record low temperatures. Of course, North Dakota bore the brunt of the wicked front. Fives times in 11 days the overnight low surpassed minus 30.
The forecast for the state at the time included words like “bitter” and “dangerous” and warned of wind chills of 50 to 80 below zero. An oft repeated saying by native North Dakotans is “30 below keeps the riffraff out,” but 30 below proved to be equally tough on sturdy residents who thought they had experienced it all before when it came to cold weather. The 11 astonishingly cold days in Dec. 1983 pushed people to the limit.

[sqiggy]

In 83, only thing I can remember is the radiator on my car froze solid. Took me all day to get it thawed out, then hoping the block didn't crack out.
89, I just don't remember that one.

[PondPopper]

1983 Nope. Still in high school chasing girls..

1989 Nope. Working for DOW chemical and watching water pipes and valves, salt water and fresh water, large and small, bust, crack and split in record numbers.. It was a sight to see.. What freaking mess that was.. If you didn't have a 4 wheel drive your weren't leaving the house..

The 89 fish kill here on the coast was UNREAL!!!!!!! Dead by the millions..

[Slew]

I remember the 89 one!! One of the best duck hunts I've ever been on. Sat in a 14' boat in the middle of a little lake hiding behind a Christmas tree we were glad we hadn't tossed out yet shooting birds point blank for about 2 minutes till it was over on the only open stretch of water for miles I bet. It was about 20yds across. Had to break ice with a sledgehammer for the first 100yds till it was thin enough the boat broke it. Drank coffee watching birds work for an hour after that! Will never forget that day.


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[DUKFVR]

I was chasing ducks and geese. Some good hunts were had.

[79F250]

I can’t remember anything significant enough back in ‘83 or ‘89 to mention so I must have either not hunted or was just a HELLUVA lot tougher back then.



I do, however, vividly recall the ice storm in December ‘13 while hunting a lease southeast of Big Lake. The storm rolled in and every power line in the area was affected. I don’t think it got above 15-16 degrees while we were there. We tried to stay with it for a few days without electricity but after a local lineman for the electric company told us it would be a week to 10 days before power would be restored....we had enough and headed home. It was COLD....darn COLD. The ice had built up ridiculously thick all over the ranch. Trees were stretched down-broken up and blocking all the roads. I remember the cattle panels around the feeders having about 2” of ice on them. It was a sight to see....and COLD! I’m too **** old to be out in that crap nowadays. Did I mention it was COLD?

We drove from San Angelo to elephant mountain (Alpine) right after that. 67 was a pretty easy drive because we were the first person to drive the road so the ice wasn’t compact. Soon as we hit I-10 boy did it get sketchy.

[Capt Glenn]

I was in Matagorda for both the 83 and 89 freeze. In 83 I walked out a long way on ice on the south shoreline of East Matagorda Bay. The north wind blew water up on the ice and froze it thicker and thicker until it was 6-8" thick and it buckled the ice all down the shoreline so you had to climb over a big ridge of waist high ice to get onto the bay ice. I was down there the following week to see all the dead fish, and it was something to see.

In 89 I took my dad duck hunting in the marsh along beach road. My dad isn't a hunter and somehow I talked him into going duck hunting with me. It was so cold my decoys iced up. Only time I have ever had them ice up like that in saltwater. The ducks poured in and we knocked out a pile of ducks, mainly greenwings, and got the heck out of there. He never went duck hunting with me again after that. It was beyond miserable. The roads iced up by the time we headed home and we slipped and slided all the way back to Bay City. By the time we got home we had a couple pipe burst under our house and I spent several hours digging under the house and fixing burst pipes laying on my back in icey water. It was pretty bad.

[Johnny Dangerr]

A friend died last night. He and I hunted the 83 freeze 2.5 hours north of Austin. Threw 2 decoys on a frozen pond and limited 2 mornings in a row. Only thing that did not freeze was whiskey. Had to go to town for a glass of water.

He was a hard core Texan that took zero crap. His great grandfather and mother were Maw & Paw Ferguson. He had some stories...............