Archive for April 14th, 2008

Toyota Texas Bass Classic, 1 of 3

Monday, April 14th, 2008

Passport to Texas from Texas Parks and Wildlife and the Sport Fish Restoration Program

The second annual Toyota Texas Bass Classic is April 18 through 20 at Lake Fork…

Which is an economically significant bass fishery in northeast Texas—probably the world’s best trophy bass fishery.

Dave Terre is chief of Inland Fisheries research and management at Texas Parks and Wildlife. Twenty-six, four person teams of professional bass anglers will participate. But there’s a twist.

Lake Fork is managed with a sixteen to twenty-four inch slot limit. That limit is very unique. Anglers who catch fish within that size range need to release them immediately back to the lake. And, anglers are restricted to the number of fish over twenty-four inches that they can keep per day.

Typically, bass tournaments allow anglers to reel in large quantities of fish, with weigh-in happening at one time. The Bass Classic turns that tradition on its gill.

The professional anglers that are fishing this tournament have observers in their boat. These observers actually weigh fish as they are being caught, and the fish are immediately released back to the lake.

What that means for the bass, says Terre, is a near 100 percent survival rate.

How the Toyota Bass Classic supports conservation efforts in Texas…that’s tomorrow.

That’s our show… our series receives support from the Sport Fish restoration program…working to increase fishing and boating opportunities in Texas…For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.