Passport to Texas

Passport to Texas from Texas Parks and Wildlife

Abilene State Park is an oasis in the desert, and writer/producer Ron Kabele talks about the park and its pool this month on the Texas Parks and Wildlife TV series.

In Abilene State Park, they have one of the largest pools in our system. It was built by the CCC, and it’s a beautiful, big pool. It’s really the heartbeat of the park.

I’m Oakley, and I’m Chancy, and we pretty much come every weekend (giggles).

Another story this month is Oasis of the King Fishers; it’s a personal story from TV producer, Lee Smith, about his uncle’s southwest Texas ranch, and the day he saw three species of kingfisher.

One December morning, I was shooting video at one of my favorite tanks. A snipe and a greater yellow legs were keeping me company when a belted kingfisher arrived and began to hunt breakfast.

Finally, members of the American Hiking Society volunteered to build a trail at a state park…as part of a volunteer vacation.

We’re talking a trail, you know, like wheelbarrows full of gravel. Really hard work. And this is during the summer. You know, they’d take time off from their jobs, or if they’re retired, they come out. And, the park will feed them. In exchange, they get all of this manual labor. And the people love to do this.

The Texas Parks and Wildlife series airs on PBS stations statewide. Find a list at passporttotexas.org.

That’s our show… For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.
_______________________________________________________

CLICK HERE to find a station near you that airs the show.

TP&W TV May Highlights Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Passport to Texas from Texas Parks and Wildlife

Abilene State Park is an oasis in the desert, and writer/producer Ron Kabele talks about the park and its pool this month on the Texas Parks and Wildlife TV series.

In Abilene State Park, they have one of the largest pools in our system. It was built by the CCC, and it’s a beautiful, big pool. It’s really the heartbeat of the park.

I’m Oakley, and I’m Chancy, and we pretty much come every weekend (giggles).

Another story this month is Oasis of the King Fishers; it’s a personal story from TV producer, Lee Smith, about his uncle’s southwest Texas ranch, and the day he saw three species of kingfisher.

One December morning, I was shooting video at one of my favorite tanks. A snipe and a greater yellow legs were keeping me company when a belted kingfisher arrived and began to hunt breakfast.

Finally, members of the American Hiking Society volunteered to build a trail at a state park…as part of a volunteer vacation.

We’re talking a trail, you know, like wheelbarrows full of gravel. Really hard work. And this is during the summer. You know, they’d take time off from their jobs, or if they’re retired, they come out. And, the park will feed them. In exchange, they get all of this manual labor. And the people love to do this.

The Texas Parks and Wildlife series airs on PBS stations statewide. Find a list at passporttotexas.org.

That’s our show… For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.
_______________________________________________________

CLICK HERE to find a station near you that airs the show.

TP&W TV May Highlights Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Passport to Texas from Texas Parks and Wildlife

While most of the action at the second annual Toyota Texas Bass Classic at Lake Fork—April 18 through 20—takes place in the middle of the water, there is plenty on shore to keep attendees occupied.

The Toyota Texas Bass Classic was built around families.

Dave Terre is chief of Inland Fisheries research and management at Texas Parks and Wildlife.

We’re enticing families to come in—mom and dad—and all their kids to come in and see bass fishing, to see exhibits, to hear concerts, to have a picnic. We have a family fun zone, where kids have the opportunity to come in and explore things like we see at our Texas Parks and Wildlife Expo, things like how to fish, big bass displays, we have casting contests, archery contests, displays on our state parks, and just millions of different things for kids to do while they’re there.

Day passes and weekend passes are available, and children under seventeen are free with paid adult admissions.

I would really just like people to come out and see this tournament. It’s really a spectacle. It’s the biggest bass fishing tournament, of course, in Texas. It’ll teach people about what we do as an agency, and what we’re doing to make fishing better on Lake Fork. Come see an awesome partnership between industry, Texas Parks and Wildlife department, and the professional anglers to work together to help promote fishing everywhere.

Find details at passporttotexas.org.

That’s our show… For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.
______________________________________________________
A three-day Ticket Book valid for all the events at Lake Fork, April 18, 19 and 20 is $20 in advance and $25 on-site. One-day tickets are also available for $10. Kids 17 and under are admitted free with a ticketed adult. Tickets are now on sale at www.toyotatexasbassclassic.com or (866) 907-0143 and at participating Bass Pro Shops locations and Brookshire’s grocery stores.

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

The Toyota Texas Bass Classic planned for Lake Fork this month demonstrates how conservation and competition need not be at odds.

It’s really a conservation type tournament being done to benefit Texas Parks and Wildlife.

Dave Terre is chief of Inland Fisheries research and management. He says once caught, the bass are weighed and returned to the lake. Nearly 100-percent of bass reeled in during the three-day tournament survive.

This gives the Texas Parks and Wildlife department a great opportunity to tell the world about fishing opportunities in Texas, and what we’ve done to manage fish populations in a wonderful lake…. It just brings a good sense about what Texas Parks and Wildlife department is doing to make fishing better, and to promote conservation.

The event, April 18 through 20, involves one hundred four professional bass anglers vying for prizes totaling $750-thousand dollars, provided by Toyota and its sponsors.

Of course, $250-thousand dollars of that comes right back to the department to allow us to enhance fishing in our neighborhood fishing program, which is kind of a unique way that we have gone now to help utilize this money to promote fishing in our urban areas.

Event details at passporttotexas.org.

That’s our show… with support from the Sport Fish restoration program…which provides funding for the Texas Freshwater Fisheries Center.

For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.

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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.

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