Passport to Texas

Art Morris with his saltwater catch.

Fishing: Saltwater Fishing in 2015 Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Variety and quality – that’s what anglers can expect when fishing in Texas bays.

12— Spotted sea trout and red drum on any given cast. Throw on the occasional flounder and black drum…. There’s just tremendous opportunity there for any sort of skill level at any time of the year for that matter.

Art Morris, with coastal fisheries says his favorite is the Upper Laguna Madre.

24— I’ve been fishing it since I was a child, and it’s those trophy sized spotted sea trout that I like to go after. You’ve got clear water, shallow grass flats; you’ve got deep water reefs, and you use top waters and site cast the fish. And, oftentimes, it’s just the perfect setting for sport fishing on the Texas coast – for me, personally.

Each bay system is different and requires different tactics and baits.

25— As you move down the coast, the water tends to get clearer, so we tend to use more variety of stuff on the lower coast as far as artificial lures and bait. On the upper coast the water gets a little more turbid; you get more into live bait fishing, dead bait fishing. Some artificial use up there, but yeah, as you move down and up the coast, each bay is unique and have their own techniques that work best in those particular areas.

Want more? Check out Art Morris’ article on bay fishing in the digital fishing issue at tpwmagazine.com.

The Wildlife and Sport Fish Restoration program supports our series.

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

Caleb Harris enjoying the salt air.

Fishing: Expectations When Hiring a Fishing Guide Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Want to hire a fishing guide? Be clear with them about your expectations.

16—It’s going to be nebulous to just say, I’m going to hire a guide to go fishing on this lake. It would be better to say I want to learn how to catch a certain type of fish. Ask yourself exactly what you want to do, and then when you shop around for a guide, be very clear with that guide, I want to do this. I would say that’s the primary thing to consider.

Caleb Harris wrote an article about fishing with a guide for the TPW Magazine Digital Fishing Special. He says making this request of a guide can help you know if they’ll be a good fit.

07— Please describe a typical day of fishing with you. And then, let the guide describe that, and then you’ll have a really good idea of whether or not they’re a fit for what you want to do.

Avoid unexpected expenses and misunderstandings, by discussing the guide’s expectations in advance.

25— If you’re going to be using a boat, is the fuel included in the cost? If you’re going to be using bait, is the bait included in the cost? You know, if you’re going out for a whole day, is lunch provided? Do you need your own cooler? Who’s going to clean the fish? Is that a part of the fee? Is that extra? What sort of clothes do they suggest? It would be kind of shameful if you got there and the guide was expecting you to wade, and you didn’t clarify that and you show up with your nice shoes. That would set the day up for a bad experience. So, clarify as much as possible.

Find Caleb Harris’ article on fishing guides at tpwmagazine.com. The Wildlife and Sport Fish Restoration Program supports our series.

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

Fly Fishing in the Guadalupe River.

TPW Magazine: Hiring a Fishing Guide Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Beginners and experts alike can experience some of their best fishing days by using a professional fishing guide. That’s what Aquatic education training specialist, Caleb Harris writes, in an article for the digital fishing issue of Texas Parks and Wildlife magazine.

02—The article is written for people who have never hired a guide.

Harris says anglers who have hired guides in the past will also find the article informative. Guides offer expertise and location knowledge and teach new tactics and techniques, he says.

15— I think most people hire a guide so they can become as familiar as possible as quickly as possible with, say, a new technique, or a certain lake, or a river that they’ve never been on. And these guides have incredible experience in the places that they guide, so they can bring people up to speed really fast.

Finding a guide that’s right for you is as easy as joining a fishing club or going online.

22— Guides do best where they have a great deal of experience fishing. You know, they’ll kind of dig in in that area; they’ll be well-involved in different clubs and different social events. And most guides I know meet a lot of their clients through word-of-mouth. So, if a fisherman gets involved with a local club, or talks to people wherever they go fishing – they can often meet a really good guide just by word-of-mouth that way. But, if you’re not in a club, the internet is a great place to start.

Things you need to share with your guide before setting off. That’s tomorrow. Meantime find Caleb Harris’ article on fishing guides at tpwmagazine.com.

The WSFR Program supports our series. For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.

Cliff Shackelford focused on a roost-hole of a rare woodpecker in Argentina in 2013.

Birding: Chimney Swifts Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Chimney Swifts don’t hang around Texas in winter. These small sooty colored birds, with slim bodies and long, narrow, curved wings show up in spring and leave in fall.

05— All our swifts go to Latin America to overwinter; down to Peru.

Ornithologist, Cliff Shackelford, says we’ll see them again beginning mid-March when they start their return to the eastern two-thirds of the state. Before European settlers arrived, the birds nested in hollow trees, but now they nest almost exclusively in man-made structures like…well …chimneys.

13—I have a school that’s less than a mile away [from my home] that has an old smokestack. And they didn’t tear it down even though it’s not in use; and, that smokestack is very popular with the swifts in our area.

While the birds live most of their lives in flight, they do settle in at night. You’ll know you’re observing Chimney Swifts by the way they approach their roost at dusk.

18—A lot of times you’ll see them circle the chimney, and something’s wrong, and they don’t like it and they don’t commit. And, then, they come back and check it out again; they’re very hesitant. So, when they finally agree to commit, they turn their wings upward and just like a wad of paper, fall into the chimney.

Learn more about Chimney Swifts at chimneyswifts.org.

Funding for our series provided in part by Ram Trucks. Guts. Glory. Ram

For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti

Dead crab in abandoned trap, San Antonio Bay. Image
Art Morris, © Texas Parks and Wildlife Department

Fishing: Crab Trap Cleanup Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

This is Passport to Texas

Lost and abandoned crab traps become hazards to marine life in Texas bays.

06— We are particularly concerned because of the ghost fishing effects; they continue fishing unmaintained.

When something gets in the trap and dies, it acts as bait, attracting more marine life, which in turn suffers the same fate. Art Morris is with coastal fisheries at Texas Parks and Wildlife, and coordinates the annual cleanup of derelict traps.

12— And what we do once a year in February, is get volunteers together up and down the coast, and we try to remove all those traps that have been lost, or vandalized or whatever that are potentially ghost fishing.

Volunteers have removed more than 31-thousand traps in the cleanup’s 14 year history. This year’s cleanup is February 20 through March 1, with a big one day push on February 21. And Texas isn’t alone in its efforts.

12— And we’re particularly excited this year in that we have a joint closure in Sabine Lake with the state of Louisiana, and we’ll be using joint efforts there to remove traps from the Louisiana side of the lake.

Find details on the cleanup and volunteering, on the Texas Parks and Wildlife website.

The wildlife and sport fish restoration program support our series and is funded by your purchase of hunting and fishing equipment and motor boat fuel.

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