Passport to Texas

Enjoy safe boating this summer and every season.

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This is Passport to Texas

If you plan on operating a boat, certain items are necessary to have on board for the safety of you and your passengers.

You should have a sound producing device, and you should have a life jacket for every person that’s on board. If you’re boating at night, you should have the proper lights—that are working—and we suggest a first aid kit.

Tim Spice, manager of boater education for Parks and Wildlife, says anyone born on or after September 1, 1993 is required to take boater education.

We cover lots of different things, including safety aspects of boating; the different types of vessel you may have; the rules of the road; the required equipment. Again, everyone on board a vessel needs to have a lifejacket that’s accessible. We define what accessible means by law so that you don’t get in trouble when you’re on the water and a game warden stops to give you a boating safety check.

He advises filing a float plan with someone onshore that details where you’ll be and when you plan to return, in case an emergency occurs while on the water. Remember: the rules for operating a boat are different than for a car.

There’s no lines on the road; there’s no speed limits, per se. There are different signs and things you have to look out for that are very different than you would in your car.

By taking a boating safety course—online or in a classroom—you’ll learn those rules.

The Sport Fish Restoration program supports our series and works to increase fishing and boating opportunities in Texas.

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

Mike Boone, Texas Game Warden, checks boaters along the Neches River for violations. [Image: Beaumont Enterprise]

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This is Passport to Texas

It wasn’t that long ago when drought conditions caused low lake levels that kept boats and other watercraft in dry dock.

We have a lot more water now, so the lakes have changed.

Good thing, too, because Texans love being out on the water in summer. And, the upcoming Memorial Day weekend is the unofficial start of summer boating season. Tim Spice, manager of boater education for Parks and Wildlife, says being savvy about safety keeps everyone protected when on the water.

We can identify two major factors that you as a boater can affect in how you operate a vessel, and the things that you do in and around the water. One is wear a lifejacket. Eighty percent of those people that die from falling in the water would be alive if they had a life jacket on. And then the second thin you can do is to not drink alcohol. Alcohol affects your judgment, and you can lose your driver’s license—your vehicle driver’s license—the court can take that away from you if you are found guilty of boating while intoxicated.

The rules of the road as they pertain to boating, are similar but also different than those for driving a car.

The rules on the road are all designed based on the type of vessel and the maneuverability of the vessel.

Find those rules on the Texas Parks and Wildlife website—and on tomorrow’s show.

The Sport Fish Restoration program supports our series and works increase fishing and boating opportunities in Texas.

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

Caddo Lake, a great place to fish for largemouth bass.

Bass Lakes in Texas Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Thus is Passport to Texas

Texas offers some of the finest bass fishing lakes around.

To the east, Sam Rayburn Reservoir is easily this state’s most popular bass tournament destination. Sam Rayburn may be the most consistent bass lake in Texas, and just finished hosting the Toyota Bassmaster Texas Fest.

Caddo Lake, on the border of Texas and Louisiana is a bass angler’s dream. It’s the state’s only natural occurring lake. Caddo is shallow, so, if you like shallow water fishing—this lake’s for you. Plenty of lunkers have come from Caddo, including one this past March that weighed in at a whopping 15.7 pounds.

Toledo Bend Reservoir is another lake we share with Louisiana, and it makes both states proud. It’s been number one on Bassmasters top 100 bass lakes for two years. Over the past few years anglers have reeled in more than 100 10 pound bass from the water annually.

Down south, Falcon International Reservoir, which Texas shares with Mexico, has fish numbers that fluctuate along with the water level. Even so, Falcon’s a favorite among many bass anglers because fishermen know that their next cast could produce a 10-pounder.

Find more Texas Bass lakes on the Texas Parks and Wildlife website.

That’s our show…Funding provided in part by Ram Trucks. Guts. Glory. Ram

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

Todd Driscoll with a big bass

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This is Passport to Texas

During the Toyota Bassmaster Texas Fest Tournament each professional angler has a judge onboard to weigh and immediately release their catch.

During a typical tournament, you know, anglers are allowed to keep five legal fish per person in a live well in the boat.

Inland fisheries district biologist, Todd Driscoll says immediately releasing them back into the lake reduces stress to the bass and the risk of livewell-related mortality.

Study after study have shown that you can pretty much average that at about five percent. So, during one of these tournaments, if there’s a hundred bass that are caught, weighed and immediately released, ninety-five of those bass are going to be plum fine and in great shape. Whereas, with a traditional tournament—bass held in live wells and taken to the scales—around 25 percent die. So, it’s five percent versus twenty five percent. And that’s what makes the catch, weigh and immediate release format so much better.

Texas Parks and Wildlife perfected the format over 10 years of the Toyota Texas Bass Classic, where it was first implemented in a large, professional-level tournament—with only minor hesitation from pro anglers.

When you implement that catch, weigh and immediate release format, the entire tournament results are predicated on what that judge does. So, they’re highly trained; they absolutely know what they’re doing. And after one event, nearly all the tournament anglers were behind that process.

The Sport Fish Restoration program supports our series.

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

Todd Driscoll doing field work.

Texas' Top Bass Lakes Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

This is Passport to Texas

District fisheries biologists like Todd Driscoll monitor fish populations in public bodies of water.

There are 15 other people like me in the state of Texas. And we primarily monitor the fish populations in public reservoirs, recommend fish stockings, habitat improvements, set length limits and bag limits relative to harvest…

Sam Rayburn and Toledo Bend are two east Texas reservoirs under Driscoll’s care. Both are nationally recognized bass lakes.

It’s all about the habitat. You know, over here in East Texas, we’re blessed with fairly ample rainfall during a normal year, and that means we have fairly normal water levels in both of those manmade reservoirs. And normal water levels equal pretty good habitat. And good habitat leads to very consistent fish reproduction and consistent numbers of adult fish for anglers to catch.

Twice now, Toledo Bend Reservoir claimed the number one spot on Bassmaster’s list of 100 best bass lakes in the nation. And it’s no accident.

Inland fisheries at Texas Parks and Wildlife—we hire good people. And we tend to be on the cutting edge of the science. Our Heart of the Hills Research Center in Kerrville helps a lot with that. And, no doubt, that along with good productive watersheds and reservoirs in Texas all lead to good fishing.

Discover Texas’ diverse fishing opportunities across the state when you log onto the Texas Parks and Wildlife website.

The Sport Fish Restoration program supports our series.

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