Passport to Texas

Is this the size fish Lake Bois d’ Arc can look forward to producing?

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This is Passport to Texas

Lake Bois d’ Arc, a new reservoir project 70 miles northeast of Dallas, may be the future hot spot for trophy largemouth bass

One of the main things we are doing is establishing some nursery ponds that we can come into and introduce some genetically superior largemouth bass strains that have the potential for growth into that trophy status over eight pounds or so.

Dan Bennett is a natural resources specialist with Parks and Wildlife

Those are Florida strain Largemouth bass and we are hoping that this is going to be the first opportunity to come into a new reservoir with some of those ShareLunker offspring that are produced at our Freshwater Center in Athens. The ShareLunker are fish over 13 pounds and larger that have been donated to our selective breeding program.

ShareLunkers are fish with proven genetic potential to reach a trophy size.

So we are hoping that those fish we stocked in those nursery ponds come through that program. If that’s the case, we should be able to track those fish long term. Once this reservoir has existed for eight or ten years, we may be seeing some large fish caught by anglers over there that we can then genetically trace them back to a particular lineage that may have originated from that hatchery down in Athens.

The Sport Fish Restoration program supports our series.

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

Image courtesy www.fanninwater.org

Lake Bois d’ Arc Reservoir on Tap Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

This is Passport to Texas

Lake Bois d’ Arc is a 16,000-acre reservoir under construction in northeast Fannin County, scheduled for completion in 2022.

From a fisheries biologist perspective, it’s particularly exciting to get in on the ground floor of establishing a fishery in a new lake like this; not something that many of our biologist have had the opportunity to do.

Dan Bennett is a natural resources specialist with parks and Wildlife. Anglers may look forward to a lake with variety of sportfish; Bennett’s work will make sure of it.

The north Texas municipal water district has helped us identify four ponds that will eventually be flooded by the reservoir to come in and establish some small-scale fisheries or nursery ponds to be able to introduce both forage fish and ultimately genetically superior largemouth bass; and [then] pre-stock those ponds, which we’re planning on doing this year. [This will give] those fish a little bit of an edge or a boost before the lake fills so they’ll be year or two old and more or less adult fish that are ready to spawn.

Once the reservoir opens to the public, anglers will have another productive Texas fishery to enjoy.

Our goal is to do everything in our power to establish fish populations in those lakes and try our best to make them the best they possibly can be.

The Sport Fish Restoration Program supports our series.

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

Alvin Dedeaux

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Members of the Texas Parks and Wildlife Foundation represent a diverse cross section of the population that share a passion for the outdoors. Texas Parks and Wildlife Foundation is the nonprofit arm of Texas Parks and Wildlife department  and helps to fund initiatives that conserve our wild places and wild things.

Join TPWF by April the 12th to be entered into a chance to win a half day fly fishing trip with Texas fly-fishing guide Alvin Dedeaux.

Jay Kleberg is Director of Conservation Initiatives at Texas Parks and Wildlife Foundation. The Colorado River is the staging area for this fly-fishing trip.

There are very few people who know that the Colorado River that flows through the Hill Country and to the coast has some world-class fishing because it goes through some major urban areas. And Alvin’s one of the few people who really knows that water, and has focused not just on the Hill Country, but the coast and the Colorado River, itself. So, it’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to go with a true expert.

Become a member of the Texas Parks and Wildlife Foundation by April 12 to be entered in a drawing for a half day of fly-fishing with celebrated fishing guide, Alvin Dedeaux. We’ll speak with him about fly-fishing next time.

People are drawn to it, and once they get into it—for most people—it becomes a lifelong passion.

Learn more about the Texas Parks and Wildlife Foundation and how to become a member at wewillnotbetamed.org.

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

Paddlefish

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This is Passport to Texas

Alongside Big Cypress Bayou seems an unusual place to perform a surgical procedure. That doesn’t stop Mike Montagne with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service from carrying out surgery on a paddlefish—a species that’s more than 300-million years old.

They are one of the most ancient fishes and species that we have on the planet. They don’t look like any other fish, and they are super cool.

Montagne  inserts an acoustic transmitter into the abdomen of a fish that’s been anesthetized before stitching it up and releasing it back into the water. Receivers along the bank track the fish. Overharvesting and manmade changes to habitat, caused the species to disappear from east Texas waters. Restocking, with an emphasis on recreating natural flows, helped the fish and habitat to rebound.

 [Laura-Ashley Overdyke] The Paddlefish were the perfect poster child to explain and test out our theory that more natural flows would help the forest as well as all these fish and other animals.

[Tim Bister] We’ve been reintroducing paddlefish since about 2014; we started out with about 50 fish that we radio-tagged and pout inside the Big Cypress and Caddo Lake, and we followed those around for about a year. One of the things we really wanted to find out is if the fish would stay in the system…

That was Laura-Ashley Overdyke with the Caddo lake Institute and Biologist Tim Bister.

Find out if the fish stayed in the system, or went over the dam, when you watch the TPW TV Series on PBS this week.

The Sport Fish Restoration Program supports our series.

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

Redfish is on the menu for the August 14, 2018 Central Market Wild Game & Fish Cooking Class. Photo: Cecilia Nasti

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This is Passport to Texas

Here’s something fun to do before school starts: take the kids to the August Central Market Wild Game and Fish cooking class.

The kids will be back in school soon, so this would be a tasty bonding opportunity. The August 14 cooking class is a collaboration between Texas Parks and Wildlife and Central Market, and takes place at Central Market Cooking Schools in Austin, Houston, San Antonio, Dallas, Fort Worth, Plano and Southlake,

Learn alongside your child as a Texas Parks and Wildlife biologist, hunter education specialist, game warden or angler education instructor joins the class to explain the importance of managing and conserving our natural resources, including wildlife and habitat. They also share interesting trivia about what’s on the plate that night.

Meanwhile, the Central Market Cooking School instructors will guide you as you chop, sear, grill, stir and bake your way to a delicious meal of wild game and fish.

You’ll leave the class with memories, a deeper connection to nature, full bellies and copies the recipes you made in class to try again when you get home. Tasty homework.

Menu for the August 14 Class:

• Grilled Catfish with Hatch Summer Succotash;
• Striped Bass Poached with Hatch Chiles & Soy Sauce; and
• Baked Redfish with Hatch-Tomato Sauce.

Find registration information for the Tuesday, August 14 TPW/Central Market Wild Game and Fish cooking School Class at passporttotexas.org. [Click on the link above, and locate the cooking school closest to you and then click on the date of the class.]

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