Passport to Texas

Largemouth bass are the stars of the show at the Toyota Texas Bass Classic, which this year has become the Toyota Bassmater Texas Fest.

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This is Passport to Texas

During the Toyota Bassmaster Texas Fest, May 17 through 21st, Texas Parks and Wildlife will ensure the health of the fish professional anglers reel in from Lake Sam Rayburn. It begins with a judge on each boat.

As professional anglers catch these fish, a judge is going to weigh and measure them and record each one. And then these fish are going to be immediately released instead of going to the scales as in staged-type weigh-ins.

Dave Terre with inland fisheries says one-hundred-nine professional bass anglers will be competing in this year’s tournament. Immediately releasing the fish is good for the fish and for fishing.

Releasing these fish immediately helps in the survival of these fish. There’s less stress on these fish, so these fish will survive again to be caught another day.

And gives them more time to breed and potentially spawn even bigger bass. While the majority of the bass go right back in the water…

We are going to allow the anglers to bring in one fish per day, over 21-inches in size to showcase these large fish that Sam Rayburn is famous for, so the audience can see some of these big fish up on stage. But 99% of the fish that are caught in this tournament are going to be released.

The Toyota Bassmaster Texas Fest—May 17-21 at Lake Sam Rayburn, is free to attend, and includes a family-friendly Expo in Lufkin. Find more information at Bassmaster.com. The Sport Fish Restoration Program Supports our series and helps funds fisheries management in Texas.

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

Lake Sam Rayburn [reservoir], site of the Toyota Bassmaster Texas Fest

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This is Passport to Texas

Texas receives high praise and recognition for its world class bass fisheries, like Lake Sam Rayburn in East Texas.

Absolutely. Sam Rayburn has a long history of good fisheries management and production of huge largemouth bass.

One-hundred-nine professional bass anglers will be competing at Sam Rayburn during the Toyota Bassmaster Texas Fest May 17—21. It’s a reimagining of Toyota Texas Bass Classic. Dave Terre is with Inland Fisheries and coordinates the event for the agency.

Instead of a three day event that the Toyota Texas Bass Classic was famous for, this is actually going to be a four-day event. It’s going to start on May 17and it’s going to be on a Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. And then the anglers are going to take off on Saturday to spend with the crowd, at our Expo in Lufkin. And then they’re going to have a final round on Sunday.

The Toyota Bassmaster Texas Fest is a fundraiser for Texas Parks and Wildlife youth fishing programs. In addition to the competition, there’s a family-friendly Expo.

Learn all about fishing on Saturday. On Sunday, you’ll get to meet your favorite pro anglers—the ones that are most famous in the tournament fishing world. And come down and interact with Texas Parks and Wildlife staff, and learn all about fishing and the outdoors. It’s going to be a really exciting time.

The Toyota Bassmaster Texas Fest is free, and runs May 17th through 21st at Lake Sam Rayburn, with a family-friendly expo in Lufkin. The Sport Fish Restoration Program Supports our series and helps funds fisheries management in Texas.

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

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This is Passport to Texas

For a decade, The Toyota Texas Bass Classic shined a light on Texas’ world-class bass fisheries while raising funds for youth fishing programs. But that changes this year—sort of.

The Toyota Texas Bass Classic, merged with a longstanding event called Bass Fest become the Toyota Bassmaster Texas Fest.

Dave Terre, with Inland Fisheries coordinates the event for the agency. He says despite the name change, the goal remains the same.

This is a benefit event for Texas Parks and Wildlife at its very core. We expect the event will generate about $250-thousand dollars this year to support Texas Parks and Wildlife—and specifically youth outreach programs tied to fishing.

While The Bass Classic took place at Lake Fork with about 45 professional bass anglers, Toyota Bassmaster Texas Fest heads to Lake Sam Rayburn, and more than doubles the number of participants.

This new event is special in that it is going to be down at Sam Rayburn with 109 of the best bass anglers of the world. It is going to showcase our catch, weigh and immediately release format that was born at the Toyota Texas Bass Classic in 2007. And, it’s going to be an exciting thing to see.

The Toyota Bassmaster Texas Fest is a free event, May 17th through 21st at Lake Sam Rayburn, east of Lufkin. And we have more about the event coming up tomorrow.

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

Battle of San Jacinto Battle Reenactment

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This is Passport to Texas

The Battle of San Jacinto was a game changer in Texas History. On April 21, 1836, an untrained Texian militia routed General Santa Ana’s troops.

The actual battle lasted less than half an hour; it carried on into the evening with clean up. But the main assault and the main fighting was done in less than half an hour.

Justin Rhodes is Region Four Director for State Parks, which includes the San Jacinto Battlegrounds in LaPorte. On Saturday, April 22th, the historic site celebrates this momentous battle with a reenactment and festival.

If you’re planning on coming out, I would recommend you arrive early when the crowds are low. That will give you plenty of time to visit the festival and get set up for the reenactment. The reenactment will occur only once during the day.

And that happens around 3 p.m. Rhodes hopes visitors leave with renewed appreciation for the sacrifices made on the battlefield in 1836.

Ultimately we want visitors to take away an appreciation of the significance of the site, the event, the history tht brought us to where we are today. So much of what we do today and tomorrow is based on lessons from the past – from the sacrifices that these men and women brought forward. They teach us valuable life lessons moving into the future.

The festival runs from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. The reenactment is at 3 p.m. details at texasstateparks.org.

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

The Battle of San Jacinto

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This is Passport to Texas

Six weeks after the fall of the Alamo General Sam Houston’s Texas army took less than 30 minutes to overpower Santa Ana’s militia, at what is now the San Jacinto Battleground.

San Jacinto is such a special place. It’s where we won our Texas independence. It’s where many scholars will argue that the history for not just Texas, but more so the United States — and even the world — was set with the Texian army winning that battle on April 21, 1836.

Justin Rhodes is the Region Four Director for State Parks, which includes the San Jacinto.

It’s interesting to sit down and talk to other historians and hear the “what ifs.” What if Texas did not win? Where would we be? Where would the United States be? Where would the world be without that victory that day? You know, where the battle occurred is right on – now – the Houston Ship Channel, which is one of the busier ports in the world.

The Texian Army was a rag tag crew of untrained men, battling against Santa Anna’s professional soldiers. Fighting on their home turf to preserve the lives they’d worked to achieve spurred them to victory.

Any time someone tries to take something that’s near and dear to your heart, you’re going to have that spirit that flows through to make you fight that much harder. And that was the backbone of the Texian army.

Celebrating the victory at San Jacinto is tomorrow.

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