Passport to Texas

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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Passport to Texas from Texas Parks and Wildlife

The Great Texas Birding Classic is April 27 through May 4. Shelley Plante, nature tourism coordinator for Parks and Wildlife, says there is a tournament for every age group.

We have kids teams for thirteen and under; we call it the rough wings tournament. It’s always a lot of fun. Birders of that age group go out about eight hours during the day, so it’s not a huge, long day. And we have a teenager competition called the Gliders. We also have adults, and we have something called the Big Sit, which is like a big tailgate party for birders. And any age can compete, and those teams can have up to ten people on them, whereas the other teams are only three to five people—enough to fit in a car, basically.

The Energy Saver tournament is new this year.

Our concern was, we have all of these people that are driving around the Texas coast for habitat conservation, and they are burning fossil fuels in the process. So, why don’t we have more than just the Big Sit as something that people can do in a more stationary way. So, the Energy Saver tournament, people are required to go at least fifty miles, but they can just do fifty miles. And the winning team is the team that sees the most species per mile. And they are going to be eligible for a new ten thousand dollar grant project that they get to fund.

Money raised from the Birding Classic funds coastal conservation projects. Learn more at passporttotexas.org.

That’s our show… For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.
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CLICK HERE to read about past year’s highlights.

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

Spring migration brings out the birdwatcher in all of us. The twelfth Annual Great Texas Birding Classic offers birders from across North America a chance to spot species for a cause.

The birding classic is a great event to go out in the field and see as many birds as possible with your friends and families for a great cause, which is habitat conservation on the Texas coast.

Shelley Plante is nature tourism coordinator for Parks and Wildlife. This year’s Birding Classic is April 27 through May 4. Teams pay entry fees, which fund habitat conservation.

We’ve now donated five hundred and seventy eight thousand dollars to habitat conservation projects on the Texas coast. Acquisition and restoration are the things that people want to fund; the teams are the ones that get to pick which projects get funded every year, and they consistently pick restoration and acquisition projects, because that’s what we need for the birds that migrating. We need more habitat that is pristine and in its natural state, either by restoring habitat that is already owned, or by acquiring habitat that might do on to development.

While team registration is over, statewide nature-viewing opportunities are not.

We have a migration calendar of events that comes out every year in the May issue of Texas Parks and Wildlife magazine. And that lists activities from May of 2008 through May of 2009 that you can do statewide.

Learn more about the Classic at passporttotexas.org.

That’s our show… For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.
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MIGRATION EVENTS IN APRIL

April 3 — 6

FeatherFest 2008 — Galveston. A birding and general nature festival focusing on the birds of the Upper Texas Coast during early spring (late wintering birds, early spring trans-gulf migrants and many all season birds). Expert led seminars on many topics, field trips by bus, boat and kayak, activities for non-birding spouses and signature socials. Registration: $30/person; Cost varies for specific activities. 5 a.m. — 5 p.m. (409) 392-0841; www.galvestonfeatherfest.com.

April 12 — 14

19th Annual Spring Native Plant Sale — Heard Natural Science Museum & Wildlife Sanctuary, McKinney. Check out over 300 varieties of native Texas plants such as trees, shrubs, perennials, vines and grasses! All sales are tax-free. Free entry. Friday: 4 — 7 p.m. (members only); Saturday: 9 a.m. — 5 p.m.; Sunday: 1 — 5 p.m. (972) 562-5566; www.heardmuseum.org.

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

Saltwater anglers with an eye toward improving coastal fisheries should know about the upcoming Coastal Fisheries Bay Team Tournaments to catch spotted sea trout.

We’ve got two tournaments coming up down south, over in the Rio Grande Valley area. One of them is going to be on April the fifth over on South Padre island, and will be taking place at Sea Ranch Marina. And then we have the second one on April the twelfth in Port Mansfield and that will be off the north boat ramp.

Robert Adami coordinates the free tournaments in which sixty total anglers catch fish and vie for prizes.

The tournament is absolutely free, but all participants must be 21 and up, because it’s sponsored by Anheuser Busch. At each of the tournaments, we’ll start registration at 6 a.m. We’ll start collecting fish from that point on; we’ll stop at 12-noon, and shortly after lunchtime I’ll be handing out the prizes.

Participating anglers donate their catch to a breeding program, where fisheries biologist will “mix up” the genetics.

You don’t want to have the same parents along with the same siblings year after year. The fish are going to be going back into the bay system that they came from, but you also want to be mixing up the genetics in the bay system as you go along. And that’s just a good practice for any hatchery.

Find information about the tournaments and prizes at passporttotexas.org.

That’s our show…with support from the Sport Fish and Wildlife Restoration program…supporting genetics research at Texas hatcheries…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 and Wildlife Restoration Program

The Coastal Fisheries Bay Team Tournament is looking for a few good anglers.

We are getting together with the community, and we’re collecting fish for our hatchery program. So, these guys are out there catching fish, and they are vying for prizes.

Robert Adami coordinates the tournaments, which take On April 5, at Sea ranch Marina on South Padre Island, and on April 12, at the north boat ramp at Port Mansfield.

We do this so that we can continuously be bringing in new fish for our hatchery program. One of the reasons we do that is so that we can get some genetic diversity into our spawning biomass of fish that we have on hand. And we always want to mix up the genetics within our hatchery program.

Sixty people, on a first come first serve basis, will get to participate in the tournament to reel in spotted sea trout. I asked Adami why the hatchery wants only sea trout in spring.

One of the reasons is they have peak spawning in springtime. So, we want to try and collect as many new trout as we can and hopefully put them into the spawning biomass that we currently have—and they’re ready to get going.

You must be 21 or older to participate. Find a link to more information about the tournaments and prizes at passporttotexas.org.

That’s our show…with support from the Sport Fish and Wildlife Restoration program…supporting genetics research at Texas hatcheries…For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.

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For more information, call Robert Adami, Robert Adami, (361) 939-8745

South Padre Island
April 5, 2008
Sea Ranch Marina

Port Mansfield
April 12, 2008
North Boat Ramp

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