Passport to Texas

Toyota Texas Bass Classic

Toyota Texas Bass Classic Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

This is Passport to Texas

Memorial Day Weekend, Lake Fork Reservoir, 65 miles east of Dallas, is the site of the Ninth Annual Toyota Texas Bass Classic.

08-What it is, is a world class fishing tournament for professional anglers. It’s also a benefit event for Texas Parks and Wildlife Department.

Dave Terre, chief of fisheries management and research at Parks and Wildlife, says the event showcases the state’s quality fisheries, with Lake Fork being among the best bass fisheries in the country.

18- Last year was just incredible. Two anglers caught over a hundred pounds of bass in three days [and] set all sorts of records for numbers and weights of bass caught. So, this year, the bar has been set very high; and hopefully we’ll be able to exceed that. But there’s one way to find out, and that’s to come to the lake and see it for yourself.

Find ticket information and a schedule of activities at toyotatexasbassclassic.com. Money from the event funds outreach programs.

16-In the eight events that we’ve had so far, we’ve raised over two million dollars. And those dollars have been plugged directly back into youth fishing outreach. It’s brought new kids and their families [and others] into fishing through the Toyota Texas Bass Classic, by helping to fund our programs.

The Toyota Texas Bass Classic on Memorial Day Weekend offers a stellar country music line-up, food and outdoor adventure activities for the family: find ticket information and other details at toyotatexasbassclassic.com.

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

ShareLunker No. 562 Caught by Darrell Tompkins of Huffman, TX March 7, 2015 in Sam Rayburn, TPWD Photo by Reese Sparrow

Fishing: Sharelunker Program Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

If you catch a 13 pound or bigger largemouth bass, your first instinct may be to take a photo with it, and then release it. Or…you could donate it to the Toyota ShareLunker program at the Texas Freshwater Fisheries Center.

04—The ShareLunker Program is probably the reason this facility is here.

Allen Forshage is Director of the Center, which is a state-of-the-art fish-care facility that contains special tanks known as the “Lunker Bunker”.

17—The way this center was built, particularly the extensive hatcheries, improved our ability to do a selective breeding program where we’ve been taking these ShareLunkers and spawning them with males that are also offspring of ShareLunkers in an effort to try to improve the genetics of fish that we put back into public lakes.

Find out how to donate a fish to the program on the Texas Parks and Wildlife website. The program will accept donations of live fish through April 30. Every time an angler donates a fish to the program they make bass fishing better for everyone.

13—One of the measures of success for the program is how many column inches are being written about the ShareLunker Program. A lot of the outdoor writers use the ShareLunker Program as a barometer to measure how good fishing is in Texas.

It’s darned good if you believe what you read. And you should. Find details about the Toyota ShareLunker Program on the Texas Parks & Wildlife website.

The Sport Fish Restoration Program supports our series and provides funding for the operations and management of the Texas Freshwater Fisheries Center.

For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti

Fly Fishing Gear

Angling: Fly Fish Texas March 14, 2015 Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

If you’ve always wanted to learn to fly fish, check out the 16th Annual Fly Fish Texas event March 14 at the Texas Fresh Water Fisheries Center in Athens.

09— Our entire facility – several dozen acres – is converted into a gigantic fly fishing school for beginners and intermediates alike.

Jim Booker coordinates the event, where among other activities, attendees will learn to cast for and catch fish.

10— We’ll have over a hundred volunteer instructors coming to man the different stations and activities. And these are volunteers that come from fly fishing clubs all over Texas.

Speakers will share tips on where to fly fish in Texas and beyond; and outdoor seminars take place all day.

13—In fact, we’ve just added a really interesting one called tenkara fishing. Tenkara fly fishing is the ancient Japanese form, which involves just the rod, the line, and the tie – no reel is involved.

Fly Fish Texas, March 14 at the Texas Freshwater Fisheries Center offers hands on opportunities for attendees, too.

08—We have an actual classroom here, and on a walk-in basis, from noon until 4 p.m. we will do beginning fly tying classes.

Dive shows, tram tours of the hatchery, vendors and good food round out the day – Fly Fish Texas activities are free with regular paid admission to the center; find a schedule of events on the Texas Parks and Wildlife website.

The Sport Fish Restoration Program supports our series.

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

Texas Parks and Wildlife Texas Outdoor Annual App

Tech: Outdoor Annual App Helps Anglers Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Smart phones and tablets continue to grow in popularity among the general public.

04— We’ve also noticed that our anglers are using those devices.

Tim Peterson, Texas Parks and Wildlife’s director of creative and interactive services, says that as the weather warms, anglers want to get on the water. With the Texas Outdoor Annual app they can spend more time fishing and less time wondering if they’re in compliance.

15— If an angler is sitting in a particular water body or lake – or near a water body or lake – they can use the GPS function in the app, locate the lake that they’re at or near, and they can see the bag limits and the exceptions for that particular lake.

The FREE Texas Outdoor Annual app is a convenient way for anglers of all ages to keep up with regulations.

24—The whole idea with the app was not only to make it mobile, but also make it easy for folks to use while in the field. We’re seeing a wide range of ages [using mobile devices], so it’s not just a younger audience; it’s a new audience. Anecdotally, I will tell you that I spent some time with my 80-year-old father-in-law this last weekend, and he used his mobile device as much as my 12-year-old daughter.

The free Texas Outdoor Annual App is available in iTunes or Google Play storefronts and you can also find more information on the Texas Parks and Wildlife website.

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

For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti

Fishing: Canyon Dam, the Guadalupe River and Trout Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

It’s trout season in Texas. It’s when Texas Parks and Wildlife inland fisheries stocks hundreds of thousands of rainbow trout in lakes and neighborhood fishing ponds to provide a unique winter angling experience.

06—Trout are a cold water species and they like the cold water and they regularly bite at this time of the year.

Steve Magnelia is a fisheries biologist with inland fisheries. If you think Texans are the only ones enjoying this winter treat, Trout Unlimited named the Guadalupe River near Canyon Dam, one of the top 100 trout streams in North American.

10—One of the things I think that gets it into the top 100 is that you can come down here during the winter and enjoy trout fishing. And we get a lot of people from up north that come down to the Guadalupe during the winter months to fish.

And because the water in the river near the dam is cold—below 75 degrees —the fish often survive Texas summers; some of the rainbows can get big and feisty.

18—It’s one thing to catch the 8 to 10 inch fish that we stock every winter, but when you hook into a 4 or 5 pounder, it’s pretty exciting. It’s fun when you hook up with one and they jump out of the water like a tarpon, which they do. Those big ones like to jump and they’ll jump out of the water 4 or 5 times trying to throw your bait. It’s pretty neat.

Find other trout stocking locations on the Texas Parks and Wildlife website.

The Sport Fish and Wildlife Restoration Program… supports our series as well as conservation programs in
Texas.

For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti