Passport to Texas

This is Passport to Texas

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, you should know that 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 location 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.

Fish/Wildlife: Canyon Lake Rainbow Trout, 2 Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

This is Passport to Texas

We don’t have much in the way of native trout in Texas.

12—The only native trout that we’re aware of are maybe some Rio Grande cutthroat trout that were in the McKittrick Canyon area of the Guadalupe Mountains. Other than that, there are no native trout we know of in Texas.

Which is why, says Steve Magnelia, Parks and Wildlife stocks lakes and neighborhood ponds with rainbow trout every winter.

10—The winter trout program is to provide anglers with a different species to fish for during the winter months when our warm water fish like largemouth bass and other species aren’t readily biting.

Magnelia, an inland fisheries biologist, says because trout won’t survive in water warmer than 75-degrees, the rainbows anglers don’t reel in during winter perish as the water heats up—unless they are in the Guadalupe near Canyon Dam.

08—Because it’s a cold water discharge from Canyon Lake, the water stays cold enough during the summer to sustain trout all year round.

So, if they’ve habituated, does that mean they’ve become a self-sustaining population as well?

08—We don’t have any real evidence that the fish spawn and reproduce in the river, but we do know that they carry over from one winter to the next.

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

Fish/Wildlife: Rainbow Trout in Canyon Lake Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

This is Passport to Texas

For an inexpensive, entry-level fishing experience the entire family can enjoy, it doesn’t get much easier than winter rainbow trout fishing in Texas.

05—In fact that’s one of the fish we use at the Expo each year to allow kids to catch their first fish.

Carl Kittle oversees the Texas Parks and Wildlife trout-stocking program. The agency will distribute up to 285-thousand fish to 120 sites—including additional urban locations—between December and March.

14—We’re excited about having a number of new ponds online for our neighborhood fishing program. We actually stock slightly larger trout and we stock frequently—every other week—at specific sites that are set up near urban centers to provide opportunities for urban anglers.

If you prefer to get away from the city for your rainbow connection, then state parks provide the perfect escape.

14—A number of our state park ponds will get stocked with trout. For those ponds and lakes that are located completely within a state park, the license will not be required. The limits will still apply: five fish per day, and there is no size limit on trout.

Anglers fishing in locations other than state parks must have a valid license.

Find the trout-stocking schedule at the Texas Parks and Wildlife website.

That’s our show…with support from the SF Restoration Program… helping to fund fish hatchery management and operations in Texas.

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

Family Winter Fishing Fun: Rainbow Trout Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

This is passport to Texas

The annual arrival of colorful, fun-to-catch rainbow trout gets underway this month and continues through March.

02—They’re a good fish to catch and a good fish to eat.

Carl Kittle oversees the Texas Parks and Wildlife trout-stocking program. This year they’ll distribute 285-thousand of the fish.

12—Each winter we try to create an opportunity for fishermen. Right now we’re doing over a hundred and twenty sites, with rainbow trout being stocked almost all over the state.

It gets too hot in Texas to support a natural population of rainbow trout, so anglers have to get ’em while it’s cold.

11—You can catch them with live bait. You can catch them with corn or some other bait; and certainly, they’re great on spinners and even fly-fishing. What about a cane pole? A cane pole and a worm is one of the best ways to catch trout.

Kittle says although relatively easy to catch, rainbow trout can offer a challenge to anglers.

11—In that they are aware of people above the water, and they can see out of the water if the water is clear. So, sometimes you have to be a little bit cautious about letting the fish see you from above while you’re fishing.

Maybe it would help if you disguised yourself as a hunter.

Find the trout-stocking schedule at the Texas Parks and Wildlife website.

That’s our show…with support from the SF Restoration Program… helping to fund fish hatchery management and operations in Texas.

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

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This is Passport to Texas

Save the household chores for later, because this weekend you need to be at Lake Conroe for the Toyota Texas Bass Classic, where 50 of the country’s top bass anglers will compete for the world championship and $420-thousand dollars prizes.

13—This tournament is assembling the world’s best largemouth bass anglers from across the country. According to bassfan.com, this is the best field ever assembled for any bass tournament in recent memory.

Dave Terre is TPWD Chief of fisheries. The competition benefits the agency’s efforts to introduce young people and urban families to fishing and the outdoors.

15—With this year’s event, the department will receive a million dollars as a direct result of this tournament. TPW takes those funds and puts it back into several different youth outreach programs. One of them being the Neighborhood Fishing program.

Conservation is critical, and during the two days of tournament fishing, pros will have judges aboard their boats.

09—These judges weigh and measure the fish for the angler, and then they are called into a central control tower by radio. The fish then is immediately released with no harm.

Anglers may bring a few fish ashore so the public can see what big healthy bass look like. Find details about the event at toyotatexasbassclassic.com.

That’s our show for today… For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.
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Watch a YouTube video from the Toyota Texas Bass Classic from 2008.

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