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.

Toyota Texas Bass Classic, 1 of 3 Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

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

It may interest you to learn that…

Freshwater musselsare the most imperiled group of organism in North America.

Marsha May oversees the Texas Mussel Watch Program for Texas Parks and Wildlife.

We have fifty-two, fifty-three species of freshwater mussels in Texas, and they live in our freshwater streams and lakes and ponds, and even in stock ponds and tanks. And they have
been in Texas for thousands and thousands of years. And they’re just amazing creatures. They clean the systems. They’re nature’s bio-filters, and a very important part of the ecosystem.

Texas Mussels Watch is an ongoing citizen science project that needs your help.

We want to get citizens involved in monitoring their populations throughout the state, because there’s been very little monitoring being done. And, they are a very important organism. To get involved a citizen would have to have to go through training, because you have to have a permit in order to even handle a shell of a freshwater mussel. So, we supply workshops where we train individuals on how to monitor them and how to be very careful with them. And, we really just want to know where they are, and how many there are out there.

Find links to Mussel Watch Workshops at passporttotexas.org.

That’s our show…we receive support from the Wildlife Restoration Program…For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.
______________________________________________________

April 12, 2008 — Old Sabine Bottom WMA — Texas Mussel Watch Train the Trainer Workshop — This workshop is sponsored by the East Texas Master Naturalist Chapter. SBEC and TEEAC credit available for teachers. 10 a.m.-5 p.m.; fee $10, includes materials; preregistration required. To register and for more information, contact Irene Hamel at Irene.hamel@tpwd.state.tx.us or (903) 566-9394. (903) 566-1626.

Freshwater Mussels in Troubled Waters Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

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

Each winter, inland fisheries stocks lakes and reservoirs with rainbow trout to provide a unique winter angling opportunity. Fish that escape the hook eventually succumb to the heat.

In Texas, we’re outside of the range where rainbow trout, at least for the most part, can survive throughout the year. So, we just bring them in during the winter months; and there’s an opportunity to fish for them until the spring.

Carl Kittel coordinates the trout-stocking program for Parks and Wildlife. He admits that—from time to time—a few fish manage to adjust to summer temperatures.

In years when conditions are right, particularly below the Canyon Dam and the Canyon tailrace, fish can survive the summer—occasionally. The problem is they can’t do so consistently, so we generally don’t get established populations.

So hurry and get these fish while they NOT hot. Anglers 17 years old and older must have a 5-dollar freshwater fish stamp and a license to hook a rainbow. You won’t need either if you fish in a stat e park.

We consider all of our rainbow stocking in Texas to be a put and take fishery. We put the fully-grown fish in, which are a catchable size when we stock them. And the purpose of stocking them, and our expectation of those fish, is that they’ll be fished out by anglers.

There’s a link to the rainbow trout stocking schedule on our website, passporttotexas.org.

That’s our show…with support from the Sport Fish Restoration Program…which also helps fund winter trout stocking in Texas…For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.

Last Chance to Catch a Rainbow Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

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

Every winter Inland Fisheries stocks thousands of rainbow trout to provide unique angling opportunities statewide.

Rainbow trout are widely considered to be very good sport fish, and fun to catch, but they’re generally fairly easy to catch as well, and will take a variety of bait: corn or lures, or worms.

Carl Kittel coordinates the trout-stocking program for Parks and Wildlife. One hundred twenty sites will receive the trout.

The vendor that supplies us trout, supplies them to four of our hatcheries around the state. And we stock quickly from the hatcheries to the sites. So, we don’t grow them much beyond the size they come in. Most of the fish we stock are an average size of nine inches; there are a few fish that go into the urban fishing program that we get to a larger size, or grow to a larger size to an eleven-inch average.

Rainbow trout are great fish to get the kids started on.

Generally, in the urban fishing lakes we think we have pretty good fishing pretty much all the time because they’re frequently stocked. In other lakes, we stock less frequently and the fishing probably is best within a few days after that stocking. And you can find out when stocking will be done in your area on our web page.

Find a link to fishing regulations and the rainbow trout stocking schedule on our website, passporttotexas.org.

That’s our show…with support from the Sport Fish Restoration Program…which also provides funding for winter trout stocking in Texas…For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.

Trout Stocking: Easy-to-catch Sport Fish Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

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

If you’re looking for a great winter angling opportunity, look no further than nearby lakes that have received a delivery of rainbow trout.

We’ll be stocking a hundred and twenty different sites this season. That may change by one or two, because the program can change during the year, but our schedule is for one hundred and twenty locations.

Carl Kittel coordinates the trout-stocking program for Parks and Wildlife. Winter trout stocking takes place December through March. District fisheries biologists make the decisions about which lakes receive trout, and how many they receive.

And they each are familiar with the lakes in their area, and generally work with cities and counties to develop a program that’s most effective for each area.

Kittel says Inland fisheries plans to stock just under 275-thousand rainbow trout in Texas waters.

A large number of the fish we stock, in fact over 100-thousand, are purchased by our partners; usually the cities or counties we’re working with. So, we work in combination with local governments to determine the right amount, and to cooperatively fund buying them as well.

Find a link to the rainbow trout stocking schedule on our website, passporttotexas.org.

That’s our show…with support from the Sport Fish Restoration Program…which also provides funding for winter trout stocking in Texas…For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.
________________________________________________________________________

Trout Stocking Schedule

Free Fishing in State Parks

Trout Stocking: Where & How Many Play Now | Play in Popup | Download