Passport to Texas

Take the family fishing for catfish at a Neighborhood Fishin’ pond or lake.

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This is Passport to Texas

It’s catfish stocking season in Texas, and thanks to the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department’s Neighborhood Fishin’ Program families won’t have to travel outside of the city to catch them.

The agency began stocking catchable-sized catfish this Neighborhood Fishin’ lakes in Texas’ metro areas.

The Neighborhood Fishin’ program encourages more people to get involved in the outdoors by creating fun, convenient, close-to-home opportunities where people can catch fish anytime they are ready to go.

Each of the lakes will receive continuous stockings of channel catfish every two weeks through early November – with a brief pause during the heat of August – to ensure there is plenty of time for families looking to spend quality time fishing together outdoors.

These urban area parks are the easiest places in Texas for families to catch a fish close to home. Eighty-five percent of us live near one of these small lakes and ponds. By making fishing accessible, we’re helping create a whole new generation of anglers.

To find the Neighborhood Fishin’ pond near you or to sign up for email updates, visit neighborhoodfishing.org.

The Sportfish Restoration Program Supports our series.

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

Stocking Rainbow trout. Photo by Larry Hodge.

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This is Passport to Texas

It’s the holiday season, and chances are you have a few days off with the family. You can stay indoors and eat a bunch of holiday baked goods, or you can get to a lake or pond and reel in a rainbow. A rainbow trout, that is.

We do winter stockings when the water temperatures permit it, to provide an opportunity for anglers to catch trout in Texas. It’s a species of fish that anglers wouldn’t catch otherwise, so we stock them, and we intend them all to be caught out during the season.

Carl Kittel is a program director for Inland Fisheries. He says the agency will stock about 150 sites around the state, and will distribute approximately 250-thousand catchable rainbow trout. Perhaps even up to 300-thousand.

The fish will be divided among the various locations, including urban neighborhood fishin’ holes.

We publish a schedule on the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department webpage. Look for the winter trout stocking link.

Carl Kittel says we stock rainbows in winter because these fish cannot survive our hot summers. So, when you reel one in this winter, take it home and eat it.

The Sport fish restoration program supports our series and helps to fund rainbow trout stocking in Texas.

We record our series at The Block House in Austin, Texas and Joel Block engineers our program.

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

Stocking fingerlings in Texas waters

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This is Passport to Texas

It’s no accident that some of the country’s best sport fishing happens in Texas lakes and rivers.

Fish stocking is an ongoing activity of Texas Parks and Wildlife Department’s inland fisheries division.

But why stock fish at all? Stocking helps to establish initial year classes of fish in new or renovated waters. It also supplements existing populations that, for some reason, have insufficient spawning or recruitment. Stocking also increases species diversity.

Restoring fish populations that have been reduced or eliminated by natural or manmade or catastrophes is another reason to stock fish in Texas waters.

Parks and Wildlife may also stock fish to either change or enhance the genetics of a particular fish population in a specific water body.

Moreover, the agency stocks certain lakes, streams and community ponds with catchable size fish year round—rainbow trout in winter and catfish spring through fall. Doing so makes sport fishing more accessible to all. The agency even offers free fishing in state parks, angler education classes and tackle loaner programs.

So, if you’re not catching fish in Texas, you’re just not trying. Find fishing information and the locations of Neighborhood Fishin’ lakes and ponds on the TPW website.
The Sport Fish Restoration Program supports our series. For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti

A family fishing outing at the lake.

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This is Passport to Texas

Catching a fish never fails to excite, especially if you’re a child. Reeling in one of these wiggly wonders has never been easier in Texas urban areas.

That’s because places for family fishing fun are in, or near, your neighborhoods…as are the opportunities for gaining the skills necessary for catching the fish.

Texas Parks and Wildlife’s Neighborhood Fishin’ program brings the fish to you. Currently, eighteen neighborhood fishin’ lakes are dispersed among eleven Texas cities: from Abilene to Houston and points in between.

Stocking takes place every two to four weeks during summer and winter seasons. Which means there should be a good supply of fish to catch and bring home for dinner whenever you find time to visit!

In addition to the Neighborhood Fishin’ program, state parks host fishing events where you learn about the best gear and bait to use, how to cast, and even how to cook what you catch. Some parks also loan tackle.

Fishing is a gateway activity into the Texas outdoors, and something the entire family can share together.

Find a list of the Neighborhood Fishin’ lakes on the Texas Parks and Wildlife website. While you’re there, check out the calendar section for fishing events near you.

The Sport Fish Restoration program supports our series.

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

Enjoying a day of fishing with the kiddos during Spring Break.

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This is Passport to Texas

If the weather’s good, and even if it isn’t this spring break, gather up the family and take them to Neighborhood Fishin’ ponds for a day of fishing fun.

We think it’s a valuable thing for people to be connected with fishing and the outdoors, and we’d like to facilitate that connection.

Former Texas Parks and Wildlife aquatic education training specialist, Caleb Harris, says the neighborhood fishin’ program is one of many ways the agency facilitates a connection between people and nature.

Every metropolitan center has a neighborhood fihin’ pond. And all those locations are on the [Texas Parks and Wildlife] website.

This time of year, the inland fisheries division begins to stock neighborhood fishin’ ponds with catfish. Wouldn’t your youngsters love to return to school with a fish story to tell? Harris says although spending time with family and friends catching fish is fun, something deeper takes place among those who connect with the outdoors.

When people are connected to the outdoors in a way that they enjoy it – like fishing – they become stewards of it. They want to protect it. Conserve it. Be good users of it.

Find a neighborhood fishin’ pond near you, as well as tackle loaner locations, and information on various fish species, when you log onto the Texas Parks and Wildlife website.

This project and our show is funded in part by a grant from the Sport Fish Restoration Program.

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