Passport to Texas

Kids enjoying a day of fishing

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This is Passport to Texas

Experience the thrill of reeling in a fish, or the joy of boating with family and friends during National Fishing & Boating Week, June 4 through 12th.

We’re going to encourage people to get out on the water.

Frank Peterson is President and CEO of the Recreational Boating and Fishing Foundation, a non-profit organization whose mission is to increase participation in fishing and boating.

By helping increase that participation, [we] build awareness for the need to conserve and protect our aquatic resources.

The way anglers and boaters help protect aquatic resources is by doing what they love to do.

By using the resource and buying equipment and buying licenses, putting fuel in their boat, registering their boat… there is excise taxes paid on that equipment that goes directly toward sport fish restoration.

Peterson says National Fishing and Boating Week kicks off in Texas and across the country on June 4th…and in Texas you can always fish free at State Parks.

A lot of states are starting to do that now, and we encourage that. Because the more people we can get fishing at a younger age, the more they’ll fish as an adult. And through participation they’re helping conserve that resource, and that’s very important so that resource is there for the future.

Go to takemefishing.org for more information.

The Sport Fish and Wildlife Restoration Program supports our series.

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

Black drum ready to be filleted or frozen.

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Like to fish? Then you should know this Saturday, June fourth, is Free Fishing Day in Texas.

People don’t need a fishing license to fish on that first Saturday in June.

Great news, right? Texas Parks and Wildlife aquatic training specialist, Caleb Harris, says everyone can fish free in state parks with fishing opportunities any day, but Free Fishing Day opens all public waters for your angling pleasure. Harris says when you reel in a fish you intend to keep, there is a humane way to dispatch your catch before it becomes dinner.

Most people say that the kindest way to care for a fish that you want to keep [for dinner] is to put it on ice as fast as possible.

The cold temperature, says Harris, causes the fish’s bodily functions to slow down…way down.

The ice will anesthetize it; it’ll be virtually painless at that cold temperature; the fish will get cold and will slowly pass. So, yeah. If you have a boat, and you have the ability to bring an ice chest, you know—catch the fish—if you intend to keep it, make sure it’s a legal size, and put it right on ice.

When you get the fish home, you’ll want to immediately filet it and either cook it up right away, or freeze it. Find a video on how to filet fish, and a link to information on the best way to freeze fish at passporttotexas.org.

The Sport Fish Restoration program supports our series.

For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti

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TPWD technician Jeff Bowling holds a 42.5-inch, 39-pound blue catfish caught on a jugline at Richland Chambers Reservoir on December 10, 2009.

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Catfish are more adaptable to changing environmental conditions than other game fish, are popular among anglers, and are good eating. For those and other reasons, the Texas Parks and Wildlife Commissioners approved a new Catfish Management Plan earlier this year. Dave Terre.

The first step in this plan was to go to our anglers and ask them what they want for the future of catfish angling in Texas. And we took their opinions and their needs and desires for catfish fishing in the future, and we tried to look to see what we could do with our catfish populations to make fishing better for them.

Terre is chief of fisheries management and research at Texas Parks and Wildlife. Stocking, habitat management, and regulations, are among the tools they’ll use to implement the plan. In addition, he says, they’ll bring fish to the fishermen.

People want good, quality fishing opportunities close to home. So, what we strive to do is to use catfish to create good catfish fishing opportunities on smaller, public water bodies in major metropolitan areas close to where people live in cities. So, look for us [to be] doing more of that in the future.

Find the complete catfish management plan on the Texas Parks and Wildlife website.

All these strategies have been confirmed with our anglers as things tht they want us to do. So, for the next decade or so, this is the direction that we’ll be moving with our catfish program.

The Sport Fish restoration program supports our series.

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

A fine looking catfish.

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Largemouth bass may be the gold standard when it comes to freshwater fish in Texas, but catfish are a close second.

We’ve done a lot with regards to the management of largemouth bass. And we figure, catfish are going to meet the needs of a new generation of anglers across the state; and there’s a lot we can do to manage for catfish and make fishing even better than it is right now.

Dave Terre is chief of fisheries management and research at Texas Parks and Wildlife. Catfish are abundant and adaptable to Texas’ changing environmental conditions.

We think catfish will be a good match for our changing environmental situations that we have both in our reservoir environments and our river environments in Texas. And we think we can manage those populations to meet those changing environmental conditions.

Dave Terre says catfish management takes many forms.

Stocking fish is a good way to increase opportunities for people catching more fish. We can also manage with fishing regulations. Fishing regulations allow us to control numbers and sizes of fish that are harvested. We can also manage fish habitats to improve populations in a number of different ways. As fisheries managers, there’s all sorts of things we can do with catfish to make fishing opportunities better in Texas going forward.

The impact of the new management plan on anglers. That’s tomorrow.

The Sport Fish restoration program supports our series.

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

Arundo donax, also called Giant Reed.

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Texas has its share of invasive plants and animals, including Arundo Donax, or giant reed; you’ve probably seen it along roadways and river banks.

13— If you see it on roadsides, it’s very tall—grows up to about 30 feet. Has segments, really broad, pointed leaves—huge showy plumes. It can actually be quite pretty. And it looks somewhat like corn.

Giant reed is a non-native grass. Monica McGarrity who studies aquatic invasive for Texas Parks and Wildlife, says its greatest impact occurs when it gets into areas along rivers and creeks.

18—They have these impacts because they’re able to outcompete the native plants and push them aside, displace them. And when we’re talking especially about riverside, riparian areas, along our creeks – diversity of native plants is really important to the wildlife, and for maintaining the overall health of the community.

When giant reed displaces native plant communities, the result is reduced habitat quality.

17— It reduces quality for birds and other wildlife. And then it can start to— over time – have impacts on the stream itself, and reduce the habitat that’s available to the aquatic community, and make it more homogenous, more the same throughout. Rather than having diverse pools and riffles and habitats that they need.

Monica McGarrity returns tomorrow to tell us how not to try and remove this plant from our property.

The Sport Fish Restoration program supports our series.

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