Passport to Texas

Reel in some fun with Neighborhood Fishin’

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This is Passport to Texas

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.

Aquatic education training specialist, Caleb Harris, says the neighborhood fishin’ program is one of many ways Texas Parks and Wildlife facilitates that 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.

He’s referring to the Texas Parks and Wildlife website. This time of year, the inland fisheries division stocks neighborhood fishin’ ponds with rainbow trout. 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 places to fish, as well as tackle loaner locations, learn to fish classes, and information on various species of fish when you log onto the Texas Parks and Wildlife website.

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

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

Learning to fish with family.

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Why is fishing growing in popularity?

Access Is there. It’s not expensive. There’s a draw to water. And young kids are excited to get into fishing typically, [because] it’s weird. [laughs].

Caleb Harris, an aquatic education training specialist, says access may be the top reason why people fish.

There’s significant access to fishing in Texas. We have lots of lakes and lots of parks. Within ten minutes of most homes you can find a place to stick a hook in the water.

Find neighborhood fishing locations on the Texas Parks and Wildlife website. And, if you’re new to fishing attend a Go Fish Event at Texas State Parks.

The Go Fish events are free events in the park, and they start in the morning – typically – and they’ll have education stations. And, they’re very specific for exactly those people who say I’m interested in fishing but I really don’t even know where to start. And after about an hour and a half to two hours of basic hands on activities to learn these things, then there’s an opportunity to borrow some fishing poles and go fishing right there in the park. And after that, most people would have an example of where they could fish, what type of bait to use, how to tie on lures and hooks, what different fish they could expect to catch with certain types of bait – they would get that information at these events. It really is a good starting point.

Find Go Fish events in the calendar section of the Texas Parks and Wildlife website.

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

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

Photo credit: www.texaseliteangler.com

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This is Passport to Texas

As more people gravitate toward fishing, the need for trained angler education instructors increases.

Our strategy is to equip people so that they can bring fishing activities and events and outdoor experiences to their own communities.

Caleb Harris is an aquatic education training specialist. He trains interested folks how to host fishing events.

What we offer is some training to equip people to bring that to their own communities – whether it be their city, their church, their scout group… And then we can train them how to put on those events and we can give them the resources to successfully do it.

Interested in becoming a volunteer angler education instructor? Start with a skills workshop.

There’s at least one or two happening each month somewhere in the state. And our workshops are free, too, to people who are interested in them. So, people can contact us directly and ask when the next workshop is, or they can follow the calendar of events on Texas Parks and Wildlife website. They’ll all be posted there, too.

Harris says the people who reach out to the agency for training are enthusiastic, and believe in fishing as a way to engage the outdoors and bring families together.

Our volunteers are pretty incredible, actually, how motivated they are to help families get outside and have a good experience in fishing.

A grant from the Sport Fish Restoration Program helps fund this project and our show. Find an angler education workshop near you on the Texas Parks and Wildlife website.

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

Rainbow trout. Photo credit: http://livingwatersflyfishing.com/

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Rainbow trout may not survive in all parts of Texas, but they flourish in the Guadalupe River below Canyon Dam. The water there is cold, which rainbows need to survive.

We’ve landed 27 and 28-inch rainbow trout out of this river, which is absolutely surreal. That’s a big fish for anywhere.

Chris Johnson is a River Guide. He talks about rainbows in a segment of the Texas Parks and Wildlife TV series on PBS, which airs next week. Mark Dillow, Chapter President of Guadalupe River Trout Unlimited, is in the segment, too.

We encourage Catch-and-Release to return the fish to the river so that this resource can continue; so that the efforts Guadalupe River Trout Unlimited are putting into making this a world-class fishery can continue. And other people can have an opportunity catch the fish that you caught.

In January 2015, Guadalupe River Trout Unlimited held its first youth trout camp where kids experienced fly fishing and river recreation on the Guadalupe River. And, Dakus Geeslin, Aquatic Scientist, at Texas Parks and Wildlife, says events like that create conservationists.

If these kids enjoy the river, they start caring about the river, and the next thing you know they’ll want to conserve and protect the river. What we saw was a conservation legacy being developed firsthand over that weekend of our trout camp.

Catch the segment on rainbow trout and Guadalupe River Trout Unlimited next week on the Texas Parks and Wildlife TV show on PBS. Check your local listings.

The Sport Fish restoration program supports our series.

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

Angler Holding Up Trout on Stringer, Blanco State Park Photo Credit: Texas Parks and Wildlife Department

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If you’re an angler who likes to eat what you catch, then now’s the time to reel in a rainbow trout.

We stock them at a catchable and eatable size. They are good fighting fish; they’re relatively easy to catch. We usually stock them in smaller bodies of water, so they’re a good fishing, catching opportunity and good eating opportunity as well.

Carl Kittle is a program director for Inland Fisheries, and oversees winter trout stocking in Texas, which began this month.

We’ve been stocking [rainbow] trout around Texas for almost 40 years. One interesting note about trout is that we often say there are no established populations of trout in Texas, but actually, way out west in the Davis Mountains there’s a small, tiny stream at high enough elevation that there is a reproducing population of rainbow trout.

That’s why we stock them in winter; most of Texas is too hot for the. Inland fisheries will distribute more than 290-thousand rainbows in 150 locations.

And we have a special program; we actually stock somewhat larger trout in urban areas in our Neighborhood Fishin’ Program. And that’s something that you can specifically look for on our web page.

With the winter holidays here, it’s is a great time go fishing with the kids. Find the stocking schedule on the Texas Parks and Wildlife website.

The Sport Fish restoration program supports our series and funds rainbow trout stocking in Texas…

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