Passport to Texas

This is Passport to Texas

Anglers may not have a crystal ball to tell them where the best fishing is, but they have the next best thing.

02—Our fisheries biologists are a great deal of help.

Steve Lightfoot is a wildlife & fisheries information specialist with Parks and Wildlife; his article on the late winter/early spring fishing forecast appears in TPW magazine’s February digital fishing issue. He says fisheries biologists assess three areas when making their predictions.

29— One are the creel surveys they conduct at boat launches and around fishing areas where they talk to anglers and ask them what their catches were. The other is their own surveys, using mostly gill netting and other nets that they collect out in the water. They identify the fish and they go through algorithms and so forth, and come up something called a biomass. And a biomass is how healthy the fish populations [are] and what types of fish are at each lake.
The third element is their knowledge and experience. Most of these guys are anglers, too, so they have some input as well.

Lightfoot adds there’s good news for anglers.

10— The good news is most of our fish populations are in healthy condition. There are over a hundred lakes where you can go out and expect to have a reasonably good opportunity to catch a variety of different species.

But you’ll never know unless you go. How to use the fishing forecast to your best advantage on tomorrow’s show.

The Wildlife and Sport Fish Restoration program supports our series… For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.

This is Passport to Texas supported by the Wildlife and Sport Fish Restoration Program

It’s a New Year, and with it comes new opportunities to go fishing. You’re in luck, too, because Texas Parks and Wildlife magazine’s February Digital Fishing Special is available online now. Editor Louie Bond.

63—Last year we tried out a brand new product: a digital fishing special. We had such great success with it that we went on to do a hunting one last fall. So, now as we come around again to February, where we don’t have a print edition, we’ve got another special treat for everyone out there, which is our spring fishing guide. And it’s both saltwater and freshwater this year, and it’s available to everyone – not just magazine subscribers. So, if you come to tpwmagazine.com you can read it there for free. And this year it will include a forecast by our own Steve Lightfoot on those saltwater and freshwater fish. He’s talked to all of our biologists who spend all their time figuring this stuff out. So, it’s really good info from our experts. Larry Hodge will take us out on the hot spot for winter fishing – power plant lakes. He’ll also take us fishing for crappie on Lake Conroe. John Jefferson is going to follow the white bass spawn upstream for some really hot fishing there – and there’s a stream-by-stream report with that. And Karl Wolfshohl is going to take us down to the coast for some surf fishing for trout. And on top of all that we’ll have some great recipes to cook up all those fish to enjoy all year long.

Thanks, Louie.

The Wildlife and Sport Fish Restoration Program Program supports our series and is funded by your purchase of fishing and hunting equipment and motor boat fuels.

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

This is Passport to Texas

[Nats aquarium] Pet stores like Rivers and Reefs in Austin sell fish and plant species from all over the world.

10—Most of your Tetris species are from South America. Even your average gold-fish comes from China. Some of your Amazon sword plants obviously come from South America from the Amazon River.[ambience trails]

Manager Rachel Pohl says that’s why people should be careful not to dump their aquariums in rivers or lakes or even flush live fish down the toilet.

08—Some of these fish get into our rivers and start eating our fingerlings in our rivers, and it starts unbalancing the native population because they don’t have a predator here.

And it’s not just fish. Parks and Wildlife aquatic habitat biologist Howard Elder says the extremely invasive giant salvinia started out as a decorative aquarium plant… but it didn’t stay there.

09—Giant salvinia was found in a Houston school yard in 1998. It has since been found in 17 public reservoirs.

And it’s not pretty anymore.

10—The plant can produce dense mats that actually block out sunlight and displace native vegetation and fish species as well as many wildlife species.

So, enjoy your aquarium, but if you tire of it, don’t dump your fish and plants…check to see if a pet store will accept unwanted fish or at least tell you where you can take them.

The Wildlife and Sport Fish Restoration program supports our series… For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.

Passport to Texas with support from the Wildlife and Sport Fish Restoration Program

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

14— 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 (kitl) is a program director for Inland Fisheries, and oversees winter trout stocking in Texas. Distribution began this month and continues through February 2013.

17 – 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.

In the rest for the state, however, it’s just too hot to sustain rainbow trout populations year round, and that’s why we will stock up to 275-thousand in 120-130 locations this year…including urban areas.

11 – 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 and locations at the Texas Parks and Wildlife website.

The Wildlife and sport fish restoration program supports our series and funds rainbow trout stocking in Texas…

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

Passport to Texas with support from the Wildlife and Sport Fish Restoration Program

We’re in the midst of the holiday season, and what better way to celebrate than with rainbows – rainbow trout, that is.

13— 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 Kittle is a program director for Inland Fisheries. Last year’s severe drought meant less water and less water meant fewer trout. But this year looks better.

13 – This year, things are pretty well back to normal. It’s very dry out west, but it looks like our normal level of stocking in over 120 sites will happen. In fact, we’re looking to stock about 130 sites this year.

Texas Parks and Wildlife plans to distribute approximately 275,000 rainbow trout amongst the various locations.

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

We have a recipe for you to try at www.passporttotexas.org.

The Wildlife and Sport Fish Restoration Program supports our series and celebrates 75 years of funding diverse conservation projects throughout Texas…

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

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Trout Amandine
by Chef Cindy Haenel

Ingredients

8 (4-ounce) lake or rainbow trout fillets
1 egg
1 cup milk
1 cup flour
Salt and pepper
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
4 tablespoons butter
1 cup (about 6 ounces) sliced, blanched almonds
Handful fresh parsley leaves, finely chopped
1 lemon, wedged

Directions

Heat a large skillet over moderate heat. Combine egg and milk in a tin pie plate, beat with a fork. Place a cup of flour in a second pie tin and season well with salt and sparingly with pepper. Coat trout fillets in egg and milk, then in seasoned flour. Collect fillets on a plate until all of them are dredged and ready to be cooked.

Add 1/2 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil to your skillet. Add 1 1/2 tablespoons butter to the pan. When the butter foams, add trout and gently saute 4 fillets for 2 or 3 minutes on each side, until golden. Transfer trout fillets to warm platter in oven.

Return pan to the stove and add 1/2 tablespoon extra-virgin oil and 1 1/2 tablespoons butter. When butter foams, repeat cooking process. When all of the trout is cooked, add last tablespoon of butter to the pan. When the butter melts, add almonds and brown until lightly golden, 1 to 2 minutes.

Remove trout from oven and pour almonds over the platter. Garnish platter with chopped parsley, lemon wedges, and serve immediately.

Serves 4