Passport to Texas

Family Hiking Near RV at Daingerfield State Park.

Do Something That Scares You in 2016 Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Hard to believe, but another new year is just days away. Karen Zimmerman, who is a State Park Ambassador, offers a couple of suggestions to help you connect with the outdoors and yourself in 2016.

If you’re not getting outside try to go outside – even if it’s just walking outside. It’s amazing the benefits that that can bring to our mind. If you need to think on a problem, you should just let it marinate in your head while you walk among some trees. But, if you’re already into the outdoors recreation somewhat, and you want to take it a step further, I think the best resolution you can make to yourself is to try something that scares you. Because, there were so many things that I thought I just wasn’t tough enough to do – like repelling. And you might cry a little bit while you do it, but then afterwards you are going to feel so good. And, there is nothing in the world that can boost your confidence for months than undertaking something that scares you like that – and succeeding – because it’s actually not that hard, and you don’t need to be in that great of shape to do most of these outdoor activities.

Explore outdoor activities available in state parks and natural areas when you visit the texasstateparks.org.

That’s our show for today… Funding provided in part by Ram Trucks. Guts. Glory. Ram

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

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

Fishing Hall of Fame Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

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

Catch a Rainbow this Holiday Season Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

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.

A happy angler shows off a rainbow trout caught in a Dallas-area community fishing lake stocked annually by TPWD.

Rods, Reels and Rainbows Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

It’s the holiday season; and we recommend celebrating with rods, reels and rainbows. 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 Kittle (kitl) is a biologist with Inland Fisheries. He says thanks to abundant rainfall throughout most of the state, there’s plenty of access to stock lakes and ponds.

This year, things are pretty well back to normal. Looks like our normal level of stocking will happen.

The agency will stock more than 290-thousand rainbow trout in about 150 sites statewide.

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

Carl Kittle 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.

We have two trout recipes at passporttotexas.org.

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.
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For convenience (or when you need to prepare something the kiddos will eat) fish sticks and canned tuna can save the day. However, when you can slow down and take a little extra time – and it really doesn’t take that much more time, but it tastes like it – excite the taste buds of family and friends with the savory goodness of well-prepared fresh fish. It’s sure to make a splash.

Whole Cooked Trout Italiana
Recipe by Cecilia Nasti
Prep & Cooking time: 30 minutes or less
Serves 2

Annual winter rainbow trout stocking runs December through early March statewide. They’re fun to catch and make great table fare.

Ingredients
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1/4 teaspoon dried oregano, crushed
• 1/4 teaspoon dried rosemary, crushed
• 1.5 tablespoons red wine vinegar
• 1/4 teaspoon sea salt or Kosher salt
• Pinch red pepper flakes (optional)
• 2 whole, one-pound rainbow trout, cleaned, heads on
• 1 large lemon cut into wedges
• 1/4 cup fresh Italian flat leaf parsley, chopped

Directions
1. Heat the broiler.
2. In a small saucepan, combine the oil, garlic and dried herbs; simmer over low heat, about 2-3 minutes. This will marry the flavors. Be mindful not to burn the garlic otherwise the oil may taste slightly bitter.
3. Remove the oil and herb mixture from the heat and stir in the vinegar, half the salt, and a pinch of red pepper flakes.
4. Place the whole trout on the broiler pan and sprinkled each, inside and out, with the remaining salt.
5. With a pastry brush, apply the oil, herb and vinegar mixture onto the fish, both inside and out.
6. Broil the fish about 5-inches from the heat source for 4-5 minutes on one side, before gently turning it to other side and cooking an additional 2-3 minutes until just done; an instant read thermometer inserted into the fleshiest part of the fish should register 120-degrees Fahrenheit.
7. Brush the hot fish with some of the remaining oil, herb and vinegar mixture.

8. Plate and whole fish; sprinkle with chopped Italian flat leaf parsley, and serve with lemon wedges. Serve hot.
This dish would pair well with a winter salad of arugula, thin-sliced red onion, shaved fennel bulb, Texas Ruby Red grapefruit sections, Texas pecans, shaved parmesan cheese, and simple vinaigrette.

Trout with Mexican Mint Marigold. Photo by Beth Pav.

Casa Pav Rainbow Trout with Mexican Mint Marigold
Recipe by Mike and Beth Pav

Ingredients
• 1lb or 1 filet (side w/skin) of trout, de-boned
• 1-2 teaspoons of extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 teaspoons of kosher salt
• 1/2 teaspoons of freshly ground pepper
• 2 tablespoons of Mexican Mint Marigold leaves, rough chop
• Several Mexican Mint Marigold flowers for garnish

Directions
1. Preheat Oven 400
2. Place parchment paper on a 1/2 sheet pan.
3. Gently place the trout on top of the parchment paper, skin-side down.
4. Drizzle olive oil over entire trout.
5. Sprinkle salt and pepper over the entire trout.
6. With your fingers, softly rub olive oil, salt and pepper into the flesh of the fish.
7. Rinse & dry hands.
8. Sprinkle the rough chopped Mexican Mint Marigold leaves over the entire fish.
9. Gently place the Mexican Mint Marigold flowers in a line down the center of the filet, from tip to tail.
10. Place in over for up to 15 minutes.
Serve immediately.

Hints & Tips

• You may substitute tarragon for Mexican Mint Marigold.
• The yellow flowers do turn brown when roasted. So keep some aside to garnish the trout when done.

Lily Raff McCallou, photo courtesy www.oregonlive.com

Lily Pulls the Trigger Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

When you grow up in a hunting family, you learn to appreciate the tradition.

It was so different from what I grew up with and from anything I knew, that I wanted to know more about it.

Lily Raff McCaulou moved from NYC to Bend Oregon to write for a small newspaper, her readers included anglers and hunters. To connect with them and her food, Lily learned to hunt.

You know, the locavore movement was starting to take hold, and I’d been a meat eater my whole life, and was wondering: do I really have what it takes to hunt and kill my own meat. And wanting to know what I could get from that experience — and that closeness to my food. So, it was a combination of all these different factors that made me decide this is something that I want to try.

After hunter education and learning to shoot, she attended a Becoming an Outdoors Woman Workshop, which included a pheasant hunt. She thought she might not have the nerve to pull the trigger.

All the other women in my group had shot a bird, and I just started feeling like, ‘Hey, I’ve come all this way and it’s been a year in the making, and I want to take a shot, too.’ Eventually, all the stars aligned and the dog that I was with sniffed out a bird and held it on point [and when it flushed] , and I got it; I took the shot and the bird fell immediately. Rather than feeling all the guilt and remorse, I felt empowered.

Lily Raff McCaulou wrote a book about her experience entitled: Call of the Mild.

The Wildlife Restoration program supports our series.

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