Passport to Texas

Passport to Texas from Texas Parks and Wildlife and the Sport Fish and Wildlife Restoration Program

Archery, the original shooting sport, is making a comeback in schools nationwide. Burnie Kessner is archery coordinator for Texas Parks and Wildlife.

Ninety-five percent of my job is, I’d say, is coordinating the archery in the schools program—The Texas National Archery in the Schools Program.

Forty-five states currently participate in The National Archery in the Schools program. Texas joined in 2004 to become the seventeenth state.

We got some schools on board in oh-five, and we really kicked off officially in February of oh-six with our first state tournament where we had a hundred and twenty kids. Our second state tournament was last February oh-seven, where we had almost four hundred kids.

And this spring the third tournament is expected to draw more than five hundred participants…which begs the question: what is it about archery that sees tournament involvement continually climb?

Schools are finding out all of the benefits and the great assets of having this program. It’s very inclusive. It doesn’t matter your gender, your physical ability doesn’t matter, your size doesn’t matter. As long as you can learn the process, as long as you can learn the process you can do archery and you can excel.

We’ll have more on the Archery in the Schools Program tomorrow.

That’s our show… our series receives support from the Sport Fish and Wildlife Restoration Program…working to increase fishing, hunting, shooting and boating opportunities in Texas…For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.

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Passport to Texas from Texas Parks and Wildlife and the Sport Fish Restoration Program

Fishing the late shift is a feature you’ll see this month on the Texas Parks and Wildlife TV series. Producer, Alan Fisher.

Fishing is a favorite pastime, coastal and inland, but there’s this whole other little subculture out there; people who like to fish at night.

So, when you were talking to these nighttime fisher folk, what did they say the appeal was of doing their fishy business in the darkness.

Everybody seems to have their own reasons for fishing in the dark. I think for a lot of folks, in the summertime, there’s a good reason in Texas, it’s a little more pleasant to be on a pier or in a boat in August. But there are people who fish at night in the wintertime, too. So, it’s not just the weather.

But, also, it tends to calm down a little bit at night. Sometimes the heat causes a lot of wind, and maybe that’s not so good for fishing. At night you get the still waters, and sometimes its just a little more pleasant to be outside.

Thanks, Alan.

That’s our show…we receive support from the Sport Fish restoration program…For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.
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CLICK HERE for a list of stations that broadcast the Texas Parks & Wildlife Television Series

TP&W TV April Feature: Night Fishing Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Passport to Texas from Texas Parks and Wildlife and the Sport Fish Restoration Program

Fishing the late shift is a feature you’ll see this month on the Texas Parks and Wildlife TV series. Producer, Alan Fisher.

Fishing is a favorite pastime, coastal and inland, but there’s this whole other little subculture out there; people who like to fish at night.

So, when you were talking to these nighttime fisher folk, what did they say the appeal was of doing their fishy business in the darkness.

Everybody seems to have their own reasons for fishing in the dark. I think for a lot of folks, in the summertime, there’s a good reason in Texas, it’s a little more pleasant to be on a pier or in a boat in August. But there are people who fish at night in the wintertime, too. So, it’s not just the weather.

But, also, it tends to calm down a little bit at night. Sometimes the heat causes a lot of wind, and maybe that’s not so good for fishing. At night you get the still waters, and sometimes its just a little more pleasant to be outside.

Thanks, Alan.

That’s our show…we receive support from the Sport Fish restoration program…For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.
______________________________________________________

CLICK HERE for a list of stations that broadcast the Texas Parks & Wildlife Television Series

TP&W TV April Feature: Night Fishing Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Passport to Texas from Texas Parks and Wildlife and the Sport Fish and Wildlife Restoration Program

Saltwater anglers with an eye toward improving coastal fisheries should know about the upcoming Coastal Fisheries Bay Team Tournaments to catch spotted sea trout.

We’ve got two tournaments coming up down south, over in the Rio Grande Valley area. One of them is going to be on April the fifth over on South Padre island, and will be taking place at Sea Ranch Marina. And then we have the second one on April the twelfth in Port Mansfield and that will be off the north boat ramp.

Robert Adami coordinates the free tournaments in which sixty total anglers catch fish and vie for prizes.

The tournament is absolutely free, but all participants must be 21 and up, because it’s sponsored by Anheuser Busch. At each of the tournaments, we’ll start registration at 6 a.m. We’ll start collecting fish from that point on; we’ll stop at 12-noon, and shortly after lunchtime I’ll be handing out the prizes.

Participating anglers donate their catch to a breeding program, where fisheries biologist will “mix up” the genetics.

You don’t want to have the same parents along with the same siblings year after year. The fish are going to be going back into the bay system that they came from, but you also want to be mixing up the genetics in the bay system as you go along. And that’s just a good practice for any hatchery.

Find information about the tournaments and prizes at passporttotexas.org.

That’s our show…with support from the Sport Fish and Wildlife Restoration program…supporting genetics research at Texas hatcheries…For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.

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Passport to Texas from Texas Parks and Wildlife and the Sport Fish and Wildlife Restoration Program

The Coastal Fisheries Bay Team Tournament is looking for a few good anglers.

We are getting together with the community, and we’re collecting fish for our hatchery program. So, these guys are out there catching fish, and they are vying for prizes.

Robert Adami coordinates the tournaments, which take On April 5, at Sea ranch Marina on South Padre Island, and on April 12, at the north boat ramp at Port Mansfield.

We do this so that we can continuously be bringing in new fish for our hatchery program. One of the reasons we do that is so that we can get some genetic diversity into our spawning biomass of fish that we have on hand. And we always want to mix up the genetics within our hatchery program.

Sixty people, on a first come first serve basis, will get to participate in the tournament to reel in spotted sea trout. I asked Adami why the hatchery wants only sea trout in spring.

One of the reasons is they have peak spawning in springtime. So, we want to try and collect as many new trout as we can and hopefully put them into the spawning biomass that we currently have—and they’re ready to get going.

You must be 21 or older to participate. Find a link to more information about the tournaments and prizes at passporttotexas.org.

That’s our show…with support from the Sport Fish and Wildlife Restoration program…supporting genetics research at Texas hatcheries…For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.

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For more information, call Robert Adami, Robert Adami, (361) 939-8745

South Padre Island
April 5, 2008
Sea Ranch Marina

Port Mansfield
April 12, 2008
North Boat Ramp

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