Passport to Texas

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

If one of your New Year’s resolutions included trying your hand at angling… but you don’t want to spend money on tackle until you know you’re going to like the sport…no worries. Texas Parks and Wildlife has a tackle loaner program for folks like you.

The tackle loaner program is a program in which we provide different sites with basic fishing rods and reels and some very basic tackle so that citizens can borrow that equipment and go fishing.

Ann Miller oversees aquatic education for Parks and Wildlife.

When you go to a tackle loaner site to check out equipment, you’ll receive a little tackle box with basic hooks and bobbers and sinkers of different sizes. You’ll also be able to check out a very basic spin casting rod and reel.

Anyone over 17 will need a fishing license to check out equipment. Persons under 18 must have an adult check out the tackle for them.

Each tackle loaner site has a simple form that the person who checks out the equipment would sign, saying that ‘yes’ they will bring the equipment back. And you will just leave an ID there –you can check it out for up to a week.

Our show is made possible by 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 form Texas Parks and Wildlife and the Sport Fish Restoration Program

Each winter, inland fisheries stocks lakes and reservoirs with rainbow trout to provide a unique winter angling opportunity. Fish that escape the hook eventually succumb to the heat.

In Texas, we’re outside of the range where rainbow trout, at least for the most part, can survive throughout the year. So, we just bring them in during the winter months; and there’s an opportunity to fish for them until the spring.

Carl Kittel coordinates the trout-stocking program for Parks and Wildlife. He admits that—from time to time—a few fish manage to adjust to summer temperatures.

In years when conditions are right, particularly below the Canyon Dam and the Canyon tailrace, fish can survive the summer—occasionally. The problem is they can’t do so consistently, so we generally don’t get established populations.

So hurry and get these fish while they NOT hot. Anglers 17 years old and older must have a 5-dollar freshwater fish stamp and a license to hook a rainbow. You won’t need either if you fish in a stat e park.

We consider all of our rainbow stocking in Texas to be a put and take fishery. We put the fully-grown fish in, which are a catchable size when we stock them. And the purpose of stocking them, and our expectation of those fish, is that they’ll be fished out by anglers.

There’s a link to the rainbow trout stocking schedule on our website, passporttotexas.org.

That’s our show…with support from the Sport Fish Restoration Program…which also helps fund winter trout stocking 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 and Wildlife Restoration Program

Squirrel hunting was considered a right of passage for young people, but that’s changing. TPW TV writer/producer Ron Kabele tells us about a story airing this month called Last of the Squirrel Hunters.

We followed a father and his daughter, who were hunting on Engeling WMA. Her name was Macy; and she was very enthusiastic—she was about 12 years old.

I have four daughters. Macy is my outdoors person, so she likes to go and tromp out in the woods as long as the bugs don’t bother her too much.

And, his fear is that at some point, Macy’s generation is going to be the last generation of squirrel hunters. Squirrel hunting is actually a very good way to get people into hunting, because you’re moving around the forest, you’re not sitting in one place, you have lots of targets to aim at if you’re in good habitat. In other words, there’s lots of action.

(ambience walking) That other squirrel’s gotta be right here. Dad, put it in your pocket. Whoa. That’s cool.

A lot of time with hunting, it’s that first experience that determines whether someone’s going to be a hunter or someone’s not.

That’s our show for today…thank you for joining us…we receive funding from the Sport Fish and Wildlife Restoration program… providing funding for the operations and management of the Gus Engeling WMA.

We record out program at the Production Block in Austin, Texas. Joel Block engineers our show.

For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.
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Find out on which PBS stations the Texas Parks and Wildlife Television series airs when you click here.

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

From virtual sinkholes to setting fires with a purpose: The Texas Parks and Wildlife TV series offers a wide range of fascinating fare in February. Writer Producer Ron Kabele:

Don Cash worked on a really cool story. Devil’s Sinkhole is this sinkhole that’s out in Central Texas. The problem is, it’s relatively dangerous. So a bunch of people got together and they decided what they wanted to do is create this 3-D, virtual tour of the sinkhole—and they did it through this really new age-y thing called Lydar.

So, the objective of what we’re doing is we’re shooting a laser model to recreate this space digitally where we can show people what it’s like to be at the bottom of this hole without having drop down 150 foot on a piece of rope (laughs).

And finally, Prescription to Burn is all about prescribed burns.

Most of the ecosystems did evolve with fire. The plants are adapted to fire. In the absence of fire, the ecosystem gets out of balance.

I heard a biologist here say one time, that one of the worst things that ever happened to forests was the program started by Smokey the Bear.

Thanks, Ron.

That’s our show… with support from the Wildlife Restoration Program…providing funding for the Private Lands and Habitat Enhancement Program.

For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.
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To find a PBS station near you that air the Texas Parks and Wildlife Television Series, click here.

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

Every winter Inland Fisheries stocks thousands of rainbow trout to provide unique angling opportunities statewide.

Rainbow trout are widely considered to be very good sport fish, and fun to catch, but they’re generally fairly easy to catch as well, and will take a variety of bait: corn or lures, or worms.

Carl Kittel coordinates the trout-stocking program for Parks and Wildlife. One hundred twenty sites will receive the trout.

The vendor that supplies us trout, supplies them to four of our hatcheries around the state. And we stock quickly from the hatcheries to the sites. So, we don’t grow them much beyond the size they come in. Most of the fish we stock are an average size of nine inches; there are a few fish that go into the urban fishing program that we get to a larger size, or grow to a larger size to an eleven-inch average.

Rainbow trout are great fish to get the kids started on.

Generally, in the urban fishing lakes we think we have pretty good fishing pretty much all the time because they’re frequently stocked. In other lakes, we stock less frequently and the fishing probably is best within a few days after that stocking. And you can find out when stocking will be done in your area on our web page.

Find a link to fishing regulations and the rainbow trout stocking schedule on our website, passporttotexas.org.

That’s our show…with support from the Sport Fish Restoration Program…which also provides funding for winter trout stocking in Texas…For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.

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