Passport to Texas

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

Susan Schulte of Central Texas grew up on a farm, and spent nearly every waking moment outdoors. When she had daughters of her own, she introduced them to the wonders of nature, and does the same for their children.

With my grandchildren, we love to go fishing.

Grandparents play an important role in children’s lives, and fishing is a simple and thrilling way to experience the outdoors together.

They get so excited when they catch a little fish. And it may just be a little four-inch fish. But to them it’s a monster, you know.

Schulte says first-hand knowledge is priceless.

They realize the sliminess of the worms…and the wind…the waves….the water….they experience that first-hand and that makes an impact on them, as opposed to sitting quietly and passively in front of a screen.

And fishing is just the beginning. If you’re a grandparent, spending time in nature with your grand kids not only enriches their lives now, but also into the future.

Because they’re involved, and it’s outdoors. I just see such a hope for our future, you know? They’re learning. They’re learning something that they will never be able to learn in an enclosed building.

That’s our show for today…with support from the Sport Fish and Wildlife Restoration Program…funded by your purchase of fishing and hunting equipment and motorboat fuel.

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

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Passport to Texas from Texas Parks and Wildlife

Catfish have a face only a mother and angler could love. Texas Parks and Wildlife television series producer Alan Fisher hooked up with fishermen who were catching cats.

In the story we visit Lake Buchanan in Central Texas, and then Lake Conroe in Southeast Texas. I went out with two folks who target big catfish. And, the folks on Lake Conroe actually landed a thirty-five pounder that night. And, thirty five pounds is a lot of fish when you try and lift it into a boat.

[Groaning and fish flopping] He’s not very happy about all this.

Alan says something called jug fishing is a popular among cat anglers.

[Chuckles] Well, the jug fishing is something I’ve always known about. People take an old milk jug and tie a string around it, and [put a] hook on it, and throw it out in the water.

[With a] jug, you’re increasing your odds a whole lot, because you can put up to five hooks on a jug. It’s a blast. [laughs] I love it.

Catfish are kind of a fun fish. Some people like to see them at the end of a rod, some people like to see them on the dinner plate. But they’re a fun fish any way you choose to enjoy them.

Thanks, Alan. Go to passporttotexas.org for a listing of PBS stations that air the series.

That’s our show… For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.
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Texas Parks and Wildlife on PBS and Cable

Times and dates are subject to change, especially during PBS membership drives.

• Amarillo, KACV-TV, Channel 2: October–March, Saturday 6 p.m.
• Austin, KLRU-TV, Channel 18: Monday, 12:30 p.m.; Friday 5:30 a.m.; Sunday, 9 a.m. KLRU2, Cable 20: Tuesday, 11 p.m.
• Bryan-College Station, KAMU-TV, Channel 15: Sunday, 5 p.m.; Thursday, 7 p.m.
• Corpus Christi, KEDT-TV, Channel 16: Sunday, 12 p.m.; Friday, 2 p.m.
• Dallas-Fort Worth, KERA-TV, Channel 13: October–March, Saturday, 6 p.m. Also serving Abilene, Denton, Longview, Marshall, San Angelo, Texarkana, Tyler, Wichita Falls and Sherman.
• El Paso, KCOS-TV, Channel 13: Saturday, 3 p.m.
• Harlingen, KMBH-TV, Channel 60: Sunday, 5 p.m. Also serving McAllen, Mission and Brownsville.
• Houston, KUHT-TV, Channel 8: Saturday, 3:30 p.m.; Friday 1:30 p.m. Also serving Beaumont, Port Arthur, Galveston, Texas City and Victoria.
• Killeen, KNCT-TV, Channel 46: Sunday, 5 p.m. Also serving Temple.
• Lubbock, KTXT-TV, Channel 5: Saturday, 10 a.m.
• Odessa-Midland, KPBT-TV, Channel 36: Saturday, 4:30 p.m.
• San Antonio and Laredo, KLRN-TV, Channel 9: Sunday, 1 p.m.
• Waco, KWBU-TV, Channel 34: Saturday, 3 p.m.
• Portales, New Mexico, KENW-TV, Channel 3: Sunday, 2:30 p.m.
• The New York Network, NYN, Thursday 8:30 p.m.; Saturday 2:30 p.m. Serving the Albany area.

Cable

Texas Parks & Wildlife can also be seen on a variety of government, educational and access cable channels in the following communities: Abilene, Allen, Atlanta, Boerne, Collin County Community College, Coppell, Del Mar College, Denton, Flower Mound, Frisco, Garland, Irving, McKinney, North Richland Hills, Plano, Rogers State University, Texarkana College, The Colony, Tyler, Waco and Wichita Falls. Check your local listings for days and times.

TPW TV: Catching Cats Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

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

For an inexpensive, entry-level fishing experience the entire family can enjoy, it doesn’t get much easier than winter rainbow trout fishing in Texas.

In fact that’s one of the fish we use at the Expo each year to allow kids to catch their first fish.

Carl Kittle oversees the Texas Parks and Wildlife trout-stocking program. The agency will distribute up to 275-thousand fish to 120 sites—including additional urban locations—between December and March.

We’re excited about having a number of new ponds on line for our neighborhood fishing program. We actually stock slightly larger trout and we stock frequently—every other week—at specific sites that are set up near urban centers to provide opportunities for urban anglers.

If you prefer to get away from the city for your rainbow connection, then state parks provide the perfect escape.

A number of our state park ponds will get stocked with trout. For those ponds and lakes that are located completely within a state park, the license will not be required. The limits will still apply: five fish per day, and there is no size limit on trout.

Anglers fishing in locations other than state parks must have a valid license.

Find the trout-stocking schedule at passporttotexas.org.

That’s our show…with support from the Sport Fish Restoration Program… helping to fund fish hatchery management and operations 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

Freshwater fish hatcheries have supplemented Texas’ natural fish populations for decades.

Hatcheries have been employed by Texas Parks and Wildlife or its predecessor agencies for more than seventy-five years. Eighty years.

Todd Engeling is chief of inland hatcheries.

The first hatchery was constructed in Texas—that we have a record of—in about 1925. At one time, Texas had up to 17 different facilities, but today we operate five.

Including the Jasper Hatchery, built by the Civilian Conservation Corps in 1932. The facility occupies 227 acres of land, and has 63 ponds covering approximately 65 surface acres.

At that time, it was dug with minimal machinery, with teams of mules digging ponds and laying in clay pipes and things like that. It has received some renovation over the years, but the last significant renovation was done in 1945.

More than seventy years old, the Jasper Hatchery has seen better days. So a new hatchery is being built to replace it.

This facility will be comparable in size in terms of acreage, but it will incorporate new technologies. And most of that will be just in construction technologies, durable construction technologies, that will allow us to operate this facility for fifty plus years, and to meet our needs into the future.

The new East Texas Hatchery—that’s tomorrow.

That’s our show…with support from the Sport Fish Restoration program… providing funding for the operations and management of the Texas’ state fish hatcheries. For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.

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Passport to Texas from Texas Parks and Wildlife

Before you sell seashells by the seashore, you first have to find them. Surprisingly, summer beachcombing may not yield the results you desire.

I feel the best time to go shelling is in the wintertime.

Paul Hammerschmidt, with coastal fisheries, is a lifelong and—admittedly obsessive—shell collector. He says winter storms churn up the Gulf bottom, sending marine critters and their calciferous containment onto the beach. To improve your chances of finding a variety of intact shells, Hammerschmidt says stay clear of crowded beaches.

If you get a chance to go to some more isolated beaches, like down on Padres island, or something like that, where the population of humans is not quite so thick, you’ll have a much better chance of finding some really unusual shells.

Such as a pretty little shell called baby ears—which looks like…well…baby ears. Or, there’s another special shell worth searching for called spirula.

And it’s a coiled, snail-like shell. But it doesn’t belong to a snail—it belongs to a little squid. And it’s inside the squid, and when the squid dies, that little thing has a lot of chambers in it with gas, and it floats and washes up on the beach. Those are very pretty, bright white, and they’re very fragile, so you have to be careful with them.

This winter, instead of heading to the slopes for skiing, head to the beach for shelling…you can still have hot cocoa when you’re done.

That’s our show for today….remember: life’s better outside…For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.
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Information on Shell Collecting

Shell Clubs:
http://www.bcfas.org/museum/SSSBC/SSSBCdemo/ShellClubs.html
Shell Organizations:
http://www.bcfas.org/museum/SSSBC/SSSBCdemo/ShellOrgs.html
Images of shells of the Bolivar Peninsula:
http://www.crystalbeach.com/b17.html

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