Passport to Texas

This is Passport to Texas

Two generations of Texas anglers know the joy of reeling in rainbow trout during the winter months thanks to Parks and Wildlife’s stocking program.

07—I believe it started in the 1960s; so, we’ve been stocking trout for fisherman for winter fishery for over forty years I believe.

Carl Kittle oversees the trout stocking program for Parks and Wildlife. Beginning every December through the first week of March, the Texas Parks and Wildlife’s inland fisheries division stocks more than a quarter of a million of the colorful fish in neighborhood fishing ponds statewide.

06—Rainbow trout are a cold water fish. The winter is the only time we really have water here in Texas that will support them.

Once it starts warming up—which could be any time now—the water will, too, and those fish will not survive. Considering rainbow trout are excellent table fare, it would be a shame to let them expire in the water.

17—They’re excellent eating fish. You can keep whatever fish you catch and I believe it is five per day. The fish that are stocked in general will be between eight and 10 inches, so a nine inch fish would be normal—with the exception of neighborhood fishing program lakes, which should average 11-12 inches in size.

Find the trout stocking schedule on the Parks and Wildlife website. The Wildlife and Sport Fish Restoration Program supports our series, and is funded by your purchase of fishing and hunting equipment and motorboat fuel.

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

This entry was posted on Thursday, February 2nd, 2012 at 12:00 am and is filed under Fishing. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.