TROUT IN TEXAS: Although not thought to be a native species, there are native trout in Texas ... details are ahead on Passport to Texas ... ____________________________________________________________ Passport to Texas from Texas Parks and Wildlife and the Sport Fish and Wildlife Restoration Program There's a common belief about trout in Texas. Trout is not a native species to Texas. (:02) That's Todd Engeling, program manager for inland fisheries. Engeling says that while freshwater trout are not considered native ... There's one location in Texas where it's suspected that it is native, and that is in McKittrick Canyon in the Guadalupe Mountain National park. (:05) Engeling, who oversees the winter trout stocking program for Parks and Wildlife, says there are some very old accounts of trout being fished in Texas ... long before there was a stocking program. There's some evidence that it was years and years ago. And there is a self-sustaining population of trout in McKittrick Canyon, but they don't get to a very large size, and fishing isn't allowed in the park. (:08) He says trout typically need cooler year-round water temperatures than can found in Texas. In Texas it simply gets too hot in the summertime. Most of the state in the summertime, waters will get in excess of seventy degrees Fahrenheit and trout just don't do very well at water temperatures greater than seventy degrees. (:12) Tomorrow: the winter trout stocking program ... 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.