by John Jefferson
A college professor once told me the best time to go fishing was “When you want to go fishing!” It’s easier this summer to fight against that urge.
A huge heat dome hanging over Texas like a giant blanket made going out in the noon day sun unpleasant — even for Mad Dogs and Englishmen! Rudyard Kipling wrote they were the only ones who ventured out into such heat. A fishing trip last week ended before noon for me. Guess I’m neither.
Saltwater anglers are particularly affected. They are blessed with some of the finest fishing in bays, on beaches, and in the Gulf of Mexico to be found in America! And summertime is usually when fishing there is best.
One of the main reasons for this has been wise regulation by the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department’s Coastal Fisheries Division. The waters were literally swimming in fish.
Crediting TPWD for that along the shoreline, however, was unwise. Change is often misunderstood and almost always resented by some.
Such was the case with spotted seatrout regulations in all coastal waters south of FM 457 in Sargent, Texas. In March 2022, that regulation created an emergency rule by TPWD restricting the length and bag limit for speckled trout. Some say the regulation beginning at Sargent was a Major mistake.
It was necessitated by the massive fish kill – especially on seatrout – that occurred that year. It affected Matagorda, San Antonio, Aransas, and Corpus Christi bays, and the entire Laguna Madre Bay System, and all beaches and bay fronts to the South. The bag limit became THREE trout between 17 and 23 inches long – nothing any longer!
“Because of the freeze on trout, the number of dead fish had been depressing,” said Rockport fishing guide, Brian Holden. “I hated for my clients to see it.”
That was the reality, however, that prompted the reduction in bag and length limits. As if only three seatrout per day wasn’t bad enough, the possession limit was also held at three.
The emergency regulations are set to expire Aug. 31, 2023, and then should revert to the former coastwide regulations of a five-fish daily bag and 15- to 25-inch slot limit, allowing one trout over 25 inches. No further information could be obtained from TPWD regarding future action on trout regulations.
Robert Hamilton, another guide in Rockport, is looking forward to re-establisment of the old rules. Late in July, he told me his day of guiding resulted in only four trout in his fish box. They caught a number of other specks, but they were all undersize. “Twenty of them would be keepers,” he said, if the former fifteen-inch minimum length limit had been in effect. And he added that the strong winds were really messing with successful fishing.
The attached photo is of a redfish caught on Baffin Bay in mid – July. The wind wasn’t as strong there and slot limit trout were still being caught, according to prominent fishing guide, Capt. Sally Black.
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