TPWD Emergency Trout Reg for Lower Coast Inshore and Surf - Apr 1

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Ron Mc
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TPWD Emergency Trout Reg for Lower Coast Inshore and Surf - Apr 1

Post by Ron Mc »

The current statewide speckled trout regulations are a five fish daily bag limit and 15-25 inch slot limit with the ability to keep one fish over 25 inches long.

The temporary Laguna Madre regulations will drop the daily bag to three (3) fish and the slot limit to 17-23 inches. The Laguna Madre regulations will affect inshore waters South of the JFK Causeway, including adjacent beachfronts from Packery Channel, down to the Rio Grande.

The emergency regulations will take effect after the motion is filed with the Texas secretary of state, and the intended implementation date is April 1. The changes will be in effect for 120 days or less, if rescinded by the commission. Seine bag and gill net surveys will give coastal fisheries managers a clearer picture of the freeze's devastation in the summer and will determine if any other regulatory changes will be needed for speckled trout on the Texas coast.

https://www.houstonchronicle.com/texas- ... 049795.php
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Re: TPWD Emergency Trout Reg for Lower Coast Inshore and Surf - Apr 1

Post by SWFinatic »

Much needed for that area. Just can't figure out why East Matty isn't included. I've been disappointed in how TPWD has handled this event. The numbers they are putting out there for dead fish in East Matty are false and well documented as such. Hopefully more areas like East Matty will be included in short time.
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Re: TPWD Emergency Trout Reg for Lower Coast Inshore and Surf - Apr 1

Post by 2 Weight Willie »

Thnx for the info

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Re: TPWD Emergency Trout Reg for Lower Coast Inshore and Surf - Apr 1

Post by shoffer »

While I applaud this effort based on the anecdotal evidence we are hearing from down there, I wonder if the fisheries just north of the JFK causeway (including Oso Bay, Aransas Pass, the backside of Mustang Island, Rockport, etc.) will become inundated with fishermen now.
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Re: TPWD Emergency Trout Reg for Lower Coast Inshore and Surf - Apr 1

Post by Ron Mc »

Laguna Madre has such expansive shallow water, it's no wonder the trout kill was most severe in the Emergency Reg zone.
What's apparent from recent reports - you guys contributed well - is the baitfish wasn't seriously depleted.
If I could get away, would sure be targeting reds on glass minnows right now.
But you may be right about spring and summer crowding up the coast.
Local guides, though, will stick close to home.
Last edited by Ron Mc on Thu Mar 25, 2021 7:40 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: TPWD Emergency Trout Reg for Lower Coast Inshore and Surf - Apr 1

Post by Neumie »

shoffer wrote:While I applaud this effort based on the anecdotal evidence we are hearing from down there, I wonder if the fisheries just north of the JFK causeway (including Oso Bay, Aransas Pass, the backside of Mustang Island, Rockport, etc.) will become inundated with fishermen now.
It's not already?

As many have mentioned I do not agree with this. For one it should have gone all the way and included East Matty. Second, aren't the trout within the slot limit the most prolific breeders? So anglers are gong to target and remove the fish we need most?

I wish they would have stood pat until they completed their gill net surveys before making any changes.
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Re: TPWD Emergency Trout Reg for Lower Coast Inshore and Surf - Apr 1

Post by saltykat »

As many have mentioned I do not agree with this. For one it should have gone all the way and included East Matty. Second, aren't the trout within the slot limit the most prolific breeders? So anglers are gong to target and remove the fish we need most?
Completely agree with your post why not just go to cpr for the breeding season and give the trout a better chance to restock the bays :cat:
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Re: TPWD Emergency Trout Reg for Lower Coast Inshore and Surf - Apr 1

Post by SWFinatic »

Neumie wrote:I wish they would have stood pat until they completed their gill net surveys before making any changes.
I hear ya but personally I think there's too much damage that can be done in that time period. I'm not even on Facebook and I've seen pic after pic of huge boxes full of fish at the cleaning tables including some trout. I've seen it in person in Rockport. Many guides aren't holding back one bit. It's like nothing ever happened.

I know the slot sizes don't make a lot of sense but it's a start and will hopefully put more emphasis on the importance of catch and release at least for some. It's not the best case but it's a start.

I do agree TPWD is not handling this well at all.
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Re: TPWD Emergency Trout Reg for Lower Coast Inshore and Surf - Apr 1

Post by Neumie »

SWFinatic wrote:
Neumie wrote:I hear ya but personally I think there's too much damage that can be done in that time period. I'm not even on Facebook and I've seen pic after pic of huge boxes full of fish at the cleaning tables including some trout. I've seen it in person in Rockport. Many guides aren't holding back one bit. It's like nothing ever happened.

I know the slot sizes don't make a lot of sense but it's a start and will hopefully put more emphasis on the importance of catch and release at least for some. It's not the best case but it's a start.

I do agree TPWD is not handling this well at all.
Yeah, there's probably not a right or wrong way to approach this from a "what can we do right now" approach. The slot just doesn't make sense to me.

IMO they either should not have changed anything or completely banned keeping trout from East Matagorda south to the Rio Grande. If you let those who keep fish at the same daily bag limit then it's easy to compare catch rates from the gill net surveys for the past 6 years we've had the 5 trout limit along the middle coast, 10 or so for the Lower Laguna Madre. A more apples to apples comparison. Arbitrarily changing the daily limit and size prior to gill net surveys is going to skew the results even more since so many anglers are going to CPR for the time being.

They should also ramp up (no pun intended) their fish surveys at the boat ramps.

Again, there's no right or wrong with TPWD's decision, although it's pretty unanimous amongst all anglers the slot and daily bag limit should have extended through East Matagorda. To me this solution doesn't make sense and feels like they made the change for the sake of just doing something in the public's eye.
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Re: TPWD Emergency Trout Reg for Lower Coast Inshore and Surf - Apr 1

Post by Dandydon »

Ron, thanks for posting the hard freeze data. After all the post-freeze hype and publicity, I was fearing another local fish kill as bad as 1989. Solid information is always welcomed.

Looks like we avoided upper-coast heavy damage. I'm going to help the injured speck fishery by taking any legal Trout Shoffer will be releasing... . Yassir.

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Re: TPWD Emergency Trout Reg for Lower Coast Inshore and Surf - Apr 1

Post by SWFinatic »

I agree TPWD actions were to satisfy the public. There's obviously some folks down south that have pretty powerful voices. TPWD works almost exclusively off of numbers. They're not the least bit concerned with the size of the trout or they wouldn't have set the slot limit like they did.
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Re: TPWD Emergency Trout Reg for Lower Coast Inshore and Surf - Apr 1

Post by Ron Mc »

Holy shit.
actually, the slot size they picked includes the highest probability of mostly traveling schoolie males.
From over 200 fish filleted in that exact slot from Arroyo over four years, there were no females. We did get literally just a couple of (injured) 16" females over those years.

If you're taking nursery trout, you're 50% females - if you're taking over 23" you're much greater than 50% females.

As far as "people down south" the interested are probably not concerned with limiting slot and bag limits, but with impressing guide fares.
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Re: TPWD Emergency Trout Reg for Lower Coast Inshore and Surf - Apr 1

Post by impulse »

The current statewide speckled trout regulations are a five fish daily bag limit and 15-25 inch slot limit with the ability to keep one fish over 25 inches long. The temporary Laguna Madre regulations will drop the daily bag to three fish and the slot limit to 17-23 inches.

It's not clear to me whether they're still allowing one fish over the slot?
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Re: TPWD Emergency Trout Reg for Lower Coast Inshore and Surf - Apr 1

Post by Ron Mc »

a three fish bag limit,
a minimum size length of 17 inches
a maximum size length of 23 inches and;
no fish over 23 inches may be retained.


TPWD just released their statement on the News Release today:
https://tpwd.texas.gov/newsmedia/releas ... =20210325a
Newspapers, such I linked in OP published last evening, probably trying to get the jump.
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Re: TPWD Emergency Trout Reg for Lower Coast Inshore and Surf - Apr 1

Post by impulse »

Yup, that clarifies it. Thanks!

I'd like to see them allow one fish above or below the slot so nobody has to release any gut hook fish that are going to die anyway, or the fish of a lifetime if they happen to catch a 30"+ fish. Ideally, an annual tag like they have for redfish, but it's too late in the game to include one on the license between now and 120 days. Certainly, they could come up with an app that allows an angler to register one (and only one against each license) e-tag for a monster trout in realtime.

Anecdotally, I've heard even some of the curmudgeons admit the 5 trout limit has improved their catch rate. We'll see if this emergency measure improves things. I hope so.
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