What non-native fishes have you caught here in Texas?

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Reefmonkey
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What non-native fishes have you caught here in Texas?

Post by Reefmonkey »

I am pretty much exclusively a saltwater fisherman, but I have a garden pond in my backyard I keep stocked with native fishes - sunfishes and gambusia mostly. I use a cast net to catch the fish in nearby creeks and bayous. Yesterday I caught a tilapia in my net. It led me to wonder - if such an infrequent freshwater fisherman as myself is catching a tilapa, how often are frequent freshwater anglers catching nonnative fishes in their waters?

So what have you caught?
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Re: What non-native fishes have you caught here in Texas?

Post by yakin ag »

Tilapia, carp, FLMB, plecos, reds, white bass, stripers :mrgreen:
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Re: What non-native fishes have you caught here in Texas?

Post by Reefmonkey »

yakin ag wrote:Tilapia, carp, FLMB, plecos, reds, white bass, stripers :mrgreen:
White bass are non-native? I thought their native range extended here.
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Re: What non-native fishes have you caught here in Texas?

Post by Reefmonkey »

Reefmonkey wrote:
yakin ag wrote:Tilapia, carp, FLMB, plecos, reds, white bass, stripers :mrgreen:
White bass are non-native? I thought their native range extended here.
Nevermind. I looked it up, it's only native to the Red River drainage here in Texas, so not native in your or my area.
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Re: What non-native fishes have you caught here in Texas?

Post by yakin ag »

Also don't quote me on it, but I'm pretty sure not all 3 of the gamefish-catfish are native to all of Texas...
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Re: What non-native fishes have you caught here in Texas?

Post by CityByTheSeaCitizen »

yakin ag wrote:Also don't quote me on it, but I'm pretty sure not all 3 of the gamefish-catfish are native to all of Texas...
True. I don't think blue cats are native to Texas.

Wipers aren't native anywhere.

You guys missed the annual stocking of trout. Definately not native.
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Re: What non-native fishes have you caught here in Texas?

Post by Neumie »

For those who are catching Tilapia you need to be killing them. They are considered an invasive species. Just an FYI. :wink:
TPWD wrote:General Prohibited Acts

It is a violation to:

* Fail to immediately remove the intestines from tilapia, grass carp, or any other fish listed as harmful or potentially harmful, except on those waters where a valid Triploid Grass Carp Permit is in effect.
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Re: What non-native fishes have you caught here in Texas?

Post by Reefmonkey »

Neumie wrote:For those who are catching Tilapia you need to be killing them. They are considered an invasive species. Just an FYI. :wink:
TPWD wrote:General Prohibited Acts

It is a violation to:

* Fail to immediately remove the intestines from tilapia, grass carp, or any other fish listed as harmful or potentially harmful, except on those waters where a valid Triploid Grass Carp Permit is in effect.
Excellent point, thanks for bringing it up.
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Re: What non-native fishes have you caught here in Texas?

Post by Kelly Watson »

If any of you have caught a rio grande cichlid outside of the hill country, then you have caught a non native fish. It is a mere technicality that it is still inside the state lines. We now have way too many of them here in New Orleans since the hurricane washed away thousands of home aquariums. Plus they just rotononed a few canals south of town to kill invasive tilapia.
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Re: What non-native fishes have you caught here in Texas?

Post by yakin ag »

I saw more cichlids than any other species on a float down the Guad from Seguin south this past w/e. Tons of those guys there. Didn't see any tilapia though
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Re: What non-native fishes have you caught here in Texas?

Post by Reefmonkey »

Kelly Watson wrote:If any of you have caught a rio grande cichlid outside of the hill country, then you have caught a non native fish. It is a mere technicality that it is still inside the state lines. We now have way too many of them here in New Orleans since the hurricane washed away thousands of home aquariums. Plus they just rotononed a few canals south of town to kill invasive tilapia.
Actually they're not even native to the Hill Country (or most of it, anyway) - only to the Rio Grande and Nueces drainages. All the rio grande cichlids found in the Guadalupe, San Marcos, and other Hill Country rivers and lakes were introduced there.
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Re: What non-native fishes have you caught here in Texas?

Post by Tree Hugger »

I managed to catch an Oscar once.
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Re: What non-native fishes have you caught here in Texas?

Post by Rod Pod »

Neumie wrote:For those who are catching Tilapia you need to be killing them. They are considered an invasive species. Just an FYI. :wink:
Man, I am gonna go on a Tilapia fishing spree. They taste soo good. I'm going to help the local wildlife out and my freezer's demands!! Not to shabby :D
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Re: What non-native fishes have you caught here in Texas?

Post by Do It »

I have a new one that I caught in Waco on the Brazos today at lunch.
I know there are some species that were native to north America in the past as I can remember seeing them when I was a kid.
But I'm pretty sure that this one was imported from China and illegaly released in our state waters.
I see them everywhere they are taking over our country and the native ones are almost extinct but it's the 1st one I've caught out of a river. :wink:
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Re: What non-native fishes have you caught here in Texas?

Post by sap »

Kelly Watson wrote:If any of you have caught a rio grande cichlid outside of the hill country, then you have caught a non native fish. It is a mere technicality that it is still inside the state lines. We now have way too many of them here in New Orleans since the hurricane washed away thousands of home aquariums. Plus they just rotononed a few canals south of town to kill invasive tilapia.

herichthys cyanoguttatus aka Texas Cichlids are the only cichlid species native to and found in North America, their original range was the rio grande drainage and were introduced into the edwards plateau back in the 50's
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Re: What non-native fishes have you caught here in Texas?

Post by aggiegolfer »

Redbreast sunfish, smallmouth bass, blue tilapia, carp

I wouldn't really call hybrid stripers or stripers non-native...hybrid's occur by accident every once in a while naturally, and I've caught stripers as far north as I20 in Louisiana. Which the more I read, those fish that my uncle and I got into (in a Mississippi River borrow pit no less) seem like an anomaly. Water was flowing into it from a culvert in a slight rise in April, and we caught a handful of 5-10 lb stripers.
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