Did Freeze Kill Potential State Record Trout?

The massive coastal freeze that hit Texas in February killed more than four million fish.

Speckled trout, especially mature fish, were killed by the tens of thousands from Upper Laguna Madre to the Mexico line. That area happens to coincide with the location of the last two Texas state records.

Did the freeze kill the next state record trout?

No one reported finding a fish of that size but it certainly could have been rotting in a pile of carcasses no one noticed. Or perhaps the fish with that genetic potential died at 10 pounds and we will never know.

It’s important to look back at history for some perspective on this.

Carl “Bud” Rowland caught the current official state record speckled trout May 23, 2002 in Lower Laguna Madre. It weighed 16 pounds and measured a monstrous 37 inches.

This replaced the record trout Jim Wallace caught in 1996 in Baffin Bay that weighed 13 pounds, 11 ounces.

Wallace’s fish beat the 13-9 record held by Mike Blackwood set in 1975. It took 21 years for that record to fall and this year marks 18 years later that Rowland caught his Lower Laguna giant.

One could look at major coastal freeze kills as being a limiting factor in big trout production, and that’s a valid point, but Wallace’s fish came seven years after the major freeze kill of 1989. That fish was definitely born before the freeze.

That should give anglers hope of what is possibly still swimming the waters of the Texas coast or what will appear in a few years.

What do you think of the potential for Texas to produce a new record trout in the next few years? If so, where do you think it will be caught.

Do you think the freeze set us back too far this time? We look forward to hearing your opinions.

Chester Moore