Trout Survey Thoughts

Editor: In June we sent out a set of questions about the speckled trout fishery to help guide us in upcoming investigations and content. The response was amazing. We had hundreds of replies and are still getting them. These readers sent in a little extra information with their survey, and we thought they represented a good cross-section of thoughts and opinions on the issue. Be looking for major trout content in our TF&G Report e-newsletter in the 2024 TF&G Jan/Feb. issue.

 

I’M FROM HOUSTON AND GREW UP up fishing the Galveston Bay complex. I learned how to wade fish with artificials from Lowell Odom (Rockport) and have been hooked on this style of fishing ever since. I haven’t kept a trout (or even a stringer on my wade belt) in almost a decade. I have fished every bay complex in Texas, except for Sabine Lake and Baffin Bay, targeting mainly speckled trout. I also have a family place on the East end of Galveston Island (East Beach) and until recently, have kept my boat down there and learned to fish East Galveston Bay. 

I also get out in the surf on the East end as often as I have time and had some amazing early morning and late evening/moonlight sessions when conditions line up. More recently, I have focused the precious free time I do have (2 young boys…) on fishing in East Matagorda Bay. 

In the last two years I have been fortunate enough to have landed several fish over 7 lbs. with one over 30” (post-freeze) and have shifted my focus from catching numbers to chasing the “big girls”. There’s a difference between catching trout, and catching a trout over 25”. This has also opened my eyes to the need for conservation, realizing that the bigger fish are such a small segment of the overall population.

William Bernard

I BELIEVE ON REGULATION that needs to be changed is the slot limit. I believe that the bag limit of 3 fish is fine, but the slot should be 16-20”. Keeping fish over 20” is destroying the major breeding stock in my opinion.

I don’t believe that the current record will be broken if regulations don’t change.

I don’t support kill tournaments for sea trout.

MICHAEL KUHN

I AM 72 YEARS OLD & have fished Texas waters for over 60 years from one end of the coast to the other! I live in Houston, so I spent a lot of time in the Galveston area; then Matagorda; and then Baffin Bay. I fish only artificial, mostly topwater and 90% of the time wading.

1. With so many people using croaker, they may have to catch 10 to find one 15”. So most of those 10 fish will die!! Louisiana allows trout to only be 12” to keep. Most people just want to catch 5 fish and go home. If they did this the limit should be 5. And allowed to keep one over 25”!

2. Yes, I think the record will be broken- possibly at South Bay, Port Isabelle or maybe at Sabine Lake; since it is the least fished area in Texas!

3. Dredging and the newly proposed Ike Dike will do nothing but destroy more habitat and stir up a lot of toxins. My kids can’t believe what it was like fishing in the 70’s-2000. If I did not have pictures and some mounts, they would not believe me! Guide David Rowsey wrote that in 1984 200,000 saltwater stamps were sold and last year over 2 million??? Add in the newer skinny running boats, electronics, GPS’s and networking- fish don’t have a chance!

4. No to all trout tournaments unless they do like bass tournaments & have a person on the boat to weigh and release each fish!

5. Fishing is worse today than 10 years ago and worse than that time where it was 20 years ago! Sad!!!

 

DAN HASSEBROCK

 

Email your comments to: editor@fishgame.com

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