Striking a Chord on Cormorants
“Who Put Cormorants in Charge of Our Fisheries?”
DOUG, THANKS FOR THE article. (“Who Put Cormorants in Charge of Our Fisheries,” Pike on the Edge Column by Doug Pike, March/April 2025) When will TPWD figure out that cormorants and grass carp are invasive species?
TPWD also needs to reduce limits on nearly every freshwater species. It must be that they are too lazy to customize limits for most lakes.
I would recommend catch-and-release only in all lakes under 3,000 acres. No bass during the spawn—similar to flounder.
Weigh and release the bass immediately after it’s caught.
I fish Houston County Lake—it’s going downhill fast. The biologist advised that the bass population is 50% of what it was four years ago.
HCL is another example of: kill the grass, kill the bass. No grass makes it very easy for cormorants to do their damage.
Kevin of HCL
• • •
ADVERTISEMENT
I COULDN’T AGREE MORE with your comments.
Texas Parks and Wildlife works on invasive species on my current lake, which is Conroe—water hyacinth, hydrilla, but not cormorants. Peach Creek on Lake Conroe is their nesting site. They’ve destroyed the trees with their feces. Talk about smell—you can hardly fish the creek because of it.
I have no clue why they’re protected and don’t have an open season. I see no difference between them and hogs, which destroy our land. I have a 15-acre pond on my property where my house sits. A few cormorants have shown up there, but thankfully they haven’t stayed. Someone needs to take action and open a season on this bird.
I enjoyed your article—keep up the fight.
Randy Gunter
• • •
Great White Sharks in the Gulf
Great Whites in the Gulf?
JUST READ CHESTER MOORE’S piece (“The Jaws Effect,” Editor’s Notes Column by Chester Moore, May/June 2025) about great whites showing back up in the Gulf, and wow! I didn’t expect that! I always figured those were California or Australia fish. The idea that one might cruise near Galveston or off the Louisiana coast is wild.
I appreciate the way Chester broke it down. it wasn’t all shark-week hype, just solid info with some local context.
I fish offshore now and then, and I’ll definitely be keeping a closer eye out (and maybe a bigger camera on hand).
Keep the updates coming, and thanks for covering stuff that most folks don’t even realize is happening in our own backyard.
Ray Mansfield
• • •
THANKS FOR THE article about great whites in the Gulf. I have been following your work on this and if I am correct you predicted their return to Texas. That’s incredible. Thank you for talking about topics like this.
John Roberts
Editor: Thanks for the feedback on Gulf great whites. It’s a literally gigantic conservation story and is exciting for we shark enthusiasts.
Email your comments to: editor@fishgame.com
