Largest Hunting and Fishing Newspaper in Texas
February 14, 2020
Snow moon movement
Volume 16, Issue 12
TPWD gill netting Some anglers don’t approve of method
Officials use gill nets to capture and study adult fish in Texas bays. Photo from TPWD.
By Robert Sloan
For Lone Star Outdoor News
These bucks got out of their snowy beds and fed on some carbohydrates after 10-16 inches of snow fell on parts of Texas last week during the snow moon. Lone Star Outdoor News observed almost no deer movement during the 20-hour storm and little movement during daylight hours the days following. The mornings were a real treat, though, seeing the tracks showing how many deer had moved during the full moonlit nights. Photo by David J. Sams, Lone Star Outdoor News.
MLDP fees should fund a dozen more biologists By Byron Harris
For Lone Star Outdoor News For the first time, it will start costing users of the Managed Lands Deer Program (MLDP) to utilize the program and services of state wildlife biologists. Fees will vary from $300 for parcels involved in the program’s Conservation Option, which involves a wildlife management plan approved by a state biologist to $30 for those involved in the Harvest
Option, which uses data from the surrounding area to allocate available tags for harvest. Members of co-ops also will each pay a $30 fee annually. But the fees generated will allow the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department to hire at least a dozen more wildlife biologists to enhance the program, according to Alan Cain, the TPWD’s deer program leader. Not surprisingly, those surveyed opposed paying for a service they have re-
ceived free for more than two decades. Before deciding to charge the fees, the department sent an email blast to 12,000 involved in the program asking for input. Of the 880 who responded, about 700 were opposed, Cain told Lone Star Outdoor News. Although it’s hard to tell what size of rancher responded, Cain said, “the vast majority were from ranches less than 2,500 acres.” “Sounds like typical government Please turn to page 6
By Robert Sloan
Wahoo are big fish that are sleek and fast. And these blue, silver and white striped fish are being caught in good numbers out of Galveston and on south out of Port Aransas. Fish in the 80-pound-plus class were caught in late January, and the action should stay hot into April. Although
wahoo are caught worldwide, some of the best catches of these tasty fish are along the Texas Gulf coast. Capt. Ryan Warhola has been catching waColby hoo weighing over 80 Denbow pounds since Decemlanded this ber and said the bite wahoo while is about as good as it fishing fastgets. He’s the captain trolled lures with Capt. of a 38-foot Freeman, Ryan WarTu-Nacity, owned by hola. Photo Henry Adams. Warhoby Ryan la is 33 years old and Warhola. Please turn to page 11
CONTENTS
Time Sensitive Material • Deliver ASAP
For Lone Star Outdoor News
Please turn to page 19
Freshwater Fishing Report . Page 10
HUNTING
FISHING
Game Warden Blotter . . . . Page 12
New hunters (P. 4, 5)
Heading to the bank (P. 8)
Duck, javelina outings.
Houston chef a regular at the dike.
Refuge nilgai (P. 4)
Fly-fishing guide (P. 9)
Hunter bags three bulls.
Book on Central Texas rivers, streams.
Heroes . . . . . . . . . . . Page 14 Saltwater Fishing Report . . . Page 15 Products . . . . . . . . . . Page 16 Sun, Moon & Tides . . . . . Page 18 Classifieds . . . . . . . . . Page 19
INSIDE
PRSRT STD US POSTAGE PAID PLANO, TX PERMIT 210
Wahoo wizard
Fishing in the dark is one way the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department manages to keep tabs on how speckled trout, red drum and black drum are doing along the Texas Gulf Coast. Setting out gill nets at dusk and picking them up at dawn helps TPWD manage to run nets and not catch too many fishermen. Using gill nets hasn’t always been popular with coastal fishermen, though. Guides Troy Jason Butler and Chad Peterek voiced their opinions regarding gill nets removing trophy trout from the bays on social media. TPWD officials said gill nets are used to get information on adult fish, and the live fish are released after information is gathered. “With the dead fish, we take ear bone samples to age the fish, said Leslie Hartman, ecosystem leader on East and West Matagorda bays. “The dead fish are then donated to food banks.” Mark Fisher is a science director for TPWD. He said the gill nets are used to obtain information about our numbers of fish and health of our bays. Gill nets are set out in the spring and fall. “In the spring we start setting out the gill nets in April and run them for 10 weeks,” Fisher said. “We’ll do the same thing in the fall, beginning in September. The nets are set out overnight. We put them out at sunset and pick them up at sunrise. They are in the water about 12 to 14 hours at a time. We only set them out on weekdays. Most fishermen never see them.” The gill nets are about 600 feet long and 4 to 5 feet tall. They are made with a bottom lead line and floats on top. During the surveys, about 45 nets are used. Each net will average six to seven fish per hour. Fisher said it averages out to about 84 fish per net. Most of the fish caught are redfish, trout and black drum. Fisher said the gill nets are very important for giving marine biologists a good idea of what’s in our bays, and how healthy they are. “Our gill nets are randomly set, on all of our bays, so we get the full picture,” he said. “Year-round.” TPWD also uses seine surveys along shallow shorelines. That’s where they will catch a lot of juvenile reds, trout and flounder, along with shrimp, crabs and other assorted marine animals. The 50-foot long seines are used year-round in all the bay systems. If you do much fishing along the coast, you may have been in a survey conducted by TPWD personnel. The year-round surveys are done at the many bait camps located from one end of the Texas coast to the other. They ask questions such as how many fish did you catch, what kind of fish, where you
