Fish Texas - The Latest Texas Fishing News

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Fish Texas E-Newsletter

In this issue: Getting Ready for a New Season, Wade Right In - Saltwater Fishing Made Simple, Texas Two-Step Weekend: Bass Fishing and Country Music, Great Texas Fishing Depends on Texas Anglers, What's Biting and Where, Releasing and Catching - Two Angling Challenges

Getting Ready for a New Season

Lake Amistad Sunset  
Get ready for the new fishing season. Current year Texas hunting and fishing licenses (except year-to-date fishing licenses) expire today, August 31, and new licenses for 2011-2012 are now on sale. You can buy your license online, by calling 800-895-4248 or at a local retailer now.

Resident anglers 65 and older qualify for reduced price fishing and hunting licenses. Texas residents born before Jan 1, 1931 are exempt from buying a fishing license.

Brush up on the latest fishing regulations in the digital version of the Outdoor Annual.

Great Texas Fishing Depends on Texas Anglers

Texas Angler  
Thanks for playing an important role in keeping Texas fishing some of the best anywhere!
  • Every fishing license purchased helps fund programs such as surveys of fish populations and fish hatcheries that contribute to Texas’ great fishing opportunities.
  • 100% of your license fees fund fisheries management programs, hatcheries, fish stocking and more.
  • When an angler reports a poacher or an invasive species, the future for Texas fishing gets brighter.
  • Every time an angler participates in a creel or harvest survey, he or she provides scientific data needed to help keep fishing great.

Read more about the angler/biologist partnership to sustain high quality fisheries and world-class fishing in this recent press release.


Wade Right In - Saltwater Fishing Made Simple

Wade Fishing Video  
It’s a wade fishing wonderland: eight tempting bay systems along the Texas coast with almost 400 miles of beach or bay access. Let your feet take you where a boat can’t go. Gear needs are simple, and a family can find plenty of room to fish together.

In this video tour, different anglers in different bay systems share their favorite fishing spots and fishing strategies. You’ll want to see the great fish they reel in!

Texas Two-Step Weekend: Bass Fishing and Country Music

TTBC Angler with Bass  
It’s a little bit of Texas-style paradise! Head to the Toyota Texas Bass Classic on Lake Conroe October 28-30 to watch the world’s top 50 bass pro anglers compete. No other tournament combines the top pros from the top circuits!  Then angle your way over to enjoy country music as only Texas can deliver, including Billy Currington, Pat Green, and Robert Earl Keen. Learn more about the event and how to get free tickets in this press release. Check out the full detailed program of entertainment, activity and exhibits at www.toyotatexasbassclassic.com.

The event will raise a minimum of $250,000 to benefit Texas Parks and Wildlife Department programs.  In the past four years the Toyota Texas Bass Classic has provided $1 million to help fund TPWD programs like Neighborhood Fishin’, the Texas State-Fish Art Contest and other youth and urban fishing and outreach efforts.
 
Toyota Texas Bass Classic

What's Biting and Where

Texas Regional Map  
“What’s biting and where?” is an angler’s first question.  Follow your hunches, but also check out Weekly Fishing Reports for some idea of recent action across Texas regions and where to drop a line -- or not.

What’s in a fishing report? Date, water clarity, lake levels, temperature, fish patterns. All offer clues to your next angling adventure.

For some interpretive tips, check out Marc Marchand’s article, How to Read a Fishing Report, on page 4 in the July issue of Reel Lines .

Sign up to receive free Saltwater, Freshwater, or Regional Fishing Reports by email. They’ll land in your inbox just before the weekend. It’s easy to subscribe and unsubscribe.

Releasing and Catching - Two Angling Challenges

Through-the-gill Hook Removal Video  
Some enthusiastic small-fry fish just took your lure “hook, line and sinker”! How can you improve its catch-and-release chances of living to become a trophy-sized prize? This video, Through-the-gill Hook Removal,  from the Texas Freshwater Fisheries Center, shows you how to remove hooks that get caught deep in a fish's esophagus or stomach.

Most anglers have a jig in the tackle box. Learn more about how to dance that artificial lure through the water in “It’s a Jiggy Thing”, page 12 in Reel Lines. A jig begins with a specially bent hook with a built-in weight. Beyond that, it’s a Best Costume Contest using anything that is not alive or natural! Maribou skirts, wiggly plastic trailers, faux fish, and every color in the rainbow --  anything that gets ’em to take the bait!

Lucky License Winner Scores Big

It could happen to you! On June 30, Willis M. Thorstad of Austin became the latest winner of the Lifetime Super Combo License drawing. A $5 entry ticket earned him the right to hunt and fish in Texas without ever having to buy another state license or stamp. 

Will you be the next winner? The next drawing will be held on December 30, 2011. Entries must be purchased by December 27, 2011. Read more. Purchase your entries wherever Texas hunting and fishing licenses are sold.

A Lunker of a Deal

Texas Parks & Wildlife Magazine  
For a great catch, subscribe to Texas Parks & Wildlife magazine by October 31. You’ll be set to receive the 2012 February Fishing Forecast issue, the March Freshwater Fishing special issue, and the June Saltwater Fishing/Coastal issue. Just $12 for ten issues.

This e-newsletter is made possible by the generous support of Toyota.
Toyota