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Saltwater Fishing Report
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Groups take steps to improve oyster management
Seek new approach to conserve reefs, establish commercial leases
By Craig Nyhus
Lone Star outdoor newS
FlatsWorthy, the Coastal Conservation Association, and several other conservation groups pointed out their concerns with the continued decline of public oyster reefs in a letter to the Texas Parks and Wildlife Commission.
“The extent of the harvest has had an impact on the environment,” said Chuck Naiser, FlatsWorthy founder and a longtime fly-fishing guide from Rockport. “There is no limitless supply of oysters. An increasing number of people are harvesting from a static to declining resource — reducing the positive effects of the filtering oysters provide.”
The letter, sent Nov. 11 to TPWC Chairman Arch H. “Beaver” Aplin III, read in part:
“Having personally witnessed excessive loss of reefs in Galveston Bay, Matagorda Bay, San Antonio Bay, Mesquite Bay, Carlos Bay, Aransas Bay and Copano Bay, our groups can attest that previously wadable reefs are now inaccessible. Reefs that once offered sanctuary for shorebirds no longer breach the water’s surface. Additionally, reefs that used to protect shorelines from erosion are no longer high enough to absorb wave energy across the bays.”
Naiser has been guiding in the Rockport area for more than 40 years, and has witnessed the decline.
“Eighty five percent of the natural wild reefs have been degraded,” he said. “In Galveston, there are leases for a long period. The oystermen take care of them. Here, they just show up and harvest. Copano Bay is adversely affected, and some the reefs are just gone. At the Copano Reef, the crest was at the surface, you used to have to watch out for them. Now it’s gone. All the material was dredged out of here.”
The coalition of groups offered an alternative to both reduce the harvest from native reefs and enhance the establishment of private leases.
“At private leases, the oystermen have an investment in the resource,” he said.
The letter requests the department “consider incorporating metrics for reef depth and vertical relief in harvest status of public reefs,” and asks TPWD to identify a network of living reefs that can be permanently prohibited from commercial harvest.
The groups suggested an alternative approach — establishing two types of leases, called a “Dual Track Lease Program.”
Conservation leases would be used for purposes of restoration, while commercial leases would be used for commercial operations.
Not included in the letter is that Copano Bay is now the location of TPWD’s first permitted cultivated oyster mariculture area, operated by The Texas Oyster Company, with the goal of supplying 1.5 million oysters for Texas restaurants. As of Nov. 10, the new oysters had spent their first month in cages in the bay.
Naiser said FlatsWorthy’s focus is on protecting existing public reefs from excessive commercial harvest, and the new reefs, including mariculture reefs like the one in Copano Bay, would be controlled by oystermen, who have skin in the game.
“That’s the future of the industry, and we’re all for it,” Naiser said. “They will harvest it at a sustainable rate and not degrade the environment. It’s an alternative to harvesting natural reefs. They have an investment in the resource.”
Naiser said he’s optimistic that positive changes are in the future.
“We came to Rockport for clear water,” he said. “And I like eating oysters — I don’t want to stop.”
Groups see the future of Texas’ oyster industry in commercial leases and TPWD’s Cultivated Oyster Mariculture (TXCOM) program. Photo by Lone Star Outdoor News.
Bass pro wins Redfish Cup
Bass fishing pro Chris Zaldain, of Fort Worth, showed he also could tackle redfish when he and his teammate, Ryan Rickard, of Brandon, Florida, won the Yamaha Bassmaster Redfish Cup in Port Aransas.
Zaldain and Rickard totaled 43 pounds, 4 ounces in three days of fishing. Bassmaster Elite Series pro Chris Zaldain of Fort Worth, Texas, and IFA Redfish Tour angler Ryan Rickard of Brandon, Florida, stuck with their area and put the finishing touches on a winning three-day total of 43 pounds, 4 ounces at the Yamaha Bassmaster Redfish Cup Championship presented by Skeeter, winning $50,000.
Zaldain and Rickard caught their fish on a shallow Laguna Madre flat on the east side of Padre Island, south of the Highway 358 Bridge. They targeted three main areas with sand depressions dropping to about 2 1/2 feet. The anglers fished weedless gold spoons and 4-inch paddle tails on belly-weighted hooks.
Zaldain dedicated his win to former Bassmaster Elite Aaron Martens, who recently passed after battling cancer for 19 months.
“He loved saltwater fishing, too,” Zaldain said.
Derek Hudnall, of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and Ron Hueston, of Naples, Florida, finished second with 40 pounds, 8 ounces by targeting grass flats with sandy potholes.
Day 2 leaders Travis Land, of Seguin, and Nicky Savoie, of Cutoff, Louisiana finished third with 40 pounds, 4 ounces.
Photo by B.A.S.S.
TEXAS SALTWATER FISHING REPORT
SABINE LAKE: 68 degrees. Redfish and speckled trout are good in the marshes and under birds on glow chartreuse plastics, gold spoons and 1-ounce silver spoons.
BOLIVAR: 72 degrees. Redfish and bull reds are fair on live finger mullet, fresh cut bait and squid.
EAST GALVESTON BAY: 71 degrees. Redfish and black drum are fair to good at the Galveston Jetties on shrimp. Speckled trout and redfish are fair in Moses Lake on shrimp and soft plastics.
WEST GALVESTON BAY: 71 degrees. Speckled trout are fair to good on soft plastics. Redfish are good on soft plastics and shrimp.
FREEPORT: 71 degrees. Redfish are schooling and are good on scented shrimp under a popping cork.
EAST MATAGORDA BAY: 73 degrees. Redfish and speckled trout are fair for wade-fishermen with scented plastics behind a popping cork.
WEST MATAGORDA BAY: 73 degrees. Redfish and speckled trout are fair for wade-fishermen with scented plastics behind a popping cork.
PORT O’CONNOR: 74 degrees. Speckled trout are good on live shrimp and artificials. Black drum and redfish are good on dead shrimp.
ROCKPORT: 70 degrees. Redfish are fair on mullet and pin perch. Black drum are good on shrimp.
PORT ARANSAS: 72 degrees. Bull redfish are good at the jetties on cut menhaden and blue crab. Black drum and slot redfish are good in the bay on dead shrimp.
CORPUS CHRISTI: 73 degrees. Speckled trout are fair on shrimp.
BAFFIN BAY: 72 degrees. Redfish, speckled trout and black drum are good on shrimp and soft plastics.
PORT MANSFIELD: 65-75 degrees. Redfish are good in the flats and grass lines on willow tails.
SOUTH PADRE: 76 degrees. Redfish and speckled trout are good on windier days on live shrimp under a popping cork.
PORT ISABEL: 76 degrees. Redfish and speckled trout are good on windier days on live shrimp under a popping cork.
—TPWD
Locating slabs
Continued from page 1
with Final Cast Guide Service, recently took a group of clients and they caught a bunch of “hubcap-sized crappie.”
The group fished the back of creeks in 10 to 20 feet of water, near boat docks and close to timber logs.
“Most of the crappie were feeding aggressively, and we caught them with jigs and minnows,” Kuhn said. “The best color was electric chicken.”
On Gibbons Creek near College Station, Joey Ferro, with Jig em’ and Gig em’ Guide Service, found a slower bite after a heavy rain.
Ferro and his friend were throwing live minnows near fallen timber in 12 to 14 feet of water.
“We were driving around, picking the crappie off one or two at a time on top of brush piles,” Ferro said. “Then we moved to deeper water because as the crappie are getting ready for winter, they will go into the deeper part of the water column.”
Photo by Lone Star Outdoor News
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