The sting of summer has long been upon us, but the February freeze will not soon be forgotten.
Though the freeze of 2021 and subsequent fish kill along the coast were not as damaging as the devastating events of 1983 and 1989, fisheries along the coast were impacted, nonetheless. And to the anglers and scientists who spend their time on Texas bays, the effects remain evident.
Texas Parks and Wildlife Department’s coastal fisheries division is wrapping up an analysis of seine bag, bay trawl, gill net and recreational angler surveys to provide a clearer picture of the severity of the freeze on fish populations. However, preliminary data has shown that the species impacted the most was spotted seatrout and the hardest-hit region was the Laguna Madre.
TPWD’s early estimates indicate a minimum of 3.8 million fish perished due to the freeze in February. Baitfish like silver perch, hardhead catfish, pinfish, bay anchovy and striped mullet accounted for 91 percent of the fish kill, while the other 9 percent were considered “recreationally important game species.”
Spotted seatrout, which succumb to a higher lethal temperature, lead the mortalities of those recreationally important species.
Of the estimated 160,476 speckled trout killed along the entire Texas coast, 142,889 died in the Laguna Madre, which is 89 percent of the state’s total speckled trout mortality. For reference, the region with the next highest mortality of spotted seatrout was Aransas Bay with 8,804. Galveston Bay was estimated to have lost just 113 specks. Black drum also suffered a significant kill in the Laguna Madre, with 99,295 of the coast’s 105,813 mortalities occurring there. Close to half of the 28,159 sheepshead that were lost were in the Lower Laguna Madre and sand trout were hit relatively hard in Corpus Christi Bay (16,506).
While the coastwide numbers pale in comparison to the nearly 32 million fish killed by the freezes of the 1980s, the impact in the Lower Laguna Madre does stack up to the 1989 events. The combined speckled trout mortalities from both 1989 freezes in the Lower Laguna Madre were about half as many killed in the region in 2021.
The situation in the Laguna Madre prompted emergency action by the Texas Parks and Wildlife Commission and sparked grassroots conservation efforts from people and organizations, like Coastal Conservation Association Texas, to boost the recovery of the state’s bays. For example, CCA Texas altered its annual STAR Tournament, which continues through Sept. 6, to remove several species (including speckled trout) and made the redfish division exclusively catch-and-release. Captain Experiences, an online charter booking company, is raising funds for Texas Parks and Wildlife Foundation by donating 5 percent of the profits from Texas inshore trips this year. And many more have responded in the wake of the freeze.
“We don’t realize how fragile the resource is until something like this happens,” said Greg Stunz, the Harte Research Institute’s chair for fisheries and ocean health.
“We certainly are not going to preach ‘don’t keep fish.’ But now is the time to be conservative. Eat what you really need…Every fish we leave in the water will help us speed recovery of that fishery in all regions.”
For anglers looking for tips on how to successfully release fish, Stunz helped develop a protocol of best practices through ReleaSense.
CCA Texas advocacy director Shane Bonnot highlighted some of those techniques in an article he wrote after the freeze entitled “The Release Matters.” As a former hatchery manager at Sea Center Texas, Bonnot has witnessed first-hand the detrimental effects of overhandling or mishandling fish. In his article, he urges anglers to use barbless hooks, reduce fight time, preserve the protective mucus on fish by using a rubber-coated net or keeping hands wet while handling fish, holding fish horizontal to prevent breaking jaws and other tidbits on giving fish the best chance to swim off and be caught another day.
“The promotion of catch-and-release has always been important, but never more important than it is right now,” Bonnot said.
Hatcheries, like Sea Center Texas, will be an important factor in the recovery in addition to sustainable practices by anglers. CCA Texas made a large donation to replace pond liners as Texas hatcheries ramp up spotted seatrout production.
“Now is the time for hatcheries to shine,” Stunz said.
On March 24, the TPWC voted in favor of an emergency order to temporarily change spotted seatrout regulations in the Laguna Madre. The bag limit dropped from five to three and the slot limit shrunk to 17-23 inches from 15-25 inches and nixed the ability to keep one trout over 25 inches.
Wildlife journalist Chester Moore is taking that to another level with his “21 in ‘21” initiative, one that encourages anglers to release spotted seatrout that are 21 inches and longer to keep more breeder-class fish in the water and help with stock recovery.
“I want people to remember this year. Remember what happened. Remember that our fisheries are fragile and that they can do great things for them by simply releasing the bigger fish,” said Moore, who added that this freeze is a chance for anglers to “pause and reflect.”
Moore lives on the Upper Coast, which was the region least affected by the freeze, but says he is standing in solidarity with anglers across Texas to hasten the rebound.
Down the coast, 103,907 spotted seatrout were killed in the Lower Laguna Madre, where Wayne Davis guides out of Port Mansfield.
He’s noticed the difference after the freeze, with speckled trout catches much more sporadic. He is committed to not keeping any trout that he or his clients catch this year and hopes that decision has a ripple effect.
“It feels like the right thing to do. I want to do my part and I think I can have a positive influence on that movement,” Davis said.
A former owner of the KWigglers lure company, Davis has been a fishing guide since 2005 and is a leader on and off the water. He has led discussions at seminars and has long been a voice for conservation practices.
Davis and fellow guide Ernest Cisneros created Empty Stringers, a program that incentivizes catch-and-release with a chance to win rewards like fishing trips, new gear, etc., and in its fifth year, has become very popular with his clientele.
“Full-time fishing guide is a tough career,” Davis, a former police chief, said.
“If you want to have a long-lasting career in an already tough market, then it makes sense to preserve the resource you’re making your career on.”
KWigglers pro staffer Erica Rae Hirsch says she and her fiancé Josh Garza, who is also a fishing guide, feel similarly to Davis, and have a strong urge to put the fishery first.
She also fishes the Lower Laguna and has noticed the lack of trout, too. She sees a lot of redfish, though, which is a blessing but could also be a concern as fishing focus shifts to the more abundant species.
“I’m kind of worried about the pressure that it’s putting on the redfish… because there’s not a lot of trout to be caught,” Hirsch said.
“I don’t want to discourage people from fishing. But when you are fishing, be mindful and don’t keep more than you need. If possible, release everything that you catch because at the end of the day it’s more about the memories that you’re making than the actual fish you keep.”
For David Rowsey, who guides in the Upper Laguna Madre and Baffin Bay, releasing big trout had been part of his routine long before the freeze.
“I’ve been guiding since 2006 and I’ve never let anybody keep a trout over 20 inches on my boat. Ever,” Rowsey said.
He sees more pressure put on the fishery aside from just the move to redfish. An outdoor renaissance that stems from the pandemic has put more people on the water and heightened the need for a conservation mindset from anglers.
“It is a perpetual spring break down here now. It’s like spring break every day because of the pandemic,” Rowsey said.
Those new faces on the water have an opportunity to be a part of the sustainability movement on Texas bays. The awareness of this freeze and an understanding of why conservation is important, how our collective actions impact the health of the bays, could be a silver lining. As more anglers embrace that mindset, the swifter the recovery will come and the better the fishing will be for all.
“This freeze could be the best thing ever for the fishery,” Rowsey said.
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A winter freeze, significant fish kill and a conservation movement - Houston Chronicle
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