Long Hot Summer…Will It Ever End?

Preliminary stats from National Weather Service suggest that summer 2023 is tracking toward a record-breaker. No real news if you spend much time outdoors. The long range forecast shows no significant improvement, so don’t expect fall to magically arrive on September 23. October has always been one of my favorite months on Texas bays. Someday, hopefully soon, fall temperatures will make things more pleasant on the water, and this I’m sure will make both fish and fishermen happier.

CCA’s STAR Tournament ended over Labor Day weekend and it was indeed a whopper, right to the end. Bill Kinney, STAR tournament director, reports a red-tagged redfish was landed during the tourney’s final days. If that doesn’t prove a lucky bite can come at any time, then I don’t what will. But, as the saying goes, “You gotta be in it to win it!

Other STAR tidbits include 28 tagged fish total caught—up 33% over 2022. Of those, 8 were blue tags and 20 were red tags. Interestingly, both a red tag and a blue tag were released at virtually every location. Amazingly, a fishing guide caught one of each in back-to-back casts and had to release both (guides not eligible). Yet, the red-tagged fish was recaptured 9.5 miles away, 53 days later, and the blue-tagged fish was never seen again.

Oyster conservation continues to dominate headlines, and rightfully so, as the ecological contribution of the resource to the overall health and productivity of Texas bays far exceeds its commercial value. I would like to encourage readers to check out the piece from CCA-Texas on page 40. CCA’s Executive Board recently pledged $5M for restoration and creation of what have been identified as “conservation reefs”, reserved from harvest in perpetuity, to further enhance oyster recovery and propagation, in areas where the population has been decimated by storms and overharvest. Kudos to CCA for taking this unprecedented step.

Also in this issue you will notice many of our contributors commenting on the recent revision in spotted seatrout regulations for Texas’ middle and lower coast regions. While changes in bag limits will never satisfy all the people, especially when fish populations are still in recovery from the February ’21 freeze, this one was totally unavoidable, given the manner in which the emergency regulations were enacted in the beginning. However, there is more to come on this topic. During their meetings of August 23-24, the TPWD commission directed Coastal Fisheries Division to begin seeking comment to gauge public opinion that could influence future management strategies. This is your chance to be heard…don’t pass it up!

Take a kid fishing!