I want to know why Texas Dept of Parks and Wildlife sets the bag limit of trout at 5.

They try these stockings every year, and within a few months, they are alll caught out.

Maybe they should not publish the places they are stocking the fish. I've seen people lined up on the bank catching them (and catching them all). The fishery is completely wiped out in a few weeks.

This is an outrage! In this day of catch and release, and preserving our resources, how can we allow the complete wipeout of these beautiful fish over and over?

I think Texas needs to take a stand on this problem, and quickly!

Agree?

Thank you for your time.

Within a few months they are going to die because the water will be too hot for them to survive.

I think the opposite. It is ridiculous when people catch and release and throw them back only to have them die. I think that you should be required to keep 5 and then quit, kind of like the winter crappie season at Fork.

They are very delicate and they die really fast once caught get your five and go home.

They don't always die, some survive this summer a buena vista pond in waco, and I once saw a guy catch a trout in june out of the pond they stock at fort parker.

I believe TPW encourages people to keep all trout they catch up to a limit of 5.

That pond may be drawing water from a spring as well. Hard to say without really knowing the water temperature.

While there may be exceptions. TPW plans on all of them being dead by the end of August.

Cormorants really do a big number on the trout as well.

If they are all going to die anyway, why stock them ?? Just so a few people can catch some 9"-14" trout ?? Kinda sounds like money that could be better used somewhere else, to me !

It's a public service by the TPW designed to get kids into fishing. Help your kid catch his/her five, go home and leave some for the next kid. Trout need a MAXIMUM 55 degree water YEAR ROUND to survive.

If the adults want to catch a trout, try a more northern clime with colder water. Trout are a beautiful resource - please practice C-P-R.

You better catch them before the commorants clean out the entire pond.

the people fishing these areas pay $7 per person for something that is only good for a couple of months. it harms nothing and the people fishing are paying. as long as I dont pay for it what is the problem?

First, TPWD stocks the trout as a "put and take" fishery. They put them in there specifically for people to catch. They rarely survive the summer, especially in the shallow ponds that many of them are stocked in.

However, a couple of misconceptions. Trout are not nearly as fragile and delicate as many of you believe.

I helped conduct an experiment while in college (the project was done in Spring 2005). In this project, we held 175 trout for 6 weeks at a water temperature of 60 degrees. We did twice daily water changes to keep water quality (specifically nitrate levels) at a low level and kept the tanks clean. We sedated the fish and implanted PIT tags (rice-sized tag that can be scanned and bounces back a unique identification number for identification of individual fish). Two weeks into the experiment, we began hooking the fish. We divided the fish into 7 groups. One group was left alone (no handling or hooking). We then divided the remaining groups into 3 sets of 2. Each set received either a 1x, 2x, or 4x treatment. Of the two groups in each set, one group would be hooked manually (capture the fish in a dip net, place the hook) and played until it was tired. The other group in the set received the same handling, but did not get hooked and played. The 1x, 2x, and 4x refer to how many hooking/handling events the fish were subjected to. That took place over a 2 week period. We then held the fish for another 2 weeks on top of that (for 6 weeks total).

The results we found with this were that not only was mortality EXTREMELY low (we lost I believe 5 fish total, I'd have to double check the data), but the fish grew exceedingly well being fed once a day.

So I believe catch and release on the trout at this time of year, when done properly and the fish handled fairly gently, causes negligible harm if any at all.

[quote=Catfish_Hunter]First, TPWD stocks the trout as a "put and take" fishery. They put them in there specifically for people to catch. They rarely survive the summer, especially in the shallow ponds that many of them are stocked in.

Thats right, Tpwd is not trying to start a trout fishery just trying to give people and kids an easy oppurtunity to catch some fish

TPWD started these stockings in wichita falls about 3 or 4 years ago in one pond. They would advertise the date and location of the pond and label it "kidfish". Its intended to get your kids hooked into fishing.

There are a ton of people that have no other access to fishing that can have a little fun and maybe a couple of meals.

catch five eat them and go home with happy kids!!! i think trout is the least of our worries, i think catfish and bass need some help on limits, there are no bass in the park ponds that i used to fish as a kid, and no catfish either(over 6 inches) wheres all the support for keeping the native species safe??? i think there should be a law against keeping bass and catfish ffrom a park pond because everyone is taking them all and leaving none for the next lucky guy