If TPWD asked you for your $.02 on bass fishing in Texas....

What suggestion or question would you provide them?

More stocking. In all the lakes. Better fish populations. Also drain Ray Roberts...

I get approached a couple of times a year by TPWD doing surveys at the boat ramps. Not so much as asking opinions, but just wanting to do a quick survey about how the bite was, size of fish, number of times I fish a month/year. Distance I have traveled to the lake.


Honestly, I think TPWD is doing a great job, and keep up the good work Most people get tunnel vision and dont realize how good the fishing has gotten in this state since the 70's-80's.

After blackeyes at Lewisville and Roberts in back to back BASS events, why haven't they admitted the LMB populations in many N. Texas lakes are way lower than they thought. What are the plans to improve this, and what is the time frame to turn this around?

hydrilla......leave it the eff alone

I have always said when it comes to Stocking lakes for Bass they only really care about Fork (its their gem ) but there are other lakes that would be a lot better if they were stocked 1/2 as much as Fork. As far as vegetation goes if TPWD knows there's a blade of grass in a lake they will kill it. As far as I'm concerned Ray Roberts is a joke.

How's that "zebra mussel infestation" on Lake Lavon announced 13 years ago coming?

My fear is that the majority of the people they survey are those who spend more time on the water, thus taking catch rates from locals with higher percentage spots sway the results of the survey.

spend more focus, time, and energy on helping Hydrilla regrow in many texas lakes, instead of killing it...

My biggest complaint is the eradication of all the grass.

Issue each lake a set number of tournament slots per year based on the fishery's health. Auction them off to the highest bidder and use the funds to restock the lakes. Catch and release only for bass over 14" during March and April. If I'm really hoping I'd ask to ban weigh-in tournaments March-September (spawn and the hot water months).

This

Stock some lakes that haven't been stocked since the 80's

This

stop kissing Forks arse and spend some time money and energy on every other lake in the state. Nobody I know down here in SE Texas can stand TPWD. They refuse to do anything to help out lakes even after sending multiple emails and typed papers with hundreds of signatures. If it's not Fork or Rayburn do they even care? Hell Rayburn doesn't get half the attention Fork gets it seems.

I'm assuming Fork and Rayburn generate most of the money

More cowbell!

No clue. I am just a fisherman and not a fisheries biologist. I think they do a damn good job and I trust them 100% over anything I could add or a guy that fishes a bit could add.

I’d suggest banning cast netting during spawning times and restrict it to certain areas. Thinking of how the netters have completely changed Fayette Lake’s vegetation and fish behaviors over the past decade or so.

We have the best bass fishing in America thanks to what TPWD does for our lakes. However, there is ALWAYS going to be conflict because the lakes were built for water sources first and foremost and everything else second. So that means we will always lose battles over vegetation, timber, etc if its deemed to be a problem for the water source.

Don't listen to folks like this when it comes to vegetation! Lake Conroe Association

I agree with all the grass comments, leave it alone and let it grow.

No kidding! Heaven forbid there is a bit of hydrilla south of 1097!

There are several lakes like Texoma, Whitney and Belton that will never be a trophy largemouth fishery, but the smallmouths do well in them. Why aren't we loading them up with SMB stockings?

And it does seem odd that TPWD will intentionally introduce non-native fish into the lakes but then go all out to eradicate non-native plants.

Also I do realize that a lot of the plant eradication isn't initiated by TPWD, but you could/should at least be an advocate for the fishery and present the data that shows how beneficial plant cover can be. You do have that data somewhere, right? If not, shame on you.

I could only narrow it to 2 things, quit spraying grass period and grow stockings to a bigger size before putting them in the lakes. If i had to add one it would be to quit letting money and politics influence policy on lakes

This has been my opinion for a long time! I fish some tournaments and want tournaments to continue. I like freedom and want more of it! But...on a lake like Roberts where I live and have fished for 30 years, and had a front seat view of it's very obvious decline, continuing to hold big tournaments here every spring regardless of the health of the lake is like kicking a guy in the face when he is down. We refuse to police ourselves sometimes which then invites the stupid govt. to do the policing for us through regulation. I am sorry but tournament pressure is out of control on some lakes...

More slot lakes needed or lower limit in South Texas!

Ban ALL wakeboard boats!!

I agree that Ray Roberts has declined and needs a lot of help. I live less than 10 miles away from RR. My brother retired and had to sell his Triton bass boat two years ago. Fishing off the bank at RR is an exercise in futility. I haven't caught 1 bass, crappie, or sand bass in 25 trips to RR during any season of the last two years. We hired a crappie guide a year ago in May and we caught our limit over brush piles but two retired guys on small, fixed incomes can't afford to hire a guide at today's rates. We've been going through fishing withdrawl after 40 years of boat fishing at a time when we need it the most.

TPW wasn’t even able to shock up enough bass last year for their creel survey. The numbers are terrible but big fish potential is still good. My 2 cents would be to ban spraying for grass. If you won’t drink that spray chemical out of a glass don’t spray it in my drinking supply. Next would be to stock smallmouth in Ray Roberts. The fish that have been moved there by fisherman are doing well so stock some more.

Belton Lake....



The average undereducated weekend, 'fisherman' will keep anything that looks big enough to eat. Everything illegal length and it's taken home.

+1

I see the illegals doing this on Waco too.

This was a group of 8. Two spoke perfect English. The others, one in particular, talked a bunch of derogatory things. He thought didn't translate.

Another pile of beer cans.

The golden algae kills back in the 2000's still has them gun shy maybe, Belton doesn't apply they never had a bloom to my knowledge.

Tiger mussel infestation. But from what I've read. They increase the small mouth population.

Never thought of this and think you might be onto something. Maybe not set number of tournaments but set number of tournament boats for the year, once a lake reaches its boat quota no more events. Not all events are equal, compare a club tournament to a THSBA event.

I think some of yall are seriously over estimating tournament impact when compared to fish population as a whole. I know your overestimating the impact that we have on spawning fish as a whole.

The hydrilla deal is so much more complex than just spraying. Spaying is just one minor component. There are many other major components that only mother nature can control.

If they limited tournaments by a certain number of permits given out per lake there would be epic threads on here about favoritism, unfairness and general drama over it. It would spell the end of bass clubs etc.
The big tournaments get the blame and criticism but there are literally hundreds if not thousands more small trail and club tournaments that impact those same resources on some lakes the big trails might use once a year if that.

Don’t be such haters of hydrilla.

What black eyes? I don't remember anything wrong with those tournaments

Any limitations on tournaments is a horrendous idea.

I know after the Classic on Roberts that BASS is looking at having another Classic in the DFW area sooner rather than later. The date change that year obviously resulted in lower weights but as far as I know they loved having the Classic here.

I agree on Roberts, and I think the BASS field for that classic was quite watered down due to the split. Loserville is a different conversation

So what black eyes?

DFW will get another Classic. The time of year impacted those weights.

Plant hydrilla and spend some money on fertilizer. Way more important than stocking.

Let the natural vegetation grow. Stock the lakes with more LMB. Make recommendations to the Texas legislature to limit the number of tournaments on bodies of water. Delayed mortality is killing our lakes.

Drain Ray Roberts and actually put in some boat lanes with marker buoys.

Randy B suggest that we ban livescope.

More stocking in other lakes besides Fork, share the love. I live near Cooper as most of you know and have spent quite a bit of time running sonar on it the past year. It is over run with shad; probably has one of the best populations of shad in the state. In its hay day it was producing DD LMB's but due to droughts and other influences the LMB population all but disappeared. It got 250k of Florida strain LMB's about two or three years ago and before that it had probably been over ten years since it had any LMB stocking. If it was stocked every other year with 250k in fingerlings it would probably give Fork and OH Ivie a run for their money. The forage is there, it just needs something to eat it.

leave the hydrilla alone and u dont have a leg to stand on tpwd when u label hydrilla as invasive when you put invasive fish in

While Fork is low, I would like to see TPWD & SRA do an experiment. Scrape about 8 inches of topsoil off of an acre of bank & then plant Hydrilla to see how it will grow.

I would like to know why game wardens go to Squaw Creek?

That is a private lake.

spend more time in oklahoma, and help with our lakes!

More boats to ticket? I don't get it either, rolled up to the gate one morning and our warden from several counties away was there. He's like you drove this far to fish?, I'm thinking to myself why are you in Hood county and not patrolling the county your assigned to.

+1 I agree totally with all three suggestions.

Will get roasted for this, but how about trying this. Each year, select one or two major creeks at Fork and make them off limits to fishing during the spawn. Just give it a shot to see if it improves the number of fish per acre in that area. If it does, use the stock that was going to Fork and spread the wealth to other lakes. If it doesn't, no harm done.

You guys don't know how good you have it!

Not saying there aren't challenges and some things that could improve, but being from MN I can say we're jealous of you. The TPWD outclasses the rest of the country when it comes to fishery management, particularly for bass. This isn't a slam on the MN DNR necessarily, they do a decent job with the limited funds they receive (another topic for another day). But up here we have closed seasons in which we CAN'T EVEN LEGALLY FISH FOR bass, walleye, or other gamefish. There is almost zero attention paid to managing bass period. We're fortunate that through the sheer number of natural lakes MN has there are still plenty of great bass fisheries, but they play second fiddle to walleye.

Mille Lacs being a good example. One of the few lakes in the state they actually regulated to improve size structure of bass, it worked, they turned it into a trophy smallmouth fishery. But now, they're going away from those policies to appease the walleye community and tribal politics (not a slam on either one of those communities either, just facts).

I have no doubt there are vegetation mgmt, boating regulation issues, political issues, etc. in TX like everywhere else.

But as an outsider looking in......we dream of the DNR helping improve bass fisheries around our state. Much less creating a program like Sharelunker to promote and grow trophy fish! That's just a pipe dream around here !!

I've seen where they do that up north with a fishing season; if they did something like that around here during the spawn we'd have folks jumping from bridges or sinking the GW's boat that tried to enforce it. Some would just get real creatve with their reasoning and go fishing for LMB's anyway.
Could you imagine how many more crappie fisherman we'd have? Of course fishing with the biggest crappie jigs they could find. You could create a whole new product market for king size crappie jigs.
Fork might could benefit from having a few spawning zones but another thing I wish TP&W would do is a deep water survey. I don't know how deep the shock system reaches and don't know if they are reaching fish out past 10 feet or so. I spent a couple of years fishing it out of a jon boat with a trolling motor and a fish finder when the weather would allow. With that extra stealth I was seeing fish the guys in the bass boats weren't. It is highly over populated with something that isn't bait fish.
Now that leads to why folks aren't catching them. My two cents........the fish in Fork are terrified of bass boats and they are very lure educated as well because of the fishing pressure it sees.
I've been watching you tube a video by the The Zaldaingerous One where he is using massive size swim baits; on Fork, complete with the equipment to launch them properly and making football field size cast and he was catching fish. I think part of what makes that work is the distance he is getting the lure away from his own boat.

I don’t like the idea of spraying poison in or near our water source. Regardless of fishing.

I hope TPWD reads these types of threads online. Here and other areas. Most people here post because they think. It’s usually not a bashing mentality.

Regarding how good we have here in Texas, yes, it’s great. That’s why we live here. But, we can always get better. I have to believe that TPWD shares that idea.

reduce the numbers of cormorants and alligator gar in Falcon lake....only allow spraying within 100 feet of docks on any lake....do not allow stocking of striped bass in any lake...

Broken record here, but it just points to how important we fisherman understand it to be--do anything and everything you can to promote hydrilla growth, not stop it.

The dudes in here who think the tournaments aren’t negatively affecting bass quality and population are really delusional or plain ignorant. Look up delayed mortality. All those bass that are weighed in with dark red tail fins are dead within 48 hours.

All of them are dead?

Since we can just make stuff up. Not a single bass has ever died that was caught in a tournament

Hahaha

+1 Who said the bass died??? They were just in shock and swam off a few minutes later and have now grown to over 10+ pounds each.

I've never seen a Bass Champs 200+ boat tournament worth of dead fish on LBJ. Just saying.

trust the science?

Reduce the numbers of cormorants statewide. Stop stocking stripers and hybrids!

LOLOL #delayedmortality

had a fisheries biologist tell me once that he liked to see summer tournaments on Eufaula because the lake was over populated and it helped the fish population by killing off some of the smaller fish.....if you think tournaments hurt a lake,look at Lake Sinclair,a relatively small (15,000 acres)lake in Georgia which has had 2-4 tournaments a week for past 50 years and fishing is just as good as it was 40 years ago....same for almost every lake in the USA....they have up and down years but it's usually due to some factor other than fishing pressure....

Your right. We should limit highschool tournaments to one per year on every lake.

I knew the tournament brigade would be mad LOL

Ray Roberts was my home lake for 13 years. I went from catching 24-27lbs on best 5 in the spring on a regular basis, to getting 0, 1 or 2 fish on a regular basis after the slot was lifted. What happened to that lake?

I would ask them wtf happened to this lake.

No one is mad. We just figured you were day drinking or smoking.

Leave the grass alone

Stock baitfish, not just bass fry. Leave the grass alone.

I see by these replies a lot of folks are thinking about "what would make fishing for me better?" rather than looking at how can TPWD help create better fishing for the broader population and secure a bright future for fishing in Texas?

We need to create opportunities for kids and even adults to go fishing who may not be lucky enough to have someone around to take them, teach them or if they do they mat not have a place to go. We can all agree that everyone who wants to fish cannot drive 3 hours to Fork with a bass boat.

As an example, I see these urban ponds and they are all "private". Why not partner with some of those landowners and look for solutions to provide some access? I am taking about corporate owners of these blocks of land that have a big warehouse on them... but have a nice little 10 acre pond in the back for example. Lots of these all over in North Texas.

Providing opportunities and access is something I think we can all agree on. We know the benefits that fishing brings. You learn life lessons, conservation, outdoor skills, how to overcome obstacles, biology, culinary skills, you build friendships and any time we can get someone fishing rather than on social media is a HUGE win in my book. Its critical we find ways to make that happen! We are going to need TPWD to think outside the box here and look for creative solutions to access issues.

What we have in our aging reservoirs is what we have gentleman. Its not going to change much. If I was asked I would not say, "Don't spray MY grass", "Dont put hybrids in MY lake", "Put SAL fingerlings here in MY lake", etc. Those are all fine points and should be considered but are very limited in scope and I promise you does not move the needle as much as you might think it does.

I would say (if they asked me) to work on creating opportunities and access. That should be a prime objective and one that we can all agree is critical... because if we don't... there wont be a TPWD. They are funded by the users remember. If I never got to go fishing as a kid why the hell would I go as an adult much less buy a license that funds TPWD or gear that funds a range of outdoor projects all over the country through Pittman-Robertson funds?

So there is my .02 if TPWD asked me what they should do to improve fishing.

Unfortunately I'm stone sober. If you truly believe lakes being hammered by tournaments week-in, week-out isn't destroying the quality of our fisheries then I don't know what else to tell you.

Been hearing that same sad song for about 4 decades. Fishings still great.

Aquilla hasn’t been stocked since 84

That is bs most people I see bass fishing from a boat ain’t keeping bass. It’s more likely base mortality due to tournaments. There are way too many tournaments on our lakes.
I’m not opposed to them but the sheer number is getting ridiculous.

I wasn't speaking about boats. Nobody cares about what you do on your $50 grand, floating fish finder.

So keep the BS. I was referring to people who bank fish. You know, the other 80% of anglers that don't use a boat.

Ok I’ll give you that the bank anglers proably keep more of what is legal catch but don’t think they are doing most of the damage to population of bass. Now if they are illegal netting fish that’s another thing.
Maybe the Tpwd needs to stock fish and quit killing grass. Maybe hydrilla should be put a number of lakes like Richland chambers to help bass and other native species. I like catching hybrids and sandies on occasion but it seems that Tpwd just does this and calls it good.

I'm a Belton Lake fisher. What the hell is grass? Hydrilla? If it's not a rock. I can't help.

But while you boating guys discuss the problems of not having it perfect on a boat. Idiots are catching juvenile aged breeding stock. Way too short to be legal. While they watch your fish finder float by.

I understand how y'all might interpret being the center of fishing techniques. Worries over stupid grass. Never mentioning. It was your boat that transported the Zebra mussels.

If you truly think tournaments are "destroying" fisheries. Then I don't know what to tell you.

Ok I’ll give you that the bank anglers proably keep more of what is legal catch but don’t think they are doing most of the damage to population of bass. Now if they are illegal netting fish that’s another thing.
Maybe the Tpwd needs to stock fish and quit killing grass. Maybe hydrilla should be put a number of lakes like Richland chambers to help bass and other native species. I like catching hybrids and sandies on occasion but it seems that Tpwd just does this and calls it good. [/quote]


I'm a Belton Lake fisher. What the hell is grass? Hydrilla? If it's not a rock. I can't help.

But while you boating guys discuss the problems of not having it perfect on a boat. Idiots are catching juvenile aged breeding stock. Way too short to be legal. While they watch your fish finder float by.

I understand how y'all might interpret being the center of fishing techniques. Worries over stupid grass. Never mentioning. It was your boat that transported the Zebra mussels.
[/quote]


You seem very angry that you don't own a boat. Start saving. Maybe you can get one in a few years

I'm a Belton Lake fisher. What the hell is grass? Hydrilla? If it's not a rock. I can't help.

But while you boating guys discuss the problems of not having it perfect on a boat. Idiots are catching juvenile aged breeding stock. Way too short to be legal. While they watch your fish finder float by.

I understand how y'all might interpret being the center of fishing techniques. Worries over stupid grass. Never mentioning. It was your boat that transported the Zebra mussels.
[/quote]


You seem very angry that you don't own a boat. Star saving. Maybe you can get one in a few years[/quote]


Thank You for the advice. However, being a POS disabled veteran. I lost my career, among other things. Fixed income looser. When I'm not buying an $8 lure. Treating it like gold. I'm buying food. Maybe treating myself to a pack of t-shirts.

So no anger or jealousy. Besides, I grew up on a boat. I have my memories.

But you can enjoy your fish finder. I hope it brings you all the joy. The same joy I get fishing like white trash off the bank.

You seem very angry that you don't own a boat. Star saving. Maybe you can get one in a few years[/quote]


Thank You for the advice. However, being a POS disabled veteran. I lost my career, among other things. Fixed income looser. When I'm not buying an $8 lure. Treating it like gold. I'm buying food. Maybe treating myself to a pack of t-shirts.

So no anger or jealousy. Besides, I grew up on a boat. I have my memories.

But you can enjoy your fish finder. I hope it brings you all the joy. The same joy I get fishing like white trash off the bank.


[/quote]

Even your reply claiming you aren't angry seems very angry

More concerned with wakeboard boats than tournaments
The amount of unseen damage they do to boats docks and shoreline is incredible

I know at one time they were trying to pass some kind of law against modified wakes

Like I replied. Thank You for the advice. But if you feel the need to analyze my mood. I'm here all day.

Tell me about your fish finder. Is it that pretty red metal flake? You're welcome to drive it by my house. Flipping me off while yelling, 'Suck This, you angry MF'er'.

It's ok. I like your boat. But it does make me wonder if you could even catch a fish without it. However, being none of my business.

Let's talk about grass.

Agree on the wakeboards but I will have a very unpopular opinion on tournaments. Make them all catch/release. Take a photo on a ruler and on a scale and release. Putting them in a livewell and dragging them all over the lake in hot weather then releasing in another part of the lake leads to a significant mortality rate in my opinion.

Here is how I look at it. TP&W employs actual fisheries biogists who didn't download their degree from a site that also sells fake IDs. They employ experts and not some guys who fish a little and suddenly think they know how to manage fisheries.
When they tell us tournaments are destroying fisheries or are a drain on them and enact regulations to curb or stop them from taking place then I might buy in to your opinion a little more. Until then I am trusting the actual experts instead of you.

TPWD is a state organization that is influenced by politics, money, human bias, etc. I'm not claiming to know how to expertly manage fisheries, but it doesn't take an expert to understand that hammering lakes over and over with these big tournaments, especially during the spawning season, is negatively affecting our fishieries. We ALL want to improve the quality of the lakes, right?

Exactly. I think they do a fine job. There is a reason people from other states are jealous fisheries

Improve fishing access for those who fish from the bank. Not everyone have a boat. Maybe stabilize the banks so they are more accessable to bank fishers and are not like muddy swamps. Also maybe do something about the concrete retaining walls that are sloped like 45⁰ so they are more accessable to bank fishers. Quite difficult to stand on them all day and a way to install rod holders on them.

Access to lake bottom structures and contour maps will be useful for bank fishers as well.

Keep our waters clean. No chemicals if they are doing that.

Agree with both of these thoughts.

The erosion damage those boats due is serious. They should be restricted to the areas they are allowed and pay a fee to own those boats to help shoreline protection.

Also to the point Hard Rain mentioned. I agree. There is no reason with the technology we have available that fair and well run tournaments cannot be accomplished whiteout hulling fish around in a live well all day. Its not like local weigh in's are overwhelmed with fans wanting fish held up.

I would say make all tournaments immediate catch and release like the kayak guys do it with a picture. I think the tournaments have a higher mortality rate than most people think.

Careful expressing that opinion in this thread, some guys will cast you out like a leper!

tournament mortality happens, NO ONE likes it but all of you anti-tournament guys seriously overestimate just how good and how many fish tournament guys are impacting vs the over-all population of the lake. Same thing goes for spawning fish - most bed fish are never seen, much less caught.

No one cast you out like a leper. You expressed an opinion about the subject and got others' opinions back that perhaps did not agree with yours. No need to be overly dramatic over it.....

That question is opening a big can of worms. I have been to several meeting over the last 20 plus years with TPW on fishing conditions.

Guides,business owners and public people have thrown out some great ideas on the table and most if not all where thrown in the trash.

Their hands seem to be tied on many issues. One of the biggest and most brought up in every meeting I have been to is quit spraying to kill grass and weeds.

What most people don't understand about the spraying is that Chemical never goes away. It stays in the water therefore continuing to do other damage through the years.

They have heard lots of good idea but won't act on them so it is like beating your head against the wall. IMO

One of My suggestions over the years has been to spend the money on Bass population vs buy Trout for all these city park ponds and selling a $5 stamp to fish for them.

There is no way they recover all the money they spend on this program. Why not teach our kids to catch the species we have to offer in our state ?

One of my customers is who they buy the trout from and he told me what they spend a few years back, crazy amount.

I would like to see that money go into buying Bass again from Florida since they supplied the start of the big bass explosion in Texas. They have something special with their fish IMO.

I was told in a meeting years ago they quit buying them cause they got to expensive. Well those trout they buy are not cheap.

Let me be clear the TPW has helped us no doubt. There is always room for improvement and good ideas still out there.

Belton Lake is federal. Texas doesn't own it. The Corp of Engineers run it. Property the government took, stole, acquired.


Everything, everyone is putting on Texas.


What have the Feds done lately? Because the banks are littered with trash. Old skanky panties, and bait containers.


Where's the Federally funded park rangers that's suppose to police it?

Oh I have an idea... lets put those trout into Lake Fork. Take a page out of the Cali playbook

Y'all don't realize how good you have it.

The Trout in Lake Fork as been mentioned before. Can you imagine how fat they would get .......<FAT><

I would like to see some new reservoirs being created. I know that isn’t tpwd though

The fishing population and weights are healthy. FFS has proven that. So we don’t need new stocking programs. New lakes are nice but expensive and take decades to plan and approve. Selfishly I don’t have that time.

So I look at what will improve my happiness. Maybe not their area of control but I’d want something to curb the amount of tournaments held on individual lakes. Perhaps a lake only has so many permits per month that get approved, Or an organization can only hold X amount of tournaments per month on a lake.

Rayburn has 6-10 tournaments per week between Jan-Jun. Sometimes, you have to check signs to know which weigh in is for whom. Ramps are a nightmare and what’s supposed to be a peaceful day on the water turns into stress and anxiety bc the next KVD in the boat coming at you only knows 1 spot and you’re on it. Or that’s the only spot with just 1 boat so to them it’s open. Whatever the case it’s become a headache.

several lakes in Texas that have already been mapped and then tabled.

Thank you. I don't understand those who think TPWD is doing a poor job. Please somebody tell me 3 states that are doing a better job. I think if you polled other states wildlife and fisheries departments, you would see we are the envy of most.

Post tournament mortality, I've seen some stuff on socal media about it and I suppose it does take place at times. The tournament orginizations handle the fish in a way that they should survive just fine, but what happens to them before they get in the hands of the tournament director and crew would probably be where mortality issues would come in to play. Unfortunately not everybody is going to handle them like most of us would.

Texas Game Wardens go onto private property year to check deer, duck, geese, quail, dove, and turkey hunters. They frequently go to other counties to assist and train other GWs. If we didn't have them trying to enforce game laws, this thread would be all about the TPWD not enforcing game laws.

how about TPWD suing the water departments that kill the vegetation and all but decimate the fishery. start with FCWD. Cypress Springs is a mudhole now

what many folks dont understand most lakes are water supply an flood control fishing is way down the list of why the lakes were made.

For those that want TPWD to have a hand in permitting or setting quotas for number of tournaments, you need to take a look at what has happened in the saltwater world. The Gulf Council and its sister councils around the United States were started as a conservation driven group due to over fishing by the commercial fishing industry. In a short time that worthless organization is now bought and paid for by the largest commercial fishing companies in the world. Now their unstated goal is to limit recreational fishing and squeeze out all of the small independent commercial fishermen. It took just a very short amount of time to make saltwater fishing regulations the biggest joke ever. Point being is once you open the can of worms on limiting access to anything it never ends in a good place. My guess is you would see the big tournament trails buy up the tournament permits and squeeze the smaller clubs and trails out. After that they own the market. Entry fees would go up. Payouts would go down. Same old story that happens in every single sector our government tries to regulate via permits and quotas. TPWD has the ability to adjust creel limits, size regulations, slot limits, etc. If a fishery is in trouble those tools can be used as a way to limit the harvest and therfor tournament pressure. They don't need a new set of rules.

I'd tell them to please come over here and take over the Louisiana programs as well. Lol.

More bait fish stocking......grow bass to 6" before stocking.....leave the grass alone and NEVER allow a contractor to spray chemicals again....ever

Zero tournaments allowed on any lake of less than 1600 acres

Exactly

What public lake is less than 1600 acres that has any measurable amount of tournaments?

Agreed, my family had a camp on Caney Lake when they decided to release the grass carp that wiped it out.

Lol, sounds like his local lake apparently. I’d like to know what lake this is though, awfully small.

TPWD has done their fair share of ruining great bass lakes with grass carp also.

What if these lakes are just full of crappie, sand bass, drum, gar, and catfish and the ecosystem can’t support anymore fish per acre? Isn’t it like 500lbs of fish per acre and then the water quality is diminished? Would be interesting if they blocked off part of a lake with nets nothing in or out of certain size that had the best habitat and then started capturing fish and seeing what is the dominant species. Might explain why sometimes we find bass In unusual places and not on classic spots or why sight fishing in the spring stinks at prime time, because the bass are not there. (Reference castle rock entertainment on YouTube)

Well managed private lake can’t be beat! No junk fish seems to be a big key and great habitat and abundant food source.

Raise the price of yearly fishing licenses to $1000 😀