wrote:

[stocking factory trout in Texas]

You selfish, self-centered *******! What are silly-assed, zero-lot-line
North Dallas McMansionites supposed to do with all the trendy FFing gear
they went out and bought?

Er ... drive to the San Juan? :-)

Seriously, though, if stocking at Gruene,
etc., was iffy, what in the hell were they thinking with THIS stocking?
It can only be for the yuppies, no? Or did John Wildly Gotaprice find a
Armani FFing dashiki with a matching UZI-made flyrod and start screaming
about "his people" not being able to have equal access to "trouts" or
something?

In the years I've been keeping up with the stocking program (since
the mid-80's), it has evolved some. At first it was just Parks and
Wildlife stocking and it was really a "meat" program (which of course
makes sense). You were more likely to see Joe Sixpack lobbing niblets
and cheese for the fish than anyone in tweed smoking a pipe. Then
someone discovered that some trout overwintered below Canyon Dam, so
they had the "bright" idea of establishing a "permanent" fishery on the
Guadalupe. (Canyon is a deep lake and the water released comes from the
bottom, so it *usually* stays in a temp range that is borderline
comfortable for trout, even during the summer.)

Then gawd created the Guadalupe River chapter of Trout Unlimited ...
er, I mean, then TU got involved and established some ff'ing only areas,
length/size/bag limits, some private leases and supplemental stockings
(including some big sows).

Of course they forgot to check with Ma Nature, and what with
periodic flooding and drought, the "established fishery" has had to
start again from scratch several times. (Twice in the last three years,
for example. Once because severe flooding "turned the lake over",
causing warm water to be released downstream for long periods of time.
The second time because of an excessively wet year, which again caused
the water temps to rise higher than normal.)

But, Texans are famous for having more money than sense, so someone
decided it was a bright idea to keep the program going. This time
though, we needed to make sure that *all* anglers paid for it through
their license fees (where previously you bought a trout stamp if you
wanted to fish for them).

Don - get with one of these local guys and go fishing for bluegill,
sandies, or some other native or at least well-suited species and
boycott this horse**** program. You want farm-raised rainbow locally?
Kroger, right there next to the catfish nuggets and "Krab Leggs"...

While I don't totally boycott the trout program, I agree with the
sentiment about supporting the other native fish. There is too much
nice water with native fish (Guadalupe bass, for instance) to feel the
need to sustain "the southernmost trout fishery in the U.S." (as TU
touts it).


Chuck Vance (who prefers to fish on the Pedernales anyway; it's
less crowded and much more scenic)