Texas fishing licence?

[monktonlad]

Hi there,

just wondered if anyone can help me on this.

We are going to Houston Tx in the middle of October and wondered what the cost of a licence is for two weeks.

We will be fishing fresh water mostly but may get a boat trip out into the Gulf providing hurricane season isn't still in full swing.

A lot of our fishing will be on private land but may have a trip to Brazzers bend (I think that's how you spell it).

My partner wants to have a go for the alligator gar as she thinks she can catch a new state record...

Any tips on species to be expected that time of year will be very helpful so at least we can arrive looking like we actually know what we are doing lol.

[PanamaJack]

Hi Monktonlad
I've got some friends who've fished out in the Gulf around the offshore well heads. Let me check, as soon as I'm back from my holidays next Saturday, and I'll report back. Sure as well I got some information on the Gar.
Dave

[PanamaJack]

Hi Monktonlad
Just in case you haven't found it yet here's the link to the Texas Parks & Wildlife site regarding licences - http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/publications/annual/fish/index.phtml. There was nothing immediately obvious regarding exemptions for fishing on private as opposed to State land, but it will be worth trawling through all the 'small print'. Bureaucrats are not usually the most understanding of individuals! Nor could I easily find anything that suggested that guides could buy 'blanket' licences covering 'out-of-state-ers' fishing on their boats.

I'll now track down information I've got on fishing for Gars and the saltwater fishing.
Dave

[monktonlad]

Thank you very much Dave for that information.

I think it will be cheaper for us to get a yearly licence than to just get day ones.
We are not sure of the days we will be fishing so just in case it is everyday we will play on the safe side.

As I read it you need a state licence for any water in the state, private or not.

Most will be on freshwater although we are not ruling out a boat trip or maybe a trip to Galveston and try off the beach.

My partner is looking forward to hearing about the gars.

Thanks again.

Malcolm.

[PanamaJack]

Hi Malcolm
I hadn't appreciated just how big they could grow! The world All Tackle record, albeit taken over 50 years ago from the Rio Grande in Texas, is 279lbs. But I suspect, looking at the IGFA line class records, many of the really big fish have subsequently been killed off by 'sportsmen' fishing with bows & arrows. Unfortunately seems to have a 'bit' of a following in the 'States, particularly for Gars and Carp that present easy targets whilst they're sunning themselves.

If your partner wants to target a potential record though it will be worth using a guide for at least some of your trip. There're details of a range of them, by individual location, on this web site - http://www.texasfishingguides.org/. The 'easier' records though - and I appreciate having gone 'record fishing' myself none are easy - are going to be those using the lighter line strengths or fly fishing tackle.

I know as well that Dutch anglers in particular seem to like targeting them. So it might well be worth contacting them through this particular forum thread - http://xvella.free.fr/html/eng/photos/000007/00000763.htm. It's in English. (And for anyone else reading this they might be interested in seeing a picture of a BIG Alligator Gar on that link.)

In terms of potentially fishing saltwater I notice that you've caught Red Drum before. Would you be looking to target those again, or something different? I know some of those mad Texans do target things like Shark, for example, from the shore. And, if you were to go offshore, would you be looking to fish for pelagics, or jig and bottom fish for other species? If the latter there will be 'head boats' that run out to the deep water. It's just that often that will involve an over-night trip.

One final thought, particularly if you want to target Gars on the fly, it might be worth posting a thread to Larry Dalberg's forum - http://www.huntforbigfish.com/cgi-bin/mb/view.pl
Dave

[PanamaJack]

Certainly Kirk Kirkland seems to be a particularly successful guide, with a whole range of European anglers. There're some great pictures on his web site - http://www.texasfishingguides.org/kirkland/. In fact, looking at the pictures, one of our Club - Sportfishing Club of the British Isles - seems to have fished with Kirk last year and caught some big fish. He hasn't reported them yet though! Something I need to check on.

[Scrudgy]

Malcolm

A bit further away than Galveston is Freeport. You can get a 12 hour trip on a party boat for $80 a day - works out a lot cheaper than chartering your own boat for two or four people. If you on a budget - this is a good way of keeping costs down. Last time I went it was Red Snapper, Vermillion Snapper, Lemon Sharks (small ones but good fighters for their size) grouper and trigger fish

http://www.deep-sea-fishing.com/

The above link is the trip I went on. They need the twelve hour trips as they go out about 60 miles, and there is a fair bit of steaming to get to the fish and back again.

[monktonlad]

Thanks very much for all the information Dave.

It has certainly given us something to think about.

We have seen the alligator gars swimming almost on the surface at night when we paid a visit to a small bayou property owned by my partners family.
The ones that I saw were up to 5ft but the amazing thing was how many of them there were.
The head of the family out there told me a story about a gar they caught about 30 years ago. It was lassoed from the bank and when hauled out of the water, one of the kids got in the way and was knocked into the water with a flick of the tail. The fish was never weighed but was almost 7 feet long!

The red drum that I caught certainly gave me a fight.

I was using a $12 fishing outfit bought in wal-mart, small bubble float and half a shrimp. The float bobbed about a bit then shot off 50-60 yards on the first run. A couple more runs and about 10 mins later and it was landed and photographed.

We will post again when we have decided where we are going and of course any catch reports and photos.

Regards,

Malcolm.