Fishing in Texas

Sam Rayburn Reservoir is one of Texas’s best largemouth bass fisheries.

For many Americans, Texas retains its old western movie image of a barren desert. In truth, Texas is a watery wonderland featuring 1.5 million acres of lakes; 80,000 miles of rivers, streams, and bayous; and 624 miles of beaches and shoreline on the Gulf of Mexico. From blue marlin in the offshore waters to bluegills in the Panhandle, Texas is an angler’s dream.

Since the 1970s, a progressive fisheries division at Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD) has enhanced the natural bounty with cutting-edge limits and stocking programs. Texas was the first state to ban commercial fishing for saltwater spotted seatrout and red drum (redfish), a measure that has subsequently been adopted by other Gulf Coast states and has led to a resurgence of inshore fishing. Texas built the first saltwater fish hatchery and continues to stock millions of redfish and seatrout (known locally as speckled trout).

Texas likewise led the charge of progressive bag limits for largemouth bass and has a worldwide reputation for great bass fishing. In the 1970s, TPWD recognized the genetic superiority of Florida-strain largemouth bass and began stocking that subspecies in Texas waters. Florida bass genes plus restrictive limits pushed the envelope on what is considered a big bass in Texas. Where an 8-pounder was once considered huge, hundreds of lakes have produced bass bigger than 10 pounds, and 15- to 18-pounders have been caught.

The state agency also recognized the sporting potential of gamefish species that are not native to the Lone Star State. Stocking programs continue for striped bass, smallmouth bass, coppernose bluegills, walleye, and hybrid striped bass.