Texas speckled trout regulations see big change in Laguna Madre after historic freeze

Texas speckled trout fishing has undergone numerous regulations changes during the past decade, notably the move to enact a five-fish limit along the entire coast, in an order to promote conservation of what’s our most sought-after saltwater species.

As a result of February’s severe freeze across the Lone Star State — specifically the significant detrimental impacts it had on tropical fish species in South Texas — the Texas Parks and Wildlife Commission took emergency action this week to again alter bag limit and length limits to help protect specks, which were the most affected game fish species.

The Commission moved to enact temporary alterations to the trout regulations in the Upper and Lower Laguna Madre, setting a daily bag limit of three fish that must be in a slot from 17 to 23 inches, with no fish above the maximum being legal to keep.

The current statewide speckled trout frameworks are five fish per day in a slot from 15 to 25 inches and anglers may retain one fish over the slot as part of their daily haul.

The changes take effect April 1 and are valid for up to 120 days, but may be extended another 60 days if warranted, TPWD officials noted.

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The Laguna Madre is a unique and diverse ecosystem that encompasses some of the best overall saltwater fishing for specks, redfish, flounder and black drum anywhere along the entire U.S. Gulf Coast. The hypersaline Laguna stretches more than 100 miles along the Texas coast and is backed on the Gulf of Mexico side by Padre Island. The new trout regulations will span from the JFK Causeway in Corpus Christi, including North Padre Island inshore and surf waters, all the way down to the inshore and beachfront waters near South Padre Island at the Rio Grande River on the Mexican border.

TPWD fisheries officials noted that this emergency action will be reevaluated once more complete data is gathered by biologists during spring sampling season. That type of information will provide a better indication of the freeze impact to fish populations, officials said.

Millions of saltwater fish killed in historic 2021 freeze on Texas coast

“I am confident that our spring sampling will help us get a better picture of the impacts to fish populations since the February fish kill event. In the meantime, the Commission took the action to help conserve the fish we have now and accelerate recovery,” said Coastal Fisheries Division Director Robin Riechers, in a release.

Biologists expect this type of management action to result in an increase in population numbers since more mature fish are left in the water to spawn during the spring through summer spawning season. This coupled with spotted seatrout production at TPWD coastal fish hatcheries will accelerate recovery, fisheries officials noted.

Overall, an estimated minimum of 3.8 million fish were killed on the coast, TPWD said, including at least 61 different species — most notably not game fish.

Here are excerpts from TPWD’s initial report on the fish kill:

“Non-recreational species contributed to 91% of the total mortality in numbers of fish. This includes species like silver perch, hardhead catfish, pinfish, bay anchovy and striped mullet. While not sought after by most anglers, non-game fish are ecologically important, providing food for larger game fish as well as adding to the overall diversity of Texas bays. Recreationally important game species accounted for the other 9% of the total. Of that 9%, the dominant species included spotted seatrout (48%), black drum (31%), sheepshead (8%), sand seatrout (7%), red drum (3%), gray snapper (2%) and red snapper (<1%).

“Both the Upper and Lower Laguna Madre bay systems were hit particularly hard by this event. The Lower Laguna Madre had the highest mortality of spotted seatrout with an estimated 104,000 fish killed. That comprised 65% of the total estimated Spotted seatrout killed and when combined with the Upper Laguna Madre, it comprised 89% of the total estimated spotted seatrout mortality along the Texas coast. Similarly, the Upper Laguna Madre had experienced black drum mortality at an estimated 82,600 fish and comprised 78% of the coastwide black drum killed.”

Carter Smith, Executive Director of TPWD, previously noted that anglers — specifically those targeting speckled trout, which still has a five-fish daily bag limit along the rest of the coast — can be good stewards of the natural resource in a number of ways.

“While some areas of the coast and some species of fish were clearly impacted more than others, overall this is the worst freeze related coastal fish kill we have experienced since the 1980s. There are some important lessons from those historical events that we need to draw upon as we work to accelerate the recovery of our fish stocks, particularly speckled trout along the mid and lower coast,” Smith said. “The most obvious, and immediate one for speckled trout is conservation, a practice where every Texas coastal angler can make a contribution right now. Practicing catch and release and/or keeping fewer fish to take home in areas like the Laguna Madre will only give us that many more fish to rebuild from as we augment populations through our hatchery efforts, and we carefully evaluate what regulation changes may be needed to foster a quicker recovery for our bays.”

TPWD officials noted that there will be multiple advisories and media reports provided before and during the regulations changes to advise anglers of the large change that will last well into prime spring and summer fishing season for hundreds of thousands of anglers. While the rule change could result in citations, officials said they hope increased awareness and an initial response of issuing warnings rather than citation will be helpful in spreading the word about the conservation measure.