By Jessica Domel
Multimedia Reporter

To allow the spotted seatrout fishery off the Texas coast to continue to recover from losses sustained in Winter Storm Uri in 2021, the Texas Parks and Wildlife Commission recently approved changes to the daily bag limit and slot limit for the fish.

The new daily bag limit is three fish per day per angler, 15-20 inches long, with one oversized trout greater than 30 inches allowed as part of the daily bag limit.

“The primary benefit is an increase in the spawning stock biomass,” Dakus Geeslin, deputy director of Coastal Fisheries for the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD), told the commission. “That’s the cumulative weight of sexually mature, reproducing female trout within the population. That simply leaves more of those females in the water to spawn, thus increasing our recruitment to the fishery and helping with getting those catch rates up.”

With changes to the bag limit, slot limit and the allotment of one oversized fish per day, Geeslin said they expect a 25% increase in spawning stock biomass over a generation of trout, which is about seven years.

“Within two years, we would expect about 70% of that percent increase to be realized, and after about four years, we’d expect about 90% of that increase to be realized, as well,” Geeslin said. “There’s also that added benefit of an increase in fish greater than 25 inches in the water.”

The reasonable expectation is those larger fish would continue to grow, presenting more opportunities for anglers and the fishery.

The former daily bag limit for spotted seatrout was five fish per day, 15-25 inches long with one fish over 25 inches allowed.

When Winter Storm Uri hit, and a freeze killed more than 100,000 spotted seatrout, the commission enacted emergency rules to protect the fishery.

When those rules expired, temporary regulations were implemented.

“Those temporary regulations expired or sunset at the end of August 2023,” Geeslin said. “Prior to that, we began hearing concerns from anglers about the need to keep those more restrictive harvest regulations in place to further accelerate some of the recovery that we did see in some of the bay systems.”

TPWD held public scoping sessions, conducted an angler survey and accepted public comment on proposed changes to the spotted seatrout regulations.

Initially, the commission was considering a proposal to move the daily bag limit to three fish, 15-20 inches long, with an allowance for one trout more than 25-inches long.

The oversized fish allowance was increased to 30-inches during the commission’s discussion in January.

The rules will go into effect as soon as possible, according to TPWD.

The commission also approved a proposal, that will soon be published in the Texas Register, creating a tag system allowing for the take of trout greater than 30 inches, including one bonus tag per year, for a fee.

TPWD reports the commission will pursue public input and consider adoption on that proposed system in March.