-
Alligator are prehistoric-looking fish found in river systems and major reservoirs around the state. The long-lived fish have been known to grow up to 8 feet in length and reach weights beyond 300 pounds. Courtesy/TPWD
Licensed Texas anglers have through Sept. 30 to apply for a limited number of permits to harvest trophy-class alligator gar from the Trinity River in eastern Texas as the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department’s Alligator Gar Harvest Authorization drawing application process enters its second year.
The permits allow winning applicants the opportunity to harvest one alligator gar over 48 inches using any legal means—during day or nighttime hours—along a 400-mile stretch of the river that passes through 16 counties between the Interstate 30 bridge in Dallas south to the Interstate 10 bridge in Chambers County.
This includes Lake Livingston and the East Fork of the Trinity River upstream to the dam at Lake Ray Hubbard. Counties included are Anderson, Chambers, Dallas, Ellis, Freestone, Henderson, Houston, Kaufman, Leon, Liberty, Madison, Navarro, Polk, San Jacinto, Trinity and Walker.
Anglers may apply for permits individually or as small groups of up to four people. The link to apply online is: https://apps.tpwd.state.tx.us/huntharvest/fishing/fishing.faces. Winners of the permits will be decided by a random drawing with notification made by Oct. 15.
The non-transferable special permits will be valid through Aug. 31, 2021. That’s when the application process starts all over again.
ONLY 150 PERMITS AVAILABLE
The permits are special because there are only 150 available each year. You can’t kill an alligator gar longer than 4 feet on the aforementioned stretch of Trinity River without a permit.
In September 2019, the harvest of alligator gar in excess of 48 inches, and nighttime bow fishing on the Trinity, was made illegal without a permit.
Permits are not required to catch and release alligator gar from the river on rod and reel, nor is a permit required to harvest fish less than 48 inches in length by legal means.
Many experts consider the Trinity as one of nation’s last strongholds of the prehistoric-looking fish, particularly the big ones known to reach lengths of 8 feet, weights beyond 300 pounds and live past 75 years. Over the last decade, the river has become a bucket list destination for anglers looking to target trophy fish.
Citing concerns that potential overharvest could have negative impacts on the population, the TPW Commission voted in the harvest permit requirement and the nighttime bow fishing ban for the Trinity in March 2019. The laws became effective roughly six months later (Sept. 1, 2019) at the start of TPWD’s next fiscal year.
It is worth noting that the Commission’s decision to squelch the harvest of big ’gator gar on the Trinity was made with no scientific research to indicate the river’s alligator gar population was in need of additional protection outside current statewide limit, which is pretty restrictive itself.
The statewide rule limits anglers to the take of one alligator gar per day on all waters using any legal means except Lake Falcon, where anglers are allowed to take five fish per day.
REPORTING MANDATORY
Permits are not required to take big alligator gar on any public waters in Texas other than the Trinity River. However, alligator gar fishermen are required by state law to report all fish that are harvested from all public fresh and saltwater water bodies, excluding Falcon.
Alligator gar harvests must be reported to the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department within 24 hours of harvest on the My Texas Hunt Harvest mobile app or online.
Anyone who does not comply with the mandatory harvest reporting regulation on alligator gar commits a Class C misdemeanor punishable by a fine up to $500.
Fisheries experts claim the harvest data provided through mandatory reporting will provide a wealth information they can use to monitor and manage alligator gar populations in the future.
“In order for us to manage our alligator gar populations among growing angler interest, it is crucial to know how many are being harvested in Texas,” said Craig Bonds, TPWD director of inland fisheries. “By gathering data on alligator gar harvest through the My Texas Hunt Harvest app and online, our fisheries management team will gain a better understanding of this species’ distribution, sizes and numbers and can use that information to help manage for quality fishing in the future.”
ROD & REELERS LED STATEWIDE HARVEST
Preliminary counts show there were around 1,030 alligator gar harvests reported statewide during the last fiscal year, which ended Aug. 31. Choke Canyon accounted for the majority with 9.9%.
Rod and reel fishermen accounted for 70% of the statewide harvest reports, and bow fishermen reported at 23%, according to Ken Kurzawski, who oversees information and regulations for TPWD’s inland fisheries division. Fish taken on jug lines and trotlines accounted for the remainder of the reports.
NO REPORTS FROM PERMIT HOLDERS
Interestingly, the first year of the harvest authorization permit process did not provide TPWD with much Trinity River reporting data to work with. In fact, not a single harvest was reported from the 150 alligator gar permit winners from fiscal year 2020. Kurzawski said 347 people applied for the 150 permits, including 256 individuals and 91 that applied as part of 34 groups.
Bonds said it unclear as to why there were no harvest reports of large fish from the Trinity River by permit winners.
“It could have been a range of things,” Bonds said. “One interpretation is that maybe they didn’t have an opportunity to go or chose not to go. Another one is they went and were unsuccessful. A third is that they went and were successful, but didn’t report their harvest. I don’t want to speculate as to which one or combination of those potential interpretations is driving what we are seeing. But we are committed to reaching out to those 150 people who did receive authorizations this past license year to get a better understanding of what was going on.”
Bonds added there were some high water issues along the Trinity River that may have impacted access and/or success during the spring months, when big female gravitate to shallow backwaters to spawn. Spawning alligator gar are extremely vulnerable to bow fishing.
It doesn’t seem likely that the COVID-19 scare had much to do with a lack of reporting or fishing activity.
Statewide, Texans flocked to the outdoors to find respite from the pandemic when shelter-in-place orders forced many businesses to close and put millions of people out of work.
Lakes, bays and rivers bustled with traffic. Texas fishing license sales went through the roof.
According to TPWD figures, 418,259 people bought a Texas fishing license between March 11 and May 20 of fiscal year 2020. During the same time period in 2019, there were 336,019 fishing licenses sold. The figures represent an increase of 82,240 licenses sold.