- Spotted Sea Trout regulations are changing.
- The bag limit was reduced from five to three Spotted Sea Trout.
- Texas Parks and Wildlife (TPWD) expects to start enforcing the new change in mid-March.
The Texas Parks and Wildlife Commission voted to permanently change Spotted Sea Trout fishing regulations during a Jan. 25 meeting.
The new daily bag limit for Spotted Sea Trout is three instead of five, and there is a 15 to 20-inch slot for the size of the fish that anglers are allowed to keep. Anglers are allowed to keep one single oversized fish, which is a trout over 30 inches.
“Well, Spotted Sea Trout is the number one game fish on the Texas coast," TPWD Science Director Mark Fisher said. "More people are fishing for that species and also that’s the fish that the greatest numbers are landed. By reducing harvest, that means there’s going to be more fish in the water. And, they will be allowed to grow a little bigger."
The reason for the regulations changing is because of the big Texas freeze back in 2021. TPWD temporarily implemented these rules and regulations after the freeze caused huge fish kills. This time around, TPWD is implementing the changes permanently.
Local anglers may be affected by these changes. Although it is not their responsibility, employees at Red Dot Fishing Pier on Padre Island try their best to help enforce all rules and regulations.
"The larger fish are generally the breeders. So, by lowering that size, it’s going to keep more breeders in the water and keep the fish population at a healthy level so I’m definitely in favor of that," Red Dot Fishing Pier employee Ed Salazar said.
Salazar sees many trout anglers come through his pier every day.
“If we actually see people pulling oversized fish out of the water, we’ll tap them on the shoulder and tell them 'Hey, you need to put that back. You can not take that guy. He's a breeder, put him back.' Of course, I can't make them, but I will suggest," Salazar said.
TPWD is expecting to start enforcing the new rules in about a month.
“We’re shooting for mid-March. It’s still in process. We have to respond to public comments and it has to be published in the Texas Register," Fisher said.
TPWD will be sure to inform the public using multiple different communication outlets when the new set of regulations goes into effect.
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