Sunday, February 25, 2001

Once upon a tarpon...

Contributed photo

Port Aransas fishing guide Lloyd Dreyer, now 76, caught hundreds of tarpon in the surf and bays of the Coastal Bend, mostly between the 1930s and 1960s. This photo was taken in 1946. Dreyer, incidentally, measures 5-foot, 9 inches.

PORT ARANSAS - The deeper flats near Traylor Island were fertile tarpon waters in 1948.
   Ask Lloyd Dreyer about the morning he "jumped" four silver kings before deciding to test a new fishing rod made of lemon wood. Spectacular above-water writhes of the day's fifth tarpon suggested this would be a worthy trial of endurance of both angler and tackle.
   "Bend your index forward as far as it will go and you'll see what that rod looked like when I tightened the drag," Dreyer said, recalling the thrill of the fight. "I managed to land that fish in four and half minutes. But that lemon-wood rod was worthless after that. It never did straighten out."
   Dreyer, one of the most experienced fishing guides on the Texas coast, said he'd rather catch one tarpon than 10 sailfish. Few modern Texas anglers know first-hand the desperate thrill of hooking what has been called the most electrifying near-shore game fish on the Gulf Coast.
   That's because tarpon numbers off the Texas coast began to decline during the 1950s and 1960s. Today, only a handful of fishing guides still target tarpon in Galveston Bay and near South Padre. Closer to home, summertime catches off Bob Hall Pier continue to excite only a few lucky anglers.
   But years before the unexplained crash, hundreds of tarpon were landed each week off Coastal Bend piers and jetties, in the surf and bays, and from boats of all sizes during the peak months of June and July.
   Impressive catches of tarpon continued for several decades after the turn of the 20th Century, when opportunities were as common as redfish today. So much so that the tiny fishing village at the northern tip of Mustang Island was named Tarpon, Texas. It was changed to Port Aransas around 1911, but the city's fame as a world-class tarpon fishery continued for decades.
   The good old days

Contributed photos

Postcards from local collector Jim Moloney from the glory days of Port Aransas, before and after the town was named Tarpon, Texas, depict a world-class fishery that attracted Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1937.

   Dreyer recalls seeing a tarpon school in 1956 that he estimated at 5,000 fish. It was during one of the many Coastal Bend tarpon tournaments, when Dreyer and a buddy were fishing within the old Matagorda Island bombing range.
   An unexpected dummy bomb nearly ended their day prematurely. But that's another story.
   The massive silvery train spanned 75 to 100 feet wide and stretched for nearly 2,000 feet, Dreyer said.
   He cites that same year as the leading edge of the tarpon decline in Texas.
   "I never saw anything like that again," Dreyer said.
   Will we?
   That's one of the questions posed by Paul Swacina and a group of concerned anglers, who call themselves Tarpon Tomorrow. The group, together with the University of Texas Marine Science Institute in Port Aransas, called together a mix of scientists who most likely hold the key to the tarpon mystery, if such a key exists.
   The gathering represents the first International Tarpon Symposium, attended by more than 100 anglers, fishing guides, wildlife managers and biologists.
   Noteworthy tarpon researchers from the United States and several other countries revealed a comprehensive body of knowledge on Megalops atlanticus, aka the silver king.
   There is much to learn.
   Scientific knowledge
   It is believed tarpon, still relatively abundant in Florida and Mexico, migrate south to north each spring and return in the fall. It's likely most tarpon that arrive off the Texas coast in April and May come from Mexico, though some genetic evidence suggests the Florida and Mexico populations occasionally mix and possibly converge off the mid-Texas coast.
   We know that tarpon can live 60 or 70 years. And that they must survive to age 6 or 7 before they reach reproductive maturity.
   Major questions surround where the fish lives during its larval and juvenile stages.
   Reasons for the tarpon's virtual disappearance from Texas waters continues to be a hotly debated tackle-shop topic among anglers. But relatively little scientific study has focused on this.
   Research routes
   Unlocking the mystery of the tarpon's demise in Texas was only part of the symposium's goal.
   UTMSI biologist Scott Holt believes part of the scientific focus should be on whether Texas was ever a spawning site for tarpon. Maybe it was simply a pass-through zone. Other research should seek to better understand the migration routes and life history, so we can learn more about sources of larval mortality, which is believed to be unusually high.
   Many attendees of the symposium blamed the tarpon decline on the damming of rivers that feed our estuaries. At least one man in the audience believed the solution lies in finding an inexpensive method to extract salt from seawater, to lessen our dependency on reservoirs as a source of tapwater.
   Others believed in another high-tech solution, namely some sort of electronic tagging system that could track tarpon movement. Still others believed that studying habitats where tarpon are abundant could reveal the most helpful information.
   Andre Landry, a professor with the Department of Marine Biology at the Texas A&M University at Galveston, would like someone to explore the fundamental and overriding perception that gulf tarpon numbers are not what they used to be. Though widely accepted, based on anecdotal accounts, this perception could be driven by changes in distribution and behavior rather than depletion of stocks.
   Wouldn't that be something if huge numbers of tarpon that once swam Texas waters simply were rerouted at some point because of man's intrusion or some natural phenomenon?
   Mexico's influence
   Landry's observations suggest that while Texas anglers might be landing fewer tarpon, they generally are larger fish. What does this say?
   Others want to know whether fact or rumor drives the perception that tarpon stocks suffered from overfishing, particularly in Mexico. A government official from Mexico's fisheries department gave little insight, except to outline his country's tarpon regulations and reveal the results of a cursory tarpon study.
   Thirty-one estuary systems line the gulf shores of Mexico. Fifty miles of that shore are restricted to recreational fishing with rod and reel and scuba equipment.
   The gentlemen only touched on Mexico's incidental bycatch issue. He told a disbelieving crowd that no tarpon were caught in gillnets and longlines, according to a government study of commercial bycatch.
   He also said there were 420 tarpon caught by recreational anglers along Mexico's gulf coast between 1995 and 2001, as reported by tarpon tournament organizers. This low number is hard to swallow.
   If these reports were falsified, the devious plan of tournament organizers could backfire. That's what occurred in Texas during the redfish wars, Landry said.
   Commercial fisherman, apparently trying to conceal the actual numbers of redfish they were catching, undercut on official reports their true takes. This false information was interpreted to mean that redfish stocks were in serious trouble, which led to the end of commercial red drum fishing. Serves them right.
   The Mexican official admitted that limited focus and funding is given to tarpon in Mexico because of its low commercial importance. Will this translate to a lack of cooperation with international efforts to study tarpon?
   Needing more help
   Texas Parks and Wildlife has already begun a campaign to change the minds of Mexican government officials, said Hal Osburn, state director of coastal fisheries. The state's plan is to convince Mexican officials that tarpon could be a golden goose to the country's sport-fishing industry.
   One thing is fairly certain. The efficacy of our efforts to learn more about tarpon and ultimately revive the Texas fishery will depend greatly on the extent of international cooperation.
   Meanwhile, you guys can help biologists get a handle on distribution, habitat preferences and life history. Next time you catch a small tarpon in your cast net, see one in a murky ditch or hook one in the bay or gulf, report it.
   Even second-hand sightings should be called in to the Texas Parks and Wildlife Marine Lab in Rockport at (361) 729-2328 or the CCA-CPL Marine Development Center in Flour Bluff at 939-7784
   My hope is that this newfound interest in tarpon, symbolized by the symposium, will help identify gaps in our knowledge about tarpon. Once these are identified, we can seek funding sources to address the gaps.
   TPW already has tarpon at Sea Center Texas in Lake Jackson, in hopes they will spawn. If research reveals that a tarpon-stocking program is the way to go, we'll be ahead of the game.
   The International Game Fish Association has promised to host a second symposium in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., within 12 to 18 months.
   If the wishes of Tarpon Tomorrow become reality, perhaps Texas could once again harbor a town called Tarpon.