Sunday, May 20, 2001

Croaker soaking revisited

To some, croaker season is a timely reward that follows weeks of marginal fishing success in the Coastal Bend.
   For others, bright yellow bait flags flapping in a springtime breeze is cause for concern, even anger. These anglers believe the use of croaker as bait, particularly by guides and their clients, will effectively deplete the trophy trout population and ultimately hurt general trout stocks.
   To the first issue, they might have a point, though not a particularly strong one, as far as I can tell. Creel surveys over the past five years don't indicate a downward trend in catches of big trout from area bays. If anything, the opposite is true, at least for the Aransas Bay area, according to Karen Meador, a TPW biologist at the Rockport marine lab.
   During this past decade, the use of croaker has increased dramatically.
   And yet in 1996, known as a banner year for trophy trout and the year the state record trout was caught, 19 percent of the trout counted in state-set gillnets were 23 inches or greater. That's way above average. And it's gotten better.
   The latest TPW figures indicate that 27 percent of Laguna Madre/Baffin Bay trout caught in gillnets measure 23 inches or greater.
   Last year, slightly more than 3 percent of Upper Laguna Madre trout caught in state gillnets measured 28 inches or longer. That's about the natural norm, according to TPW biologist Kyle Spiller. At the same time, numbers of 24- to 28-inch trout in the Laguna Madre remain well above average, Spiller said.
   Looking for the crash
   Larry McEachron, director of the TPW Marine Lab in Rockport, tells me a trophy trout crash is far from imminent.
   Of course, an argument could be made that the prophetic population crash of trophy trout will come at the end of a boom. At any rate, this cause-and-effect theory, though predicated on genuine concern or perhaps fear, is based on conjecture and in some cases, selfishness or envy.
   The croaker argument is anything but ironclad. The absence of hard facts makes it so.
   It would be foolish, however, to presume Coastal Bend waters hold an endless supply of 30-inch trout or that trout stocks could withstand unbridled pressure; croaker or no croaker.
   Trout populations
   On the second issue, state biologists say not to worry. Trout stocks, each age class, throughout the Coastal Bend are stable, even healthier than during the late-1980s and throughout the 1990s, Spiller said.
   In the Upper Laguna Madre, based on gillnet surveys, the trout population today is more than four times what it was in 1990, after the 1989 freeze and more than twice as high today as just before the fish-killing freeze.
   Think about this.
   Commercial gillnetting was outlawed in the late 1980s, which had a lot to do with the remarkable recovery of fish populations.
   Meanwhile, some local guides, particularly members of the Coastal Bend Guides Association, encourage clients to release trout 28 inches or greater unless its headed for a taxidermist's shop. It's a matter of policy, according to association president, Mark Lyons, who believes guides could and should influence culture on this issue.
   I know this is disconcerting to some of you, that guides could hold the key to the future of catch and release.
   But it seems Lyons and the new generation of guides understands that a moment of macho glory at the cleaning table is not worth risking our trout stocks, our recreational angling opportunities or a potential threat to the guides' livelihood. Besides, big trout make tastier photos than fillets.
   Chasing the croaker
   To me, this topic is mostly about changes in attitudes. So who better to team up with for my first croaker story of the year than Dean Monroe, a Rockport guide, small-business owner and songwriter with a Jimmy Buffet-esque look and attitude.
   No trophy trout or margaritas were killed during the making of this story. But there was a cheeseburger in paradise at the end of the day.
   In the Coastal Bend, croaker appear in Rockport and Aransas area baitshops first, partly because of demand and partly because Rockport is closer to where young croaker enter the bay system from the gulf. Croaker are gulf spawners. This year, yellow flags began flying earlier than usual, because state rules allowed bait dealers to begin trawling in May rather than June.
   Consequently, many of the croaker found at bait stands have been smaller than ideal. The generally accepted ideal size is between four and six inches, roughly.
   Even though Danny Whitaker, owner of Palm Harbor Marina near Rockport, rounded out our party, much of our bait was undersized. By the time you read this, croaker could be approaching ideal size.
   Until then, try using two at a time, if you can afford the expense. The price of croaker is at an all-time high at $6 a dozen at many shops. This alone could be the salvation of both the croaker and trout stocks.
   Winds had been calm for 24 hours, prior to us launching at Redfish Camp on State Highway 188, making Copano Bay a reasonable choice this time of year. But really, most any sandy shoreline, with bottom contours or grass lines, is a good spot to soak a croaker.
   If not, change your latitude.