# BAD NEWS for Fayette County Catfish



## texasGG (Mar 12, 2007)

I fish Fayette county Lake alot. I have noticed in the past year a real reduction of channel cat in the lake and after talking to many people that know how to fish, that fish there alot with the same feelings I have, it was decided that we should send TEXAS PARKS AND WILDLIFE DEPARTMENT a letter detailing our concerns...Here is my letter to them and their response.....

Subject: FW: Catfish at Fayette Lake

Comment or Question:

There is a group of us that fish Fayette County lake a lot for channel cat fish. We have noticed over the past 5 years that the number of small or juvinile fish we catch has virtually disappeared. The size of the fish we are catching now is quite large but the numbers have declined dramtically in the last two years. Our concern is that the fish are not reproducing and the channel cat are old and might die off completely. None of the guys I have talked to have even caught a undersized fish in the past two years of fishing and I am talking many hundreds of hours of fishing in our group. I noticed there has been NO stocking of channel cat in Fayette County in many years and there has been a marked increase in the number of fishermen fishing for them in the past three to four years. Is there any plans to re-stock more channel cats in this lake? I know the Bass fishermen rule this lake but hey we all fish too and there are many catfishermen that want a good viable fishery for catfish in this lake. There has not been a blue cat caught in this lake for more than four or five years that any in our group is aware of either? Anyway I was "nominated" to ask...

Garry Miller, Smithville Texas

Their response:

Steve Magnelia
TPWD Fisheries Biologist 
512-353-0072

Subject: FW: Catfish at Fayette Lake

Forwarded by

Dyanne Fry Cortez 
Inland Fisheries Division 
Texas Parks and Wildlife Department 
(512) 389-8055

User was on this page: 
http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/fishboat/fish/management/stocking/index.phtml

"We noticed a decline in the channel catfish population in our last gill net survey in 2008, but the distribution of fish still looked good and the reduction in catch wasn't drastic. There were also some smaller fish in our catch. Unfortunately there isn't much we can do should the catfish population decrease to nothing, other than impose a higher minimum length limit and re-stock large catfish. If recruitment to a large size is a problem, then once those fish are harvested there would be nothing to replace them and we'd be stuck perpetually stocking fish. Anything we stock, other than advanced fingerling channel catfish (>9 inches) will be eaten by bass. These larger fingerlings are expensive and hard to get, so any stocking would have to be strongly justified. A lake the size of Fayette County would take a large number of them. My guess is our own staff would have a hard time accepting this recommendation. Most of the time channel catfish do well or they don't. The high density of bass and relatively clear water in the reservoir has a lot to do with the channel catfish population. Most of the spawn is probably eaten by bass, so only a few get through to adult size. We'll continue to monitor the catfish population and will make some recommendations if the situation gets worse. I have attached our latest fisheries management report which has the channel catfish data through 2008. If you have any questions please call us."

Steve Magnelia
TPWD Fisheries Biologist 
512-353-0072

I'm going to ask any of you that are intrested in fishing Fayette County in the future for catfish, to PLEASE write a short email to TPWD and voice your concerns. Their letter said " Any stockings would have to be strongly justified" so we all need to justify to them that catfishermen have a place in this lake also. Thanks for any comments or letters sent to them.. Garry


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## CoastalOutfitters (Aug 20, 2004)

yea, i fish there too....

sounds like they need to kill off more kitty eatin bass............


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## NitroNX898 (Apr 7, 2009)

Garry, that is one way to get things started. Glad you are thinking of the future


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## shadslinger (Aug 21, 2005)

Like a friend of said who used to fish the Glen Rose Nuke lake for hybrids to a couple of bass fishermen who motored over to complain to him about keeping a legal size black bass,
"I usually knock them in the head and throw them back,... they are taking up space for the hybrids"

Just kidding around, but I agree with CoastalOutfitters as I hear from many people that the lake is full of LMB, and none are in the slot that allows them to be kept, just adjust the slot and take more bass out of the lake to achieve a better balance. IMHBO.
SS


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## Red3Fish (Jun 4, 2004)

*WTG*

I fish there several times a year for catfish, and remarked on the same thing a couple of times. I have NEVER caught a throwback, out of maybe 10 or 12 trips. This fishing is always good, and the size of the catch is impressive. I even asked Obewan about it last year, as I too was concerned.

I usually dont keep more than 10, as 10 3# or 4# catfish, are enough for me. It is a great catfish fishery, and great job on getting pro active. Will write letter.

Later
R3F


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## kim e cooper (Feb 18, 2006)

Thanks Garry will do.


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## Syncerus (Oct 18, 2005)

Sounds to me like the solution is to do some bass fishing too.


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