How Winter Storm Uri has affected fish in the gulf coast

The $64 question concerning coastal fish kills during the record-breaking cold of Winter Storm Uri is how bad it is and what areas were impacted the worst? We know it is not good, especially for speckled trout (spotted sea trout), snook and tarpon. Redfish (red drum) and black drum have a greater tolerance for cold water than trout, snook and tarpon.

I listened to an interview that Chester Moore of the High Calling Gulf Coast blog had with Dr. Aaron Adams, Director of Science and Conservation with the Bonefish and Tarpon Trust (BTT).

“Tarpon and other tropical and subtropical species, such as snook and bonefish, at the northern edges of their geographical range, occasionally suffer mortality due to severe cold events,” Dr. Adams said.

Adams said that the lower lethal water temperature limit for tarpon is 48 degrees Fahrenheit, though they can die from rapid declines in the water temperatures that don’t reach the 48 degrees.

“For example, a rapid decline from 65 to 55 degrees may cause death,” he said.

Locals in the Aransas Pass area are finding dead juvenile tarpon up to 36 inches long.

Recent warmer winters have allowed tarpon and snook to move into the region of the Texas middle coast. Most snook are found much farther south in the Port Isabel and South Padre area. WE fishermen were happy to see more of them moving north. But this prolonged freeze probably killed off all that influx. Their lower lethal water temperature is about the same as tarpon.

But most of us anglers are more interested in speckled trout. They have a 44-degree lower fatal temperature limit. And it appears that they took a tough hit. Local Aransas-Rockport guides have been putting photos and videos on social media. Lots of very large speckled trout (25-29 inches) are washing up on the shoreline of Aransas, Redfish and Corpus Christi bays. My brother, Wayne, who lives in Aransas Pass walked part of the Aransas Shrimpers Channel that runs from Aransas Pass to the Port Aransas jetties. What he saw made him sick — many dead speckled trout. Also, lots of dead croaker — but only an occasional dead redfish and black drum.

One guide did some underwater research and found about 50 trout lying dead in a small area on the bottom. Evidently, what is showing up on the shoreline is only a part of the damage.

How will all this affect our bay fishing? I know from experience that after the deadly 1983 and 1989 fish kills, it was hard to catch a legal speckled trout. The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD) raised the limit from 14 inches minimum to 15 inches. Research had revealed that many trout spawn at about 15 inches. This one-inch movement resulted in a quicker rebound for speckled trout.

I had just purchased a house on Mustang Island in Port A in 1990. As the years progressed, speckled trout fishing finally, slowly, improved. No major fish kills have occurred since the 1989 kill, thus trout fishing has been awesome for over 25 years. Now it looks like we will have to start over.

My son, Terry, who is a good speckled trout fisherman, went to Aransas Pass this week to check on our house. He made a short five-hour fishing trip to the areas that we almost always catch something — speckled trout, redfish or black drum. He never got a bite.

My nephew, Jon Darnell, who owns Laguna Lures Guide Service, fished on Monday after the freeze with a paying client. They fished all day and caught only one small legal redfish. He reported to me that big trout in the IntraCoastal Waterway (ICW) and on the flats were floating everywhere. He jokingly (maybe not) said he might have to move to Costa Rica.

I talked to the TPWD Coastal Fisheries department about the extent of the fish kill. They are being very tight-lipped about it all. I was told that nothing will really be reported until the field biologists have made a finished study.

When I asked about a closing or keeper-limit reduction season on speckled trout, I was told that any decision about such would probably be made at the TPWD Commissioners meeting next month. I do expect a moratorium on retaining speckled trout in your icebox to be enacted. Maybe they will only reduce the limit to one or two trout. A lower limit, rather than a moratorium, would have an effect on their sale of fishing licenses. So many decisions are money-related.