TP&W issues Cold Water Closures for Certain Areas

[karstopo]

https://tpwd.texas.gov/newsmedia/releas ... =20221222a

Various deep water refuge areas closed at midnight tonight until further notice.

[SWFinatic]

That’s good this cold snap is starting to be concerning for the fish to me. I’m watching Rockport and water temperatures are going to fall pretty fast now that the water has been blown out.

[motoyak]

Oh well, can't change the weather. I hope it doesn't affect harvest limits next year but unfortuately, it probably will

[Dandydon]

I wonder if Capt.Watson is fishing under the Galveston Causeway tonight?

Yes, he's obsessed and sometimes crazy. Good luck, men!

Sent from my SM-G973U1 using Tapatalk

[Kitsune]

Oh well, can't change the weather. I hope it doesn't affect harvest limits next year but unfortuately, it probably will

Same, I was really looking forward to September trout keeping. Maybe they can have a boat limit instead of individual.

[SWFinatic]

Oh well, can't change the weather. I hope it doesn't affect harvest limits next year but unfortuately, it probably will

Same, I was really looking forward to September trout keeping. Maybe they can have a boat limit instead of individual.

There’s currently no law against keeping trout it’s just that the size and bag limits were changed/reduced as long as you’re fishing in legal waters.

With water temp readings now in the 30’s at numerous locations from Seadrift to Baffin that may change. These water temps are not much different than what we saw in February 2021.

[karstopo]

https://tidesandcurrents.noaa.gov/physo ... interval=6
February 13th, 2021 to February 21st, 2021 water temperature POC. Approximately Five days of 40° or below water temperature indicated.

https://tidesandcurrents.noaa.gov/physo ... interval=6
December 18th, 2022 to December 25th, 2022. Some missing data for POC, still the plot looks better than February 2021

[karstopo]

https://tidesandcurrents.noaa.gov/physo ... interval=6
Aransas WR water temperature plot for 2022, December 20-25.

https://tidesandcurrents.noaa.gov/physo ... interval=6
Water temperature for the February 2021 event. Same station.

[Kitsune]

Oh well, can't change the weather. I hope it doesn't affect harvest limits next year but unfortuately, it probably will

Same, I was really looking forward to September trout keeping. Maybe they can have a boat limit instead of individual.

There’s currently no law against keeping trout it’s just that the size and bag limits were changed/reduced as long as you’re fishing in legal waters.

With water temp readings now in the 30’s at numerous locations from Seadrift to Baffin that may change. These water temps are not much different than what we saw in February 2021.

The 10 to 5 and then the 5 to 3 with the decrease in slot size has turned me off to trout fishing. When I get a nice trout now I tend to let it go. I like to flats fish with lures, 100% of the time for food and the rest is icing. If I’m going to target trout I want it to count, I’ll just stick with reds, the occasional flounder(when we can) and black drum. I just hope we get past this with good enough numbers to go back to 5.

[SWFinatic]

Same, I was really looking forward to September trout keeping. Maybe they can have a boat limit instead of individual.

There’s currently no law against keeping trout it’s just that the size and bag limits were changed/reduced as long as you’re fishing in legal waters.

With water temp readings now in the 30’s at numerous locations from Seadrift to Baffin that may change. These water temps are not much different than what we saw in February 2021.

The 10 to 5 and then the 5 to 3 with the decrease in slot size has turned me off to trout fishing. When I get a nice trout now I tend to let it go. I like to flats fish with lures, 100% of the time for food and the rest is icing. If I’m going to target trout I want it to count, I’ll just stick with reds, the occasional flounder(when we can) and black drum. I just hope we get past this with good enough numbers to go back to 5.

I hear you me too. I feel a lot better about this cold snap now that we’re past the worst part. Water temps did get cold enough to do damage in areas but those dangerous temps didn’t last as long as last February.

[saltykat]

Hopefully the trout were able to get to deeper water before the temps dropped would hate to see a repeat of a couple years ago

[Ron Mc]

It's been freezing here for eons.
TPWD emergency ban is simply about not over-harvesting stacked fish in deep water.

It's interesting how the new limits have changed the coast, mostly because most guides are targeting redfish now.
In Neumie's October Round Up, we found redfish in boat-accessible flats lure shy, which we've never seen before.
We also found a lot of 16" trout in '21-freeze-kill water.

A big part of the '21 freeze kill was the magnitude and duration of the west wind, concurrent with seasonal low tides, which isolated so many fish from being able to retreat.
Something else we noticed in fall of '21 was an increased snook population in the coastal bend.