Welcome New Texas State Directors

Written by Staff | 01 February 2010
Posted in General

"The Texas snook fishery may be the best-kept angling secret in North America. I strongly believe that in the interest of conserving the species here, and in the economic interest of communities near our snook waters, we should work to change that." - Aaron Reed, pictured above, is the Texas State Director of the Snook Foundation.

The Snook Foundation is pleased to announce the appointment of four new leaders in Texas. In the last weeks these dedicated angler conservationists represented the Snook Foundation at historic first scoping meetings held by Texas Parks and Wildlife, to consider possible regulation changes affecting both fat and common snook.

Welcome to the new regional directors for Texas :

• Aaron Reed
• Capt. Danno Wise
• Jay Gardener
• Kendal Larson
  

Here's Aaron's report:

In Texas, we have a snook fishery that is approaching 'world class' status.

Consider: Anglers regularly catch snook in the 40-inch class here now. I've heard reliable reports of 50-inch class fish. Overall abundance is good and on the rise, and distribution appears to be moving steadily north along the coast. We know from historical data (more than 20,000 pounds of snook landed commercially from Galveston Bay in 1893, more than 220,000 pounds landed in Port Isabel in 1928), not to mention our longstanding and credible common snook record (57 lbs., 8 oz., 1937), that the potential for Texas snook is even greater than what we're experiencing today.

Given the documented increase in winter Texas bay water temperatures of nearly 3 degrees (F) over the past three decades, the potential today may be greater than ever before.

I believe that part of the Snook Foundation's job in Texas is to introduce more people to this fishery. The more anglers, professional guides, tourism officials, allied conservationists and others who are excited about snook and snook fishing, the better our chances of ensuring a viable fishery in coming years.

The second priority in Texas should be to encourage, promote and participate in research to better understand Texas snook. Fisheries managers in Texas have officially encountered a grand total of 727 snook since 1975. That includes fish caught in all sampling gears (gill nets, trawls and bag seines) and the 33 fish encountered in creel surveys. I know some of you have encountered 33 snook in a single day of fishing!

Finally, the better we love and understand snook, the more effectively we (both the state and stakeholders) can manage snook populations for sustainability. The Snook Foundation will actively support the conservation of snook and the conservation of habitat and conditions critical to snook in Texas. This priority is wide-ranging, and may include everything from educating anglers about safe catch and release practices to participating in mangrove restoration to speaking out about freshwater inflows and shoreline development practices. See the attached for more information about the Snook Foundation's position presented at recent Scoping Meetings

Jay Gardner, pictured above, writes for the Padre Island Moon. When not lounging in his pool, he's exercising his passion for linesiders, habitat and resource management. Jay is Snook Foundation's TX Coastal Bend Region Director.

Jay's Report:

A “faction” in South Padre Island petitioned the TPWD to consider lowering the limits on snook, basically from 24” minimum length to 22” minimum. The theory is that it would allow the harvesting of upper sized fat snook. (Remember, we have at least two species here, the common snook which get really big, and the fat snook, which rarely get above 20”. The fat snook are the most commonly caught species around the jetties and piers). So the TPWD had scoping meetings up and down the coast, and the one that was held here was pretty tame. Some were for changing the rules, and many were not. I don’t think they got a clear answer from our group, although I like to think I made it clear that the TPWD needs more life history research on fat snook before they adopt a rule to start killing them. I hear the one at South Padre Island was really well attended, however it had some surprising results.

Although the faction in south padre was the source of the TPWD scoping the proposed changes, they almost unanimously voted to NOT allow a fat snook take slot limit. Cool. I believe that we need to manage the snook fishery for Common snook, which is the real source of the economic dollars, and also the stuff that dreams are made of. Imagine a huge linesider coming up and smacking your topwater, then going totally aerial as your drag screams. Gets me hot and breathing heavy thinking about it. Now think about ensuring that same fish crashing on your children’s’ topwater, and their children’s’ topwater. That’s what I’m talking about. If you haven’t figured it out by now, I am a “fin-atic” when it comes to those snook. So anyhoo, I’m glad snook got the attention, and I’m glad the public mostly voted to research and conserve our resources. I’m glad that so many people are becoming more aware of the environment and what affects our choices and actions have on it.

Capt Danno Wise will serve as Lower Laguna Madre Regional Director, TX

Cold Event

One of the most disturbing comments overheard during the recent scoping meetings was something that sounded like this: "We're just going to lose them all in the next big freeze anyway," implying that we should take what we can, while we can. The snook fishery in Texas is not incidental, and it is not ephemeral. And while snook certainly can be (and historically have been) affected by extreme cold temperatures and by other adverse events such as red tide, the greater the spawning stock biomass before one of those events (and the more suitable habitat available to juvenile snook) the more quickly and completely the population can come back afterward.

This notion was, in fact, the rationale for TPWD's move to decrease bag limits and maximum legal size for spotted seatrout in the Lower Laguna Madre a couple of years ago.

The good news is that it appears, so far, that Texas snook -- indeed most of our estuarine species -- came through the recent cold snap just fine. I've heard reports of about a dozen, scattered, cold-killed snook, from the Brownsville Ship Channel up to Galveston Bay. In a canal subdivision in Corpus Christi, approximately 260 snook between 11 and 17 inches turned-up. Undoubtedly there were more, but nothing like we saw back in 1983-1984, or even after the Christmas snow of 2004.

As a founding member of the Kayak Angling Society of America, Kendal helped form the organization's core mission, Heroes on the Water, which takes wounded military service members on therapeutic kayak fishing trips. Kendal is now serving as the Upper Coast TX Regional Director of the Snook Foundation.

The Texas Coast is traditionally divided into three sections, north to south: upper coast (Sabine Lake, Trinity Bay, Galveston Bay, East Matagorda Bay), coastal bend (or middle coast -- San Antonio Bay, Aransas Bay, Copano Bay Nueces Bay, Corpus Christi Bay, Baffin Bay, Upper Laguna Madre) and lower coast or Lower Laguna Madre (Lower Laguna Madre, South Bay).

We look forward to hearing your thoughts on the state of the Texas snook fishery and what you think the Snook Foundation should be doing to promote, understand and conserve it. See contact info below.

Tight lines, and ¡Viva los Robalos!

Contact Your TX Directors

Aaron Reed

is a native Texan who grew up as a “Bay Rat” in Rockport, Texas. His first job after getting a driver's license was as a "guide boy" at the Port Bay Club, Texas' oldest hunting and fishing club (founded in 1909). A former fish and wildlife information specialist for the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, Aaron is an award-winning writer and photographer and has contributed to every major outdoor publication in Texas. A veteran of the U.S. Army, he currently works as a writer-editor at the VA Heart of Texas Healthcare Network. Aaron is a certified angler education and boater education instructor in Texas, a kayak fishing enthusiast and a fan of Lone Star linesiders since landing his first one in 2002. Appearances notwithstanding, he doesn't remember Woodstock. Reach him at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Capt. Danno Wise

In addition to guiding light-tackle anglers and fly fishers in the pristine waters of the Lower Laguna Madre near the Texas/Mexico border, Capt. Danno Wise serves as Texas travel writer for About.com, Lower Texas Coast blogger for the Houston Chronicle, and contributing editor and illustrator for Texas Outdoors Journal. He is the former publisher of the Port Isabel/South Padre PRESS and South Padre PARADE, and a frequent contributor to variety of other newspapers, magazines, and periodicals. Reach him at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it , or visit www.dannowise.com

Jay Gardner

Jay Gardner, Snook Foundation's Coastal Bend Regional Director, grew up literally waist deep in the fabled waters of the Laguna Madre and Baffin Bay. He completed a degree in Biology with a Marine Science emphasis at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi, and has continued to research and study the local Coastal Bend as an Environmental Consultant with a local engineering firm in Corpus Christi. His love of linesiders began many moons ago in the Sian Kaan Biosphere Reserve in Mexico, grew during a short stint in Belize, and was confirmed when he worked as a REEF Summer Intern diver in Key Largo. Jay has been watching and catching snook in the Corpus Christi area for more than five years now, and continues to educate the public at every possible opportunity and enjoy the art form of linesider angling. Jay can be reached at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Kendal Larson

When not outdoors, Upper Coast Regional Director Kendal Larson is dreaming about being in the outdoors. Even while serving as a Czech cryptolinguist with the U.S. Air Force in Germany, he'd make his way to the streams to fool a trout. A former V.P. of sales and marketing for Malibu Kayaks, he embarked on a freelance photography career in 2007, and likes to think of himself as a photographer who wields a pen. His work has been widely published, both regionally and nationally, and he writes a monthly column covering kayaking and kayak fishing for Lonestar Outdoor News. He's a certified Texas Parks and Wildlife angler education instructor, and believes the hunting and fishing tradition needs more mentors. You can reach him at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it and view some of his work at www.KendalLarsonPhotography.com