W W W. T P W M A G A Z I N E . C O M O M A R C H 2 0 1 5 il y a F m T h e O U T D O O R M A G A Z I N E o f T E XAS Camping No skills? No problem. We’ll teach you. ALLIGATOR GAR FISHING THE TEXAS GIANT INVASIVES THREATENING TEXAS AQUATICS CREME WORMS LEGEND OF NICK CREME M A R C H 2 0 1 5 Features 30 COVER STORY Family Camping Made Easy By Stephanie M. Salinas Want to camp but shaky on skills? There’s a cure for that. 38 ­­­­Invasion of the Water Snatchers 42 ­­­­Gar-gantuan By Larry D. Hodge Water-hogging invasives beware: TPWD is out to get you. By Dyanne Fry Cortez Alligator gar is the misunderstood “big daddy” of freshwater fish. Visit our online archive at www.tpwmagazine.com. Find us on Facebook. For the latest information on Texas’ parks and wildlife, visit the department’s ­website: www.tpwd.texas.gov. 4 O MARCH 2015 TEXAS PARKS & WILDLIFE O 5 Departments 8 At Issue By Carter P. Smith 10 Foreword/Mail Call Our readers share their ideas. 14 Scout: Sargassum Sensibility Why we shouldn’t curse the seaweed piles on the beach. By Melissa Gaskill 16 Park Pick: Timeless Refuge The beauty of Resaca de la Palma is preserved amid the bustle of the Valley. By Ben Horstmann 18 Flora Fact: Mystery Stingers Noseburn lies low, so you may not know what stung you. By Dyanne Fry Cortez 20 Wild Thing: Black Beauty 24 Skill Builder: The Perfect Cast Practice makes perfect when you’re in pursuit of fish. By Caleb Harris 26 Three Days in the Field: Rock Art Rendezvous Del Rio trip leads to North America’s ‘oldest book.’ By Tom Harvey 48 Legend, Lore & Legacy: Creme of the Crop Transplanted Texan Nick Creme changed bass fishing forever with one plastic worm. By Dyanne Fry Cortez 58 Parting Shot By Jim Bridges Ranchers love the threatened Texas indigo snake. By Katy Schaffer 22 Picture This: Photo Round-Trip Your smart device and its apps can serve as a processor for enhancing images from your camera or desktop. By Earl Nottingham Covers BACK: Fueled by sunshine and rain, the first bluebonnet of the season springs forth from the earth at McKinney Falls State Park in Austin, heralding the arrival of another colorful Texas spring. Photo by Chase A. Fountain / TPWD PREVIOUS SPREAD: The dazzling colors of a West Texas sunset are reflected in the waters of the Devils River. Photo © Laurence Parent THIS PAGE: A campfire provides illumination and warmth for a night at Choke Canyon State Park in South Texas. Photo by Chase A. Fountain / TPWD 6 O MARCH 2015 In the Field THE OUTDOOR MAGAZINE OF TEXAS M A R C H 2 0 1 5 , ­ V O L . 7 3 , N O. 2 GOVERNOR OF TEXAS Greg Abbott COMMISSION Dan Allen Hughes Jr., Chairman Beeville Ralph H. Duggins, Vice Chairman Fort Worth T. Dan Friedkin, Chairman-Emeritus Houston Roberto De Hoyos Houston Bill Jones Austin James H. Lee Houston Margaret Martin Boerne S. Reed Morian Houston Dick Scott Wimberley Lee M. Bass, Chairman-Emeritus Fort Worth Executive Director Carter P. Smith Communications Director Josh M. Havens MAGAZINE STAFF: Randy Brudnicki Publisher Louie Bond Editor Russell Roe Managing Editor Nathan Adams Art Director Sonja Sommerfeld Photo Editor Earl Nottingham Chief Photographer Chase A. Fountain Photographer Traci Anderson Business Manager Alayna Alvarez, Katy Schaffer Editorial Interns Catherine Groth Photography Intern CONTRIBUTING WRITERS: Mike Cox, Steve Lightfoot, Rob McCorkle, Larry D. Hodge, Dyanne Fry Cortez, Stephanie M. Salinas CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS: Jim Bridges, Laurence Parent, Al Braden EDITORIAL OFFICES: 4200 Smith School Road, Austin, Texas 78744 Phone: (512) 389-TPWD Fax: (512) 389-8397 E-mail: magazine@tpwd.texas.gov ADVERTISING SALES OFFICES: S tone W allace C ommunications , I nc . c/o TP&W magazine 4200 Smith School Road, Austin, Texas 78744 Jim Stone, Advertising Director (512) 799-1045 E-mail: jim.stone@tpwd.texas.gov SUBSCRIPTIONS: (800) 937-9393 Texas Parks & Wildlife magazine (ISSN 0040-4586) is published monthly with com- bined issues in January/February and August/September by Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, 4200 Smith School Rd., Austin, Texas 78744. The inclusion of adver- tising is considered a service to subscribers and is not an endorsement of products or concurrence with advertising claims. Copyright © 2015 by Texas Parks and Wildlife Department. No part of the contents of this magazine may be reproduced by any means without the permission of Texas Parks & Wildlife magazine. The magazine is not responsible for the return of unsolicited materials provided for editorial consideration. SUBSCRIPTION RATE: $18/year; foreign subscription rate: $27.95/year. POST­­MASTER: If undeliverable, please send notices by form 3579 to Texas Parks & Wildlife magazine, P.O. Box 421103, Palm Coast, FL 32142-1103. Periodicals Postage Paid at Austin, Texas, with additional mailing offices. SUBSCRIBER: If the Postal Service alerts us that your magazine is undeliverable, we have no further obliga- tion unless we receive a corrected address within one year. Texas Parks & Wildlife magazine is edited to inform readers and to stimulate their enjoyment of the Texas outdoors. It reflects the many viewpoints of contributing readers, writers, photographers and ­illustrators. Only articles written by agency employees will always ­represent policies of the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department. S U B S CRI BER SERV I C ES Subscription inquiries only, please. PHONE: (800) 937-9393 DYANNE characters CORTEZ intriguing has crossed forms paths in with her 30 FRY and many colorful life years of writing about Texas. This month she shares infor- mation about our state’s largest freshwater fish and one of our smallest, sneakiest plants. She never had the pleasure of meeting Nick Creme, the inventor she profiles in this month’s Legend, Lore & Legacy, but she found friends and business associates who were happy to share memories of the man and his contribution to the world of fishing. When she isn’t trolling for stories, Dyanne works at the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department’s Austin headquarters, keeping Texas fishing information up to date on the agency website and answering emails from anglers. CALEB doesn’t HARRIS what is happiest activity when is outdoors. as He it’s says out- it almost matter the as long side. He can be found bow hunting, hiking, cycling and bird watching, but he prefers to be on the water — fishing, kaya- king and sailing. Before working for TPWD, Caleb was a high school science teacher, teaching chemistry and aquatic science. At TPWD, he facilitates aquatic and angler education classes and events, pro- moting angling at all levels. The job happens to include helping people make their first cast with a fishing pole and assisting experienced anglers tweak their fly casting. His Skill Builder article this month shows us some of the basics. KATY SCHAFFER grew up outdoors, running on beaches, climbing trees and hiking up mountains. Raised among the diverse wildlife of South Texas, she moved to Austin in 2011 to pursue journalism at the University of Texas for one purpose: to combine her love of storytell- ing with her passion for anything outdoors. Now, halfway through her senior year, Katy is an editorial intern for Texas Parks & Wild- life, where she has the opportunity to help tell the story of Texas wildlife. Katy, who writes this month’s Wild Thing on indigo snakes, draws from her experiences as a young explorer. She hopes that by telling the story of Texas’ outdoors, she can inspire other young people to go outside and explore, pursuing any adventure that surely awaits. TEXAS PARKS & WILDLIFE O 7 from the pen of carter p. smith Every so often, and perhaps with less predictability than any of us really care to admit, Mother Nature sends us a not-so-subtle reminder of who’s really in charge. Whether it is hurricane-force winds or scalding fires, torrential rains or catastrophic droughts, she leaves little doubt about who calls the shots when it comes to our lands and waters. As stewards, we sometimes choose to fight back against her seemingly mercurial ways. At other times we elect to give in, yielding to her obviously dominant hand. As they say in the card business, there is a time to hold ’em and a time to fold ’em. For decades — eight or so to be precise — we’ve valiantly pushed back at the state park bearing the namesake of one Isabella Neff, the beloved mother of former Gov. Pat Neff. The state park, one of our very first, is a little jewel of a place. Situated in Coryell County just west of Waco, the park lies at the intersection of the Hill Country and the Blacklands. Its fertile bottomlands, traversed by the Leon River, are shaded by towering pecans, oaks and elms, its hills covered by sprawling oaks and junipers. Native pockets of prairie and weeping springs are interspersed throughout, as are deep, secluded draws and broad limestone overhangs. People and game have made a home here for thousands of years. It is a special place, made more so by the generous gift of land by the Neff family, coupled with the hands of those who built it, the men of Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) Company 817. It was donated in honor of Mrs. Neff, a woman ahead of her time in comprehending the need to ensure that Texas families, then and now, could find places of repose, respite and recreation out in the country, away from all of life’s other distractions. As her son Pat famously said, it was a place where all Texans could come to listen to the birds sing, to hear the bees hum and to watch the flowers bloom. And come they have (faithfully, in fact) since the park’s inception in the 1920s. But, alas, and on cue, Mother Nature would inevitably remind us who was in charge. Heavy rains falling over the area’s rugged limestone hills would flood the Leon River, inundating the bottomlands, and the park, with standing water. After Lake Belton was built, the river began to back up even more, often for months at a time. The park’s campsites, picnic areas and pavilions would be rendered unusable, and the hard-working park staff would resign themselves to another round of park closures, flood debris cleanups and patchwork repairs, only to wonder when it would happen again. Well, thankfully, after decades of all that, Mother Nature and Mother Neff have reached a detente. After big floods in 2007 and 2008, then-Sen. Kip Averitt led the charge to secure funding to build back Mother Neff State Park, the proper way. “Let’s do it right,” he told us. Get the infrastructure out of the floodplain, construct a new visitors center we can be proud of to educate park-goers about the history of the founding family, the CCC and the state park system, and add plenty of places and spaces where families can camp, hike, fish, bike, explore and enjoy Mother Nature’s bounty. This January, we did just that, reopening Mother Neff State Park with a whole new look and feel. An eye-popping 3,800-square-foot visitor and interpretive facility, constructed of limestone and surrounded by native vegetation and rainwater catchment tanks, awaits park entrants. Inside, an interactive, multimedia educational display engages and immerses visitors in the abundant history of the land, the park and its inhabitants. Through creative use of social media, the center even allows park users a chance to add their own photos to the park’s “historical record.” In addition, a brand-new camping loop, replete with full-service electrical and water hook-ups and new restrooms, is there for overnight guests who wish to linger longer. There is much to enjoy about the new and improved Mother Neff State Park. So come out this spring and enjoy it, or any one of your other 94 state park and historic sites. Mother Neff, and Mother Nature, eagerly await you. Thanks for caring about our wild things and wild places. They need you now more than ever. There is much to enjoy about the new and improved Mother Neff State Park. So come out this spring and enjoy it. Executive Director Texas Parks and Wildlife Department mission statement: To manage and conserve the natural and cultural resources of Texas and to provide hunting, fishing and outdoor recreation opportunities for the use and enjoyment of present and future generations. 8 O MARCH 2015 get on the water in ALUMACRAFT Take the Alumacraft 10” Flat-Bottom Jon Boat on your next fishing trip and navigate with confidence. The flat-bottom, marine aluminum-alloy hull is durable, and the boat has two extruded aluminum ribs for stability. The two bench seats are comfortable, and the boat features bow and stern handles for easy carrying. picks, pans and probes from our readers FOREWORD LETTERS Do you remember when you first felt the enchantment of nature as a child? STATE PARK BUCKET LIST: DONE I Was it watching butterflies dance around the flowers in your backyard? Was it retired two years ago and quickly com- climbing a tree, feeling the rough bark under your fingers and enjoying the view pleted everything on my bucket list. from above? Was it a picnic with the family at a place like Garner State Park, What to do? Not ready to go back to shrieking as you dipped your toes in that cold, clear, spring-fed water? Perhaps work, I made another list. State parks it was the first time you filled your lungs with salty sea air down at the beach. — that would be cool. I purchased my My affair with nature began with all of those sensory experiences and many state park pass on Feb. 17 at Guadalupe others. I find the greatest pleasure and satisfaction working with our agency and River State Park. I saw the final park on our magazine team to bring that inspiration to your doorstep every the list, Sheldon Lake, on month. I daydream about our readers opening their mailbox and Nov. 2. sitting down with the new issue. In my head I hear you say, “Hey, Besides seeing the parks, honey, have you seen this incredible photo in Texas Parks & Wildlife?” the best thing was getting to or “Hey, kids, check out these cool bats in the magazine!” share it with my brother Pat While our quest to lovingly spread thought-provoking stories and and my buddy Jimbo, and awe-inspiring photographs across reams of paper will continue, we visiting family spread all are delighted to present to you a brand-new way to experience these over the great state of Texas. wonders: the Texas Parks & Wildlife magazine app for the iPad! It was cool; all you need is a You may already be going beyond the paper experience by tent and a truck. enjoying our website or our digital page-turning version of the Mark Townsend magazine. The app will offer much more in ways that we think Georgetown will surprise and delight you. Imagine reading about the wolf “You see a billion stars look- snail as it crawls down the side of the screen, leaving a slime trail SANDHILLS AT NIGHT ing back and listen to a pump- behind, or reading about a mustard flower as the text emerges e: Monahans Sandhills jack pumping and know that from behind its blossoms? article (“Tiny Mighty all is right with Texas.” The app gives us the opportunity to share even more stunning Oaks,” December 2014). KENNETH PAYNTER photography and in-depth coverage with you. Many articles will I grew up in Odessa, and San Antonio come with a slideshow of photos not featured in the print edition; Monahans and Balmor- some will have additional editorial content as well. hea were our go-to places. Later this month, we’ll be releasing our annual Fishing Forecast digital spe- Most people don’t know that the best cial, packed with skill builders and recipes, as well as those coveted tips from our time to go to the sandhills is at night in experts about what spots are hot this year. While we’re releasing it in the usual the summer. You take a blanket, find a digital page-turning form, we’ve also “apped” it! Click on a region of Texas, click 45-degree hill, spread the blanket, lay on a species of fish and off you go. The forecast is free on our website and free on back and look at a totally black sky. You the app. Share it with family and fishing buddies. see a billion stars looking back and listen Have I piqued your curiosity? If so, check it out for yourself. We have a special to a pump-jack pumping and know that deal for our print subscribers at www.tpwmagazine.com/app. You can also find all is right with Texas. us in the Apple store, where you can download the app and the January/February Kenneth Paynter issue for free and purchase this March issue. San Antonio Check out the Texas Parks & Wildlife app, and tell us what you think! R ANTLER REGULATION WORKS N Louie Bond, Editor 10 O MARCH 2015 o matter how successful a program is, there will always be some who take exception. As one of those origi- nally involved in getting the 13-inch antler regulation adopted, I can attest to MA I L CALL the fact that it never was about grow- ing trophy bucks but about balancing a deer herd that had depleted bucks so badly that even fawn production was negatively affected. In Fayette and the surrounding orig- inal counties, not only do we see more bucks today, but our fawn crops have increased, and we see far more deer overall. That’s great news! The antler regulation works. TPWD now needs to find a simpler, more effective way to get does harvest- ed. Managed Land Deer Permits are fine for large properties, but they are time-consuming and cumbersome for the hundreds of smaller properties in this area of the state. Consequently, there is very limit- ed doe harvest on thousands of acres in a growing deer population. Please consider reviving “doe days,” even if experimental, in the six original coun- ties and test that simple method to implement management on a burgeon- ing deer population that is now coming into town and heavily using roadsides for foraging. If there is a missed youth opportunity, then it is in insufficient doe harvest. Michael McMurry Certified wildlife biologist La Grange BRISKET, BOOZE AND THE BARD I would like to point out a moment of English-speaking literary history in Tom Harvey’s piece (“The Birthplace of Texas,” November 2014). It’s the first time in history that Shakespeare, cham- pagne and barbecue have been used in the same thought context. Congratula- tions on that distinguished milestone! Bobby Broderick Corpus Christi State Park and Historic Site. Second, with sufficient rain, the leaves can stay on the plant for months. We viewed that in 2013 when there were sufficient rains during the summer that the plants retained their leaves for three to four months at Hueco Tanks. As volunteers at that park, we have the opportunity to see unusual behaviors like that. Thanks for a great magazine. I always look forward to reading it. Susan Stone El Paso OCOTILLOS AT THE PARK I just finished reading the article about the ocotillo (“Little Torch,” Decem- ber 2014) and would like to add a cou- ple of points to it. First, another great place to view ocotillos is Hueco Tanks Sound off for Mail Call Let us hear from you! Texas Parks & Wildlife magazine welcomes letters from our readers. Please include your name, address and daytime ­telephone number. Write to us at Texas Parks & Wildlife magazine, 4200 Smith School Road, Austin, TX 78744. Fax us at 512-389-8397 Email us at magazine@tpwd.texas.gov We reserve the right to edit letters for length and clarity. Grow Bigger Fish Faster! The Most Reliable Fish Feeders Ever Designed PREMIUM TIMER FISH FEEDERS u Featuring Seven Models u Premium Digital Timer 5 Year Limited Warranty u Powerful Air Blower System Projects Feed in 45' x 20' Pattern DF425 with Adjustable Legs u Made in America US Utility Patent #7222583 FEED PATTERN 800.969.3337 3350 IH 35 N, San Antonio, TX 78219 • 210.734.5189 See Us at www.TexasHunter.com TEXAS PARKS & WILDLIFE O 11 NEWS AND VIEWS IN THE TEXAS OUTDOORS PHOTO © JESSE CANCELMO SARGASSUM SENSIBILITY Miles from shore , patches of golden yellow bob on the blue waters of the Gulf of Mexico like a vast flotilla of partially inflated life rafts. These mats of sargassum, a vine-like algae, provide habitat and food for a wide variety of marine species throughout the Gulf and the North Atlantic. Most Texans know it as “seaweed” and encounter it only when it’s washed up on the beach. It plays an important role there as well, helping to build up and strengthen dunes — important for protection from storms — and contributing nutrients to the beach ecosystem. Sargassum concentrates in the Sargasso Sea, 988 million acres in the North Atlantic subtropical gyre (large 14 O MARCH 2015 system of rotating ocean currents), bounded by major currents. It floats unattached to the seaf loor and reproduces vegetatively, meaning new mats grow from parts of other ones rather than from seeds or spores. That makes the Sargasso Sea essentially one enormous super-organism. And a “super” organism it is. The Gulf of Mexico produces about a million tons of new sargassum each year, says Larry McKinney, director of the Harte Research Institute for Gulf of Mexico Studies at Texas A&M University–Corpus Christi. More than 100 species of fish spawn in the Sargasso Sea, including white marlin and dolphinfish, and the seaweed functions as a mobile, open-sea Why we shouldn’t curse the seaweed piles on the beach. nursery for many species of marine life, including billfish. Young loggerhead, hawksbill, Kemp’s ridley and green sea turtles hide from predators in the mats and eat both the algae and creatures living in it. Commercial fish such as tuna pass through the Sargasso Sea on their annual migrations and depend on the mats for food, as do humpback whales and a variety of birds. About a dozen species spend their entire lives in sargassum mats. The seaweed also may generate the bulk of marine snow, particulates that fall toward the ocean floor more than a mile below, providing nutrients to creatures throughout the water column. The seaweed is protected in PHOTO BY CHASE A. FOUNTAIN / TPWD Sargassum in the Gulf, left, and on the beach, above, at Padre Island. U.S. waters off the southeast coast through the authority of the U.S. South Atlantic Fishery Management Council. Critical habitat for a population of endangered loggerhead sea turtles, designated by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in July, includes a large swath of sargassum habitat in the Gulf of Mexico and Atlantic. In March 2014, the Azores, Bermuda, Monaco, United Kingdom and United States signed an agreement forming the Sargasso Sea Commission to collaborate on conserving the resource. That agreement is voluntary, however, and the commission has no management authority. This situation leaves sargassum vulnerable to serious threats, including pollution from oil, bilge and ballast water discharge from ships; plastic waste from ship- and land-based sources; fisheries bycatch; harvest for use in fertilizer, biofuel and pharmaceuticals; climate change and ocean acidification. Anywhere from 4.5 to 12 million tons of sargassum float in the Gulf and Atlantic at any one time. The exact amount is hard to measure because the mats sink during storms and break up and move with currents. It is also hard to know just how much ends up washing ashore, as this variable amount depends on several factors. In early summer 2014, Texas beaches were covered with a bumper crop of the stuff, most likely due to a cold winter that killed a lot of the seaweed, followed by winds driving it ashore. On May 22, more than 8,400 tons hit a 3.3-mile stretch of Galveston beach, the most ever recorded for a 24-hour period in the area. In response, the city put up educational signs and handed out fliers, asking visitors to be tolerant and recognize that the seaweed is an important part of the Gulf ecosystem. The Galveston Park Board even sent out 50 trained volunteers, dubbed the Bucket Brigade, to interact with beach-goers and introduce them to the interesting creatures living in sargassum. Most Texas communities regularly clear away as much of the seaweed as possible, though. Galveston pushes it to the back of the beach where it can decompose naturally. Port Aransas uses a method called front-notching; crews cut a “notch” about 40 feet deep and a few hundred feet long in the front of the island’s tall dunes, then scoop up the seaweed and pack it into the notch. City officials aren’t happy with the way this looks, though, and have been testing equipment modified to pick up more seaweed and less sand. Based on the results, they may use the equipment to move seaweed to an out- of-the-way location and let it break down, which it does fairly quickly. Researchers at Texas A&M University–Galveston compressed washed-up sargassum as a base for creating dunes and are evaluating whether these seaweed-anchored dunes can better withstand the force of ocean waves and storm surges. Scientists at the Harte Research Institute in Corpus Christi are studying sargassum’s role in the beach ecosystem and how efforts to clear it affect that ecosystem. “It is better to leave it in place,” says James Gibeaut, chair of coastal and marine geospatial sciences at the institute. “But if it has to be removed, we hope to provide guidelines for the best way to do that to minimize the negative effects.” Given how much this hard-working seaweed contributes to a healthy Gulf ecosystem, those guidelines will come in handy. —Melissa Gaskill 888-489-1680 sandcreekpostandbeam.com TEXAS PARKS & WILDLIFE O 15 P Timeless S T H I Refuge The beauty of Resaca de la Palma is preserved amid the bustle of the Valley. Even though the agriculture and industry of nearby Rio Grande Valley cities creep ever closer, Resaca de la Palma State Park stands strong as a place where the landscape doesn’t change. The historically flood-filled resacas do need a little help to flow these days, but this refuge of thornscrub habitat remains virtually untouched by the hustle and bustle around it. Colorful butterflies float from flower to flower for nourishment, birds of every size and color inspect the trees and resacas for their next meals, and wildlife like the Texas tortoise patrol the landscape for tasty morsels. Really the only thing that changed with the park’s 2008 opening is the opportunity for visitors to connect with nature. Tram tours and guided hikes led by expert rangers and volunteers take you on winding paths through the thornscrub and over the resacas for an up-close and personal interaction with the residents. Those Reel braggin’ rights! ShareLunker 525, caught by Jason Brudnicki Salt Lake City, UT Falcon Reservoir When you do, you will receive a free replica of your catch, and if you’re a Texas resident and you reel in the biggest ShareLunker entry of the season (Oct. 1, 2014 – April 30, 2015), you’ll also win a lifetime fishing license! If you catch a ShareLunker, call the Toyota ShareLunker 24-hour hotline at (903) 681-0550 and we’ll come pick up your lunker, anywhere, anytime. For general ShareLunker program information, call (903) 670-2285 during business hours. www.tpwd.texas.gov/sharelunker Find ShareLunker on Facebook! 16 O MARCH 2015 TOP PHOTO BY CHASE A. FOUNTAIN / TPWD; LOWER PHOTO © LARRY DITTO If you reel in a largemouth bass weighing more than 13 pounds (a “lunker”), you can donate it to help breed bigger bass in Texas. who prefer to tour on their own can rent a bicycle for a flat, easy pedal on the park’s paved roads. Many visitors come to discover the nearly 300 species of birds found at Resaca de la Palma — some of which are found only in this type of South Texas habitat. Birders from all over the world flock to the park to see colorful birds like the altamira oriole and green jay, or the less colorful but no less interesting groove-billed ani. An attention-getting part of the park’s soundtrack is the deafening alarm the plain chachalacas emit after spotting a perceived threat, TOP PHOTO BY EARL NOTTINGHAM / TPWD; LOWER PHOTO BY CHASE A. FOUNTAIN / TPWD MAX OUT ON FINS & GRINS. like a bobcat or human. Birds aren’t the only fliers that flourish here. Stunning butterflies like zebra heliconians and orange- barred sulphurs work the flowers in the butterfly garden and frequently will investigate bright colors on visitors’ shirts, a delightful surprise for many. The park offers myriad programs for people of all ages throughout the year. There are weeklong summer camps for kids, with hopes of creating new stewards for places like Resaca de la Palma by offering an enjoyable, exciting outdoor experience. Fishing and geocaching are just a few of the many activities available. Feeling a little overwhelmed by city life? Work some of that stress away with Resaca de la Palma State Park preserves the native habitat of the Rio Grande Valley. Visitors can hike, bike or take a tram tour through the park. Birds flourish here, and tropical species such as the great kiskadee (opposite page) attract bird watchers. yoga in the park or a 5K run through nature’s beautiful surroundings. Start new family traditions by joining park staff for a holiday event like the Jolly Night Hike in December or a First Day Hike on New Year’s Day. For more information, contact the park at (956) 350-2920 or visit the park website at www.tpwd.texas.gov/ state-parks/resaca-de-la-palma. —Ben Horstmann TEXAS PARKS & WILDLIFE O 17 PHOTO COURTESY OF SHERYL SMITH-RODGERS, LADY BIRD JOHNSON WILDFLOWER CENTER P Mystery Stingers THIS Noseburn lies low, so you may not know what stung you. Noseburn grows close to the ground and blends in well there, so gardeners and wildflower pickers often don’t notice it until they’re attacked by its stinging hairs. Even then, they may never see what “got” them. The term “noseburn” refers to a group of related plants (genus Tragia) in the spurge family. At least six species are found in various Texas regions: Pineywoods, Hill Country, Rio Grande Valley and far West Texas. Though small in stature and unremarkable in appearance, these plants aren’t difficult to spot if you know what to look for. Noseburn flowers don’t look like much. They don’t have petals, and although they are distant relatives of the poinsettia, they lack the colorful bracts that make their tame cousins so popular at holiday time. The nondescript blooms appear in small clusters, with male and female parts in separate flowers. All noseburns have this in common: the entire plant — stem, leaves and fruit — is armed with stinging hairs. They’re small, but visible. Turn a leaf sideways to the light, and you’ll see little spikes protruding from both sides. In strong sunlight, the hairs seem to sparkle. That’s because each one is tipped with a tiny crystal of calcium oxalate. A 1976 study at Texas A&M University took a close look at the stinging mechanism. Viewed with an electron microscope, each hair is seen to be a four-celled structure. Cedar Bayou Fish Pass Now Open. www.rockport-fulton.org @ visitrockportfulton 1-800-242-0071 Photo by Mike Probst 18 O MARCH 2015 Three support cells surround a tall central cell that rises above the leaf’s surface, with a crystal at the tip and a cavity down below that holds a drop of irritating fluid. The crystal works like a spear point: touch the plant and it pierces your skin. The fluid irritant comes right behind it, released by pressure on the bending hair. Any brush with noseburn is likely to involve dozens of stinging hairs. You may find noseburn lurking where you kneel to pick a wildflower, or it may assault your toes and ankles as you stroll across a meadow. You may lie down on a grassy hillside to gaze at clouds and find yourself leaping up moments later, wondering if you’ve planted yourself on a fire ant mound. In my encounters with noseburn, I’ve experienced a few seconds’ delay between contact and sting. If I’m moving fast, I may be several feet away from the source of trouble before I know I’ve been hit. Fortunately, the sting subsides after a few minutes and does no lasting harm. Over time, I’ve come to regard the tricky Tragias as friends. They aren’t beautiful, but they’re survivors. They fly under the radar and know how to take care of themselves. Their stingers are marvels of engineering. And they give me one more reason to remember that, while enjoying the Texas outdoors, it’s always best to watch where I step. — Dyanne Fry Cortez WOMEN IN CONSERVATION A LEGACY OF CONSERVATION LED BY WOMEN THANK YOU TO OUR SPONSORS To honor the courage of our conservation pioneers, Audubon Texas has proudly created the Texas Women in Conservation Program and the Terry Hershey Award. This program recognizes outstanding women leaders in today's conservation movement throughout the Lone Star State and creates opportunities for Texas’ girls and women to become more involved in conservation through internships, hands-on science programming, travel experiences and scholarships. ACTIVISTS Donna Bailey Chevron Cullen Geiselman/Beth Robertson Mary Gwen & Ben Hulsey/Ann & Tom Kelsey Terry Hershey To all of our sponsors, partners, and supporters of this year’s Texas Women in Conservation Luncheon and Terry Hershey Award recipients: a heartfelt thank you. Together we are working to make conservation a part of every Texan’s life. Congratulations to our 2015 Terry Hershey Award recipients: MARY ANNE PIACENTINI Executive Director, Katy Prairie Conservancy ELLEN TEMPLE Conservationist, Book Publisher, & Education Advocate SUSAN RIEFF Executive Director, Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center CAROL DINKINS Environmental Practice Group Leader, Vinson & Elkins LLP INNOVATORS Karen J. Hixon Patricia E. Melton Family Trust Sterling Associates Ellen and Buddy Temple Texas Parks and Wildlife Foundation ADVOCATES Bayou Preservation Association Board Sara Bettencourt/Jim Winn George Bristol and Gretchen Denney Cate + Proctor Jan and Jack Cato Claire Caudill/The Garden Club of Houston City of Cedar Hill/City of Lewisville Exxon Mobil Corporation Houston Audubon Board The Garden Club of Houston Andrew & Nona Samson Vinson & Elkins LLP Special thanks to 2015 host chapter Black Beauty P THIS Ranchers love the threatened Texas indigo snake. As my dad and I amble down the main walkway toward the exit of the Santa Ana National Wildlife Refuge in Alamo, he suddenly flings an arm across my path, causing me to freeze mid-step. My eyes follow his to the huge black snake only a few feet in front of us. We nearly trampled a Texas indigo snake, one of the largest species of nonvenomous snakes in the country. A refuge staffer stands across from us with his arms outstretched to stop visitors from coming any closer to the snake. As its ebony scales glitter in the hot Valley sun, the snake slithers across the concrete path and into the brush that lines either side, its considerable length disappearing in just a few seconds. Though it’s called the Texas indigo NEW Birding and Photo Events! 13th Annual snake (Drymarchon melanurus erebennus), the snake’s range also extends into northern Mexico. The snake makes its habitat primarily near permanent water sources in the Tamaulipan grassland region of South Texas, although it can also be found as far north and west as the southern edge of the Edwards Plateau in western Central Texas. Indigo snakes are big snakes. Most adult indigo snakes grow to between 5½ and 6½ feet in length. The longest recorded indigo snake was nearly 8½ feet long. This snake is actually mottled, with dark brown along its front half. Its name comes from the varying shades of blue-black — or indigo — it displays along the rear half of its body, though such coloration does not usually appear until the snake matures. Juvenile indigo snakes appear to be all black. Texas indigo snakes are diurnal predators, meaning they are active during the day. Unlike other large snakes, indigo snakes do not rely on constriction or venom to subdue their prey. Rather, they simply overpower it. They will eat almost any vertebrate animal they can subdue with their strong jaws, including toads, frogs, salamanders, lizards, turtles, birds, small mammals and other snakes. One specimen was found with three mice, two Mexican burrowing toads and two juvenile snapping turtles in its stomach. These snakes are also known to eat rattlesnakes, which can be three to four times heavier than an indigo snake. While they are not immune to rattlesnake venom, they have developed a tolerance for it. Indigoes also eat other snakes, including juvenile indigo snakes if they are not strong enough. While it tackles tough prey, the indigo snake is not necessarily harmful to humans. “It’s a gorgeous snake, and it’s not aggressive,” says Andy Gluesenkamp, Texas Parks and Wildlife Department herpetologist. “If you’re nice to the snake, it’ll give you a chance to look at it.” April 9-12, 2015 REGISTER ONLINE! GalvestonFeatherFest.com 832.459.5533 20 O MARCH 2015 PHOTO © LARRY DITTO 200+ Species of Birds High Island Trips “I’m not sure which surprised me more – the size of Lake Conroe or the size of the bass I caught there.” W ith 22,000 acres of the bluest waters in East Texas, 156 miles of shoreline, and bluegill and bass big enough to make your tallest fishing tale the truth, Lake Conroe is a f isherman’s delight. Come experience it for yourself. PHOTO © ROLF NUSSBAUMER TXP&W-3-15 A great day for the angler, not so much for the fish. Like other snakes, the Texas indigo snake is an egg-layer. After mating in late winter and early spring, female indigo snakes deposit the eggs — as few as three or as many as a dozen — in an underground burrow about a month later to incubate until hatching, usually in the early summer. Texas indigo snakes are listed by the state as a threatened species, due in large part to habitat destruction. In South Texas, one of the nation’s fastest- growing regions and also one of its most ecologically diverse, some 95 percent of the snake’s natural habitat has been destroyed by industrial development and urban sprawl. Because of its protected status, it is illegal to harm, kill, collect or sell Texas indigo snakes. The Texas indigo snake is revered in South Texas, where many ranchers are aware of its propensity for eating predatory rattlesnakes. “Ranchers have a fondness for the Texas indigo snake,” Gluesenkamp says. “It’s a true South Texan snake: charismatic, big and tough.” —Katy Schaffer Plan your fishin’ getaway with our FREE Vacation Guide. 1-877-426-6763 Find more getaway ideas at: www.PlayInConroe.com VisitConroe (tx) World Class Timber Frames 613 Highway 46 East | Boerne, TX 78006 TEXAS PARKS & WILDLIFE O 21 Photo Round-Trip THIS Your smart device and its apps can serve as a processor for enhancing images from your camera or desktop. So, you’ve got that new high- dollar digital camera with a gazillion megapixels and you’d like to take those big, beautiful photo files and do some basic color correcting or creative photo retouching on your desktop computer. The problem is that you don’t have access to a full-featured image editing application such as Photoshop. And perhaps all you would really like to do is achieve the same creative (sometimes cheesy) photo effects that your friends are getting from a plethora of mostly free photo apps on their simple camera phones. Wouldn’t it be great to have access to that same variety of creative potential for your larger DSLR or point-and- shoot camera? No problem! The trick (and it’s an easy one) is to SIGHTS & SOUNDS transfer those higher-quality/resolution images from your digital camera or computer hard drive to your smart device (phone or tablet), where they can then be opened with any number of popular apps, such as Instagram, Photoshop Express, Perfectly Clear, Snapseed, Hipstamatic, Camera+ and ProCamera. Once there, they can then be enhanced with a seemingly infinite variety of filters, styles or preset “looks.” Some apps, such as Perfectly Clear, excel in basic corrections like sharpness, contrast and color balance, while others allow you to create your masterpiece from a palette limited only by your own artistic vision. There are several ways of transferring DSLR or point-and-shoot TEXAS PARKS & WILDLIFE TV AND RADIO T E L E V I S I O N LOOK FOR THESE STORIES IN THE COMING WEEKS March 1–7: Two-wheeling Texans; shooter’s safety; Bastrop pool; license leaders; spring white bass. March 8–14: Texas paddling trails; Austin’s warblers; the knowledgeable botanist; big views at Big Spring; musical bikers. March 15–21: The climate detective; Garner State Park traditions; canoe basics; birding beginners; fall at McKinney Falls. March 22–28: Sandhill cranes; bird hunting tips; Fort Boggy State Park; slow water; outdoor education in the city. March 29–April 4: Discovering the Buffalo Soldiers; dealing with kills and spills; good guzzlers; Trinity River sunrise. RADIO YOUR RADIO GUIDE TO THE GREAT OUTDOORS Passport to Texas is your guide to the great Texas outdoors. Any time you tune in, you’ll remember why you love Texas. Go to www.passporttotexas.org to find a station near you that airs the series. 22 O MARCH 2015 Discover the history of the Buffalo Soldiers. Watch the week of March 29–April 4. TEXAS PARKS & WILDLIFE Winner of 12 Emmy Awards, our ­television series is broadcast ­throughout Texas on local PBS ­affiliates. In stereo with closed captions. www.tpwd.state.tx.us/tv PASSPORT TO TEXAS Join host Cecilia Nasti weekdays for a 90-second excursion into the Texas Outdoors. Find a station near you, or listen on the Web at www.passporttotexas.org camera files to a smart device. Many newer cameras now include wireless connectivity that enables the uploading of photos directly from the camera to a wireless device. Alternately, if your images reside on a desktop computer, they can be transferred to your device via a synchronized file hosting service like Dropbox, iCloud or Google Drive. They can then be downloaded and saved to your device’s camera roll or photo album. Another option is to send yourself an email from your computer with the photo attached; open the email on your device and save the photo to the camera roll or photo album. Be sure to email the photo at its highest resolution, if given the option. You can now open the photo on your device with your app of choice and perform the desired tweaks and enhancements. You can then save your new version of the photo to that device and share it as you normally would by email, messaging or social networking; or it can be sent back (called “round-tripping”) to your desktop computer for storage via the same method you used initially to transfer it. The beauty of this process is that your photo will retain its original (larger) size and resolution characteristics throughout its journey from camera to computer to device and back. What a trip! The lack of expensive photo editing software is no reason for a digital image to be robbed of its artistic potential. While it may seem counterintuitive to edit a high-resolution camera file on a smartphone, the results can be amazing. — Earl Nottingham CAMERA PHOTO COURTESY OF CANON PRESS; IPHONE © INOX269DREAMSTIME.COM; DOG © FOTOSBYSONJA.COM P FO R OV E R 2 5 YEARS EXOFFICIO HAS CELEBRATED THE TRAVELER. The thoughtful design that created the first technical travel shirt has evolved into a complete line of functional and innovative clothing. Outfitting Texans since 1970 for Adventure, Travel & Fun! STORE LOCATIONS Austin • Dallas • Houston San Antonio • Southlake SKILL BUILDER / Caleb Harris THE PERFECT CAST Practice makes perfect when you’re in pursuit of fish. The cast that’s best is the cast that catches a fish. OK, we all know it’s a little more complicated than that. Keep in mind that no perfect method or formula or fancy equipment can come close to the benefit of understanding fish habits, aquatic structure and ecology. Good casting is important, however, so let’s discuss some basic fundamentals so you can practice. Don’t wait until you’re out on the water to learn to cast. Get a hook-less casting plug, go out into the yard, set up some targets and have fun. Kids especially benefit from this yard practice to build skills and confidence. Bonus: They really enjoy it! Sometimes it works, but sometimes it doesn’t go so well. Here are a few ways casting can go wrong. • The lure smacks the ground pretty close to you with a lot of force. Cause: Not letting go of the button or line soon enough, or swinging the rod too far down. • The lure flies high up in the air or lands behind you. Cause: Letting go of the button or line too early. • The line “backlashes” or gets tangled in or around the reel. Cause: The lure is too light for the rod or there’s too much energy in the cast. Slow down and take it easy. Once you can perform a basic cast, you can work on other goals such as distance and accuracy. Just don’t forget that there’s a lot more to fishing than casting. Here are some easy steps to make a basic cast. ±45° With the rod in front of you, angled up at about 45 degrees, press and hold the button. Note: If using a spinning rod, open the bail and hold the line with your index finger; if using a baitcaster, push the button and hold the spool with your thumb. PHOTO © SONJA SOMMERFELD When casting, start by reeling the lure or weight to within an inch of the tip of the rod. Aim at a target about 20 feet away. 24 O MARCH 2015 ±45° Start the back cast by swinging the rod behind you, using your wrist and elbow, not your shoulder. This “loads” the rod as the rod bends backward with the weight of the lure. Without stopping, begin the front cast by swinging it back to its original position. Try to make this only slightly more powerful than the back motion. Let go of the button or line just before stopping at the 45-degree angle. Strength doesn’t matter as much as timing. The rod should be pointed up in the air, not down at the ground or at your target. GET IN TOUCH WITH THE GREAT OUTDOORS. TEXAS PARKS & WILDLIFE MAGAZINE IS NOW AVAILABLE AS AN APP. Tap, swipe and scroll your way around Texas with the new Texas Parks & Wildlife magazine app. Learn more at www.tpwmagazine.com/app TEXAS PARKS & WILDLIFE O 25 Days in the Field / By Tom Harvey DESTINATION: DEL RIO T R A V E L D T I M E F R O M : AUSTIN – 3.5 hours / BROWNSVILLE – 6 hours / DALLAS – 6 hours HOUSTON – 5 hours / SAN ANTONIO – 2.5 hours / LUBBOCK – 5 hours Rock trip Rio el leads Art North America’s ‘oldest book.’ Rendezvous to In this panoramic shot, the U.S. Highway 90 bridge spans the Pecos River near its confluence with the Rio Grande, an area rich in rock art. Devils River 26 O MARCH 2015 leads regular tours to about 10 sites, all on private land, including the marvelous Galloway White Shaman Preserve. It also serves as the volunteer friends group for Seminole Canyon State Park and Historic Site, leading tours to several outstanding archeological sites in the park, including the Fate Bell Shelter. On a crisp October morning, we file down a rocky path into Seminole Canyon, our first tour of the trip. With me is my daughter Roma Bard, a college history major with a keen interest in prehistoric art, sparked in part by her fascination with French rock art sites like Chauvet Cave, with its beautiful images of galloping horses. The day is stunningly fresh and sublime: brilliant sunlight, a cloudless sky and cool, dry air. Rain the week before has left the desert landscape green and blooming. As our troupe of 15 or so gathers down in the canyon around park Superintendent Randy Rosales, clear water pools on the flat limestone next to us, trickling down toward the Rio Grande, just a mile or two away. Water in the desert ­— the source of life and the reason prehistoric tribes gathered here for shelter in an arid land. Rosales tells us the story of the Seminole Negro Indian Scouts, descendants of African American slaves, named for their connection with the native Seminoles in Florida. They later fled to Mexico to escape persecution before returning to serve as U.S. military scouts in the Texas “Indian Wars” of the mid-1800s. The park has a new exhibit telling their story, along with other exhibits about the area’s natural and human history and prehistory. Filing into the Fate Bell Shelter, PHOTO © AL BRADEN Midway between the iconic Big Bend region and big Texas cities to the east lies a fascinating place of rugged beauty, world-class hunting, hiking and camping, river paddling, the state’s oldest winery and a priceless Texas treasure — ancient Native American rock art. This area surrounds Del Rio on the Rio Grande and is accessed via U.S. Highway 90, the more interesting alternative to Interstate 10 for those heading west. We timed our trip to coincide with the annual Rock Art Foundation Rendezvous, a cornucopia of prehistoric art tours to intriguing places you can’t reach otherwise. The San Antonio-based nonprofit foundation of about 800 members maintains relations with private ranchers to encourage rock art stewardship and provide public access to archeological sites. The foundation Seminole Canyon MEYERS SPRING © ROMA BARD; SHAMAN © LAURENCE PARENT we see a multitude of pictographs painted on walls under the overhanging cliff, including human figures with arms raised like flying birds. Thousands of visitors and scholars have puzzled over their meanings. The tour moves into the main living area where ancient people prepared meals around cook fires. The fibrous remains of woven materials and cooking materials are still there, lying around on the ground, preserved in the dry air for centuries. “To me, it is one of the great things to be involved with in life,” says a man with a strong French accent, taking photos of the rock art with a nice camera on a tripod. Francois Gohier tells us he volunteered to document the caves at Lascaux as a college student in the late 1950s. He now lives in California and, like us, is here for the Rendezvous. Later, Roma and I take time for a little side visit with Carolyn Boyd, a fine art painter turned archeologist, who founded the Shumla School in Comstock in 1998. “We needed a place where students of all ages could be immersed in the natural and cultural environment here,” Boyd says. “I came out in 1997 with a group from [Texas] A&M, and I watched them transform before my eyes from students who were mediocre in class and had trouble with concepts to students who came to life and excelled.” Pecos Rock Art Visitors (left) check out a cliff covered with pictographs at the Meyers Spring Ranch in Southwest Texas. The White Shaman picto- graph (above) is the focal point of the Galloway White Shaman Preserve outside Del Rio. Shumla hosts summer programs for college students and organizes volunteers for its Border Canyonlands Archaeological Project to document regional rock art sites. The Shumla Scholars Program engages young Comstock students in hands-on learning, like mapping the Comstock cemetery using 3D imagery. (Information about internships and volunteer opportunities is on the school’s website at www.shumla.org.) At the time of our visit, Boyd was hard at work on a new book about the White Shaman site, inspired in part by a breakthrough visit by a Huichol shaman from Mexico in 2010. “He was saying, ‘They’re all here. Our grandfather’s grandfather’s grandfathers. They’re all here,’” Boyd tells us. “He started pointing to certain figures. He confirmed what I had been suspecting, that the White Shaman images depict not the peyote hunt ritual, but the myth that informs the ritual, the creation story.” That afternoon, Roma and I join a group and file down a rocky path to the White Shaman — city penitents on another tourist pilgrimage to a 4,000-year-old mystery. As we enter PORTLANDTX.COM Central to all things coastal TEXAS PARKS & WILDLIFE O 27 the steep side canyon, brilliant sun sparkles on the Pecos River below, and the Highway 90 bridge spans the river elegantly in the distance. I am reminded of something Boyd had observed. “Most drivers cross the bridge and never know they are within a stone’s throw of perhaps the oldest known book in North America,” she writes in her new book. We arrive in late afternoon, and though the light is not best for viewing the piece, we are nonetheless entranced and take turns snapping photos of the complex swirl of images, including the pale human figure with upraised arms — the White Shaman. That night, we share a campfire at the White Shaman preserve, a treat for Rendezvous weekenders who get to camp there. Rising early, we meet the Rendezvous caravan in Dryden, west of Comstock. Soon, 20 vehicles are bumping along ranch roads north to Camp Meyers, a Seminole Indian Scout camp on the Meyers Spring Ranch. Ranch owner Thad Steele of El Paso greets us at his headquarters compound. For years, Steele, the Rock 28 O MARCH 2015 Art Foundation and the Center for Big Bend Studies at Sul Ross University collaborated to restore an 1882 stone building on the ranch used by the Seminole scouts. Our group walks up to the spring, and the scene changes from arid desert to green oasis. Water from the spring flows down a small canyon, and on the other side of the stream we see a 30-foot cliff covered with rock art. This fascinating private site, accessible only through Rock Art Foundation tours, has both 500-year- old historic rock art by Comanches and Apaches and older Pecos River-style art dating back 2,750 to 4,000 years. The later art shows horses, clearly marking it from the era after the Spanish arrival, and in places this is painted right over the ancient art, like historical vandalism. I’m struck by an image that looks familiar — it turns out to be the cross-like sun symbol that adorns the New Mexico state flag. After lunch we visit the restored stone structure and linger inside, hearing more lore of the Seminole scouts. “We did it for their memory,” says Steele, looking proudly at the building’s stout walls. He tells us that hunting helps sustain the ranch enterprise. Last year the ranch was issued TPWD Managed Lands Deer Permits for 187 whitetails and three mule deer, and also hosted a three-day Texas Youth Hunting Program hunt. We camp at Devils River State Natural Area north of Del Rio, where the original Del Norte Unit offers primitive camping and hiking in outdoor solitude. The pristine river is fed by numerous crystal-clear springs. Several of these are located at the state natural area, which provides visitors the chance to enjoy a truly peaceful wilderness river experience. Paddlers interested in exploring the river by boat should see the park’s Web page for a wealth of information, including how to obtain a $10 Devils River Access Permit. The permit gives paddlers access to both Del Norte and the newer Big Satan Unit, which is in the process of planning and development for increased public use in the future. On the way in to Devils River, we pass a vehicle carrying Texas Tech University archeologist Tamra Walter and Alistair Burton of Gracy International Volunteer Expeditions. They are partnering to study and conserve San Bushmen rock art in Zimbabwe, and Burton has come to see how things are done in Texas. We share a quick, excited conversation with them through the truck window before rolling on. On Sunday, we at last turn toward home, leaving a list of unexplored local attractions. I’d hoped to stop at the beautiful Amistad National Recreation Area, a multi-armed reservoir on the Rio Grande with great fishing, hiking and rock art viewing. I’d also wanted to see the Whitehead Memorial Museum, with exhibits interpreting the area’s history and ranching heritage, and the Val Verde Winery, said to be the oldest bonded winery in Texas, established in 1883 by Italian immigrant Frank Qualia. Thank heaven for missed oppor­tunities — that’s what next time is for! O 30 O MARCH 2015 FAMILY CAMPING MADE EASY For some people, camping seems as easy as tying your shoes. For those of us who didn’t grow up pounding tent stakes and cooking over a campfire … well, it can be more than a little intimidating. My choices were to avoid camping for the rest of my life or to dive right in and give it a try. I gathered up my courage and decided I can do this! Then, I realized I hadn’t a clue where to begin. As a member of the computer- savvy generation, I did what any of my friends would do: surf the Web. There I found a dizzying array of tents and other gear in all kinds of shapes, colors, sizes and brands. I was overwhelmed and immediately defeated. Luckily, my job at the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department provided just the answer. The low-cost Texas Outdoor Family program, offered to all Texans by TPWD, not only teaches “newbies” like me how to camp, but equipment is provided. Sign me up! BY STEPHANIE M. SALINAS PHOTO THIS PAGE BY BRANDON JAKOBEIT / TPWD; OTHER PHOTOS BY CHASE A. FOUNTAIN / TPWD TEXAS PARKS & WILDLIFE O 31 This page: Inks Lake State Park hosted a Texas Outdoor Family weekend last June; camping gear for the weekend is supplied by the program. Opposite: A Texas Outdoor Family weekend is filled with activities such as geocaching, hiking, fishing and kayaking. 32 O MARCH 2015 F AST-FORWARD A FEW MONTHS and here I am, heading toward Inks Lake State Park in June with a blanket, a pillow and some food — all that the program requires participants to bring. My confidence wavers for a moment as I worry that I’ve bitten off more than I can chew. What if my trip’s a disaster? Thoughts of collapsing tents and scorched campfire food fill my head. My friend Nicole and I check in and introduce ourselves to the other campers beginning to assemble. Families of all sizes and shapes have come from as far as Houston to participate in the workshop. “We couldn’t be more proud of the diversity the program attracts,” says Chris Holmes, director of interpretive services for state parks at TPWD. “This is truly a program for all Texans.” We’re all looking forward to what we’ll learn in the days ahead: pitching a tent, geocaching, starting a fire safely, kayaking and cooking outdoors. All of this for $85. Lorie Hinze and Case Benoit, an aunt/nephew duo from Austin, tell me they saw the workshop on the TPWD website and knew it would be a good fit for them. “This is the first time in more than 20 years that I have been camping,” Lorie says. “This is my nephew’s first time. These workshops are perfect because I don’t have any camping equipment anymore.” Lorie says she wanted to take Case, age 8, on a trip that would engage him and keep his attention. He already loves geocaching, so it wasn’t hard to convince him. “I look forward to swimming,” says Case. “I have kayaked before, but not fished, so I am excited to try it. I am also excited to go hiking and spend time with my aunt and have fun.” Of course, everyone’s a first- timer there, or a not-in-a-long- timer. Some aren’t even that familiar with Texas. The Toyoda family moved to Houston from Japan a year ago. They brought their two kids to the Inks Lake weekend. “This is the first time we have ever done this kind of workshop,” Kengo Toyoda says. “We don’t have this kind of state park in Japan, so we wanted to experience the outdoors.” The lead ranger, Lindsay Carter, summons us together TEXAS PARKS & WILDLIFE O 33 and introduces the volunteers who will help throughout the weekend. We introduce ourselves and tell our new friends what motivated us to attend. One dad says he loved to camp as a child and wanted to share that with his kids. A mother admits that this is her third workshop. With no family living nearby, she says the workshops give her daughter an opportunity to play outdoors with other children. When the program launched in 2009 with Holmes’ help, no one really knew what would come of it or how successful it would be. After six years, there is no doubt that this popular program is a hit. “The program continues to amaze me in a variety of ways,” Holmes says. “The feedback we receive is so positive. Families get to reconnect with each other, nature and Texas state parks.” Workshops are offered roughly 36 weekends a year and have touched the lives of more than 4,000 families. Participation has nearly tripled since 2009, and the rate isn’t projected to slow anytime soon. Texas’ program has become a national model. Park systems from 17 states, including Oregon, Colorado and New York, have followed Texas’ lead in creating family camping programs. At Inks Lake, after all the campers introduce themselves, we tackle our most important topic: gear. Within the big, white trailer emblazoned with the Texas Outdoor Family logo is everything we need. Each family is assigned a tub and an REI tent. The tub contains pots and pans, a propane stove with fuel, cooking utensils, washtubs for dishes, a lantern and a rubber hammer to stake down the tent. The kids head off on a Junior Ranger hike while the grown- ups learn how to set up the campsite. The rangers have cots and sleeping pads for us, so we set up our tents and make a 34 O MARCH 2015 cozy, comfortable home inside. Case returns from the hike happy and bubbling over with new information. He looks at our handiwork with an ear-to-ear grin. “I’m excited to sleep in a tent for the first time!” he says with obvious delight. That evening, our dinner is a gourmet ham and cheese sandwich with a bag of chips and a soda. We’re ravenous from the exercise and fresh air, so we keep it simple — no cooking yet. After our meal, we congregate by the trailer for a presentation called “Sounds of the Night.” Listening to recorded animal sounds, we match the chirps and croaks to the photos projected on the trailer. Although it seems as though it is just fun and games, the owls, toads, insects and raccoons we’re identifying are the very animals we may encounter this weekend. Before we hit the cots and bedrolls, we need to do one more important nighttime task: protect our food from the hungry raccoons! The rangers show us a photo of a box of aluminum foil with a mangled image of an ear of corn inside. During an earlier workshop, a family left the box of foil on their picnic table, and when a raccoon visited them one night, he ate the photo of the corn, thinking it was real. We get the message and This page: Geocaching leads campers to hidden treasure in the park. Opposite: Participants learn the basics of putting up a tent and setting up camp. securely store our food away from the hungry “residents.” Since no ravaging raccoons disturb us during the night, we sleep soundly and get up bright and early for a quick breakfast and some geocaching. With a provided GPS device, the digital treasure hunt leads us around our campsite to ammo boxes and other containers filled with goodies. (If you don’t have a GPS, there are several smartphone apps available to connect you to geocaches in every state park, and even around the globe.) We learn that there’s a geocaching contest in state parks, called the Texas State Parks Geocache Challenge. More than 90 parks, historic sites and natural areas have caches to be found and collected. The more caches you find, the more prizes you win. After our campsite practice, we venture out farther on the hunt. We select the specific geocache to hunt, and a red arrow pops on the screen and leads us to within 10 feet of the cache. We scan the area to find the treasure hidden in plain sight. What fun! We find five more and head back for lunch. The weather is gorgeous, so we spend the afternoon kayaking and fishing on the shimmering lake. Most of us had never kayaked before, so the rangers show us the proper way to deploy the kayak into the water, steer and keep from capsizing. I’ve never felt so free on the water, and so quiet. Some campers decide to try fishing off of the pier near our campsite. No whoppers caught on this trip, but from the whooping and laughing we could hear, no one really cared. Our day ends at the cove, a few feet from the doorway of our tent. While the kids joyfully splash and play in the shallow water, their parents sit back and enjoy the sunset over the lake. We creep back in our tents, a little sad to see the day end, but happily exhausted. Day Three starts with a sunrise on the lake, a little breakfast and TEXAS PARKS & WILDLIFE O 35 a few lessons on how to “Leave No Trace.” The idea is to leave the park not only as it was when we arrived, but in even better condition. So we roll up our tent, return our gear to the trailer, pick up every scrap of trash and pack our cars. Before we leave, though, we have our Texas Outdoor Family graduation ceremony. Each family is called by name and given a graduation certificate and a tote bag of TPWD goodies. The main goal of Texas Outdoor Family is to connect families to nature by providing enjoyable camping experiences at state parks, and this weekend proves it is doing just that. Research shows that families who have gone through the workshop double their confidence level in camping and also value state parks much more. Nearly 74 percent of families return for day trips, and about 50 percent of families return for overnight trips. “After doing this workshop, we are planning to buy tents and come back,” says Ayumi Toyoda. “Now we know what we will need and what would be good to get.” Ayumi says their children were excited about the activities they took part in during the weekend. “They loved geocaching,” she says. “They learned how to use the GPS and were excited to find lots of great prizes.” Little daughter Noe smiles shyly and nods her head in agreement. While packing up the car with his aunt Lorie, Case tells me his impressions of the weekend. “I want to come back to this park. I liked it!” says Case. “My favorite part was the geocaching. I liked finding stuff and hiking. The GPS was fun to use. I am going to tell my friends that I went geocaching, fishing and kayaking, and that they should do it, too.” We thank the rangers, say goodbye to our new friends and head back home, ready to plan our next camping trip. O 36 O MARCH 2015 Texas Outdoor Family campers learn about outdoor cooking (above), go for a swim (right) and launch boats for a kayak adventure (below). New for the Texas Outdoor Family Program Equipment: In the fall of 2014, the Texas Outdoor Family program upgraded its equipment. Future campers will be using new REI tents and cots during their weekend trips. The program is also gradually changing its entire fleet of stoves over to propane, making camping basics easier than ever. Locations: The TOF program has expanded to Franklin Mountains State Park in El Paso. Gear has been stationed at the park to allow for more camping workshops in the future. Several other parks, including Brazos Bend, Galveston Island and Stephen F. Austin, have local support groups trained and ready, so gear has been stationed there as well. Bilingual: Bilingual TOF workshops are a new addition at some state parks. Leadership: TOF has implemented a Master Outdoor Leadership Training course, a weekend session to learn about curriculum and best practices for leading outdoor adventures in parks. This program has been offered in Houston, but will be expanding to the Dallas-Fort Worth area and Austin this spring. All TOF information can be found at texasstateparks.org/tof. TEXAS PARKS & WILDLIFE O 37 Water hyacinth at Toledo Bend STORY BY LARRY D. HODGE Carl Boatman points the nose of the airboat TOP PHOTO BY TPWD; OPPOSITE BY LARRY D. HODGE / TPWD directly at the green wall confronting us on Toledo Bend Reservoir and revs the motor, raising a wall of mist behind us. I brace for impact as we slam into the wall — but we sail smoothly on. We’re riding on a 3-foot-thick floating carpet of water hyacinth and giant salvinia. More than 9,000 acres of the north end of Texas’ largest reservoir lie smothered beneath a blanket of plants descended from those that were brought to Texas from South America in the not-too-distant past. The plants found their way, either on purpose or by accident, into the state’s prime fishing lakes. Left unchecked, these alien invaders will suck the life out of Toledo Bend and the hundred or so other Texas lakes they already infest. They are not alone. An army of more than 800 invasive plant species has quietly They compete with native species, damage the health of ecosystems, waste precious water, stifle water recreation and harm property values. infiltrated Texas lands and waters. 38 O MARCH 2015 InvasIon Water-hogging invasives beware: TPWD is out to get you. TEXAS PARKS & WILDLIFE O 39 © ISAAC SZABO / ENGBRETSON UNDERWATER PHOTOGRAPHY LEAST WANTED “The impacts of aquatic invasive species are far-reaching,” says Tim Birdsong, chief of habitat conservation for Texas Parks and Wildlife Department’s Inland Fisheries Division. “They are not likely to go away, and they are costing Texas billions of dollars annually.” Invasive species affecting aquatic habitats on the Texas “most not wanted” list are hydrilla, water hyacinth, alligatorweed, giant salvinia and zebra mussels. Salt cedar and giant reed grow on land, but all can have negative impacts. Plants can grow so thick as to impede navigation and irrigation. Left unchecked, they can totally block light from entering the water, preventing the growth of the microscopic plants and animals forming the base of the food chain feeding fish. All forms of water-based recreation suffer, including waterfowl hunting when birds perceive a solid mass of floating vegetation as dry land and go elsewhere. Perhaps the most serious effect is one you can’t see: water loss due to transpiration. Water hyacinth uses water at a rate up to 13 times what the loss to evaporation would be from open water. Giant reed can use up to 12 times as much water as the native vegetation it displaces. Salt cedar also uses more water than native vegetation. There are real impacts Giant salvinia 40 O MARCH 2015 LEFT BY LARRY D. HODGE/ TPWD RIGHT PHOTO © ENGBRETSON UNDERWATER PHOTOGRAPHY from these water losses, especially in a state suffering from a drought that some climatologists think could continue for decades and far surpass the drought of the 1950s in severity. Water hyacinth may cause the loss of more than 100,000 acre- Hydrilla feet of water each year in Texas, enough to serve 1.1 million people. That’s like losing the amount of water supplied each year by 21,000-acre Lake Lavon. While it’s not known how much water is lost to the atmosphere from land-based species such as salt cedar and giant reed, the 500,000 acres of salt cedar and 60,000 acres of giant reed obviously use a lot of water. Both also crowd out grass and reduce grazing capacity. Invasive species don’t only impede the movement of boats through water, they also can inhibit the flow of water itself. In recent times, water hyacinth and hydrilla clogged the Rio Grande, forcing the watermaster to release up to 30 percent more water than needed for irrigation and municipal supply to push the water through the vegetation. Hydrilla on Lake Austin created so much drag during a high-water event that water backed up and flooded seven Austin homes. Those problems may pale in comparison to the latest aquatic invader, zebra mussels. First discovered in Texas in 2009, these Asian imports colonize and clog anything left in the water, including boats, docks, and intake structures for water treatment and hydroelectric plants and their internal piping. In the Great Lakes region, zebra mussels cost the electric utility industry half a billion dollars a year in increased maintenance and lost generating capacity. Texas has 23 power plants; zebra mussel maintenance could cost up to $9 million annually. It’s everyone’s problem. Ratepayers Zebra mussels LEFT AND RIGHT PHOTOS BY CHASE A. FOUNTAIN / TPWD will bear the cost. Maybe you don’t own a power plant, ranch or boat or draw water from the Rio Grande to irrigate a crop. You’re not home-free. Shoreline property values on lakes infested by aquatic invasive vegetation can decline as much as 16 percent. Statewide, that could add up to billions of dollars and loss of property tax revenue as well. Feeling smug because you don’t own lakefront property? Where do you think taxing entities will get the money to make up that lost revenue? Look in a mirror. It is a war, and you are involved. East Texas has hydrilla, giant salvinia, giant reed, water hyacinth and zebra mussels. West Texas has salt cedar, giant reed and hydrilla. South Texas has salt cedar and water hyacinth. North Texas has salt cedar, giant reed, water hyacinth and zebra mussels. According to www.texasinvasives. org, giant reed has been recorded at 867 sites, salt cedar at 144, water hyacinth at 77, giant salvinia at 46, hydrilla at 101, zebra mussels at seven. Under good growing conditions, water hyacinth can double its coverage of a lake in two to three weeks. Giant salvinia can double in less than a week. And W all the aquatic species are easily transported from one body of water to another, most likely by boats. Once there, they are almost impossible to get rid of. No matter what you do, they keep coming back. Zombie plants. Coming soon to a lake near you. Salt cedar Alligatorweed Marshaled against this nightmarish invasion is TPWD’s invasive aquatics SWAT team — seven people, one airboat and an annual budget of $1.4 million — that treats only 4 percent of the aquatic invasive species issues in the state. The invaders are winning — for now. The fight against invasive species will be a continuing one, and it will require additional funding. Only $750,000 of the invasive species program’s $1.4 million annual budget comes from state funds. (In comparison, Florida spends $18 million to $19 million annually, and Louisiana spends $7 million to $8 million.) TPWD has submitted a request to the Legislature for $9 million annually for 2016 and 2017. Some $700,000 annually would be spent on education aimed at preventing the introduction and spread of invasive species and $200,000 for control of marine species such as lionfish and tiger shrimp. The bulk of the money would go for herbicide treatments, physical removal, planting of native vegetation, inspection and monitoring, and development of biological controls. “This funding increase, while significant, would still enable us to address only about 20 percent of the invasive species problems confronting Texas,” says TPWD’s Birdsong. “In order to keep pace with growing invasive species problems, it will be necessary to increase the resources made available for their control and management and to maintain that level of support long-term.” LEFT BY LARRY D. HODGE/ TPWD RIGHT BY SONJA SOMMERFELD / TPWD ater hyacinth Giant reed TEXAS PARKS & WILDLIFE O 41 GAR ATOR LLIG A PHOTO BY CHASE A. FOUNTAIN / TPWD IS THE MISUNDERSTOOD R FISH WATE OF FRESH 42 O MARCH 2015 BY DYANNE FRY CORTEZ TEXAS PARKS & WILDLIFE O 43 PHOTO BY EARL NOTTINGHAM / TPWD “We live in Germany. We want to come to Texas and fisch for gar!” TEN YEARS AGO, that message landed in my email box at Texas Parks and Wildlife Department headquarters. It was my first hint that our biggest freshwater fish was starting to get some respect. Four species of gar swim in Texas waters. The alligator gar, Atractosteus spatula, is the granddaddy of them all. It can grow longer than 8 feet and weigh more than 300 pounds. Tough, interlocking scales and a snout full of sharp teeth give it a prehistoric appearance. Scientists believe this species has survived largely unchanged since the days of the dinosaurs. Once viewed as a “trash” fish by a large segment of the sport fishing community, the alligator gar has been getting an image makeover. Feature spots on Animal Planet’s River Monsters and other outdoor shows have led Texas residents and visitors to 44 O MARCH 2015 seek close encounters with the big fish. Resource agencies that spent decades treating “gator gar” as a nuisance species are now talking about conservation. “It’s a unique fish, a misunderstood fish, and it’s had an unfounded bad rap,” says Dave Terre, chief of fisheries management and research at the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department. Texas is a key player in this changing game: it’s one of a few states that still have healthy populations. Alligator gar have declined in or disappeared from much of their historic range. In September 2009, TPWD took the precaution of putting a one-per-day bag limit on alligator gar. At the same time, the department placed a priority on alligator gar research. It’s a long- lived species, quite different from the black bass and catfish reared in Texas hatcheries, and since it wasn’t a high- profile game fish, it never had been studied much. To manage alligator gar for recreational fishing, we needed to know more about what makes them tick. Department biologists have conducted a dozen studies so far, with more in progress (or in the planning stage). They’ve sampled populations in five river systems, tagged individual fish and recorded their movements, and worked with gar anglers to learn how they use the fishery. Along the way, they’ve figured out which sampling methods work best and fine-tuned techniques for estimating a gar’s age by using ear bones and fin clippings. These techniques will assist future research, here in Texas and elsewhere. Here’s a sampling of what we’ve learned. WHAT DO THEY EAT? One factor that feeds the gator gar’s “nuisance” reputation is the widespread belief that it eats up the game fish that license-buying anglers prefer to catch. Results of diet studies suggest that’s not the case. Last year, TPWD biologists analyzed the stomach contents of 392 gator gar collected at Falcon Lake on the Texas/ Mexico border and found carp, tilapia and shad. Game fish made up 20 percent of what the gar had consumed, with largemouth bass accounting for only 8 percent. Studies at six other Texas reservoirs, dating back to 1970, showed even smaller percentages of bass in the gars’ diet, and there’s no evidence that the big fish are having a significant impact on bass populations. Terre notes that many of the state’s best bass lakes — Falcon, Choke Canyon, Sam Rayburn and Toledo Bend — have robust populations of alligator gar. “These fish have coexisted for eons,” he points out. “We can and do have great fishing for largemouth bass and alligator gar in the same place at the same time.” PLANNING FOR SUSTAINABLE HARVEST How many alligator gar can anglers take out before a population goes into irreversible decline? It’s not an idle question, given what has already happened in some other states. To find the answer, biologists needed to understand the gator gar’s unusual life cycle. Alligator gar live a long time and take decades to reach trophy size. A 7-foot fish could be 40 years old. The world record, caught in Mississippi in 2011, measured 8 feet 5 inches and weighed 327 pounds. TPWD researchers examined ear bones from that fish and estimated its age at 95 years. It takes 10 years, on average, for gator gar to reach breeding age. They require certain conditions for successful spawning, and those conditions don’t come around every year. Researchers did age analysis on more than 100 specimens from the Trinity River and used the data to estimate the shape of that population. Fish in the sample ranged from 2 to 47 years old, but there were gaps in the age distribution. “Results suggest that no reproduction occurred in 17 of the past 47 years,” reports Dan Daugherty, a research biologist at TPWD’s Heart of the Hills Fisheries Science Center. We know the gar typically spawn in April and May, congregating in shallow water. Rivers that rise in spring, flooding weedy areas in backwater tributaries, are ideal for this purpose. Checking results against weather records, the Trinity River researchers confirmed that the years of highest reproductive success coincided with good spring rains. As most Texans are aware, spring rains have been unreliable in recent years. The last big spawn on the Trinity occurred during the unusually wet spring and summer of 2007. Short-lived fishes like white bass and crappie can lose up to one-third of their adult population each year and still recover, if lake conditions are right. Some of our hunted animals can also thrive with high harvest rates. Wildlife managers in some areas recommend removing 20 to 30 percent of the white- tailed deer herd each hunting season, just to keep numbers in sync with the available food supply. With alligator gar, an overfished population could take decades to recover. Using the best data available in the early stages of its research, TPWD developed a model to project population changes at various levels of mortality. The model indicated that a 5 percent harvest rate was sustainable; more than that, and populations would Game fish make up 20% of the gar’s diet. Largemouth bass make up just 8% of the gar’s diet. (Based on TPWD Falcon Lake surveys.) The world record gar measures 8 feet 5 inches and weighs 327 pounds. Research suggests that no gar reproduction occurred in 17 of the past 47 years in the Trinity River. TEXAS PARKS & WILDLIFE O 45 Most gar have a home range of less than 40 miles. (Based on TPWD Trinity River surveys.) 14 percent of Texas anglers fish for gator gar each year. On average, it takes 50 hours of effort to bag one gator gar. (Based on data from Trinity River bowfishing tournaments.) 46 O MARCH 2015 start to decline. So, are Texas gar being overfished? Population and harvest data from around the state indicate we’re in good shape so far. Most waters have healthy populations, and we’re seeing harvest rates of 1 to 4 percent. TPWD biologists will keep an eye on that trend. As we learn more about different populations, it may be that bag limits can be loosened — or made more restrictive — in some areas. But Terre says we’ll never see limits of 25 per day like we have on catfish and crappie. “We have much less flexibility with alligator gar because of the fragile nature of these populations,” he says. “Our harvest regulations will always need to be on the restrictive side.” WHO FISHES FOR ALLIGATOR GAR? A 2012 angler survey showed that approximately 14 percent of Texas anglers fished for gator gar at some time during the year. That’s nearly 123,000 people fishing for them with bows, rod/ reel or trotlines — all legal methods for taking nongame fishes. It turns out they aren’t easy to catch. TPWD researchers followed bowfishing tournaments on the Trinity River in 2009, 2010 and 2011, and kept statistics on the catch. On average, they found it took 50 hours of effort to bag one gator gar. A study at Choke Canyon Reservoir yielded similar results. At Falcon Lake in 2014, only 29 percent of anglers surveyed said they “always” or “frequently” caught a gator gar when they went looking for one. Some gar anglers enjoy the challenge of seeking and finding a fish whose habits are still not well understood. “There’s a pretty good talent involved in catching them,” says Dawson Hefner, who guides gar fishing trips on the Trinity River. Some anglers are excited by the chance of a huge trophy. And some, particularly in the Falcon Lake area, take their gator gar home to eat. “They’re great eating!” says Cody Soele, a bowfishing guide who spends a lot of time on that South Texas reservoir. “A lot of people don’t notice that, because they’re not the best- looking animal out there. But you get a lot of good meat off an alligator gar.” He cleans some of the fish his clients catch and sends fillets home with them. He says some clients give him funny looks the first time around, but if they return for a second trip, “they’ve got their coolers and Ziplocs waiting for more.” Not every gar fisher wants to keep what he catches. Hefner’s customers use rods and reels, and fish are released close to where they’re caught. Soele, who promotes the bowfishing experience, admits he doesn’t do a lot of shooting on his own behalf. “Personally, I’ve only harvested one alligator gar. One fish, and it was 6 feet LEFT PHOTO © GRADY ALLEN; RIGHT PHOTO BY LARRY HODGE / TPWD Gar can be found in large rivers, tributaries, reservoirs and backwaters. They also turn up in coastal bays and estuaries. 11 inches long,” Soele says. “Over the years I’ve developed such a respect for them, I just don’t have the desire to kill them anymore.” HOW DO GAR LIVE IN THEIR HABITAT? Alligator gar are known to inhabit large rivers, tributaries, reservoirs and backwaters. They also turn up in coastal bays and estuaries. Recent surveys suggest this isn’t just an occasional thing. On the lower Trinity River, the 112-mile stretch between the Lake Livingston dam and Trinity Bay, researchers tagged 51 fish with ultrasonic transmitters and used telemetry to follow them for 22 months. They made note of when the fish hung in deep water, when they moved into shallows and how far they traveled during the study period. Most appeared to have home ranges of less than 40 miles. Scientists think the river may contain distinct groups of gar that don’t mix much. They did find that the downriver group migrated into Trinity Bay in late spring. Could they be finding spawning ground in the shallow waters of the bay? Coastal Fisheries biologists have collected more than 24,000 alligator gar from our bay systems since 1986. A new study will take a fresh look at the data on those fish. There’s still a lot we don’t know about this ancient fish and what it needs to thrive “ in a changing world. But we know much more than we did five years ago. TPWD plans to continue the research, and will share what it learns with fishery managers in other states and Mexico. People who fish for gar will play a big part in preserving the species. To Dave Terre, it’s OK if an angler wants to eat his gar, mount it and hang it on the wall, or snap a photo and let it go. Those are all ways of respecting the big fish. He just hopes we’re getting past the days when people killed them just for being ugly. We’re trying to get people to care about this special fish. If people care about alligator gar, they will want to conserve them for future generations.” —TPWD’s Dave Terre TEXAS PARKS & WILDLIFE O 47 Creme Crop Legend, Lore & Legacy Nick Creme, live of the a transplanted texan changed bass fishing forever with one plastic worm. by Dyanne Fry Cortez I n 1949, Nick Creme created a plastic fishing worm at his home in Akron, Ohio. A decade later, he brought Creme Lure Company to Tyler, where it remains today. Bass fishing has never been the same. MOLD PHOTOS BY LARRY HODGE / TPWD; WORMS COURTESY OF MANUFACTURER When an accomplished bass angler says he caught one on a “worm,” it’s understood that he means an im- itation worm made of soft plastic. There are dozens — no, hundreds — of plastic-worm lures on the market today, not to mention plastic lizards, crawfish, minnows, bugs and frogs. But the Creme Wiggle Worm — later renamed the Scoundrel — is generally considered the first. Creme was the classic American entrepreneur: a man with an idea and the determination to see it through. He was a blue-collar worker, a ma- chinist by trade. Akron in the 1940s was a fast-growing industrial center where a guy like Creme could find work, own a home, raise a family and indulge a passion for fishing in his spare time. In those days, “worm” meant a real, live earthworm. A nightcrawler, if you were going after big fish. Digging for bait meant time away from the water, and supplies had a way of running out just when the fish were biting. Creme 48 O MARCH 2015 dreamed of an artificial worm that would dangle from a hook just like a real one. Since it didn’t seem to exist, he set out to make one. Previous inventors had tried mak- ing worms from rubber. After reading up on chemistry, Creme saw more promise in the emerging field of plas- tics. He went to Cleveland to visit with DuPont, the company that had already invented nylon and was getting into vinyl. A lab tech gave him some chem- icals to try at home. Working in the kitchen with his wife, Cosma, Creme cooked up mixtures of polymer, pig- ments and oils. They lugged the glop to the basement and poured it into a mold he’d made from a steel model of a real nightcrawler. After months of trial and error, they produced a plastic worm that looked alive. Creme spent the following year field-testing his new bait — which is to say, he took it fishing. In 1951, he put the 6-inch Wiggle Worm on the market with a mail-order ad in Sports Afield. It came rigged with a three-hook harness, much like the rig used by many anglers who fished with live bait. A customer also could buy a packet of five replacement worms with- out the hooks. Sales were modest at first, but they picked up some at the Cleveland Nick Creme used metal molds, right and opposite page, to make plastic worms. Sportsman’s Show, where a distrib- utor friend of Creme’s dangled some Wiggle Worms in the aquarium at his booth. The Cremes moved the oper- ation out of their house and opened a small manufacturing plant. Eventually, the worm crossed paths with a Texas angler who was looking for a way to fish underwater brush piles. Wayne Kent, present-day CEO of Creme Lure, doesn’t remember the angler’s name, but he’s pretty sure it happened on Lake Tyler. The 2,200- acre lake (now Tyler West) was built the same year Creme invented his worm, and around the time Skeeter built the first bass boat. More East Texas reservoirs appeared in the 1950s. The new lakes flooded acres of former woodlands, creating excellent cover for black bass. “Developers used to just bulldoze trees and close the dam,” recalls Kent, “but no lure could go in there without getting hung up on a log.” Then that anonymous angler took a bare plastic worm and devised what came to be known as the Texas rig. He cut the brass eyelet out of a bell sinker, threaded the sinker on a line and tied a hook behind it. He poked the hook through the nose of the worm, brought it out the side, then rotated the hook and tucked the barb back into the lure’s soft belly. This “weedless” rig could glide right through a brush pile, and bass went right after it. Kent was a teenager in 1959, work- ing part time at Milton Goswick’s Bait and Tackle Shop. Suddenly, Creme worms were the hottest items in the store. Goswick couldn’t get enough to meet the demand. One day he made a long-distance call to Akron and got Cosma Creme on the line. She said yes, the company was several months behind on orders. No, she couldn’t send an emergency shipment; they didn’t deal with indi- vidual retailers. Just before he rang off, Kent heard Goswick ask if she liked roses. “He called one of the dealers in town and had two dozen rose bushes shipped to Mrs. Creme in Akron,” he recalls. Goswick got his worms, and Mr. Creme came to fish some Texas lakes and see what the locals were doing with his products. Within the year, he opened a plant in Tyler and brought his family down from Ohio. If Ohio in the ’40s was the right place to invent the plastic worm, the ’60s were a fine time to bring it to the Southern states. That decade saw the formation of local bass clubs, the first modern tournament and the founding of the Bass Anglers Sportsman Society (B.A.S.S.). Competitive anglers had good luck with plastics, and Creme’s creative marketing helped spread the word on their success. “In those days, fishermen didn’t really communicate outside of their own towns,” says Kent. Creme was one of the first lure manufacturers to employ field testers. He paid people to fish with his lures and demonstrate rigging techniques at sporting goods stores and events. His network included celebrity anglers like Bill Dance, winner of 23 national titles and host of Bill Dance Out- doors. He also hired local anglers like Bill Coleman, who taught school in Tyler and fished whenever he got the chance. Creme found Coleman on the big bass board at Lake Tyler’s Concession No. 2. The board covered the front wall of the restaurant/tackle shop and displayed a running tally of notable catches on the lake. “If you caught a fish over four pounds, you could go in and they’d have your name up there. There was a little square and you’d put the weight in and the date you caught it,” Coleman explains. He put 63 catches on the board in 1963, “and Mr. and Mrs. Creme asked me to come work for them in the summertime.” He spent 19 seasons traveling to stores in places such as Texarkana, Wichita Falls and San An- tonio and a few in neighboring states. Wayne Kent will tell you how Creme’s worm spawned other fishing innovations. Tackle shops sell worm hooks and bullet-shaped sinkers, designed with Texas rigging in mind. There are fishing rods with stiff tips and heavier action for bouncing a worm across a lake bottom. And, of course, other companies have gotten into soft plastics, adding their own twists to Creme’s invention. Perhaps inspired by Creme’s example, Kent and his wife, Judy, started their own home-based lure company in 1965, when they were students at Tyler Junior College. That company, Knight Manufacturing, merged with Creme Lure in 1989, five years after Nick Creme passed away. Creme Lure is still a family busi- ness, run by Wayne and Judy Kent with help from their son and daugh- ter. The original Scoundrel worm, offered in three sizes and three dozen colors and patterns, is still one of Bill Coleman’s favorite lures. “I don’t think there’s been a bigger impact on the sport of fishing,” says Kent. “It’s just a total industry that was created by one man in a basement.” O TEXAS PARKS & WILDLIFE O 49 50 O MARCH 2015 You can still advertise your summer camp in our Outdoor Marketplace section. Great rates available! Contact Jim Stone (512) 799-1045 or jim.stone@tpwd.texas.gov Explore every State Park for one low price. Unlimited visits to 90+ State Parks for you and a carload of guests — with your Texas State Parks Pass. www.TexasStateParks.org ONLY 70 $ PER ANNUAL CARD MEMBERSHIP TEXAS PARKS & WILDLIFE O 51 DRIVE TEXAS WILD! Each license plate costs $30, with $22 directly supporting Wildlife Diversity in Texas. For advertising opportunities, contact Jim Stone (512) 799-1045 or jim.stone@tpwd.texas.gov www.ConservationPlate.org Learn how To CaMp! no experienCe neCessary! Texas Outdoor Family teaches your family basic outdoor skills needed for a great camping trip. Get hands-on experience in camping, outdoor cooking, geocaching and more. We even provide the equipment! g at Startin $ 65 ily per fam Find a workshop near you: texasstateparks.org/tof or call (512) 389-8903 52 O MARCH 2015 BL-15 7.062x9.25C 1/23/15 11:00 PM Page 1 PAID ADVERTISEMENT NEW SPORTS TECHNOLOGY New electronic lure may catch too many fish; one state bans it. Blinks blood red to mimic an injured prey. A bass every seven minutes in test. NEWARK, DE– A new fishing tech- nology that set a record for catching bass in Mexico is now showing its stuff in the U.S. It has out- fished shrimp bait in Washington State and beat top-selling U.S. lures three to one in Florida. The new tech- nology is so effective one state, Wyoming, has banned its use. by Mike Butler The breakthrough is a tiny, battery-powered electrical system that flashes a blood-red light down a lure’s tail when its moved in water. Fish think it’s an injured prey and strike. Some fishing authorities, like those in Wyoming, think that gives fishermen too much of an advantage. They may be right. Three fishermen using a flashing lure in Mexico caught 650 large-mouth bass in just 25 hours. That’s a bass every seven minutes for each person, and a record for the lake they were fishing. They said the bass struck with such ferocity they hardly lost a strike. In Florida two professionals fished for four hours from the same boat. One used a flashing-red lure; the other used some top-selling U.S. lures. The new, “bleed- ing” lure caught three times as many fish. Blinks Blinks blood red blood red U.S. and international patents pending New technology uses a blinking red light to create appearance of a live, bleed- ing prey. Triggers a genetic strike response in fish. Then I phoned an ichthyologist (fish expert) for his opinion. “Predators - lions, sharks,” he said, “will always go for the most vulnera- ble prey. Fish are predators, so if a fish sees a smaller fish bleeding, it knows it’s weakened and will strike. Works when others don’t Three fishermen in Washington State used a popular lure baited with shrimp and caught nothing after fishing three hours in cold wea ther. One of them tried a flashing lure he was asked to test and 30 minutes later caught a thir- ty-pound steelhead. A Tournament fisherman on a lake in Florida tried everything in his tackle box and had no bites. He switched to a flash- ing lure and caught a bass on his first cast, and had his limit in 45 minutes. Before reporting this, I asked a veter- an fisherman in my office for his opin- ion. Monday morning he charged into my office yelling “I caught six monster fish in an hour with this thing! Where did you get it?” New lure flashes blood red to attract fish. Blinks a different presentation each cast. There’s a survival program built into predators that says ‘Grab a meal when you can. It may be a while before the next one.’ “If a lure could appear to be a live, bleeding fish, a few fishermen could probably empty a lake with it.” I told him three almost did. Different presentations Because the technology reacts to move- ment, every retrieval generates a different kind of flash; so if a fish passes on your first cast, it sees a new presentation on your next one, and so on. The technology is so new I could find only one distributor in the U.S. that offers a finished product. It’s called Bite Light® and has several international patents pend- ing. It comes in a kit of three. There is a U.S. company that offers a kit of three blinking lures (one each for shallow, middle and deep water) called the Bite Light® Each lure is a different color. They work in fresh or salt water, contain rattle attractants inside and last 300 hours in the water. This year, we’re introducing a new series of the Bite Light, the Bite Light MM15, for even better action. One kit of three Bite Lights costs $32.95, two cost $29.95 each and three cost only $25.00 each. To order, go to www.FishingTechToday .com or call 1-800-873-4415 anytime or day and ask for the Bite Light® lure (Item #kbl). Or send your name, address and a check to Scientific Edge LLC (Dept. BL- 149), 40 E. Main Street, Suite 1416, Newark, DE 19711. The company gives your money back, if you don’t catch more fish and return your purchase within 30-days.The company gives your money back, if you don’t catch more fish and return your purchase with- in 30-days. BL-15 © Scientific Edge LLC 2015 Dept. BL-149 GOODS AND SERVICES FOR THE OUTDOOR ENTHUSIAST M A R K E T P L A C C a l l f or mor e i nfor mati on & m ec ha nic a l spec ific a tions:   ( 5 1 2 ) FISHING & HUNTING Rockport RedRunner Captain Chad Verburgt E 799-1045 PRODUCTS & SERVICES Specializing in shallow water flats fishing for redfish, trout & flounder. • Full Day / Half Day • Baffin trips • Kayak Rentals • Kayaks Shuttle Drop off / pick up • Nature Boat Trips for Photography and Private Whooping Crane Tours Call (361) 463-6545 ro ck p o rtre d ru nner @y ahoo.c om w w w . ro ck p o r tr edr u nner .c om GIVE YOURSELF thE LICENSE tO RELAX. Remember how fun it can be to get away from it all and go fishing? Did you also know that fishing is good for your health? Studies show that the relaxation benefit you receive from fishing, even for only a few hours, can last for several days. So this year, do something good for yourself and buy a fishing license. 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Quite the contrary, Stauer’s clients include a famous morning news host, the infamous captain of a certain starship, a best actor nominee, a best actor winner and the number one rock guitarist of all time. They were all clever enough to recognize a spectacular value. good taste, the Magnificat II is built for you. Stauer Magnificat II Timepiece — $399 * Offer Code Price $87 50 + S&P SAVE $311 50 ! You must use the insider offer code to get our special price. 1-800-973-3089 Your Offer Code: MAG373-07 Please use this code when you order to receive your discount. It took three years of development and $26 million in 14101 Southcross Drive W., advanced Swiss-built watch-making machinery to ® Dept. MAG373-07 create the Magnificat II. Look at the interior dials and azure- Burnsville, Minnesota 55337 Rating of A+ colored hands. Turn the watch over and examine the 27-jeweled www.stauer.com automatic movement through the exhibition back. 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Here you will find more of the finest coffees, wines, cigars, gourmet foods, artwork, clothing and homewares. Balcones Canyonlands National Wildlife Refuge balconessongbirdfestival.org PRODUCTS & SERVICES Matagorda, TX • (979) 863-7737 karankawavillage.com ­ N E W B R A U N F E L S H Historic Kuebler Waldrip Haus Bed and Breakfast. Country elegance on 43 acres 2-6 minutes to New Braunfels, Gruene, music, shopping, fishing, golf, tennis. Perfect for vacations, weddings, reunions. 10 rooms, Jacuzzis, delicious hot breakfast. www.kueblerwaldrip.com C rawford & C ompany (830) 625-8300 COMFORT H Meyer B&B. On Cypress Creek, Hill Country, mid-1800s stage stop, Texas landmark. Pool, hot tub, fireplaces, golf. FREDERICKSBURG H Palo Alto Creek Farm. Landmark historic German-Texas farmstead on the creek. Ancient oaks, abundant wildlife, Hill Country tranquility. Beautifully renovated log cabin, barn, farmhouse, all with private spa therapy rooms. www.paloaltocreekfarm.com (800) 997-0089 H Settler’s Crossing Bed and Breakfast. Private historic log cabins and cottages spread over 35 park-like acres, just minutes from town. www.settlerscrossing.com (800) 874-1020 www.meyerbedandbreakfast.com (888) 995-6100 ROCKPORT GRUENE Hand Crafted, Personalized Boot Jacks and Coaster Sets. P.O. Box 126, Uvalde, TX 78802 Visa/Mastercard. Call to order a Free Brochure Toll Free (888) 301-1967 www.crawjacks.com H oopes ’ H ouse H The Lamb’s Rest Inn. Located on the Guadalupe River. Featuring garden with fountain, pool, and hot tub, private ­balconies and fireplaces. Delightful breakfasts often served al fresco. www.lambsrestinn.com (888) 609-3932 R ockport , T exas (800) 924-1008 www.hoopeshouse.com N a t i on a l l y h i s t or i c v i c t or i a n h o m e . E i gh t r oom s ea c h w i t h pr i v a te b a t h . Full breakfast included. Call for brochure. Check out our digital-only 2015 Fishing Forecast online at www.tpwmagazine.com 56 O MARCH 2015 King Solomon’s Secret Treasure: FOUND Ancient beauty trapped in mines for centuries is finally released and available to the public! K ing Solomon was one of the wealthiest rulers of the ancient world. His vast empire included hoards of gold, priceless gemstones and rare works of art. For centuries, fortune hunters and historians dedicated their lives to the search for his fabled mines and lost treasure. But as it turns out, those mines hid a prize more beautiful and exotic than any precious metal: chrysocolla. Prized by the wisest king of the Bible. Known as the “Wisdom Stone,” chrysocolla was considered a powerful talisman of healing and calming energy. Ancient rulers of the Biblical era relied on it for guidance and now this legendary treasure can be yours with our stunning Earth & Sea Chrysocolla Necklace. Call today to bring home 325 carats for ONLY $49! Nothing like it on Earth. 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Jim got as close as he could with his 180 macro lens and snapped several photos. 58 O MARCH 2015 SAVE TODAY. TOUCHDOWNS TOMORROW. See how much you could save on RV insurance. for your RV geico.com | 1-877-434-2678 | local office Some discounts, coverages, payment plans and features are not available in all states or all GEICO companies. GEICO is a registered service mark of Government Employees Insurance Company, Washington, D.C. 20076; a Berkshire Hathaway Inc. subsidiary. GEICO Gecko image © 1999-2015. © 2015 GEICO