I spent today teaching on advanced flounder fishing strategies and conservation at Sea Center Texas in Lake Jackson as part of my Flatfish University (TM) project.
One of the attendees asked how Louisiana’s Lake Calcasieu can crank out so many redfish, speckled trout and flounder in comparison to most Texas destinations with no stocking program. There is no coastal fish stocking program in Louisiana.
The reason?
Habitat.
It is all about the habitat. Check out this NOAA map showing the territory between Sabine Lake and Lake Calcasieu. It was once said there is more marsh surrounding Sabine Lake and Lake Calcasieu than the rest of the Texas coast contains and I believe it. This is hundreds of square miles of fertile estuary.
Texas simply does not have this kind of habitat and if you places for baby fish to grow naturally, you will have huge populations of fish.
Calcasieu back in the 1990s had a higher trout harvest than the entire Texas coast and kept putting out really big fish. It is all in the habitat.
(Photo courtesy NOAA)