Brownsville Tony Loc: Brownsville - Laguna Madre

TPWD Temporarily Closes Fishing On Texas Coast
Feb. 13, 2021
Media Contact: TPWD News, Business Hours, 512-389-8030
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AUSTIN – The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD) has issued a temporary closure to saltwater fishing along parts of the Texas coast to protect resources during freezing weather conditions. The closure takes effect at 12:00 a.m. on Monday, Feb. 15 and extends through 11:59 p.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 16.

In addition to killing game fish in shallow bay waters, a hard freeze can also cause surviving fish to congregate in a few deeper areas where they become sluggish and prone to capture. Those are the areas the department has temporarily closed.

"The high mortality that a freeze can cause may deplete fish stocks for years," said Robin Riechers, director of TPWD’s Coastal Fisheries Division. "Protection of the surviving fish during the few days when they are especially vulnerable to capture would likely shorten the time period for overall recovery of coastal species, especially spotted sea trout."

Texas has about two million acres of bays and estuaries susceptible to freeze. There were three major freezes during the 1980s, including one in 1989 when the temperature at Brownsville dropped to 16 degrees and an estimated 11 million fish were killed in the freeze event. The last time there was a closure due to freezing temperatures was in January 2018. That freeze did not kill significant numbers of fish.

Anglers and coastal residents can report any freeze related fish kills or large numbers of sluggish or cold-stunned fish by contacting TPWD’s Law Enforcement Communications office at (281) 842-8100 or (512) 389-4848.

Visit the Outdoor Annual online to see the list of closed areas with a map feature.

Coastal Areas Closed To Fishing During Freeze Conditions
Effective 12:01 AM, Monday Feb. 15, 2021 through Tuesday 11:59 PM, Feb. 16, 2021
County Nearest City Site Name Description
Aransas Aransas Pass City by the Sea All waters and canals of the City by the Sea subdivision west of the GIWW and a line beginning at a point on the entryway seawall (27° 57.08" N; 97° 06.05" W) extending across the entrance to a point (27° 57.04" N; 97° 06.06" W).
Aransas Fulton The Raquetball All waters and channels of the Racquetball Club development Club west of line beginning at a point on the entryway seawall (28° 05.94" N; 97° 01.73" W) extending across the entrance to a point (28° 05.96" N; 97° 01.73" W).
Aransas Fulton Kon Tiki All waters and canals of the Kon Tiki development west of a line beginning at a point on the entryway seawall adjacent to the end of the fishing pier (28° 06.04" N; 97° 01.49" W) extending across the entrance to a point (28° 05.99" N; 97° 01.49" W).
Aransas Rockport Bahia Bay All waters and canals of the Bahia Bay subdivision west of the GIWW and a line beginning at a point on the entryway seawall (27° 57.63" N; 97° 05.66" W) extending across the entrance to a point (27° 58.65" N; 97° 05.66" W).
Aransas Rockport Cove Harbor Entire harbor west of the GIWW and a line beginning at a point on the entryway seawall (27° 59.37" N; 97° 04.38" W) extending across the entrance to a point (27° 59.42" N; 97° 04.35" W).
Aransas Rockport La Buena Vida All waters and canals of the La Buena Vida subdivision west of the GIWW and a line beginning at a point on the entryway seawall (27° 57.31" N; 97° 05.89" W) extending across the entrance to a point (27° 58.36" N; 97° 05.89" W).
Aransas Rockport Little Bay All waters of Little Bay and connected waters west of Nine Mile Point on Key Allegro (28° 01.98" N; 97° 01.52" W), including Blevins Channel south of the entryway seawall (28° 03.05" N; 97° 01.87" W), Leggett Channel west of the entryway seawall (28° 01.80" N; 97° 01.84" W) and all canals within the Key Allegro and Harbor Oaks subdivisions.
Aransas Rockport Palm Harbor All waters and canals of the Palm Harbor subdivision west of the GIWW and a line beginning at a point on the entryway seawall (27° 58.05" N; 97° 05.36" W) extending across the entrance to a point (27° 58.03" N; 97° 05.36" W).
Aransas Rockport Rockport Harbor Entire harbor north of the entryway seawall and a line beginning on the entryway seawall (28° 01.19" N; 97° 02.89" W) extending across the entrance to a point (28° 01.19" N; 97° 03.00" W).
Aransas Lamar Sea Gun Marina Entire harbor north of the entryway seawall and a line beginning Harbor at a point on the entryway seawall (28° 08.06" N; 97° 00.40" W) extending across the entrance to a point (28° 08.11" N; 97° 00.42" W).
Calhoun Port O’Connor Army Hole The enclosed waters between the Matagorda Island State Park docks and Pringle Lake.
Cameron Brownsville Brazos Santiago Pass South Jetty Gulf of Mexico from and including the Brazos Santiago Pass south jetty along the beach for one half statute mile and out from shore for 1,000 yards.
Cameron Port Isabel Point Isabel Area from shore out to a line from the high point of the Queen Isabella Memorial Causeway on the northwest and the end of the old causeway on the southeast including the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway bounded by the Queen Isabella Memorial Causeway on the north and the Port Isabel Swing Bridge on the south. Does not include the adjacent canal in Port Isabel.
Galveston Dickinson, Texas City Moses Lake From Moses Lake to the Tide gate, to include the navigational channel up to the northern shoreline of Dollar Bay (area corresponds to 29° 26.00" N to 29° 27.00" N). Dollar Bay and Moses Bayou are not included.
Galveston Galveston Offats Bayou All of Offats Bayou east of Marker 22.
Matagorda Matagorda Matagorda Entire harbor from the entrance to the Gulf ICWW.Harbor
Matagorda Palacios Shrimp Basin Entire shrimp basin from the entrance to Matagorda Bay, including all turning basins.
Nueces Corpus Christi Padre Island The area is bounded on the north by Packery Channel, on the subdivision west by the ICWW and on the south by a line drawn due east from the intersection of the New Humble Channel and the ICWW to the mainland (along 27° 35.25" N).
Orange Bridge City Entergy Outfall Entire canal – from the mouth of the canal at the Neches River Canal to the power plant.
San Patricio Aransas Pass Conn Brown Entire harbor north and west of the GIWW and a line beginning from the Harbor at a point on the entryway seawall (27° 53.96" N; 97° 08.09" W) extending across the entrance to a point (27° 53.82" N; 97° 08.13" W).
Willacy Port Mansfield Port Mansfield Entire harbor from the corners of the bulkheads on either side of Harbor to the harbor mouth.

Gordon Loc: Charleston South Carolina

Good info Tony. Hope these Texas fishermen get this message.

Egghead

Dang, I didn't realize the fish would just die after a few cold days.??? We're going in the morning supposed to be a nice a nice day not much under --15 below. Gunna hit it early and stay late for ling.
Hope everything is Gunna be ok down there in the south.

greenfrog Loc: Central NJ

kandydisbar Loc: West Orange, NJ

Wow, never heard of that before. Interesting, thanks!

Gordon Loc: Charleston South Carolina

Had some real cold weather hang around longer then normal a few years ago and lost quite a few sea trout. Anglers are still releasing trout over 20 inches so they can reproduce and get the population back up. Not a law just anglers working together.

Brownsville Tony Loc: Brownsville - Laguna Madre

MONDAY MORNING UPDATE I think we probably dodged the big bullet last night, the temps got into the high 20's and this morning the sun is shining although the afternoon temps will be in the low 40's. The water will absorb those rays and keep any further declines at a minimum. The Laguna Madre is like a huge pie pan, shallow and without much structure. Normally we have ideal conditions for fish growth and it works in our favor. The same is true when conditions are hazardous to fish too. There are few places for them to go to get relief, it is the same all over. But!!!!! In my uneducated, amateur opinion, we should be okay. The loss, if any, should be minimal. It is another incentive to catch and release those breeders you pick up.

Glenn Hodges

It was 4 degrees in Austin this morning.

Captain Lahti Loc: Kennewick, WA

The other thing that is closed in Texas are the frozen wind mills and the snow covered solar panels. And they are very dependent on those sources of electrical generation. It’s even colder there than here n Washington. Os are too but we have a lot of hydro power.

Captain Lahti Loc: Kennewick, WA

The other thing that is closed in Texas are the frozen wind mills and the snow covered solar panels. And they are very dependent on those sources of electrical generation. It’s even colder there than here n Washington. Os are too but we have a lot of hydro power.

E.pa.al Loc: Martin's Creek

thats very interesting, never in my 50 yrs have I heard of shutting down fishing for cold weather
Thanks for posting