Rescues come in all sizes. I had heard about this rescue a few weeks back, but finally had the time to do some research and learn a bit more about the rescue of the smalleye and sharpnose shiner.

AUSTIN – Scientists collected fish threatened by drought in the upper Brazos River and take them to Possum Kingdom state fish hatchery to weather the drought, with plans to use them to restock the river later. Similar collections of other aquatic species imperiled by drought are being considered for Central and West Texas.

Puddles now form this part of the Brazos River thanks to the drought that continues to torture Texas.

The pernicious drought and record-setting heat of the Texas summer of 2011 has nearly dried up the upper Brazos River and its forks — Clear Fork, Double Mountain Fork, and the Salt Fork. Two small prairie minnows, the sharpnose shiner and smalleye shiner, are holed up in dwindling pools in the upper Brazos, where it’s hot, muddy and salty.

Collecting shiners to be relocated to the TPWD hatchery at Possum Kingdom, Texas.

“These fish are a unique part of Texas’ natural heritage,” said Gene Wilde, PhD, a Texas Tech University professor of fish ecology who has spent much of his life studying fish in west Texas rivers. “They’re found only in Texas in the Brazos River, and nowhere else in the world. Right now, they’re the most abundant fish in the upper Brazos. When it comes to prey availability for game fish like catfish or largemouth bass, these fish drive the system. If we lose them, we won’t have the same ecological vitality.”

The smalleye shiner (Notropis buccula) and sharpnose shiner (Notropis oxyrhynchus) are both candidates for listing as threatened or endangered under the federal Endangered Species Act, in effect on the waiting list for listing consideration. When the Brazos and its forks are running, the minnows make a living by picking bugs out of the water or sifting through the sandy dunes formed by river currents. They can migrate more than 100 miles upstream to spawn and release their buoyant eggs to float downstream to hatch.

“Historically, these two fish occurred throughout the Brazos down to and below College Station,” said Kevin Mayes, a Texas Parks and Wildlife Department aquatic biologist and rivers expert. “But like other prairie minnows of the Great Plains, their habitat — turbid rivers with shifting sands — has been altered by reservoir construction.”

The fish need an optimum range of more than 50 river miles to spawn. Since the 1950s drought, four dams have been built that bisect the central Brazos into shorter reaches ranging from 35 to 114 miles from Possum Kingdom reservoir to Lake Waco. However, the lower Brazos from Waco to the coast offers 415 miles of fish passage, so scientists are considering relocating the two fish into the upper and lower river as well as restocking the upper Brazos in future months.

Scientists have been concerned about the sharpose shiner and smalleye shiner for years, and had developed plans to collect a safety net of specimens as a hedge against disaster, a plan prodded to action by the current record drought.

“They’ve made it through hot summers before, but this is different,” said Wilde. “Flows at all of the stream gages heading down to Possum Kingdom are reading zero.”

It’s like an undercover officer I was working a hand-to-hand drug buy with in California once said, “If criminals were smart, we wouldn’t catch them.”
The TPWD occasionally releases their “Field Notes” which amount to a blotter with a lot of the more humorous moments taking the lead.

Keep in mind I do sell a book of these gems in the FLY SHOP – “Poachers, Crooks and Other Turkeys.”

Long distance bust: TPWD’s La Porte communications office received a call Sept. 13 from an individual in California. The caller said he had been on a Chinese website when he found a fisherman bragging about all the fish he had been catching. The fisherman even posted several pictures. The photos and website information were forwarded to Captain Tanuz, who in turn contacted the complainant in California. The photos showed an individual with four ice chests of fish, most of which appeared undersize. The photos also showed a fisherman standing in an area that appeared to be the east end of Galveston. This information was forwarded to Galveston County Game Wardens Ray Canales and Antone Jackson, and on the evening of Sept. 15, they caught the violator on the east end of Galveston Island in the process of setting an illegal gill net. Cases pending.

Different kind of bachelor party: On Sept. 10 Erath County Game Warden Zach Havens saw a group of vehicles parked in a coastal field and heard a variety of reports that sounded like pistols, large caliber rifles, and shotguns. Warden Havens stayed concealed in the brush and watched the group for a while. Soon he started seeing birds drop from the air as they flew near the vehicles. Closer inspection revealed a bachelor party in progress. Killed were several beers and even more scissor tails. Cases pending.

Undersize snapper haul leads to empty ice chest: While patrolling the Aransas Channel Sept. 8, San Patricio Game Warden Albert Flores inspected a vessel and found 50 undersize red snapper. Citations were issued and the fisherman sent home with an empty cooler.

Busted by a cell phone: Travis County Game Wardens Christy Vales and Braxton Harris were checking dove hunters on Sept. 2 in a field adjacent to a residence and noticed two hunters. After checking the first hunter, they were unable to locate the second hunter they saw earlier. Shortly after driving the outer parts of the field, they found the second hunter crouched down in the tree line. When asked to produce his hunting license, he said his wife had just bought it that day and it’s up at the house. The wardens loaded the hunter and his birds up in the truck and took a ride to the house. The wife of the hunter stepped out with an online purchase receipt for his hunting license. The wardens noticed the time of purchase on the receipt and asked to see the hunter’s cell phone. Based on the time the hunter called his wife and the time on the receipt, the wardens could tell that the hunter had his wife buy his license just as the wardens pulled into the field. The hunter admitted to hunting without his license hours before the wardens arrived. Citations were issued and seven doves were seized.

I managed to stop in and saw many familiar faces at the Bastrop Benefit at Dan’s Silver Leaf. It seems like a good start to an idea I floated out to Pam (of Pam and Dan fame) only a couple of weeks ago, and I think if we do a couple more of these before the end of the year, the momentum should gain as the Thanksgiving and holiday season takes hold.

Here are some images from tonight’s Bastrop Benefit.

Denton artists donated work to the silent auction portion of the Bastrop Benefit at Dan’s Silver Leaf.

Pam Serves up some great food with all proceeds going to benefit fire victims in Bastrop, Texas.

Out on the back porch at Dan’s Silver Leaf Bastrop Benefit.

Out on the back porch at Dan’s Silver Leaf Bastrop Benefit.