Brush a zebra mussel with a fly, and it could bite back! Photo by – Austin Anderson

In a case of what I’ll call “friendly fire” Channel 8 WFAA, Dallas, a Belo Corporation, did an story about the history of water from Texoma being transferred into Lake Lavon. “Friendly fire interviews” (my phrase), as opposed to an “ambush” interview, start as a friendly interview, then turns to take aim at the person they were at first friendly toward.

The friendly fire victim, TPWD biologist Bruce Hysmith, was interviewed and put on the defensive when Channel 8′s David Schechecter pressed Hysmith on why he didn’t get past the receptionist at the Texas Water Board with a warning about finding zebra mussels in Texoma, and used e mail to notify the North Texas Municipal Water District.

None of us thought our worst fishing nightmare would look like this. Photo by – Austin Anderson

As I recall, the issue really was / is water. The NTMWD wants to keep it flowing, and they would never take it onto themselves to stop pumping. The only they would have stopped pumping is if TPWD told the NTMWD to do so. I believe TPWD, if I recall, didn’t think they had the authority to stop the water transfers, and left it up to NTMWD. Get the picture? Hot potato. Channel 8 portrays the delay in stopping water flow as being like unleashing the hounds of hell, which is probably hardly the case when one zebra mussel is found on one boat dock cable.

This story ran on Channel 8 around Thanksgiving, and the most ominous thing about it is the comment from the biologist at UT Arlington zebra mussel expert, Robert McMahon, saying, “you don’t want to know what’s going to happen …” Ouch, this is going to leave a mark.

The questions I have are –
1) do zebra mussels transport via water transfer?
2) has anyone simply looked at the water below the Denison Dam? Are zebra mussels there?

Here is where you can find the Channel 8 story on zebra mussels from November 29,2011. I have interviewed Hysmith once or twice for Lone Star Outdoor News in the past, and he’s been nothing but helpful in my gathering of information.

I am left wondering just how the zebra mussel infestation on Texoma is going to turn out. Should we be doing all the fishing possible before Texoma becomes an inert wasteland for its fishery? I will go ahead and contact zebra mussel expert Robert McMahon at University of Texas Arlington to see if he can finish the nightmare for us.

Federal Fisheries Legislation in the Spotlight

WASHINGTON, DC – CCA General Counsel Robert G. Hayes, one of the most respected voices on state, federal and international fisheries management issues, testified this morning at a hearing of the House Committee on Natural Resources on a number of bills that propose to amend the Magnuson-Stevens Act, the federal legislation that regulates the nation’s fisheries.

In testimony that was described by Rep. Tom McClintock (D-Ca.) as some of the most sensible he’s heard in three years on the Committee, Hayes focused on the Fisheries Science Improvement Act (H.R. 2304/S. 1916) and highlighted three overarching issues of concern with regard to federal fisheries management: 1) the importance of marine recreational fishing; 2) the negative consequences of adopting quotas by sector for every stock of fish under management without standardized assessments to support those decisions, and 3) the urgency of acting now.

“The one-size-fits-all amendments adopted in the 2006 reauthorization of Magnuson undermine the discretion of Councils, which must manage to the species, fishermen and management systems available to them,” Hayes said. “What happened in 2006 was an over-reaching of control that has deprived many of the Councils of the discretion they need to tailor measures appropriate to the science and the management capability they have, not what they would like to have. The implementation of the 2006 Magnuson Stevens Act Amendment has gone to a level never imagined by recreational fishermen.”

The Committee hearing was desgined to gather information on the Coastal Jobs Creation Act of 2011 (H.R. 594); Strengthen Fisheries Management in New England Act of 2011 (H.R. 1013); American Angler Preservation Act (H.R. 1646); Fishery Science Improvement Act of 2011 (H.R. 2304); Asset Forfeiture Fund Reform and Distribution Act of 2011 (H.R. 2610); Fishery Management Transparency and Accountability Act (H.R. 2753); Saving Fishing Jobs Act of 2011 (H.R. 2772); Flexibility and Access in Rebuilding American Fisheries Act of 2011 (H.R. 3061).

For a copy of Hayes’ complete written testimony, click here.

A few Texas Fly Caster readers have spotted the Guadalupe River Trout Unlimited license plate around the great big State of Texas. I saw one last week when I was headed from Houston to Dallas on I45.

Out of curiosity, and because I have a rather boring car now, I am often looking for something to make it stand out in the parking lot. Easy to find, it’s not.

What I found was rather disturbing.

It coincided with a brief excursion to a store in Dallas, Texas, called “Curiosities.” Curiosities is a fantastic store on Abrahams road in the Lakewood area, and once you’ve walked inside, you are sucked into a time warp of antiques, art and other odds and ends – including license plates. I dug through the piles of plates looking for a particular year, the last one missing from my father-in-law’s collection (1935). Just about forever, Texans have been able to easily identify Texas license plates. At times they were the same color for a few years, and when we Texans were still in control of our prison populations, the colors changed every year. Those were the days. A new plate every year, before stickers and all those other budget cutting measures. In those days, a Texas plate was A TEXAS PLATE.

Surfing around the other evening, and curious about all these different black and white Texas plates I’d been seeing (Texas black and white plates have a strong and deep history), as well as the GRTU license plates, led me to MyPlates.com.

It turns out that a private company was awarded the contract to create a complete line of specialty plates for the State of Texas. All I can say is, somebody has opened Pandora’s Box. Texas now has plates for Liberty Christian School (just outside Denton, Texas), OU – yes the University of Oklahoma, Jeff Gordon and who could live without Freebirds World Burrito.

Now there are a few winners among all this strangeness – I still like the black-and-white plates and really like the “Don’t Tread on Me” plate (how Texas can you get?). I think it’s only a matter of time before the backlash sets in, this ultimate quest for individuality and unravelling of the fabric of Texas is quelled, and we go back to the unity of boring flat prison grade plates. Besides, it must be cruel and unusual punishment for prisoners at the Huntsville prison to have to think about what they’re doing.

Meanwhile, can we interest you in a “Sunflower” plate that says “Sunshine” on it?