Trout in the Classroom in Texas is in our 18th year. We have 25 schools from Austin, San Antonio, Boerne, Katy, Houston, New Braunfels, and Canyon Lake. They raise trout from eggs in refrigerated aquariums for about half the school year, and release them in the river. The goal of this program is not to raise trout, but to raise conservationists.
Our classes include elementary schools, and high school aquatic science classes. Last Saturday, our HS aquatic science teachers, some students, and some family members from Houston, Katy, Boerne and San Antonio met for lunch at the BBQ stand in Sattler, and together added about 800 brown trout fry to the river. Of course we did this with a permit, and Jimbo took my list with the actual count by school to report the numbers to TPWD in compliance with our permit.
Surprising weather, an unseasonably chilly day for the second weekend in May, the river was ripping, and we had a great time. A few photos to share.
Queuing up for BBQ - they really do have the best chop sandwich in Texas
The entourage arriving at the river
We began by replacing half of the water in the coolers with river water, and giving the fish time to acclimate
The classroom results were great, the fry ranged in size from 1" to over 3:
some of the counted coolers were poured straight in
some of the fish were netted and counted on the fly for our permit compliance
others netted to release just for fun
Still have 3 field trips of elementary school classes coming over the next week.
TIC in Texas is a joint effort between GRTU and Texas Fly Fishers of Houston (FFF).
My buddy Matt handles all the footwork for Houston, Deer Park and Katy.
The Texas program was started 18 years ago by my friend Karen - I helped her set up the first tank, and after 6 years and health limitations, she volunteered me to take over...
