The now-popular croaker baitfish has revitalized a previously challenging period of hot-season trout fishing in Texas.
The introduction of small, live croakers as summertime bait for spotted seatrout around two decades ago changed Texas coastal fishing significantly and stirred up quite a bit of controversy. Croakers brought new life to a previously tough stretch of hot-season trout fishing, one livewell or yellow bucket at a time. This trend has intensified with each passing season. Currently, judging by the long lines at bait camps before dawn, a majority of fishermen seem to embrace their identities as “croaker soakers.”
And who can blame them? They are the ones reeling in the most fish during the hottest months. Moreover, they were catching more spotted seatrout, prime spawners, even when the daily limit on trout was still capped at 10 statewide. In fact, the early 2000s saw a struggling trout population, as indicated by year-round gillnet surveys since 1974, which many anglers blamed largely on the small croakers used on big hooks.
This finger-pointing occasionally escalated into shouting matches at the docks and occasionally worse between those who used croakers as bait and those who adamantly refused to do so. Thankfully, this level of confrontation has diminished largely because the Texas Parks & Wildlife Department (TPWD) implemented measures to repair a severely depleted population.
Texas Trout Numbers Aren’t What They Used to Be
Croakers create a drumming sound by vibrating their swim bladder using specialized muscles. Many anglers believe this sound attracts predators, such as speckled seatrout.
In 2007, TPWD introduced a five-fish limit along the lower Texas coast as a trial. It proved effective. By 2014, albeit somewhat tardily, this five-fish limit was extended northward roughly to Matagorda, and by 2019, the five-fish daily rule applied along all over 700 miles of Texas coastline.
The latest reduction to three fish daily statewide, within a 15- to 20-inch slot (with a specific annual license tag for one larger over-slot fish that won’t often be utilized by Texas’ conservation-minded anglers), began this spring. This change was overdue. From the onset, croakers replaced lightweight stringers with easy limits of prime, spawning-class trout, making it so straightforward that many guides would, and still do, book two trips daily — sometimes guaranteeing limits. Croakers are simply irresistible to speckled trout.
The fate of spawning-class croakers has been even worse. There are sufficient numbers, as evidenced by how many are caught and sold for bait each summer, but relatively few compared to previous counts. In the past, croakers regularly weighed around 2 pounds. In the early days of summertime croaker soaking in 2002, Texas even set a state record for the species. That impressive fish measured 29 inches and weighed 5.47 pounds. That record remains, and since then, I’ve neither seen nor heard of a croaker exceeding 3 pounds.
Trout remain the primary focus in Texas, and the decline of the croaker population has not elicited many tears. As long as there are enough spawning croakers — perhaps presenting a fish-farming opportunity — there will be buyers at any cost. Initially, live croakers sold for about a quarter each, less if you wanted to fill up the well. Nowadays, due to increased demand and a lack of comparable alternatives, these small baits can sell for up to a dollar each.
Bait trawlers appreciate their pay increase. Shorter drags needed to keep young croakers alive consume less fuel. Similar to how Paul Prudhomme seasoned a tough bull redfish fillet with rich spices, shrimpers have learned to convert low-value bycatch into a high-profit commodity.
Refreshed Texas Trout Regulations
If anglers aren’t using live baits like croakers for sizable spotted seatrout, chances are they are casting a soft plastic or topwater lure.
Instead of prohibiting the popular bait, as has been frequently suggested in recent years, TPWD is working on rebuilding its trout population — in both quantity and quality — through sensible harvest reductions. Thankfully, there’s no closed season, but a reduced limit that transitions from a reactive to a proactive approach for enhancing this precious fishery.
There was a somewhat organized push to designate croakers as gamefish in Texas, similar to the status held by trout and reds. It made no progress — much like the proposal to ban croakers as bait. It’s worth mentioning that requests for feedback from guides and recreational fishermen prior to this article mostly went unanswered. Shared objectives can heal many rifts, especially since Texas trout seem to be on a positive trajectory.
The current focus, with a practical limit in place that is sure to enhance this fishery by every standard, is on improvement and embarking on a successful path. Even with croakers present on nearly every other boat in certain bays, the three-fish daily limit allows the overall trout population in Texas to grow, while the upper slot of 20 inches provides bigger fish an opportunity to become true giants. Collectively, Texas trout fishermen are united and ready to enjoy the rewards of their efforts.