TPWD 1956 F-4-R-3 #203: Basic Survey and Inventory of Fish Species in the Trinity River, Texas: Trinity, Walker, San Jacinto, Polk, Liberty, and Chambers Counties

SEGMENT COMPLETION REPORT me E la[E tflTE OF TEXAS Project No.__§§§§_ Esme Fisheries Investigations and Surveys of the Waters of Re5' JOb Noa B-lT Title Basic Surveg_and Intentor_ of Fish Syecies_in the Trinit_ River isonz'Walkerz San Jacintoz Polkz Libertxz and Chambers. Period Coveredzl _Novemberfl,_l!___~ October 3l__lf 6 ABSTRACT la The Trinity River is fermed by the union of three major tributaries: West Fork, Elm Fork, and East Fork.o The watershed is #55 miles long and drains l7,600 square milesa 2a The cities of Dallas and Fort worth contribute the majority of the indusw trial waste and municipal sewage pollution but smaller cities are contribution factorso 30 Oil field pollution by salt water also limits the fish production. to The Trinity River is a navigable stream from the mouth to Fort WOrth but “cess is limited to entry at public road crossings except for those areas where land Jners permit entry by way of their propertyu 50 Seines and gill nets were used to collect 1897 specimens representing 39 specieso These collections were made at 12 seine stations and 3 net stations” 69 The most numereus species taken was the red shiner but bluegill sunfish were taken at more seine stationso Gissard shad were most numerous in net catches but the alligator gar provided the greatest poundageo To Rough fish dcminated the net catch since they made up 7? 3 percent of the number and 95 66 percent of the weight takena OBJECTIVES To gather fundamental data on the above waters in regard to their physical} chemical and biological aspectso To determine the distribution of fish species present; their relative abundance, and the ecological factors influencing their distributiono DESCRIPTION The Trinity River watershed extends from the Red River to the Gulf of Enrico (Map l)a It is composed of three major tributaries: west Fork, Elm.Fork, and East Forks The West Fork is joined.by the Clear Fork in Fort WOrth and joins with the Elm,Fork at Dallaso The East Fork joins the Trinity at Rosser some #53 river miles above the moutho The upper part of the watershed has been controlled by the construction of n _BEuw .0m. 8 Cu m. c. n mun... 3 33m 20:.qu 0263 since.» 0 35553 SSE >tz_E. 02:3 renewing h. m>¢§4m own—IDIksfi III-I 20:03:...wzou KNOZD wt.0>¢umwm * E90 1.55! kg mnguwwm ozzhiu ‘\ be: m... .3 $9.52 BEES my)”: @ menu—82.... no 228 a... u BEES $5.. MUD . J on: 52; E .336 av 1.... Est: E3233 omxmmunk: III Rx fee «a, and A.) I. oz: ES; :2: IIi . son a s II. \ a at s .,, t a is a x g _ mo oz new... as A». no . . a z . . . \ J I n . x x — r... n... u. . . \ . r \ .fl. . \ . . . i\ a n. \ § mu. .1 . H‘ \ s I _._ u . . \ .1 . .u I . . . .. \ r... .9 n \ a _ .11‘ . __ . in. . a. . lakes on the major tributaries. Lake Benbrook is located on the Clear Fork Southwest of Fort Worth. The West Fork is controlled by three dams: Lake Bridgeport, Lake Eagle Mountain and Lake Worth. Grapevine Lake on Danton Greek and Garza-Little Elm Dam control the Elm Fork.while Levon Dam controls the East Fork. There are numerous small dams on the tributaries that will be worked during the next segments. The reservoirs are augmented by many river bottom lakes that are usually formed by a change in the river channel that forms an oxbow cutoff. These cutoff lakes have afforded very good fishing in the past but hare declined as the tendency of the river to overflow became less. The watershed of the Trinity River is roughly triangular with a.manimnm width of 131 miles and a length of 1455 miles. The drainage area is about 17,600 square miles. The watershed is largely flat with few deep valleys. The lakes formed on the tributaries are generally broad and shallow. The upper part of the watershed is largely farmland with some ranching but the valley narrows as it progresses toward the Gulf of Mexico and the land use tends toward cattle raising and rice growing. Silting is not the major limiting factor in this watershed. The cities of Dallas and Fort worth have combined population of approximately 1,500,000 people, togetu her*with many industries that add to the waste disposal problem. The sewage disposal of both these cities has failed to keep up with the population increase and has placed an added burden on the Trintiy River. rhis river has suffered from lowered rainfall and a pollution problem has ensued. This pollution has been further complicated by the entry of salt water from oil production operations below the-mouth of the East Fork at Rosser. This watershed is primarily located in the Coastal Plains Physiographic Region but the Elm Fork and west Fork extend into the North Central Plains Region. The West Fork arises in the west Gross Timbers Belt and extends across the Grand Prairie and Eastern Gross Timbers Belt. This juncture is made in the Blackland Prairie Belt and the resulting river flows southeastward to unite'wiLh the East.Eork near the edge of the Post Oak Belt. The East Fork lies entirely'within the Blackland Prairie. The Trinity River continues toward the Gulf of Mexico across the Pine Belt and the Coastal Prairie to enter Trinity Bay near Anahuac. The soils of the Cross Timbers Belt are largely sand or sandy loam with grayish soils. The surface is generally hilly and interspersed with stretches of prairie. The dominant vegetation is the “-blaékjack oak and post oak with pecan, elm, and other*hardwoods along the streams. Thin limestone soil characterizes theihmnni Prairie Belt with railing hills giving way at times to cedar covered mountains. The dominant vegetation is generally grasses with pecan and other hardwoods along the streams. The Blackland Prairie has deep black limestone soils with few trees. Streams are heavy with silt and remain muddy for long periods after rains. Post Oak and Black» jack Oak comprise the dominant-vegetation of the narrow band that separates the Blacks land.Prairie from the Pine halt. The soil changes gradually from the black limestone produced clay to a red sandy soil containing much iron. the vegetation is dominated by the Pine along with tall hardwoods. Streams carry less silt and clear more rapidly after rains. The Coastal Prairie part of the Trintiy Watershed is very narrow and is generally covered with trees of the alluvial flood plain type of valley that makes up this portion of the watershed. ACCESSIBILITY The Trinity River is a navigable stream from the mouth to the confluence of the West Fork with the Clear Fork. The Elm Fork and the East Fork are not of sufficient size to be considered navigable. The state retains ownership of all navigable streams. The extent of this ownership has been defined by the Texas Supreme Court and the United States Supreme Court to be that part of the stream that is normally covered by water and extending one-half the way up the cut banks on either side. This part of a public stream is cpen to the fishing public but entry to this area is provided only at highway crossings unless the landowner will permit ingress over his land. The Trinity River once provided.much commercial and sport fishing but the construction of reservoirs on the tributaries and the lack of sufficient rainfall have combined to reduce the flow to the point where low water and pollution have greatly reduced the catch for both sport and commercial fishermen. ‘ METHODS Seine samples were collected by means of bag seines, 26 by 6 feet of % inch mesh and common sense seines having 1/8 inch mesh and a depth of four feet. The common sense seines were 10 feet in length. The specimens taken were usually preserved in 10% formalin and transported to the laboratory for identification and tabulatiOn. At times large numbers of easily identified Specimens were taken. These were counted and returned to the water after identification. Gill net collections were made with nylon nets 100 by 8 feet and of lé-inch mesh. These nets were used in.small lakes and deep portions of the river. Specimens taken in gill nets were identified, weighed, measured and Opened to check the food habits and physical condition. The findings were recorded on the forms devised for raw cording data from the basic survey and inventory of lakes. : :.-:_t;e: is or FISH counselor Fish collections were made hy both seines.and gill note. The seines were used where the water*was shallow enough to permit wading but in deeper water and in small lakes on the watershed gill nets were employed. E Emmy small streams in this watershed were dry throughout this investigation and the majority of them.contained only small quantities of water for a short period following rains. Those seine stations that were established represented as many habitats as could be located that contained.water on a permanent basis. Seine stations extend from the vicinity of Fort Terth to a point near.Livinggtenn where the river becomes too deep for coining (Table 1). Net collections were mmnm.from Red.Lake near Fairfield and Stanmire Lake near Cakwosd as well as the Trinity River near Hess Bluff (Table l). A checklist of the thirtywnine species taken from this watershed is given in Table 2 and includes both the seined and net samples made during this investigation. There are other species that have been reported from this watershed but were not taken during this period and therefore have been omitted. ' The most numerous species in the seine collections was the red shiner {Netropis lutrensis). This species provided lh99 of the 1897 fish taken or 79 percent. Bluegill sunfish and mosquitofish made up 6 percent and 5 percent, respectively (Table 3E. Only three species were taken at the majority of the seine stations. Bluegills were collected at eleven of the twelve stations while mosquitofish and red shiner were taken at eight stations. The large catch of red shiner at Station No. 9 accounted for 888 or 59 percent of the total number of this species taken. The results of netting on the Trinity River Watershed are given in Tables L and 5. The catch from the two small lakes netted showed a tendency toward gizzard shad since 59.8 percent of the Red Lake catch and 63.3 '_flper'cén-t;} of the Stanmire Lake catch were of this species. No shad were netted in the River at Moss Bluff. Gizsard shad dominated the total weights of the net catches from Red Lake and Stanmire Lake with 5h.8 and 50.9 percent respectively. The gar made up a small percentage of the total. both in number and weight, of the fish taken in Red Lake and Stanmire Lake but they compose 6%.? percent of the number and 95.8 percent of the weight of the catch from the river at Moss Bluff. Longnose gar provided #7.6 percent of the total number taken at Mhss Bluff while only 7.6 percent were alligator gar but the alligator gar provided 50.8 percent of the total weight as compared to the longnose gar total of h0.h percent. A comparison of the gmae and rough species shows that the_573 fish taken in gill nets weighed 1958.61 pounds for an average weight of 3.k2 pounds. The rough fish.made up 77.3 percent of the total number and 95.66 percent of the total weight. They averaged h.23 pounds while the game fish averaged .65 pounds. Prepared by Leonard I. Lamb Approved by ’22 ZMflE J A’fl’d/ Project Leader Chief Aquatic Biologist Date _-_.....hh_...._ A Til 13;.l‘57 Table 1. 6. Key to Fish Collection Stations on Trinity River Watershed, below the Bridge- port, Grapevine, Levon, and Garza-Little Elm Dans. Station No. Collecti on No . Location Rock Creek inediately above Benbrook Lake, l Bl7S-l Tarrant County. 2 3178—2 Mustang Creek immediately above Benbrook Lake, Tarrant County. 3 Bl7S—3 Clear Fork of Trinity River at Burke‘s Ford near Aledo, Parker County. h BlTB-h Village Creek, U. S. Highway 287 near Everman, Tarrant County. 5 B17S-5 Village Creek 3 miles above U. S. Highway 80 near Handley, Tarrant County. 6 13173-6 Catfish Creek on Engliu Wildlife Area, Tennessee Colony, Anderson County. 7 3173-7 Small lake on lhgling Area near Catfish - Creek, Tennessee Colony, Anderson County. 8 B17S~8 Lake Creek at Highway 287 crossing, Anderson County. 9 B17S-9 Trinity River at Highway #5 crossing near Trinity, Trinity County. 10 BlTS—lo Kellison Creek near Holden, Houston County. 11 Bl7S—ll Trinity River at Highway 7 w Leon Countyw Hbuston County line. 12 B17S—l2 Trinity River at Highway 59 crossing near Livingston, Polk County. 13 BlTG-l Red Lake, on tributary to Keechi Creek near Fairfield, Freestone County. 1% Bl7G~2 Stanmire Lake, Oxbow cutoff from Trinity River near oakwood, Leon Coutny. 15 Bl7G-3 Trintiy River near Mbss Bluff, Liberty County. Note: B178 - Denotes Seine Station. Bl7G - Denotes Net Station. Table 2. Checklist of Species from the Trinity River Watershed. _n1____l_n_n_________n______________________m_l__1ll_ln______l______________,__. Common'Name Scientific Name W Alligator gar Shortness gar Spotted gar Longnose gar Bcwfin Manhaden Giszard shad Smallnouth buffalo River carpsucker Chubsucker Golden shiner Redfin shiner Blacktail shiner Red shiner Blackspot shiner Silvery‘minnow Parrot minnow Fathead minnow Channel catfish Blue catfish- Black bullhead Yellow bullhead 'Blackspot tOpminnow Mtsquitofish Striped mullet White bass Yellow bass Spotted bass Largemouth bass Warmouth Green sunfish Spotted sunfish Redear sunfish Tallowbelly sunfish Bluegill sunfish Longear sunfish- Flier sunfish Bluntnose darter Fheshwater drmn Lepisosteus spatula Lepisosteus platostomus Lepisosteus productus Lepisosteus osseus ' Amie calva 'Brevoortia gEEteri Dorosoma cepgdianum Ictiobus bubalus_ Carpiodes_ca§pio Epimygon sucetta Notemigonus cgyscleucas Hotropis umbratalis NetrOpisavenustus Hetropis lutrensis HOtropis atrocaudalis Hypognathus unchalis Pimephales vigilax Pimephalesipromelus Ictalurus punctatus Ictalurus furcatus Ictalurus moles ' Ictalurus natalis_ Fundulus clivaceus Gambusia affinis flpgil cephalus ' Roccus chrysops Roccus mississifgiensis MicrOpterus punctulatus Micropterus salmOides 311%an f - “131153 ' - .9 a. nus Lepomis C stems .. 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