TPWD 1965 F-12-R-11 #996: Fisheries Investigations and Surveys of the Waters of Region A-A: Job No. D-10 Fisheries Reconnaissance

JOB COMPLETION REPORT As required by FEDERAL AID IN FISHERIES RESTORATION ACT TEXAS Federal Aid Prejeet Ne. F~12—R—11 FISHERIES INVESTIGATIONS AND SURVEYS OF THE WATERS OF REGION'A-A Jeb we. D-lO Fisheries Resennaissanee Project Leader Alan G. Hanger J. R. Singletnn Executive Direeter Parks and Wildlife Department Austin, Texas Marian Teele Eugene A. Walker DHJ Cenrdinater Director, Wildlife Services Oeteber 2?, 1966 Abstract Taylor Bayou, Oew Bayou and part of the Neches River near deeumont were surveyed. Fish collections were made in each body of water on four different occasions during the year. In Taylor Devon an overnight set of sin pill nets vielded an averape of 10.37 pounds of game fish. A similar not set in'Oow Hapou and the Hectoe River yielded 1.h2 pounds and O.6O of a pound respectively. Taylor Bayou, Dow Bayou and the Nechee River yielded 115.39, 36.36 and El.A3 pounds of other fish respectively. Natural factors such as periodic intrusion of saline water into Cow Bayou and the Neches River may have been responsible for some of the differences in the fish collections. Pollution was found to he an important factor in the Nachos River. Fishermen preferred Taylor Dayou to the other bodies of water. None of the anglers contacted during the survey had a limit of fish. The bag limits for fish are apparently not serving any purpose in this area. Pollution is not well understood and it is recommended that efforts he made to better define the problem. It is also recommended that the bag limits remain unchanged until other factors beyond the scope of this report are studied. JOB COMPLETION REPORT State of Texas Project N . F-l2—R-11_fl Name: Fisheries Investigations and SurveTs of the Waters of Region —A Job No: ' R—IO Title: Fisheries Reponnaissance Objectives: 1. To obtain limited current information concerning species of fishes present, their relative abundances and factors influencing these populations for the public waters of Hardin, Jefferson and Orange Counties. ' 2. To obtain limited current information concerning fishing conditions in the public waters of Hardin, Jefferson and Orange Counties. 3. To analyse all data collected for use in recommending suitable fish harvest regulations for the counties under the regulatory authority of the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department. Procedures: Experimental gill nets and a seine were used to make fish collections. Each gill net was 125 feet long by 8 feet deep; the nets were hobbled to 6 feet deep. Mesh sises ran in one—half inch intervals from 1 inch to 3.5 inch square mesh. There were 25 feet of each mesh sise. Seining collections were made with a 24 foot bag seine having B/IS—inch mesh. Two overnight sets of six gill nets were made in each body of water four times during the year. Each net set will be referred to as a “standard unit of collection” for comparison and reporting purposes. Established collection sites were not used as originally planned. It was decided that more representative samples of the fish population would be obtained by randomly setting the nets because of the considerable area which was being sampled in each case. Each of the baycus studied has been deepened and straightened by dredging. The steep sides and soft mud bottoms of the bayous made seining difficult in most places; therefore, seining was not carried out extensively. Fish taken by gill nets were all identified and weighed. A substantial. portion of the fish captured were measured and the sexual development investi- gated. Incidence of parasitism was noted and spot checks of game fish stomachs were mads. In this report channel catfish, blue catfish, flathead catfish, white bass, n- ,I 1 1.1. spotted bass, largemouth bass, armouth, redear sunfish, bluegill, wnite crappie and black crappie are considered game fish. _ 2 _ Water quality determinations included dissolved oxygen, alkalinity, chlorides, sulfates, phosphates, nitrates and pH. Visibility (Secchi disk) and surface temperature were also measured. Some spot checks of fishermen creels were mdde on Cow Bayou and the Neches River at the time of the netting surveys. Fishing success was also determined through interviews. An extensive creel census was made of Taylor Bayou.7 ' Aquatic vegetation,sources of siltation and pollution were noted if they created a problem. Findings: A total of 40 species and 16 families were collected. Table 1 is a checkelist of the fish taken from Taylor Bayou, Cow Bayou and the Neches River. Taylor Bayou Taylor Bayou runs in a west to east direction and divides Jefferson County into 2 nearly equal parts (Map 1). The part of the bayou which was surveyed extends from where the bayou divides into the North Fork and South Fork to the salt water gate and barge locks. The channel distance between these 2 points is about 22 miles and the Dayeu area is about 1,080 acres. The Taylor Bayou system also includes 3 smaller bayeus: Mayhaw Bayou, Dillebrant Dayou and Dighill Dayou. The banks of Taylor Rayon are generally wooded over the western half-of the survey area and marsh—like over the eastern half. Rice farming is common and the water from Taylor Dayou and the bayous associated with it is used for irrigation. There are between 15 and 2C individual pumping plants (Grout, J. D., Symmank, D. C., Peterson, C. A. 1965. Soil Survey Jefferson County, Texas. U. S. Department Agriculture, Soil Conservation Service, Series 1960, No. 21:1—73). Fish were collected during January, April, July and October. The results of the gill net collections are given in Tables 2 and 3. Species collected by seining are found in Table 4. Details of sport fishing are given in Completion Report F—12—R—11, Joh 3—13. This area was more popular with sport fishermen than Cow Bayou or the part of the Neches River which was surveyed. human activities are disturbing Taylor Dayou. The hayou is often muddy in the spring Uor extended periods of time. This condition is apparently due to the release of water from rice fields. One result of the turbid water is a reduction of sport fishing. On one occasion oil field pollution was noted after a heavy rain. Oil was seen flowing into Dillehrant Rayon from hayou Din for several hours. Water quality data are given in Table fl. -3- Table 1 Checklist of Fishes Mentioned in This Report Common Name Scientific Name _ Chestnut lamprey Ichthvomvgon castaneus Alligator gar Legisosteus spatula Spotted gar Lepisosteus oculatus Longncse gar Lepisosteus oeeeus Bowfin Amia calva Skipjack herring Alosa chrysochlcris Finescale menhaden Drevoortia gggteri Gissard shad Dcrosoma cepedianum Bay anchovy Anchoa mitchilli Crass pickerel Esox americanus Smallmouth buffalo Ictiobus bubalus River carpsucker Carpiodes carpio Spotted sucker Minytrema melanops Carp Cyprinus carpic Blacktail shiner thropis venustus Red shiner Notropis lutrensis Fathead minnow Pimephales nromelag Channel catfish Ictalurus pgpctatus Blue catfish Ictaluggg furcatus Flathead catfish Eylodictus olivaris Blackstripe tepminnee Fundulgg notatus Sheepshead minnow - Cyprinodgg ygpiesatus Mbseuitofish Cambusia affinis Striped mullet hnsil cephales Tidewater silverside . flgpidig pggylligg Brook silverside Lgbidggthsg gigpplgg White bass Basses shsissss Yellsw bass Assess isissrssiss Spotted bass hicrcptggpg ppngtglgtgg Larssmsuth bass hissssisass salsissss Warmsuth Ahsssshsxiiss sslssss Redear sunfish Lgpomis miggplgphgg Bluegill Lssssis sssrsshisss Orangespotted sunfish Lgpomis hggglig Longear sunfish Lgpggig mggglotig White crappie fssssha sssslssis Black crappie Tassels sissssssslstss Freshwater drum Aplgfiingtflg gggpfliggg Spat Leississss assihssss Black drum Eggggigg pgpmgg i- sass BEAUMGHT W -.'_. .-..- -_- .L‘I}. "r' '_ 'r .I: r JEN-{*- 'i 'T. -._-l" PORT HECHES LAKEWEW “i 1' MAP 1 :_ FLO 114 .l I. I: nylluw Burn Table 2 Taylor Bayou Netting Collections 4|- Percent Weight Percent ' ‘ Number of in of Species - w___w0aught Number Pounds Weight Alligator gar 5 0.78 _ 56.18 5.11 Spsttss ear 194 30.35 207.09 19.27 Longnose gar 1 0.20 6.00 0.5 Bcwfin 2 0.31 13.06 1.21 Cissard shad 56 8.76 2A.00 2.23 Smallmouth buffalo 90 14.08 273.95 25.41 River carpsucker 2 0.31 3.06 0.28 Carp 67 . 10.48 275.68 25.5? Channel catfisht 13 2.03 21.70 2.01 Blue catfisht A6 2.19 84.99 7.88 Flathead catfisht 2 0.31 _ 2.94 0.74 Striped mullet 18 2.81 25.87 2.40 White bassit 5 0.T8 5.69 0.53 Yellow bass 18 2.81 4.51 0.42 Largemouth beset A 0.62 3.87 0.36 Warmouthit 3 0.46 1.00 0.09 Longear sunfish 1— 0.20 0.0? 0.01 White crappieii _ 54 8.45 25.12 2-33 Freshwater drum 36 5.63 34.13 3.17 Total 639 100.00 1,078.20 100.00 8 Game fish l4? - 23.64 155.00 14.37 Other fish ~ 490 $0.30 923-20 35-63 _ g _ Table 3 Average Standard Units of Collection for Taylor Bayou, Cow Bayou and the Neches River Taylor ijou Cos Bayou Neches River Species N mber Pounds Number Pounds Number Pounds Alligator gar 0.63 6.90 0.75 10.77 0.50 3.81 Car sp. - 0.88 0.99 Spotted gar 24.25 25.96 12.00 28.77 2.50 4.74 Longnose gar 0.13 0.75 1.38 8.07 1.13 4.84 Bowfin 0.25 1.63 0.25 1.17 Finescale menhaden 1.38 0.03 . Skipjack herring 0.25 0.41 Gimsard shad 7.00 3.00 0.30 0.29 2.00 0.73 Smallmouth buffalo 11.25 34.24 14.63 53.98 5.50 17.85 River carpsncker 0.25 0.38 1.00 0.98 Carp 8.38 34.46 1.00 2.98 0.25 0.91 Channel catfishh 1.63 2.71 0. 50 0.42 0.50 0.23 Blue catfishii 5.75 10.62 0. 25 0.50 1.00 1.00 Flathead catfishit 0. 25 0.99 0.13 0.13 Striped mullet 2. 25 3.23 1.13 0.70 1.75 1.55 White basst 0.63 0.71 Yellow bass 2. 25 0.56 1.13 0.52 _ Spotted bassii -~ ' 0.25 0.20 Largemouth bassit 0.50 0.48 0.25 0.37 0.13 0.04 Warmouthh 0.38 0.13 0.38 0.05 Redear sunfisht 0.13 0.01 0.25 0.07 Bluegillii 2.75 0.59 0.63 0.13 0.50 0.06 Orangespotted sunfish O. 25 0.05 Longear sunfish 0.13 U. 01 0-13 0-03 White crappiet 6.75 3.14 0.13 0.18 0. 50 0.24 Black crappieii 0. 25 0.08 0.38 0.06 Freshwater drum 4.50 4.27 0. 50 0 42 2-00 0:78 Spot 1 0.. '13 Cl. 02 Blflflk drum] 1 I25 1 .56 Total 79.91 134.76 38.18 109.93 22:03 40-94 8 Game fish 18.64 19.37 2.27 1.82 3.89 1.95 Other fish 01.27 115.39 35.91 100.10 18.14 38-99 M 1/ Some of the fish were Partially eaten by crabs. This is an estimated weight. _ 7 _ Table 4 Fish Species Taken by Seining Spegies E Taylor Bav cu Cow Ba ou Neches River Spotted gar x Bay anchovy x .Crass pickerel x x Pugnose minnow x Blacktail shiner x _ Bed shiner x Fathead minnow x 3 Channel catfish x Blue catfish x Sheepshead minnow ._, x x Mosquitofish x x Tidewater silverside ' x x Largemonth bass x x Warmouth x x Redear sunfish x x Bluegill x x Orangespctted sunfish x .asac .em smaseeamm mess ewes mamas memes . .snfip Shanon 6 Spas peaacses ass hofifiwnwmfib .coHHHfis has apnea cfi _ noswm has aepsnwwc was newsmaaoha “newsmaan .mpHcHHsAHa ancpflaofihu m.o m.D NN Gm . efispasm Assam schema m.o m.o as .66 . =ma em sea.m 1 am m.m . e.e assesses neeflm nezocz w; 6.6 3. saw 1 i. 6.4. Goons .. mm 6.2.. 1 NJ. doses 300 eases 6.6 as sea 1 =m as Bad 1 was 0.0 : m.e seams nefiasa samssasea washes seem a ham wwflflflwnfib . PMEWHsaam amasseaem a sea assesses Ashamed passe m panda