Game fish can only be taken with a hook. Department regulations prohibit netting and traps except for small bait fish. Manipulate fish populations. The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department has the sole legal authority to alter fish populations in public waters by removal of existing fish stocks and addition of new species. The Department has removed fish in the past by chemical methods and by netting, but does not use either method at the present time.
Chemicals are no longer feasible at today's prices, and gill netting has proven ineffective.
According to Department personnel, the most practical form of altering fish populations is the introduction of new predator species. During the last ten years, the Inland Fisheries Program has introduced a variety of predators into Texas reservoirs. On a statewide basis, striped bass, hybrid striped bass, and Florida bass are the newcomers most familiar to Texas fishermen. Habitat improvement includes preventing water pollution, removing harmful vegetation, and allowing standing timber in certain areas of new reservoirs. Inland Fisheries personnel investigate fish kills caused by water pollution on fresh water and review all environmental impact assessments which might affect fresh water fish.