Jacob D. Norman

An economic valuation of the recreational sport fishery of Lake Fork in northeast Texas was completed in 2014 and 2015, finding that angler direct expenditures totaled US$18.8 million annually on fishing trips to the reservoir. Although some largemouth bass (Micropterus salmoides) tournament anglers were included in that study, it did not assess economic impacts of six large (>200 participants) tournaments during the study period. Since 2006, largemouth bass tournament effort at Lake Fork has generally increased to comprise half of all fishing activity in the reservoir and is...

Biotelemetry via surgical implantation of an electronic tag is a common way to examine fish behavior and movement. Previous studies suggest higher post-operative survival should be expected when implanting tags at colder water temperatures. However, during the initial part of our study, all 26 adult largemouth bass (Micropterus salmoides) we implanted with transmitters at water temperatures from 14 to 17 C at Toledo Bend Reservoir, Texas, died within 4 wk post-surgery. To further investigate this phenomenon, we conducted two tagging trials at 13 C, observing post-operative...

In 2011, the Texas state legislature legalized hand fishing as a harvest method for cat fish in Texas. Although large cat fish (>600 mm total length [TL]) are expected to be vulnerable to this fishing method, little is known about hand fishers or their harvest practices. To help make informed management decisions and better understand how hand fishers compare to other Texas' cat fish anglers, we surveyed hand fishers to collect information on their demographics and fishing activities. Survey respondents (n = 118) were primarily preexisting cat fish fishermen who already utilized other...