Learning Center

Guides and how-tos for Texas anglers.

Rods and reels

Three parts: how to read a rod, the kinds of reel and what the numbers mean, and how to match a rod, reel and line to the fish you fish for.

How to read a fish finder

Eight lessons with drawings you can move: how sonar works, the screen, arches, the bottom, 2D vs DownScan vs SideScan and more.

Reading the water

• Lake levels and the conservation pool: What "full" means for a Texas reservoir, why two websites can disagree, and how TexCast shows a lake level.
• Reading a river gauge: stage and flow: What gage height and cubic feet per second mean, how a gauge makes them, and how to read a river reading.
• Tides on the Texas coast, explained: What makes the tide, why the Gulf is different, how wind changes it, and how flood and ebb currents work.

Saltwater

• Pier fishing on the Texas coast: Why a pier works, what the green light under it does, simple rigs, how weight and current fit together, and the license rules.

Trout

• Fishing for stocked rainbow trout: What a stocker is, the light gear and simple rigs that suit it, which baits and lures to try, and a plan for stocking day.
• Why Texas stocks trout, and how to read the schedule: What the TPWD stocking program is for, what the schedule does and does not tell you, and who needs a license.

Gear

• Fishing line: mono, fluorocarbon and braid: What each kind of line is good at, what the pound rating really means, and how to pick, join and care for it.
• Fishing knots that hold: Which knot for which job and line, how to tie it step by step, and the habits that keep it from failing.

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