Inland Fisheries Tyler District - Texas Parks and Wildlife

Have you seen this fish? Invasive Silver and Bighead carp have been found in the Red River and tributaries in Texas. Help stop them from spreading to new water bodies and threatening native fish populations. Don’t move live bait—use it where you catch it!

•It’s illegal to move live bait from the Red River and tributaries, Sulphur River and Big Cypress Bayou to prevent accidental transfer of young invasive carp, which look much like shad.

•Report Silver or Bighead Carp sightings to [email protected].

We wrapped up the first year of our Christmas tree spawning habitat improvement project on Lake Fork. While we didn't hit our original goal for trees donated, we still used 332 trees to improve the shoreline habitat for the majority of a great spawning pocket down lake from the new Caney Point SRA facility. We view this as a great start to a hopefully long term annual project. One day's work with ~300 trees should improve spawning success in this pocket. What can 1,000+ trees do? We will hopefully find out next year! We electrofished this site, along with several others, in early-summer 2025 to look and juvenile bass abundance. We will be sampling the same sites again this year to see what improvements we see at the location with Christmas trees. A big thank you is needed to the Sabine River Authority and Lake Fork Sportsman's Association for assisting with this project.

We are still collecting undecorated natural Christmas trees at our Caney Point and Tyler Nature Center drop off sites until January 25th. Your donated trees will be used as shoreline habitat to provide refuge for Largemouth Bass during and after the spawn.

Don't forget, our pond is open for trout fishing the next two Saturdays from 9:00 am - 2:00 pm.

Trails to Trout 2026: A Free Youth Fishing Event

Join us at The Nature Center January 3rd and 10th for our annual Rainbow Trout fishing event from 9:00AM to 2:00PM.

Bring your own gear and bait or borrow some of ours. No registration is required. Anglers may keep up to 5 Trout and 1 Channel Catfish per person. Ice will be available for those anglers that wish to take their fish home.

Recommended Equipment: light-action rod and reel combo with small hooks, 6 lb. test or less line, small bobbers, and small split shot.
Bait: salmon eggs, whole kernel corn, marshmallows, small worms, or prepared trout bait.

For more information, please contact Jake Norman, Fisheries Biologist at 903-566-1615 x2409.

Reminding everyone to drop off your Christmas tree at our office at the Tyler Nature Center or the location we set up at Fork heading towards the new SRA Caney Creek ramp.

🎄Help the Largemouth Bass population with your natural Christmas tree!🎄

Recycle your natural tree this year to be used as habitat in Lake Fork. Drop off your undecorated tree after Christmas at either of the locations below:
📍Tyler Nature Center
📍Caney Point Recreation Area near Yantis

See the images in this post for the drop off locations and other info.

Have you seen this fish? Invasive Silver and Bighead carp have been found in the Red River and tributaries in Texas. Help stop them from spreading to new water bodies and threatening native fish populations.

•It’s illegal to move live bait from the Red River, Sulphur River and Big Cypress Bayou to prevent accidental transfer of young invasive carp, which look much like shad.

•Report Silver or Bighead Carp sightings to [email protected].

We’re working to assess populations of these invasive fish in the Red River Basin in Texas, Oklahoma, and Arkansas.

The pond at the Tyler Nature Center will be open next Thursday and Friday for fishing from 8am-12pm. There are still plenty of trout to be caught in the pond, and it has warmed up enough to catch catfish, bass and bluegill as well. We will have bait, tackle and rods available for use during the event. Hope to see you out there!