Tuesday, April 19, 2011

Wildfires threaten Texas, campers advised to forgo campfires

Five fires have burned at least 100,000 acres each in Texas in the past two weeks and fires still rage. Most of the state is in extreme drought, and wildfires in the past week alone have burned more than 1,000 square miles of parched Texas ranchland — an area that combined would be the size of the state of Rhode Island.

The Possum Kingdom Lake fire about 70 miles west of Fort Worth has grown from 63,000 acres to nearly 150,000 acres in just one day according to the Texas Forest Service. More than 30 homes have been confirmed destroyed in the Possum Kingdom area, and the forest service says that number will grow.

Temperatures are expected to return to the mid-90s with wind gusts of up to 35 mph. Of the 1.5 million acres burned in Texas this year, 90% were started by humans. 90%!

"The public just needs to be mindful that any use of outdoor fire should not be considered," said a Texas Forest Service spokesman on Tuesday. Campers and especially boondockers should avoid building a campfire until the fire danger is declared over by forest service officials.

Thursday, April 14, 2011

Win a $250 gas gift card

In this time of ever-rising gas prices, we could all use a break when we hit the road. Which is why TexasCampgrounds.com is giving away a $250 free gas card every quarter to one lucky visitor who fills out a short form about his or her camping habits. All it takes is a moment of time to fill out the form and the three short questions below and you’re automatically entered. Heck, $250 of free gas would be nice! Learn more.

Looking to catch a trophy bass? Then head over to Lake Fork

If you're a serious bass angler who lives to catch the big ones, then you better head on over to Lake Fork northwest of Quitman.

For the last eight years, Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD) has been collecting information on catches of trophy bass seven pounds or greater or 24 inches or longer at Lake Fork. Through February 2011, the survey recorded 11,368 such fish.

Anglers weighed 83 percent and measured lengths of 59 percent of these trophies. With an average of 1,421 fish over seven pounds every year, these numbers suggest the lake is still doing well. By comparing eligible fish encountered in creel surveys with survey results for the same days, biologists estimate fewer than 10 percent of actual catches are reported, making these results appear even more astounding.

The proportions of various fish length groups have been surprisingly consistent from year to year, suggesting the size structure of the largest fish in the population has remained stable over the past eight years.