BEXAR COUNTY, Texas – More than 1 million red drum, also known as redfish, have been stocked in two popular Bexar County lakes this week.
Texas Parks and Wildlife officials with the Inland Fisheries San Antonio District posted about the fish stocking on Facebook Wednesday.
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Calaveras Lake and Braunig Lake were stocked with over 1 million fingerlings - approximately 650,372 fish were stocked in Calaveras Lake and for Braunig Lake approximately 363,503 fish were stocked, according to TWPD spokesperson Mitch Nisbet.
“In just a couple of years, these fingerlings will be the 20-30 inch or even 40-inch fish that are caught at these lakes everyday," according to the Facebook post.
Officials said the stockings are necessary because red drum don’t reproduce in freshwater environments.
Red Drum have arrived in San Antonio! This week we stocked 1,000,000 red drum fingerlings, creating a unique freshwater...
Posted by Texas Parks and Wildlife on Wednesday, October 7, 2020
Red drum are stocked in the lakes annually, officials said.
One social media commenter asked how red drum are able to survive in fresh water as they are known for being caught along the Texas coast.
“The temperature of the lake stays warm enough year-round, due to the powerplant to satisfy the temperature requirement and the salinity and pH are within the range of acceptable levels,” officials said. “When coastal red drum are young they spend a portion of their life in brackish water, which is a mixture of salt and freshwater. Red drum surviving in this environment is similar to how salmon are able to survive in the Great Lakes.”
“We will also be stocking 9-inch Channel Catfish at a variety of Community Fishing Lakes around the area, starting in the next week with Lost Maples State Natural Area,” Nisbet said.