The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department will open its annual Alligator Gar Harvest Authorization drawing application process on Sept. 1, according to an Aug. 27 news release from the agency. The random drawing authorizes anglers to harvest one alligator gar over 48 inches from a designated section of the Trinity River.
The drawing serves as the state’s mechanism for balancing angler access against conservation of a fish that draws visitors from well beyond Texas. The agency said 150 anglers will receive authorizations through the system.
From Sept. 1 through Sept. 30, anglers holding a valid license-year or year-from-purchase fishing license can enter the drawing through the Texas Hunt and Fish mobile app or online, either as an individual or as part of a small group, TPWD said. Winners will be notified by Oct. 15, and authorizations will be valid from the date issued through Aug. 31, 2027.
Successful applicants may use any legal means or method to take a qualifying alligator gar, day or night, from the Interstate 30 bridge in Dallas downstream to the Interstate 10 bridge in Chambers County. That stretch includes Lake Livingston and the East Fork of the Trinity River upstream to the dam at Lake Ray Hubbard, spanning Anderson, Chambers, Dallas, Ellis, Freestone, Henderson, Houston, Kaufman, Leon, Liberty, Madison, Navarro, Polk, San Jacinto, Trinity and Walker counties.
“Fishing for alligator gar on the Trinity River is world renowned and truly a bucket list item for any angler,” said Tim Birdsong, director of TPWD’s Inland Fisheries Division. He said the drawing system lets the department offer anglers “the opportunity to harvest the fish of a lifetime” while conserving the resource for future generations.
All alligator gar harvested from public freshwater and saltwater waterbodies other than Falcon International Reservoir must be reported through the Texas Hunt and Fish app or online within 24 hours, the agency said. Birdsong said that reporting enhances the department’s understanding of the species’ distribution, sizes and numbers.
Other regulations remain in effect, TPWD noted, including the 48-inch maximum length limit on the same Trinity River stretch and a ban there on taking alligator gar with lawful archery equipment or a crossbow between one half-hour after sunset and one half-hour before sunrise, unless the angler holds a harvest authorization. A one-fish-per-day bag limit applies statewide except at Falcon International Reservoir, where the daily limit is five fish and the possession limit is 10.