Trinity River alligator gar harvest drawing closes Sept. 30

The application window for Texas’s Trinity River alligator gar harvest drawing is still open, and it closes Wednesday. The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department’s Aug. 27, 2026 release opened the annual random drawing on Sept. 1. Anglers with a valid license-year or year-from-purchase fishing license can enter through Sept. 30 as an individual or in a small group, on the Texas Hunt & Fish app or online.

A winning authorization allows one alligator gar over 48 inches from the Trinity River between the Interstate 30 bridge in Dallas and the I-10 bridge in Chambers County. That stretch includes Lake Livingston and the East Fork of the Trinity upstream to the dam at Lake Ray Hubbard, in Anderson, Chambers, Dallas, Ellis, Freestone, Henderson, Houston, Kaufman, Leon, Liberty, Madison, Navarro, Polk, San Jacinto, Trinity, and Walker counties. Holders may use any legal means, day or night. TPWD said winners will be notified by Oct. 15, and authorizations are valid from the date issued through Aug. 31, 2027. Tim Birdsong, director of Inland Fisheries, said the drawing offers 150 anglers a chance to harvest one fish while the department keeps a conservation limit on the stock.

Every alligator gar kept from public fresh water or salt water, including fish taken on a harvest authorization, must be reported on the Texas Hunt & Fish app or online within 24 hours. Falcon International Reservoir is the exception to that reporting rule. On the same Trinity stretch, the 48-inch maximum still applies to anglers without an authorization. Archery equipment and crossbows are banned from half an hour after sunset until half an hour before sunrise unless the angler is using a drawing authorization. The statewide bag stays one alligator gar per day, except at Falcon, where the daily bag is five and the possession limit is 10. Confirm the live TPWD release and the current Outdoor Annual before you apply or keep a fish.

This is a The Gillnet news desk summary, not a reprint.

Source: TPWD — Harvest Authorization Drawing Applications for Trinity River Alligator Gar Available Sept. 1 (Aug. 27, 2026).