- ANNOUNCER: The Texas Parks and Wildlife Television Series is supported in part by Texas Parks and Wildlife Foundation -- conserving the wild things and wild places of Texas, thanks to members across the state.

Additional funding is provided by Toyota.

Your local Toyota dealers are proud to support outdoor recreation and conservation in Texas.

Toyota -- Let's Go Places.

- NARRATOR: Coming up on Texas Parks & Wildlife... - When you angle for a fish and can actually get it to eat something, and observe it, it's a little more rewarding.

- The compound that we're spraying inside this roost doesn't affect the bats at all, it is strictly a fungicide.

It kills the fungus and it prevents the fungus from growing.

- Guadalupe State Park and Honey Creek State Natural Area, what we're known for, honestly, is the river.

[theme music] ♪ ♪ - NARRATOR: Texas Parks and Wildlife, a television series for all outdoors.

[lively piano music] - This water is so crystal-clear, you just feel like you're in an aquarium.

[water gurgling] When you get on the same level as the fish, you feel like you're a part of their world.

It makes any catch a lot more rewarding.

[lively piano music] A bit part of my motivation is branching out from sportfish fishing.

You wanna get more in tune with what all is around you, you know.

You want to see what else is out there, what you can get.

My goal as an angler really is to catch as many different species of fish as possible.

Part of the enjoyable part of microfishing is going to new places where you can find a rich diversity of fish.

Beautiful springs and pristine habitat.

But almost everybody's got a stream within walking distance of their house whether they know it or not.

[gentle piano music] My name is Nick Loveland and I'm a microfisherman.

And a multi-species fisherman.

Gambusia.

Big old mosquito fish.

A micro species is pretty much defined as anything that as a full-grown adult wouldn't ever get over one pound.

The art of microfishing has been around for a long time out of the United States.

In Japan, they've been doing it for close to a hundred years for tanago, a species of fish there.

But in the United States, microfishing, I've only heard of it probably within the last five years.

I wouldn't be surprised if there's dedicated hobbyists that have been doing it for a lot longer than that.

Today, we're at the North Fork of the Guadalupe River.

It's just so beautiful out here, and it happens to be a great place for microfishing too.

Oh yeah.

Big old Mexican tetra.

It's pretty funny to catch a trophy microfish.

There's definitely a humorous aspect to it.

[laughs] There's actually a lot bigger ones in here.

See that piranha mouth?

The Mexican tetra is a really fun micro to catch.

They're actually pretty closely related to a piranha down the evolutionary line.

If they were the size of a bass, nobody would be swimming out here.

Definitely a trophy micro from some out-of-staters to come to Texas and pursue.

I'll start out with the easy ones.

See if I can get one of these mosquito fish.

A big part about ethically microfishing is just staying educated.

Knowing where you are and what species you're bound to encounter.

Got him.

Gambusia affinis.

Straight into some fresh water.

And just prioritizing fish health.

Keeping a small photo tank with some water to keep the fish healthy and practice ethical catch and release.

A pair of hemostats really helps with grabbing and dislodging these micro hooks once you catch a fish.

There he is.

I would say the most important part is just knowing what you're going to catch.

Doing some research, figuring out what species you're targeting.

Texas shiner.

It's really about knowing where you are and what you're likely to come across.

And not breaking any laws, you know it's not legal to handle protected fish or to target them, so just staying informed is a big part of microfishing.

When I started fishing as a young kid, I was always the kind of kid who had his nose in a field guide, I think.

My dad always had a bunch laying around and I realized that I was catching more than just perch.

You know there were six or seven different species of sunfish that I was pulling in.

After I realized I'd caught most of the fish in one part of the field guide, I wanted to move on a see what was in the next.

Just like birding, a lot of multi-species anglers build a life list, and some of these lists approach 1,000 or 2,000 species.

It's incredible.

The method of microfishing a lot of times is dependent on the species.

So if I'm gonna be targeting bottom-dwelling species like darters that are really colorful, a lot of times I'm going to need to get down on their level with them, and the best way to do that is with snorkeling.

[water flowing] [upbeat music] Putting your head underwater, it just, you don't even feel like you're on earth anymore.

You're like you're that kid always wanted to jump in with the fish at Sea World and you finally get to do it.

[laughs] When you angle for a fish and you can actually get it to eat something and observe it and catch it on hook and line, you learn a lot more about its biology, you get more in touch with its habitat, where you can find it.

It's a little more rewarding.

[sonar pings] Standing above them, they kind of view you as a predator, like a, you know, you can picture a heron wading around and trying to stab fish out of the water.

But once you get on their level, the fish really seem to tolerate your presence a lot better.

Just a Mexican tetra.

I love these guys, but I've already caught about 50 of them today.

I'll put him back.

Readjust my bait here.

There's a ton of species that get congregated around these springs that you can't find in a lot of other places.

Anybody who doesn't like leeches hasn't seen one like this.

[playful music] Pretty much the top of the trophy list for a lot of these micro anglers is darters.

We have two species here in the Hill Country, the green throat darter and the orange throat darter.

Both of them are just gorgeous, especially the males when they're, um, in breeding coloration.

Absolutely gorgeous.

[playful music] Darters are one of the hardest ones to get, especially as a beginner microfisherman.

It's sort of a milestone once you can catch one.

[playful music] ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ Yes.

All right, woo hoo!

[water splashing] That's a trophy right there.

[laughs] The kings of the spring.

That's the green throat darter.

Only found in a few select streams in the world.

Always beautiful ones like this.

They love springs.

They love vegetation, clear water, fresh-flowing.

Beautiful, beautiful fish.

We're a growing crowd.

There's more and more forums and social media posts dedicated to the topic.

There's hundreds of people out there doing this now.

It's always peaceful, you know, spending the day with your head underwater.

You leave with a lot of peace of mind, and knowledge of the fish.

Never do I spend a day on the water where I didn't learn anything, you know.

There's something always beautiful that happens every trip that makes it unique.

At the end of the day, it's really rewarding.

[upbeat music] - NARRATOR: Texas is home to some amazing bats.

There are more than 30 species here.

[bats calling] While different and unique, these flying mammals face all kinds of threats.

[traffic rumbles] - NATE: We're at the McNeil Bridge in Round Rock, this is an I-35 bridge north of Austin.

[somber music] This is one of the largest urban bat colonies in the state.

- NARRATOR: A winter storm has hit this Mexican free-tailed bat colony especially hard and biologist, Nate Fuller is here to see how they're doing.

- We're trying to understand what the impact of the cold storm was.

I wouldn't hesitate to say that there are probably 10,000 dead bats in the area of this entire bridge.

[somber music] Are you okay?

Oh, you poor thing.

Some of the early migrants have come back because we've had such a warm winter and this cold event caught them off guard.

[somber music] They can't go out and forage, these bats are probably rather dehydrated, they're definitely starving and so we think what's happening here, we've got a pretty big die-off related to a lack of food and water, rather than direct effects of the freeze.

[somber music] - NARRATOR: Nate's job is to keep an eye on the bat populations around the state.

In East Texas, inside some culverts, the rare tri-colored bat faces another challenge.

Biologists are worried about a deadly fungal disease called White Nose Syndrome.

- White Nose Syndrome is all over North America right now and it is knocking on the door of lots of sensitive bat populations in Texas.

If the fungus gets here to these sites in East Texas, we expect that the populations of tri-color bats will be wiped out by the disease.

- NARRATOR: To fight the fungus, they came up with a fungicide-spraying -- - Here you go.

- NARRATOR: Culvert-crawling contraction.

- Push the wheels out.

- And I can turn it on, and turn it back off.

So we have a custom-built remote control that allows us to remotely turn on and off our dispersal device, which we're gonna push into the culvert and we're gonna turn on remotely which will then disperse the chemicals that should kill the fungus or at least suppress it from growing.

- So we spent a lot of time trying to figure out how to make this work.

We had early ideas of running tubing down the culvert with vents on it so it would spray the whole way and couldn't figure out how that would work and we had all kinds of crazy ideas and finally we came on this idea of a cart and it seems to work pretty well.

[cart rattling] - This is a species that's one of the hardest hit by White Nose Syndrome.

Within two years of the White Nose fungus entering a culvert or a cave system, you can see up to a 99% decline in the population.

[cart rattling] - NATE: So the goal here is to protect these very sensitive species of bat from the disease before it gets here.

[tarp flapping] [dramatic music] [water dripping] - KYLE: So what we're attempting here is a type of fumigation.

This method we developed is a way that we can treat all of the bats at once.

We can keep the bats where they are inside of the culvert and we can disperse these chemicals in the air so we can treat at the colony level.

[machine whirring] It's looking good.

Two minutes, 20 seconds left.

- NATE: The compound that we're spraying inside this roost doesn't affect the bats at all.

It is strictly a fungicide.

It kills the fungus and it prevents the fungus from growing.

The bats are fine.

The bats will survive this treatment just fine.

The fungus will not and thus won't cause White Nose Syndrome in the future.

[tarp flapping] - JONAH: The plan right now is to slow down the impact of the disease and give the bats some time to pass around resistance or some sort of tolerance to the fungus.

- Our hope is that by keeping these populations healthy, we can provide a remnant population that will be protected from White Nose Syndrome for years to come and maybe at some point, be the source of re-population for the rest of the region.

- NARRATOR: There's also a glimmer of hope back underneath that bridge.

- Come on, come on.

These guys went through a challenge, but it looks like a good number of them made it through.

[dramatic music] I really think that, you know, most of the population is still down south, so I'm hoping that when those come back, this is gonna be a big, vibrant colony again.

[dramatic music] ♪ ♪ [upbeat music] - Guadalupe River State Park and Honey Creek State Natural Area.

We're located really close to San Antonio, we're really close to Austin.

It's in this like, really cool little like, triangle in the Texas Hill Country.

What we're known for, honestly, is the river.

We actually have about four miles of river frontage on the Guadalupe River State Park side, and on our Bauer Unit side, our Northern portion across the river.

Saturdays and Sundays, we're packed with folks on the river.

There's an area where you can swim.

It's actually deep.

It's kind of over my head.

[water splashes] Then there's an area where it's perfect for kids.

Most of our river is not even but knee deep.

- Good job.

- BARRETT: You can kayak, you can inner tube.

You can swim, you can fish.

I mean, whatever.

- GIRL: Got one!

- DAD: Hold him up to the camera.

[fish flopping] - Uh oh.

- We have about 2,000 acres of the park itself, and then about 2,000 acres all at Honey Creek State Natural Area, which is really special as well.

It's estimated that the creek in that area looks a lot like it did a few hundred years ago when the German settlers were here, which is really unusual.

It's very fragile, it's pristine, and that's why you can only visit Honey Creek State Natural Area with a guided program.

You can't just go on your own and explore like you can with the park.

- BARRETT: One of my favorite portions of Guadalupe River State Park is gonna be in the Bauer Unit, and it's on the northern portion of the park.

It's kind of like this little hidden gem still that not a ton of people have figured out about.

[upbeat music] - ROB: We've probably ridden here a dozen times or so.

The crowds are pretty, pretty, pretty manageable, especially during the week cause it's a little bit out of the way, and it's got a varied terrain, so it's good place to start a person, there's some easy stuff, and then there's some more challenging stuff as well.

I've forgotten how chunky it is in here.

All that chunky goodness.

[upbeat music] - HOLLY: Of course the Discovery Center, that's not the nature of the park, but that's where we share the nature of the park with families, and it's really unique.

It's great for families, but not just for kids.

It's kinda self-led, so we have someone there to guide you.

There's really cool hands-on displays.

Push a button and see this slide out or push this button and listen to a frog chirp.

And then we have countertop displays like bird nests, and animal bones, maybe animal furs, depending, we switch em out so it keeps it new and fresh.

Is this anybody's first time in the park?

- BIRDER: Yeah.

- Really?

- BIRDER: This is the first time I've been here.

- Yay!

I'm so glad!

Today we're going to do birding with the ranger.

We're gonna walk to the bird blind which is where we put out bird seed and there's water for the birds, and it's awesome place to see the wild birds.

Oh, there's a painted bunting.

It's like a rainbow bird.

He's at the tube feeder.

And the cardinal's there too.

Oh, so pretty.

Have you seen one before?

Isn't it gorgeous?

The cardinal's like, I'm pretty too.

Our prize bird is the golden cheeked warbler which is endangered.

It's a true Texas native.

It only nests in the Hill Country.

Only place in the world.

Oh, where'd it go?

He'll be back.

They eat bugs, so they're not gonna come to the bird seed, but they come to the fountain as you can see.

- What I would like to invite people to do is to come visit their Texas state park.

Bring your inner tube, bring your kayak, bring your mountain bike, bring your shoes, your running gear, whatever, and enjoy an entire day.

Get here early, stay late, and have a great day.

[upbeat music] ♪ ♪ - VIRON: We are on the Sabine River, what's called the Sandbar Trail.

For somebody who's never been to East Texas, this river is a good way to see what's out here.

[birds chirping] This river just gives access to big chunks of remote East Texas that are very stereotypical of what this east edge of the state has to offer.

It's a bit of a drive from a lot of the state, but it's certainly worth it once you get here.

- I love to be outdoors and this is a great way to experience the outdoors, especially in this part of Texas.

A lot of good water and the paddling is great.

It's a good way to spend the day.

The sandbars are quite unique.

It's one of the reasons I really enjoy this sandbar trail.

It's beautiful and they change each time we come down it because of the height of the river.

Sometimes they're very tall and sometimes not so much.

Today they're really pretty.

I think it would be a great place to camp sometime.

- VIRON: The river is not a fast river.

There's no class two waters.

It's a river anybody can paddle.

- Yeah, I like being out in nature and you see a lot of wildlife on the river banks when it's quiet.

The unique thing about this is the sandbars, of course, but also that it's a good current.

You can make the trip without too much effort.

- ASHLEY: This is really my first river trip.

It's really nice to just have a space like this in Texas.

Whenever you come out here and you're used to being in a city, it's really quiet, you don't see any people.

We maybe had one or two boats come past us.

- SCOTT: For Texas, it's a fairly unique river as far as having all the sandbars, all the sand.

Almost like a snowy river.

Just beautiful.

[water lapping] - VIRON: Part of being on the river is the tranquility.

This is, for lack of a better term, a very Zen thing.

It's really, really, really hard to get stressed out out here.

There's just no stress and so that's what most of us I think are looking for in our life.

Less stress, more tranquility.

Remote East Texas and time on the Sabine River, it certainly meets those criteria.

[water lapping] - GAME WARDEN: Get back!

[splash] - INSTRUCTOR: That's two minutes!

- NARRATOR: These Texas Game Wardens are hitting the water.

[splash] Which isn't easy when you're wearing 20 pounds of gear.

[grunts] - We've got weighted gun belts with metal guns in it, bulletproof vests and our full uniform, boots, everything.

- NARRATOR: Six Texas Game Wardens have drowned in the line of duty.

This ground-breaking training aims to change that.

- NARRATOR: Texas Game Wardens are some of the first officers in the nation to receive this specialized training.

- You can rupture your ear drum during this evolution.

- NARRATOR: It's based on real-life situations.

[splash] - NORCROSS: The first part of the obstacle course, it's to simulate being under a boat hull or in a boat cabin, caught.

Then they will swim and hold a volleyball to simulate somebody's head above the water, a small child above the water, any object like that.

- A little bit farther!

A little bit farther, come on!

- NORCROSS: It's a very physically demanding class.

- It's totally different than wearing just a bathing suit.

I mean it's added weight that's just dragging you down.

- JONES: You don't float like you normally would with just normal swimwear on.

You start sinking a lot faster.

- INSTRUCTOR: Keep going!

You're almost there.

- This training is helping everybody overcome that moment of panic to show us that we can do it and instill confidence in us.

- NORCROSS: These are the skills that they're developing so that their name is not on a plaque on the wall.

- Push through it.

Come on.

- Okay.

[orchestral music] ♪ ♪ The last you'll see of my face, Ron.

♪ ♪ It's gonna be great!

Quittin' time!

It is a pretty sky.

[chirping of crickets, birds, cicadas] [chirping of crickets, birds, cicadas] [chirping of crickets, birds, cicadas] [chirping of crickets, birds, cicadas] [chirping of crickets, birds, cicadas] [chirping of crickets, birds, cicadas] [chirping of crickets, birds, cicadas] [chirping of crickets, birds, cicadas] [chirping of crickets, birds, cicadas] [chirping of crickets, birds, cicadas] This series is supported in part by Texas Parks and Wildlife Foundation -- conserving the wild things and wild places of Texas, thanks to members across the state.

Additional funding is provided by Toyota.

Your local Toyota dealers are proud to support outdoor recreation and conservation in Texas.

Toyota -- Let's Go Places.