The parks and wildlife booklet is very specific on which fish are legal to use for bait and which aren't. I would suggest you study up rather than try to let other people do the work for you.

 

The parks and wildlife booklet is very specific on which fish are legal to use for bait and which aren't. I would suggest you study up rather than try to let other people do the work for you.

This is the type of post I find incredibly helpful and good natured.

 

we have been checked many times on the beach with half a sheepshead laying around and nothing has ever been said. BUT if you go by the law, then cutting the sheepshead in half makes it to small and no loger the legal limit.

Snapper are not game fish in the state of Texas, you can use them for bait as long as they are legal lenght. Just like the sheepshead if you cut them in half then they will no longer be of legal lenght.

If you send down an eating size mangrove, may not get in trouble with the law. But I am going to be ****** at you:doowapsta

 

As I understand the rules, the issue is "final destination". The beach is considered "final destination". 1/2 a fish is the same as a filleted fish. Obviously, once it's been cleaned or filleted, you can no longer determine the lenght. Since you are at your "final destination" you can't really be questioned about size. However, a boat is not a "final destination". You would need to keep the fish whole until you got to the dock. Hope this helps. Roger

 

"Final Destination" is also a little fuzzy. Had a warden explain it to me like this. You final destination is when you are finished fishing, camping at the beach while still fishing is not considered a final destination.

If you do have fresh fillets at the beach the game warden can and at times will ask to see the carcass of the fish to make sure it was of legal length. If it is cut in half he will not be pleased. This keeps people from catching and cleaning undersized fish at the beach. It also keeps people from catching there limit, cooking and eating it for lunch on the beach. Then going and keeping another limit the same day.

Been through this before, I was not doing anything wrong. Just had a bunch of fish cut up for supper.

 

We got a little confused this past weekend while trying to get some larger baits for sharks. We erred on the side of caution and ended up using croaker and lady fish. We had other better looking options but we didn't know if they were leagal. We were actually fishing nearshore out of the boat, but I thought you guys here in the surf fishing section may have a handle on the rules as they pertain to shark bait.

Scenario 1: I've caught a 16" sheephead and intend to use it for bait. I chop it in half and send the head down on a 20/0 and have the other half sitting the boat and the GW pulls up am I in trouble?

Scenario 2: same scenario as 1 except substitute spadefish or mangrove snapper for for sheep head. Would I be in trouble?

Scenario 3: Say I caught some 15 1/2" redsnapper last week, fileted them and froze the carcass. If I brought them out for bait would I be in trouble?

I'm clear on the gamefish issue. I believe any fish with a length restriction cant be use either because once I cut it I cant prove it was legal length. Whats the correct answer?

Heck yea! You were confused. Your feeding those sharks way, way to well.

Here's a simple guide you can cut out and tape to your fishing gear:

Ladyfish = shark candy, they love it.
Skipjack = chewy shark steak. They love it and it stays on the hook forever.
Ray = shark chicken. They can't pass it up, and it lasts forever + day in the surf
Mullett = shark burger. No shark can resist.
Hardhead = chicken nuggets. Cut the fins off and sharks can't help themselves. (Kinda like me at McDonalds.)

No need to be feeding sharks quality fish. Next time call me and I'll trade you a mullett for some of your bait!

 

Ladyfish = shark candy, they love it.
Skipjack = chewy shark steak. They love it and it stays on the hook forever.

Now I'm confused.

 

I assume he has a phone. If he has specific questions that are not covered in the book I'm sure the local TPWD office would be glad to address them. At least they've answered questions for me.

I guess that makes me an oddball. I never considered letting someone else do the legwork for me.

 

I've emailed TPWD before and gotten good answers in a few days and also gotten some pretty vague responses as well. I've called them once and held forever to talk to a person who didn't know the answer and took my info to have someone call me back. In this day and age sitting on hold for half an hour for a simple question your fishing buddies (2cool) probably have the answer for seems silly. I'd rather ask a question here. If you don't want to do any legwork nobody is forcing you to reply.

 

Really? Someone asked a question about fishing on this site? Who does that???

 

Okay, since the smart asses are starting to gang up on me, let me attempt to clarify my comment in language they can understand.

Anyone can do a tiny bit of research and discover that I have no problem with offering advice for legitimate questions. However, I have little patience for people who are too lazy to try to find the answers for themselves before they take the easy way out and throw out a question on a bulletin board.

If that makes me a bad person, I can live with that.

 

que?

 

I sure see a lot of fish filleted at the cleaning tables of a lot of marinas and baitcamps with the carcasses thrown to the crabs. According to the law, this is illegal.

 

You can use any fish you want for bait. Just don't get caught using a game fish for bait.

For shark, the oily or bloody the better.

 

On something like the sheepshead, why not just butterfly it and send 12 inches down so it's still legal and you don't have half a fish in the boat.
Just a thought to help not a dick.

As far as research, walk into a tpwd office and start asking spearfish ing questions. Lol. They willl just grab the book usually and start flipping. Then get flustered and just give you an extremely vague answer. Fun times. I'm not just talking the ladies at the front but game wardens that were in there.

More importantly, you catch anything?!


Cody C