[Reel Blessed]

Decided to hit east galveston bay yesterday evening to see what was going on. Well the fish are there and we had a ball. Found lots of trout under the birds. I had my little brother with me and it was his first time to catch fish like this (under birds). While we were catching fish every cast he said "WOW, this is easy." Nothing like some easy trout fishing! Sure wish it was like that every time! My brother was using Gulp's Alive and I was throwing Devil Eyes.
Now for my little rant. While cleaning the boat I threw away my trash and noticed that there were a couple fish in the trash. So I decided to look a little closer and I about fell down when I noticed what they were. There were two WHOLE 17"-18" speckled trout in the trash! I could not believe it. Who would throw away two trout with no regard to the law or any sort of ethics? So after I got the boat cleaned and said a few things about the situation, I needed some breakfast taquitos to try and ease my mind. While I am in line, there was a man who decided to tell me about his catch today. He said he caught 7 reds, 10 black drum, and 1 flounder. I said thats a pretty good day. I then decided to ask him how big where the reds. He replied " dey wer bout 15" to 20"." So I asked him if he knew the legal size and bag limits and he said "yes". I was dumbfounded. His next response was " I don't get to fish much so when I do I keep whatever I catch. I don't even eat fish, so I give them to my neighbor." After finding two specs in the garbage and now this sorry excuse for a human being I just about went over the deep end. I went into the bathroom and decided I was going to call the game warden and see if he would come check this guy. Well I came out and the s.o.b. was gone. With all the talk about conservation (which I practice and encourage everyone to do so) this just put a whole new aspect to some of our problems. Sorry for rant. I just wanted to share my evening. Go fishing and please take care of what we have.

p.s. If someone is on some fish under birds, please don't come right through all the action with your main engine. Just had to add that! LOL

 

[bigwahoo]

You should have kicked him in the nads and said, "I don't get to kick people in the nads much, and when I do, I make it count!"

 

[haparks]

wow let him get a taste of the game wardens pin or better yet jail cell

 

[williamcr]

There is defiantly a lot of different people on the water these days that's why we have some many rude people on the water no they just do not have any sense.

 

[Big Willy]

I met a guy who did the same thing. He was caught one time with about 5 undersize trout and 2 18" reds. He doesn't fish anymore. He was even upset at the gamewarden for giving him the tickets! CRAZY!

 

[williamcr]

I met a guy who did the same thing. He was caught one time with about 5 undersize trout and 2 18" reds. He doesn't fish anymore. He was even upset at the gamewarden for giving him the tickets! CRAZY!

Gamewarden needs to kick him in the nads!

 

[Big Willy]

Took the same guy geese hunting one time and we were laying up as some geese were coming in. I was calling the shot and I could start to make out their feet, fixin' to yell "Shoot 'Em", when this guy stands up in front of everybody and starts blasting away. I had set the guy up on the right side of the decoys and he had crawled all the way around to get a better shot. He literally stood up into my line of fire. I don't take him fishing or hunting anymore, thank God! He was a friend of the family that my dad made me take.

 

[fishsmart]

These people know they are doing wrong and really don't GAS!

Charles

 

[Brine Jake]

Makes yer blood boil, I know. So this sorry individual catches a few undersize reds a couple of times a year. This is a drop out of the bucket. He's a technical violator, and he makes us really angry, and I hope he gets caught, but he's not really the problem. (As I guess the two trout in the can were prolly from someone who was 2 over the limit at the ramp and saw a warden coming.)
Guess how many people catch 5 or 6 "legal" limits a day--several times a week--of "legal" fish during these periods of high concentration?
Possession limits may be the best we can do--"may be''--but they don't stop these pirates.
Then there's the "legal" practice of fishing lights from 10PM to 2AM and keeping 20 trout apiece, maybe even culled to 24". Even if they don't pass them off at their buddy's boat or truck, then do it again, it just doesn't seem like a good law to me. Maybe the limit should be 10 trout per trip. (which still won't stop the poachers).
The law needs to be about catching, but the enforcement can almost only be about possession. (Pretty rare a warden watches 1 boat long enough to observe how many fish they keep.)
All the pirates need is a handoff point, a vehicle or a house near the fishing. They are nearly impossible to catch. They make this little weasel you caught look like a conservationist.

(Then the talk of lowering the limit to 5 really misses the point, where occasional fishermen get further screwed and violators just adjust their tactics, but that's another topic.)

JM$.02.

 

[Skeeter07]

You should have kicked him in the nads and said, "I don't get to kick people in the nads much, and when I do, I make it count!"

Now that is way too funny. I was fishing Lake Somerville one time and this guy was throwing a cast net and catching everyting from bass to crappie in the tailraces. I usually live and let live but when he put a 4 lb bass in his litlte white bucket that he had caught in his net, I couldnt handle it. That is not fishing, that is harvesting fish. Called the game warden and met the warden at the store. He had gotten out of bed when he heard the call. He was more upset than me. We waited for his partner and they followed me to the scene.....I left with the promise that they would write him a hefty ticket. Really sad!!!!!!!!!!! I couldnt believe this guy. I tried to explain to him that this was completely illegal not to mention unethical, he laugheds at me. I tried to let him make it if he would stop and throw the fish back...ugh! I wondering if he was laughing at the game warden?
Hook 'em Horns '95

 

[Reel Blessed]

As I guess the two trout in the can were prolly from someone who was 2 over the limit at the ramp and saw a warden coming.

I saw the trout in the trash at the car wash right by Grand Prize BBQ. I saw it as a complete waste and that someone just threw them away because they didn't want to mess with them. I just couldn't believe that someone would throw 2 nice trout away without even making an attempt to clean them.

 

[Brine Jake]

Yep--or just give them to someone fishing.

 

[fishingmanreggie]

It is crazy how some people have no respect for the law. I took my son and niece to TX. City Thursday night to the pier by Anita's and there was a guy fishing at the end. Well my 4 year old son looked down and said "Daddy a Redfish, but daddy its way to small". This 10 inch Red was in his bucket. I told him he could get a ticket because the fish was to small. And he said he didn't speak English. Luckily, I'm fluent in Spanish and told him in Spanish. But it didn't matter to him though anyway. If my 4 year old son can understand and respect the law, I have no respect for those who don't follow the law. In addition, every time I go bank fishing I see guys using cast nets catching everything they can and putting it directly in their bucket. Why does the game warden not ticket these guys when you see tons of them using these nets and there is no fishing rod any where near them. It is obvious what they are doing with the nets. Plus they are proud of how they caught the fish when you talk to them. Plus it really irks me when I'm fishing and someone throws a cast net two feet away from where I am fishing! Sorry for the rant but this stuff drives me crazy.

 

[bluewave18ft]

stone crab theft

couple a years ago i walked up on two way out of towners.no speeky english.i noticed that they had almost fillled a 120 qt cooler with stone crabs that they were diving around the rocks for.i give the guys credit for having the nuts to dive all around in the currents and hooks, but a claw and the whole crab is a big difference.i tried to tell them and got the standard response. no comprende.b.s.called op. gamethief.busted.g.w. came running and i left before it ended.the had to have at least 100 of them in the cooler.not cool

 

[dumbstick]

IMO, it was guy that only caught two and didn't think they were worth cleaning. I have seen people not want to clean even four fish. At least most will try to give their catch away.

One of my biggest pet pieves is people that will rip an undersize fish apart trying to get a fifty cent leader and hook back. I saw a friend of mine literally rip an undersize red apart one day because he did not want to cut his leader. I let him know how rediculous he was and told him I don't hang out with that kind of white trash... And if I ever hook him by accident i will make sure to rip it out so I can save my hook....

 

[Transport22]

Well stated Big Red.

 

[Jamison Blachford]

I never see the game warden out on the water! People talk about the game warden all the time but I have never seen them. I do see lots of people catching undersized fish and not throwing them back. A lot of people have that "whatever I catch, I keep" attitude. Last week, I was fishing as the birds were working the water. A guy ran his boat right through them and was about 30 feet from us. We were in the middle of the bay. I couldn't believe it. You could say that I was a little upset!

 

[Reel Blessed]

A guy ran his boat right through them and was about 30 feet from us. We were in the middle of the bay. I couldn't believe it. You could say that I was a little upset!

Thats exactly what happened yesterday. I couldn't believe how close he got. I was about to say something, but I noticed he had two small kids trying to catch a trout off the bow. They both hooked up and I was glad. You could tell that it was probably there first fish of the day. There is a way for all of us to fish if everyone would be courteous and use a little common sense.

 

[boashna]

Law breaker is a law breaker no matter what the law is. if he has too much beer on the water ,if he has a little weed here and there, if he goes too fast with his trailer that has no breaks , if he fudge a little on IRS tax return, or if he has a girl friend without his wife's permission lol. life is full of them and 50% of people broke one of those laws last month . Just make sure you are not one of them or you will be judged harshly by somebody . what is important to you may not be important to somebody else and vice versa.

 

[A Salt Weapon]

And I guess no one on here broke any speed limit in the last year?

Not being critical, just stating the fact that noone's perfect.

"Let he who has no sin cast the first stone"