Is there anywhere in Waco that if I caught some carp or gar I could sell them for food, fertilizer, etc?

I think you need a commercial license to sell fish!

Go to the TPWD site. You would need a license to sell them as bait, and a different license to sell for food. I doubt you'll be able to sell them legally for "fertilizer".

oh lol ill look into the license! do yall know anything about like cooking them and giving away to homeless?

Maybe catch and release?

you cant catch and release bowfishing

Is there a legal way to go shoot some non game fish to cook and give to poor/needy?

Smh

Normal people, sane people, dont feel the need to torture creatures to death slowly for pleasure.

You can give legally caught fish to others. You cannot sell or barter those fish.

It's unethical to waste fish that you've killed.

Bowfishing can supply many a person a meal. A couple of inquiries can lead to somewhere close to give away all you take. And for you that consider it unethical,talk to some that have seen awesome fisheries virtually destroyed by roughfish.

I am not certain about giving away or selling any sort of fish where there are no bag limits but, no, you can't give way fish to someone else without a Wildlife Resource Document showing the transfer, in many or most cases. Be careful.

So, for a few examples, you could give away all the Tilapia you want on Squaw Creek because, among other things, you are not permitted to return them to the lake. And, there are no bag limits. But, if you catch a largemouth bass, you cannot give it away to someone else without the transfer form.

Brad

Brad, you're 100% correct. My point was merely that you or I are free to GIVE fish away to someone else, but we cannot sell, barter, or trade those fish for anything of value.

Yep!

You can cook it anyhow you see fit and give it to whoever you'd like.

But you can also look up your local shelters / charities that feed the needy. They would prolly appreciate some clean fish fillets to be cooked and served.

Some may take the whole fish, some may only accept it IF it is ready to cook and others will only take it if it's ready to eat.

I applaud your efforts ! But your going to be met with many road blocks. Everyone WANTS fresh fish but very are willing to clean them.

The drum and gar both are EXCELLENT eating !!!

Huh. I don't consider bowfishing to be unethical in and of itself. But discarding dead fish one has shot with no intention of using them is highly unethical.

Consider that most so-called 'rough' fish are native Texas species - gar (several types), freshwater drum, and buffalo. They all have a native, natural role in Texas ecosystems and are not trash.

Thank you guys for the input! Im still not seeing where it is unethical though, I am a bass fishermen who practices catch and release and recently tried gar and carp my friend caught and loved it! So I decided to bow fish for them, which if your a decent shot (which I am) will kill the instantly, not an unethical thing, especially if im not just shooting to shoot, im doing it for food and to give back to the ones who need it most.

Agreed! I think the transfer document I spoke of gives the game wardens a way to defeat a common ploy used by some fishermen where they claim to give fish away to people fishing nearby to stay under limits. I have seen this on a Texas Game Warden episode now on TV where the GW replied to an angler that such a form had to be completed. Anyway, I think that is the objective of the form, to control total fish caught by any one angler (and applications to hunters, too).

Brad

I think that you'll have a problem even giving them away because of the liability if they weren't properly cared for before the transfer and if you cooked them and donated, I am pretty sure that you'd need some sort of food license. When you get into the food realm, just too much could go wrong accepting it from strangers.

+1

I work on Ft Hood, There are dozens of Asians and some southern black people that I work with that will meet me any where any time to get Drum and Carp. Most of them when they find out that I love to fish ask me about these fish. I had a Filipino lady and her entire family come down to pick up 6- 20+ lb small mouth buffalo. I am asked almost daily when I am going fishing again. If you link up with the Asian community near where you live you will have friends for life. I don't sell or barter the fish. I'm not trying to stereotype, I'm sure there are Asians and black people who wouldn't want these fish. But the ones that do, will literally drive out to the lake meet me at the boat launch any time day or night to get them. They will also find others to get the fish to. There are never any fish turned down. GL

I don't know how to state this any more clearly. If you're killing fish just for the sake of shooting and killing them, without USING the fish, it's unethical (i.e. WRONG). It's also a violation of Texas fish & game laws. Giving the fish to your neighbors for them to eat is using them. If you bring me some buffalo that I intend to use as cat food, that's using them. But if you're shooting fish dead, and waste them because you don't have some use for them, it is flat out WRONG.

I have no respect for those who kill carp, buffalo, gar, etc (by whatever means), and then just leave the carcasses out to rot.

For me, matters of right & wrong have greater significance than whether the thing is legal or illegal (but illegal still matters!)

Only analogy I can think of is deer hunting. Would you go out during archery season and shoot some deer just to shoot them, without any intent to use them yourself, or at least have someone who you can give them to?

You go to any Asian market and they have carp, and drum for sale there.

This may sound oddly familiar, but have you considered teaching them how to fish instead?

Get off you high horse!! Who says he's torturing the fish for his pleasure. Some of like sticking fish with a bow, it does not mean we get pleasure from "torturing creatures to death slowly"

@OP - Check for someone with pigs or organic compost/farmers in the area as they will take them. We give alot to a local organic composter, gardeners and some guys who use them for catfish bait. Some of the larger gar are pretty good boiled in 7up and eaten with butter or make some gar balls.

and for all the others bashing bowfishers, it's not illegal to shoot the fish with no intent to eat them. These are not classified as game fish per TPWD and do not fall under waster of game laws. Now dumping them at the boat ramp or into the lake is illegal and just plain disrespectful to fellow outdoors men.

I have no complaint with bowfishing in and of itself, so long as the fish are not killed and left to waste. You are correct that they are not "game" fish, but they are still edible. Here's the relevant rule from Texas fish & game:

http://tpwd.texas.gov/regulations/outdoo...ing-regulations

Waste of fish

It is unlawful to leave edible fish or bait fish taken from the public waters of the state to die without the intent to retain the fish for consumption or bait.

Carrollton

I have looked up how to donate fish to a food bank or some other charity, it's not too difficult. The hardest part is finding an organization to take wild meat. All you have to do (I believe) is fill out a wildlife transfer document.

$3.99 a lb. Damn, that is a friggin deal right there.

They sell greentrash fish at the market wow thats cray

They have Bass and Talipa live in some Asian Markets, Live bass are $14.99 lb, Dead run about $4.99 lb.

Wow i wonder if people buy them and put them in there ponds prestarted fish

Want that ten pounder in your tank just go to tha market buy you one

Actually....

According to state law, THESE are the ONLY ones you can buy and put in your pond. These are special bred bass for the market as they are fed a pelletted diet just like catfish. This is not normal for bass so they must be selectively bred and then trained to eat pellets.

While a superior fish for this one purpose, growing on pellets to market size for eating, this type bass is a very poor sporting fish that cannot grow much larger than the size you see here. In a small pond without much natural food they work well, but in a lake trying to grow trophies they are a terrible fish, but the only legal choice you have according to state law.

Fingerling bass not trained to pellets are out of compliance and a person can be arrested and fined for possessing them.

You might be surprised to to see what a big deal this truly is, as local producers may not be in compliance, and neither would out of state producer selling anything other than pellet raised bass.

The recent (as of two years ago) change in the way that state law has been interpreted caused my hatchery to quit raising and selling bass fingerlings altogether. There is no way I can be in compliance and still provide the superior genetics and health that my fish had become known for. I can't provide the quality my customers expect so I don't do it at all anymore.

Ostensibly to "tell wild caught from farmed" fish, these rules were not interpreted so strictly in the past. Even though I nor any other farmer/breeder wants any of the virus ridden, poorly bred "wild bass," available from state waters.

So, you might be surprised how many of these "bred and farmed for market," bass are entering our private (and ultimately public) waters further diluting the genetics so many have worked so hard at improving. Go figure, typical giverment "cut off your nose to spite your face, behavior.