TPWD does not address the issue of quantities or weights of the shad collected. The only mention is for a container to be 82 quarts or smaller to avoid needing the proposed fee. I saw six 48 quart ice chests being loaded onto a truck, with the boat returning to the water for more. I have a 1 acre pond stocked with catfish. Does this mean I can collect all of the shad I want and use them for feed? I would save a lot of money not buying catfish food. I don't and won't do this because I feel it is stealing. What will happen if a dozen netting groups start harvesting on Fayette. We will all be fishing in open water.

I have seen a pontoon boat that goes out and the load it up to the max with smaller shad. The deck of the boat is covered and they make the biggest mess you ever seen at the boat slip. Dead shad everywhere, on the boat slips, ground and in the water floating. Really ticks me off.

They are also pulling up the grass from its roots with these cast nets. These people doing this to the lake do not care about the fishery at all, they are just looking for a way to make a few bucks and are willing to destroy anything and everything in their path while they do it. They show no respect towards the sport of fishing at all. And they do not care what you or I think either. Low life folks, let me tell you.

My last trip, I saw an old deck type boat headed out with at least 6 people. It looked like they all had cast nets. Many shallow areas are tore up. I just don't understand why TPWD allows that in this lake. We have a special LMB size limit because the lake is so small. These cast netters can disrupt the balance very quick in that lake.

The Game Warden for Lake Fayette is:

HARBAUGH, CALVIN B 979-966-3514

what r they doing with the shad, there is no way they survive very long.

When i was pre fishing for the TxTT championship on Livingston i put in at the 190 bridge public ramp, (big mistake by the way, don't ever put in there). There were 5 or 6 guys with nets destroying the shad spawn. They were putting them in big plastic buckets, 80-100Qts if i had to guess the size. I asked one of them what they did with the shad. He was pretty tight lipped, but said, they sell them to a distributor that packages and sells to Walmart, Academy, etc... They had 10+ buckets full of shad, had to have been 500 to 1000lbs. On a big lake like Livingston it prolly doesn't matter. But on Fayette, i bet it can destroy the fishery in no time. It needs to be stopped ASAP!

Sounds like its legal with a $60 permit.

This lake has been hit hard for the past three years now. I have contacted the warden and there is nothing they can do from what I have been told. It just doesn't add up to me. So hard to watch these guys tear this lake up with no one out there willing to put a stop to it.

I think there are more than a few of us who are willing to do something about it. Heck, I'd make a special trip even. It's got more to do with what we can do legally. These days it seems as though the laws protect the criminals and make the law abiding seem like criminals.

I wonder how those dudes would do with 6 or 8 bass boats floating around them with deep sea rods and big giant treble hooks that would make a gator tremble at the ready. Reckon they'd get the message?

One night I was fishing and this rig with all these lights hits almost all the shore of three fingers area. TPWD does not have a clue what their stupid acceptance of cast nets are doing to our resources, Fayette is like the Mexican side of Falcon.

I totally agree with this statement.