Been lurking for the 10+ pages of this thread. The 1st 5 pages had some info, but after that it is just beating the dead horse. Who gives a carp how a fish is caught. This is not about live bait or artificial, nor is it about guides and rec. fisherman. This is about having the best fishery on the gulf coast. Stop whinning and put your big boy underwear on. If you truly think change should be made start by holding your self and your fishing buddies to a higher standard. Then contact the TPWD and your local Texas State Rep. for long term legal change.

THANK YOU, Deckhand!

Let's get back to fishin!

dear friend as a lifelong fisherman [started fishing matagorda in 1951]iculd not be quite any longer. The same thing is happening to our saltwater fishing as has happened to our hunting in texas agroup of elitest guides and some fisherman are trying to get it where only they tell us all thier rules i.e. croaker bait catch and release and setting limits. a small group of guides in matagorda [even though texas parks and wildlife say that east and west matagoda trout population is the best it,s ever been ]. this bunch want to stop you from using crokerand cut limits down so they can make more trips It's ironic that now it seems that the commercial .fiserman is trying to tell the poor fiserman what else he wants.Ithik that some peaple would like to put ahigh fence around the bays like the deer hunting so that only a chosen fecanfish for any thing except hard heads thanks for the forumto talk bigh

Bigh, That's a pretty broad statement that you are making. Most of the guides I know are not elitist at all, just hardworking guys who try to make an honest living. Please present your evidence to back up your assertation. As I said in a previous post, there are a multitude of reasons why the fishing has declined. Have you taken into consideration that the population as a whole has more liesure time and spendable income? Your statement reminds of a guy I met here in Montana. He stated "We use to be able to catch a bushel basket full of trout every day. Now because of all the guides the fishing has gone to hell!" With lowered limits and careful management and an increased awareness of the resource, the populations of trout in the Missouri river are at an all time high! I'm no guru but it seems to me that a study is needed to identify what or even if there is a problem.(not just anecdotal evidence).Then everybody has to work together to find and implement a solution.

...ever think that LIMITS were established originally for the recreational sportsman? should there not be a limit difference between recreational fishing and professional fishermen? just another angle to consider (not argue).

Well, guides do have a separate limit ... sort of, if you count zero as a limit. Specifically, the guide cannot keep any fish of their own - each paying passenger can keep a limit, but the guides limit is ZERO.

To use the lower LM as an example, if a guide takes one client out fishing for the day, there can only be five speckled trout and three redfish (plus one oversize with tag) in the fishbox at the end of the day.

Good Point and well taken! thanks!

Dear sir astudy is being made of the bays all year long by Texas marine bioligist and I was at a meeting in Bay City Texas where they stated that the trout fisheries in East and west matagorda bay were in exccelant shape and thre was no need for the new rules some guides were trying to put in effect. so I would say to you that this is not a broad statement but a plea to not let a few guides set the limit for all fisherman.As I previuoly stated I know the situation in the Matagoda area as good or better than the few peaple who are trying to impose theyre will on the fisher men who cant afford guides or dont want them and would like to keep fihig as good for the ford fisherman as it is for the cadilac fisherman. Thanks for the forum bigh

Guides did not, I say did not devistate trout and red fishing in or around Port Mansfield. Those guys that fish off the docks at night under lights and keep just about everything they catch...why not use them as the excuse?

it's El Nino...

actually a sign of more smaller catches may be a sign of just how many fish are in and around the system...

I remember reading about a study on fish once, and the speckled seatrout happened to be the specimen studied... they say that larger numbers of fish in an area don't eat as much because there is so much competition for food... but it's no problem to the fish, that's just how they grow up and learn to eat...

that would also explain while we see larger trout being caught a couple of years after a hard freeze... the temperatures end up killing fish, but the ones who survive get more food when the food comes back into the bays etc... so these fish learn to eat more and get larger...

just some 'food' for thought...

good article in this month's TX Fish and Game about saltwater fishermen now becoming trophy-minded and what exactly is a trophy... if we regulate fishing just to have bigger fish, what comes next? we're catching so many "trophy" fish at 30-31" that now we wanna catch 'em at 35"?

very interesting article...