Not really sure the law concerning this certain issue, and have thought about it, and today I lived it. What happens to when you are fishing a brush pile in about, oh, 25 ft. of water and you get bit by the same little fish that you have been catching all afternoon. Then as you race your line to the top to get the tiny little Crappie off and get back down there and see if you can actually catch a decent fish, BAM!!!!! A 12.26 lb. LM comes up and smokes your little Crappie and decides he wants to take it off the hook instead of me. Is this a legal catch?? Returned the LM after a few astonishing pics, and measurements. Not going to lie probably going to get a mount of the fish. Please let me know the law on this catch.

PS-The Crappie didn't make it.

I don't know the law, but nice catch!

Hey, I would just chalk it up to getting two fish with one hook...

Or two for the price of one!

"CrappieDale"

Was the game warden in the boat?

It's against the law of the land and sea.

So what time is dinner?

I would say that your intention was not to use the crappie as bait so no foul. GW may see it differently but I can't see how, especially since you released the fish.
We have had it happen before but never got the bigger fish in. We now keep a bass rod with a crappie swim bait rigged on braid. Big bass starts stealing, drop the swim bait and sore lip him, take his picture and put him back. Seems to stop them from thieving for the remainder of the trip

I would have the fish mounted with crappie in or about o be in bass' mouth with a jig in the crappies mouth

Happens on Fork all the time!!!! Congrats , will make a great mount.....

Wow, that has never happened to me! That sure would be a site to see!

was pretty awesome and I am still not sure how I got the fish in. I had so little line out that the LB hit the crappie and only made one hard run before surfacing. Thanks to a stellar dip net it wasn't much to land the fish. Still curious how a game warden would have judged the issue.

The GW would have frowned on it. Using another game fish as bait is illegal in Texas. Doesn't matter if you caught the LMB as you described.

I would think most wardens would not have much to say as long as the second fish was returned to the lake. If they see you put a crappie on a jig and lower it in the water, and you come up with a LMB you've probably got a fine coming your way.

I just wanna see the pics

OP asked if this was a legal catch. The answer is no, it is not. He did the right thing by releasing the bass back into the lake.

We all agree that using a crappie for bait is illegal.
However , if you hook a bass while crappie fishing , it
should be a legal fish. I have caught some big bass on
crappie jigs. If a bass eats my crappie and jig, who am I
to judge whether the bass wanted the crappie or the jig.

I say he was trying to take the jig out of the crappie's
mouth, That is my story and I am sticking to it.

MO

If it ended up in court, the prosecutor still must prove "intent." Intent can be inferred from the acts and the facts. The defense to the charge would be accident and therefore no intent. Proof would be the fact that the crappie was hooked in the mouth and not the dorsal fin etc., and fisherman's testimony that he didn't intend to catch a bass and the lightweight equipment he was using. Hopefully, there was another person present who could also testify to all of the above. Not guilty!