OMG.. so this is a very frequently talked about topic, but today it happened to me!!

So i was at my local city pond at Gabbard Park in College Station.. I went with my girlfriend and as we get there there are two guys standing on the dock, where it is known for good bluegill fishing. (good as in quantity NOT quality. the bluegills are very abundant but 99.9% of them are tiny)... Anyways, so we and fish off across the pond and we keep seeing them hootin' and hollerin about catching fish and I guess I just thought to myself "well I guess they are getting lucky and catching some big bluegill"

So we fish across the pond for about 30 minutes and I look over and I see something weird on the dock and I ask my girlfriend what it is and she said it was a pile of fish.. so at that point I knew something wasnt right.. so we walk over there, and I expect to see 3-5 big bluegill on the dock.. but to my dismay I see about 10-15 TINY bluegill, little babies.. no larger than 4 inches.. most 2-3 inches though..

Yes, I know that in TX there is no bag limit on bluegill, but at this park there is a baglimit! And its 5!!

So I go up to the guy and I ask him what he is doing with all of these tiny dying fish? He says he doesnt know, he is catching them for his uncle (he was white and his "uncle" was black)... I asked him what he planned to do with these 2 inch bluegill and he simply replied, "eat them"...

I asked the guy if he knew there was a limit of 5 at the park, and I asked him if he even had a license.. ( I WOULDNT NORMALLY ASK THIS TO ANYONE OUT THERE, BUT THIS WAS A VERY SPECIAL CIRCUMSTANCE) He said no, but his "uncle" had one... ya right...

So at this point I am very irked... my girlfriend asks what we should do and I said under my breath (intending for the guy to hear me) "we should call 1-800-Gamewarden".. as soon as I said that the guy packed up his stuff to go get his "uncle".. the guy comes back and asks me whats up... I tell him..
"I dont mind fisherman coming out here and catching a few fish and taking them home to enjoy, but only take some that are worthwhile, and ethical to take home, and on top of that, there is a bag limit!"

So the guy says, "FINE! Just throw em' all back" and I said "Well, hell they are all dead now!" and the kid takes one off and throws it way up in the air to flop back in the water, dead as a doornail.

The guy was pissed and didnt believe me that there was a limit at the park so I kindly pointed to the sign that was about 20 feet away.. he stormed off to go read the sign and as he left and called out, "Prejudice!".... WOW!!

So anyways, that is my rant.. that stuff just makes me soooo mad!!

Discuss...

sounds like a real piece of work to me. what an idiot!

you mean your suppose to read those signs?

striker said it best, what a piece of work

What a freak!

that kinda [censored] happens, sad but not rare by any mans, i'm gettin to old for confrontations, i just bite my lip & go about my buisness, but more power to ya for lettin 'em know, & for the record the "prejudice" thing is highly over-used imo

LOL what can you do with 5 bluegill that aren't even as big as your hand

Be careful pulling stunts like that. If thats an area you frequent, theres a possiblity that they might hit that area up again sometime. Next time "uncle" may be packin, and he might want to get back at you since you were "prejudiced" against him. Make sure your not alone when you go fishing, and I don't mean bring a friend. It's better to have it and not need it than need it and not have it. Good for you to stand up to his poachin self. Were you being prejudice because of the amount of fish that they caught or the fact you could read the sign?

coulda been catchin' 'em to use as bait fish. Don't know if that is legal or not in Texas. Haven't lived there in quite some time. Am going back to stay in a couple of weeks. Don't like all this damp weather up here in Seattle. Gonna buy me season tickets for the Rangers baseball games.

he probably couldnt read LOL.

If it is a city pond, call the local P.D. Tell them there is someone breaking the law and you are going to confront them. Ask if the P.D. can send someone to moderate. Once the P.D. shows up, calmly go to the offender and explain the rule to them.

Chancers are the P.D. won't issue a citation, but 9 times out of 10, they will respond a whole lot faster than warden. Not a slam on Wardens (overworked with a lot more area to cover), but the P.D. will work. Depending on the city, it may be a city violation as well as a TPWD violation!!!

With that many small ones it might help the others grow bigger.

But still annoying to see.....

exactly.. i feel the same way... its kinda bittersweet in a way..

I often catch smaller perch for bait but not in city ponds usually. I think taking the smaller fish out of the pond might make for a bigger average size overall.

Using bluegill for bait in Texas to my knowledge is illegal. You can use carp, minnows and stuff like that but not blue gill. I heard that question asked to a game warden I knew on Oak Creek Lake one day. Sparky replied it is illegal. If that has changed I am not aware of it.

Wrong. It is illegal to use GAME FISH for live bait. Blue gill are not a game fish..

You can even buy perch at some bait stands.

HAHAHAHA wow since when was using blue gills for bait was illegal?

and fishing out all the small fish will help it out in the long run. The pond in my neighborhood is over populated with small blue gills. Biggest I've caught was one that went barely over 5in

blue gill are not game fish, therefore can be used as bait

it is not illegal

Forget calling the local PD, call Operation Game Thief next time or the local Game Warden office right there in College Station.

College Station — 12845 Wellborn Road (FM 2154), Suite 160, College Station, TX 77845; 979/696-4148

TPWD stocks and manages those Community Fishing Lakes & Ponds so that our game wardens do enforce the regulations.

use them for bait

Hmmm, this thing came back?
I am not siding with either side of the issue, just presenting the facts with sources.

Gabbard Park in College Station is a designated Community Fishing Lake.

It is listed in the TPWD Outdoor Annual as such.
"Gabbards Park Pond In College Station off Dexter St."
http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/fishboat/fish/recreational/lakes/cfl.phtml?r=2

The Statewide Limit for Sunfish reads:
"Sunfish: various species including bluegill, redear, green, warmouth and longear No limit No minimum"
http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/publications/annual/fish/limits_freshwater/index.phtml#limits


The exception regulations for Community Fishing Lakes reads:
"For channel and blue catfish, no minimum length. Daily bag=5 in any combination.
Fishing is by pole and line only. Anglers may use no more than two poles while fishing."
http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/publications/annual/fish/limits_freshwater/exceptions.phtml#C
Therefore there is no exception in the State Regulation for sunfish at that waterbody.

College Station also has published rules and ordinances for Gabbard Park.
Rule number 21 reads:
"Fishing in park ponds is free and open to the public. Texas Community Fishing Lake special regulations, as well as statewide regulations, apply to all city ponds. For special and statewide regulations, fishing license information, and daily bag limits, contact Texas Parks and Wildlife."
http://www.cstx.gov/home/index.asp?page=688

The city Fishing Website reads:
"For City ponds there is a daily bag limit of five fish per day for each species of catfish, bass and trout."
http://www.cstx.gov/home/index.asp?page=641
Nothing is mentioned of Sunfish or Bluegill.

A news release last year stated.
"There is a five-fish daily bag limit on Channel catfish and all game fish."
http://www.cstx.gov/home/index.asp?page=516&recordid=2767
Bluegill are not game fish in the State of Texas.
http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/publications/annual/fish/definitions/

A call to a game warden would be wasting his time. He would be unable to enforce a restriction on taking more than 5 bluegill. There is no state regulation prohibiting it.

A call to the local police would be wasting their time too. The city's own published rules and ordinances mirror the State's Community Lake regulation. They can't enforce something only on the word of a sign someone stuck in the ground and in fact could be breaking a law by enforcing something different than the States regulation on the bag limit.

The local police can only enforce what rules the City Councel has passed and what State regulation or Federal Laws in place. Even if the City Councel where to pass an ordinance with a different bag limit than the State for a public waterbody managed by TPWD, it would not be valid. It would be trumped by the higher State Regulations and illegal to enforce. The city or any interested entity would have to petition the TPWD Commission for a regulation change specific to that waterbody. And if considered would go to a public comment period before being accepted or denied. It involves much more than someone just sticking a sign in the ground.

It does not matter if I, you, or we, agree or disagree with a person taking more than 5 bluegills from Gabbard Pond in a legal way. Or any other "Community Fishing Lake" for that matter. The fisherman had a legal right to do so. To harrass individuals over it violates the Sportsman's Right Act. This is a law and not a regulation. A much more serious violation than what the original poster thought this fisherman had violated. So do be careful trying to stop persons from LEGALLY fishing just because you do not agree with them . Game Wardens do take this law seriously and because it is a State law rather than a city rule or regulation, it can be enforced by any law enforcement officer, not just a Game Warden.
http://www.rivercitybassclub.org/rights-act.htm

Yak,

I've read this post for a while and I also was pretty sure that there was not length or bag limit on sunfish at the lake in question.

I'm glad you took the time to do the research and post here for all to read. This is the second such thread I've seen about someone confronting another fisherman because the didn't know the law and didn't agree with what the other person was doing.

Seems that someone here likes to start stuff about something they know nothing about. Limit if of 5 bluegill

Y'know, one should never be ashamed of calling the game warden if they think someone is poaching, keeping over their limit etc. If nothing else, the GW may tell you 'no, they're not breaking the law' and you'll have learned something.

In the situation described in the OP, I would think that a prudent GW could reasonably declare that the person was wasting fish by leaving them dead & drying up on the dock, but that would still be the GW's call. Lord only knows I've seen way too many fish that were discarded and left to rot ... the GW's are there for this sort of thing. Let them make the decision on whether it's illegal.

gtifan- You did the right thing we need more fisherman like you who are not afraid to call poeple out when they are abusing our resources, it seems like your a nice guy and dont mind sharing the water with other fishermen and for that my hat is off to you sir. If it ever happens again just call operation game thief (the number is on your fishing license)and wait for the game warden to show up. After the GW writes him a healthy stack of tickets chances are he wont be back. I thank you for standing up for whats right and protecting our resources.
-josh