So i thought i would share this - I'm not a huge cat fisher but do occasionally go after them. Debated on posting this... but it is such a beautiful cat i finally decided I had to.

I was free-lining w/ live minnows for sandbass, bass, and catfish... and snagged an illegal throwline with this fish on it
1) had no gear tag (on any of the three lines we eventually found during this drift)
2) had sunfish & small bass live hooked - sunfish are fine... the bass ticked me off...
3) 6 hooks per line
4) this is subjective - but seems it was purposefully hidden using wire on land and transitioning to standard jug/trowline 2-4ft under water.

Whomever set these up drilled holes in the cliff cracks to anchor their wire - and hid those as well.

Though some will object - given the above and the fact that we found these completely by chance. I released all fish that were on them, took off all bait, & snipped all hooks. I also reported it. I get pissed when people don't follow the rules that are there so that everyone can enjoy a decent fishery. And even more so when they appear to KNOW they are breaking the rules.

I couldn't resist taking a picture with this fish once i got the hook out of him though. Biggest flathead & one of the healthiest i've ever dealt with to date. ~40 inches.

Good! I hate when people don't follow our simple laws! Nice cat too!

Geez, another post to stir the pot! Illegal stuff happens everyday...look at the hundreds of trotlines left on all the lakes in Tx...GET OVER IT...or go be a game warden. I dont like the trotlines that foul my prop all the time but I dont rant about it on a public forum either...i cut the son of a gun and go on about my business!

I enjoy trot lining very much and there's nothing worse to these types of fishermen then coming back to your lines being cut . It just sucks . I always try to keep my line out of the way the usual boat traffic. they are always tagged and dated and never sit in the water longer than a few hours without being checked and are NEVER EVER EVER left behind when the trip is over . Im sorry and apologize for the few a holes out there that give the Trotline fisherman a bad image . Please don't go cutting lines all willy nilly everytime you see one there is a lot of time money and effort put into running those lines ....

Exactly! Especially since I invest so much money into them. Now I am setting right at dusk, check every 4 hours and pull them at sunrise.

Nice fish.

Ain't spent much time in the sticks I reckon. Whole diff world in the country my friend. Better be careful about who's lines ya cut when you're more than 70 miles from the closest Starbucks.

DISCLAIMER for the TFF GW's- I don't advocate anything illegal.

Nice fish and good job on the release!

Lmao that's funny right there . wouldnt want nobody to have an "accident" lol. I'm only playin but there are seriously some folks out there that are ready to whoop some [censored] or worse . It's like foolin with someone's wife or takin a [censored] on someone's boat . It's a big no no

Good Job! Thank You.

Worst ramp whopping I ever witnessed was over a cut line. The guy that cut it was screaming "it wasn't marked and it was an illegal line", while he was trying to crawl under his truck it avoid the soccer style kicks the line owner was giving him. About the 3rd time he yelled "somebody please help me", a buddy and me broke it up. Line owner quickly left while the guy that cut it was trying to explain to us, through his busted lip, that the line he cut was illegal. I couldn't hold back the smile when my buddy told him if he's gonna go around cutting lines he should take a self defense class. We went fishing and left the guy fumbling through his phone for the wardens number. He asked us to stay as witnesses, our reply was I didn't see nothing.....

I would have left everything alone, especially the bait, and had the GW come "greet" the owner.

Really, you puled someones line released fish, cut hooks and posted a picture of yourself doing it. What a tool. Mind you own business.

Agreed. Your not a game warden and you committed a crime when you tampered with the line. It was probably hidden to keep people like you from messing with it. It had fresh bait so it was being maintained. If you had a problem, you should have called gw. What you did is way outta line.

You messed with someone's set line....ouch