I don't blame the guides at all, but I think that when they have a boat full of clients, that is the perfect time to talk about catch and release and why it is important to be selective in the harvest of fish.

No different than taking a cull buck or doe. No different than killing a mature Tom turkey. Because biologists have collected data ,done studies and have presented the state with facts. The state then passes laws to protect and manage game and fish for our benefit.

However, you and I may be selective in our harvests but the general public is not. That is why we have the laws and conservation officers to enforce them.

I also have no problem with any of the guides. The guides who post on here are all good people who run a very respectful business. However, it is a business and the goals of the commercial fisherman and the angler who travels to Tawakoni once or twice a year to catch some catfish for the freezer are totally different. Somewhere there is common ground on the "issues". But the rules can't be worked only for the benefit of one party or the other. There were some excellent suggestions made by BIG10 about tags for trophy fish. Might be a good place to start.

I would have no problem with regulations on big blues.
Guides on our smaller lakes are taking tons of fish and not one thought on catch and release. It's about sending their customers home with bags of filets so they feel they got their monies worth.
If you catch a blue over 25# it's a rarity even if you are targeting them.
Didn't used to be that way, but the larger fish are no longer there in numbers.
On our lakes the guides I feel should self impose limits on large fish but it won't happen because competition is too fierce.
Some new guide comes along and tells the customer he can keep everything he catches and guess what? That guide will start taking away a lot of the business from those guides trying to conserve the resource.

Blue Dot, I fish the same lakes, we may know each other. And I see the same issues.. It was a guide (Cliff Hill) who educated me on catch and release and I agree, it is in their best interest (guides) to support it and educate their clients. I am supprised that an STCA member told you that, I have not been a member for a couple years now, but the truth is all their tournaments are catch and release, and the organization does support conservation of the blue cats.

All the kitty guides I know support CPR! They make it known to the party that anything over 10 pounds, some are 15 pounds, is CPR. I know of a couple of very good kitty guides that will not book parties that do not accept this policy. It's in the guides best interest to protect the trophy fish so I don't know why all guides would not support the CPR policy on trophy fish.

I'm not a guide, but for anyone in my boat they are advised we will not keep any fish 10 pounds of larger and I prefer to release anything 6 pounds or larger as it is just plain ole fun to be able to catch the bigguns!:) I am all for slot limits on the big kitties!

Blue Dot,

I am a member of the South Texas Catfish Association and our tournaments support the catch and release program designated for large Catfish. Tournament rules state that all cats caught during the tournament should be returned back to the water after weighing. If the catfish is not alive then team is penalized weight and probably is out of the money places for tournament. I have been fishing Calavaras and Braunig and other lakes in area for 6 years and follow the catch and release of large Catfish. It takes many years for these cats to get that large and you would be removing a strong gene pool from the water. I discussed this post with the president of STCA and he also follows and wanted me to reiterate that we follow the catch and release of large catfish.On another not the picture of all of those cats being taken out of the water at one time MAKES ME SICK. It is inconsiderate and does not promote fishing values for young anglers. I just wish there was something legal that could be done for such disrespect to Texas fishing waters.

Whenever its just family and I fishing, we only keep ONE fish over 10 pounds. That fish is always put in the oven and baked. Big slab of baked cat cooked right cant be beat. Smaller fish are filleted and fried. We also do not keep 12 inch fish. Usually the minimum is 14 or 15 inches.
There is no way I could or would put the all the fish in that picture in my Kenner or pontoon...aint got the room for that many large fish in the live wells.
When on a guided trip, I recommend to customers ONE big fish per person. Then I recommend they throw foot-longs back and keep fishing for bigger ones...unless the fish is bleeding badly from the hook. Have not heard any grumbling yet.

TP&W is taking data from the slot limit lakes Waco, Richland Chambers, and Lewisville. I firmly believe the data from these lakes with slot limits will show how beneficial these regulations are. The whole reason for creating the slot limit was basically to collect data, test a theory. I firmly believe this is the proper way to go about introducing new regulations. I applaud TP&W for taking this approach instead of using the approach the Gulf Council and other phony regulatory agencies have used. Their mode of operation is to make some science up and then screw the recreational fisherman.

I firmly believe the slot limits will be made law on a vast majority, if not all, Texas lakes very soon.

I know the folks in the picture and guarantee that they're eating every bit of the fish they catch and can also guarantee they throw back twice as much as what's in the picture.

They are constantly frying fish for fundraisers for folks who've fell on hard times and that's where most of that fish is heading. Y'all need to get off your soapbox without knowing the context of a picture.

okay the deed of helping others is a good thing! it still doesn't negate the damage done by removing so many big fish! and it doesn't look like they threw much back. whats so bad about getting a bunch of eater size and continuing there good deed? to me coming to a great fishery all the time it seems others are seeing this group only tells me that they are only after big fish! The fact that you even say they are catching more than whats in the picture is alarming! No soap box to be had. Thats simple greed!

Chocolate bars= good fundraisers
Big fish make little fish.

One reason I use the Guides at Tawakoni be it Micheal Teri Littlejohn, Gary Moats or Matt Cartwright is their support of the lake and fishery. I know when I spend my hard earned money it will help keep this great fishing lake going. I have never seen such a great group of guides that help each other out when needed. Heck Matt and Teri caught a Seagull that had a slab stuck in its beak and removed it,that's caring and having pride about your lake and wildlife even if it is not fish. I plan at least 3-4 guided trips a year there, 1 hybrid/sandbass,1 Trophy cat, 1-2 10 person fishing trip for my Outdoors group. On all my Trophy Trips all the guides enforce a 10lb and under keeper rule with CPR anything over. I can personally tell you that I have released a 12 lb cat because it was the Guides rule and don't feel it was wrong for him to tell me to.It feels good to let a big cat go almost like you get karma points. I do keep all the fish on my Hybrid/Sandbass and some Channel Cat meat from the other trips but thats my yearly limit for fish meat. Also on the Outdoor group trips we usually have 50+ people camping at the State Park so we keep all the fish and feed the whole group at the fish fry that night. I do feel that harvesting that many big cats will hurt such a great lake so I signed.If I remember correctly there was a problem years back with people harvesting large amounts of white bass too.

Parttime and sigma cat- We have probably met at one time or another and maybe we will talk some time.I know very little about STCA,but have always heard that STCA is a stand up organization and promotes catch and release thru out their tournaments. That is one reason I was a little shocked when the man told me that blue cats are over populated in Calaveras and there will be plenty.

12thman11- If those folks are helping the needy that is great, but to over harvest fish and affect the quality of a species doesn't make it right. There are many other ways to help out the needy. If you know those folks, please have them talk with some of the catfish guides at Twok, so they can be educated on catch and release.

Hey Dan-O

I'm not a biologist, but along with the Lake Tawakoni Sportsman's Association, we keep in close contact with our regional biologist. We have to because we raise money and actually spend every penny stocking 5 times the amount we cold legally harvest with our customers each year. This is in addition to what your money and TPWD stock. Hybrid striper average 8 years lifespan. If we keep a 20 fish limit of 8 pounders they are at the end of their life and need to be harvested or they will die anyway. If you aren't catching 8 to 10 pounders every trip, neither are we. Lol. But when we do we keep them because nobody else will probably catch then before they die. Sand bass need high harvest rates or they will become the alpha predator in the lake. Eating all the bait and forage causing decline in catfish, lmb, crappie, perch....... all the way down the line. If you doubt my facts I can give you or biologists home number and he can better explain.

As far as the Catfish regulations are concerned in regard to trophy blue cats, I agree 100 percent that harvesting numerous trophy blues is a problem. It will not affect the overall population keeping limits as they are, but the trophy class will suffer. The question is, will TPWD change the law and promote Tawakoni as a Trophy fishery? I think it should.

And..... I'll go ahead and stir the pot some more. I think jug lines should be limited to a 6 hour soak and the owner cannot leave the water. I see every year a bunch of squatters come for a week and put out 100 jugs a day. Covering 10 acres and inhibit others from fishing. The lake is a fishery, so fish it. If you want to collect fillets and don't want to fish, go to Kroger. Trust me is cheaper.