I'm got a question. Understand I'm not siding with unmarked line, but this is a real question. Even though the line is unmarked would you still break the law in cutting the line? Wouldn't that be the interfering with the someone taking game law? Like I said it is a real question and I'm not trying to be funny or sarcastic.

If you think that I go out and look for unmarked trotlines then you way off base.What I said is that in 35 years of fishing I have found more trotlines to not be marked then ones that are. That being said, I do cut all trotlines that I hang up on or my motor gets caught on that are not legally marked or taged.It is not my responsibility to mark or tag, it is that of the trotliner.

Never have I cut a tagged line. The lines that I do remove are those that have growths on them and rusted out hooks. I used to set them out as a kid with my dad and I know it would be heartbreaking to pull up to the spot you just spend an hour setting out a trotline only to find that it has disappeared. Untagged lines are likely untagged becasue the people who set them out have no intention of removing them from the lake when they are done. I'm pretty sure that it is illegal to cut the lines becasue of the arguement made earlier as well as the fact that if a warden sees you removing the line he is going to assusme that you are running it and ticket you for an unmarked line. The legality of it concerns me not, I would rather do the morally right thing and do my part to remove trash left behind by others to ensure that the fishery continues to be a fishery and not just another Dallas landfill. Even if it had been a fresh looking line I still would have cut those birds free and just hoped that bubba wouldn't try to cornhole me for two lost hooks. I had a feeling that this might be touchy in the catfishing section, so I posted it here in hopes that my bassfishing buddies would back me up.

i am with fisnhunt, if they want to fine me - go ahead, at least that stuff will get out of there and tpw can then help me get it out. i have run a few lines - marked and tagged and I fish for bass as well - if you do not want it cut - mark it. It is not asking a lot. To those that do thanks and you have nothing to worry about. The ones with the hooks forged from the early 18th century, and I am just guessing because you really cannot see the hooks from all of the 'stuff' - got to go...

dang I feel better.

Be extremely careful saving birds from trotlines or any other material.
There wasa story in the DFW area newspapers last year where a guy lost an eye to a bird he was trying to untangle from fishing line. Seems the bird
(heron) pecked him in the eye with its beak while he was cutting the line off the bird.
The guy lost his eye. Just my .02

-Sniper

I too have cut lines that are not marked. It's not only the bass fishermen, but us crappie fishermen as well that get hung up on these trotlines. Ask a game warden what to do with an unmarked line and see what he says. I was told if it's not marked then "I" or "WE" have the right to remove it without the owners permission.

This is my $.02 worth!!!

My son had his trotline cut and it had a tag. He even saw the old Bast*** that did it but he could n't get out to it at the time. Evan thought that maybe the old guy wanted that spot. But it does bring up a point that there are plenty of people that will steal your line or the fish on it when you have it visible and labeled. So it's kind of a catch 22. As always it's the bad ones that give the good one's a bad name.
On the flip side I got hung on a trotline once and as i pulled it up I thought I saw a fish on it, turns out it was a dead bird of some kind. It had deteriated pretty bad. But what got me was as I pulled up on it I could see where it could possibly be attached to. So I slowly trolled still pulling on the line. Dad and i traced it all the way from close to the bank to about, and I kid you not, at least 50 yards (YARDS) out. I thought there was a length limit, but besides that it was straight out and seemed very dangerous to me. So we pulled it up, and I kept it. Sorry if that was wrong but the circumstances seemed to warrant it. If not for more water fowl, then boats, skiers, or swimmers.

I'm like most of you guys, and detest the old left forever to mess up fishermen and kill wildlife trotlines. I agree completely with removing the unmarked old ones. That darn nylon cord probably has a half-life of a couple thousand years when submerged under water.

Having said all that, it does bring to mind a very sad event that happened several years ago at (Rowlett Creek I believe) or the back end of Ray Hubbard. If memory serves, a couple of "good kids" in their teens were out in one of their dad's boats fishing and decided to examine a trotline they came across. The two lowlife's (probably strung out on methamphetimine) who owned the line came along at the same time and accused the teen's of trying to steal their line or fish. One of them pulled a pistol and forced the two teens to jump in the water. The other one took a filet knife and stabbed one of the teens in the neck as he was treading water next to the boat. The kid died right there. The other one dove under water, swam to shore, and escaped. The two adults even had a young child in the boat with them at the time! What a terrible memory for that kid to have of his dad or his dad's friend stabbing someone to death. Anyway, I think that several years later the criminals were caught and brought to trial, but not sure about that part.
My point is that even though cutting and removing old lines is the right thing to do, it pays to be careful and pay attention to who may be around if the line happens not to be so old whether marked properly or not. Jon

on several occasions I've been anchored, then pull up to leave and i'm hung up .. .then fight it or use the outboard to pull up and to find what ?.. yup, old mossy trotline and rusty hooks .. and yes, I cut it loose and pull up all that i can and throw it away at the ramp..

evv59 you thought 50yds was a long trotline ?.. look up TPW regs .. 600 feet is the max .. that's 200 yards !! .. I'm sorry, but someone who strings out a 600 foot trotline with 100 hooks on it should be doing that on private property not a public lake !

Playing devil's advocate here.

Think about the most common factor here before jumping on the trotliners & juggers. Most complaints are for the mossy rusted lines. Don't ya'll think these could probably be the results of the under educated fishermen. By this I mean the fishermen of the past. Like our fathers and grandfathers.

Point to ponder?

TNT,
You may want to look at the TPW regs yourself . 50 hooks is the max on a trotline .
http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/publications/annual/fish/legaldevice.phtml

whoops ! ...

Tawakoni
Is terrible as far as trot lines and juglines go.
Nearly every tree has some kind of string wrapped around it.

Hey, we got your back buddy. Just enjoying the fireworks Personally, I think all unattended lines should be banned, but I know the cat fishing people disagree with me...and you know what?? that's ok.

Hey, now that's a good idea. Make it so that someone must be present to run jugs or a trotline. Too bad that will never happen...only in us "real" anglers' dreams.