Here are a few pictures of a pair of pelicans that got caught in someone's old untagged trotline that they never bothered to pick up.
link to pics
It was kinda interesting trying to free a bird that has a 7 foot wingspan and a pretty powerful beak. Both of them had hooks straight through their legs and they swam off pretty slowly, so they must have been there for a while.
I've been seeing a lot of old trotlines and juglines wrapped around trees in this part of Lewisville and if people continue with their ignorance it wont be too far into the future before they are outlawed. Personally it wont bother me since the dang things wrap up in my trolling motor and steal so many of my lures every year. Just sad to think that a few barneys are going to mess it up for everyone else. Lets try to keep our lakes clean.

Just part of the reason I hate trotlines and juglines.

Pitiful!

Saw a red-tail on Travis years ago, that was caught up in fishing line and then wrapped in a tree.

Talk about powerful beaks and talons. And really POed. Had to wrap our forearms in towels to get near it to cut it free.

Boy I agree with you fishnhunt, on Tawakoni I see the same jug lines in the same places FOREVER! I just know they are not being worked..... we are talking YEARS here not months. I thought Texas Parks was supposed to cut them if over 30 days???

Thing is noone(alot of people not everyone) marks the info that is supposed to be on them. So when they are finished or just plain to lazy to go and gather them they just leave them, personally I have never seen a bird or any living creature wrapped up in one thank goodness. But when it comes to trash being in the water plastic, bags, cans, ext. I always pic it up, usually when I put the boat on the trailer at the end of the day. It looks as if I had a party in the boat because of all the trash. Its a shame..

Was on Eagle Mountain fishing many years ago and watched as the owner of a huge yatch in front of me dumped a big trash can of beer cans overboard into the lake. The wife and I wound up netting all the beer cans, mashing them, and taking them back to the house with us to re-cycle.

I guess when you're rich, you are automatically exempt from any and all thought processes and immediately go to "just do it" mode...

If I hang up on a trotline and it's not marked at all, it gets cut, PERIOD! I huung one on the west side of Grapevine years ago and it had all sorts of algae hanging on it, rusted hooks, etc. As I was trying to free my lure, the high winds caused my boat to drift and I ended up getting one of the hooks in my hand. Let me tell you, it's not fun when you're the link between a 20 ft boat that's floating away and a trotline fixed to two stumps. Luckily I had a knife handy to cut the line. Then I pulled the entire trotline up, cut it away from the stumps and took it back to the ramp with me to discard it. Of course, removing the hook from my hand almost ruined my day.

On another note, talking about throwing trash overboard. A couple of weeks ago we went on an offshore fishing trip and there was a group of about 8 people in the front of the boat who would throw their empty cans and wter bottles overboard instead of putting them in the trash! I sure wanted to toss them overboard too..

Fishinhunt01 should enter one of those pictures in the Photo Contest. Maybe if they got posted on the cover of the Texas Fishing Forum people could see that there is no sport involved in catching pelicans!

The actions of a few. It would be just like me accusing anyone with a big bass boat not haqving courtesy on the lake. I and most people I know work our juglines and pick them up when done. Becaase the simple fact they cost over $6 a piece. I get upset also when seeing all those old lines in the water and wish tpw would do something about it. And outlawing them is not an option. Maybe A stiff fine that would make the wardens get busy.

I think they should charge $100 per trout line at all the outlets to buy them and we wouldn't see people leaving them in the water

That is sad, I am glad you were able to free them.

There are a lot of lakes that have a ton of them rotting away.

I'm with you Scott, I cut all of them that are untagged and throw them away. You begin to find more time to pick up other peoples' trash when you live right on the lake. I dont want to look out into the back yard and see trash, it's just a shame that some people dont realize that the reason they dont see their trash in the lake the next time they go out is because someone else picked it up for them. I feel much better after venting.

Bass fishermen are very bad at cutting trotlines. How do I know its bass fishermen, because another catfisherman will not cut a trotline. I got some I keep out at Limestone they are tagged with a permanent marking on each end and updated monthly. Maybe ya'll don't understand how hard they are to put out, that or you don't care. Trotlines don't have to be marked with a floating device. You will cut the wrong persons line one of these days and they will see you. You will run from the next one you see. What makes you the little junior game warden and think you have a right to cut anything that your lure hangs up on? Ever think of getting it loose and dropping the line?

Most catfisherman do not mark there trotlines as mandated by TP&W. How do I know this,from 35 years of hanging them and looking for a tag. And yes I do cut them and will continue to cut them in years to come.As far as any one not liking what I do then all they have to do is put a simple tag and keep it updated.A trotline that is run regular and kept updated will not have rusted hooks and moss and slim.And by the way us bass fisherman are not the ones breaking the law by cutting trotlines, it is the catfisherman who does not tag and update his lines.

So are you saying you only cut the lines you get hung on that don't have a tag ?