At Martin Creek Lake on January 7th as we were loading out the park ranger and the park game warden were checking boats and trailers for drained live wells and to ensure the bilge drain plugs were removed. They were also checking trailer tags and boat registration. I always drained even before the new rules, I hate having to get out in a rain storm on the way home to pull the plug.
Just guessing they are checking more boats since bass tournaments are in full swing with the new year.

...with no help from the boaters.

Next they will be asking if you carry while in your boat and if the weather is warmer than it was last year. You can bet they are preparing some new regulations and something that will cost us more money. I put mine in file 13.

LOL So you gave my opinion more weight with TP&W.

Air dry mine at 70mph on the way home. Seems to work pretty good.
I won't fill out the survey. It's meaningless.

Outlaw all bass tournaments. Problem solved.

I wonder how they get all those ducks, commorants, and cranes to wipe their feet, and not poop in another body of water?

From what I've read from TPWD studies the birds don't carry or spread anything. Yeah right.
Remember that ocean front property in Arizona?

I guess the only solution is to make boaters buy a boat for each individual lake and then we can have a permit for that lake only with that boat.

That is kinda like the California regulations today. Boaters can get a state inspection to use their boat in one lake or be inspected every trip if they go to other lakes.

Got a link to that article? I would like to read where TP&W says that.

http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10530-015-0995-z

So they regularly pump water from one watershed to another, and wildlife migrates from one watershed to another. Even if the rate of transfer is less than what they claim boaters are responsible for (take their estimates for what they're worth), boaters take the hit while these other sources of cross-contamination go unchecked. Anyone ask themselves why the focus on boaters while they ignore these other obvious sources? Because boaters obviously have some level of disposable income, and evidently TPWD believe they aren't currently getting enough of it in taxes and fees.


Tax or fine the water districts and the cost gets passed to all customers equally, and you can't tax or fine wildlife. That leaves the segment that has disposable income.

I'm not anti-TPWD or pro-zebra mussel, in fact TPWD does pretty good job in most cases. But this is one issue where I think they willfully ignore one set of data because there is no financial benefit for them while they focus on the data that generates revenue.

For whats it worth I have for long time put in the bilge a bar of plain Ivory soap. It is biodegradeable and helps keep the bilge build up down. Hve done this long before regullation came to be.

I see it every trip at Belton 70% of the boats load and go.I fish all over Belton.I may get checked maybe one time every 5 years.Would love to see more wardens at the ramps and on the water.

Have you heard about the Integrated Pipe Line (IPL)?

It will run 150 miles from Lake Palestine to Benbrook, connecting with Cedar Creek, Richland Chambers, Joe Pool, Bardwell, and Waxahachie. It is expected to supply 350 million gallons per day to the DFW metroplex. The pipeline is 84" (7') in diameter.

I know that the water is being pumped OUT of the lakes, but hope the zebra mussels know not to swim up stream. In any case, Benbrook will get whatever the other lakes provide.

Google Integrated Pipeline for full details.

HHH