If I raise my own minnows for personal use (yes really) I can take them to the lake. Happy to bring pics and invite game warden over to see the setup.

I think most people agree this is ok.

If I got some big mosquito fish (native to TX) in my backyard concrete tank pond, I can catch them and put them in treated tap water and carry to lake and use as bait, right?

I read what tpwd says and according to them it is the water. Not the fish. To interpret that as the fish, it would mean you can never keep live fish at all! Clearly it must mean in water from the body.

"Live fish, including personally caught live bait, cannot be transported from the water body where the fish were caught in or aboard a vessel in water from the water body where the fish were caught"

https://tpwd.texas.gov/regulations/...-regulations/general-fishing-regulations

Make a call.....

Tarrant County Game Warden Phone List

They don't want you moving water form one lake to another. Zebra muscles come to mind and it makes sense to me.

So the bait shop uses the same water as the lake? The minnows come from a breeder.

The whole idea is to stop the spread of zebra mussells. That in and of itself is stupid. Floods move more water than anything man can do.

Zebra mussells are the best. Belton got them a while back.


The shells are like little glass shards. So if you're crawling around a bank. Deciding to brave the mound of shells surrounding the entire lake. They'll cut you up.


So since Belton is already invested. How does that bait rule apply?

"Live fish, including personally caught live bait, cannot be transported from the water body where the fish were caught in or aboard a vessel in water from the water body where the fish were caught."

Treated tap water is not water from a water body, so I agree with your interpretation. This is why the blue water from bait shops is ok.

Update, i did call the office in Austin and the operator got someone else to call me back promptly. In that callback he confirmed my interpretation and encouraged me to also call a local game warden. I called one of the numbers he gave and the warden was top notch and also confirmed.

Both were very clear about the rules and I got the sense that they were super focused on enforcing the law and only the law as it should be.

During my setup I used the idea of raising my own minnows. They jumped quickly on that to confirm "not for sale."

I said heck no! We all know that is regulatory spiderweb but most importantly, why would I help locals catch more crappie?

So this matter is closed AFAIAC

Thanks all

Bingo

In NYS there is a DEC rule that no fish can be transported to another water - even to my private hole-in-the-ground pond that has no outflow, yet there is no regulation prohibiting a boater from emptying livewell water from one lake into another. In the last two years, this has resulted in the introduction of giant-leaf lily pads that are spreading all over the lake I fish and killing normal size pads.
Big-leaf pads are almost impossible to fish unless fishing pad edges in water 7' deep due to their long stems. No way a trolling motor can get through them.

Harvester services are expensive, but the DEC didn't seem concerned since it is a private lake which was my take after talking to them. Homeowners are prohibited from using pesticides near their docks to combat them and one was fined after a neighbor reported him spraying them.

Granted, size and seasonal limits are important as well as not introducing fish viruses, but enforcement is lacking at all small out-of-the-way waters making the rules useless. In fact I haven't seen a DEC officer in 40 years - not even on the Hudson R. or large lakes I fish tournaments. Other than that, most fines come after major pollution has already happened with no prevention beforehand. People have gotten sick from eating fish from polluted waters.

Good luck Texas. I miss fishing Arrowhead L and others from when I was stationed there.

this

"Transport and use of commercially purchased live bait in water while fishing from a vessel is allowed, provided persons in possession of the bait have a receipt that identifies the source of the bait. Any live bait purchased from a location on or adjacent to public water body that is transported in water from that water body can only be used as bait on that same water body."

Live minnows transported in the bag of water they were sold in may be transported and used elsewhere. That water from the bait shop does not contain any invasive species. Once you put them in water other than what they were sold in, they fall under the restriction.