http://www.austinchronicle.com:80/gyrobase/Blogs/News?oid=oid:606324

nice article, i'm gonna try to catch carp (on purpose ) this year

awesome! its the closest you can get to a redfish fight and they are in every lake in texas...

Very nice!

Good write-up.

great write up

That was not a good write up, to me it was very one sided and
didn't at all address the reason bowfishers disagree with the rule.

TexasTwoGuns -

Take a deep breath. Read the actual regulation that passed. It is not an anti-bowfishing regulation. It merely limits harvest of carp over 33 inches to one per day. You can still shoot as many little ones as you wish on Lady Bird Lake.

The regulation in no way singles out any particular method of harvest. It applies equally to rod & reel, trot-lines, fly fishing, etc. etc. etc.

You guys are so wrapped around the axel on this one, that you've failed to even look at the actual regulation. I've heard this being called a ban, a sanctuary, an attack on some sport or another. Imagine if all sportsmen threw such temper tantrums. Setting minimum or maximum length type regulations is common fisheries management practice.

Let's be honest here. The only reason you guys are so jacked up about this whole thing is because the TPWD recognized carp as a valuable fishing resource in Lady Bird Lake. For the record, the bowfishing community has a vested interest in fostering and promoting the concept that carp are "worthless trash" in every situation and in every water everywhere. Newsflash... that simply is not true. While any fish can cause problems in certain circumstances, there are many cases where they don't.

Now, let's go bowfishing for tilapia. It would be fun, and we could have a few cold ones afterwards.

No carpaholic - Bowfishermen are mad because the decision was based on $$ and not on any scientific data what-so-ever.

The group with the deepest pocket wins, and carp groups bought people.
And I do not believe for a moment carp'ers spend more money than bowfishermen. How many carp'ers own 20k boat rigs?


And it does no good to argue that carp are destructive to the ecosystem according to just about every biologist because being a carper is like being a mormon. Block out all bad and make up only good.

Your right, this new law does not ban bowfishing. Bowfishmen are getting madder because carp'ers are going to bowfishing message boards and rubbing it in. They are already saying different lakes are being lined up to provide carp sancuaries and the goal is to outlaw bowfishing.
This is why carp'ers and bowfishers do not get along because it became too political and no one is willing to give an inch.

They are hi-tech bucket sittin cane polers!

Catmaniac -

If it makes you feel better to believe that tripe, go right ahead. The truth is that while carp have been seen as destructive in some circumstances, each lake is different. The biologists in the TPWD looked at this particular water and concluded that preventing removal of a few really big fish was not going to adversely affect the balance in this lake. If this were an overpopulated, problem water (like the ones cited in your research studies) then obviously the decision would have been different.

I understand that some folks consider themselves pest removal specialists. You guys need to figure out if you are sportsmen or amateur pest controllers. This idea that every water is a problem water simply doesn't hold any water.

Right, Brian.

If the TPWD Biologists thought for one moment that the Common Carp population in Lady Bird Lake was adversely affecting the Largemouth Bass Population, they would not have recommended this proposal be adopted.

Because let's face it, Largemouth Bass fishing is TPWD's true cash cow, it probably makes them more money in a month then Carp Angling and Bowfishing combined do in a year.

But the fact is, they do NOT feel that in this lake, Carp are causing any problems.

And these people ARE biologists who are paid to study that sort of thing.

They recommended the commission adopt the proposal because they know it will not harm the bass population there, and they have certainly researched that heavily before making such a decision.

As for carp anglers "rubbing it in" on bowfishing websites, well, those people have no respect or decency, and are no friends of mine. Those bowfishing sites should ban them.

First you say that the group with the deepest pockets won, and then you say that bowfishermen can actually spend 20k per...

Who would have the deepest pockets then? No logic to that statement, what-so-ever!

Anyway... it passed... and you can still go kill carp at every lake in Texas... including Lady Bird Lake.

Who's the one not willing to give an inch?

to me if i were a Bowfisherman i would respect the decision of 33" rule......the Bowfisherman i have known in the past looked for trophy kills....maybe i am wrong but i know thats what most of us are seeking............a record catch......but "we" can release!

You may want to read the blogs on this article!!

I find it really interesting not 1 of them(out of 20+) defended the quote:

"If you're gonna eat 'em that's one thing, but they don't,"

Good stuff!! Good for TPWD for doing the right thing even though they are suffering some unfair crticism here. 10-20 years from now they will be seen as being ahead of the trend.

Congrats to all the carp huggers in TX!!