I hate to bring this up but someone mentioned limits and this one has perplexed me for years now. If the limit on bass is 5 and a tournament angler has his 5 in the livewell and continuous to fish and cull. Wouldn't he be over his limit if he "lands" another bass? Landing, I think, it the act of holding that fish in your hand. So in the act of culling, he actually has in his possession 6 fish. Is this true?

Are carp currently classified in texas as rough fish?
If so waton waste does not apply as the definition of a rough fish is a fish that is not generally considered edible, true you can eat a carp, but you can also drink your own urine( its sterile) doesnt mean that everynoe does it.

A GAFF???? I have fished for 28 years in Texas and have never seen a GAFF used for freshwater. We have NETS.


A gaff...LOL talk about reaching.

Two Guns and Cory

Sorry but TP&W consider carp edible as they have published ways to cook them as well as stated in many publications that they are edible.

Just because YOU think they are not edible does not make it the case as you do not set the regulations. We will see what TP&W says about as I have emailed them the question to settle this.

Tim,

As noted here and other threads, no opinion outside theirs matters. They believe the wanton waste laws do not apply to them.

They believe they have the authority (and I don't mean just from TPWD)to kill at will. They hide behind words such as sportsmen and outdoorsmen, when in fact they are neither.

They claim the carp are bad for the waters, and because the government introduced them, they're charged (by themselves) to kill them all. Nevermind they have the same feelings toward our native buffalo and our native gar. Naturalized or not, edible or not, they're above the law, and they know better than the biologists employed by out state.

Texas two guns when you asked about limits I think this applies. A limit is a take home amount. When you see a bass tournament and they do catch more than the limit they are kept alive in the livewell. They are later released as you know. I know some tournaments dock you with weight if a bass dies while being in the live well so taking care of the fish is a major concern while holding the fish in your boat. I think even though the fish are held its stated with rules that fish are catch and release only so no "limit" is being taken so to speak. I think even if you have a stringer full and your limit is caught even if you catch a larger one and return a fish back into the water and it can still live and regain itself I would imagine that would be ok too. I am sure there are a few iffy spots but thats how I look at it.

txfishes, how dare you question my sportsmanship for persuing a sport that is totally and completely legal as set forth the the state of Texas and the rest of the United States. You send your letter and I'll also send one, we'll see what kind of answers we get. I know for a fact the past serveral occasions I've had to discuss bowfishing with several Game Wardens, not one lifted an eyebrow about the sport or what we do with them. Matter of fact the state tournament year before last, there were several in the parking lot along with county sherrifs and city police, it was a good time and the only thing they were concerned with were running lights.
So mister, just to reinterate I don't take kindly for being called unsportsman, I do the very best I can to follow the game laws to the "T". I am not above the law and don't believe I am above the law. If this was true bowfishing would be totally outlawed cause we would all be breaking the law by "dumping" fish.
Let me ask you sir, what do you do with overpopulated hogs, or rats or other vermon? We believe that carp are harmful invasive species and also know that along with buffalo and gar, a carps only natrural enemy after reaching a certain size is man. The bible says all animals are here for us to control, and that sir includes carp. It is up to us, the human race, to control overpopulation. When I am shown that we, bowfishers, are putting a dent in the population or that killing carp is morrally wrong, I will quit. But it will not be a carp angler that tells me this.

says the guy that makes money off of bowfishing

The question wasn't whether or not the are edible the question was as define by the TPWD are carp considered a rough fish. The answer here is yes. As well as Buffalo, Gar, Tilapia etc. Only differance is that gar and tilapia are good eatin, and carp taste like chit. Buffalo I don't personally know about but I've heard both good and bad.

They are not bad, you should try one. Reminds me of redfish.

and carp don't taste like chit !!! It is boney and dificulte to
eat but taste good.
When you shoot one (around 1 to 6 pounds) fry it on butter and
eat slowly with bred. It is goooooooooooood.

That's truelly laughable. Let me explain before you think I'm just being an @ss. First off Tony is a Pro Staff not an owner so he ain't makin any money off those sponsors listed below his posts. Only benefit he may get is discounted items from these sponsors but he still pays just like the rest of us.
Now let's move on to tourneys. Where do we start, let' start with the tourney fee. Let's say it's 100 bucks per team. (team is 2 or 3 man) Now lets go with fuel expenses, Full tank in your truck say 100 bucks each way (if your lucky) fuel for boat average bowfishing rigs are runnin say a 40 gallon fuel cell so that's almost 160. Fuel for generator and fan (if applicable) another 40 bucks. Food and drinks about 100 bucks. and these are low estimates. Imagine some of these guys with the airboats with 100 gallon fuel cells running super unleaded. Now if you have say 20 boats at the tourney that's 2000 in prize money, break that down in 3 places, and first place might get 1000. Now split that between 3 people on your team and thats 333 bucks. Now add up all your expenses and tell me how that comes out to a man makin money off of bowfishing.
I didn't even mention what it costs us in equipment .

Lucky it must be a desired taste cause I just didn't like it at all. Now if I was starving and there wasn't any tree branches or a leather boot to boil up I guess I would eat i.

it is not about it be considered a rough fish. The regulation says "waste of fish" not waste of game fish. The key word here is fish adn rough fish are still fish. Hell the regulation can not just be for game fish as you can not use a game fish or any part of a game fish as bait.

Anyways like I stated we will see what TP&W says once I get the email back from them with the answer.

If it comes back where they say the waste of fish reguations does not include rough fish I will stop talking about it and admit I was wrong.

if it comes back that they say it does include rough fish will you and the others (TwoGuns) agree you are wrong and start following the reguations set by the state?

As of now we do follow the regulations set by the state. If there is something we are doing that is against the laws set by the TPWD I know we would have een fined for it by now. But when you get that response and it clearly states that we are doing something illegal you can believe that I will quit the illegal activity.