the reason i ask is cause im from the north. im more familar with laws up there, and northern fishing. well, if you put out an ice shanty, you are required to have it tagged the same as a trot line down here. however, if you happen to make it out late and someone is sitting in your shanty, its perfectly legal. you cant do a thing about it other than ask them politly to leave. if you blow a gasket about someone fishing your spot, its harassment. the only thing that would make it illegal is if you have it locked and they cut your lock cause thats vandalism.

same goes with hunting stands on public property. if you leave a tree stand hanging and someone is sitting in it when you get there, tough luck. the best you can legally do is tell them you are taking the stand somewhere else. anything else is hunter harassment.

so... are trot lines any different really?? does it say anywhere its illegal to run someone elses lines?

now, i understand that alot of people will want to reply with the barbaric "i dont care if its legal, i'll shoot someone" bs thats always posted on here. im asking a legality question and wondering if anyone actually knows for sure.

not only is it illegal its un-ethical as well

if the lines are tagged of course its not legal to run them.they are private property.

if it isnt tagged then you are breaking the law when you run it by fishing a line that isnt tagged. if the warden pulls up and sees it isnt tagged do you think he will believe you when you say it isnt yours? then just hope it has legal bait on it.

as for deer stands. what little public land we have they dont allow stands to be placed on them unless you take it in and out with you when you hunt.

Parker has some sage advise!

It wouldn't be wise to run a line that isn't yours not only because of the warden, but there may be the owner to contend with also, which is not good!

I've set lines and R/R fished within sight of my lines, so you would be taking a chance, and it's called stealing!

If it doesn't belong to you, leave it alone, and can't be any simpler than that!

When you are in Texas and take what isn't yours, it's called stealing!

i understand that. its definatly not cool, but im not quite convinced it illegal to take a fish off someone elses lines. the fish doesnt belong to the person. the fish in texas belong to the public, and the water it is set on belongs to the public. the only thing that belongs to the person is the line itself, making it illegal to A) cut it (vandalism) or B)remove it(theft)

i really dont think its illegal to touch anything (not illegal to touch somone's car as you walk past in the parking lot), and its not illegal to take the fish off it, cause it doesnt belong to the owner of the line until it is in that person's possession.

think about that for a minute...

and, if you DID get a ticket for it, im willing to bet you could get it thrown out with minimal affort.

I think you should do whatever you feel like doing ... see someone's pole get a bite on the bank ... run over and reel it in and keep their fish ... it'd be the same thing. be like ... I seen it first sorta deal. what you're saying is you should be allowed to walk into anyone's home and eat their food if they're gone too. what you'd be doing is stealing if you ran someone else's lines for them ... they do the work, build the lines ... set them out and bait them and someone like you comes along and think they've got the right to take the fish that they've caught on their lines. I'm assuming that's what you want to do since you've asked this question ... it's unethical to me for you to even consider such a thing. how would you feel? you go buy all the equipment, you spend a day or two tying lines up ... sharpening hooks ... arranging them neatly ... set them ... bait them and then you see some dude taking your fish off your line. makes a lot of sense doesn't it!

You can't be serious!

I think you are trolling, but I'll play along!

Go ahead and do that, and see what happens to you!

Better yet to get instant results call the Warden on yourself just to see what happens!

Seems each warden has different opinions on this topic, I talked with one earlier today, and he told me to feel free to remove untagged or outdated jugs and trotlines, he doesn't have time. Told me just be careful because some owners gets a little obnoxious.

Someone else posted the same thing about another lake. Someone claims to have been told that their warden would ticket...

I HIGHLY doubt that there is any laws against it. I'm sure that people want the myth out there that it is illegal but noone can cite a statute at all...

Funny thing the same people boasting about it being illegal just to touch their lines are now crying that you would be cited for illegal fishing devices...

All of which is probably wishful thinking. Sure a warden may cite you for an illegal device, but I doubt the judge will back him up once the facts were explained. Unless the warden can say he witnessed you DEPLOYING the device which he wouldn't be able to claim if you were pulling it from the water. Nice thing about this country, innocense is assumed until proven otherwise, and reasonably doubt is a wonderful thing in the criminal's eyes.

So again I'll take the stance and ask "What's the legal statute making it illegal to remove outdated and untagged jugs."

thats my point. i REALLY dont think its illegal. i DO however think its illegal to knock someone out, or worse shoot them over it.

again, ill say it I AM NOT CONDONING THIS ACTIVITY, NOR PLAN TO DO IT MYSELF. the reason i brought it up, and even thought about it is cause i was talking to some oldtimer on the river yesterday and he told me he thought he saw somone running his lines but he wasnt sure. then he told me if he ever caught someone doing that forsure he would run his boat overtop of them. The first thing that went through my head was "thats a good way to ruin your life and probably lose everything you own." but instead i just smiled and said "yeah, tell me about it."

Ok your talking about legality and not ethics. I'm just throwing a guess in but if you removed a fish from a legal trotline then yes thats theft, probably a form of poaching. If you remove a fish from a illegal line then it still is probably illegal because now your using an illegal device. Whether the line is legal or not the best thing is don't touch it. I would rather not go through the hassle and expense in court to be proven right. If you think its illegal call the warden and let him remove it.

Ok I took the time to read the regs on tagging. "TAG REQUIREMENTS: Must be used with a valid GEAR TAG (see pg. 32). properly-marked buoys or floats qualify as valid gear tags. Gear tags must be attached within 3 feet of the first hook at each end of the trotline and are valid for 30 days after date set out" So the only way for someone to know if a line is properly tagged is to pull it up (NO I'm not advocating to do this nor would I)So all this is a moot point as you shouldn't be messing with someone elses property.

When you remove a fish from someone else's trotline or jug line you have have committed THEFT. The Texas Penal Code defines THEFT as:

� 31.03. THEFT. (a) A person commits an offense if he
unlawfully appropriates property with intent to deprive the owner
of property.

After you look up THEFT in the Penal Code, I would then take a look at


� 9.42. DEADLY FORCE TO PROTECT PROPERTY.

I agree...

i rarely post on this site, but i have to say that this topic is really a pain in the you know what on this site...

you know what...if you don't have your gear tagged, then your gear is illegal plain and simple...all these people on this site sayin a bunch of BS about, oh, if you are caught by a game warden pullin' up a line that isn't tagged then you will get ticketed, haha...the people sayin' that BS are the people who improperly put out lines without a tag...

i mean, if it takes you 2 days to tie a line up then i don't see why you can't put a tag on your gear...i say 75% of the people who put out lines don't put a tag on their gear, why is that, who knows, maybe its lazyness

so why get pissed off when somebody messes with your line that is not tagged...what are you going to do when a warden catches you pulling up your own line without a tag on it, maybe just make up some BS excuse right, well, the people that pull up your line can also come up with an excuse if they were caught...you know what, maybe it is unethical to pull up somebody elses line, but at the same time you know when your putting unmarked gear out which is also unethical and also against the rules

everybody should know the rules, and if your gear is tagged most likely a person would not mess with it unless they are a big you know what...i don't blame people getting mad about tagged stuff getting messed with, but if your an A-Hole getting mad about untagged gear then hey, all i have to say is your breaking rules also