My buddy and co-worker, Jose De La Cerda and I decided to take my 2 man boat up the Fabled and Fabulous Elm Fork today after work. Not a "meat hunting expedition", but rather a "discovery tour"!

We put in at the Dr Pepper Spillway and decide to fish and sightsee our way UPSTREAM, mainly to scout out the river and maybe hook a fish or two. It is BEAUTIFUL up that river, but sadly, the Trash(plastic bags and styrofoam cups, mainly) is depressing!

The water itself is clear for the most part, and we saw fish of ALL MANNER rolling AND Jumping virtually from one end of the river to the other! BUT THEY WERE NOT HUNGRY FOR WHAT WE WERE OFFERING THEM!(everything in our tackle boxes!). No matter, we were enjoying the potential beauty each bend in the river offered. We found every kind of cover imaginable(for black bass, kentuckies, and crappie), we found DEEP water(for cats and suspended sandies and hybrids), we found small inlets, one mini island, and even a cove or two that just reeked of fish! We made it up to the mouth of Joe's Creek,north of 482, and went about halfway up it, where we managed 3 solid hookups with some truly decent LMB's, but did not land any of em!

Anyway it was getting late(we got a late start) and decided to fish our way back to the car. VERY uneventful, and no fish, but we enjoyed the boat ride immensely--UNTIL-- the rooster tail i was trolling behind the boat hit a big snag! I threw the boat into reverse, and got back to where the snag was, only to find----A GILL NET!!!! It was stretched across the river channel!

Immediately my blood pressure hit dangerous levels! I was so incensed i could not even talk!!! And those of you that know me, must know that is a near impossible feat for me!!

Jose was thoroughly disgusted and angered as well!!!

Well, i immediately got a knife out my tackle box and proceeded to shred that huge net into a million shards!!

Luckily there were no fish in it, BUT when we we were entering the area where we put in, we saw a jeep leaving, and the driver is known for raping rivers and creeks with cast nets, and maybe now he's graduated to gill nets!

Anyway that particular net is now totally worthless!!! I still can't see straight from all the angst that net caused!

BTW we are most definitely going back, this river is awesome looking and I KNOW what kind of fish are in there, I WILL find and catch 'em! LEGALLY!!

Rudy

Good job. Got to hate those nets and the people that put them out. IT destroys EVERYTHING, not only fish, but Ducks and other game animals in the water

Where is the Dr. Pepper spillway?

nice story and good job with that net.

good job on the destruction

Dr Pepper spillway is right behind the bottling co in Irving

Rudy

Great story. What ever happend to those poachers on white rock creek rudy?

To bad you didn't inform the Game wardens and let them hide out until the owner came to check on his net and catch him in the act. Now all the person has to do is go and buy himself another gill net and put it in. This still needs to be reported to the proper authorities and see if they will investigate it.

I saw several other setups in the river that were very similar to the gill net i snagged up on. since i saw them BEFORE i got the snag, i assumed they were trotlines, as the EF is famous for some massive flathead and blue cat. Didn't think much about it but now that you mention it, i might just do that, as i am sure they will be checking thhose nets soon and regularly.

Rudy

I think it was gill nets that killed the sandy and crappie fishing this year at White Rock Creek.

Cut it down, baby! I don't know about all of you, but I got into fishing as a way to spend time in the outdoors doing something constructive; not for a chance to go pull nets out of the water. Not too often you hear stories about "the one I pulled out of a net after sitting on my a*s waiting for three days"...

i found a gill net in rowlett creek 2 years back when i was floating in my tube. it was near the mouth of the creek... i as well cut it away. where the hell are they getting these nets anyways? cause they are either using a cast net or a bottle with line on it...... how can they afford a gill net?
and i agree.... white rock creek was killed by the nets this year...........

this past year in rowlett creek i saw a minnow seine with a nice hybrid and about 8 sandbass

Way to go RUDYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY

I thought gill nets were illegal to buy or sell in texas