According to the Texas fishing regulations,

"It is illegal to be in possession of a number of fish that exceeds the daily limit while actually fishing."

http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/publications/annual/fish/general_rules/

How do you interpet this?

ie: If you've already got 5 bass in your livewell and you continue fishing and catch another bass but cull the smallest one from your livewell and release it are you in violation of this rule?

or

You've got your 5 bass in the livewell but continue to catch and release the rest of the day, are you in violation?

Conversly, are you in violation in these other senarios:

You're fishing for catfish and you're catching good but another fellow down the bank isn't catching. You catch 25 catfish and have them in a live box. You continue to catch and start to cull your smallest and the guy asks if he can have your culls. If you do this are you in violation?

What about if you start culling and giving away with only 24 in the box?

I'd like to hear your views.

If you have your limit then, one in your hand such
as catch and release or cull, you can be fined. Have
never seen this law enforced tho.

David
www.davesguideservice.net

I saw it enforced today, it was not me but I thought it was wrong.

This guy was fishing and caught his limit a couple of older guys down the bank were strugling and he started giving them fish. The game warden watching the whole time.

The game warden fined them for every fish they gave away.

To me that's just plain wrong.

I fished bass tournaments for a long time and would cull fish from my livewell for every bigger fish after the first five legal fish. I never knew that I was violating state laws.

This law pretty much disqualifies every one who culls out a limit in a bass tournament.

I was giving fish away today too but was only keeping 1 short of a limit in my basket while doing that. I caught my last one and left after I saw what happened to that guy.

He was giving his fish to someone else, not releasing them. BIG difference in my opinion.

My interpretation of the law fellas. May want to
check with TP&W to get a better explanation. When
we are fishing for whites, we stop short of a limit
in order to be covered for C&R. Law went into effect
about two years ago along with the guides limit
can't be kept on a paid trip.

David
www.davesguideservice.net

You can give away a wildlife resource accompanied by a wildlife resource document. You may not take more than your daily bag limit. Technically speaking you are only suppose to take and keep your limit. If you are fishing with someone and keeping the fish in an ice chest or live well and you caught 7 and I caught 3 then we have two limits, but not in the eyes of the law. You are in violation because you caught and kept two more fish than you were suppose to. Enforcement is quite another matter. For decent folks who are going to cull properly this doesn't hurt anything.

Example: March 25, I think it was a Saturday, I went to Sargent beach. We were catching sheephead. The guys next to us were too. Pretty soon they start to cull..........out of the ice chest. They probably culled ten fish. THAT was wrong. Those are the people that the law was written for. Those are the people that are going to violate the law no matter what it is. The wardens can't catch every one of them and some wardens catch those that they can. Most of us obey laws because it's the law. Ssome of us obey laws becasue we are afraid of getting caught or we already got caught once and paid dearly. Others of us don't give a rats patoot for the law and do what ever we want. That's why we have game wardens who come out and catch us doing silly stuff like giving away fish that we caught over our limit. What's the difference between giving them away at the point of capture and giving them away at the dock, or in town, or at home, or to grandma next week when we go visit? He still caught more that he should have and that's that. I don't get to catch and release when I'm dove hunting. Think of it like that if it helps.

I know guys cull in tournaments..............but I already went through the whole "things that I don't like about tournaments" thing without adding one more reason. Fishing ought to be about fun and not about filling limits anyway. Frankly, on that day at Sargent, we brought home four limits of Sheepshead(there were four of us fishing), 20 fish, + drum and flounder and whiting. We were keeping a total tally on the fish no matter who caught them. One guy didn't want his (and he told me this after we had the limit and they had been iced down) so #1 son and I halved the catch at it's final destination and by the time I finished cleaning I didn't want another Sheephead. We caught 5 more two weeks ago and I let didn't want any. We should have gotten a wildlife resource document from the guy who didn't want his limit and we took a chance on being fined for not having it because we were in possession of more than our limit even though it was obtained legally. Trouble is, a wildlife resource document is a note scribbled on a paper bag saying "I, Joe, give Bill, 5 fish" signed with an X and dated with the givers license # on it. It's no big deal but it's worth a lot of money if you don't have it and get caught with someone elses limit.

ok sermon's over.

Alan

Brewboy,

I think the enformement you saw was they were fined for every fish over the limit they caught.

They cannot be fined for giving the fish away.

If one person caught 25 Crappie and gave 10 away, then there be no fine.

If one person catches 25 crappie, gives 10 away, and then catches 10 more, they still have a limit in their possesion, but they are 10 over and subject to a fine.

So use common sense, and it is hard to keep track on every fish in the livewell, so best to stop early. Besides, 25 crappie or sandies is a huge feed, and most people don't need to harvest that much.

Does this confuse things more:

Possession limit is twice the statewide daily bag.

Here are the Freshwater Harvest Regs

The guy had to "keep" 'em in order to give them away - so he "kept" more than his daily limit.

I actually emailed TPWD this rule:
"It is unlawful to land by boat or person any fish taken from public water within a protected length limit, or in excess of the daily bag limit or possession limit established for those fish in Texas, regardless of the state or country in which they were caught. "

Question being, what does it mean to "land" a fish - sounds like you have to release an undersized fish before you boat it...also makes it sound like you can't catch and release after you got a limit...answer - nope, you can catch and release all day long regardless. Still seems like a warden with a grudge could write you up for it, and a judge having a bad day could make ya pay the fine.

I've driven home alone with more than a limit of sandies - the other guy didn't want any - and I didn't get the "gift" statement - don't think I was guilty of anything...I was within "possession limit", and wasn't "over the daily limit while fishing"...

The stmt in the original post, states that

"It is illegal to be in possession of a number of fish that exceeds the daily limit while actually fishing."

If you are using catch and release you would not be in violation. The stmt clearly says not to exceed the limit while fishing. If you have 5 fish in the livewell and catch a 6th fish, you could not fish until you released a fish. How can I fish when I am taking a fish off the hook or culling a fish. After I cull a fish, then I am only fishing with 5 fish in the boat.

Sorry bro but that's not the way this warden interpeted it. According to this warden, once you catch and retain your limit you can't even catch and release, you must stop fishing.

When you have 5 bass in a livewell and you have one in your hand, you have 6 fish in possession, one over the limit.

Sure you can release one but while your are fishing you have over the limit in possesion until you release one. This, according to this warden is in violation of the law.

I fished the same area today and culled fish but kept 1 short of a limit in my basket while culling until the last fish was kept then packed up and left.

I think you can give fish away as long as you don't have a limit in possision already but once you retain your limit. You can no longer fish according to this warden.

In this case, this guy was fined for every fish he caught and gave away after retaining his limit.

According to this warden, once you retain a limit, you must stop fishing.

I had never heard that before yesterday.

I'm not sure about the law but I always wondered about this myself, not only in Texas but in Missouri, also. Just to be safe I always stopped 1 short of a limit unless I knew I was done for the day. Just yesterday (Friday) I 'limited' with 24 sand bass. Once I knew I was done and ready to put the boat up I never could get that 25th fish to bite. I caught and released for probably 2 hours and then, bingo, they were gone.

Kevin