I use to fish the nueces alot when I lived in south Texas. I had a 12 foot john boat then and a trotline. Nowadays I fish lakes with a friend who has a boat. I am thinking of getting a 12 or 14 foot john boat, trailer, and motor this spring( its what I can afford right now) and go back to doing some river fishing. Do any of you mainly fish rivers? I always found it uncrowded and quiet productive.

I fish on the river alot ,live on the sabine river.Not many fish in the river here,i havent seen any.Need to put a river section on here.
The river is in between Tx.&La.It rises and falls alot.

I know that it is a long river, but is it a huge river. I live in the west Texas and haven't ventured that direction often. I assume the sabine is swampy. Use to be in the early part of the century everyone fished rivers then they put in the dams and now everone fishes lakes. I like 'em both. Some huge catfish in those neglected rivers.

I fish the Trinity River a whole lot, just about every weekend. Most people, especially people around Dallas, have labled the river as a polluted waterway. I guess it probably is up there but I live south of Lake Livingston and the water is of good quality by the time it flows out of the dam. I would say that fishing lakes is more productive, especially for bass, but the Trinity produces plenty of catfish, some bass and crappie when you can find them. One definite advantage is there are alot fewer boats and wave runners.

I started out with a 14 ft johnboat and will probably go back to that someday but for now we fish the Red River from a airboat and let me tell you there are many miles of unfished river out there. My new river boat will be finished next week, it is a 20' airboat with a new 496 chevy. Here is some pics of what we catch on the river http://www.txfishingguide.com/trophy-catfish-pictures-page.htm

As long as you do not get out on dry private land is it legal to navigate down the river as far as you wish since the river is-- I assume state property?

Waterways are not privately owned. Some people like to think they are and I have heard of people getting shot at fishing some of the smaller creeks that cross private land. As long as you are on the water and not on the land, the law is on your side.

ScottB

Captain Steve - what kind of fish is that with the long nose?

spoonbill and before anyone starts preaching about them being endangered I will tell you they were caught in the Red River wich is Oklahoma and they are not endangered there.