No Offense Intended Here...for the sake of balanced Discussion I would like to say the following...
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Where will it end ?

Another Tag ?

another Regulation ?

you really think fishing is the cause ?
Just maybe having some real study done by Fisheries Biologist might be a better first step in discovering reasons for not having the numbers of giant fish" ( so a giant is over 27in ? )

Scary to think what your idea might turn into when law makers get involved"

soon we will be tagging Perch and LMB's...

ya' know,, come to think of it I havent been catching any really big Bluegill over 10 inches in a while..Lets make a Tag for em !

( Just maybe people will want to just stay home and not hire a Fishing guide " can't catch but one Large Fish a Year ? why even go ? ( might be their attitudes...)

I know for me personally , trips to the Laguna Madre have stopped since the taging began.. yes , so there are some large Redfish there that I didin't take.... so I guess in that reguard it worked...
but the Guides down there I used to hire and the other funds spent to pursue the large Red's ? wonder if they missed it ????

Really "All Food for thought...

Be Careful what you wish for is what I really want to say !

Just think about it"
Carefully"

Again No Offense Intended Here for anyone..

X 2

My father and I were just talking about this topic today in regards to Texoma since the big pond is an actual breeding lake.

Do you think the lake is possibly too overpopulated with smaller fish which create too much competition for food?

How about putting a slot on striper on Texoma like they did on Lake Fork with LMB?

I say anything under 14" isn't worth cleaning anyway and anything over 26" or is limited to one per trip.

Downside would be the hot summer months where the release survival rate is low...especially in regards to bigger fish!!


Just a few thoughts........

Jason

Whereas this proposal might be a boon to a few guides, I've got enough government in my life, thank you. Given the opportunity, the bureaucrats will require us to possess freshwater, saltwater, and nanny licenses.
The return of the redfish wasn't due to tags. CP&L's (read: private industry's) breeding and stocking program replenished the redfish. On the other hand, the state has given us white amur and muddy lakes.
The state stocks stripers. Let's leave it at that. DON"T POKE THE BEAR!

This is not intended to raise the license fee and will only be an extra tag on the fishing license. This is ment to keep trophy fish from being slaughtered on the cleaning tables instead of being released back into our waters as an opportunity for another fisherman to catch.

I don't even fish saltwater stripers, but I did sign it because I believe in conservation in any waters. Good luck and I hope it works out.

The intention is good but not sure the science would back it up.

Each Texas striper lake is different. Making "one size fits all" regulations is a mistake IMO for Texas Stripers because of the vast differences in the lakes/water bodies.

For example compare Livingston and Texoma. Yes, before you laugh at the comparison, I'll wager I caught more 21 to 26 inch stripers on Livingston this past year than most anyone, other than guides, on any other Texas lake. Livingston would benefit tremendously from a no cull law....but a striper tag law would have virtually no effect at all and only serve to waste good fish.

Summer striper angling mortality approaches 100% on Livingston. Releasing good fish is a total waste of the resource. Instead we should have a no cull, keep every striper you catch until you reach the limit, law there. Anglers should stop fishing once the limit is reached. Take a trip to Livingston sometime in August on the south end and you will see literally hundreds of dead stripers of all sizes...most all "released" with good intentions and to a certain death.

In certain water bodies, such as the Brazos river, perhaps the tag program would be a good thing, but IMO it should not be universally applied across all Texas stripers locals, and certainly not without the science to back it up.

It will not work in the summer! It will run customers off from fishing guides! I have not noticed any missing big fish. I'll post later....way to many thoughts on this to use my I-phone

Stripers Inc.,

I appreciate your sentiments and the intent of your proposal. It's just that over six decades of living in this state has taught me the realities of such once it reaches the hands of the politicians.

The inability to catch large fish at this time is cyclical. As the large fish begin to disappear, so does the fisherman's interest in a given specie. Less fishing pressure equates to more fish growing to trophy size.

The problem takes care of itself without government intervention.

In saltwater, inshore or offshore, it has become necessary to carry a micrometer and a lawyer aboard your boat. I don't want to see this happen to freshwater fishing.

Patt

I would be all for a petition for a study to be done by biologist. I don't think it is a good idea for anglers or guides to come up with their own management plan. It would be great for TPWD to focus on trophy striper and hybrid instead of largemouth for a while.

While I also appreciate Brians concern, comparing stripers to redfish is a little off the mark. The redfish tag is intended to protect the big spawning fish. There is no such concern with stripers.

There are way too many variables involved in producing trophy stripers. My guess is the forage base is a large part of it. The gene pool could have something to do with it also. Look what the Florida strain has done for LMB in Texas in the last 30 or so years. Just a guess though.

Another observation I have is the fact that not many folks, including guides, target trophy fish. One thing I've learned the last few years fishing the TSA is that big fish have different patterns than the average size fish in any given lake. The guys that have the most success have learned, mostly from years of experience, where and how to get the trophies to bite while the rest of us are weighing in average fish.

Well said.

Protect the fry. Protect the brood fish. Raise trophies. That's all rhetoric. What happened in the case of the redfish is the State seized the advantage presented by CP&L's generosity. The State has no interest in conservation. The State's interest was in doing the only thing governments can do--it grew the bureaucracy.

For the moment, assume that I'm all for the tag proposal. Nirvana . . . almost. At some time I've got to look around at the timing of this otherwise perfect proposal.

Gentlemen, the time ain't now.

This state is facing a (reported) $20 billion shortfall. If you believe the state won't use any and every opportunity to maintain and grow itself at the expense of its citizenry, get a med check. Now is not the time to feed the bear. Now is not the time to poke the bear. You are the bear's food source. Leave the bear alone or it will do as it has always done--sacrifice you.

If this tag proposal has merit today, it'll have merit several legislative sessions down the road. Wait until later to present it.

You do not have to buy a Texoma license. If you have an Oklahoma and Texas you do not need the Texoma or if you only fish on the side of the lake you have a license for.