Holy Cow!!! Never thought to freeze the remains til trash day. My neighbors will love me for learning this...always something new.

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Gig 'Em, Aggie class of '94.

Ok so I called the Regional Office in Ft. Worth and was told that any game, fish or otherwise, can not be cleaned until it reaches it's final destination. Here is a link with the phone numbers for all of the Regional Offices so you can check in your area http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/fish/guide/wher2get.htm . It has been my experience that different regions do things differently so it would be wise to check. Now for me - I'm gonna keep cleaning them at the lake. Each to his own.

[This message has been edited by fishmanwink (edited 06-18-2003).]

Freezing remains is great unless your freezer goes out and you don't catch it for 3 days and then the trash bag breaks trying to remove it with a ten foot stick. I think I have lost all sense of smell. Can still dry heave though!!

I used to freeze the remains also but I kept forgetting to put them out on trash day. They kept stockpiling in the freezer till the boss lady would go ballistic. Then for some strange reason I'd remember the next week. Oh well I really like the cleaning at the lake idea. Some lakes have cleaning stations so one would think it is legal to do so.
Mike

Just a further bit of clarification on "final destination". The final destination is defined as the area where the fish depart from being on the water. You can clean fish at the marina, dock, or boat ramp but you cannot put them back into your boat and transport them on or across the water after they have been cleaned. Hope that helps........

The Geezer site is mostly about striper fishing on Texoma (along with some other fun stuff). Texoma is mostly in Oklahoma.

I spoke to a game warden in Oklahoma, and in Oklahoma you can clean fish in your boat. They said that if there is a reason, they can take samples of your fish to determine its age and to some point it's possible size. He also talked about a writing a citation for a guy that had a cooler full of undersized fish.

I was told (and this could be wrong) that in Texas if you plan on grilling the fish on your boat or on the bank that it was legal (the final destination....I guess).

That Frozen fish remains would be a good idea. I try to clean them at the lake. However, if I clean them at home I put the remains in several plastic bags with some bleach and tie it off. This worked well when trash pick-up was on a monday, but now that they switched it to Wednesday....I am going to consider another method of home cleaning.

I have put a call into Austin to get the final word. Hopefully I hear something soon.

All right I have spoken with Dianna Godfrey from TP&W in Austin. She states that the fish are to remain whole until you reach the main land. It is exceptable however to remove the entrails on the water, but the head and fins need to be left for identification purposes and length verification. She also told me that this is explained on page 37 of the Outdoor Annual - I don't have mine here so I can't check. If ya'll have other questions or want to talk with her about this or any other fishing topic she can be reached at 512-389-4444.

Happy Hookin'

Fishmanwink,
Thanks for the research. Page 37 of the Outdoor Annual states: It is unlawful to possess a finfish of any species, except Broadbill Swordfish, Shark or King MacMackerel taken from public water that has the head or tail removed until such person finally lands the catch on the mainland, a peninsula, or barrier island not including jetties or piers and does not transport the catch by boat.

Answers all questions, yes we can clean at the dock or ramp as long as we don't have to travel any further by boat. Again thanks
Mike

The reason Mike Stewart's answer is viable is because it is Texoma and there is no minimum length limit on a striper on Texoma. About the only thing they can get you for is having 21 fillets or more or 6 fillets pushing 16" or longer.

Hawke wrote>I usually wait to clean my fish when I get home tho. throw the left over refuse in a couple strong bags throw them in my garage freezer until trash pick up day.

Just wanted to say thanks Hawke you saved 12 Lbs. of fish today, I did follow that advice last sunday after fishing Hubbard and last night my deep freeze quit on me I went to get the remains to throw away and i'll be darned that thing was nearly defrosted. Had room enough in the in house freezer so I did not loose anything Thanks again Hawke

At the Colleyville meeting of TP&W earlier this spring to get public input on the upcoming changes that were purposed. The question of on the water cleaning was raised and answered in accordance to the response by the lady from the Austin office. This is so that a Warden can not only identify the species but measure it accurately for minimum length standards. California does the same thing as I found out on a Halibut trip in watching a mate clean only up to a certain point all the fish we kept, leaving the head on and filleting the backbone side but leaving the skin side atached to the meat until we reached the dock and then with one quick swipe finishing the fillets out. The mate started his cutting stroke from the tail and not the head so he could pickup the whole shebang by the head for measurement... and the boat was checked VERY thoroughly by some guy at the dock for undersized fish.
The other thing I found interesting at the Colleyville meeting was the comment from the one of the TP&W people about gutting a fish on the water should also include taking out the gills as they continue to circulate blood causing the meat to spoil faster and if the container the fish are kept in on the boat is not really cold enough by gilling and gutting the fish it helps in chilling the carcass quickly and preserves the quality of the meat longer as the meat is chilled before all the meaty portions are saturated with dying blood.
We used to do this in Colorado when I was a kid the few times we went camping up there but I never knew why and were told to keep the fish in a running stream and not a calm pond or lake.
I know the offshore guys believe in bleeding some species and apparantly have the blessing of TP&W as evidenced by the saltwater fish named in the Guide.
Right now I use the carcass's to bait my boathouse for catfish and shad. I also wonder if the carcass's could be ground up and used for chum like they do offshore? Anybody know where I can get a comm'l fish grinder cheap?
Ron

Whew!!......I'm trying to eat lunch here now and reading all of this I'm starting to feel qizzy myself............