I read the article yesterday. I like where it sounds like things are headed. They said the slot on the 3 lakes (Lewisville, Richland Chambers, and Waco) was done as experiment and test to see how things go. The slot was put into effect in September of 2009 and will run through 2016. It states they are already getting reports of more big fish caught out of these lakes.

TPWD is studing the results of these lakes before deciding on where to go from there. If you would like to read the article here it is .

If you would like to show your support for releasing big fish click here if you have not already done so.

Lets show our support to TPWD and spread the word.

I would love to see an assoc. Similar to DU or CCA for catfish . Thoughts ?

YES.

Michael Littlejohn for president .All in favor ? Seriously Salsa you have a vast knowledge of the sport & the general public has a perception of catfisherman as overall wearing illiterate rednecks & those days are over we really need someone who is respected by "the community " and is also knowledgeable about the sport from a conservation side but also as a business .Your efforts with the petition speaks for itself , please consider something like this

Id support it!

we need to take this to Fox 4

I agree we need an assoc. All in favor Michael Littlejohn as President? lol

I second that emotion.

I don't see how a person who calls themselves a sportsman could be against slot limits.

If you dont keep fish - you would support it because you want the fish to still be there the next time you go fishing.

If you DO keep fish - well, same arguement, keep the fishery healthy for others and for future generations.

If you keep fish and don't care about the animals OR anyone else - well I don't want to go to the wall of shame, but you shouldn't be hunting or fishing in my opinion.

Enviromentalism and hunting / fishing aren't mutually exclusive at all.

+1000!!

TEJASCATTER , this is exactly why we "NEED" an assoc with everyone's interest in mind . IMO there are alot of sportsmen who fight each other withoutunderstanding the others side. I am a die hard bowhunter but have no issue if others choose to hunt with a rifle , pistol sling shot etcetc as long as it is regulated and has no adverse effect on the future of the sport .That is why I think slots are great . Everyone gets to fish for what they enjoy fishing for .

I had to register on the site, ive always browsed but I had to register!

Everyone is so caught up on CPR...especially the GUIDES! HMMM..well maybe a slot limit on every lake would help the population..maybe not..let the biologist do their job and study these things. If we are going to propose Slot Limits then I would like to propose we BAN GUIDES!!! I did a search on Lake Tawakoni Catfish Guides and came up with nearly 25! Lets say every guide does two trips a week...and lets say they have two clients and bring in 50 fish. That would be 104 trips a year and about 5200 fish. Multiply that by 25 and you come up with 130,000 Fish taken from the lake! And I think those #'s are very conservative! Tawakoni was stocked with about 365k total catfish.... Fish that were stocked using tax payers $ OF COURSE every guide wants us to protect these large catfish.. Dont get me wrong im not against protecting large catfish! I practice CPR every time I fish....but stop bashing people that go out and catch a large fish for the Dinner Table and be a little more open minded about the situation.

TEJAS welcome to the forum as a registered user , we need everyones imput Thanks

There is a big balance here. When the state looks at this whole deal, they have to consider a lot of things. And, regardless...majority rules (most of the time.) Money talks. If the greatest concentration of catfishing in the state of Texas is comprised of folks that enjoy harvesting catfish, then the state will ensure that the efforts in conservation will protect that need.

With that said, the CPR group has arose and done a great job in a short amount of time of voicing to the state the need to facilitate regulations that protect blue catfish so they can grow to "trophy" size. Look at it this way. Hardly any effort has been put forth to producing large trophy blue catfish and many lakes in Texas have produced some brutes, including the world record. Imagine what would happen if anglers and the state actually worked together and tried to produce some real monsters? 130-150lbs isn't out of the question.

The challenge is for the state to regulate lakes so that they produce good numbers of eating catfish as well as regulate lakes so that they produce trophy sized fish.

The state knows that in the past, the majority of catfishermen are those who enjoy going to the lake and catching a mess to fry. What they STILL don't know is HOW MANY are out there who support and spend money and effort fishing for the trophy fish.

That is why the PETITION.

Fun Fun.

glad you registered.

welcome aboard.

Tejascatter Glad you registered and got on.

One misfact. The stockings are funded through fees collected from hunting and fishing licenses. Not tax dollars.