Im not sure how this thread turned into a stealing jugs/theft type of topic. I dont belive anyone was saying they specifically look for jugs to take fish off them or steal the entire jug. All we were proposing was cleaning the lake up from old jugs and abandonded trotlines. When I say abandonded I mean OLD. I personally would not pick up a line even if it was tagged properly and it was a little out of date. You can tell when a line has been left unattended for a LONG time (several months or years). Those are the ones that need to be removed. I love salsas proposal to have a lake cleanup day. Get TPWD involved and im sure they would be willing to provide some advise on what to remove vs what to leave. It would be great if they even take charge of the event and have game wardens on hand to assure that people are only removing lines that should be removed.

Bottom line is set liners should keep their lines marked legal and remove them when you are done. Encourage other trot/jug liners to do the same. We work hard to spread the word about releasing the big fish. We can do the same to encourage others to be more responsible set line fisherman. Working together like this can help our lakes produce more fish, bigger fish, and more big fish, while also keep the lakes safer and more hazard free for fisherman and boaters.

Best way to stop theives is dont take your eyes off um this is 2013 there are theives out there. ..........I WOULD BE WILLIN TO BET MOST OF THESE (STOLEN)JUGS HAVE BEEN PULLED UNDER BY BIG FISH THEN HUNG UP NEVER TO BE SEEN AGAIN. If ya care so much bout your stuff keep a eye on it.Just how many of ya leave all your tackle in your boat on the street all nite same reason not to leave gear in lake unattended.The days of respecting other peoples stuff is long gone sorry to say.

Well said, I belive the #1 way jugs get lost are when a big fish pull the jug under and get wrapped up where the jug cannot resurface agian to be found. The second is by being towed far to another area of the lake. Stay in the area and keep an eye on your jugs and this will fix most, if not all of these problems.

Some people want someone to blame for their OWN IRRESPONSABILTY. Then get on here to bi--h about someone stealin their stuff when it wasnt stolen at all.Pretty simple if ya didnt see somebody take your stuff or catch um with it it wasnt stolen, just misplaced

Hey salsa, let me know when the cleanup is scheduled...

How do you know it's unmarked with out picking it out of the water? The tag could be on the line just below the jug. What you are doing is running someone's line. Where do you chunk it? Back into the water or in the trash can?

ChuChu1: Sir I was not looking for something to whine about and was simply posing a question about who really takes/steals/runs juglines/trotlines. I agree with you up to a point, but you sound like your saying that any jug or trot line in a lake should be left there no matter how long unless a GW discovers it. That would cause more problems than it would solve. I'm not trying to trade insults or get into heated discussions, I am simply putting my opinion out there.

i have noticed that most of the people on here griping about jugs being stolen are in south and central Texas, it seems to me. in the metro area where the majority of us are, here on the forum,you are looking at a whole lot more people frequenting the lakes. alot of weekenders will set lines and jugs for a day or two and then get too busy to pick them up or their inexperience leads to lost jugs. i see people on here talking about using one ounce weights to anchor their gear. heck a decent fish will pull a brick weight a long ways!
i dont believe most of us here would mess with anybodys gear unless it absolutely looked abandoned. just my two cents.

Tom your right. Back when I focused on jug lines I used 10lbs of weigh and at least a 2 1/2 gallon jug. Never lost one and I fished thick in trees. In deep water. There is realy no reason to lose one.

Read this chuchu. Jug/Trot Line fishermen probably catch more fish in one day than a rod and reel fisherman does in a week, that's the REWARD of the RISK you take leaving your gear unattended. If you leave your gear unattended for 24 hours and come back to a limit of fish, but lost 1 jug, that's the RISK/REWARD factor. You need to decide if the RISK is worth the REWARD. Thieves, accidents (a boater running at night and hits/snags a jug) and a strong fish swimming with your jug and you can't find it, etc...You and a couple of other guys on here basically called me a thief for removing someone else's jug that was unmarked, unnamed, unidentified, unknown, unsafe, unattended, etc....Look at my earlier posts on this thread. If you can't comprehend the reasoning behind what I did, then there is probably no hope for you. My 13 year old son understood it. And be careful if/what you respond about him.

I think what happens a lot of times is lines are baited and jugs are set out and the wind gets up for 2 or 3 days and they are unable to run their lines.

Then fish die.

Just another reason for when ya get off lake take gear with ya

I found one last year that was close to a dead tree in the water. I did pick it up and checked it. It had a pretty big catfish that had been dead for a while on it. It didn't have any info on it like it should of been, so I removed it and put it in the dumpster when I got back.

Learn the law. If you pick up someone's property, you are a thief.

Why did you pick it up? You were running someone's line.