Fayette cast netters

I now this topic has come up numerous times, but i have to rant anyway. I stayed in the rv camp area for three day fishing trip Sunday through Tuesday sunday i watched what i would call the Coyote boat carrying 11 people in the boat and one other being towed on a paddle board with no jacket they were headed around the corner towards three fingers . I was sitting in my lawn chair lake front watching the coyote boat when 6 more came busting through the reeds to my left. They walked in front of me i shook my head they never said anything just kept throwing the nets. Just before dark here comes a pontoon boat with so many cast netters you couldn't count all of them you couldn't even see the pontoons of the boat it was sitting that low in the water. All this was in one day ' Sunday,' Monday and Tuesday were no different they hit this lake everyday sunup to when the park closes.The reeds around the lake are pitiful looking always liked flipping the reeds but all the foot traffic tropping them down i never got a bite. Well nothing ever going to change until all of the Talopia are gone. Then they will find another lake to trash out. wish i had an old crank telephone ride the lightning

Why isn't the Game Warden doing anything about this or the Water Patrol?

Because they don't care. What are they going to do, ticket abunch of illegals who won't ever show up or pay the Fìnes? It's not worth their time.

Complicated subject. Cast netting is legal. I suspect most of those fish wind up being sold for taco's, so technically they should have commercial licenses. I'm sure they don't. Also, they are supposed to be gutting or beheading every fish before they leave the lake, they are not. Too many adult tilapia probably isn't a good thing in the lake, they will raid bass nests in the spring. Of course all the beds getting beat to death from the cast netters isn't helpful either. I will say I've fished that lake probably 150 times, I've seen wardens out there maybe 10 times, and all those times have been in the last 30 trips. They are increasing their presence and are trying.

We should have a bow fishing competition and wipe out the talapia. Most fish win! Id throw 100 bucks at that pot just to piss off the cast netters. Screw em

This could easily be stopped if the LCRA would listen to its true supporters and STOP all cast netting on their lakes. What do they have to lose? These people come in, destroy things and move one.

The only way to truly get rid of them is to not allow them in the park, but how do you do that legally. Right now they come in right before closing time, wait for the attendant to leave and then go out in their boat. With the new gate rules, technically any vehicle left in the parking lot after closing time is subject to be towed. So if they want to get them out, they need to start enforcing their own rules. When I see them, I start taking pictures of them, their boat, their trucks, everything and send them to the local Game Warden. All you can do is call it in every time you see it happening.

Like Jpurdue said, this is more complicated than you think but also there sounds to be a reasonable solution which I don't understand hasn't gone in effect yet.

The tilapia are/have completely taking over the lake, like rabbits!

This is a screen shot from a popular pocket on Fayette, all those fish are tilapia.


The cast netters, weather you like it or not, are helping to control this population. Now, in saying this, we all have a pretty good idea of when the bass spawn so from Nov-April shut down the cast netting so the bass can move shallow and spawn and then open it back up for cast netting to keep a gasp on the tilapia population.

In the summer time on Fayette I rarely fish shallow so they don't bother me out in the middle of the lake where they can't walk.

Real question, how can you tell these are tilapia?...Thanks

Markson,

Just enough time spent there plus some are shallow enough that you can actually see them swimming around while you’re fishing. They appear white when you see them.

A big problem with the cast netters is that they keep every fish that they catch, including the bass. Spoke with a warden at Fairfield a while back and he said that they had written so many tickets on Fairfield when the power plant was open that it had become the number one offense lake in Texas. He told me that 99.9% of the people whom were issued citations never showed up to pay their fines. But now that the power plant is gone, the park is a lot nicer and quieter and the restroom and camping areas are not all trashed out. The fishing is tough, especially from the bank but I still enjoy the camping.

Makes me miss the days of Squaw Creek.

I’ve been fishing that lake for about 10 years. I go a couple of times a year and spend 2-4 days each trip. I don’t think I’ve had a trip where I didn’t see a game warden. I’ve been stopped a 1/2 dozen times without an incident. But I’ve never seen them approach the bank beaters and cast net crew. I think they would rather give me a ticket for an expired fire extinguisher or not having a throw cushion (because Inwill pay the fine) rather than protect the fishery. Disappointing really.

Like I said they aren't going to waste time ticketing someone who won't pay it anyhow. They know this.

I guess you could say they are saving the taxpayers money by not writing all those tickets since it cost quite a bit to print those ticket books.

its like a lot of law enforcement now they are told not to write tickets that could make it a hardship because they are barely getting it by on the other hand if you have a nice truck or boat you will get a ticket an have to pay it because you have nice things. watch lone star law program on tv its about texas game wardens it will amaze you how stupid some of the general public is.

If it is agreed that they need to be thinned out (which TPWD seems to acknowledge), then, when the the fish are stacked up like the pic above and/or monthly, run a "shock survey," keep the tilapia and sell them to those guys at the ramp for a nominal amount (e.g., $2 per fish) and they can re-sell like they already do now (without trashing the lake), then put that money back into TPWD and the fishery.