Any Fayette Co guys on here??

I have been fishing Fayette for quite a few years, although rarely on a weekend... Well last Sat eve me and my son went out and I was wondering if any one else has seen the tons of Mexicans all over the lake throwing giant cast nets?? There throwing them from boats, throwing them from the bank, wading the edges of the few reeds that are left all throwing casts nets. My nephew had told me about this a while back, he claimed that he seen some at the ramp fileting quite a few bass and most were over slot (you can keep 5 14" or under) I told him he shoulda called the warden, but I really didn't believe him. Now I didn't get close enough to see if they were netting bass myself. Just curious as if anyone else has seen this practice?? Guess im going to have to look a little closer if I go back on a weekend and have GW on speed dial.

Unecessary post since you didn't see it yourself. Look closer and if they are catching bass call the GW.

I've seen it a bunch. They are catching Tilapia in the cast nets. They wade the shoreline, one guy with the cast net and another with a cooler. They throw the Tilapia in the cooler and keep on trucking. I have only seen them do it late in the spring and early summer when the Tilapia are up shallow.

10-4 wasn't trying to start anything, just curious if any of the weekend regulars have seen this. And you can bet I will pay close attention and call GW if need be...

Fished Fayette on 2/1/14 and there was a guy in a big flat bottom boat anchored in the outlet using a cast net and every other cast, he would catch 5-8 tilapia in each cast. I finally trolled by him and so that the bottom of his boat was covered with tilapia and they were huge. I am talking the size of a big dinner plate. Later I saw him at his truck at the ramp and he had a deep freeze in the back of his pickup and was load it up. Then go back out and do it again.

When they are that big, the only predators in the lake for them are the gar, and I don't see to many of them. maybe a few predator birds but dang you need to be an Eagle to fly away with one of them that size.

With as many as that one guy was taking, that just proves to me that they were over populated and needed to be culled.

I never saw the guy catch anything but tilapia and I saw him in several places be he mostly stayed anchored in one area in the outlet.

That guy and 2-3 other guys are out there who do this on a weekly basis. I always drive by them and make sure they don't have any bass on hand but catching Tilapia from a cast net is not illegal. There are TONS of tilapia in that lake and during the winter months the Tilapia are schooled up in the discharge. There are several wardens who are out on a routine basis and they know about these guys and always check them.

These are relatively older posts. The cast netters are all over the place now. A few walked right between our boat and the bank where we were casting for BASS---sportfishing and then got an attitude with us for waving them off. They may have been castnetting for talapia but they were keeping bass they put on a separate stringer from where they were keeping the trash fish.

I was on hold for 15 minutes with the game wardens office and finally gave up. I reported it to the people who manage the park; but the game warden didn't show up until the next day. The same 'undocumented gentlemen' we watched bagging the bass were on the banks watching their amigos getting checked for ID's, boat registrations, and fishing licenses (of which they had none) and disappeared back into the crowd in the picnic area until the warded left--then back to it with the nets.

The multiple groups of these guys walk up and down the banks in front the RV and camping spaces, which cost more than the day use fee, and screw up any sportfishing we could do from the bank. There's even a boat that goes around picking them up to drop off at the cleaning area and bring out another group. They all meet back at the bank at the edge of the picnic and area where the families swim and clean their mixed bag. I noticed some of the fish were being cleaned under water where they couldn't be seen, while the tilapia was processed out in the open. Even it's it's legal it's unsporting, inconsiderate and pretty much ruining the whole fishing experience at the lake. It looks more like a commercial operation--what are they gonna do with all that tilapia...their families can't be that big!!

Probably is commercial if you can call it that. All kinds of tilapia for sale on Facebook... Fresh, frozen, on ice, dried, whole friend tilapia plates, etc. for crumbs. Some impoverished [censored] going on out there for sure.