the "Real fish kill of 2021" in progress

[panhandlehunter]

Originally Posted by Quackerbox

Been 5 for a few years now. Even longer where the freeze killed more fish



LOL. Wow

Innerwebs is cereal

I gottem all riled up.

[stickman]

Originally Posted by panhandlehunter

What does the Arsola broken back look like?

I’m looking for pic, I think proper name was the ED special.

[panhandlehunter]

Yep, that’s what I thought you were talking about. I believe Johnny’s sells them and I believe he has a Facebook page now you can buy them. When I had my tackle shop open we sold a bunch of them. You could also stop Douglas Realty in Bay City and pick them up. Eddie Douglas, coastal legend makes them.

[stickman]

Originally Posted by panhandlehunter

Yep, that’s what I thought you were talking about. I believe Johnny’s sells them and I believe he has a Facebook page now you can buy them. When I had my tackle shop open we sold a bunch of them. You could also stop Douglas Realty in Bay City and pick them up. Eddie Douglas, coastal legend makes them.

Thank you for the heads up. I guess I’ve been asking the wrong folks down here, they all look at me with a blank stare. You know where I could find those double trouble worms? I’ve been buying them at garage sales and out of old tackle boxes but only find a few every year.

[Big pig]

Increased fishing Pressure on the coast in my lifetime has been incredible.
I remember the good ole days of quiet wading on a secluded bay. I fished Copano one afternoon the week before the ‘83 freeze and slayed them.

When I was a kid, lots of people kept their largemouth bass after the marina brag photos. Catch and release sure helped those fisheries. There are tons of tournaments on the big lakes these days and bigger fish keep getting caught. And fisherman still enjoy their sport.

For the record, I seldom saltwater fish now. Guided trips once or twice a year And I much prefer lures to soaking croakers. Regardless of the success rate.

Carry on.

[panhandlehunter]

Originally Posted by stickman

Thank you for the heads up. I guess I’ve been asking the wrong folks down here, they all look at me with a blank stare. You know where I could find those double trouble worms? I’ve been buying them at garage sales and out of old tackle boxes but only find a few every year.

Can’t help you there but I will keep an eye out.

[DUKFVR]

Originally Posted by stickman

Thank you for the heads up. I guess I’ve been asking the wrong folks down here, they all look at me with a blank stare. You know where I could find those double trouble worms? I’ve been buying them at garage sales and out of old tackle boxes but only find a few every year.

I believe Johnny's has them on their website.

[Mayhem]

Originally Posted by stickman

I love those jointed Redfin baits. I’ve been trying to get ahold of the (Jesse) arsola special. I still buy quite a few baits from H&H tackle, lots of old school plastics that still work and are about 1/3 the price of all the fancier more hyped up plastics. If anyone has one of those arsola customized broken backs or any double trouble worms I’d gladly buy them from you.

I’ve had these a long time. Guess I should clean them up and use them again.




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[stickman]

Thank y’all for the help finding that ED special. Saw this while I was on that website. Pretty cool set, I’ll end up buying 1 to save and 1 set to use.

[Mexico]

This thread got me laughing good ... bruh said azz wipe ... ...

I really don't care what anyone else does, just don't shove your biased narrative down my throat...

What to keep fish per state regs? Kill em..

Arties? Go for it...

Croaks? Sling em... ( I slide by their big fish pics like a fat kid does a salad bar) anyway...

I've had 40 plus years on our coast. I've seen the fishing be absolutely fantastic to completely terrible several times over, over the years. And it will continue...









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[DUKFVR]

Originally Posted by stickman

Attachment 1042061
Thank y’all for the help finding that ED special. Saw this while I was on that website. Pretty cool set, I’ll end up buying 1 to save and 1 set to use.

Caught many a trout on that red and white wading off the tx city dike in the wintertime back in the day.

[TexasTK]

Been fishing the coast mostly Xmas Bay & San Luis area since early 70s. Caught & seen many trout over 30". I have mostly used Artificial but am not above using bait & would not call someone out for doing so. The fishery will rebound just like it has before.
Just get out & enjoy the resource & don't worry about how someone else fishes as long as its w/in the law.

[Smart]

Originally Posted by Mexico

just don't shove your biased narrative down my throat...

Just reading between the lines from the outside, I think that is what Huntindad was suggesting in his azzwipe post..

[ttaxidermy]

Originally Posted by Smart

Yup we used to use piggies, finger mullet or even pinfish in addition to shrimp back in those days depending on what we were after if we could find them. Dad was pretty handy with a big cast net and taught us the same. He had his places to go throw a net. But mostly it was shrimp and then lures. We threw our fair share of touts and gold spoons. I don’t think I threw a croaker until I was into my late 20s on a visit back home as I’d already graduated college and moved to DFW by then. Folks today would laugh at the saltwater plastics selection we had back then compared to today. I wish we had today’s selection back then as it would have been stupid easy ....we thought we had it good when the strawberry shrimptail and the chartreuse “worm” were the rage.

On edit.. I forgot about Bingos and mirrolures too. We got real fancy when the broken- back jerk baits came along. I think they were cotton-cordells and rapalas iirc. Been awhile.

Mirror Lures, Kelly Wigglers soft plastics(smoke with a pink tail), Bone Super Spooks and Johnson Sprite spoons or Hot Rod spoons were go to artificial baits.. I've caught some really big Flounder bouncing 3/4 ounce gold spoons off the bottom, up drop offs in channels and on sand bar edges..
Back in the day we would cast net the giant white shrimp and fill up our ice chest..

[Bumpy]

Originally Posted by Reelthreat

Lol, 90% on the guides I see at the cleaning table only have 3-4 reds, a couple drum and a trout or 2. Their clients leave with a smile even after getting azz raped for $700.

This is true and I speak from experience. Went with a guide and went down to Matagorda. Went to a bunch of spots with live shrimp and didn't catch anything. I did catch a croaker and put on a rod and oddly nothing ever took it.

[Mayhem]

Originally Posted by Bumpy

This is true and I speak from experience. Went with a guide and went down to Matagorda. Went to a bunch of spots with live shrimp and didn't catch anything. I did catch a croaker and put on a rod and oddly nothing ever took it.

What guide? Seriously thats extremely odd.


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[stickman]

Originally Posted by Bumpy

This is true and I speak from experience. Went with a guide and went down to Matagorda. Went to a bunch of spots with live shrimp and didn't catch anything. I did catch a croaker and put on a rod and oddly nothing ever took it.

Well, I don’t know that I would be smiling with $700 worth of tilapia fillets walking out of the grocery store(talk about azz rape). It’s much more than just stuffing the box full of fish. I’m a guide, and my have a trip booked with one of the best and a widely known name on the Texas coast. No, I don’t want his spots, I don’t want to keep fish, I want to learn from him. Tips, techniques, and whatever else I can pick up from him will be worth 10x what I pay for the trip. I’m not too familiar with azz raping anyone but I’ve never had a client leave without a smile whether the box was full or not. I know I’ve worked hard for them every time, put us in the best position to catch fish, and hopefully taught them a little something so they can have some confidence when not fishing with a guide.

[BuckTrail]

Originally Posted by Nelson

Two weeks before the freeze i witnessed something horrible in south bay. We where in the channel fishing and every cast was 16-19 inch reds. A guide boat came blasting in and power poled in about 30 yards away. We had 40 fish landed under limit without a keeper. The guide boat was full and they fished for 30 minutes loaded up and took off.

I understand making a living but these guys really don't care. Pack the cooler and make their next boat payment.

I follow the fishing reports from multiple guides and all off them are down playing the fish kill.. Business as usual i guess.

My brother which is a huge fly fisherman is not going to keep a fish for over a year.

Hopefully a overall sportsmanship approach to the sport picks up speed and our waters can recover.

Personally i would like to see TPW step in and institutes a zero limit on trout.

Guides are to blame, I have seen them do the same thing you just described. Folks save your $700 dollars and buy yourself equipment to target fish yourself. It is more satisfying

[Artos]

Fed GW says the freeze hit'm pretty bad down this way fwiw...

[lovetohunt]

Isn't this still the Land of the Free? Use what ever you want to catch your fish. Just don't try to tell me how I have to catch them.

[stickman]

Originally Posted by BuckTrail

Guides are to blame, I have seen them do the same thing you just described. Folks save your $700 dollars and buy yourself equipment to target fish yourself. It is more satisfying

Yes, makes sense now that you put it that way...
Spend $700 on gear they might use once a year, then spend a ton on bait, fuel, hotel stays just to hit the coast once or twice. The way I see it let’s say John Doe spends $1500 a year on his 2 trips a year with his own equipment ($700)and catches nothing or maybe just a few whiting, or whatever. Most folks I have taken aren’t local and don’t want to spend their money that way. Spend your money how you see fit, Fish how you want, with who you want, however often you want...just get kids or anyone interested involved and make sure they have reasonable expectations NOT ONLY in fishing but in life too. Even guides have slow days on the water but what people take away from the trip excluding fillets should be worth the cost of admission. If I could afford to take trips for less I would, and I’ve donated plenty of trips. Facts are, boats, maintenance, and living expenses dictate the cost of a guided trip. There are a few making great money but most can tell you it’s not a glorious lifestyle, just a choice to do what we love and get paid for it while sharing the outdoors with folks that may not have a chance to get out very often.

[MadHatter]

Originally Posted by lovetohunt

Isn't this still the Land of the Free? Use what ever you want to catch your fish. Just don't try to tell me how I have to catch them.

Whatever bro .
You're told exactly how to catch em .
Otherwise, I would be dusting off the crank telephone, and getting dad to order me some more det cord and dynamite.
Ya'll just think you know how to catch fish.
They been stifling me since the 80's .
Any one remember ole Benji Waters the GW up in NE Texas?
Back before time began, a friend of my dad's put ole Benji and his boat about 15ft above the Sulphur River.
It had been a long day of "fishing" and when he came around the bend everyone took off.
Well call him Bubba, but anyway Bubba started dropping sticks as fast as he could light em.
Bubba got one of em timed right 😂😂😂😂.
RIP buddy, you were literal hell on wheels in your day.

[GarGuy]

Originally Posted by ttaxidermy

Mirror Lures, Kelly Wigglers soft plastics(smoke with a pink tail), Bone Super Spooks and Johnson Sprite spoons or Hot Rod spoons were go to artificial baits.. I've caught some really big Flounder bouncing 3/4 ounce gold spoons off the bottom, up drop offs in channels and on sand bar edges..
Back in the day we would cast net the giant white shrimp and fill up our ice chest..

You can hang a fresh shrimp off the back of those and catch fish with em!

[trophy8]

Hot **** folks take fishing too serious

[stickman]

Originally Posted by trophy8

Hot **** folks take fishing too serious

Yes, but it’s some people’s livelihoods. So... I’d say that can be taken serious. Comparable to the oilfield workers thread just in a much smaller scale. How the fishery is managed/mismanaged by the government and utilized by Texans affects us.

[trophy8]

Originally Posted by stickman

Yes, but it’s some people’s livelihoods. So... I’d say that can be taken serious. Comparable to the oilfield workers thread just in a much smaller scale. How the fishery is managed/mismanaged by the government and utilized by Texans affects us.

No I totally get that 100% and agree 100%. My comment was more about what bait a fella chooses to throw lol. Big difference in management and talking **** about bait

[stickman]

Originally Posted by trophy8

No I totally get that 100% and agree 100%. My comment was more about what bait a fella chooses to throw lol. Big difference in management and talking **** about bait

Lmao, Very true.

[ttaxidermy]

Originally Posted by Bumpy

This is true and I speak from experience. Went with a guide and went down to Matagorda. Went to a bunch of spots with live shrimp and didn't catch anything. I did catch a croaker and put on a rod and oddly nothing ever took it.

Dang did you take Bananas on the boat or what?? You should have accidentally caught something..

[jason86]

Originally Posted by panhandlehunter

I have a different take on something than you do, and poke a little fun at the same time(the folks on here who know me know I’m trolling when I do that) and people like you take the bait and reveal what a Karen you are. Anyway, sorry to hurt your wittle feelings.

Women drink white claws men drink beer

[AtTheWall]

1991 - 32"

The rod and reel, my old Fenwick fiberglass custom with an ABU XLT Sychro drag reel/ 8 lb clear Ande mono - The Mirrolure responsible dangling from it's lip M52R classic - Corpus Christi Ship Channel night time - air temp 24 degrees, fishing deep structure 15 - 25 ft deep - bit around 0200

Caught and released about a dozen, all over 26" that night

Day before the front hit, 75 degrees the day before

I timed the front at a spot, that holds big fish and worked it from sun down to around 11 am the following morning. Bit the entire time, catch and release over and over and over

They logged up at 12 - 20 ft along the channel edge

I have three specks over 30" - two on M52R Mirrolures and the third on a Johnson Sprite Gold Spoon 3/4 oz weedless wading at sunup Upper Laguna. That spoon speck was chasing a foot long mullet, which was leaping in circles with this trout boiling up - dropped the spoon in the sweet spot and it was on. I thought it was gonna be my first redfish of the day........weighed 8.7 lbs and went 31.2"

The other 30" speck, hit a Mirrolure M52R - Lure looked like a baby speckled trout painted with spots. Fishing a deep hole next to a rock jetty near NAS Corpus - Laguna side. Specks were feeding on chicken specks (baby specks) in the lights - so tied on the spots and it was yet another redfish like experience till I got her close and realized she had a lotta spots.

My three over 30 all 1990s Corpus and Upper Laguna Madre

I used to wade the power plant discharge on Navigation BLVD at night, freezing cold front conditions - lure of choice - chrome/black rattletrap. Those big Nueces Bay girls would hang on the edge of the farthest edges of warm water outflow, well away from the shoreline where folks used to line up shoulder to shoulder and soak live fingerling mullet in the 71 degree water spillway

No one waded out at night - in air temps in the 20s

I had some cold nights, my smallest speck was around 23"

They would smash the mullet and I would cast right at the boils with my trap. Killed it to points, I had to hide my technique. Told a Gamewarden who checked me one morning - he watched me till I came out. Biggest stringer he's ever checked according to him.

Back then, I killed a few to feed a wife and 4 kids. I only kept what we could eat fresh - never froze fish and released tons

[AtTheWall]

Better equipment, better electronics, skinny water boats that put people in places folks rarely went to 2 to 4 decades ago.

Back when I started fishing the Gulf & her bays, aluminum jon boats were the flats boat of choice. They were the only flats boat of choice because SKOOTERS and FLATS BOATS had yet to be invented. Including the coveted HEWES BONEFISHER - the first real FLATS BOAT.

I fished South Florida inshore in the 80s out of an 18ft square stern canoe with a 3 hp merc for power. Then - it was Hewes like hulls.....then the skooters hit. Loud, obnoxious 2 strokes with no jack plate, just a tunnel and flat barge like hull. Ugly - loud and then I realized if that style flats boat was our future - our future on a quiet flat that only had drifting boats pursuing fish....now these skooters - in the hands of rookies who now have access to flats - blew fish off key zones as they ran the **** outta of them everywhere and bitched, they couldn't find any pattern

The tackle, electronics, boats and now public access - up and down the coast is up - way up from those old days.

Get used to it........sure glad I got to live and learn from some of the legends back then. I caught the last legs of those good old days.

Hell - still remember specks and redfish - lining the seafood departments in Texas grocery stores = all caught by Texas commercial inshore anglers - the years before these species were classified GAMEFISH. Netting redfish and specks by the millions for the supermarket.

The years before any conservation groups formed as they are now. The only forming committee we recognized was the IGFA and commercial fishing for specks and redfish was part of our coastal community.

The best big speckled trout live bait is simple - A LIVE BABY SPECK. According to the old timers around Galveston I fished with back in the 60s and 70s

Even with the commercial pressures then, plenty of big specks were around....because, the public by the thousands - on boats that literally can go anywhere at speed skinny....LOTTA PRESSURE on fish today because a lot of the quiet habitat is now chewed up by airboats, skinny water boats that can run less than a foot hauling *** over the flat at speed. All day long, everyday of the week now. The water itself - these flats - have no down time.

Then the coastal development, along the areas where we have the most concentration of public boat launch access. Bulkheads and water diversions from our major rivers etc. The habitat is shrinking away, leaps and bounds I might add. Our influx of fresh water, in many of our reaches along the South Texas coastline are now literally starved of freshwater outflow - so critical for shell fish, tarpon and snook down there. It also impacts specks - it's plain and simply. They need that brackish mix in full swing and it's been slowly cut back through urbanization and water demands with growing coastal communities etc etc etc

I cast lures - always have. I will bait fish if I'm with a group that's engaged with boxing fish that way. I typically classify the bait trips a grocery run since you can score a lot of different species outside of our big three. Mangrove snapper, sheepshead, small barely legal black drum = GROCERY SHOPPING

Hell some of us cast topwater lures at 100 lb tuna too

[panhandlehunter]

Originally Posted by jason86

Women drink white claws men drink beer

I get made fun of plenty about my white claws, but we talking fishing right now.

You can tell it’s a slow day at work. Lol

[jason86]

Originally Posted by panhandlehunter

I get made fun of plenty about my white claws, but we talking fishing right now.

You can tell it’s a slow day at work. Lol

Ain’t nothing like the feeling when that croaker is getting nervous on the end of the line, soak em if you got em 😬.

[Smart]

Originally Posted by jason86

Women drink white claws men drink beer

Originally Posted by panhandlehunter

I get made fun of plenty about my white claws, but we talking fishing right now.

You can tell it’s a slow day at work. Lol

Oh hell ....we got some ammo now..

[rut-ro]

Originally Posted by db@100

Some people go fishing 10 - 15 times a year and keep 2-3 fish each time. If go to La. once and keep 10 trout, what is the difference?

Who keeps 10 in Louisiana? I keep 25 that’s the limit. They are all about 14 inches but I’m keeping them

[glen]

You called someone a child for throwing bait- Fair enough- But at least they aint a sorority beoch drinking a White Claw

[Mayhem]

Originally Posted by glen

You called someone a child for throwing bait- Fair enough- But at least they aint a sorority beoch drinking a White Claw

The man is trying to watch his figure.


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[panhandlehunter]

Originally Posted by glen

You called someone a child for throwing bait- Fair enough- But at least they aint a sorority beoch drinking a White Claw

Sorority beoch I am. Love me some Claws.

[rvd]

Originally Posted by glen

You called someone a child for throwing bait- Fair enough- But at least they aint a sorority beoch drinking a White Claw

Lol! At least he’s open about it and doesn’t try to hide them in a koozee like a few metros I’ve seen in little bay

[Tommyh]

Originally Posted by panhandlehunter

Sorority beoch I am. Love me some Claws.

Mango is so good ice cold. Just wish they had IPA level slcohol 🤣🤣

[skeeterboud]

well, my rant kind of got kind of skewed off target.. in all seriousness, why can't we have a trophy fishery, resembling what we had in the 90's? millions of us have 150$k rigs we pull up to the ramp with, so we dang sure aren't starving... i understand those who don't live on the coast don't care about a trophy fishery, they just want to get a lot of tugs/have a good time/ and take some fillets home.. and that's great. but we who live here, those that fish here often, and especially those who profit from our speckled trout fishery should be proud to strive towards a texas sized trophy trout fishery.. just like the guys on l fork/amistad etc are towards their bass.

[Tommyh]

How do you propose to keep fish in bays to make it cpr? Isnt the 5 trout limit supposed to be the answer to the trophy conundrum?

[skeeterboud]

Originally Posted by Tommyh

How do you propose to keep fish in bays to make it cpr? Isnt the 5 trout limit supposed to be the answer to the trophy conundrum?

idk. but after the longest stretch in modern times w/out a major fish freeze, you would think we would have had some bigger trout. but i do know what happened to p mans/baffin and emb when all the guides started using croaker.. whether people admit it or not, they put a hurtin on anything over 22".. somehow, with all the pressure/development on tx lakes, they still turn out water body records. when was the last time a bay specific trout record was broken? and count me among the many that give no credibility to bud rowland's trt, the only dang fish txpwd certified without seeing it... but that is a subject for another day..

[panhandlehunter]

Originally Posted by skeeterboud

well, my rant kind of got kind of skewed off target.. in all seriousness, why can't we have a trophy fishery, resembling what we had in the 90's? millions of us have 150$k rigs we pull up to the ramp with, so we dang sure aren't starving... i understand those who don't live on the coast don't care about a trophy fishery, they just want to get a lot of tugs/have a good time/ and take some fillets home.. and that's great. but we who live here, those that fish here often, and especially those who profit from our speckled trout fishery should be proud to strive towards a texas sized trophy trout fishery.. just like the guys on l fork/amistad etc are towards their bass.

Bass and trout are two different fish so it’s not apples to apples to begin with. Factor in the amount of people who come to the coast for vacation etc. who do you think all those guides are taking fishing? It ain’t many locals. The family from Dallas wants to come down and get their limit, because it’s a once a year trip, but I’d bet dollars to donuts that the “once a year guys” outnumber the locals fishing. Everybody is entitled their their slice of an ever shrinking pie, and it won’t change. You can throw back all the trout you want, 50% are going to die anyway. They’re not hardy fish.

[JES]

I was looking at water body records the other day and a good majority of them are from the mid-90’s....post 89 freezes and pre-croaker craze.

[Mexico]

Originally Posted by skeeterboud

well, my rant kind of got kind of skewed off target.. in all seriousness, why can't we have a trophy fishery, resembling what we had in the 90's? millions of us have 150$k rigs we pull up to the ramp with, so we dang sure aren't starving... i understand those who don't live on the coast don't care about a trophy fishery, they just want to get a lot of tugs/have a good time/ and take some fillets home.. and that's great. but we who live here, those that fish here often, and especially those who profit from our speckled trout fishery should be proud to strive towards a texas sized trophy trout fishery.. just like the guys on l fork/amistad etc are towards their bass.

Some people like to chase trophy deer, others like to go out and just have a good time at their lease and bring home a little meat with the kiddos.... same scenario here. Stop trying to conform everyone to your style of thinking.

You guys want to chase them, go for it but leave the guys out there trying to catch a few for their fryer alone. Or the guys out there with the kiddos soaking shrimp.... I can hear it now..... sorry little Johnny you can't keep thar 21" trout because some jack wagons think they're entitled more than you.

Tons of coastal guys could care less about trophy trout. Me included. If I catch a trout over 25 it's an accident as I'm usually in the shallows stalking reds.

5 fish is already at extremely conservative levels with 1 trophy a day. Nothing needs to be done... zero.

[skeeterboud]

Originally Posted by panhandlehunter

Bass and trout are two different fish so it’s not apples to apples to begin with. Factor in the amount of people who come to the coast for vacation etc. who do you think all those guides are taking fishing? It ain’t many locals. The family from Dallas wants to come down and get their limit, because it’s a once a year trip, but I’d bet dollars to donuts that the “once a year guys” outnumber the locals fishing. Everybody is entitled their their slice of an ever shrinking pie, and it won’t change. You can throw back all the trout you want, 50% are going to die anyway. They’re not hardy fish.

^^^ you are surely correct on who hires all these guides...but...trout are surprisingly resilient during the cooler months, as several studies/and post tournament holding tanks can attest.. but, you stand correct, in the summer w/88F + water, if they are not brought to hand very fast, many parish....

and as far as texas' shrinking pie, i believe we will have a lot more battles over a shrinking resource.... but there is still no reason why we can't have a big trout fishery.. cca can tag some trout over 25", and that will prompt some to release an un-tagged over trout.. ( i personally think this will save thousands of croaker soaker trout every summer)

some tournaments have capped the size of trout to 25"(yeah, i know, crazy to fish for smaller fish for a trnmt, but they are at least trying)

i don't care what anyone says, you can just as easily fillet a couple 17" trout for supper instead of a big one.. if you feel the need to fillet every trophy trout you catch w/in the law, than you're just selfish.. no way you'll change my mind on that... and if you say 'txpwd' says i can keep one 25+ a day, well....i'll hold my tongue.. i know WAY too many landowners to have said that, but will they let all their family come onto their land and 'tag out' on deer, b/c txpwd says you can kill 5 deer per person?? hypocrites....

(don't forget, txpwd and govt agencies failed the redfish in the 80's, and reacted a little slow on the trout limits.. the flounder, totally failed by govt)

[glen]

They should make it first 5 fish. Trout dont do well once handled. You may feel good releasing them but facts are about 50/50 survival unless it has dramatically increased in last 5 years when i read that. Redfish do well when released

[Mexico]

Originally Posted by skeeterboud

^^^ you are surely correct on who hires all these guides...but...trout are surprisingly resilient during the cooler months, as several studies/and post tournament holding tanks can attest.. but, you stand correct, in the summer w/88F + water, if they are not brought to hand very fast, many parish....

and as far as texas' shrinking pie, i believe we will have a lot more battles over a shrinking resource.... but there is still no reason why we can't have a big trout fishery.. cca can tag some trout over 25", and that will prompt some to release an un-tagged over trout.. ( i personally think this will save thousands of croaker soaker trout every summer)

some tournaments have capped the size of trout to 25"(yeah, i know, crazy to fish for smaller fish for a trnmt, but they are at least trying)

i don't care what anyone says, you can just as easily fillet a couple 17" trout for supper instead of a big one.. if you feel the need to fillet every trophy trout you catch w/in the law, than you're just selfish.. no way you'll change my mind on that... and if you say 'txpwd' says i can keep one 25+ a day, well....i'll hold my tongue.. i know WAY too many landowners to have said that, but will they let all their family come onto their land and 'tag out' on deer, b/c txpwd says you can kill 5 deer per person?? hypocrites....

(don't forget, txpwd and govt agencies failed the redfish in the 80's, and reacted a little slow on the trout limits.. the flounder, totally failed by govt)

You've completely missed the point. I haven't killed a trout over 24 inches in probably 10 years plus. It's a rule on my boat that if one's caught ( trophy) she swims off.

But that's MY rule not the states. Why? Cause I don't need the state how to tell me to conserve our resources. And definitely don't need the state to start up with more regulations they'll never give back.

If a man wants to gut a 27 inch trout go for it. It's your " holier than tho " attitude that let's what another man is doing legally bother you. And that's on you cuz.

[panhandlehunter]

Originally Posted by skeeterboud

^^^ you are surely correct on who hires all these guides...but...trout are surprisingly resilient during the cooler months, as several studies/and post tournament holding tanks can attest.. but, you stand correct, in the summer w/88F + water, if they are not brought to hand very fast, many parish....

and as far as texas' shrinking pie, i believe we will have a lot more battles over a shrinking resource.... but there is still no reason why we can't have a big trout fishery.. cca can tag some trout over 25", and that will prompt some to release an un-tagged over trout.. ( i personally think this will save thousands of croaker soaker trout every summer)

some tournaments have capped the size of trout to 25"(yeah, i know, crazy to fish for smaller fish for a trnmt, but they are at least trying)

i don't care what anyone says, you can just as easily fillet a couple 17" trout for supper instead of a big one.. if you feel the need to fillet every trophy trout you catch w/in the law, than you're just selfish.. no way you'll change my mind on that... and if you say 'txpwd' says i can keep one 25+ a day, well....i'll hold my tongue.. i know WAY too many landowners to have said that, but will they let all their family come onto their land and 'tag out' on deer, b/c txpwd says you can kill 5 deer per person?? hypocrites....

(don't forget, txpwd and govt agencies failed the redfish in the 80's, and reacted a little slow on the trout limits.. the flounder, totally failed by govt)

I know folks will take this the wrong way but If you want to save big fish, ban croaker, plain and simple. More big fish die at the hands of croaker guys than every other way combined. There are guides who popped up out of nowhere and all they do is chunk croaker. There was a guy that posted up on here last year asking for tips because his guide canceled because he couldn’t get bait. If a “guide” has to cancel a trip because he couldn’t get bait, he ain’t a guide. I saw run n gun had posted they have caught I dont know how many thousand fish over 25” the last couple years, and without croaker, they probably wouldn’t break a couple hundred, and that’s one outfit on one small bay. I don’t have a thing against guides, or fishing with croaker, it is legal and people can do whatever they want. That’s their right and I won’t tell them not to do it, but if I was calling the shots, that’s what I would do.