Fishing guides fined for over-the-limit, undersized crappie
Posted: Sun Jun 09, 2019 7:36 pm
One of the most flagrant freshwater game fish poaching cases ever filed by Texas game wardens recently came to a close in a Jasper County court as three licensed Sam Rayburn fishing guides were ordered to pay $2,700 each in fines and court costs for their involvement in illegal fishing activity on the 114,000-acre reservoir east of Lufkin.
On May 7, state game wardens nabbed the guides and 12 clients with more than 200 crappie over the limit, including 40 fish shorter than the 10-inch minimum allowed by law. The guides were in the company of their out-of-state clients at a fishing camp in the vicinity of Tiger Creek when multiple citations were issued, according to Capt. Game Warden Heath Bragg. Bragg said game wardens discovered several large coolers at the camp containing 808 crappie — 208 fish over the legal two-day limit for 12 fishermen.
Bragg said the guide clients were not ticketed. Nor were the fishing guides cited for every illegal fish.
“We don’t file a charge for every single case,” Bragg said. “Yes, each fish over the limit is a separate violation but we have to draw the line somewhere on the number of cases we file. In this one we filed one case for every five fish. That’s the way we’ve always operated. It allows us to still do our job while still being fair.”
Full story: https://www.athensreview.com/sports/ray ... c5f59.html