I had begun thinking I was overdoing recommending readers check the Texas Parks and Wildlife鈥檚 鈥漁utdoor Annual鈥 for ventures afield or upon water for hunting or fishing. That鈥檚 Texas Parks and Wildlife鈥檚 (TPWD) free pamphlet of hunting and fishing regulations.
This column has recommended it often. I thought everybody knew by now to check it for the county or lake they would be hunting or fishing in. Means and methods of 鈥渢aking鈥 are also set out.
But on January 4, two guys were ticketed for a list of fishing violations that jolted me back to reality.
Multiple news services like the Houston Chronicle, KXAN-TV, and others carried the story. My own conversations with two Texas Game Wardens verified and added to the tale.
That Friday鈥攁 鈥渂lack Friday鈥 for the two anglers鈥攚as a sunlit day just before cold weather arrived. Paddle boarders and others were on Lady Bird Lake that winds through the central part of Austin. TPWD Game Warden Captain David Pellizzari, the head warden for the area from Belton to San Marcos, told me another Travis County warden received a call from a young man he knew about someone snorkeling and spearing black bass on Lady Bird Lake. Capt. Pellizzari went to assist.
Upon arrival, the Game Warden Captain saw the snorkeler in the water and his sidekick on the shore with a sack and a cooler full of freshly speared largemouth bass. Inspection revealed eighteen bass were in the cooler. The combined weight was over seventy-six pounds. The contents measured 350 inches.
It is illegal in Texas to spear game fish in fresh water鈥攁nd the possession limit on bass is five fish per angler per day. It鈥檚 also illegal to swim in Lady Bird Lake. Both boys were ticketed. Each illegal fish is usually considered a separate offense in determining fines.
Restitution is another matter. Size, species, and value are factors in assessing the amount of restitution required to replace illegally caught fish. Fourteen of the bass were longer than eighteen inches. Of those, nine were over twenty inches. One was said to be over twenty-four inches. At those lengths, if female, some of the eighteen bass could be readying to spawn this spring.
Female bass can spawn at one year of age, and most of these looked to be older. Bass are said to spawn when the water temperature reaches sixty degrees. I was unable to contact anyone who could say whether spawning probability could be considered in determining restitution value of these. If spawning is considered, restitution fees could be staggering. Even without it, they could be in the thousands.
Flagrant is a good word for pulling this caper with so many potential witnesses. Illegally dynamiting the fish might not have attracted much more attention. There are only two positive effects from this. One is that the confiscated fish were donated to feed the needy.
The other is that I鈥檒l keep referring readers to the 鈥淥utdoor Annual.鈥
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