Under the new rules, which will come into effect on February 1, 2020, fishermen using trotting ropes or similar passive fishing gear will have to check the equipment every six days instead of the current 10 days. tpwd.texas.gov/regulations/outdoor-annual/fishing/general-rules-regulations/legal-devices-for-fish/#trotline Someone left a drop line with an orange float less than 2 feet from the side of my dock. The address is not legible. My kids and I swim around our dock almost every day. I don`t want my children to become addicted. Is it legal to put a line so close to someone`s platform? It`s pretty shallow water. You will also be dropped off at all my neighbors` docks within 2 to 4 feet. “The current rules do not require fishing gear to be removed from the water when the date period indicated on the fishing gear marks needs to be updated. Reducing the number of days from 10 to six won`t change that, but it does require the fisherman to check the equipment and conserve or release any caught resources,” said Jarret Barker, TPWD`s Deputy Fisheries Enforcement Commander. Gear may remain in the water while fishing gear is updated. If there are still too many lines in Texas waters where fish have been caught to die Fishermen can also use their 12-digit customer number from their fishing license instead of their address for identification purposes on fishing gear. TPWD officials wanted to shorten the time between passive inspections of equipment, as the ministry`s scientific research has shown that fish deaths can increase after four days.
The requirement that Elritz traps, casting lines and trotting cords be equipped with floats to distinguish active fishing gear from abandoned fishing gear and waste was also approved. All swimmers used on pickxes, mene traps, throwing lines and trotting lines must be at least 6 inches long and at least 3 inches wide. For these four types of equipment, recreational swimmers can be of any colour other than orange, while commercial fishing licence holders must use orange swimmers. After a public comment period, the Texas Parks and Wildlife Commission approved changes to the trotting rules at its November meeting. The requirement to check the transmission plate and associated chassis more frequently is likely to reduce unintentional mortality. THE REASON WHY CATFISH DIES IS BECAUSE OF UNEDUCATED PEOPLE WHO THINK THAT CATFISH RESTS ON THE GROUND AND STARTS ITS TROTTING LINES TOO LOW, AND IN THE SUMMER THE LOWER HALF OF THE LAKE IS LOW IN OXYGEN. FISH CAN GET INTO THE LOW OXYGEN LEVEL FOR A FEW HOURS, BUT IF CAUGHT, THEY WILL KILL THEM. “This allows for some anonymity so that someone can set up their equipment without sharing their personal information with other fishermen, while still allowing game wardens to identify the owner of the equipment based on their customer number,” Barker said. Home » Sports » Outdoor » Texas Parks and Wildlife Changes Trotting Line Rules Originally, Texas Parks and Wildlife Department officials recommended that equipment inspections, as well as tag validations, take place every four days. But the commission, after making public comments, adopted the six-day requirement.
