You can't go to Fayette anymore without running into 5 to 10 cast netters harvesting everything they catch, which includes gamefish like bass and catfish. I've seen this with my own eyes. When I spoke to the local guide about this, he stated that he personally called the game warden to report this, but nothing has been done to curb this illegal activity. I believe the only way to resolve this is to constantly bring the issue up.
I sent an email to both the state representative and senator of Fayette county yesterday and will call the game warden every time I see illegal fish harvest. It's the least I can do to protect what we love.

Several friends of mine have called the Game Warden over the years and reported cast netters catching game fish. So far nothing!

Good Luck with your quest......

Zane...I also am very ticked every time I see these guys pummeling the shallows. But, here is my take...I don't think the bass population really suffers from this activity, and the TPWD surveys show that. They can, however decimate a sunfish colony, which usually spawns in 4-8 feet of water. There was a time 4 or 5 years back where there were huge sunfish colonies all around the intake area, and all along the reed beds. I believe the cast netters have all but wiped them out, or limited them severely. But who really cares about the sunfish in that lake besides you, me & a handful of others. If the bass population was to get devasted we might get some action, but these guys have mounted a pretty good effort with petitions & all with no success.

How to proceed...Keeping the pressure on may eventually have an effect...who knows. I believe a good compromise would be to have a season for cast netters that runs from June through November. Most Tilapia spawn when the water temp is between 77 & 95 degrees, so this would be right in their wheelhouse ...plus giving the sunfish one full month the do their thing & keep the entire bass spawn clear. The other issue that I am not crazy about are the guys that think they can go out and fill the ice chest with 50-100 fish. A few guys do this & the population will be affected. I have my own personal game plan for the sunnies. Each trip I relocate some of the best breeders from shallow "cast net target" areas to my deeper colony areas that they seldom attack. It has worked well for me & I think for the sunfish as well. I do not keep any fish like I used to...easier to get fillets at HEB.

Complain to LCRA. They own the lake.

If you can get pictures of the violation it will help. It is harder for them to ignore evidence.

I see this some in OK, especially on the weekends. A little barbed wire will go a long ways and can always be taken up on Mondays.

thanks for that information. Worth a try.

I'll be doing that for now on.

I took my 10 year old grandson today (Saturday) to fish for some bluegills and we had a great time and good success. Lots of cast netters. Several groups of cast netters were out in overloaded boats. One 16 foot tracker had 8 netters in it. So my grandson had to go to the restroom about an hour after we were catching fish. So I carted him back at the ramp. I saw one of the parks employees there and he recognized me as someone who fishes during the week. I told him I saw several overloaded boats and said that had been an issue before that actually cost some lives a few years back. I commented how I wished LCRA would address the cast netter issues because we all know most dont comply with the rules. He replied if they got ran off their revenues would substantially drop. He said if they took in $1000 dollars a day on weekend traffic, the cast netting community makes up about $700 dollars that $1000 revenue. So like it or not, the LCRA that owns the property surely wont run them off anytime soon.

The problem is most of them are breaking the law in plain view and there is no one enforcing the law. When there is no accountability bad things happen!

The fix is very simple. Start enforcing the law! Problem will be solved once word gets around that tickets are being issued and the possibility of boats and equipment are subject to be confiscated.



Side Note: As long as there is no enforcement of the law, the problem is going to stay the same and only get worst.