Corpusfishing.com

[Old Baitbucket]

I was telling my wife a story about a fishing trip when I was a young lad. My dad and I went out with a couple of guys on their cuddy cabin. It was fall and we just anchored up on the edge of the shrimp boat channel out of Aransas Pass to catch some trout. We caught a few and about lunch time they pull out the propane burner and frying pan. They fileted the trout and fried them up on the spot.
My wife said "Thats ok as long as the game warden doesnt smell it cooking". I really never have thought about it being illegal. I looked around on the TPWD but couldnt find anything about that. Can you catch and cook your fish while fishing? Now that I think about it I would guess No because of the length and bag limit.

[DMAC]

As long as size and limit regs were still followed seems like should be ok. Guess it would be kind of hard to write you up if the evidence has been consumed.

[Tyler]

That's ok. There's a rule about houseboats, cabin, camps at the beach, and pier etc being your final destination so long as you have quit fishing. Someone can refresh my memory if I am incorrect. This comes up often about fishing down at cabins in Baffin and the Land Cut.
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[Donnie]

I have a rule that I follow, and that I will clean my fish at the last place that I can safely get rid of the leftovers. And when surf fishing, cleaning the fish there in the surf and throwing the leftovers to the other fish, birds and coyotes is the healthiest thing to be done. I am not going to bring the fish home, whole, fillet them - and then throw them in the garbage can - now that we are down to once a week pickups, that is very unhealthy for everyone. And from what I hear, its illegal for me to carry the leftovers out to the river and dump them.

I read and am confused as to when I can clean my fish.

So my new rule - is to clean them there on the beach - and feed the fish, birds and coyotes.

DonnieS

[BayFly]

I recall the cabin issue being discussed on another site, but I don't think it was finally settled. Maybe a game warden could address the issue here? I like to at least gut my catch while on the boat and it really helps with the cleanup later. If I filet at home then I just freeze the head, skin & scales to go in the trash later.
One of my favorite experiences is preparing a freshly caught trout or red for combination with lime juice, avocado, other seasoning for a ceviche lunch and mid-day, but maybe that's illegal? Surely not, there has to be some reasonable fairness to life?

[Donnie]

>> If I filet at home then I just freeze the head, skin & scales to go in the trash later. <<

Thats a good idea. Hadnt thought of that.

DonnieS

[maxthelab]

I spoke with a game warden about this just last Thursday. We take our 5th wheel down for several weeks to a month and asked if it qualified as a residence. I obey the daily bag limit and freeze the filets, am I legal? He told me I have to abide by the possession limit (2x the bag limit). He may have been in CYA mode, but it made no sense to me. Granted he was a young warden and I have had conflicting answers before between different wardens before (young vs. old). He suggested either eating my catch while there or target other species. If I'm fishing for a month, I can only keep 6 redfish plus 2 oversize?

[Donnie]

[Sinker]

This is a very important question and the answer may be disturbing about government over reach in the name of protecting a resource.
I have come across this issue here in Wyoming plus fly in trips in Canada and Alaska.
It needs an official answer from Texas department of wildlife and also address:
1 fillet on the beach or parking lot at boat ramp
2 possession limit and can Texas department of wildlife procure a search warrant on reasonable evidence to search your freezer.
3 what if you are going to have a family or neighborhood fish fry that requires more than possession limit of game fish.
4 can you put a donation jar up to help defray costs if you are serving game fish?

When official answer is available then we can react appropriately

Do not shoot thee messenger when somebody gets the answer

[Donnie]

The good thing for me, is 1) i live in corpus - so either 30 minutes or 41 minutes and I am on the sand and 2) I drive a subie outback - a round trip to PINS cost 4 gallons. So while i think its cool to see the people camping out there - I will be showering where the water wont run out and then sleeping in my own bed come night time. So my fish are filleted daily and are in the fridge. The only issue for me - is where I fillet. Its actually not a problem for me because I want to clean my fish, where the leftovers go back into the system and the fish, birds and coyotes get to feed on them. The problem is the Parks and Wildlife group not being to able to enforce the laws unless we do their job for them - and in that case, they should have to come up to me and say, "Have you done anything illegal ?" And I wouldnt - so I would say, "No - have a nice evening." Not inconvenience me by making me carry the nasty back with me to my home and then having to store it in my freezer for 5-7 days or find a place I can dump in without getting caught.

DonnieS

[landlocked beachbum]

As always, it's quicker and a whole lot safer/smarter, to simply go to the source instead of asking such questions on ANY forum. So, that's what I did, and here's the pertinent info from TP&W:

Possession of Fish Taken from Public Water

Any fish caught must be taken by legal means and methods.

Fish caught and immediately released are not considered to be in your possession. Any fish not immediately released that are retained by using any type of holding device such as stringer, cooler, livewell, or bucket are considered in your possession and must adhere to established protected length and bag limits.

While fishing, it is illegal to be in possession of more fish than the daily bag limit or fish that are within a protected length limit.

In order to verify length and species, a fish caught may not have the head or tail removed and may not be filleted until an angler finally lands the catch on the mainland, a peninsula, or barrier island not including jetties or piers and does not transport the catch by boat. For broadbill swordfish and king mackerel, the head or tail may be removed but the remainder of the carcass must remain intact and may not be filleted. For sharks, only the head may be removed. The remainder of the carcass (including the tail) must remain intact and may not be filleted.

Any fish taken from public water and landed by boat or person in Texas must adhere to the protected length limits and daily bag and possession limits established for those fish in Texas, regardless of the state or country in which they were caught.

The bag limit for a guided fishing party is equal to the total number of persons in the boat licensed to fish or otherwise exempt from holding a license minus each fishing guide and fishing guide deckhand multiplied by the bag limit for each species harvested.Possession of Fish Taken from Public Water

Any fish caught must be taken by legal means and methods.

Fish caught and immediately released are not considered to be in your possession. Any fish not immediately released that are retained by using any type of holding device such as stringer, cooler, livewell, or bucket are considered in your possession and must adhere to established protected length and bag limits.

While fishing, it is illegal to be in possession of more fish than the daily bag limit or fish that are within a protected length limit.
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Dave


"The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has it's limits". Albert Einstein

[Donnie]

>> and may not be filleted until an angler finally lands the catch on the mainland, a peninsula, or barrier island <<

I interpret this for me - as I have - when its time to head home from the island, I am going to filet (unless I con my brother into doing it) my catch, feed the leftovers to the fish, the birds and the coyotes, and go home.

This must be directed to the boat fishermen more than us.

Don

[manuel9622]

"You can cook fish as long as no one is fishing"! Straight out a game warden's mouth a few years back while down at the landcut cabin.
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Shallow Sportn' it

[Donnie]

[manuel9622]

Best fish fry ever. We would cook trout after being out on the water a few hours. I wanted to make sure we weren't doing anything illegal. So I asked a game warden when they approached our pier and that's what he told me.
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Shallow Sportn' it