# I am boiling mad!



## Catch 22 (Jul 5, 2005)

I recently had the displeasure of fishing with a man who said he kills every shark he catches because he hates them. I can't tell you how mad this makes me. I want to find out if this is illegal. Can you help me research this?

Next, if this is illegal can we begin to band together to keep an eye on this guy? I would love to turn him in to the law. He bragged that he had been recently elected to a chapter of the CCA in Central Texas. 

I plan to call CCA today and see if this is the type of leadership they need.

Please understand I fish for tarpon. However, any fish I catch is always handled with respect.


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## Jolly Roger (May 21, 2004)

Does he keep them or just kill them and chunk them back?


If he just kills them and chunks them back that would be a waste of a game fish violation.


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## Catch 22 (Jul 5, 2005)

*Killing sharks*

He kills them just for the sake of killing them!


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## Jolly Roger (May 21, 2004)

seems to be a lot of people who still share the same views as the person you have described. 


About the only way to catch him would be for a gamewarden see him doing this, or video proof of his actions. Maybe take with a gamewarden fishing with you in plain clothes. Ask the shark killing guy you are talking about, and if he kills a bunch of sharks while out there, then the game warden will have proof. 

This would be hard to pull off, as gamewardens are busy peoeple. But most gamewardens like to fish, so a free fishing trip is always a good thing for the hard working lawman. 

And also the guy will be more then a little POed at you.


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## JWHPOPEYE (Mar 21, 2005)

Im sure there are lots of people like that. I was driving back from the Mansfield Jetties to SPI one weekend and was stopped by a county cop for doing 5mph over the limit. He was cool and told me what the limit was and told me to slow a little. Then we started talking about fishing and wanted to know if i caught anything.
I told him no but recently we had caught some Tarpon and big BT Sharks at the jetties. He goes did you Kill the sharks? I told him no we let them go. 
Then he kinda raised his voice saying, You need to kill any shark you catch. Just kill em and let em go if you dont want to keep them. I said no we just let them go cause we dont want them. Again he kinda raised his voice, no you need to kill them all. I said well its illegal to just kill them. He said just dont get caught. At that point i wanted to rip him a new one but since he had caught me speeding and i do travel the beach a lot and i didnt want to get on his bad side. So i just agreed with him and went on my way.


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## Fishin' Soldier (Dec 25, 2007)

Like TJ said If he kills them and eats them can't say much. If he is within the legal bag limits. Which is one per person per day over 24''. If he just slashes their gills and throws them back then it is against the law and he can get into trouble.

Copy and pasted from TPWD. *Waste of fish *- It is unlawful to leave edible fish or bait fish taken from the public waters of the state to die without the intent to retain the fish for consumption or bait.

http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/publications/annual/fish/general_rules/


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## Catch 22 (Jul 5, 2005)

*How he kills them*

He just kills them!!!!!!!!! The catch limit is one. He claims to be a big CCA member and then comes up with this ****. I am boiling mad. Called the CCA this morning to make sure they know about this.


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## LandShark! (Jul 16, 2006)

Fishn Soldier is right 1 per day and it has to be over 24". You also can not use shark as bait or chum so if you really need to catch this fell where does he fish most the time and pm me his info and I will pass it on to the wardens that can do something about that fella.
Ron


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## mikey01 (Oct 17, 2008)

just like he people who say a good snake is a dead snake, just ignorant people&#8230; same guys cutting you off on the highway and looking at you like you did something wrong&#8230; all we can do is try to fix the situations we see&#8230;


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## Catch 22 (Jul 5, 2005)

Understand I am on a mission to get this guy. Going to get his TX numbers on his boats so the game wardens will have him in their data base. I am going to put a stop to this type of slaughter!


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## Fishin' Soldier (Dec 25, 2007)

Good thanks for putting forth the effort. I release 99% of the sharks I catch and try my damndest to keep them healthy. Every now and a small one ends up on the hot grill though. These fish are an awesome predatory game fish.


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## monster (Apr 11, 2008)

Keep after him. This sort of mentality drives me crazy. Senseless slaughter.


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## koyhoward (Jan 8, 2007)

Stay on this guy. I definitely applaud your efforts on getting this loser caught!


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## Catch 22 (Jul 5, 2005)

*I am boiling mad1*

I plan to get his TX numbers to the game wardens along the coast of Texas! Will post them here as well so you guys can watch this idiot! His big boat is called Tarponchaser.


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## boom! (Jul 10, 2004)

What kind of boat is it?


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## Bigwater (May 21, 2004)

Catch 22 said:


> I plan to get his TX numbers to the game wardens along the coast of Texas! Will post them here as well so you guys can watch this idiot! His big boat is called Tarponchaser.


How many times did you personally see this guy kill a shark and throw it back?

Biggie


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## txfishbait (Jun 21, 2007)

Sounds like a witch hunt to me.

I applaud your passion but you don't know any details....what if the guy only catches one shark a year?

Don't get me wrong, I agree with your stance but I disagree with your logic.

For example....why don't you send me your license plate so I can report you to the authorities as a criminal...after all you were speeding. How would you like it if I called your boss and said you were a no good speeding SOB when I don't even know you.


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## Troutfisch (Jun 19, 2005)

It's sad but there are many anglers out there that think this way. They believe that every shark is a bad shark and that all they do is swim around eating all the game fish and harassing fishermen.

As tempting as it is to hunt down this fellow for his "supposed" actions, perhaps you would be better served to educate him (and those like him) on the damage he's doing to the local ecosystem by taking out the apex predators. Remember, sometimes information is the best weapon.


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## LandShark! (Jul 16, 2006)

txfishbait said:


> Sounds like a witch hunt to me.
> 
> I applaud your passion but you don't know any details....what if the guy only catches one shark a year?
> 
> ...


I understand what your saying. The tournament I am hosting was recently called a kill tournament by a well meaning lady that just doesn't have her information right. She went on to call it a pointless slaughter. I had to explain to her that the rules where totally in line with Texas state laws and the CPR ment CATCH PICTURE and RELEASE. I went on to tell her that sharks are slow breaders and that I appreciated her energy about sharks and the slaughter of them but that she has mistakenly put us in the same list as the long liners that just fin the sharks or some of the tournaments that do weigh their dead sharks. I also went on to explain to her that all those things that she sees on tv were held in conjunction with the stae laws where ever they are held and they were within their rights to keep the sharks and weigh them in. 
What I don't like to see and it is a state law is the waste of game fish. I don't like to see a huge sow bull shark about to pup and the jaws are cut out and the crabs get the rest. That is a waste and so is the finning of them. I have kept some sharks but they were all under 5' and they tasted great. I've tried to eat some of the larger ones and they are just not to my liking so I turn them all back. They are the breeders and i feel they should be turned back. But those are my thoughts and not the law. The law is fairly clear about this one. 24" and one per day for most spieces in the gulf. 
If the fella is just killing them to kill them thats just ignorant and he should be taught to be a better steward of the Gulf. Face it we each have our own part to take care of and if we do there will be plenty left for the next fishing trip.
Ron
This is in no way to say that I agree with all the laws that are on the books right now.


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