# Are bait launchers legal in Texas?



## Mr. Mario

I have been doing some web surfing and found a few neat things pertaining to surf fishing. My wife and I live in a townhouse. So space is limited. We want to get at the big fish. I figured making a bait launcher would be perfect for getting the bait where we needed it. I'm just not familiar with the legalities of the whole thing. Any input would be greatly appreciated.


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## Tail Chaser

You have a link to how they work? I would think it should be just fine.


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## ElTiburon

legalities? dont get caught!


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## stxhunter

What is it? Is it like a big potato launcher but for bait?


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## stxhunter

Just found this

http://www.surfrocketfishing.com/

Is that what your talking about? Seems pretty interesting, but I wonder how well they really work.

Quote from the website:

"Increase your casting distance by 500% (over 500 feet) with The Surf Rocket, a specially designed compressed air casting cannon! This gives you the upper hand by allowing you to cast your bait into the deep water, past the sand bar, without a boat, right from the beach."


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## Mr. Mario

Not getting caught would have been my train of though when I was younger. LOL. But for the love of fishing and being a lot more grown up I just want to be able to enjoy what I do. The design is basically a pneumatic spud launcher. I have a link to one of many designs that I have found on the internet. It would be perfect for someone without a kayak to work the 2nd and 3rd guts. http://www.surfrocketfishing.com/


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## Mr. Mario

I look at it this way. I could spend about 30 bucks to make this thing or head to the sporting goods store and shell out 400 to 500 bucks on a kayaks with barely enough room to store 2 of them. That's because my wife would for sure want one also. LOL. She is from Puerto Rico and loves the water just as much as I do. This would be a temporary fix until we purchase a home. Not a lot of storage space in a townhome.


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## stxhunter

I saw on their website it was $450! Did you find plans on how to make it?

I would much rather buy a cheap kayak in that price range, maybe even used, but I completely understand the storage issues.


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## Mr. Mario

I'm a millwright by trade and I'd be crazy to spend that kind of money on something that I could make on my patio for around 30 bucks and my time. LOL. Give me a minute and I can post a few links with plans for a spud gun. Basically the same design but instead of launching potatoes it launches and concoction of chum, bait and tackle.


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## Fish-a-mon

Unless you are using just spinning reels it would work well. A bait cast 4/0 6/0 or more the backlash would be a issue unless you pulled the line off first and made so it wouldnt tangle.


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## Mr. Mario

Yes I will be using spinning reels. Most of the sights warned about casting reels. I figure that casting reels would definitely be a 2 man operation to get it to work. I use a couple of Penn 309's modified without the line guides. My main concern is if bait launchers are ok to use here in Texas. I have watched the videos and really want to give this a shot. The fisherman that are putting patents on this thing are on the right track. But I refuse to pay that much to purchase one from them. The design is simple. All the materials are readily available at your local hardware store. I'm game if we can use them here in Texas. Anyone mechanically inclined can do this for around 30 bucks. I just don't want the GW on my case. I shot an email to them questioning this.


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## Mr. Mario

As far as spinning reels go I have a couple of Optix 60's with 20lb braid and topped off with 50lb ande that I will be using to experiment with for now if all goes well. If its a go as far as the legal part of this goes I will definitely post video of the launches as well as the design.


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## HuntinforTail

The concept is neat but it has too many drawbacks. You have to freeze your bait into a special mold so that it fits in the barrel nicely. That limits your bait choice to pretty much a certain sized mullet and then if you run out of bait you have to have access to a freezer to more to get it re-rigged. 

Also, many people who cast surf rods can cast 500'. Even if you can't cast quite that far, you could wade out to the first bar and cast 300 or so feet with a long spinning surf rod.

I think it would be better to get a long casting setup instead of messing with a machine like that. But if you build one I'd love to come watch you launch some baits!


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## 535

save your money... learn how to cast and buy a used tandem kayak


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## Mr. Mario

Thanks for the advice jc but as I stated earlier storage is a problem for me. And as far as learning how to cast. I was doing pretty good since I was 10 years old. That is until I sustained an injury involving my right shoulder. Rotator cup to be exact. Prior to that I had no problem casting 12' to 14' Ulua rods with 4/0 Penn reels while living on Oahu. I did come across some information on the legalities of my original question. Combustion spud guns are considered firearms in the state of Texas. With that being said pneumatic is the way to go with this. Besides I like to tinker around with gadgetsand I figure this would be a cool little project.


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## scrambler

To answer your original question, yes it is legal.


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## stxhunter

Should be a fun project!! You should do a DIY step by step. I would love to see some baits launching 500ft +!


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## 535

this topic comes up at least once a year in this forum... I think it works for fishing tailraces, etc like the youtube videos... the beach throws a bunch of wildcards like A LOT more wind generally... and as pointed out, melting bait balls are a big issue

Torpedo toyed with it about 10 years ago, cops showed up at his field trial here in San Antonio shortly after 9/11, hahaha... I think he gave up after having the baitballs partially melt

my brother got me into kayaks back in the mid-90's, he had 2 on a wall above a couch in a one bedroom apt. out in FL... but with a bum rotator cuff I'd wanna know if I could paddle before even thinking of laying down cash on a yak

don't mean to be negative, hopefully you can find a way to make it work for surffishing... a bunch of us poo-poo'd on the idea of a remote control bait deployment system for YEARS on this forum before someone proved us all wrong so go for it and let us know how it turns out... would be really cool for fishing jetties imo...


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## Mr. Mario

Thanks for the input. I just wanted to know if it was legal to do this in Texas. As for the remote control bait deployment system. I had given it a thought. I used to be a big R/C buff back in the day. Then I thought about all of the money that I had spent and then the thought of having a thousand bucks get taken out by a wave. No thanks. But I can do a step by step once I get around to start on my little project.


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## newsharker

Last year we built a giant slingshot for a guy who had back problems. It worked well. But was more expensive than a yak.


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## bbgarcia

http://*********************/forums/ubbthreads.php/topics/7400138/Crystal_Beach_Blasting

Check this out.


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## Charlie2

*Bait Launcher*



Fish-a-mon said:


> Unless you are using just spinning reels it would work well. A bait cast 4/0 6/0 or more the backlash would be a issue unless you pulled the line off first and made so it wouldnt tangle.


My friend has one and uses it to launch some rather large baits with it.

Of course; you have to use a spinning reel because a conventional would cause one to have many 'professional overruns'.:smile:

You could also lose a very expen$ive rig when one does occur. Everything goes out with the 'plug' ! :biggrin: C2


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## BATWING

Sounds very cool and great idea for night surf fishing if you dont want to get wet.

I was thinking about the PITA bait balls. What if you could devise a pack/wading system for using fresh cut bait. Like a nice wad of seaweed or cheesecloth tethered above leader on slip terminal? It might cut down on distance but fresh bait is way better than frozen balls.


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## goatchze

BATWING said:


> Sounds very cool and great idea for night surf fishing if you dont want to get wet.
> 
> I was thinking about the PITA bait balls. What if you could devise a pack/wading system for using fresh cut bait. Like a nice wad of seaweed or cheesecloth tethered above leader on slip terminal? It might cut down on distance but fresh bait is way better than frozen balls.


I would imagine fresh bait would not hold up very well. You would just have a long distance chum launcher.


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## spicyitalian

I would like to see a bait trebouchet. Might work well for those 50 lb baits.


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## Smackdaddy53

Dude i bet you could use a wet rag for s wad behind your bait and weight and not have to freeze it. There are ways to do it for sure. You could probably make a big slingshot with a bunch of surgical tubing and lob a rig pretty far if the pneumatic launcher wouldnt work


-mac-


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## Marlingrinder

HuntinforTail said:


> Also, many people who cast surf rods can cast 500'.


I'd have to see that...


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## Swells

We got busted with a tater cannon down by the PINS by one of them federal park rangers. Nice feller, but he noticed we was maybe shooting the seagulls, which were diving out chum line of taters, toilet paper, corn cobs, frozen mullet, hotdogs, anything we could find. "Against the law to choot seagulls" he said, "plus that's one helluva littering mess there." 

But he was impressed with our range of about 300 yards or more - can't tell because most of the stuff was blown into a fine spray, including our terminal tackle. Let us squeeze off a few more rounds and watched for us clean up the beach a bit. "Yo boys outta ammo?" We said yeah, blew up all the TP too, and had to get back into town anyways. 

So now we get a yak or a jet-ski and pull baits, and fish with a short pole where you can walk on the sandbars. I've caught 28-inch speck trout waist deep casting at the second gut, with the short pole on an artificial lure. Much more sporty IMHO, and you don't get trash fish with artificial lures either.

Or effing seagulls!


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## Mr. Mario

That was my main concern as of right now. I read about how they would freeze baited rigs in a form the same diameter as the launcher and all. I live in Houston and do weekend fishing trips so keeping bait frozen in that way was out of the question. I saw a few videos on fishing weights made for the launcher itself. Pretty interesting but i can imagine a mullet head helicoptering out to the surf. I'm sure you lose quite a bit of distance that way. The wading idea came up in a few articles that I read. So my question is does anyone have any ideas on that note. I don't want to pollute the water. What can I use that would be environmentally friendly and not get me into trouble out there?


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## HarborHustler

use one that is pneumatic to keep the law away. if you use the ol hairspray, or other flammable propellant it becomes an "improvised illegal device"

that should answer the op question


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## Charlie2

*Trebouchet*



spicyitalian said:


> I would like to see a bait trebouchet. Might work well for those 50 lb baits.


Google. We built one some time ago but it now reposes somewhere in the deep recesses of the junk in my garage.

No compressed air required.

We experimented using springs, rubber strips and it worked. C2


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## sharkbait-tx70

We have built several different kinds. A large slingshot that took up the whole bed of the truck. A cannon like shown,which only works on spinning reels. They best was a remote control boat and an airplane for real ruff days. The airplane would always draw large crowds and it would carry baits up to about 3 lbs. We custom built it with a chainsaw motor.It was a site to see.Got pretty expensive after a few dunks though.


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