# GW bust at Bob Hall Pier



## Chuck06R1 (Apr 7, 2015)

So, some "shark guys" posted a pic of over 30 cow nose and regular stingrays. Someone called the GW on them and the law confiscated all their catch. Supposedly, they were snagging them and dragging them onto the pier. Now they're all mad.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/GSF...=1527857427920209&notif_t=group_comment_reply


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## AguaMala (Feb 28, 2012)

Buddy of mine was out there as wardens were loading up the rays in there truck. An snapped pic of their truck.

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## Chuck06R1 (Apr 7, 2015)

I have no issue with using rays for shark bait but that was really ridiculous. The guy on the far left caught a 9' tiger a few weeks ago and caught a 10' hammerhead later that week. Dude says he eats them but I really don't buy into it. HE just wants to look like a fishing bada** to his buddies and on Facebook


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## AguaMala (Feb 28, 2012)

Well I think alot of the issue was that the rays were just laying on the pier in the sun. In pic you can tell theyâ€™ve been sitting out. If they would of been packed away in coolers on ice, donâ€™t think they would of had issue with wardens. An as far as the tiger an hammerhead shark, they were both legal catchâ€™s an he can legally keep them. Whether he eats them or gives the meat away to others, I donâ€™t see any issue as long as they werenâ€™t wasted. I donâ€™t get to fish as much as I use to, an usually catch an release all my sharks nowadays. But what everyone does with their own catches is their personal choice the way I see it. 


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## Chuck06R1 (Apr 7, 2015)

Snagging is illegal per the TP&W handbook


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## AguaMala (Feb 28, 2012)

True but like first post says, they were supposedly snagging. An innocent till proven guilty. I wasnâ€™t there an didnâ€™t see what happened. But I do know that I have legally caught cownose with a baited hook in the surf before. 


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## jlynn33 (Jul 8, 2009)

Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. That is wasteful. No reason whatsoever for that. Defend that all you want. What you going to say when none are left?


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## djduke47823 (Jun 7, 2005)

catch? picture? release?


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## AguaMala (Feb 28, 2012)

Not defending an donâ€™t even know them. What one does with their catch is their own choice, an whether itâ€™s a smart choice or not itâ€™s their choice. An they have to deal with the consequences of that choice. I donâ€™t judge an I give people benefit of the doubt. Itâ€™s up to the judge they go see to make final decision of what they did was illegal or not. 


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## boom! (Jul 10, 2004)

jlynn33 said:


> What you going to say when none are left?


"Guess that I can leave the ray guards at home now."


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## stdreb27 (Aug 15, 2011)

I've spent a lot of time on that pier over the years. And at any point of time a game warden could fill a judge's docket with game violations. From untagged reds, to snaggers to folks who's only limit is a full cooler. I for one applaud it.


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## FingCM06 (Feb 16, 2017)

Yeah the dude is talking mad â€œEbonicsâ€ on Facebook lol. He seems to think that â€œhatersâ€ are behind the warden showing up. I guess he doesnâ€™t know the law uses social media and constantly monitors those fishing pages. He states that the holes are from gaffs and not snagging the rays. IMO he wouldnâ€™t of gotten his fish confiscated if there wasnâ€™t proof he caught those fish illegally. Some people think there above the law and cry wolf when caught. It may not be the case here but itâ€™s not up to me.


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## ReedA1691 (Jan 29, 2018)

I can't imagine what use they would have for that many rays. Shark bait for every weekend for the next 5 years? Or are they plugging those things out to sell at restaurants? To me it's a disgusting display of waste and stupidity, even if they were legally caught (not snagged). No sport in it. Not pride even.


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## stdreb27 (Aug 15, 2011)

ReedA1691 said:


> I can't imagine what use they would have for that many rays. Shark bait for every weekend for the next 5 years? Or are they plugging those things out to sell at restaurants? To me it's a disgusting display of waste and stupidity, even if they were legally caught (not snagged). No sport in it. Not pride even.


They sell em. That's probably 20 bucks a ray...


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## Lone-Star (Dec 19, 2009)

Believe it or not there's lots of demand for cownose around here for shark bait..I doubt any of that would have gone to waste but I also doubt they have the licenses to be selling them.


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## pipeliner24 (Apr 10, 2013)

djduke47823 said:


> catch? picture? release?


Pretty sure they were catching them for shark baits,while I wouldn't do it I'm pretty sure they weren't gonna be wasted.It looks bad but what's the difference between these being used for bait and say a couple hundred dozen croakers at a bait shop?


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## pipeliner24 (Apr 10, 2013)

ReedA1691 said:


> I can't imagine what use they would have for that many rays. Shark bait for every weekend for the next 5 years? Or are they plugging those things out to sell at restaurants? To me it's a disgusting display of waste and stupidity, even if they were legally caught (not snagged). No sport in it. Not pride even.


How much sport is there in throwing a castnet on some mullet to use for bait?


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## Rockfish2 (Sep 1, 2017)

Majek11 said:


> How much sport is there in throwing a castnet on some mullet to use for bait?


According to this line of thinking, how much sport is there in fooling a 28â€ redfish with a tiny brain to hit a topwater lure? You may just be trolling here, but if you really canâ€™t see the difference between castnetting mullet for bait and what these guys seem to have been doing I donâ€™t know there are enough words to explain it.


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## loco4fishn (May 17, 2010)

Bait is bait. Whether it be mullet for redfish or rays for sharks. A couple of my buddies could burn through 30 rays in 2 weekends of shark fishing. Figure 5 rods a piece xâ€™s2 fishermen = 10 Rodâ€™s/rays. Three days fishing and they are out of bait. Also it is common practice to let baits â€œsoakâ€ in the sun to get them nice and ripe for shark drops. Now if they were over the bag limit or catching them illegally thatâ€™s one thing, but stocking up on bait I see no issue. AND for the record I have yet to fool a tiny brained redfish into hitting a top water. Just trout.


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## Toledo (Mar 6, 2006)

Maybe they should swap over to archery equipment. Could probably greatly increase their take on the cow nose while staying legal.


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## Fish4Life (Jul 8, 2005)

I for one canâ€™t stand these fools that kill huge sharks off these piers and beaches just for a **** crowd to gather around them while they show it off and take a thousand pictures for social media. Worst part is they have no desire to even try to release the big sharks. One day there isnâ€™t going to be giant tigers and hammerheads cruising inshore waters because they will be few and far between. 

If any of these fools actually took the time to learn how important big sharks are to the overall ecosystem they would probably try to release them. Instead we have uneducated show offs in these â€œshark clubsâ€ with stupid stickers and Facebook groups where they can get a bunch of random morons to look at their pics and comment that they are so cool because they killed a big shark. Woopty freakin do. 

And by the way...this has nothing to do with people in shark fishing groups that fish for the big ones on the beaches and â€œRELEASEâ€ them after a pic.


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## stdreb27 (Aug 15, 2011)

Fish4Life said:


> I for one canâ€™t stand these fools that kill huge sharks off these piers and beaches just for a **** crowd to gather around them while they show it off and take a thousand pictures for social media. Worst part is they have no desire to even try to release the big sharks. One day there isnâ€™t going to be giant tigers and hammerheads cruising inshore waters because they will be few and far between.
> 
> If any of these fools actually took the time to learn how important big sharks are to the overall ecosystem they would probably try to release them. Instead we have uneducated show offs in these â€œshark clubsâ€ with stupid stickers and Facebook groups where they can get a bunch of random morons to look at their pics and comment that they are so cool because they killed a big shark. Woopty freakin do.
> 
> And by the way...this has nothing to do with people in shark fishing groups that fish for the big ones on the beaches and â€œRELEASEâ€ them after a pic.


I watched a guy pull in a 12 footer one morning. 
They tagged and released him.

Iâ€™ve never seen anyone kill a shark of any size out there. Just to kill it.


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## pipeliner24 (Apr 10, 2013)

stdreb27 said:


> I watched a guy pull in a 12 footer one morning.
> They tagged and released him.
> 
> Iâ€™ve never seen anyone kill a shark of any size out there. Just to kill it.


Me either,most shark fishing guys have done way more to promote catch and release and tagging and tracking sharks than killing and wasting them.


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## pipeliner24 (Apr 10, 2013)

Rockfish2 said:


> According to this line of thinking, how much sport is there in fooling a 28â€ redfish with a tiny brain to hit a topwater lure? You may just be trolling here, but if you really canâ€™t see the difference between castnetting mullet for bait and what these guys seem to have been doing I donâ€™t know there are enough words to explain it.


There's a lot of sport in catching a redfish or any fish on a lure,so I don't know how you came to comparing that to castnetting mullet?Redfish are a game fish,mullet are not and if I'm not mistaken neither are rays. Apparently what they were doing wasn't legal but I'm not sure which rule they broke.If they were going to use them for baits then I see no problem with it,just like I see no problem with cast netting mullet for bait.If you have some sort of inside info on what these guys were doing I'd like to hear it,that is if you can finds the words to explain it.


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## pickn'fish (Jun 1, 2004)

Disgusting display...


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## Trouthappy (Jun 12, 2008)

Appalling. If this continues, the state will put a limit on stingrays and cownose rays. Like they had to do with tripletail. 
Thanks to two old jokers in Port O'Connor who slaughtered these fish, brought back a deck load with no ice during summer.


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## Momma's Worry (Aug 3, 2009)

*Rays*

a few years ago I was flying just off the beach at Sabine Pass....looking down I was puzzled as to what I was seeing ...***....turtles maybe?...so I nose dived down for a close look and to my amazement it was a very large school of

mixed rays just lazing on the surface ....very impressive but I had no desire

to catch or bother any of them as I do not see them as an eatable sport fish
but that is just me ........by the way I wish the state would up the limit some on triple-tail outside of Matagorda Bay ...protect them there where they were way to easy to over fish.....

d law

liberty


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## ol'possum (Jan 20, 2017)

glad they were busted, stupid dumbarses, Facebook heroes "look at me" generation, confiscate their gear, revoke license and have them do some public services picking up cigarette butts on the beach...nothing but a useless slaughter, there is no way to defend this, oh and there use to be endless Tarpon at Port A, but no more....


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## Lat22 (Apr 7, 2005)

Majek11 said:


> How much sport is there in throwing a castnet on some mullet to use for bait?


Youâ€™ve never seen me throw a cast net.


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## Trouthappy (Jun 12, 2008)

Is that a bad thing, throwing a cast net versus buying croakers?
Hard to catch tarpon with little croakers.


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## fish4food (Feb 11, 2011)

Canâ€™t snag em, but you can gig em or shoot em? 

Wonder whatâ€™s the reasoning for this.


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## Danny Jansen (Sep 15, 2005)

They had to have done something wrong for the GW to take the catch.


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## Jaysand247 (Aug 19, 2012)

Bad thing is they probably ended up in the land fill instead of being used for bait.


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## Sharpest (Mar 31, 2014)

I thought it was only illegal to deliberately snag game fish and anything goes for non-game? Shark guys pay good money for ray because its easy to get big enough chunks to use for large shark bait and it is tough as **** so it will stay on the hook. I've bought a few here and there to use on the national seashore with my 6/0 and 9/0 but catching stingrays in the surf is usually pretty easy.


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## TrueblueTexican (Aug 29, 2005)

*IF*

They were snagging to get bait -TPWD deems it illegal, there are LEGAL means to take so called -non-game fish for bait and to my knowledge there is no established limit in TPWD annual saltwater fishing regulations for cow nose rays , nor southern stingrays -

IF legal means were employed they could have filled the T head to the top rail and been legal - obviously the game warden cited them to remove their catch as evidence

It isn't about the pile of fish which would have been legal by other means, if they had abandoned those fish and left them to rot on the dock, they would have been charged with "wanton" waste and improper disposal.

Ethically from a purely fishing standpoint, those fish exhibited didn't even put a dent in the natural population NOR the amount of those fish eaten by apex predators every day in the ocean -

Aside from what they did to get the catch confiscated, if it was a bait haul, avoiding public "perception" by taking those fish to their vehicles would have stopped a "bleeding heart" assault - you couldn't give them much credit for being smart enough to do so.

You will never stop this kind of stuff even with changes in law, someone always skirts the system --


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## sharkinaggie07 (Oct 1, 2016)

loco4fishn said:


> A couple of my buddies could burn through 30 rays in 2 weekends of shark fishing. Figure 5 rods a piece xâ€™s2 fishermen = 10 Rodâ€™s/rays. Three days fishing and they are out of bait. Also it is common practice to let baits â€œsoakâ€ in the sun to get them nice and ripe for shark drops. Now if they were over the bag limit or catching them illegally thatâ€™s one thing, but stocking up on bait I see no issue.


Exactly! You could burn through that much bait in a couple of weekend trips.

Also, catch and release is a VERY common practice when it comes to today's shark fisherman. I would say you would be hard pressed to find a person keeping a big one unless it died on the way in.

-SA


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## AFORWW (May 2, 2018)

Lol this post. Me and a buddy were just discussing this philosophy on snagging rays. I proposed the idea, that snagging them hand lining isn't against anything I can find. Snagging is only specific to rod and line. Thoughts?

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## loco4fishn (May 17, 2010)

I will let you go first hand line snagging. If it passes the test I will follow suit. AND I will gladly take some of those rays off your hands for some deep drops down pins. For free of course. :biggrin: tight lines man!!!


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## AFORWW (May 2, 2018)

Lol noted. I'll remember your name. To be honest, it's purely hypothetical. Just a hmmm I wonder kinda thing.

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## Chuck06R1 (Apr 7, 2015)

sharkinaggie07 said:


> Exactly! You could burn through that much bait in a couple of weekend trips.
> 
> Also, catch and release is a VERY common practice when it comes to today's shark fisherman. I would say you would be hard pressed to find a person keeping a big one unless it died on the way in.
> 
> -SA


One of the guys that was caught hauled in and kept 2 sharks (that I know of) in one week of the same pier. One was a 9'6" tiger and the other was a 10'4" hammerhead.


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## sharkinaggie07 (Oct 1, 2016)

Chuck06R1 said:


> One of the guys that was caught hauled in and kept 2 sharks (that I know of) in one week of the same pier. One was a 9'6" tiger and the other was a 10'4" hammerhead.


I am sorry to hear that but I still think that is an exception to the norm. Maybe I am just ignorant...

-SA


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## Hayniedude24 (Jun 15, 2016)

Chuck06R1 said:


> One of the guys that was caught hauled in and kept 2 sharks (that I know of) in one week of the same pier. One was a 9'6" tiger and the other was a 10'4" hammerhead.


Will a tiger or hammerhead of that size eat? I really donâ€™t care (not my business actually) if keeping them is legal but how do they actually cook up? When I was a kid back in the early 80â€™s Iâ€™d spend a week or so deep PINS 24/7 with a buddy of mine and his Dad and uncles. Saw a lot of big sharks caught (11â€™ tiger in particular one year) on old 14â€™s and theyâ€™d always just cut the jaws out from what I can remember.


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## J_Philla (Oct 22, 2009)

we have customers that enjoy harvesting one big spinner or bull shark for the meat. One large shark usually is enough meat for a charter of 12 people to have plenty for several meals. Im not the biggest fan of killing tigers and hammers, because 99% of the time they are not goin home for consumption, but rather to have a cool set of jaws. for the people out there that think there is a shortage of sharks in the gulf like the media wants everyone to believe, just jump over the side of a shrimpboat on anchor around 730-1030am.


Capt. Josh


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## Trouthunter (Dec 18, 1998)

> for the people out there that think there is a shortage of sharks in the gulf like the media wants everyone to believe, just jump over the side of a shrimpboat on anchor around 730-1030am.


Boy I know that's right or just fish the bay wells and watch how many trout you lose to the black tips lol.

TH


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## Its Catchy (Apr 10, 2014)

Just wade fish the Bolivar Pocket and put your catch on a stringer.

It is downright scary...


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## AFORWW (May 2, 2018)

Yea I saw his posts. Good for him. I don't necessarily agree with it but as long as he's legal. What I don't agree with however, is landing big sharks up there. My opinion, walk it down.


Chuck06R1 said:


> One of the guys that was caught hauled in and kept 2 sharks (that I know of) in one week of the same pier. One was a 9'6" tiger and the other was a 10'4" hammerhead.


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## wennis1 (Nov 5, 2008)

Shark Bait?!?!?!? It baffles me that someone would actually try to catch a shark.


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## AFORWW (May 2, 2018)

You should give it a try. It's fun 

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## loco4fishn (May 17, 2010)

wennis1 said:


> Shark Bait?!?!?!? It baffles me that someone would actually try to catch a shark.


Ohhh, my young grasshopper, you obviously have no idea what it takes to catch an 8â€™+ shark from shore. You have much to learn. From loading your truck up for a 3-5 day trip down the beach with everything you need, to getting bait for big sharks, to kayaking a bait 3 to 800 yards offshore from shore. To hooking up and not having a boat to chase it down using stand up gear, and then grabbing the shark by the tail taking quick pictures and releasing it back up into the surf in 2-4 feet of water while holding its dorsal and tail fin. It is a rush like no other. (I have yet to catch a blue Marlin). Thatâ€™s why. Any questions???? Lol. Iâ€™m getting excited!!! Letâ€™s go fishing.


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