# State water trip



## High Hopes

The wind died down yesterday so we decided to grab a box of squid and see if we could make it out dry in the bay boat.


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## DRILHER

Very nice! Thinking about trying it tomorrow myself. Congrats


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## Law Dog

Nice mess of snapper, congrats!


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## McDaniel8402

Thats a blast! I love catching snapper on light weight gear. What port were you fishing out of?


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## Red Tuna

Great job!

:cheers:


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## Fordzilla06

Nicely done!


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## Jcopp71

Nice snaps


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## BrownieNPadre

how far off, have not seen much in close lately.


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## Jolly Roger

congrats, good mess of fish


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## trapper67

Congrats on some fun and great eats.


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## MakoT

*Port O ?*

Port O'connor rig?

Careful, those are endangered


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## Klesak1

Looks like the triple outside of the poc jetties. That is one of the only rigs with a catwalk for many many miles.


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## High Hopes

Wind died down last night so decided to take another trip out of POC today, turned out great again. I think there is still another blue rig with catwalks about 11miles south if that one hasn't been cut down like all the others in the 10-30 mile range out of POC.


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## crazytripp

Klesak1 said:


> Looks like the triple outside of the poc jetties. That is one of the only rigs with a catwalk for many many miles.


If that is the triple outside of POC???? isnt that outside of state waters?


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## WestEnd1

Dang!! Nice catch, jealous


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## Konan

crazytripp said:


> If that is the triple outside of POC???? isnt that outside of state waters?


You are correct. 11 miles out I think. Don't think it hurt anything.


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## mrsh978

*depends on tide*



crazytripp said:


> If that is the triple outside of POC???? isnt that outside of state waters?


with all going on concerning snapper season-who really cares . my gps puts them to be just inside 9 miles from the beach. he did a great job on winter snapper in a bay boat- :cheers:


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## Hotrod

Nice STATE Snapper! Looks like yall paid your taxes!


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## ML56

I've fished the same platform, and it's in state waters according to mapping software on my gps. Nice catch High Hopes.-Mike


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## High Hopes

Is that nautical miles or actual miles? My understanding is that state waters is 9 miles starting from the beach, my GPS puts that rig just inside state waters. I've been stopped by the game wardens that were waiting just inside the Matagorda ship channel and Cavallo pass more than 30 times in the past five years, told them exactly where we caught the snapper and they had no problem with it. I'm not trying to break any rules no matter how ludicrous I think they are.


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## mrsh978

*hand greanades and horseshoes*

*...there are rigs inside the 9 mile rule....just have to determine "exactly" where the beach is...a really low winter tide gives you considerable more distance...again, you did good, while you were catching fish, i was in barn working on boat!*


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## Fordzilla06

High Hopes said:


> Is that nautical miles or actual miles? My understanding is that state waters is 9 miles starting from the beach, my GPS puts that rig just inside state waters. I've been stopped by the game wardens that were waiting just inside the Matagorda ship channel and Cavallo pass more than 30 times in the past five years, told them exactly where we caught the snapper and they had no problem with it. I'm not trying to break any rules no matter how ludicrous I think they are.


9 Nautical miles from the beach is state waters


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## Money Game

*are all of those red snapper?*

or beeliners also? Not sure I can tell the difference from that picture, but surely you didn't have 7 fishermen offshore in a bay boat and I count 26 snaps.


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## RRR Gunrest

Pretty sure that's 2 days combined...

What's with all the jr game wardens???


Great catch keep em coming!!


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## Mr A/C

I just take pics of all the fish I catch, no matter where I am when I catch them. It is not illegal to catch them in fed waters - only to keep them. Very nice catch and congrats on pulling-off the double-header.


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## BIGRUSS12

COLL PICS
That one snap is a beasty for state waters 

looks like a successful day.


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## Konan

There are a bunch of rigs in the POC area that are within 9 miles. The one directly east of te POC jetties that has multiple platforms with catwalks is at 11 miles, no matter where the tide is. I think state regs should be federal regs. So keep them snaps. 

Just wanted to clear that one up.


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## Jeff SATX

man, that is awesome! great job!


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## C. Moore

Nice job. We went Sunday, it was nice and calm


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## Mulletmaster

Nice catch..keep up the great work...jr wardens..lmao!


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## JFolm

Money Game said:


> or beeliners also? Not sure I can tell the difference from that picture, but surely you didn't have 7 fishermen offshore in a bay boat and I count 26 snaps.


Don't you have your own problems to worry about?


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## Part Timer

Jr warden here.....im goin to ASSume your position was illegal and ASSume you were fishing with.....lets say only 2 people and ASSume that is all from the same day. Ill be by the evening to give you your citations and collect all your snapper..... You can keep the bull red. Thanks

On a seriously note. Good pics looks like a good time for sure!

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk 2


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## ROBALO23

Great Job!!! Lota jealous haters out there!!


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## High Hopes

Ok so here is the deal guys, I guess my judgement of distance by sight is off by a couple of miles. I have fished this rig since I was 5 years old and just turned 32 this last sunday. My grandfather who introduced me to off shore fishing never told me how far it was, I have never sat down and verify the correct distance of this rig. I know it is about 7 miles from port O'Connor to the ship channel and it seems just slightly farther in time to get to that rig, I assumed that since that since I can see both the light house and POC water tower from this location must be in state waters. I will sit down soon and look at my charts and GPS. If this is indeed over the state line I will never bring any snapper in out of season from this location again. I have been fined over $500 for two snapper that were 1/8" short, that measured over legal length when caught but not after being on ice all afternoon, I didn't know this happened when I first started off shore fishing again on my own, for the first time after my Grand father past away. I have no intention of breaking any rules or regulations that have been set by state and federal agencies. One of you said 10 miles an other has stated that is 11 and yet an other that it is just inside 9 miles. When I was out there on sunday there were 4 other boats putting snapper in ice chests. I have gotten to know the game wardens down there pretty well over the past 5 years and if it is indeed not in state waters I will inform them of my mistake and let them know that there are lots of people violating this law and if he is going to enforce this law that this location would be a great place look for violators and he will not see me bringing any in from this location any more, even if he will not enforce federal law. 
Also to the gentleman about the amount of snapper, on the first day we went out we had 3 people on the boat, kept our limit of 4 per person. On the 2nd day we went out we had 4 people on the boat and only kept 15, I thought I already had enough meat since we caught a big sow, so I din't keep my limit. That brings the total 2 day catch to 27 red snapper. If this rig really was out side of state waters I also violated the law of keeping red drum in federal waters so again this will never happen again if I did break rules and regulations. If I did indeed break the law, thank you again for helping me stay out of trouble, I can't afford any more of those fines, I have just made it the first year in business with a construction business that I have build with a small amount of savings and a lot of sweat and a little blood. Money is tight right now and even just filling up the bay boat and buying a couple of boxes of squid takes some planing and saving. 
On a lighter note, it was definitely a very memorable two days on the water and you all know to go check this rig because it is totally loaded up with snapper, I had my first limit in five minuets after tying the boat off to the rig.


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## awesum

Don't let the naysayers spoil your two memorable days on the water. You don't owe anyone an explanation for anything.

If I were you I'd keep fishing that platform and keeping those snaps.

As Hog always says ..... you dun good.


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## msdt-99517

Fish on bud, everyone always has to talk smack. Good job and keep it up.


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## Absolut

High Hopes, don't worry about the jr game wardens...seems like jealousy to me. No need to explain yourself to them, and the old saying "misery loves company" holds true here. 

Thanks for the original post, and keep it up!


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## capt4fish

High,

You got nothing to explain to anyone. End of story.

Fish on.


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## Mulletmaster

*Don't explain bro...just keep on fishing..I'm sure you're not intentionally violating any laws..Just a few A-holes in the group can spoil the fun *


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## Wett'n my Hooks

Fish on brother, cuz the Feds are killing them anyway with dynamite.


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## Kenner21

Probably not the best idea to let you them know you broke the law if that is what you figure out, they can still ticket you. I just need to know what rig is and where to launch


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## Levelwind

Your attitude is very good and I hope that all turns out OK. The "datum" for the nine miles is somewhat misunderstood - it isn't exactly "the beachfront" on any given day. Captain Tom Hilton, a frequent contributor to this site, has incorporated the state waters boundary on several of his products and, if you really want to know for sure, I'm sure Tom would check it for you and give you the right answer. Nice box of fish, for sure!


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## Absolut

Kenner21 said:


> Probably not the best idea to let you them know you broke the law if that is what you figure out, they can still ticket you. I just need to know what rig is and where to launch


Good luck...they'll be 50 boats out there next weather window all dropping squid.


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## High Hopes

That rig gets fished like the village bicycle, I've seen more than a dozen boats tied up, trolling and drifting all at the same time some summer days, usually they are there all summer long, that rig seems to be the honey hole that keeps on giving. I've caught two dozen different species of fish there from flounder to a 30lb mahi at that rig, a lot of memories from that spot, I hope they don't blast and scrape that rig down anytime soon, I wouldn't mind catching a few more there before they do.


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## ejim

*State Rig*

State Rigs can stay, Federal water Rigs get removed! What a shame..


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## mrsh978

*to all the jr gw's*

with all the crude concerning snapper season we have and are about to face-to bust someones nuts like this is the same reason the catholic church is in buisness-hypocrites. leave the guy alone.


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## Wett'n my Hooks

The only thing the Feds consider when blowing the rigs are the Turtles. They'll put a Diver down there to look for Turtles, he has to give the all clear before it is blown. Seems the Turtles have more rights than us, considering our Pres. wants to use Drones on the Gen. Public now? Go figure?


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## High Hopes

Some of you need to check your GPS, I measured GPS distance on more than one boat over the last months and confirmed that this rig is well within state waters. Please check your info before you criticize the legality of anyones posts.


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## ROBALO23

Who gives a **** how far out he was... I always keep me 4 snaps . I've never seen anybody releasing snapper in federal waters...... Oh I forgot obama crabtree federal game wardens an jr wanna bes may read this.


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## Day0ne

High Hopes said:


> One of you said 10 miles an other has stated that is 11 and yet an other that it is just inside 9 miles. .


The state boundry is 9 Nautical Miles, which equals 10.357 statute miles. The boundry is marked on most charts. It is sometimes called the Natural Resources Boundry


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## Mr A/C

Game warden: Where did you catch these fish?
Me: I don't know the name of the spot, but I could see the beach.
Game warden: I need to see your fishing license, life vests for each person, and a fire extinguisher.
Me: Here you go.
Game warden: Have a nice day.


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