On the Line

Texas to Clamp Down on "Fish Herders"

By Mike Conner, editor-in-chief

Ever since many flats skiff builders touted the shallow-running capabilities of their boats, a lazy breed of angler has surfaced, and please don't count me among them.

Sight fishing to me involves stalking the fish the classic way--with a pushpole. Now there are quiet electric motors that allow for stealthy stalking, too. Anglers running their outboard motors over shallow grassflats to take shortcuts is bad enough. What's worse is running the flats to spook schools of fish before shutting down to cast to them. In many cases, props badly scar the grassflats, and in general, the practice puts fish on high alert and ruins things for anglers who work hard to pole the flats. In many regions, the fish no longer venture into the shallows as they normally would.

Happens a lot in Florida. In Everglades National Park, resource managers established a vast Pole and Troll (motor) Zone near Flamingo, the popular fishing outpost on Florida Bay. It works. Boaters don't run roughshod over the flats there to reach redfish anymore, attributed partly to peer pressure and partly to enforcement.  In my observation, the fishing has improved. Many agree. A similar pole-and-troll zone is established in Florida's famed Mosquito Lagoon.

In Texas, the "fish herding" practice is all-too-common, so the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department is looking to clarify language in state regulations regarding "fish harassment."

Here's the current law (TAC Rule 57.972) : "It is unlawful for any person to use any vessel to harass fish."

Announced Jan 3, rule clarification is up for vote, and is as follows:

"It is unlawful to use any vessel to harry, herd, or drive fish including but not limited to operating any vessel in a repeated circular course for the purpose of or resulting in the artificial concentration of fish for the purpose of taking or attempting to take fish."

 Texas can't make it any clearer than that, right? I just hope the lazy fish-herders can read, or even care.