question about limits

[smedley]

I'm going to Sam Rayburn at the end of March for some bass and crappie action. The daily limit on crappie on Rayburn is 25 per person. Toledo Bend is 30 some odd miles away and the daily limit is 50 per person. Is it legal to keep 75 crappie per day if 50 are from TB and 25 are from SR?

[Barnacle Bill]

If you kept them all together and got checked, how would you prove what came from where?

[phatcat]

smedley, better check with TPWD . see what they say. phatcat

[crappiencali]

It all depends on the states limit for how many fish you have in possession.

[stumpbumpers]

crappiecali is right. You should have a daily creel limit, which allows you to have the 25-50 fish you mentioned, a day on that particular water. If your fishing where your creel is 50, then the state law has to be at least 50 or maybe no limit. If the state possesion law is 50 then that is all you can have a day period. If their is no limit take what you can use.

[shadow]

If you fish raburn and catch your 25 and then go to toledo you can only keep 25 (if you are keeping them together). If I was to go to raburn and catch 25 I would leave them at the camp and then go to toledo and catch my 50 but I would not keep 75 at one time in my posession. That will gurantee you to get a ticket if the warden stops you. I don't think I would have to worry about that though, I have never caught my limit
Just my 2 cents,
Shadow

[smedley]

I sent an email to TPW last night. Hopefully I will ge the official answer soon. BTW, Texas has a statewide 25 per day creel limit with 50 in posession (with exceptions). Louisiana has a 50 per day limit with 100 in possession. That is why there is a 50 per day limit on TB.

[Sarge]

Why the HE11 do you need 75 fish a day? Maybe leave a fish for next year huh?

[smedley]

Hey look, I'm not saying that I am keeping 75 fish a day. I'm lucky to catch that much to begin with. This is just a thought that crossed my mind because these lakes are relatively close together and have different limits.

I got a response back from TPW today but it didn't really answer my question:

The daily bag limit is the number of fish you can legally take, and retain in your possession in one day...the statewide bag limit for crappie is 25 fish per day. There are some lakes that provide for exception to the statewide bag limit...like Toledo Bend, which allows a more generous bag limit of 50 fish, while fishing that particular lake. If you are fishing at Sam Rayburn and you catch and retain 25 crappie you have reached the 25 fish daily bag limit for that species and you cannot retain any more that day. If you think you want to catch more than 25 crappie, you should fish at a lake that is an exception to the 25 fish bag limit, such as Toledo Bend, where you are allowed to catch and retain a daily bag limit of 50 crappie.

Kris Bishop

Assistant Chief of Fisheries Enforcement

(512) 389-4630

[email protected]

I sent the following reply to her reply:

So what if we fish both lakes in the same day? Are we allowed to keep the daily bag limit from each lake?

[CrappiePappy]

Hey look, I'm not saying that I am keeping 75 fish a day. I'm lucky to catch that much to begin with. This is just a thought that crossed my mind because these lakes are relatively close together and have different limits.

I got a response back from TPW today but it didn't really answer my question:

The daily bag limit is the number of fish you can legally take, and retain in your possession in one day...the statewide bag limit for crappie is 25 fish per day. There are some lakes that provide for exception to the statewide bag limit...like Toledo Bend, which allows a more generous bag limit of 50 fish, while fishing that particular lake. If you are fishing at Sam Rayburn and you catch and retain 25 crappie you have reached the 25 fish daily bag limit for that species and you cannot retain any more that day. If you think you want to catch more than 25 crappie, you should fish at a lake that is an exception to the 25 fish bag limit, such as Toledo Bend, where you are allowed to catch and retain a daily bag limit of 50 crappie.

Kris Bishop

Assistant Chief of Fisheries Enforcement

(512) 389-4630

[email protected]

I sent the following reply to her reply:

So what if we fish both lakes in the same day? Are we allowed to keep the daily bag limit from each lake?

I think the answer was given to you, already ........ a very polite NO. The statement "you have reached the 25 fish daily bag limit for that species and you cannot retain any more that day." is telling you that you have reached your DAILY LIMIT, for that DAY, for that SPECIES - so it wouldn't matter if you took them back to camp and went back and fished the same lake or 10 other lakes ... you would be in violation of the DAILY POSSESSION LIMIT if you caught more of that species of fish, regardless of where it came from. She even suggests that, if you want a higher daily limit ... fish a lake that has one, and is an exception to the State ruling. Sounds like a pretty solid no, to your question. The limit Statewide is 25/day/angler ... the 50/day/angler lake is the exception to that rule - but, you cannot "collectively" add the two limits together, just because you fished two different lakes ......... you're still in the same State, and still catching the same species, so you're obligated to use the lower limit number if you are fishing anywhere other than the "exception lake".
I think the limit laws are set that way for the very purpose of keeping people from doing just what you are questioning. Otherwise, what would keep people from limiting out on four different lakes in one day ... and keeping 100/day/angler ? (hypothetically) ............ cp