A risky experiment

[decal]

Haha. Well, they're certainly bad fin nippers in close quarters, but I had a few in a community tank for some time without problems. In Sugar Land they form huge, striking schools in the shallow neighborhood bayous. Something like a 40 breeder with 30 odd fish and a low male-to-female ratio would bring out the males' color well.

Very cool though. What kind of technique do you use around the jetties to catch stuff?

[Sea-agg09]

I have a really sturdy dip net with a metal frame and shaft. If you go at night you catch all sorts of stuff.

[soymilk]

kinda off topic but maybe yall would know. I know you're not keeping sheepshead, but whats the overall policy on keeping gamefish? Like a small red or flounder, or even sheepshead.

[decal]

As long as you catch them legally (rod & reel for gamefish, size limits apply) you're good to go. Non-gamefish can generally be taken by any legal method (dip nets, seines, etc).

[Sea-agg09]

Yeah, once you pull it out of the water, officially it doesn't matter what you do with them. As long as you pull them out legally (size and method), you can do whatever).

[Darbex]

Are y'all sure I thought you can't keep game fish unless you going to eat it because they don't want you dumping it in other areas. Like Reds can live in FW and TPWD actually drops them off in a few lakes in Texas for fishing season.

[Sea-agg09]

Yeah.... reds are another story. I'll have to look into it.

[decal]

It's illegal to move gamefish (actually any fish) between public waters without a permit, yes. The only fish you cannot possess alive are tilapia and grass carp. There's an old Q&A somewhere on the TP&W website where someone specifically asked about keeping wild caught fish in aquaria and the author confirmed what we're saying. It's probably only a matter of time before TP&W hoodwinks some state representative into sponsoring a bill that prohibits this, though.