The Dock Line
Lake Conroe, Texas (936) 890-7234
By: Dean Fitzpatrick, State Game Warden
You know that feeling you get each year as winter ends and spring starts. For months we’ve been focused on hunting season, football season, the Holiday season, or just staying warm. We wait on that first warm spell to work in the yard, plant a garden, or barbecue. Many of us also get the urge to do spring cleaning. Well, for a game warden, one type of spring cleaning involves “trotline pulls”. Although we do this all year when we come across old or illegal trotlines and juglines, spring time presents a good time to clean large amounts of these out of the lake. There’s not much hunting going on, and temperatures are more pleasant than the dog days of summer.
A trotline is defined as a non-metallic main fishing line with more than five hooks attached and with each end attached to a fixture. Trotlines may not be used with: a mainline length exceeding 600 feet; hooks spaced less than 3 horizontal feet apart; metallic stakes; or the main fishing line and attached hooks and stagings placed above the water’s surface. Trotlines must also be used with a valid Gear Tag. Gear tags must be attached within three feet of the frst hook at each end of the trotline and are valid for 30 days after the date set out. A gear tag must be constructed of material as durable as the device to which it is attached. The gear tag must be legible, contain the name and address of the person using the device, and the date the device was set out. Properly marked buoys or floats qualify as valid gear tags. Also, there may not be more than 50 hooks on any one trotline. Finally, only nongame fish, channel catfish, blue catfish, and fathead catfish may be taken by trotline.
A jugline is defined as a fishing line with five or less hooks tied to a free-floating device. As with trotlines, juglines must be tagged with a valid gear tag and may only be used to take nongame fish, channel catfish, blue catfish, and fathead catfish. However, the gear tag on a jugline must be attached within six inches of the free-floating device. For non-commercial purposes the free-floating device must be white, and for commercial purposes, orange.
As with anything else, while pulling, handling, or fishing trotlines and juglines, you have to be careful. A slip here or a rocking boat there, and you’re looking at a nasty injury or worse. Both types of lines can pull you in the water if you get tangled, or they can embed a bacteria covered, sometimes rusty hook deep into a hand. Luckily, my dad taught me the tricks of handling a trotline at a young age. But even an experienced line handler can fall victim to the split second, high tension jerk of a strong trotline. For example, in April I conducted a trotline pull on the north end of the Lake Conroe. It consisted of eight game wardens from four counties. All have had significant experience either pulling or fishing trotlines. But, as with anything else, if you do something long enough the odds will catch up to you. They caught up to Brazos county game warden Chad “Captain Hook” Jones. While pulling an old line, Chad had it slip through his hands fast enough to hear it sliding across his skin. Well, the line slid fine, but the hook did not. He ended up with an extra large, extra sharp hook sticking through his hand. No big deal for Chad though, with the help of a couple others, the hook was removed. He did say however that pulling a large piece of barbed metal through your hand is not the most pleasant thing in the world.
A request to all those who fish trotlines or juglines, when you’re done, please remove your lines from the water. It creates a safety hazard when too many lines accumulate in the water, and those lines left abandoned or unattended will still catch fish even if not baited. Many fish get caught on abandoned lines and remain there indefinitely. These lines can be considered as illegal, litter, or refuse, all of which are prohibited. Thanks, and good fishing.
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The Dock Line - PO Box 1203 Willis, Texas 77378