‘Shark Boxes,’ Limits, and the Law

Just got off the telephone with TPWD's Capt. Rex Mayes out of the Victoria Enforcement Office; our discussion centered mostly on the devices coastal anglers are inventing and using to keep the sharks in West Matagorda Bay off their stringers. Now as everybody should know there are sharks everywhere, not just in West Matty; and if you drag a stringer of juicy trout in front a shark in any bay he'll likely take a bite. Who could blame him?

This whole deal started with Bink Grimes' feature story last month and a phone conversation with Kevin Cochran. Kev was curious how daily bag limit regs, possessions limit regs, etc. might apply to the use of these devices, especially if several anglers were sharing one.

Let me back up just a bit, if you missed Bink's piece in the August issue of this magazine; what we're talking about are plastic buckets, laundry baskets, ice chests and similar containers rigged to become floating "fish baskets" the sharks will not attack, (or at least haven't yet to my knowledge.) Necessity being the catalyst of much creativity, anglers who ply West Matty's waters on a consistent basis this time of year had to come up with something unless they were doing 100% C&R or they really enjoyed having sharks raid their stringers.

According to Capt. Rex, two anglers with a single fish containment device will likely set off an alarm with any game warden. Rex strongly encouraged that to insure full compliance with the law, each angler should have his/her fish in their own individual container, especially whenever the contents might exceed the daily limit of any species for one angler.

Thinking this thing through, it occurred to me that if these devices are going to become commonplace, we should make an effort to remind everybody what the law has to say about daily bag limits, possession limits, etc.

-First, if two or more people are fishing together, their collective limit is calculated as the individual daily bag limit times the number of individuals fishing.

-Second, no person shall exceed their daily bag limit. I have heard more reports like this than I can remember, "We got our limit of reds. Stephen got in there and snagged five nice ones before I figured it out. I only caught one but it was the biggest." Guess what Stephen broke the law!

-Let's say a guide is having a slow day and decides to help his clients box a few. He has no right under the law to retain on his own personal limit; every fish he contributes becomes part of somebody else's limit. The guide may not contribute more than a single daily bag limit of any species.

-A guide is wading with his clients and placing their fish in a single shark box that he keeps in his possession. They make their way a goodly distance from the boat, they are nearly limited out and the box won't hold another fish, the guide decides he'll go back to the boat and dump them in the ice chest and bring the boat a little closer. If a game warden shows up he'll need to do some really good explaining; and might still get a ticket. Who caught what? Was anybody over their limit? How many did he put in the box? Why is he in possession of more than a legal limit, even if he is only innocently (in his eyes) taking them back to the boat?

Yes, there are often mitigating circumstances, and there is always presentation of your story and the warden's interpretation that might go your way but in the end, knowledge of the law and compliance are your responsibility. I would suggest discussing these topics with your local game warden before you find yourself in the middle of an expensive and embarrassing mistake.

Good fishing and pray for an uneventful hurricane season!