No Carping About Fishing Rules

With Texas Parks & Wildlife considering setting a one-fish-a-day limit on common carp 33 inches and longer on Lady Bird Lake, the rod fishing community seems to be giving the plan a thumbs up. David Moore, co-founder of the American Carp Society, was in Austin over Easter weekend: he's a keen fisherman, with a plan to catch a 30 pounder in every state of the Lower 48. ("I've knocked out six of them," he said.) Catch much?

"One little fifteen pounder," said Moore. But his real interest is in the rule change, which he doesn't just back, but would like to see go further, down to 24 inches. "You want to protect the big ones you have now," he said, especially since so much of the pleasure of carp fishing is re-catches. "There's several big fish I've caught more than once," he noted.

The TPWD plan is to get more interest in Lady Bird Lake carp as a trophy fish. The ACS backs this, since the lake has traditionally had a stock of big fish (including the 43-pound state record catch set by Al St. Cyr in 2006.) "Within the international carp community, it's getting pretty good reputation," said Moore. "There's been a few English teams, and a Danish guy a few months ago."

In fact, the only group that seems to be objecting are the bow-and-arrow fishers. In part that's because, Moore said, they kill the fish every time. (An arrow through the gills will do that.) "If you're gonna eat 'em that's one thing, but they don't," he said. "You can't really-and-catch and release with a bow and arrow."