Thread: Why'd you cut my limblines?

I run my limblines commercially and don't have to have a name/phone# tag on every individual line. They require me to put 1 tag bought from AGFC per every 100 ft of line. I have about 250 or so out right now. I run them year round in the Arkansas River and some back water off the river and haven't had a line cut in years. 90% of the time, I bait them @ dark and go back and run them before work the next morning. I had an early meeting @ work the other morning and had to wait until that afternoon after work before I could run them.

The set that got cut was in about a quarter mile stretch in some back water off the river. I figure some ole boy pole fishing (no disrespect intended to pole fishing guys) was the culprit. None of my other sets in the main river or the other back water sets were cut and they had the amount of fish on them that they usually do. They cut them in just in that one area.

Originally Posted by LA yard dog

They require me to put 1 tag bought from AGFC per every 100 ft of line. I have about 250 or so out right now.

Are you running 250 -100' (multi-hook?) lines everyday, or are you running 250 hooks? If you are running 250 multi hooked lines, that can't happen for very long before you destroy the local fish populations. If running that many lines is within your local DNR's guidlines, I think they might want to update their impact studies, especially in your area. I have a good friend that is a commercial fisherman on the Mississippi River here for about 30 some odd years. I don't believe he has ever ran more than 25 lines, ever.

Tim,

I have 250 one hook limblines and a few hundred hooks on trotlines. I don't bait them all up every evening every time. Just kinda depends on how they're biting and how much bait I can catch.

Depending on the time of year and the current, I will also run 1000+ hooks on trotlines, a half dozen or so hoop nets and a few gill nets. I've also got money in over 100 nets that a couple of boats fish year round that catch 2500lbs+ of catfish and over 10,000lbs of rough fish weekly. I personally know of at least 3 other crews that do the same. At the last meeting @ the G&F I was at, there were over 20 guys, that I didn't know, that do the same. A lot of folks make a living for their families on the Arkansas, White, Cache, Saline and Ouchita Rivers and always will. My dad started fishing the river in the early 60's when only a handful of guys were doing it and I've been at it since '86 or '87.

---

it is always a small group of dummies that spoils it for a larger group who usually tend to do things the right way. I was fishing Lake conway this weekend and ran across 2 unmarked trot lines IN THE BOAT LANE!!