New Fishing Laws: Before you bait a hook...before you cast a 
line, fish for an Outdoor Annual. That's coming up on Passport To Texas.


Passport to Texas from Texas Parks and Wildlife. 

When it comes to excuses as to why people disobey fishing laws, 
Bill Robinson has heard it all. 

 
Oh yeah, there are a lot of them that say "I didn't know" and a lot of them 
will tell you "I didn't know I had to have a fishing license." A fishing license 
is one of the oldest license laws that we have...but it's always "I didn't know." 
And in some cases that might be true if it's a person from out of state and 
they aren't familiar with the laws, but here again, particularly if they are from 
out of state and they come to Texas to fish they need to find out what the 
local laws are."


As the Chief of Fisheries Enforcement at Texas Parks and Wildlife, he 
says the easiest way to learn about fishing regulations in the state is to 
simply pick up a free Outdoor Annual. Available wherever licenses are 
sold.

 
"We have bag limits, and how many you can possess and what license is 
required. Because of the many different types of lakes and fish and the 
areas of the state, whether you are in border waters or in a lake that borders 
between states, a person that knows that they are going to Lake Texoma 
for instance, can get this guide and get everything that pertains to Lake 
Texoma, that way they know all of the regulations. They will know just as 
much as a game warden does as to what is legal and what is not legal 
in any body of water." 


To learn more about fishing laws, come to passporttotexas.org. 
For Texas Parks and Wildlife, I'm Joel Block.