Pond Boss Forums MANAGING AN EXISTING POND Evaluating and adjusting fish populations Fish poachers

I believe the neighbors have caught nearly all of my CC and likely many bass. 100 CC were initially stocked. Some probably flooded out but earlier this Spring over a dozen were actively feeding. Slowly fewer and fewer. Now only 1. I lost a lure a couple months ago and Sunday it was on the stump where I feed. Someone has deleted game camera pictures twice that I know of. Its really easy. Had a pic of 2 flashlights one night and a camera was left open with a boot print in front of it. Two people live next door and one of their trucks always has poles with bright orange bobbers. I don't live on the property and have to drive past the house when I leave. I suspect they jump the fence and fish at night. I will try moving the game camera again or get a locking case....I've tried talking to them about unrelated stuff but they claim not to speak English.

Understanding English or not , I would bet they understand "stay the $$!$!# out!"

That's too bad.

I would reach out, privately, to either the police or the fish/game warden and describe the problem, leaving out the actual location of the land. Once you know what law enforcement is willing to do, should you request aid, then I would be in an evidence gathering mode.

As I'm an absentee land owner too, I've found my most 'fruitful' evidence gathering trips have been at times when I wouldn't normally be at my pond, such as weekdays.

I agree with Sunil. I would call the TP&W and find out who the local game warden is. Meet with them, tell him what is going on, give them a key to the gate if it's locked and be prepared to prosecute the trespassers if they are caught. No sense in getting the law involved if there are no consequences.

Move the camera, make sure it uses a black flash so it isn't visible to humans at night AND put a locking bear box on it. Maybe put another black flash camera way high in a tree looking at the one that they can access, and have it set so their face is visible on the camera.

I've had a camera stolen that was in a locked box, attached to the tree with a 3/8" Python cable lock. It caught someone going down the driveway that didn't want to be ID'd is my guess. They cut the cable and took the whole mess. Now with the cellular camera options, stealing the card or deleting pictures won't do them much good if the pictures are already sent to your phone or computer.

I suspect Texas pondmeisters will run into more problems with poachers as the borders remain open. Not a political comment, just a realistic one. Many folks coming in view fish, including large bass, purely as food, plus they know the rules don't apply to them.

Yes, traffic stops on I20 with lots of people in the vehicle are becoming more frequent. The house's windows are blacked out and I wasnt sure it had power for a while. They do not have trash service and there is a large trash pile further down the county road. Neighbor behind me had someone driving a 4 wheeler on his place. Guess what, this house has one.

I agree with Sunil as well. Most every TPWD game warden has a district, and it's not a bad thing to know him/her by name. We know ours, and have his phone #.

I am on my property about 2 to 3 days a week. It had trespass signs, but my cameras picked up two people checking the ponds out and some of my equipment onsite. The next week installed high tensile electric fencing, flood light cameras, and put an attack llama on site. When I tell you the one person that was stupid enough to cross the fence, was harassed by the llama for 50 yards and knocked down at least 5 times. It was worth every penny.

I have the GWs info and we have been in touch a few times over the last several years. Just sent him a text. I'll let y'all know how this proceeds.

While this totally sucks, I'm really interested in how this plays out. It sounds like you're well ahead of the game at this point.

If these folks have no regard for the law, and law enforcement has their hands tied, I don't know how the land owner gets made whole.

GW just said to hide the cameras better. Camera is now closer to the pond up in a tree. I've only kept 2 CC so far and have been looking fwd to eating them more often. Last one was 3.5lbs.

I remember flying over that area back in the day. Sad to hear about the changes.

I'd leave the cameras where they are and set up another very well hidden camera that watches the other one. They won't be thinking to look for another camera.

ShortCut, Don't you have a mountain lion roaming those parts? When you going to set a 14" bear trap for it?

A few years ago I saw two guys walking across my property to fish an adjacent pond. I confronted them and all I could get is 'Habla' as a response. I had a deputy visit them and they seem to have 'hablaed' him because I haven't seen them since.

(Oooops saw you have already done this...yes please keep us in the loop)

Like esshup says I would reach out to this guy just to ask for suggestions and so it at least starts the process of his involvement. He will tell you how best to start gathering your evidence and about placing signage. Then he might stop by if he is in the area in next few weeks.

How many "No Trespass" signs do you currently have? If you havent already, take pics of fishing poles with bobbers in truck that also shows license plate parked bext door. If they own the house look up their name on the county CAD and see if Game Warden can run their names or address to see if they have fishing licenses.....if they rent get owners name and send a letter or if you have an attorney friend...an attorney letterhead always has impact...that can send a warning letter to landlord concerning what the tenants may be doing and it would be helpful if the landlord would warn his tenants.



Texas Park & Wildlife - Trespassing

Dudley, just let me know if you need my translation services.

Keep in mind if you intend to confront a criminal that there are no rules - be ready and use every advantage and precaution available.

Sunil speaks fluent Corona.

Does your neighbor live on his property? Do you have a good relationship with your neighbor?

If all else fails a good ass whopping goes a long way. Some poeple can only learn respect the hard way.

They live right next door in a old farmhouse on approximately 500ac. The landowners do not live there. These guys take care of the livestock and do some land maintenance.

I like the idea of leaving the old camera there and hiding another one. Do you have cell service there? If so, I also like the idea of investing in one with cellular. That way they are busted whether they find the camera or not.

Talked to sherrif at the gas pumps. He suggested an obvious camera and one with cell coverage as well. Said his place got fished out as well and that the neighbors are very likely the poachers. Said they just dont respect others property. He also asked for vehicle descriptions and said he was looking for those guys the other day.

Just Google translate some common Spanish phrases pertinent to your situation, and stick them on a small piece of paper in your wallet.

This is private property = Esta es propiedad privada.
You need to leave now = Tienes que irte ahora..
I will give you a free subscription to Pond Boss if you never return = Te daré una suscripción gratuita a Pond Boss si nunca regresas.

You know, normal things like that.

I'm trying to laugh but just can't. Been texting with GW. He understands now why I am furious. It's not just a stock tank for cattle. Have to get evidence though.

Just misdemeanors though if they are legal....

Even misdemeanors will cost them $$. And if there are other problems with them they could be on the hook for those. Here when caught they run them for wants/warrants and if anything else pops up, they are given free transportation.

Closed the gate as the GW pulled up. We had a good 30+ min discussion about lots of topics. He has worked many cases where CC have been fished out. I should've been a GW.

I am speculating that the GW did not tell you to Shoot, Shovel, and Shut Up?

Good luck, I hope you manage to get rid of your poachers. I suspect with the pond fished out they will quit coming.

However, in 2-3 years when you have a good supply of big catfish they will go back to poaching your pond.

Constant vigilance!

It's good that you met him, and hopefully he can do something about it.

I'd call a company that stocks fish and have them make a delivery of baitfish. The people might see the truck make a delivery and think "Oh boy, more fish for me!" and make more appearances, allowing more chances of catching them. .

I am plus one on multiple cameras pointing at the crappiest cheapest camera you can find as a decoy, but make it difficult to remove so that they will be occupied for a slightly longer period of time with a couple cameras with cell service pointed at them from a different vantage point, keeping in mind that night time pictures with black flash do not take the best pictures in the world, along with a sign, in spanish or otherwise that they are being recorded off site.
I just purchased some cuddelink cameras that have an actual strobe flash that is very apparent after dark but they take full flash pictures after dark, and then they send the picture to another camera, you dont even have to have cell service, you can have the home camera hidden to the point where they cant find it and it will have all the pictures on it. and with the flash they will know they will be seen on the camera. hang them in a high elevation so they would have to have some kind of climbing ladder to get to them, they would take multiple pictures before they could get to them, all recorded on another camera.
The fed catfish are like fish in a barrel as far as catching them, I am catching mine as easily as ever close to the feeding area. without a doubt they can clean a pond out quickly.
It could be some fun tho to think of ways to mess with them, I can imagine the frustration tho. Good Luck, keep us posted.

Good info, gehajake!

My poachers came in through the creek bottomland on our property. There is no cell coverage down there. I didn't know that the technology had advanced such that I could send pictures to a "home" camera hidden on higher ground.

I have also purchased two different cameras with invisible black flashes - that were dimly (but clearly) visible to me while testing in a dark room. They were in the $100-$150 price range, but I would have to pull my records to see the brand names.

Are there "true" invisible flash cameras available at reasonable prices? Any brand/model recommendations?

FishinRod,
Plus one on what gehajake said. I also have the Cuddeback Cuddelink system for security. The home camera is the only one that has to be in a location to get a cell signal(in my cabin). The other Cuddelink cameras do not use cellular to get pics back to the home camera. They use a rf signal to transmit the images to the home camera. I have not run an update in a while since we installed a 2x4 1/4 thick steel gate 16 foot wide with a Medeco lock. This has stopped my problems considering there is only one way in and out. I have the g models with black flash elevated and no one has seemed to bother them over the past 2 years. I will tell you that the images transmitted to the home camera sd card are 5 megapixel and the ones in the remote cameras are I think 24 megapixel for even crisper pictures. I do recommend them as long as you have one spot on your property where you do get a good cell signal for the home camera. I hope this helps!

The cuddelink cameras are not cheap but I really like mine, I have a couple at the entrance with full flash that send pics to a more obscure camera in a place hidden from sight,, lets just say, with the flash, at night they will definitely know they are under surveillance, people tend to get pretty nervous when flash bulbs are going off around them when they are trespassing. deer however dont seem to mind the flash at all.

Thanks again, Pond Bossers!

I have some giant cottonwoods on higher ground where they surround my tiny dragline ponds. I am pretty sure I can find a spot that has cell coverage AND can receive a good signal from the creek bottoms.

Spy Point cameras work great if you have adequate cell service. Poachers cannot delete the pictures as they are sent to your cell phone immediately after taking them. You can then share the image with your game warden. Done.