The Wildlife and Fisheries Commission passed a Notice of Intent (NOI) to establish recreational and commercial passive fishing gear marking, setting, and tending requirements for using saltwater yo-yos, trigger devices, trotlines, limb lines, jugs, and all other passive fishing devices containing a hook or hooks.
Today’s action will provide uniformity, where possible, between freshwater and saltwater passive gear rules and reduce the potential for litter/abandoned gear by increasing accountability to gear via proof of ownership.
Below is a summary of the existing and proposed saltwater passive hooked gear requirements:
- No more than 50 recreational yo-yos, or trigger devices, limb lines, or floating devices containing a hook or hooks shall be allowed per person.
- At any given time, no person shall set more than 150 hooks on all recreational trotlines, combined.
- Each yo-yo, trigger device, trotline, limb line, jug, or other passive fishing device containing a hook or hooks, whether recreational or commercial, shall be clearly tagged with the fishing license number of the owner or user. Information must be attached with a waterproof tag or written directly on the device in indelible ink.
- Each yo-yo, trigger device, trotline, limb line, jug, or other passive fishing device containing a hook or hooks, whether recreational or commercial, shall be rebaited at least once every 24 hours, and all fish and any other animal caught, entangled, ensnared, or hooked, shall be immediately removed from the device.
- Each yo-yo, trigger device, trotline, limb line, jug, or other passive fishing device containing a hook or hooks shall be removed from the waterbody immediately by the owner or user once the device is not being used, except for those devices that are attached to a privately owned pier, boathouse, seawall, or dock.
- Where allowed, objects sourced from another location used to anchor yo-yos, trigger devices, trotlines, limb lines, jugs, or other passive fishing devices containing a hook or hooks, whether recreational or commercial, which are driven into or attached to the lake bottom, a stump, tree, or the shoreline must be removed from the waterbody along with the passive devices by the user when not in use.
- No driven or attached objects, where allowed, used to attach yo-yos, trigger devices, trotlines, limb lines, jugs, or other passive fishing devices containing a hook or hooks, whether recreational or commercial, shall be larger than two inches by two inches or two inches in diameter. No metal object that is driven into or attached to the lake bottom, a stump, tree, or the shoreline shall be used to anchor a yo-yo, trigger device, trotline, limb line, jug, or other passive fishing device containing a hook or hooks. A metal object may be used to anchor yo-yos, trigger devices, trotlines, limb lines, jugs, or other passive fishing devices containing a hook or hooks if it is attached to a pier, boathouse, seawall, dock, or a retrievable anchor (that is not attached to the water bottom) as part of the typical construction of that structure or object.
Interested persons may submit comments relative to the proposed rule to Jason Adriance, Fisheries Division, Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, P.O. Box 98000, Baton Rouge, LA 70898-9000 or via email to jadriance@wlf.la.gov through July 31, 2024.
To view the NOI visit: https://www.wlf.louisiana.gov/assets/Resources/Publications/Commission_Action_Items/Saltwater-Passive-Hooked-Fishing-Gear-NOI-Clean-052024.pdf