Have you never been fishing for one species and catch another? I know I have many many times. Gill nets are not selective in what they catch, they will catch whatever swims in them. Commercial fisherman have alot of water avaliable to them, all we ask is that they leave what little water we have left alone. I am not saying it isnt a honest way to make a living, I respect all hard working individuals. But again I believe these waters should be free from gill nets.
Here is a question and reply that I found on another forum asking a question about gill nets:
Originally Posted by
Jamey
Are gill nets even legal in Tennessee?! If so, there must've been some changes to the regs since I last checked them..
Some of the smaller shad and chubs I catch in my castnet end up getting 'gilled', but castnets and seines generally have mesh no larger than 3/8" or so. Gill-netted bait pretty much sucks, unless of course you like fishing with dead or dying bait.
I'm pretty sure they are legal, but only to commercial fisherman. This past fall I was fishing a local bass tourney and saw some guys pulling one in, it was full of dead bass and crappie, made me and my partner sick. I hope they do get outlawed cause they kill anything that swims into them.