OK, here's a real-time fishing scenario to test your knowledge of Texas fishing laws. Read it throughly before making a judgment call.

Situation: Let’s say you are crappie fishing around a bridge piling, standing timber or brush pile using a jig or live shiner for bait. You get a bite and set the hook on what feels like a decent size crappie.

As you are reeling the fish to the surface, something much larger grabs the crappie and eats it. After a lengthy battle, you are successful in landing what turns out to be a record class largemouth bass.

Is this a legal catch?

Answer: Let’s put it this way. Retain the bass and you could be ticketed if questioned by a game warden.

The reason?

Crappie are classified as “game fish.” It is illegal to use any kind of game fish as bait in Texas, in fresh or saltwater.

True. One might argue that the jig or minnow was the actual bait and that the initial goal was to target crappie, not to target crappie with the intent of hooking one and then feeding it to a big bass. However, the argument probably would not hold up in front of a game warden, or a records committee.

That is the reply Walter “Junior” Thomas of Alba received when he bounced the question off Texas Parks and Wildlife Department law enforcement officials earlier this fall. He issued the query mostly out curiosity, partly out of necessity.

Thomas is a 50-year-old angler who lives along the shores of Lake Fork. He fishes the lake for bass on a regular basis, but also spends a considerable amount of time soaking shiners and jigs for crappie.

Highway bridge crossings are known hot spots for Lake Fork crappie during the fall months. The bridges are supported by concrete pillars that are connected by underwater cross members. Swarms of crappie are prone to gather around the concrete structures, often in a suspended state.

Apparently, big bass have developed a sweet tooth for the succulent papermouths. Crappie fishermen have inadvertently reeled in some giants at Lake Fork over the years, including several Toyota ShareLunkers caught legally using spoons, jigs and minnows.

The current Texas state record, an 18.18-pounder, was caught on a live shiner by a crappie fisherman in January 1992.

“It is well-known around here that big bass love crappie,” Thomas said. “You hear about fishermen getting crappie ripped off their hooks or getting their lines broke by big bass pretty frequently. If you spend much time fishing for crappie around the bridges, sooner or later it is going to happen.”

Crappie fishermen generally rely on tackle that is inferior for targeting big bass. Thomas uses 8-pound line and a 4 1/2-foot ultra-light rod matched with a 1/16 ounce jig. Going after heavyweight bass with such a rig is akin to going to going bear hunting with a switch.

Thomas has had crappie robbed off his hook multiple times, but he has also been lucky enough to catch and release a number of the piscatorial thieves. Up until this fall, most had been in the 6-7 pound range.

“Over a three-week period in October I managed to land a couple of 10-pounders that ate crappie I was reeling in,” Thomas said.

“That’s what got me to thinking about it (the law). I was curious to learn what the ruling would be if a sure-nuff ShareLunker size bass grabbed hold of one these crappie and you were lucky enough to get it in. Would it be a legal fish?”

Thomas said he received a prompt e-mail reply from TPWD’s law enforcement division about the issue in early November. He really didn’t think much more about it until Thanksgiving morning, when he landed a whale of largemouth bass that was built like a football.

Thomas said he was crappie fishing around one of the Highway 515 bridges in 35 feet of water when he felt the subtle thump of a crappie eating his jig. He reeled the fish to within about 10 feet of the surface when something much bigger grabbed the fish and took off.

Realizing it was probably a giant bass, the angler kicked his trolling motor on high so he could follow the fish in open water and hopefully play it down before it broke the light line. He worked the fish close to the surface three times and finally managed to get a net under it roughly 40 minutes later. Amazingly, the bass was not even hooked.

“Once they grab these crappie they don’t want to let go,” Thomas said. “Sometimes they’ll spit it out, but this one didn’t. She wanted it bad.”

Thomas’ Rapala digital scales marked the bass at 15.69 pounds. It is the heaviest bass reported from Lake Fork since 2002 and may have tied as the No. 27 heaviest Texas bass of all-time had he been able turn it in as a legal catch and weigh it on certified scales.

“I already knew it was not a legal catch, so it didn’t take me long to figure out what I had to do,” Thomas said. “I was mainly concerned about the well being of the fish and getting it back in the water as quickly as possible. It was one of those bitter sweet deals, I’ll tell you that.”

The catch was bitter sweet in the sense that Thomas had to watch a fish swim away that would have won him $10,000 cash and a lucrative tackle package had it been caught legally.

Thomas is a pre-paid contestant in the 2009-10 Lake Fork Bounty Bonanza. The promotional program is run by the Lake Fork Area Chamber of Commerce.

Currently in its second year, the LFBB is offering cash rewards and merchandise in a variety of categories for big Lake Fork bass. Fish must be caught legally between Oct. 1, 2009 and April 30, 2010, to be eligible.

A new world record is worth $100,000 cash and a $2,000 tackle package, while a new state record fish carries a $50,000 bounty. A Top 10 bass could win you $25,000 and a $500 tackle package.

The contest offers three $10,000 prizes for fish that crack the current Top 50, which bottoms out at 15.31 pounds.

“It’s one thing to conquer a 10-pound bass and put it back in the water, but to catch a Top 50 fish worth $10,000 and kiss it goodbye — now that will put a knot in your stomach” Thomas said. “I was sick about it, but I really didn’t have a choice.”

Robert Goodrich has never caught a record-class largemouth, but he can feel Thomas’ pain. Goodrich is TPWD’s assistant chief of fisheries enforcement. The Austin-based game warden replied to Thomas’ query about the law pertaining the use of game fish for bait.

“The bottom line is you can’t use game fish for bait,” Goodrich said.

“It was ultimately a crappie that attracted that fish, not the artificial jig. I know his frustration. I took my son trout fishing once and he was reeling in a small one when a 32-incher came up and ate it. It was hard to do, but I had to make him release that fish.”