Texas fisherman's photo of enormous red drum goes viral, gets him arrested

A South Texas fisherman's photo of a successful catch landed him in trouble. (Courtesy TPWD) A South Texas fisherman's photo of a successful catch landed him in trouble. (Courtesy TPWD) Image 1 of / 6 Caption Close Texas fisherman's photo of enormous red drum goes viral, gets him arrested 1 / 6 Back to Gallery

No matter how private you think those Facebook photos might be, they have ways of getting seen by people you'd like to hide them from. Like the game warden.

South Texas fisherman Luis Castro, 30, learned this lesson the hard way when Texas Parks and Wildlife game wardens saw his photo of what would normally look like a prized haul of nine, oversize red drum.

Castro's brother posted the photo earlier this month and it went somewhat viral, until angry anglers and sportsmen reported it to game wardens.

"Anglers on several social media sites were posting negative comments, and a day after the picture was originally posted, it was removed," said Game Warden Maj. Alan Teague in a TPWD statement.

According to TPWD rules, the limit for red drum of this size is just three per day, and even then they can only be 20-28 inches in length. You can only keep one drum over that length, and it has to have a valid redfish tag attached.

Castro's nine oversized red drum, along with not having a saltwater fishing license, put him in hot water with authorities, who tracked him down and arrested him on Nov. 11. He was released post-arraignment and was in court Nov. 19.

He pleaded guilty to nine charges of possession of oversize red drum, one charge of no saltwater fishing license, and one charge of exceeding the possession limit for red drum in Willacy County court.

Willacy Justice of the Peace George Solice chastised Castro in court, reminding him of the toll his catch and those like it can take on the community.

“It was an obscene number of fish that you caught,” Solice said to Castro, according to TPWD records. “We are all living paycheck-to-paycheck but none of us are going hungry. It was completely unnecessary to take that many fish.”

Castro was fined $2,600 and an additional $2,645.91 will be assessed as part of the civil restitution, according to TPWD. He did not lose future rights to purchasing a fishing license, according to TPWD.