Texas saltwater tags: red drum, spotted seatrout, bonus tags and gear tags

On the Texas coast two fish come with their own paperwork: red drum and spotted seatrout. Most days you release them or keep fish inside the legal length, and no tag is involved. The tag matters on the day you decide to keep a fish TPWD treats as oversized, and it has to be used right then, not when you get home.

General information from the TPWD pages listed at the bottom, read on the date shown. It is not legal advice. Prices and rules change with each license year (September 1 to August 31), so check TPWD or the checkout page before you buy.

What you already have

TPWD issues a red drum tag and a spotted seatrout tag at no extra charge with each saltwater fishing endorsement. Any package that contains that endorsement carries them: the Saltwater package, the All-Water package, the lifetime combination and the lifetime fishing license. The One-Day All-Water license comes with a red drum tag. If you hold only a freshwater package, you have no saltwater tags.

TPWD's endorsements page says the red drum tag is required to take one red drum longer than 28 inches per license year, and the spotted seatrout tag is required to take one spotted seatrout longer than 28 inches per license year. One tag, one fish, for the license year that runs September 1 to August 31. The length limits, bag limits and the slot a fish must fall in change, so read the current ones in the Outdoor Annual before you keep anything.

Tags you can add

• Bonus Red Drum Tag: $3, for one additional red drum longer than 28 inches in a license year. TPWD allows one per angler per license year, and sells it online or at any license sales location.
• Exempt Angler Red Drum Tag and Exempt Angler Spotted Seatrout Tag: $3 each, for an angler who does not need a fishing license but wants to keep one of these fish. A license-exempt angler has no saltwater endorsement, so there is no tag with it.
• Digital license holders with a seatrout tag can also buy a bonus tag for one extra seatrout in the license year, which TPWD describes on its digital tagging page.

Tagging a fish on a paper license

The moment you decide to keep the fish, not at the ramp, tear the tag off the license and use the whole tag. Fill in every blank on the front. Cut out the day and the month so they show which date it was caught. Then attach it with string or wire around the narrowest part of the tail, just ahead of the tail fin, where it will stay on the fish.

Tagging a fish on a digital license

A digital license holder gets no printed license or tags. Digital tags live in the Texas Hunt & Fish app, and TPWD says that oversized red drum must be tagged there. Connect your license in the app before you leave home, because the tags have to be on your phone even where there is no signal. When you keep the fish, execute the tag in the app right away. For red drum and spotted seatrout, TPWD says no physical document has to be attached to the fish: the completed harvest report in the app is the tag.

Because the tag lives on the phone, a dead battery is a real problem. TPWD tells digital license holders to keep the device charged in the field.

Gear tags are a different thing

The tags above are for fish. Some fishing gear needs its own tag, and the rules sit on TPWD's legal devices page:

• Saltwater trotlines and sail lines: a Saltwater Trotline Tag for each 300 feet of mainline or part of it, $5, bought at a TPWD coastal law enforcement office. A trotline in salt water also carries a gear tag near each end. Each angler may use one trotline.
• Crab traps: a gear tag valid for 10 days, attached within 6 inches of the buoy or pier the trap is tied to. TPWD allows 6 traps at a time for non-commercial use.
• Bait-shrimp trawls: an Individual Bait-shrimp Trawl Tag, $37, from a TPWD coastal law enforcement office, required for trawls used to take shrimp under a recreational license.
• Limited Public Use Permit: $12, needed to fish on public hunting land areas. It is not a coastal permit, but TPWD lists it with the tags.

Fees are what TPWD listed on the date below and can change each license year.

On TexCast

• Check which license you need
• Which license package to buy
• Visiting Texas to fish
• Find coastal waters

For more reading, we suggest these articles

• TPWD: Fishing Endorsements, Tags & Permits (checked 2026-10-18)
• TPWD: Tagging Red Drum & Spotted Seatrout (checked 2026-10-18)
• TPWD: Digital Licenses and Tagging (checked 2026-10-18)
• TPWD: Legal Devices, Methods & Restrictions (valid Sep. 1, 2026 through Aug. 31, 2027) (checked 2026-10-18)

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