Politics, Relegion, Catch and Release

[jtexas]

Re: Politics, Relegion, Catch and Release

If legal harvest by anglers is driving the need for stocking, then your state needs to review their bag/size limit regs. In my state, they stock stripers, hybrid stripers and redfish into lakes where those populations do not reproduce; also Florida strain largemouth bass, but only to improve the breeding stock of the locals.<br /><br />By the way, the "period" key is located two keys to the left of the right hand shift key. It it typically used at the end of a sentence. When properly used reading is not such a chore.

 

[muskyone]

Re: Politics, Relegion, Catch and Release

right back to why i don't post much

 

[Black Max]

Re: Politics, Relegion, Catch and Release

Bass Casserole stuffed with special Louisiana crawfish bisgue dressing-nothings better.<br />Omega 3-Fatty Acids are free and replenished by nature why not eat it. <br /><br />The catch and release campaign which was started by Ray Scott through his don't kill your catch campaign was done to limit the boat loads of fish that were pilled up on ice at early fishing tournaments. The rest of the nation considered that as the right thing to do, so soon tagged along. With that said as biologist we consider anglers as a management tool for our local waterways. Slot and minimum length limits are implimented to allow anglers to take fish they want from their trips and in the long run help with reaching the proper management objectives of that particular body of water.<br /><br /> Behind the levee of the Mississippi River there are 3 small oxbow ponds which are replenished every few years by the River's flood waters. I personally experimented with numerous management plans. I would catch hundreds of fish from each of the ponds and clip a small portion of their fin for identification. After around 300 days of fishing the pond without the replenishement from the river, some friends and I had recorded nearly 2100 bass that were caught and of these fish only around 170 were identified as being previously caught. Me and a selct few people are the only people that fish the ponds. With that said from a biological standpoint fish are fully capable of naturally sustaining themselves if the water quality and habitat is in good condition. <br /><br /> Recently we have tried to improve the habitat diversity of one of the ponds and have started keeping all bass under three pounds and those that are 7+. Habitat Diversity = population diversity. This year we have caught several bass over 7lbs, (which is considered a lunker in this part of Louisiana), and the overall trip/catch ratio has increased. The pond that we manage and keep the fish that we catch from has considerably better fishing than the ponds that have no fish being taken out of them. Anyway that is my take from my amazing fishing holes 10 seconds walk from my front door.

 

[Ron G]

Re: Politics, Relegion, Catch and Release

Thats a very good point black max.Even now B.A.S.S relizes that fish has to be kept by fisherman to ensure a healthy fishery,It all depeands on the lake your fishing if a lake has an over population of big ones then they need to be thined out and vice-versa.I love to eat bass and always will.<br /> Brownie there aint nothing wrong with keeping your bass.You do your part in protecting and in the conversation of our beloved species.

 

[cpj]

Re: Politics, Relegion, Catch and Release

Mount your fish with pride, man. You paid for the liscense dont feel bad about it. Personally, I dont fish for bass all that much anymore. And if I caught a wall hanger, it would be relased after I took some pictures. Im not against mounting fish, its just not what I would do. I dont know how much it costs, but however much it is, its money that I could spend on fishing equipment or boat gas or whatever. Same reason that I didnt have the nice 8 point buck mounted that I shot a few years ago. My huntin buddies were shocked that I wasnt going to have it mounted. I told them for the price of the mount, I could get another gun.Its all up to the individual to decide what he does with his quarry. Eat it, release it, mount it. Its your call. I do release the bass that I catch, because I dont really like the taste of them. Now crappie and walleye, well they get released into lake Crisco.

 

[gonefishie]

Re: Politics, Relegion, Catch and Release

Hey Black Max> I'll gives you ten bucks if you show me where those oxbows are.

 

[yoder]

Re: Politics, Relegion, Catch and Release

well heres my spin...first of all bass fishers do there best to keep all fish alive,we spend ton of money on sht just to let our catch go healthy and safe...(or are we just told that)anyway you cought it keep i, glass is an option,and your right my first will be stuffed not molded..as for you lucky peeps that live in ten pound waters go for i, they only need a few years to get there.but for us frozen brains a 10 pounder is and old bass ..now do we respect that and let it go cause it so old..or do we mount that bugger cause its so old, it may die in the next few days..oh well i say call that dude back ask him if he is a tax or a body shop!! fishing is my life..the rest is just an idea that can change at will...unless the wife finds out...

 

[KCLOST]

Re: Politics, Relegion, Catch and Release

Everyone has the correct answer on this one...<br /><br />There are some of us that just love to fish and will fish anywhere to catch as many as we can and hope for a big one that you can proudly display on the wall. That's fine, nothing wrong with that.<br /><br />Then there are some of us that like to fish and like to eat the fish. And you may be fishing for crappie and keep everyone, and along the way you pull in a 5-6 lbs bass on that same crappie pole. Onto the stringer it goes and it's fried up also with no thought of throwing it back or mounting it. Nothing wrong with that, but not what I would do.<br /><br />Then there are some of us that fish competitively, and everytime we are on the lake it is either during a tournament or prefishing for that tournament. If I catch a 10 pounder while prefishing, I'm going let that baby go, so maybe by some streak of luck I can catch it during the tournament when it will be realeased unharmed and hopefully healthy, with me having no choice in the matter.<br /><br />I'm in the later group, but when I was much younger I was in the 1st group... I've only mounted one fish in my life which was a 4 lb smallmouth caught on an Arkansas creek back when I was 12 years old. And back then almost everybody that fished that creek was in group two.<br /><br />And there are still a lot of those people out there. Hence all of our length limits, slot limits, qty. limits, even seasons in some cases..<br /><br />But there is nothing wrong with anyone in either group as long as you follow the regulations.

 

[ztim]

Re: Politics, Relegion, Catch and Release

The taxidermist that went balistic over not buying a plastic fish probably didn't know how to mount a real fish.<br /><br />I mounted one in my life. It had meaning.

 

[KCLOST]

Re: Politics, Relegion, Catch and Release

Exactly zt, and he probably started his business on the principle that it's wrong to mount a real fish. Only replicate...<br />Powerful, but right or wrong is not relevant, just an argument...

 

[brownies]

Re: Politics, Relegion, Catch and Release

It was just the double standard I think. <br /> Those that cry the loudest are the ones that hunt with a gun or will Gill hook a fish and toss it back in the water. (If it's not gonna make it, at least makes some use of it...eat it). <br /> If you want to convince me to let a trophy fish go...show me the photo of that 12pt buck (not the antlers on your wall).<br /> <br /> Aside from what I consider to be a "trophy" or a "crappie"...I do what I can to keep the fish alive.<br /> I think no differently about a persons actions if they are letting a 15lb bass go, or if they are cleaning a dozen 3lb bass. (I just hope they make use of them).<br /> I'll keep and clean about any crappie that is large enought to make it worth my time to fillet...and there's nothing I hate worse than having to throw a bag of fish out that somehow spoiled.<br /> Just really aggrivates me for somebody to impose their holy/popular opinion to me about the ethics of "catch and release" and it's never occurred to them to use a camera instead of gun in the deer woods.

 

[Queequeg]

Re: Politics, Relegion, Catch and Release

Brownies: you refer to spoiled fish. I have found that some fish spoil before they die if they are in a net or on a stringer in warm water. On the Gulf off Pensacola, I learned to ice all my fish immediately. I realized I could do this with a small cooler when we fish bluegill for the pan here in Michigan. I put busted ice in a plastic bag and drop it in the cooler along with any canned drinks, which can stay outside the bag. Any keeper 'gill or crappie goes straight into the ice bag. If you get home and have to wait until the next day, add some ice, double up that bag, and stick it in the fridge. In the morning your fish will still be as fresh as little daisies. Of course, the eyes should be bright and gills red. Time and again I have looked in people's paint bucket or keeper net to see a bunch of sickly fish that I wouldn't even touch, let alone clean. Sad it is.<br /><br />icky <br />--------------------------<br />Give a man a fish, and he'll feed his family. Teach him to fish and his family will always know where he is.

 

[Gone]

Re: Politics, Relegion, Catch and Release

Here's your horror story of the day.<br />I have a summer cottage on a lake in mid Michigan. I spoke to a year round resident yesterday. He told me of a neighbor that caught a 25" bass in the 3rd week of April.<br />Now, Michigan's bass season starts on May 30th. After much lobbying, it was modified to allow catch and release only starting May 1. This guy illegally caught and kept it in April and is going to have it mounted.<br /><br />How do you justify that one??

 

[Queequeg]

Re: Politics, Relegion, Catch and Release

Just think, CD. For the rest of his life, that guy is going to have that bass staring down at him. First, small anxieties. Next, bad dreams. Finally, guilt, and then madness. Just like in a Poe story. Tick, tick, tick. "The Telltale Hawg." <br /><br />---------------------<br />"Be sure to set the hook. Don't forget to take towel. Be careful crossing the street." -- RB

 

[budsbud66]

Re: Politics, Relegion, Catch and Release

This subject gets real sickening. Truth: The sportsman that keep fish, or fish tournaments are the ones that are responsable for the conservation of the fish.<br /><br />The people that complain are the weekend warriors that donate very little time or money into the sport. <br /><br />If your looking for someone to complain about, point your fingers towards commercial fisherman. They catch THOUSANDS and THOUSANDS of pounds of fish every day. And kill Thousands of fish that they accedently catch..

 

[jtexas]

Re: Politics, Relegion, Catch and Release

CD, it's poaching. How do you justify any crime? The temptation was too great, he just couldn't resist. That's my guess. But I did get an image from Poor Richard of a Stephen King movie, maybe the guy's running for governor or something and in the middle of a press conference suddenly you hear music..."Take me to the river...Throw me in the water" <br /><br />This year the State of Texas implemented a new category of state records for catch & release. It's length-only, requires a photo of the fish on a ruler and a witness to the live release.

 

[Gone]

Re: Politics, Relegion, Catch and Release

You're right JT & PR. I'll do what I can from my side to spread this guys new nickname "The Poacher". With only 70 properties, it should spread fast.

 

[anyfishlldo]

Re: Politics, Relegion, Catch and Release

Up here the release nazis are all about the lakers, no keeping lakers no matter what, and somewhat the kokanee. The fly fisherman were always pretty hardcore about releasing, and I agree in wild trout waters, but in stocker lakes it's stupid. <br /><br />I am a middle of the roader, I would never keep a "trophy" to mount, I'd try to take a picture, but I always want to bring something home for the dinner table, usually the mid-sized fish as most have mentioned. In the case of Browns, Cutbows and Rainbows anything in the mid to high teens is good to eat (the little stockers taste like crap because all they've eaten is the dog food they give 'em at the hatchery) because they will usually have the pinkish flesh indicative of a wild diet. Of course big lakers are just nasty, and kokanee are about the best eating freshwater fish out there, so I'll keep those over anything else.<br /><br />All that being said, come up to my boat and tell me what to do with my fish and you'll be getting a Rocky Mountain Trout Enema real quick.

 

[anyfishlldo]

Re: Politics, Relegion, Catch and Release

Just a quick addition to this:<br /><br />Friend of mine took his 8 yr old son out this weekend in the boat and the kid caught a 12" or so stocker rainbow and decided to keep it, couple hours later he catches another and my friend was going to release it and it was bleeding from the gills, unsalvageable (daily bag is 4 by the way). Some flyfisherman that had been eyeing them chewed him out at the dock later for being one of those people "ruining our fisheries". The poor kid was all upset that he had done something wrong and felt all guilty about the situation. Bunch of jerks.

 

[Texashotdog]

Re: Politics, Relegion, Catch and Release

I keep what I darn well want to, and eat what I keep. If I ever catch one that I want on the wall I will do that.