Thread: How Guides Do It

I want to help educate fishermen about the benefit of cover and the need for more than just "Hot Spots" or "Honey Holes"....it burns me when "Professional Commercial Fishermen" who should know and understand the fishery better than anyone, only wants to show someone how to hide cover for there own personal use, with no apparent benefit to the fishery....In regards to the OP, he could have answered a few questions and then we wouldn't be speculating...he is posting fine now, but since it became uncomfortable BUT CIVIL, he has decided not to clarify....this leads me to believe that his only intention in putting out cover was to benefit himself!

So why would I have a Problem with that?
A Professional Commercial fishes alot more than most of us...because that is their job! They can go out several times a day with several different customers and take limits each time...some States cap this, some don't. Normally they are fishing on Public Lakes and they take more than their share...some States regulate this, some do not!

Take a lake that has 100 million Crappie, say half are female (some are young fish, some old, etc)...say that half successfully spawn, is that 25 million spawn...each lays 20,000 eggs....most reports say survival of eggs to legal adults is 1% OR LESS...so that leaves 25,000,000 x 200 eggs surviving per fish...this equals fish A YEAR surviving to legal size to be caught, etc. so now you have your original 100 mil plus 50 mil more a year in replacements
Take 1 commercial Fisherman, who fishes 200 times a year (I fished 227 times 1 year here in Ohio), say he only has 1 customer a day, and catches a limit of 30 a day...That is 6000 fish....but he actually catches 90 a day to keep those largest 30, and of those other 60 they have a 20% mortality, which is 12 more a day, which is another 2400...now you're up to 8400 fish for 1 guy....and this is a low ball number!
If you have 100 fishermen (Commercial Fishermen, etc, guys who fish and keep alot) that's 840,000 fish taken out in 1 year....How many lakes only have 100 fishermen....1000 fishermen can take 8,400,000 a year....and it goes up from there....What if Commercials, Retirees, etc take more....we all need to give back.

THIS IS ONLY AN EXAMPLE TO ILLUSTRATE WHAT CAN HAPPEN IF WE DO NOT HELP OUR LAKES....if we continue to take, WILL ALL THE PRESSURE, ETC, our lake will be running in DEFICITS.

Everyone will say my numbers are off or wrong to validate their way of thinking, if my Math is off, all I can say was it is early....but I did not include any other mortality of adult fish...such as birds, animals, pollution, weather, draw-downs, heat/lack of oxygen, poaching, etc!

MY POINT IS...if you can take/make the time to add cover to build yourself a Honey Hole...put some cover out for the fish also, don't fish it, and just let it work it's magic and help the fishery!