Release, I'd participate if I lived closer. One thing I can say bout Barnett. We already got to much structure. LOL
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Release, I'd participate if I lived closer. One thing I can say bout Barnett. We already got to much structure. LOL
It may be old fashioned grumpy old people like myself versus a more recent trend in fishing on the topic of single pole or trolling. I get grumpy when I see the guys putting their catfish boxes out as well instead of sticking their hand up in a hole on the river bank like I know all the old codgers use to do.
Sounds like a bunch of people makin excuses for not catchin keepers. Just like last year when there was a fifty page thread about knockin down the size limit to 10". Then people started gettin on the keepers and you didn't hear anymore about it.
Let them set a "trollin season". And then we'll see how the single pole guys feel when every Tom Dick and Harry is jig fishin the same stuff they are. :Doh: A season would do nothing more than turn trollers into jiggers when "trollin season" is closed. People are gonna go fishin period no matter what's in "season".
You know, listening to that biologist last night, he never said anything about the fishing pressure hurting the fishing. He blamed it on poor spawn due to water levels. We'd probably all get along better if we stopped creating problems that don't exist.
The fishing pressure is undeniably much higher than ever, if you read the article I posted above, the numbers are there to prove it. That was from 2006 but I have no doubt that the trend has continued since then. The increased fishing pressure was the impetus for the state to implement the 12" size limits, the quote from 2006 was this:Quote:
Originally Posted by ATM
**Keith Meals, MDWFP fisheries biologist notes, "As fishing pressure increases, the big fish will disappear without additional measures to keep some fish in the lake long enough to get that old. We're not trying to create a trophy crappie fishery, we're trying to maintain one."
That is the same biologist who spoke at the meeting last night.
I think the point of the 12" rule, or reducing the creel limit as they are now, is a mgmt tool to try to protect the resource against the fishing pressure. No doubt, the low water for the absent year class is the biggest reason for the lack of keepers last year, but in the big picture with the pressure we put on the lakes, you need either a high size limit to protect the fish, or a low creel limit, we can't have our cake and eat it too :)
I just love to fish. Even if they made crappie fishing catch and release only, I'd still fish for them. Anyone who fished with me last year can tell you that I didn't take nary a fillet across state lines all last year.
Thanks for the report. The regs will change from time to time. It has been going on as long as I have been fishing the corp lakes. Keith Meals is a great person, and knows his stuff!
Every fish I catch was tricked by my hand presenting a jig. Every fish I catch I FELT hit it. I am addicted to the thump and really don't care if I could fill a truck up with them trolling. I would use Yoyo's if it was about numbers. Not that it makes a hill of beans to any of you guys but when u ask if a fish was snagged and the man says yes, most people loose interest. I am the same way with trolling, when I asked how he caught them and he says trolling, I loose interest.
Dont have to fillet em to sell em from a whilpool dryer.Quote:
Originally Posted by Speck
How about we close crappie fishing during the 2 months the spawn is at its peak and let them do their thing. Personally I don't think it takes a whole lot of skill to drop a jig in front of an aggressive fish that's guarding its nest and get a bite. It takes skill to find them consistently in the middle of 50,000 acres after they leave the edges. Everyone knows the spawning season is their most vulnerable time that's why every goober that can scrap up gas money and a boat will be there. Now wasn't that a silly idea! It's about as silly as single polers gipeing about trollers. We all have our preferred ways to catch these fish, abide by the law and catch'um your way and I will catch'um mine. We kept 45 fish last weekend but I bet we caught 75 legal size fish. How many of you single polers are willing to do that!