Thoughts...

Have sales of fishing NC licenses increased over the past 3,5,10,20 years?
Have the number of crappie fishermen increased over the past 3.5.10,20 years?


My gut tells me that the quantity of fishermen has remained somewhat constant over the past 10 years or so, but w/the leaps in technology and decline in secrecy (C.com), the average yield/fisherman has increased. In other words, I feel like there a somewhat steady number of crappie fisherman more concentrated in the areas where C.com says they are biting (the illusion of more fishermen), and using their toys, they are more successful in harvesting fish from those spots (an minor increase in harvest).

The threadfins are abundant again. And no matter how many fishermen are catching their limits, they are only catching they predators...leaving more prey for fewer predators. Everyone is right here. However, 3 years ago, when the prey declined and the remaining predators were concentrated into a few acres of water, I feel that was a time when fishermen keeping 20 fish each (myself included) may have had a negative impact on the Jordan Lake fishery in the short term. But even then it's a market, and economy of sorts...where supply decreased, demand moved somewhere else (Harris).


What if we (the C.com Jordan Lake crew) donated $$ to stock threadfins into Jordan Lake? How much would that cost? Perhaps Jessica Bauman could give us a $ amount? While I feel the number of crappie fisherman is somewhat steady, we can all agree that the C.com community has EXPLODED in the past few years. We have enough sway to pull our tax funded Wildlife representatives to us...and they are listening to us.
Jeremy