
Originally Posted by
CatchumDeep
I did not read all the way thru this thread so forgive me if this has already been brought out. I spend quite a bit of time at Sardis. My father-in-law lives there and we spend lots of weekends visiting him. I talk with the locals quite a bit, people at church down there, neighbors, local fishermen at coffee shop, etc. I'm hearing that there is a significant movement of local folks who would like very much to have trolling "by the outsiders" banned on the lake. There's one guy who lives at Sardis leading the charge and others who feel that the Out-of-State folks are taking out too mny fish with "their spider rig trolling" (they say). I also hear from them that the Out-of-Staters load up their boats with two or three guys so they can take the maximum out of the lake on every trip. They say that they were vocal at the meetings at enid and at holiday lodge and that their voices were heard. They feel that they got their way on the new regs at Sardis and want to see the other 4 go this way also.
I hear a lot that they live on the lake and went about a year without being able to catch many fish that were legal. Of course, they blame the out-of-staters for this also along with the internet and all of the picture posting that "bring the crowds". Last weekend, they pointed to the 100+ boats on the lower lake on Friday with most of the license plates showing Missouri, Illinois, Arkansas and Tennessee. They said the fish have been biting for the last month at Sardis and they're seeing 150-200 boats on nice days which is true from anyone's observations. They think their lake is getting killed again this spring. The very ones who want to see the lake limited to singlepoling in the Spring love to pull crankbaits in the summer sice they don't see this as "trolling".
I don't know whether we need to be worried or not. I'm one of the ones who likes to go there and pick up a limit with my spider rig setup. I'd hate to see that practice banned on the Big Four.
I personally was confronted on the Lower Lake in February by a single-poling local. He accused me of cleaning out Arkabutla last summer with "my 5 trolling poles" and now trying to do the same at Sardis. After I assured him that I had indeed personally caught all of the fish at butla last summer and left not a one for anyone else, he went away fuming. Wasn't thinking at the time and realized later that I'm glad he didn't have a gun!
These locals you speak of are probably the ones that ride four-wheelers into creeks and ditches, wade out and keep everything they catch.. They never see a warden because they don't use a ramp crawling with green jeans.. I saw it daily at Enid last year..
Strike King Prostaff
Single pole Mafia