You guys sometimes get upset over the silliest things, in Illinois we have a 2 pole limit on every lake but about 3 that has a 3 pole limit and we make it just fine. Minnesota has a 1 pole limit and I think they catch a lot of fish up there. You have had it to good for to long or you think you have had it good. If the fish are biting 3 poles are to many and if there are no fish biting 3 poles are way to many. I think some guy would be upset if you could fish with dynamite and they switched it to where you could only use a half stick. Be glad that you have what you have and let the people that know what they are talking about take care of it. If it takes you an extra hour to catch your fish, so what its not a contest to see how fast you can catch them. Im sure that a lot of people on here complaining about they wont be able to catch as many if they go to 12 inch and 3 poles would look in their freezers they will find 2 year old fish if they haven't already thrown them away, so many not need to catch as many as what you think.