Quote Originally Posted by Rambler24 View Post
I am pretty ignorant on what it takes to change regulations. What would be the process on how to go about getting something accomplished for us here in Tennessee and how many people would need to be onboard to have a chance at succeeding?
I have been working on this for sometime now.....as best as a person who is not a celebrity can work on it. What I mean by that is in TN TWRA puts a lot of stock in opinions of well known fisherman with TV personalities if you understand my meaning. There are many who fish different lakes 3-5 times a week and are a wealth of knowledge about what is going on in a fishery. But it is hard to be heard. TWRA will have a meeting if they are going to recommend changes to a lake...stream....whatever the case may be. The meeting will be public so all can go and have input. But I must tell you that the chance of TWRA doing anything different than what they plan to do, being changed, are slim and none. Notice I said they have a meeting to discuss their plans. They never have meetings open for discussions on what fisherman may see as a want and need of a particular body off water. In my fishing travels I have identified 4 bodies of waters that there should be a need for concern. I will give you my first hand experience of how this has gone. I know the shocking crews for these bodies of water....not personally but have seen them on the waters many times and had lengthy conversations. The bluegill in the Williamsport Lakes are heavily harvested.....20 per day per angler. I have had the biologist tell me many times that if he was a bluegill, and wanted to grow up big and strong the Williamsport Lakes are not the place to do it. Why?......because they never have a chance to get to that 9 and 10 inch mark. Those are very fertile waters there and before the lakes were turned over to the state they produced trophy bluegills on a regular basis. But due to the number of people fishing there since becoming state lakes, there are so many taken out the chance now of 9 and 10 inch fish are rare. There is another example of the lakes at Williamsport. The two main lakes are over stocked with crappie...as a matter of fact TWRA never stocked them with crappie. Some how they got put into the lakes. They are all black nose crappie.....in there by the thousands. TWRA does not want them in there. I have been told that should I catch a legal size fish would I please take everyone of them out that I can legally. This is a TWRA biologist telling me this as he knows they need to be gotten out of there or thinned out dramatically. Catches of 100 crappie a day are the norm...most just under 10 inches....which is the legal length fish. One may catch a limit of 15 legal fish but it would be an all day affair. TWRA does not want them in there yet they will not lower the restrictions....seems odd as other TWRA Lakes with same problem have had reduced length limits and higher creel limits. Do I know more than the biologist....the answer is no. But when the biologist are the one telling you to get the crappie out of there....and that too many bluegill are being harvested you have to ask yourself is he giving the same recommendations to his superiors who then decide what to do or not. Same as Laurel Hill Lake...known for years as trophy bluegill fishery....and to some extent still is...but is on the down hill slide with fewer and fewer trophies showing up. Too many people taking 20 fish a day out. I have been down there and stayed all day and know first hand that in the spring there are two to three thousand fish a day going out that gate for about a 2 month period. The lake is over 300 acres but it can't take that kind of pressure. The same situation exists at VFW Lake. Too much harvesting. I hear so many times from people that TWRA is not political.....nothing could be further from the truth. The commissioners are appointed by the governor....the speaker of the house...the speaker....or head of the senate. That's not political.....sure sounds political. So If you have the ear of a commissioner you might get somewhere...but even then I am not sure how far that would get you. Bluegill and crappie are looked at by so many as a food source. Doesn't come across too good with folks who harvest thousands of those specie each year....to tell them you are reducing it....and in their minds taking food off their table from what many consider to be an unlimited resource. The good news is it will happen.....the bad news is that it will take a long time. It will require the continual decline of the bodies of water that I have mentioned here and then when the very folks who are really the problem start complaining in mass someone will look into it. Up until about 3 years ago I could catch plenty of 9 inch bluegill at VFW...not anymore. Still good fishing and there are plenty of 7 and 8 inch Gills and because I use 2# test and UL rods I can have fun...but nothing close to what it was. There is no easy answer for those of us who would like to see these regs on bluegill changed. I have no problem with people keeping fish but there has to be good management policies in place. I was reluctant to post this as this topic usually starts bad blood and I hope that does not happen. I just will not participate in a flame war on a forum.

Regards