KY F&W fisheries meeting

They started off with the crappie figures and forecasts. It appears 2009 had a very good spawn and those fish are now reaching 10 inches or more. They are forecasting good fishing with a downturn to happen in a few years due to poor spawns (can you say TVA playing games with water levels) recently. They noted they are not prone to change any regulations concerning size or creel limits in a time of plenty. 2 changes that may be proposed in times of poor fish numbers will be 11 inch size limit and 15 fish creel limit. Pole limits were not discussed.

Bass fishing continues to be great and should be in the future.

Trophy catfish on the Ohio River were discussed at length and there will be new creel limits imposed on those to protect the largest catfish. Seems the paylakes and catfish tournaments may be having an adverse effect on those. Paylakes are buying large numbers of large catfish to stock their lakes.

The Asian carp issues were discussed at length. There are soon going to be 3 plants in the KY/Barkley areas that are buying and processing Asian carp. If they can keep the price for those above 15 cents per pound, there will be a huge amount of netting pressure put on the carp for that market. Seems KY is the current leader in research and fishing for those. Other states are starting to take KY's lead and trying to make a commercial market for them. From the numbers of commercial fishermen there, I would say there is a huge desire to get out on the lakes and rivers and do their best to catch all they can haul and sell. Nets in a lot of our traditional fishing areas are something we will all take some time to get used to. All of us working together will get it done.

One thing they did discuss was one of the plants is working on a new way to process the carp that will make essentially a boneless fish product similar to a flaked meat for the grocery . I don't know about you guys but I would have to try such a product in several different methods of cooking before I made a negative judgement on such a product. I have ate the carp a few times and was very impressed with the taste and texture of it.

The meeting was well attended with several from Crappie.com there. Hopefully those who attended will weigh in on this thread.

Thank you for attending, Doug. I was going to go but I'm up here in Utica. The catfish problem is fairly serious up here around Louisville. I've seen some quite sophisticated live wells in truck beds to make sure they can hold and keep alive 40-60 pound flats and blues to endure the ride to area pay lakes.

I talked with one younger guy last summer at the Falls of the Ohio that had 5 catfish worth hundreds of dollars that he was taking to a pay lake about 50 miles up in Indiana. They'll wipe out the trophy populations with the kind of money I'm hearing being thrown around.

Sounds like the crappie fishing should be good down at LBL, that's always great to hear.

Thanks for the report Doug.

Thanks for the information mrdux, hope they keep up the great work they are doing.

Thanks a lot for the info Doug!

I was impressed with the weight totals projected for removal of the Asian Carp once these plants are up in running. They estimated 150 to 200,000 lbs daily. I'm sure hoping that will hold true and may be enough to at least keep them in check.

Nice report Doug and thanks for all the effort in getting it down to the fishermans level. I always thought the carp would make good fake crab. I am surprised no one is fishing for these. In Europe carp fishing is a multi billion dollar fishing industry. I fished with a guy from Thailand a few years back and we caught some big Asian carp and he about freaked out when I let a 20 pounder go. Funny as heck. We kept the next one for him to eat. Depends on where your from as to what is good to eat. LOL I have already had some net issues and they need to work on their system so we can all get along. 5 different floating nets bank to bank on a foggy morning is dangerous and a major safety hazard for a lot of folks who play on the water. I know we need to get these fish out but we also need some good judgment of the commercial fisherman and KDFW setting these nets. We need some well marked lanes to go through and some education for everyone getting on the lakes. They are suppose to be sitting with the nets but I don't see how this does any good when I swing into a bay running 60 mph and all of a sudden there are these nets and the guy sits there just watching me get tangled up in his net. Been there done that and the commercial fisherman tells me not to sweat it. I wonder how much liability insurance these guys have to have. Zero according to the regulations that I read. Off my stump and back to thinking of spring weather. Thanks Doug.

Thanks guys. I got to sit between Yodibuzz and badbrad with Buffalo13 next to Brad. There would have been a tag-team if anybody had dissed Crappie.com.

I will have to say that F&W was well represented there and each one I spoke to or saw speaking to others in attendance was there to help us as fishermen. Lots of times they are seen as just somebody who wants to write tickets to unsuspecting fishermen. That could not be farther for the truth.

I totally agree they want us all to catch fish each time we go.Our F&W really seems to address fishing problems much quicker than most states.
We should all be proud of them, it took a lot of effort on there part to come here last night with that many folks from different departments.

Couldn't agree more Doug. KDFWR officers, for the most part, are interested in making Kentucky's hunting and fishing the best there is. If you want to get an understanding of what it is they do, make a call to your local KDFWR office and ask if you can stop and shoot the breeze with them. There are two fellas, Eric Cummings, district biologist, and Phil Matlock, whom I think highly of and will go out of my way to help these guys in any way I can.

Thanks, Dux ... appreciate the follow-up !!

As long as we have Crappie.com members like BadBrad & PRister, at least we know our concerns are not going to fall on deaf ears.

... cp :kewl

Thanks for posting a recap for us to read.

I was impressed with the efforts they talked about thanks Doug for posting the report. Like he said we need to get behind our commercial fishermen's efforts to help with this problem