URGENT..........Alabama HB258 to allow gill nets in the Tennessee River and her lakes

Ok fishermen and friends......Time is short and your action is VERY important as there is a Bill before the Alabama Senate, HB 258, that will allow gill nets to be used in the Tennessee River and our awesome lake(actually all the lakes on the TN River in Alabama). If you remember when our crappie population was real low in the 70s and 80s it was due to the use of gill nets. Lots of other game fish also saw their numbers decline because of the nets used by commercial fishermen. I don't know the year but at some point the nets were made illegal to use and we've seen a very healthy increase in our crappie and bass populations. If the nets are allowed to return we'll see our crappie and bass populations decimated. BASS tournaments will see the impact and the money that they bring in will decrease. These commercial fishermen that use gill nets can't be monitored 24/7 and game fish are legally bought/sold in neighboring states even though they can't be sold, legally, in Alabama. They bring good money in these other states and this WILL happen if WE don't stop the bill from becoming law.
Lynn Greer from legislative District 2, Limestone/Lauderdale Counties sponsored HB258 and it passed the Alabama House. He does not have anybody's best interest at heart but his own although I have not yet found the money trail. We MUST stop it in the senate.
I have contacted Senator Schofield and Mayor Dollar in hopes that HB258 can be stopped.
If Bentley closes our state park and gill nets become legal to use in our lake, Guntersville will be changed in a very bad way.
I urge all of you to call and email Senator Schofield and Mayor Dollar and and the other mayors and politicians that represent areas on the TN River to make your opposition to HB258 known.
Contact Senator Schofield here...
http://www.legislature.state.al.us/aliswww/Senator.aspx…
And Mayor Dollar here....
The City of Guntersville, Alabama - Mayor & City Council
256-571-7560

Thank you for the info.I know we and I mean a lot fisherman would rip gill nets and toss them in the trash back in the 70's and 80's

It would be a crying shame.

I had hoped for more response to this post but as long as y'all contact the people that can stop HB258 the replies on here don't matter. In my gut though I feel like everybody is sitting back and depending on somebody else to carry the water. If so we only have ourselves to blame when catching a 12inch crappie becomes a thing of the past.

This is true. Scary stuff.

Guys we have them here at and Below Pickwick Dam. Do I like them? No but will not mess with there nets. Would not want anyone to screw with my boat. And its no different when someone is doing something legal and you mess up there nets.. I agree make it where they can't fish them. But don't mess with the mans way of making a living. As you may be the one that gets shot by an old man that feels your stealing his boat. Think how you would feel to come up on someone staling stuff out of your boat?
Hope you can stop it there in Al and hope we can stop it in Tn. But its legal here so they have the right to fish them for now.

ShilohRed,

Thanks for the input. I hope they don't change the law, but I agree with you. I've always told my kids that a man doesn't pick and choose which laws he follows. If the law passes and you don't like it, then help chance your reprehensive.

IF you need Email addresses I have all of the Alabama Senators I have written 3 emails already to each and every one I can find an email address.

to:

[email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected]

Thank you RickJohnson for stepping up. If we do nothing, nothing will be done.

I did see a giant shovel Bill Catfish in a gillnet over at the state park in Guntersville maybe it was a sturgeon ,I know they are all just about gone from this area.New Hope at the old Buddy Vanes bait store in the 70's with my dad listening commercial fisherman talking about selling game fish up in Indiana. When we would fish channel ledges we would from time to time lose a pole or break off several times while drifting channels running into nets.
If they would keep the nets in the main river channels that would be less of a problem.Now if you put gillnets in a place like Bellefont were Jack likes to fish and me too it would wipe that area out.

Years ago I commercial fished for a living, (salt water, gill nets ect.) I was always courteous to other fisherman, recreational or commercial. Now the I have moved far up on the hill and fish for fun in creeks and lakes I wouldn't like to see nets where I fish. One creek I fish has a young man that lives there and fishes hoop nets and gill nets in the area. When ever I fish that creek I always wonder if I may be fishing an area he has recently fished and it kinda takes the wind out of my sails. But Many areas are not fishable with nets because of the structure. It is a hard thing to choose a side having been on both. As long as it's legal I say live and let live. If it is illegal I sat keep it illegal and strictly enforce it. JMHO

We live in a capitalistic society where the dollar means more than a hobby. When a commercial fisherman fishes 7 days a week and you guys get to fish maybe 1 to 2 times a week a month or less, see how you like it when the fish disappear.Enjoy your boat ride and talk about the good ole days.I love to Golf so that is something I can fall back on,or join Ditch Basser in the backwaters with dozens more kayakers.No I would not mess with someones nets now, in my youth bad ideal to put your nets and creeks and lakes were the crappie hung out.
Everyone can fish Weiss were all nets are outlawed and join the hundreds of other crappie anglers vying for a crappie.

Crappie hold in the River Channels Prior to the spawn and after the spawn. I caught 10 today in 40 feet of water on the main river channel fish suspended at 20 feet. Dont think that the River channel will be a good place to fish after gill nets get set there. And it will decimate the Crappie fishery as they suspend over deep water far more of the time than they spend in back bays and shallow.

Good news in the Guntersville paper today IF it holds true. Senator Clay Schofield says he will kill the bill in the senate, either in committee or on the floor of the senate. He says he's been contacted by numerous people to kill it and not a single person has contacted him in support of it. He's gonna get LOTS of pressure since it passed the House 80-16 so we gotta keep the pressure on him. One representative said he voted for it because he was told the nets would be "deep" and that game fish don't stay in deep water. What a crock!

Thank you all who have stepped up but don't stop now. We gotta fight this till it's dead and then watch for it every legislative session on the future.

Our legislators need to be informed or educate themselves on the damage the nets will do in a small body of water like a river or lake. Also many commercial fisherman will fudge the law when they have the legal right to fish a specific mesh size by using a smaller mesh to catch more fish and also increasing their by catch which would be game fish.

This bill came up last year and did not get voted on. I emailed three of our reps from this area and only one emailed back. He said that he didn't know much about the bill but would research it. The last I heard from any of them. Has fish and game had input? This could be big for years to come and I sure hope more study has been done then what has been made public. I hope it is killed, why would it only be the Tennessee river?

Most fresh water in Alabama is legal to fish gill nets already using a 6 inch stretch mesh. There is a fairly new fishery, I think, starting up in alabama targeting spoonbill catfish for its row, (eggs), that I have heard is very highly priced. I have heard of a few commercial fisherman from here in mobile county that have obtained permits to fish rivers north of here in Alabama and even up in Tennessee for them during a short season. That may have something to do with the push to get more areas open to nets. This is just what I have heard but I can't say it for sure.

You also need to get people from other states to get in touch with these people also. It helped here in Tn to have every person we could get to send in emails.. Also one other thing to remember. Do not let the Senator or any Politition get in countrol of the rules. Here in Tn they now set the guidelines for TWRA. Sad part is one of them has sons that commercial fish. So he passed the laws his boys wanted. And now TWRA can tell them what will happen if they pass this. But There 2 tied up in greed to take there opion and use it.
I grew up in a family that was commercial fisherman. And for 10 years I tried to make a living doing it. And got out of it, as it was use Gill nets or not make money. I for one would not kill all the game fish that others did not care if died or not. So I got out of it.
Pete

I fish the Ohio River for catfish and the commercial fisherman up here have destroyed the Ohio River. They fish it for the trophy size catfish for paylakes. Guarantee they are foaming at the mouth to get this passed down there. Commercial fisherman get any where from $2-$5 a pound for these giant catfish. It is a modern day gold rush for them. If they pass this it will destroy your fishing because of the by catch these nets catch. Please shoot this bill down. Some of these fish take 20-30 years to grow to trophy size status. I come down to Wheeler a couple times a year to catch these monsters because they are not up here anymore do to commercial fishing. We have over 300 paylakes in my region and these paylakes are 1-2 acres and they put 1,000's of pounds of catfish in these puddles to die. The mortality rate of these fish in these ponds are only a few months and they have to keep stocking them over and over and that is why the upper Ohio River is wiped out. Ohio and West Virginia does not allow commercial fishing but Indiana and Kentucky does. Kentucky owns the majority of the Ohio River and issues the most cf license. Better kill this bill before it passes.