Local Div. of Wildlife
in most folks states probably offer more fish info than one would think to ask. Colorado has a web site that is kept up to date with news and regulations for all wildlife issues. The fishing reg brochure published every year is broken down by stream and lake as to what is acceptable take. The mark of a sportsman v.s. someone who is more like a poacher with a license is the willingness to find out what is good for the wildlife and conducting themselves accordingly.
Good posts on this topic. I would expect no less from the people on this board than intellegent examination of the issue.
Releasing a few fish is meaningless.
I have gone fishing many times, on the shore and in fishing boats. I fish in salt water. I have hardly ever caught a fish. I see fisherman all along the shore around here (NYC). Occasionally I see some catch a fish. Probably 80% of the time noone or hardly anyone has caught anything.
On the boating trips I’ve gone on, most of the time most fisherman don’t land anything.
What I’m wondering is how releasing the few fish that do get occassionally caught by recreational fishermen is supposed to make a whit of difference when compared to the catch of commercial fisherman that are dragging huge nets through the ocean and scooping fish up by the ton?
Maybe you need to go with some of those
– Last Updated: Jun-06-06 1:06 AM EST –
guys in the $25,000 bass boats, or some catfishermen I know. Better yet, some of the salties. Its true, most of those doing the catching are fewer in number, but the quantity they can catch does affect the outcome. I've caught as many as 25 river bass out of Central Texas rivers in one day. Had I kept those fish, it would have had an impact on the fishery. On the other hand, its not unusual for me to catch 50 bluegill in a couple of hours and that has no impact on the 'gill fishery.
Consider this too; the fish being sought by commercial fishermen aren't usually the same as for sport fishermen. The dynamics of the fish populations may be different and what affects one species doesn't another. Fish limits sometimes get carved in stone and aren't changed when needed, but many are there for good reason. If not for the limits and catch and release, many fisheries would be wiped out or have few fish of any size.
Tombrooklyn, I’d love to trade a day of
fishing in British Columbia for a day of having you show me New York. It is hard for me to imagine living there. My experience is limited to one day many years ago doing the tourist things I could reach from the train station under Madison Square Garden (Penn Station?) like the World Trade Center, looking across the river (at Brooklyn?), etc. Plus last summer I had enough time between planes at Kennedy to take a taxi to a nearby shopping Mall. Wanted to take the subway to downtown but there just wasn’t time.
Would love to get you in on sockeye salmon when the run was really heavy, but there is no way to predict that. Either that or trout in a lake when they are feeding like pigs, or into schools of northern pike in Saskatchewan, but no way to predict those for sure either. The most consistent fishing is probably jigging for bottom fish off a boat in salt water.
You are due for a day of good fish catching.
nuisance fish
What are your thoughts on C&R of nuisance fish…for instance, i’m in the minneapolis area and we have what i’ve been told are bullhead catfish. I’m from Arkansas and these are nothing like the bullhead in the south. i’ve never seen one here more than 12" long. they are everywhere…literally. if i happen to catch one, i throw it back. Everywhere i’ve gone up here i will find several dead ones laying on the ground by the water. I asked someone once why they are always on the ground and the reply was that they are a nuisance. I don’t believe in letting any fish suffer that way and will risk my chances with just catching the dang thing again. Any thoughts?
There are at least three types of
bullheads and they are all supposed to be good eating. I return what I don’t want to eat, with the exeption of Tilapia which are great eating, but are know to eat bass eggs. The Texas wildlife folk have made it illegal to return them to the water without killing and gutting. I see dead carp and gar fish people have caught and discarded. To me, its a waste.
TomBrooklyn, you’ve got some
misconceptions about commercial fishing, it is not the rape rethoric presented by crisis mongering conservation groups. The commercial fishermen of America are the highest and most stringently regulated fishery in the world. Despite what these groups say, fish stocks are rebounding and most are very healthy biomasses. On my boat we spend 8 months of the year spearfishing, selectively harvesting only the desired species within the proper size limits, which means no bycatch. Also the current level of technology on “draggers” using sonar,pingers, remote cameras incorporated into computerized systems.target species are harvested with very little bycatch. Do not buy into the gloom and doomers. "without crisis , there is no funding. "my own personal catch record gets better every year.why? there is actually more fish!, in the southeast atlantic zone there are only 612 commercial boats, and millons of recreational users. the recreational sector catchs lands more fish just by sheer no#s. if you aren’t catching fish perhaps you need to adjust how, why, and where you’re fishing. nuff said