Lots of guys selling catfish

I took my family down to the Old Clarksville ramp earlier today and what a sight. There were TONS of boats putting in and pulling out as the lower dam was running wide open. That looks kind of scary going through that STRONG current seam as most boats were being pushed around like toothpicks in a bathtub as they were shooting through it.


I talked with several fisherman and they've been selling their catches to paylakes. One guy said he caught 40 fish the other day with one being a monster blue that was over 50 pounds. He acted like he sold them all to a paylake owner. This could be a very big problem if left unchecked.


Another person I talked with later on in the day said there's a big flathead hole down around the bridges and they caught thirty out of there recently and sold them. This is a problem folks because the money being paid out is pretty good money according to what they told me. He said one of the flatheads was 52lbs and another one was 35lbs. Crazy stuff indeed.

Is that legal?

If you would like to help, let your KDFWR or State representative know that you support regulations to protect these large catfish from over exploitation.


You can also voice your opinion in the public meeting on November 1st 2013 in frankfort Kentucky at The Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources
#1 Sportsman’s Lane
Frankfort, KY 40601
(502) 564-7109

[URL]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RP39Y5ka6Bk[/URL]

This is sickening and yes its going on bigtime. So some non fishing paylaker can go catch fish in a bath tub. Blue's taken from the Ohio will NOT do well in mudhole at all as they need moving water.

The department is failing miserably on this, its very sad....

I absolutely support limits on the big fish and can not believe Indiana and Kentucky have no regulations on this big fish. I saw it with my own two eyes yesterday, there's LOTS of anglers and I'm not talking licensed commercial guys either, just Joe Blows out there with rod and reels catching twenty or thirty fish a day and selling them for **** good money.

We absolutely need rules and regulations on trophy size fish and that goes for flatheads and blues mainly but I'm sure channel cats would need addressed too.

My favorite fish in the world is a redear sunfish and I'm tickled they put a limit on those big hog redear down at Barkley and Ky Lakes because there's to many idiots that will deplete the source.

Just imagine what a pro running 3 crews dropping 150 hoop nets at a time can remove in a single day. They're approx 300 commercial licenses sold annually in KY; many from out of state. When the orders aren't coming in from pay lakes they stock the fish markets for $0.50 per lb. No size fish are returned. Pay lakes pay $2-$3 per lb for live fish. When there's that much money to be made man will find a way.

It's a highly charged and political issue. The commercial fisherman are supported by a lobbiest in Evansville. We rec anglers are grass roots at best. Many of us think if they quit altogether tomorrow it's already to late. I fear the regs that will eventually come will do little to protect the fishery.

BTW - The stench of dumpsters full of dead fish at a local pay lake was so bad the guy bought a back hoe to dig a mass grave. They need to continually restock. But as long as everyone there sees the guy across the lake reel in a monster they'll be back tomorrow with another $20 for their shot...

[QUOTE=Lowerider;519958]Just imagine what a pro running 3 crews dropping 150 hoop nets at a time can remove in a single day. They're approx 300 commercial licenses sold annually in KY; many from out of state. When the orders aren't coming in from pay lakes they stock the fish markets for $0.50 per lb. No size fish are returned. Pay lakes pay $2-$3 per lb for live fish. When there's that much money to be made man will find a way.

It's a highly charged and political issue. The commercial fisherman are supported by a lobbiest in Evansville. We rec anglers are grass roots at best. Many of us think if they quit altogether tomorrow it's already to late. I fear the regs that will eventually come will do little to protect the fishery.

BTW - The stench of dumpsters full of dead fish at a local pay lake was so bad the guy bought a back hoe to dig a mass grave. They need to continually restock. But as long as everyone there sees the guy across the lake reel in a monster they'll be back tomorrow with another $20 for their shot...[/QUOTE]

Guys there is strength in numbers, what can we do? If Kentucky and Indiana is really geared towards a trophy fishery what the heck are they thinking....
I will help anyway I can, this kind of exploytation makes me sick...

First of all we need to understand what the draw of a paylake is all about in the first place. Let me qualify this by first saying that I'm NOT TAKING UP FOR PAYLAKE GUYS and GALS, but let's look at the draw. It's MUCH easier to fish a ten acre paylake, it's MUCH safer to fish a ten acre paylake and it's MUCH easier to catch a trophy catfish from a ten acre paylake. It's MUCH safer and easier to take youngsters fishing at a paylake versus the rough and tumble Ohio River.

There's also something called paylake jackpots that get pretty dang large, if you catch one of the tagged monsters, you win a big pile of cash. Again, I'm not for paylakes at all because of what they're doing to the Ohio River but it doesn't take a Rocket Scientist to figure out why pay lakes are a heavy draw...especially to those folks who live out in the country and simply can't get to big water catfish like the Ohio River or Cumberland or Tennessee Rivers.

I absolutely want to see regulations placed on these fish but to sit here and ignore the draw of a paylake is stupid. My biggest problem with a paylake is the fact that these fish seem to die in these lakes, they're out of their natural environment and that's awful.

If you're truly interested first educate yourself of the situation and the key players.

KDFWR Mission Statement:
To conserve and enhance fish and wildlife resources and provide opportunity for hunting, fishing, trapping, boating and other wildlife related activities.

Ron Brooks replaced Benjy Kinman as Fisheries Director in 2009 - he calls the shots. Listen to his comments at 2:30-2:40:
[url]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CQYJd-7iQb8[/url]

Find more here:
[url]http://www.in-fisherman.com/2012/12/12/catfishing-in-pay-lakes/[/url]
excerpts:
Ohio and West Virginia passed regulations allowing the harvest of only one blue or flathead catfish 35 inches and longer daily, while Kentucky has no limit. “Those regulations passed without strong data on catfish populations in the river,” Brooks says.

“The process for new regulations in Kentucky starts with approval by an appointed commission,” he says. “Once approved, the rules are voted on by the legislature after public hearings and other input. So unless you can prove a biological problem, there’s no impetus to push for a regulation on the fishery. Based on everything we have so far, nothing really indicates a biological problem with the catfish populations.”


Jason (Jay) Herrala is the state biologist currently in charge of the study; he can be reached here:
[email][email protected][/email]
let him know what you see and your thoughts

BTW, KDFWR has sent representatives to several tournaments this year as part of the study to observe. I know of at least 6. Not a single fish over 40 lbs was weighed in at any event. The last big event (Cabela's) out of Vevay had a big fish of 33 lbs. I only counted five fish over 25 lbs weighed in over the course of two days. The evidence is in.

Side note, there was a large tournament out of Crystal City MO this past weekend. It took 268 lbs in five fish to win. Winning team didn't even have big fish of event. Now that's the type of water I would spend my money and travel to to fish.

If you have little faith in the Dept - send your concerns to your state Rep:
[url]http://www.lrc.ky.gov/whoswho/hsedist.htm[/url]

Show up at the meeting on Nov 1st!

[quote]Pay lakes pay $2-$3 per lb for live fish[/quote]

Maybe I am missing something, but how can they afford to pay that much? I haven't been to a pay lake in a while, but don't most charge in the $12 range for someone to fish and let them keep about five fish for that price? If they pay anywhere near those prices to stock the fish, it seems like they would run themselves out of business in no time.

Maybe if they were having a big fish contest that particular lake would pay that for one big fish, but I can't imagine they pay that as a going rate to stock their fish. Plus wouldn't they would need a more reliable guaranteed source in order to meet the demands of their regular scheduled stocking?

I am not trying to belittle the problem this thread is bringing to everyone's attention, because obviously there is a problem and for whatever reasons it sounds like too many people are taking way too many fish. I am just trying to understand the numbers.

We have to look no further than the history of the Missouri river to find out what over harvest by CF will do. Catfish need regulations the same as the rest of sportfish that are high in demand before over harvest plain and simple. Why hasn't someone created a pay lake full of bighead and silver carp????they get huge,are great fighters and get air...Two birds,one stone.This is what our big blue population has to look forward to....dumpsters behind the paylakes. Sad

[QUOTE=riverrat12;519983]We have to look no further than the history of the Missouri river to find out what over harvest by CF will do. Catfish need regulations the same as the rest of sportfish that are high in demand before over harvest plain and simple. Why hasn't someone created a pay lake full of bighead and silver carp????they get huge,are great fighters and get air...Two birds,one stone.This is what our big blue population has to look forward to....dumpsters behind the paylakes. Sad[/QUOTE]

Sickening.......I am going to try my best to make that meeting if work will allow and I will send my two cents via e-mail and maybe even a written letter as well. Chuck, what was I saying last Friday evening, Scott said it almost verbatim. The KDFW DO NOT think there is a number problem therefore they aren't listening. Size doesn't matter to them, quantity does and I'm not even sure that matters that much anymore either.

I wonder if Peter Maloney would be interested in us representing this website as a group? Maybe someone from the department can come on here and listen to concerns, we could act as a group, I'm thinking outloud guys......

INPUT please??