A plead to the KDFWR

[cumberlandguy1]

Hey...18" isn't big enough to keep??? If you want a true trophy fishery, make the limit 27". Then the lake will be FULL of smallmouth for you to catch and throw back. My main question would be why would anyone even bother to fish for bass in a lake where there are a ton of stripers that are on average MUCH bigger than any bass is ever going to get in the same lake? I throw ALL of those "trash" brown fish back as they are too small....even the 5-7 lbers....I wouldn't even keep an 8 for mounting. I know I'm gonna catch some flack from elnut for calling his brown fish trash.

[LarryG]

If you pay for alicense, then you are entitled to abide by the laws. Catch and release? thats a joke, its catch put them into a liove well, and beat the heck out of them for m,ost of the day, and then put them back miles from where they were caught.I dont keep any bass other than spots, and I turn them loose as soon as i catch them. A 2 fish limit sounds like the best way to keep ourlake healthy.I fished power plant lakes in Ill. where that was it, two game fish, any game fish, and there were size limits that would make you scratch your head, 24 inch bass, 42 inch musky, 24 inch walleye.That lake always made for great fishing,but that aint gonna happen, the tournament guys would scream bloody murder.Just go to Dale, and catch 20 inch small mouth, till you want to scream.My favorite fish is the bluegill, good to eat, fun on light tackle, but a pain to fish for, because of the run and gun crowd.

[fishincreek]

One might want to be careful wanting to "legislate" ourselves into who-knows-where. I know this may sound silly and far-fetched, but before you know it, some places right here in the USA might want to tell you what type of dog you can own, or maybe even outlaw your leafblower, cuz the neighbor(or smallmouth fisherman) believes it too noisey. Heck some states might even want to go to a "season" for bass to where it doesn't "open" till, say May 31 st or something. Surely if that would happen we could catch a fish on every cast, right? Heck ,maybe even someday WAY down the road, somebody could try to convince the gov't to tax our trucks and 4X4's on the premise that "WE" use too much gas, and that we really don't NEED a vehicle like that anyhow. Ponder it boys.

[mhall]

One might want to be careful wanting to "legislate" ourselves into who-knows-where. I know this may sound silly and far-fetched, but before you know it, some places right here in the USA might want to tell you what type of dog you can own, or maybe even outlaw your leafblower, cuz the neighbor(or smallmouth fisherman) believes it too noisey. Heck some states might even want to go to a "season" for bass to where it doesn't "open" till, say May 31 st or something. Surely if that would happen we could catch a fish on every cast, right? Heck ,maybe even someday WAY down the road, somebody could try to convince the gov't to tax our trucks and 4X4's on the premise that "WE" use too much gas, and that we really don't NEED a vehicle like that anyhow. Ponder it boys.

I was a little hyped up when I posted this thread, and there is certainly some thought and moderation that could be placed into this to accomplish the end means. You make a good point but please don't take personal jabs about the smallmouth thing as I don't think I'm better than anybody else and did not intend this to be percieved that way. You and Andrew wouldn't stand on the deck and catch and release 25 stripers in August because you know it would kill half of them and would be unethical, there is really no difference. Moderation, education and forethought is the key. Smallmouth are exceptionally suspect to live bait everybody knows that. 100 guides a day fishing with live bait with probably novice fisherman that want to keep ANYTHING legal they catch. Years and years of this at a daily basis, ponder it boys.

[dh]

ok, Here's my rant. I have been fishing for smallmouth for 35 years, I watch the meat fisherman destroy smallmouth fishing at Dale Hollow in the late 80;s to the point that we had to have these special regulations to provide a good sport fishery. These meat hogs that some of you guys want to defend can successfully destroy a sport fishery for smallmouth by using live bait in the winter time and cheap electonics will do the job to locate the fish and they will take their limit every time that they can catch them..There has been eye witness accounts of this happening at Laurel Lake this past winter with 2 meat hogs catching and keeping over 100 bass this winter. The average weight of a keeper at Laurel in the winter months is about 4 lbs., so how can you defend somebody that would do such a criminal act as keeping 400 lbs of smallmouth. The same thing is going on at Cumberland and if things dont change than you can say that we are managing our smallmouth bass fishery just for a small minority of meat hogs who are doing the most damage to our smallmouth fishery

[dh]

I AM NOT DONE WITH MY RANT. LIKE I SAID IN THE BEGINNING, TALKING ABOUT THIS ISSUE ON FISHING.COM IS NOT GOING TO CHANGE ANYTHING AND IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO SEE WHAT'S HAPPENING IN STATES THAT DO MANAGE THEIR SMALLMOUTH FISHERS, CHECK OUT WISCONSIN AND MINN. REGS. I DON'T THINK WE NEED TO GO THE THE EXTREMES THESE TWO STATES HAVE BUT A CHANGE HAS GOT TO TAKE PLACE. I CIRCULATED A PETITION IN 1995 FOR C&R ON THE SMALLMOUTH ON LAUREL LAKE..1500 PEOPLE SIGNED THAT PETITION SO I KNOW THAT THE MAJORITY OF PEOPLE'S DESIRES ARE TO CATCH FISH NOT EAT FISH. SO THE PRACTICE OF MANAGING A FISHERY FOR THE MINORITY OF ANGLERS HAS GOT TO STOP! THIS IS AMERICA, MAJORITY RULES..SO EVERYBODY THAT FEELS LIKE THIS CONTACT YOUR DISTRICT COMMIS. OR BETTER YET ATTEND SOME OF THE DISTRICT MEETINGS. NOTHING IS GOING TO CHANGE UNTIL PEOPLE SPEAK UP. AND YES, I FISH TOURNAMENTS AND THE MAJORITY OF THE PEOPLE I KNOW FISH THEM WANT SPECIAL REGS. TO PROTECT OUR SMALLMOUTH FISHERIES IN THE STATE OF KENTUCKY AND FOR THE MINORITY OF PEOPLE WHO FISH FOR FOOD,,,EAT ROCKFISH, WALLEYE, CRAPPIE, Bream, TROUT , CATFISH BUT SMALLMOUTH BASS,,NO!!!!!!.OK, I FEEL BETTER NOW THANK YOU I JUST HAD TO LET THAT OUT

[apb]

These meat hogs that some of you guys want to defend ..

None of us is trying to defeat "meat hogs". As everyone said, taking their LEGAL limit is ok. Take more than that, I have a problem. 100 bass is nowhere near the legal limit. Fry the aholes when you catch them doing that.

Andrew

[dh]

they did not break the game laws as they took their legal limit every time they went this happened over a period of months but the effect that it had on the s.m. populations was the same, these guys believe that it must be ok because they are following the law. but just how many fish should you have at home in your freezer!!!!! a small lake like laurel cannot stand that kind of harvest & still be a sport fishery for smallmouth bass. what if everybody took their legal limit just one time a year then ther would not be any fish left in the lake. this was just one instant & ther were more, so they must be thinking the resource is being managed just for them while the majority of bass fishermen practice c&r. time for a change!!!!!!!!!

[Chubminnow]

If I'm not mistaken I think there is also a limit of fish that you can have in your possession, whether the fish in your possession be inside the freezer or not doesn't matter...am I reading it wrong or does it not read this way at all?

For what it's worth, I posted earlier today that I emailed KDFWR, I have not heard back from them as of yet...if I can not find Mr. Godby's contact information on the website would someone here who is more computer literate than me please list his contact number on this thread? I would like to give him a call.

Thanks!

[dh]

9th dis comm. d. godby 606-677-0115 if their is a law about how many you can have in your freezer its not regs booklet .

[pointer]

Great thread and some great points. I would not get carried away with who is in the majority. The majority on this forum may happen to be tournament fishermen but I'm not sure that represents the majority of the population.
I, for one, would like to see the size and frequency of tounaments regulated.
Four or five tournaments on a 5000 acre lake, on one day is, maybe, a little much. I want to see all of our lakes thrive but I would like to be able to use the public ramps and not be bounced around like I am in a washing machine all day. Maybe the state should create a season for bass to keep folks from pulling them off of the beds during spawn. We all pay taxes and license fees which in turn pays the salaries of professionals who are more qualified to manage our lakes than me and likely many more on this board.
We probably all need to really look in the mirror.

This really has been a good read, though.

[cumberlandguy1]

mhall.....good points...you are right. I would not even attempt to catch 25 stripers in August. I would keep the first 2 that I caught due to the mortality rate. DH as for the guys fishing Laurel, they are perfectly within their rights to keep a limit every time out. There are also a lot of guys that bass fish, but don't catch very many also. Who says they still have them in their freezer? We always have a big fish fry an invite relatives and neighbors. There are also a lot of people that don't fish that like to eat fish. Maybe they are giving some away??? I'm not defending them, just trying to see both sides. Until the limits or size limits are changed, then we just have to live with them. I wonder how many of the fish actually die after being in a live well all day and then handled at the weigh in??? Anyone have any data on this? Just rambling and my .02 worth.