fishNnut is correct. The cost of 100% prevention by enforcement is not workable. And education is still a very long way from being what it needs to be. The idea of agressive presecution and staggering costs for violations is where the only real hope lies, in my opinion. I also think that making a few examples is a necessary part of the education process. If people learn that they can lose their homes, boats, trucks and future earnings, they tend to have a higher incentive to want to learn how to avoid that.

That's why we tried a $1,000 reward for information that led to the arrest of the parties that introduced shad in this lake. That reward is no longer available, but I would be willing to bring it back, and add it to a pool of reward money that could be pledged by all the major fishing clubs, and some of the smaller ones. Would a $10,000 reward loosen some tounges and change some opinions? $50,000? How about all bass tournaments in the state drop 10% of all entry fees into a statewide fund for just this purpose? Or maybe a state law that places a percentage of all fishing violation fine monies into a reward fund?

What does it take to buy our way through the code of silence that presently exists in the fishing community?