New limit on catfish at Taylorsville

[adam7456]

Ky just doesn't have much to offer unless we start aggressively funding these resources....

You mean aggressive funding, constant improvements, very tight creel limits with very high size limit...like Cedar Creek Lake? I remember years ago when they expecting a ton of fish over 20 inches to start being caught and then it didn't happen. You still don't hear many stories of world class fishing on the lake even though it was designed to be that from the start. The fish simply aren't growing as fast as they had hoped.

[restornator]

You mean aggressive funding, constant improvements, very tight creel limits with very high size limit...like Cedar Creek Lake? I remember years ago when they expecting a ton of fish over 20 inches to start being caught and then it didn't happen. You still don't hear many stories of world class fishing on the lake even though it was designed to be that from the start. The fish simply aren't growing as fast as they had hoped.

size limits do not protect your trophy-class potential fish, it only encourages people to keep the larger ones. In small lake management, 25lb/acre bass less than 14 inches are harvested each year. It creates populations with many 2lbers and good numbers of 4+lbers with an 8lber possible with time. Many of the Ky lakes have really high numbers of 11-12 inch bass. IMO the 15 inch size limit is counterproductive. Funding research projects on Ky resevoirs is what i am talking about. The MO for fisheries management isn't working in our state.

[restornator]

another supplemental stocking strategy could include triploid largemouth bass, which do not spend energy on reproduction

[bnt5]

yes my earlier post was in jest, I have about a dozen pool noodle jugs in the garage that I use occassionally when I am wanting some fillets for the table. This being said there is no fishery that is invulnerable to overfishing, an example of this would be the ocean. If everyone started pulling each fish from the gene pool for food we would never be able to keep up with demand and it would become a put-n-take fishery. Kentucky is in the middle of the road as far as growing seasons go, some years are better than others, which provides little room for error for determining creel/size limits . I don't think you can use the studies on bass and the resulting regs for the catfish population, for starters it is rare to see a bassfisherman take a trophy bass from the lake and eat it, whereas there usually is no qualms about catching catfish for tablefare as a matter of fact I would venture to say 75-80% of catfishing is just for that very purpose (just a guess). There just isn't the interest or the money allotted for catfish as there is for the more "popular" species, not whining about it just stating a fact. It would be nice to some size and creel guidelines put into place for the whole of KY including the OH R., nothing super restrictive just something that prohibits the decimation of a fish population. my $.01.

[aceoky]

WOW, some "think" Ky has poor fishing, glad those who have caught record or near record fish here didn't know that, smallmouth, walleye, musky, and stripers come to mind right off the bat, the large crappie in Ky and Barkley lakes , and claim "poor fishing" ..........LOL

Kentucky is not number one on some species, but there are MANY states who would love to have the variety and quantity, quality of fish we have, I am certain most members here know this to be true.

Fish were made to eat, that is why God made them out of meat (and SO tasty) if you wish to practice C&R that is your right, just as it's others rights not to do so...... IF everyone did the same exact things, that is where the issues would arise... to each his/her own I say!