A plead to the KDFWR

[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.

[djh480]

Same o same o. I am goin to say the same. I practice catch and release with game fish unless I think its goin to die. I have also put alot of BASS in my freezer from collecting dead fish at a tourney weigh in. Bass fisherman kill alot of fish and by taking 1 off the bed to haul miles away kills a bunch more. If u stopped legal people from catching fish to eat then the licsense sales would go down which in turn takes money away from KDFWR. Unless I am thinking wrong less money means less maintaining of fisheries. Let the people eat what they want if they are legal. Lots of non catching of bass is from pressure from all the tournaments. So lets pass a law that only a certain amount of tournaments can be held on lakes based upon their acreage. Lets stop all tournament fishing during spawning season. I bet that would help the fisheries more then stopping the meateaters. I have been fishing for 40 years and alot of those for bass and I watched the decline in bass bites as the tournament fishing grew. So lets not blame it on the "MEATHOGGS" and lets take some of the blame. And ponder this, the amount of boats in each tournament that gets fished and just figure 10 dead bass for every 100 boats. Thats a big number. So lets advertise that free bass to give away at the weighins and help the meathoggs fill up their freezer.

[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.

[cumberlandguy1]

LOL...Great point DJ!

[apb]

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?....

I believe you are correct.

Andrew

[lured away]

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.

I agree, most of the people that have a problem with "fisheaters" are tourny fishermen (probably not the majority of fishermen as a whole). By the same token, I know alot of casual fishermen that have a problem with tourny fishermen. As long as it is within the law, there is nothing wrong with it. I don't bass fish -never have (probably won't start anytime soon) BUT, my family loves to eat fish & I don't care one bit to bring them home and clean them. I don't break the law, but we DO eat alot of fish.