Reply With QuoteI strongly urge you to contact your local wardens and alert them to what you have witnessed ! They will want to know, one or two fish hogs can ruin an otherwise successful programOriginally Posted by sglass
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Senior Member
Was out yesterday and watched a guy catch a TOAD off a large beetle spin with a tube attached to the hook. I was close to him and held it up and looked at her easy 5 maybe pushing 6 because she was FULL of eggs. Sad thing is he stuck her on a medal stringer and kept on fishing. Now I will keep bass from 12 to say 15 inches but anything over or anything with eggs in it any species i let go to make more fish. I know most folks are strongly against keeping bass on here and like I said I do keep a few small ones but a toad like that on the nest.....NO!! I also watched a guy fill a stringer full of everything he was catching. Pretty sure he broke limits on cats and gills and I doubt he had a trout stamp. I am under the assumption that there is no warden for Fayette? Why make a FINS lake then if they cant enforce it? Rant over!!
Shawn
Junior Member
I strongly urge you to contact your local wardens and alert them to what you have witnessed ! They will want to know, one or two fish hogs can ruin an otherwise successful program
Senior Member
The only bass I ever keep are Spots about 10 to 13 inches long they are some fine eating. I always release largeheads and especially smallmouth that is a sin to cut a brown one...my opinion.
I eat a few stripers but release way more than I keep. I love crappie and will eat the tar out of some big Gills. My favorite fish is Sauger with walleye a close second.
I have seen what you seen many times it is what it is, however the illegal stuff needs to be reported as I agree with the bigjack1.
Senior Member
In my opinion it will not do much good if there is not a warden in Fayette. I also agree about keeping smallies. Ive kept 1 the last 15 years or so and that was because it was hooked too deep on a crank and was gushing blood. I may shoot an e-mail to the guy over our fisheries district and see what can be done. The guy had every right to keep the bass he paid to fish in KY just broke my heart as that fish was an old veteran. The overharvesting of the other species is crazy. My 1st trip I caught 9 trout, had no stamp so released them all. I got smart and bought 1 after that.They stock the lake with 12 inch cats and trust me people are cleaning it out. Last three trips ive caught probably 100 bullheads and 5 or so trout yet only 4 or 5 channel cats.
Member
I was at Cumberland a few weeks back putting the boat in just as a bass tournament was finishing up the weigh in. The teams were walking their fish bags down the ramp to release their catch and you wouldn't believe how many just dumped the fish in 6 inches of water and walked off. No effort to revive them or make sure they were in the water enough to swim off. By the time I was unloaded, there was 5 or 6 bass floating belly up that the tournament guys had killed. I don't bass fish but it still bothered me. I thought those were the guys who practiced conservation and catch and release....
This is slightly off subject and I apologize but reading this thread reminded me of how pissed I was. Carry on.
Senior Member
e-mail sent to the guy that is over Fayette
Senior Member
They said they are aware of the abuse at the FINS lakes and are working to try and catch people abusing the limits. Hard to do if they are only there during the weekend afternoons MAYBE. I was told to ccall the hotline and report it if I see it. Im not going to count a guys stringer to see if he has 18 sunfish instead of 15 not my job im there to fish. I know the dept is underfunded and the Wardens work hard and have a very dangerous job but it just seems if they are going to dump all this money in FINS lakes they would have a guy enforcing them at least every other day or a few times a week. Ive been there 4 times the last 2 weeks and have not seen 1 warden. Just aggrivates me they spend the $$ to stock and yet 50% abuse the creel limits.
Shawn
Senior Member
Unfortunately, being a tournament angler means your fishing for money that can bring out the worst in people. There are few qualifications on local tournaments other than having money and meeting safety and boating requirements.
Now some guys do a great job of caring for their fish but sadly many don't. I have seen anglers with large bags of fish waiting in line to weigh in and setting their plastic weigh-in bag full of bass on the hot asphalt. I have also seen folks do what you described. I have always taken good care of my fish and have even stayed around the release site to help fish recover that were beat up during the process.
What you see on the water is just a slice of the population that you see driving or working everyday. Good and bad in all things and like I said toss money on the table and egos get busted or inflated. Prolly still more good than bad out there fishing tournaments.
Member
I agree with you about this being done by the minority. I wasn't meaning to label tournament anglers as all bad guys. You're correct in that a lot of guys do it the right way. I'd just never seen anyone be so blatant about dumping their fish before and it shocked me I guess.
Senior Member
Heres some interesting info.....i love to fish for bedding bass......but i let them go asap after caught and have went back to nest later after i caught the bass and he/she was back on the nest...every time ! When fishing larger lakes i dont think {i dont do this} people keeping a few large bass affects the system very much but i had a freind that fished a 100 acre lake and kept bass i know of that weighed 7.5....at least 4 bass around 5 lb. Etc. Etc. Bad idea on a lake that small ! The largest bass in a lake produce the most eggs. After he did this for about 2 years and me telling him what i stated above he was crying the blues about not being able to catch the quality of bass he had in the past. All i said to him was..........i told ya ! Keep some bass to eat if you want to but nothing over 3 lbs..thats my 10 cents. Later jc. Oh by the way when i warned him about it he said {i pay for my fishing lic. And im going to get my moneys worth}
Senior Member
I'll keep my fair share of spots if I have some bluegill crappie or catfish to go with them but I'll never kill a large or smallmouth unless it swallows the hook and stands no chance in living. I caught a 7+ largemouth last November and as much as I wanted to have it mounted I took some pics and let her go. Ya know maybe that guy kept that big girl for the wall. Most likely not but a bass that big wouldn't taste very good. Especially if you're catching some tasty bluegill. And it ***** that some tournament anglers ruin it for everyone. I can only speak for myself but one June I caught a 4 and a 3 early in the morning and by the time weigh in came around they were starting to belly up from the heat. I waded out chest deep to revive them and they swam off. Just wish other anglers would have a heart and do things like that besides just fishing for a check.
Senior Member
Don you and guys like you are the minority I'm afraid. I personally think their should be limits on tourneys held especially in the summer and yes many hate me saying that but thats how I feel. I mean are we trying to help the fisheries or are we trying to help Bubba be like Ike.
Come on MAN..............
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