KILL YOUR LIMIT (from the Archives)
Fly fishermen may be guilty of killing their own sport. A rotten stench of snobbery is running through the fly-fishing community.
No one else has the arrogance to make up new names for things, as in calling a bobber a "strike indicator" or saying the knots in leaders are "wind knots" when they are a result of bad casting. It's an oddity that can be humorous.
Wow! Somebody really got under your skin, huh? :) Since I am the only fly angler (and tyer) that I know of around here, I haven't had much experience with the 'snobbery' issue. The 'snobs' around here are all tournament bass fishers, with their noisy, polluting $10,000.00 bass boats. huge gas guzzling SUVs, campers and motor-homes the size of a Peterbuilt truck, and a super-irritating air of superiority about them. I have heard of 'elitist' fly anglers, but I've never met one in person.
For what it's worth, I release my catch....right into the deep-fryer. If I am just fishing for fun, or testing out a new fly pattern, I may release them, but most of the time, anything up to the legal limit goes to the kitchen, either on the Frequent-Fryer Plan, or the deep-freeze. I live in the wilderness, and a lot of my fishing, hunting and foraging is subsistence.
I don't think one is any better than the other. If you don't feel like eating fish, but still like to catch them, then C & R is OK. It doesn't mean you're superior. It's just a personal choice, like hamburgers or pizza.......
Anyway, it was a good read, and I'll bet you feel better getting that off your chest.
Quote:
"Everytime I catch the news, it makes me think the Gene Pool could use some chlorine....."
Gigmaster
I am a strong believer in Catch and Release rules, especially in rivers. Many lakes have a stocking program. If people want to Catch & Kill stocked fish that is fine with me. I still do C&R in those lakes, thus leaving the fish to be caught by someone else, who may or may not do C&R. But in the rivers, that is a different story. The vast majority of rivers I fish contain only wild trout. There are no stocking programs for trout. I think wild trout and other wild species should be given the chance to reproduce, thus I believe in total Catch & Release in rivers. Many of the rivers I fish have regulations for Catch & Release for either all trout or certain species.
An example is a beautiful female Smallmouth Bass I caught this year on the Flathead River. She was full of eggs as spawning season was just a few weeks away. She was close to a state record in size and weight. She allowed me to catch her and I returned the favor by releasing her so she could spawn and allow many more generations of large smallmouth bass to live in the river.
There is another reason I don't do Catch & Kill. Many of the fish are not healthy enough to be eaten, or at least you have to limit the amount of fish you eat from those waters. Here are the listings in the Montana rule book on waters of concern. I fish a number of those waters.
The following water bodies contain fish species with consumption advisories. More detailed information is available on the FWP website: http://fwp.mt.gov/fwpDoc.html?id=28187
Alder Gulch ; Bair Reservoir ; Big Spring Creek ; Bighorn Lake and Afterbay Reservoir ; Blacktail Creek ; Boulder River ; Browns Gulch ;
Bynum Reservoir ; Cabinet Gorge Reservoir ; Canyon Ferry Reservoir ; Castlerock Lake ; Cataract Creek ; Chrome Lake ; Clark Canyon Reservoir ;
Clark Fork River ; Clear Lake ; Cooney Reservoir ; Crystal Lake East ; Firehole River Fork Reservoir ; Flathead Lake ; Flint Creek ; Fort Peck Reservoir ;
Fred Burr Creek ; Fresno Reservoir ; Georgetown Lake ; Gibbon River ; Hauser Reservoir ; Hebgen Reservoir ; Holter Reservoir ; Island Lake ;
Lake Elwell aka Tiber Reservoir ; Lake Frances ; Lake Koocanusa ; Lake Marlin ; Lake Mary Ronan ; Lake McDonald ; Lee Metcalf Pond NWR ;
Leigh Lake ; Lower Stillwater Lake ; Madison River ; Martinsdale Reservoir ; Medicine Lake NWR ; Missouri River ; Mountain View Lake ;
Mystic Lake ; Nelson Reservoir ; Ninepipes Pond ; Noxon Rapids Reservoir ; Petrolia Reservoir ; Prickly Pear Creek ; Seeley Lake ; Silver Creek ;
South Sandstone Reservoir ; St. Mary Lake ; Swan Lake ; Thompson Falls Reservoir ; Tongue River Reservoir ; Upper Two Medicine ; Waterton Lakes ;
Whitefish Lake ; Yellowstone River near ; Powder River
With a list like that, I simply do C&R rather than C&K. If I want some fish I go to an eating establishment and order it off the menu.
Larry ---sagefisher---
A very refreshing and spot-on article!
I practice C&R on waters that require it, and whenever I don't have either a taste for fish or the means to keep them properly. C&R holds no mantra of ethics whatsoever in my personal guidebook. It is a conservation tool. No more, no less. Fishing is simply a bloodsport that, unlike others, affords the hunter the opportunity to change their mind, look at their prey and say...."tag-you're-it". But it remains a bloodsport none-the-less.
Ralph
$10,000.00 won't buy much of a bass boat...
I was thinking the same thing. ;)Quote:
Originally Posted by billhouk
I enjoyed reading this article as I have been known to do both. When I was a kid, it was almost strictly to the pan for anything I caught. As I grew up, I began letting more of them go. Now-a-days, where I am, the local regulations, and my mood all dictate what happens to the fish. Most of the time, they go back in the drink.
I have only had one occassion when I was offended by someone keeping a fish and that was a guy who took a size 2 j hook and quite literally, and on purpose, snared a very pregnant large mouth that was no more than two feet from the shore trying to do whatever it is fish do in that situation. The truth of it is that I was more upset that he would even TRY to catch that fish the way he did. Just didn't seem very sporting to me. If he had caught her on a spinner that she devoured, I wouldn't have cared.
Sorry, I'm off my soapbox now.
Hey, if it's legal and you're hungry for fish, keep 'em.
[QUOTE=NCVirginian;487355] I have only had one occassion when I was offended by someone keeping a fish and that was a guy who took a size 2 j hook and quite literally, and on purpose, snared a very pregnant large mouth that was no more than two feet from the shore trying to do whatever it is fish do in that situation. The truth of it is that I was more upset that he would even TRY to catch that fish the way he did. Just didn't seem very sporting to me. If he had caught her on a spinner that she devoured, I wouldn't have cared. [QUOTE]
I would have thought that was illegal. I get a copy of the weekly report from DNR here in GA. I have seen where people have been cited for similar behavior. I don't have an issue with taking bream off a bed but would refrain from any other species, unless I had a hungry family I was trying to feed and such tactics were necessary. Truthfully nowadays with the availability and relative low cost of digital cameras I would not keep a trophy bass. I felt guilty about killing the one fish I had mounted 20 years ago.
You would think that, but unfortunately I wasn't able to find anywhere in the regs that say you can't do that. As long as you're using a pole with a line, it's legal. :mad:Quote:
Originally Posted by Uncle Jesse
With bass, in most lakes a slot limit of say 2 fish would not negatively impact the fishery in the least. But many folks would balk at it simply because they feel it would cut into their chances of catching a trophy fish. Their reasons are more selfish than anything resembling conservation.
Fresh Bass fillets, pan fried with light flour, salt & pepper, is a fish that you cannot duplicate with anything found in the grocery store mind you. :)