Hi All,

Hey I am ready for this "grandpa" teaching grand kids to fish stuff! I don't have any grand kids yet, but hope to have one in the next few months. (Will be the first grand kid and first nephew/niece on both sides.) (The grandpa on the other side is as eager as I am I think. He is also a fly fisherman.) It would be fun for us to take the kid together.)

I suspect it will take a few years for the kid get big enough to take fishing but I can wait. I agree, it will be more fun to teach grandkid to fish than my own kids...I am more patient now.

Rick is right on the money! The state game departments are now focused on MONEY...and LOTS OF IT, the more the better. There is a lot more money in big bass boats, bass tournaments, motel rooms, travel expenses for travel half way across the state to compete, trophy fish, etc. than there is in families taking the kids fishing. How much money goes into the tax fund, into the motel and resturant business, etc., from a family buying Snoopy rods and a container of worms?

A perfect example is in a small town where we used to drive to for Church on Sunday. The town had a beautiful small city lake. The water was clear, and it had a sand beach where city kids used to swim. The pond had excellent bluegill and crappie fishing, and some nice bass fishing too. Kids and parents used to fish there.

Well, someone at the state fish and game convinced the city to put in "Trophy" fish, so they put stripers in the city lake. Of course, they decided that the lake also needed shad, and plenty of them, to feed the stripers. You can guess what the lake is like now. The water is muddy (I think because of the shad), and kids don't swim in it any more. The bluegill beds are gone, because the voracious stripers ate them. Now there are almost no bluegill or crappie left. Families don't fish there any more because the bluegill and crappie that can be caught with simple methods and worms are gone. A friend told me that every now and then someone catches a 5 lbs striper. Wow, is this an improvement? My friend and I both think not.

In fact, the fish and game department have done the same striper and shad combination in a number of what used to be superb county and city lakes. The results have been similar in other places. Well, the tackle shops sell more striper plugs, and the shops make more money on one or two plugs than on a dozen minnows or two or three boxes of worms...but the price is high. Too high.

The affect on fishing is just one symptom. It has similar affects on other types of hunting and fishing, and the goal is not to make things better for the local family man, hunter and fisherman. It is all about money for the resturants, hotels, outfitters, etc. Folks who have lobies the contribute money to state political types. Chamber of Commerence view.

Makes you sick. Who cares about families, kids, and the ordinary local who just wants to hunt and fish close to home, and doesn't think he can afford a hunting or fishing lease.

Rick go ahead and rant...there are a lot of us with you. We fly fishermen are in the later category.....there aren't many of us, mostly we don't want to fish in tournaments, we like to fish for crappies and bluegill, and in general we aren't going to bring millions into the coffers of the resturant and hotel businesses.

In fact Rick, I guess I just finished a rant too.

Regards,

Gandolf