Northern Waters vs. Southern Waters

[CoachBob]

In modern lingo I need to say MY BAD.
I fish southern waters, mostly Louisiana, Florida, Texas and Arkansas. When I travel to the Rockies I fish trout, not warm water species. When I used to fish Pennsylvania, it was trout also.
There is obviously a great difference in warm water fishing in northern waters I do not appreciate.
MY BAD
For example, we have a bluegill overpopulation problem in almost every lake or pond. Our bluegill spawn at least twice a year and are hurting the bass populations. In a recent article I probably should have limited my comments on fishing the spawn to southern latitudes.
We also do not have a lead split shot issue -- likely due to having few loons. Our significant duck and goose populations do not appear to suffer any of the same consequences as the loons so the "lead weights hurt birds" issue does not really appear here.
Our fish limits are significantly higher (our slot limits are more generous) and we do not have the single hook restrictions that control many northern waters.
Our waters are not usually crowded.
Carp are used to control weeds and are only accidentally game fish.

I'm sure the list of differences is much longer, but these came quickly to mind.
If my failure to distinguish northern waters from southern waters has hurt anyone's sensibilities.
MY BAD

[quivira kid]

Bob,
I always enjoy reading your articles! Keep it up. Differences are what makes things interesting. We wouldn't have anything to discuss and think about here if we all did things the exact same way!

Zac

[flyguy66]

Bob,

Folks should actually consider the context of the author's writings before they critique it.

I've written reviews of articles, videos, and books in the past where I made criticisms regarding the potential negative impact of advice given therein if applied in other regions, states, etc. But that should be the way it is handled if done respectfully and with civility. One such example was when I wrote that a Jim Teeny video wherein he demonstrates how to throw rocks at steelhead to move them to the end of the pool he can cast to could very easily get you arrested in some states (harassment of game) and is considered highly unethical in most places. But in the Pacific Northwest where Teeny fishes, apparently this is no big deal among steelhead anglers.

Realizing that we don't know much about the outdoors or our sport beyond that which we have experienced firsthand is pretty important to those of us who presume to write about it. On the Internet, it is quite common for people to make this mistake and criticize or take offense to things based upon their limited perspectives and experiences when, in fact, the Internet is global in scope...something we all need to try and keep in mind.

[nighthawk]

Not your bad Coach. I really enjoy your articles. You all know my favorite still water is Holman Lake at Little Buffalo State Park, Perry County, Pennsylvania. Like most still waters in the rural parts of our state it has no population problems with pan fish other than overpopulation. They stock tiger musky fingerling annually for the purpose of controlling pan fish (blue gill, crappie and yellow perch) in this water. Pennsylvania has a general daily creel limit on pan fish of 50 combined species (no size limit) with many waters having their own regulations on size and creel limit.

Our issues tend to be all fishing pressure related. No problems with prolific, successful spawning. We do have an issue with lakes like Holman where the anglers need to practice a bit less catch and release. I am going there today in search of soem crappies. No I will not be fly fishing. Will be trying to put food on the table so spinning gear it is with bobber and minnows.

[Cold]

Nighthawk makes a great point about PA waters...the state has an impossible job in panfish management, with the wide variety of water sizes, quality, species present, natural predators, and fishing pressure. Ideally, they could have seperate regs for each body of water...but even an environmentally conscious angler would quickly tire of that, and really, it would probably make criminals out of confused anglers more than anything, so there's no real solution.

Sure, it's hard to find fat bluegills in easy-access public water...and out-of-the-way ponds with fat gills are a secret as closely guarded as a pristine wild trout stream in my area...but people have learned to deal with this and, really, the situation as-is really DOES provide plenty of small fish to get children interested in the sport, from ice-out to freeze...which certainly counts for something.

In a way, its a nice kind of catch-22, in that the people who are truly passionate about finding good fishing will definitely find it...with some time and effort in searching, walking, and asking.