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Since you are going to talk with some legislators and maybe the gov, there is one more thing I have seen suggested in the fish finder. which I think is an awesome idea. One of our members suggested a multi state fishing license. I fish New Hampshire for just a few days during vacation every summer and it's stupid expensive. Same with New York and CT. I would love to see some reciprocal arrangement where we could pay maybe $10. extra per state. There are lot of places in Ct and NH I would like to try but I am not going to throw an extra $50 bucks to do it. This would be a home run for the states because it would draw some money spending sportsmen who would probably not be there otherwise. I really don't think you would see a hole bunch of out of state people crowding your favorite spots. I would think it would kind of balance out. Have a good one. 67f100
this has been talked about in the forum before....would be very tough to do. you know the states would be fighting on who gets more of the cut "we have more lakes" "we have more parks" "our costs are higher" etc etc blah blah blah
That's what I'm saying. I hate to lean towards the idea of making fishing more expensive because I believe that would limit the amount of new people who would get into the sport but at the same time. If you make it more expensive to catch the fish than it is to pick them up at the supermarket, the bucket brigade might slow down.
Good points jay. I've actually spoken to our current governor before about water draw downs. There are two types of draw downs. Those initiated by the state, and those controlled by a lake authority or other local governing body. The ones initiated by the state, despite what may be said about invasive, weeds, or docks, it's more to do with dams. Basically they remove a certain amount of water from the lake do that the potential for damage to the dam or water control outlet is less in the spring. That's pretty much it. As for pike stockings, I am of the understanding that they are done on the basis of need by need only. Last ones were done in 2007 and I can tell you the lakes that were stocked I can personally see a big difference. I think you need to be careful when stocking a top apex predator into the water. You can damage the water quickly with too many predators and not enough food. It comes back to funding. The DCR, mass wildlife, the EPO are ander staffed and under budgeted. Everybody who has commented on this thread brings up valid and important issues. But it all comes back to funding it.
Yeah we need a size limit on Bass. I think if the fish is OVER 19" it should be put back. With the amount of time it takes a fish to reach that size it should be put back in to breed. A 5lb Bass in Massachusetts waters is anywhere from 25-30yrs old. Those Bass deserve to live not be mounted on a wall or fried up by someone. It would be a totally different story if it was like Florida or another southern state where a 5lb bass is 5-6 years old. I also feel that there should be more EPO's and they should RESPOND when they are called about something illegal going on. They have no problem going to derbys and asking everyone there to see a fishing license but when they are called about something illegal they don't respond and they had 4 hours to respond, I got a "We will see if there is someone who can get out there". Good luck with them but unless you are a lobbyist with tons of money they will yup you till the cows come home and do nothing.Have you conducted studies on the numbers of those fish?Cause why do something to ENSURE a sustainable fishery for future generations? We will find out it is to late to fix it, then what?Congrats
your wrong on the bass growth, I icefish a pond in Worcester and one year icefishing i hooked a 17 inch largemouth about 2 pounds the hook came out his gill and hooked him in his right eye i got the hook out but the eye was destroyed and I released that fish alive,the very next year icefishing the same area i iced a 23 inch 6 pounder missing it's right eye that fish grew 6 inches and 4 pounds in one year so i think growth rates differ from one pond to another depending on food supply and genetics , that pond is over loaded with carp and am sure that bass was chowing down on young carp along with the hundreds and hundreds of shiners we let go after fishing over the years
Griz did you read the article? Here is a quote from it."But a 6.78-pound bass caught in New York’s Mariaville Lake still owns that honor. Back in 1992, biologists used otolith rings to determine that the fish was at least 23 years old, and it was in good condition, meaning that it could have lived longer."
My wife's grandmother is 94 and still doing awesome, but I don't see her having any babies anytime soon. If she was a bass, all she'd be doing is swimming around eating smaller fish and not contributing to the future of the bass in that pond. She's an awesome person, though, so if you catch her please put her back!Living longer and reproducing are two very different things. I'm curious if anyone knows the point where the ratio of fish eaten to fry produced tips to the point where they're not helping the fishery and they just turn into an eating machine.
I know I have caught some Monstahs during the spawn that seemed loaded with eggs. I put her right back in so she could reproduce. People and fish are 2 totally different things. My grams is 91 she isn't having kids but I would still be pissed off if someone shot her for fun (after all she still breathes our air and eats food lol).
