Another personal first and a thought
Posted 09-12-2009 at 09:48 PM by gulfvet
Over the past two evenings, I have managed to add another species to my catch card with a fly rod. Last night 6 and tonight 3 white bass succumbed to a nice little streamer I tied myself. They are truly a school fish. The action comes and goes with the school as they chase minnows. On one cast nothing happens and on the next, a white bass nearly rips the rod from you hands. Last night there were two nice frenzy boils when the white bass got the minnows pinned against the surface. Tonight there weren't any boils and the action was slower.
This could be due to one family that seems to come there every night. They have told people they routinely catch and keep 30 or 40 white bass per outing. While I realize there is no limit on these fish in Ohio, I do believe this type of behavior is excessive and may make it necessary to impose limits on white bass, crappie and other fish that are now unregulated. I think it may be time for such action and I would welcome it.
I truly do not believe there is any need for a single family to harvest 80 fish over the space of two nights, especially not when they drive such new cars as these people drive. Fishing for subsistence when one is poor is one thing. Taking tons of fish away from such people when you can afford to do otherwise is quite a different matter. Mind you, I did not see these people keep that many fish myself on either night. However, I have never seen them throw a fish back.
I am writing here about a tendency many people have in the outdoors. They take all they can instead of taking only what they need. Believe me when I say that if anglers like me and others I know did not routinely throw fish back when we don't need them, there would soon be no fish left to harvest. Take only what you need, leave some for the next person and we'll all get to enjoy the great sport of angling for many more years to come!
This could be due to one family that seems to come there every night. They have told people they routinely catch and keep 30 or 40 white bass per outing. While I realize there is no limit on these fish in Ohio, I do believe this type of behavior is excessive and may make it necessary to impose limits on white bass, crappie and other fish that are now unregulated. I think it may be time for such action and I would welcome it.
I truly do not believe there is any need for a single family to harvest 80 fish over the space of two nights, especially not when they drive such new cars as these people drive. Fishing for subsistence when one is poor is one thing. Taking tons of fish away from such people when you can afford to do otherwise is quite a different matter. Mind you, I did not see these people keep that many fish myself on either night. However, I have never seen them throw a fish back.
I am writing here about a tendency many people have in the outdoors. They take all they can instead of taking only what they need. Believe me when I say that if anglers like me and others I know did not routinely throw fish back when we don't need them, there would soon be no fish left to harvest. Take only what you need, leave some for the next person and we'll all get to enjoy the great sport of angling for many more years to come!
Total Comments 4
Comments
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Amen, brother.Posted 09-14-2009 at 09:00 AM by small talk 
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Ya know I agree all the way. At the beginning of the summer me and my kids fished at a great hole with lots of big cats and tons of bluegill. Now by the end of summer, hardly a single blue gill bite. The kids don't even like going there anymore. BUT HOWEVER....I fear that I have taken the wrath of these selfish wrongdoers!!!! Last night I was fishing at the Beavercreek YMCA and all of a sudden my favorite pole gets eerily jerked in and floats off away out of reach. I watched helplessly and my 9 year old tried very hard to save my pole, but it was gone before we could even do anything. The fish are fighting back!!! LOL.
Posted 09-21-2009 at 12:07 AM by catfishchick
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catfishchick, That reminds me of something that happened to my dad and a friend of his on Lake of the Woods. One evening after supper, Dad went for a walk along the shore of island they were staying on and came across a pole lying in the water several feet out from the bank. He waded in and picked it up and found there was a fish on it, which proved to be a nice northern pike. The next day, they were trolling for walleyes and Dad's friend got a strike. He reeled in a nice walleye but his hook had never touched it. His hook went through the eye on the swivel on a leader on a flatfish in the walleye's mouth. Figure the odds of that!Posted 02-06-2010 at 07:00 PM by gulfvet
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Chick, there's one other way to look at that hole. If there are lots of bluegill in the spring and not many later on, I would catch a few of those small, early 'gills, scale them and cut off the fillets. Then I would put those fillets on some nice circle hooks on the bottom with a slip sinker. You might get turtles or you might get some nice cats that clean up all those young bluegills every spring.
Posted 02-06-2010 at 07:05 PM by gulfvet
