Stock Assessments

[JohnR]

Originally Posted by Sea Dangles

A lot of contradiction in the above post.
So you play by the rules, regardless of whether you think they are good for the fishery because you can? This is the cop out er excuse er solution I should have predicted.Every journey begins with the first step and that step is better late than never.Funny how you claim the reasons for participation are cameraderie but you say next years stock assessments may force you to reconsider your teams participation.But next year will most likely reveal the same downward trend we have been seeing.However if the fisheries management council doesn't forbid participation then the hell with stock assessment.Hypocrisy at its finest.Go Team!

Ahh, pretty much what I expected for a reply. No, I play far tighter than the rules. I keep 1-4 fish per year. I fish circles with my eels, less trebbles when possible on plugs, no lighter than necessary tackle - regardless of how "sporting", crushed barbs a fair amount of time, and I try to quickly release and 99.99% of the time skip the photo. I think that is a pretty conservation minded way to fish. Do you disagree? Or have you had a Come to Jesus moment recently that recommends fishing within such a fine constraint that it would be near impossible to please you?

I've been advocating for tighter regs for years, I've gone to the meetings that I can attend.

As for the OTW tourney, we recommend far tighter than what the rules allow as well. Hypocritical? I think that is trying to fish the tourney pretty responsibly. By your current implication all other tourneys should be rid as well, which would be a 180 for you.

Seems to me, you just want a bone you can chew on for a bit, take some shots at others, stir the pot, or maybe its my month in the barrel. Again .

[bart]

The whole thing scares me. I still consider myself relatively young and it worries me that I wont be able to enjoy my one true passion in life when i'm older. I also listen to the seasoned vets when they speak and I think others should as well. Just from my own observations, I remember when the fishing was incredible in places like gansett 7-8 years ago when I had no idea what i was doing and would still slam fish. Ever since it's just got worse and worse to the point where I don't even see the point of fishing one of my favorite places anymore. And I don't think bait was the issue, because we found plenty of bait in the fall and there were NO fish on them. Scary if you ask me...