Catch And Release Fishing

[Greg]

Send those high tech people to t-como with a flyrod, waders, and the high water. That will humble them and bring them back to planet earth.

I completely agree. But there are those that would have you believe that fishing at Taneycomo for stocked trout is so easy. Which just isn't true.

Greg

[Danoinark]

One of the issues with catch and release among the general public as in occasional fishers is that most are not educated or accustomed to it. In the scheme of things, C and R is a relatively new concept and as Trav says, Ray Scott, mentions that trout fisherman started it. The general vacation family fishermen goes to the lakes and rivers, take the kids, and expect to bring home a nice creel of fish hopefully for the dinner table. The put and take streams are exactly designed for that scenario. I can't fault MDC for that nor the tourism business in general. Its just the way it's designed and seems to work for everyone. The slot limit on Taney has done much to improve the average size of the fish that are caught. Another term that was bantered around further confusing the creel angler is CPR, catch, photograph and release, another concept that is even newer now that pocket cameras, cell phone cameras and disposables are so available. There needs to be harvest in our tailwaters. Just look down at your feet when wading Taney. There is an abundance of fish in the stream and will always be as long as there is stocking. Should that ever end then a more insightful conservation method will have to be developed. The delicate streams such as the North Fork of the White and Crane along with the other blue ribbon trout areas in the Ozarks need a more balanced approach where C and R is very important to the well being of the naturals that live there. I think that is where we need to concentrate our most efforts. In those streams there is not over production and the concerns should lie on how best to preserve the fish and make the streams the most conducive to reproduction as possible.

Dano

[drew03cmc]

Ok, kevin, you are new here right? Comments like this one: Who am I to tell anyone what to drive etc. I guess I am a citizen of the world who thinks about my children and grandchildren and what they will face if we dont get off our selfish butts and take care of EACH other for a change.

will do nothing but get you branded as self righteous on this forum. We are all conservation minded, but in a put and take fishery, the key word is take. Almost any trout water in the state of Missouri is put and take. The only ones that aren't are the Blue Ribbon waters, upper Current, 11pt, Crane, Mill, Blue Springs, Little Piney, Barren Fork, and I am sure I am missing one or two more (Meramec, and Roubidoux Red Ribbon areas come to mind), but you get the idea. Every other trout water here is put and take. The state manages them as such, and no fuss has ever been made about them being otherwise.

Now about my comment on why do you get to tell someone what to drive? You realize this warming is not an anomaly, this is a natural occurrence, and there is evidence of it being such. Could explain why global warming is not the number one story anymore, eh? All of the slaves to global warming hype need to realize that Al Gore (An Inconvenient Truth) uses more electricity than most in this country. Not that that matters, he is not one of the "selfish butts", he is one who tells others what to do, not as he does obviously.

"The limits change with the creel assessments done by the fish and game ppl. And they wont let it get to nothing but why do we have to let it go that far?"

The answer here is because we are but a small percentage of fisherpeople on our waterways, and as such, we cannot govern the others actions. If you think you can, more power to you, but my theory is control what you have control over, and do not let what the others do affect your enjoyment of the outdoors.

"I guess from the posts, we need to keep all we are entitled to each time we go so no one else gets mine."

This, is your right as a license holder in any state. For example, you can keep I believe it is 50 crappie each time out. Have fun, that is good eating. Now, most on here choose NOT to keep any fish, and strictly fish catch and release. If you want to exercise some authority over how someone protects their resources, I suggest you speak to children and fishing classes, or summerschool fishing classes. Thanks.

Chief-it is not that you did not connect, just that I choose to stand by my views Thanks man, hope I get to wet a line with you!

[Guest kevinkirk]

The what you drive comment was not about global warming. It was about the dwindling supply and price and future of our nati,n. As for trout fishing, I know that down there it is put and take. Colorado has a lot of that too in the lakes but have ceased in most rivers due to whirling disease. By the way, why didnt that spread to Missouri?

I dont really like to eat trout but will keep a few each year for the pan. So not self righteous at all. Have killed way too much game to wear that robe. Just thot there was a lot of comments on here bout the BASS fishing and the dead fish after tourneys etc. and was commenting on that. Some fish really need to be caught and kept and ate, no doubt. I do agree.

Okay, what DID happen to the white bass on bull shoals that ppl said are gone? We have lakes here that did the same. Seems like when the stripers and wipers were put in, the whites disappeared? I am not sure. Then some dumb butt put in white perch and now those lakes are worthless for fishing. They eat all the eggs and baby fish of every other species. Talk about a plague. Now we have some kind of mullosk or little clam deal that is taking over the best lakes and they too kill off all the fish, plug pipes and grow on everythng like on an ocean ship. Trees in the water and the entire bottom is black with those little buggers. Spreading to lakes used for water sources now and they plug the water pipe intakes completely and clear down the pipe for miles. What a deal.

So where are the whites? Is table rock still good for white bass? How bout Beaver Lake?

I know my emails sound so harsh and thats the danger of email, its just the facts without the so ppl get mad or think I am self righteous about it. I am not. I dont care if you keep your limit. The blog was about do we WANT to keep our limit or if we choose otherwise, can we REALLY improve the fishing. I dont know, but again, with trout, I know its a put and take resource raised for that purpose. So catch and eat all you want of them. I will even catch you some and give them to you to eat if you want. I dont mind killing them myself. Hard to turn them loose unless you are so careful. They are so touchy when handled. I know that.

Are there length limits on taney for trout? Just wondering. ?

kk

[laker67]

Dano attempted to bring this topic back to catch & release. Most of Missouri's trout water is catch and keep with the option of C & R. Most of the people that i fish with are C & R and they don't try to shove it down your throat like some did in the" 25 pound brown topic " that was closed. You can turn a big fish back to the water, and they will even criticize you about that. You took too many pictures, or you fought the fish too long, you did not wet your hands properly. You've heard the story before! C & R is good, taking limits is good. Knowing when and where to apply these options is the key. I think that MDC does an excellent job of that.

I think that each and every angler should have the option of keeping a trophy fish or a limit of fish if they choose to do so.

[bigredbirdfan]

I'm out of this topic too many whiney socialists in favor of further regulations for me .

[Guest kevinkirk]

Okay, I changed my mind. I think we should all just look out for ourselves and the hell with everyone else. Catch as many as I can and keep them as its my RIGHT>

I have no idea why ppl have to resort to name calling when we are talking about changing our mindset about caring about our neighbor and the future.

[Al Agnew]

Trying not to offend anybody or sound preachy, but...

In theory, the state conservation agency sets creel and length limits that allows maximum harvest while still maintaining the resource. In theory, they take into consideration the number of people catching and releasing as well as the number of people keeping their limits and everybody in between. In theory, some waters are managed with more restrictive regs in order to grow more larger fish. Therefore, in theory nobody should feel guilty about taking their limit of fish.

In theory.

In reality, each body of water is different, and each species of fish is different within that body of water. One size fits all type regs are not always the best for a given body of water. And in reality, maximizing harvest usually means minimizing trophy fish. Also in reality, some waters could stand MORE harvest, many could stand less.

So...

In my opinion, if you want to be a consciencious, ethical angler, the regulations are just your starting point. I think it's important to KNOW YOUR FISHING WATER. Know what the management considerations are. Know, as well as you can, what the population dynamics are. Use some common sense. And kill or release fish based upon sound reasoning, not knee-jerk reactionism. For instance, I talk to a LOT of stream bass anglers who say they NEVER keep ANY bass...either because they like bass too much, or because they don't like to eat fish or are too lazy to clean fish. Yet, it's a well-known fact that non-native spotted bass are really bad for native largemouth and smallmouth (especially smallmouth) in the streams of the Meramec Basin (and probably also the Gasconade river system). Every one that these guys catch and release means one more dinky spotted bass and one less smallmouth with better growth potential. Releasing spotted bass in these streams is, in my opinion, unethical, not to mention stupid if you care about native smallmouths.

Another example is small creeks. I've seen several wading size streams and a couple of marginally floatable stretches completely messed up in the course of a month or two by just a couple of guys who discovered good fishing and pounded them to death keeping every legal fish they could. One stretch of the upper reaches of Big River, a number of years ago, had a great year class of smallmouths that had reached the 16-18 inch range. I fished it twice that year and caught (and released) 15 or more smallies that size both times, once in late spring, the other time in mid-summer, so obviously nobody had been working those fish over...this is small water, non-floatable unless you're willing to walk most of the riffles in the summer. But a couple weeks after my last trip that year, my brother talked to a couple of guys who had discovered those fish. They fished that stretch every weekend for the rest of the summer, up until October, and kept every fish that size they caught each time. Guess what? The next spring those fish were totally GONE. I didn't catch a smallie that size or bigger from that stretch for the next five years. In my opinion, those guys were within their legal rights, but were totally unethical to pound those fish like that in such small water, and common sense should have told them so.

My personal ethics do not allow me to keep smallmouths from Ozark streams, because I don't know of any streams where they are so big and so plentiful that I'd feel comfortable keeping them. I have some favorite small wading creeks that are great fishing, but I don't fish any of them more than twice a year (even though I catch and release all smallmouths) because I don't want to "wear out" the fish. I keep every spotted bass I can out of the streams of the Meramec river system, but I don't keep many of them from streams where they are native, although I don't hesitate to keep a few now and then. Same with largemouths...I don't keep them in streams where I'm keeping spotted bass, but I'll keep a few occasionally where the population is good, and if I want to eat fish, I keep a lot of largemouths from a couple of private lakes that really don't get fished enough to keep the population at optimum levels. Trout? I don't much like to eat trout, and I don't fish the put-and-take areas at all. In the streams like the Current and North Fork, I can't see keeping them, since the longer they are in the stream the bigger they can get.

[jdmidwest]

Ditto to Al.

I fished a small section of stream that passes thru one of our family farms. There is no public access and the fishing is usually pretty good. A new guy bought an old cabin across the creek and has been spending every weekend on the stream. I caught lots of small bass up to 6 inches and plenty of bluegills. No bass over 6 inches at all, this guy has been keeping every bass he can justify sticking a knife in, legal or not. Its a small stream and you can see almost all of the fish in the stream.

This is not a matter of catch and release, just all out overfishing and keeping illegal fish.

[Whack'emGood]

Kevinkirk-- you are right about one thing... The fishing is not what it used to be... It is caused by fishing pressure. The following statement does not apply to all waters-- every water has its own variables that you have to take into account... but generally... The more people that fish, the more fish are kept and eaten. The more fish that are kept and eaten, the less fish there are left to catch. It also causes decline in the average size of the fish in general-- because they are caught and kept before they can reach a "lunker" size. It is simple logic, really. As the Ozarks have become more populated, the fisheries have declined accordingly. If you don't think so, ask an old timer about how it used to be. I remember even back in the late eighties and early nineties, even though I wasn't near as good a fisherman as I am now, I caught more bass than I do now on TR. The laws are the laws-- they are put in place by the MDC for a reason, I guess. But-- I sure wish I could have a chance to catch'em like my grandpa used to be able to back in his day. That said, TR is still a great fishery-- I greatly appreciate every hour I get to spend on it. Whether you're a C&R guy, or a catch and keep guy-- let's go fishing boys!!

Whack'em