Alley To 2 Rivers Weekend Trip Report

[Mark]

Sorry I have no problem with anyone keeping legal fish to eat.

[fishinSWMO]

It's twice the fun when you catch them and eat them. Your just missing out on half the fun.

[Al Agnew]

Yep, it's legal. The question is, should it be?

Things change. 20 years ago, you didn't hear much about people pounding bass right below the big springs in the winter. I'm sure quite a few did back then, but I would venture to say that a lot more people do it now, not only because the word is out, but also because jetboats have made some of the big spring holes a lot more accessible in the winter. I think MDC is a little surprised and a little worried about the impacts of so many people fishing for these fish. You might be seeing some more restrictive regulations for keeping fish in the winter in the future.

I don't have a huge problem with people legally keeping smallmouth or any other fish, but I do have a problem with greed. I know too many people who never keep more than their legal limit, but when they find a spot that is good fishing, they go back to it over and over again, pound it unmercifully, and keep every legal fish they can, until "for some reason", it's not good fishing anymore. In my opinion, that's pure greed and selfishness, as well as being shortsighted. If you want fishing to remain good in a certain spot, for you as well as for everybody else, why would you try to vacuum every legal fish out of it?

A story from my youth. Bismarck Lake, which is now an MDC owned lake, was owned by a mining company when I was a kid, and they mostly let the public fish it, although they would periodically go in, put up a bunch of no-trespassing signs, and photograph them, just in case somebody got hurt on the lake and tried to sue them. Back then, it was a terrific big bass lake. Also back then, one of my dad's friends, who worked for a mining company that gave them 13 weeks of vacation time every few years, took his 13 week vacation over the summer. He lived within a few miles of the lake, and was an avid and expert bass fisherman. He knew the lake was good, so he fished it almost EVERY DAY of that 13 weeks. And he kept EVERY BASS he caught over five pounds. That amounted to literally hundreds of five pound plus bass, out of a lake that was only about 600 acres. Guess what? By the end of that summer, fishing for big bass had declined pretty drastically. It NEVER came back to what it was before. Coincidence?

[Chief Grey Bear]

Yep, it's legal. The question is, should it be?

Or the question could be, why should the wants of a few trump the rights of the many?

Either way though, it doesn't effect me.

[Mark]

As a recreational fisherman, I make 5-6 fishing trips a year. I never keep more than the legal limit but want fresh fish for supper. I seldom fish the trophy areas because I want to eat my catch. If we are on several day trip, I will only eat fish one night, and rarely take fish home. My catch is not hurting the population of fish in any stream. I can't control what others do. I hope the day never comes when the recreational float fisherman has no place left to go to catch and keep. My trips to my favorite streams would definitely decline to areas that need the money we spend.