Closing Blue Ribbon Streams

[Justin Spencer]

Agreed on the heron thing Al. I love predators and rarely mention seeing a deer, squirrel, or rabbit. If I see a bobcat , coyote, or otter I always tell someone. That being said legal harvest is fine by me.

[Hatch 82]

The original comments were necessary to bring up the topic and to see how others feel. I agree there is not a lot of evidence showing how fishing during the spawn impacts a fishery. However a lot of states close their season during the spawn. Leaving them alone and allowing them to do their thing could it make it a better fishery, maybe. I also agree that water levels, water temps, and Mother Nature have a bigger impact on the spawn but those are variables that we have no control over. Any fisherman worth a piss that hasn't spawn raped must have alittle more respect for the fish. I also agree they are not native fish and are game fish that have been stocked to catch but I also like to think they are alittle more special then the trout raised in the concrete chutes and feel they should be conserved. Only a handful of trout in the states are native. I would like to think most anglers follow the regulations that are in place but unfortentially that's not the case, fish crane a few times and you'll find styrofoam worm containers and go to Taneycomo and watch guys rip big rapalas through the hatchery outlets snagging trout. It's not an every time out occurance but have seen it. I would like to see the regulations enforced more but I also don't want to pay more taxes for extra agents. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion and I respect their opinion whether I agree or disagree.

[ColdWaterFshr]

Well stated, Al!

I think that the type of anglers that regularly or even semi-occasionly fish Blue, Crane, Barren, LP, Mill, Spring, and some of the other SMALLER wild trout blue-ribbon creeks . . . . I think they would totally respect a protected spawn-season, even without enforcement, IF it were endorsed by the MDC, in a science based way, as showing to protect or improve the fishery. I know that as a winter-fisher, i prefer those places only late-fall through early spring, and I could easily alter or change my habits and work around a spawn if a period was fairly well known and established. Certainly, as these places become more well known, more protection will be needed if we have any ambition at all for sustaining wild trout fishing opportunities in Missouri.

I don't see these places as meat-hunter destinations in the same sense as many of the regularly stocked trout locations, so I don't know that enforcement is even an issue. Tough to clean an 8-inch trout.