Why Does Fishing Continue To Decline In Our Rivers?

[ness]

Survey results .... sounds like data. I wonder how much there is and how good it is.

[Hog Wally]

There used to be gravel digging all up and down the river now there is a select couple of giants that really getrdone large scale I'm not sure of anything in this discussion other than if you eat the fish they are gone. Don't eat them you bunch of dummies:)

[ozark trout fisher]

The bottom line is I don't think it's a misuse of the fish, but the environment they need to thrive in. Over fishing is relative and depndent of the resource available.

Let's just say I think there's a good deal of both going on, and leave it at that.

[ozark trout fisher]

Supporting data? Other than the guy in the picture?

I don't think I'd have a hard time finding data to support the base assumption that there are more fisherman. As if that actually leads to more fisherman keeping fish, that's a bit more muddy. It does seem logical to extrapolate that, but I suppose it's not a certainty.

As for anecdotal evidence, I see plenty on the majority of fishing trips on any Ozark float stream (aka the streams where I'm actually seeing other anglers when I fish)......a striking number of people have stringers full of everything big enough to eat, and that certainly spans both sides of legal size and number limits in a significant number of cases.

It's possible that some data could be gleaned from angler surveys one way or another. But that would only cover the legal side of harvest on our rivers, and the unfortunate reality is that gives you a skewed perception of what is actually coming out of the water and onto the dinner table.

[MOsmallies]

It will be interesting to see the results of MDC's smallmouth tag survey. If harvest is significant, we might see some regulation changes. If is not, regulation changes won't work.

If I knew that would be the case, I would of said I kept the tagged fish I caught even though I released them

[Hog Wally]

I have never caught one. Where bouts they tag em at?

[Al Agnew]

With the proliferation of jet boats, the number of EFFECTIVE anglers has increased exponentially. Just anecdotal, but I spent a lot of time on the middle Meramec from the mid-1970s on. Until the mid to late 1980s, you simply never saw another serious angler on a weekend day on the river, let alone during the middle of the week. Even back then you'd see a LOT of rental canoes on weekends, and a few of them were waving Zebco no-brainer reels and rods, and you'd see the occasional johnboat with small outboard fishing one or two pools, but the number of serious bass fishermen was small. And there were LOTS of fish, far better summer numbers than there are now, and more big ones. When jetboats first started showing up, few of them were anglers, mostly joyriders. It wasn't for a few years, maybe into the early 1990s, before you'd see more serious bass fishermen in jetboats, but after that the numbers grew steadily and tournaments started to proliferate.

However, the numbers of fish dropped drastically in the first few years after jetboats became popular, and BEFORE huge numbers of anglers started using jetboats. I was and am still convinced that the original problem on the Meramec was not angling but the wakes of jetboats messing up the spawning, because the numbers of small fish decreased BEFORE the numbers of larger fish. There was a period of several years when the overall numbers of fish I caught steadily declined, but the numbers of 15 inch plus fish did not. And then the lack of little ones took effect and the numbers of bigger ones dropped drastically, too.

That was then, this is now. The overall numbers stabilized, but at a much lower level than they once were. I believe, with no real solid evidence, that the fish eventually adapted to jetboat wakes by spawning in different spots; I believe there is far less spawning done along mud bank stretches, and most of it is done now along rocky banks where not quite as much silt is stirred up with every wake. But the numbers never came back to what they had once been, and I think you can attribute that to fishing pressure keeping them depressed, with the numbers of big fish also affected by illegal gigging.

Meramec habitat has declined a bit, but not really all that much. I am not willing to concede much of the decline to habitat changes.

And regulations DID have a great effect when the 12 inch length limit and 6 fish creel limit was instituted back in the 1960s, taking the place of no minimum length and a 10 fish limit. The numbers of fish over 12 inches increased dramatically on Big River between the late 1960s and mid-1070s, even with lackadaisical enforcement. On upper Big River, the part of the river that's not jetboatable, even with some decline in habitat in places, the numbers of fish have stayed high, although spotted bass have taken the place of many of the smallies.

[MOsmallies]

I have never caught one. Where bouts they tag em at?

I believe the MDC tagged in Spring 2011 and Spring 2013 on a few select rivers...

Black River

Courtois River

Huzzah River

Current River??

Castor River

Here's a previous thread that discussed some results...

[dembones]

30-40-50 years ago a stringer like this was common place and the rivers survived. not saying this guy is in the right or the wrong. I do believe that catch and release is much, much more common now. BUT what about the otters that have been introduced??? I have heard that these cute little creatures can wipe out a section of a stream. anybody have info about this

[Riverwhy]

30-40-50 years ago a stringer like this was common place and the rivers survived. not saying this guy is in the right or the wrong. I do believe that catch and release is much, much more common now. BUT what about the otters that have been introduced??? I have heard that these cute little creatures can wipe out a section of a stream. anybody have info about this

I completely agree. These types of stringers and much larger were commom in previous decades. Fish harvest by humans is not the variable hat has changed. An otter will consume around two pounds per day of fish and crustaceans. Add a whole family of otters in a stretch of a stream and imagine the carnage. Human harvest doesn't even register on the scale. Otters and stream degradation are our mutual enemies.