Quick Trip to Big M- day after thanksgiving

22 hours ago, Quillback said:

I have never fished Lake Fork but I hear it is crazy at times.

I've spent well over 100 days on Fork and never felt as crowded as I have at Table Rock. 

20 minutes ago, Smalliebigs said:

One thing though what do you guys consider a keeper??

 

15 inches. That's what it has to be to weigh it in or take it home. 

8 hours ago, Flysmallie said:

 

15 inches. That's what it has to be to weigh it in or take it home. 

Thanks...interesting 

I've never liked the minimum size regulations. I know what they're supposed to do. But in my experience, all they do is encourage the "keep and kill" of larger fish. Wisconsin has had a 14" minimum for many years and I have fished numerous lakes over there where it seems all you catch is 13 to 13 3/4" fish. If all you care about is numbers, it's a great reg.

Just a thought, but maybe a different term for fish over 15" other than "keeps" or "keepers" would help.

Just idle thoughts on a winter day. 

 

 

 

 

35 minutes ago, Macsimus said:

Just a thought, but maybe a different term for fish over 15" other than "keeps" or "keepers" would help.

 

 

That makes no sense. How is that going to change anything? If you want to keep a fish, weather it's to weigh-in for a tournament or take home for the table, it has to be 15 inches in Table Rock. There are some area lakes that have shorter length limits. On Pomme de Terre a "keeper" is 13 inches. (good luck trying to win a tournament with 5 of those)

Everybody keeps promoting stocking and boasting it's benefits because other states do it. But one thing other states do is they have slot limits. To protect the majority of the healthy population of bass. 

I can't believe that anyone that is for stocking to make things better would condone tournaments during the spawn. It just makes no sense. 

20 minutes ago, Flysmallie said:

I can't believe that anyone that is for stocking to make things better would condone tournaments during the spawn. It just makes no sense. 

I've never said that I condone tournaments during the spawn.  I'll never understand the negativity toward stocking LMB though.  

A 15" fish is 4-5 years old from what i have read.

I think it would help a lot to not have NO tournaments during spawn..but we all know that won't happen.

11 minutes ago, Royal Blue said:

I've never said that I condone tournaments during the spawn.  I'll never understand the negativity toward stocking LMB though.  

Sorry I wasn't trying to make it sound like you did. But a lot of people do. And I have no negativity towards stocking fish. Fill it full. But that's going to take some time to accomplish that task if you ever do. However there are things that can be done now to make it better but nobody wants to hear that. 

1 hour ago, Flysmallie said:

I can't believe that anyone that is for stocking to make things better would condone tournaments during the spawn. It just makes no sense. 

Exactly. I don't have any negativity toward stocking at all if it can be proven its actually needed. I do have negativity toward spending money on something when you don't know where you are, don't know where your going, and the only reason you think you know how to get there is because other states do it.

 

57 minutes ago, 176champion said:

I think it would help a lot to not have NO tournaments during spawn..but we all know that won't happen.

I fairly certain this is the exact same thought that the group that wants stocking say. They say that Missouri is one of the few state that doesn't stock and every other state does it so they wont listen and its not worth their time. 

If Bass fishing is as big of an economic driver as everyone claims it is then it shouldn't be a difficult thing to push for and accomplish. The fact of the matter is the masses don't give a rip about the fish in the least. They care about being able to brag about how good they are and all the fish they caught, the couple hundred dollar check they won, standing on stage holding their big bass, and once they put that fish back into the return tank they could care less if that fish lives or dies. If it were any other way there wouldn't be tournaments during the spawn, there wouldn't be any format in which fish are drug all over the lake, fishermen would hold each other accountable for delayed mortality at tournaments, and their wouldn't be guys sight fishing during the spawn. 

It's the definition of hypocrisy to tell the MDC you want things to be better when the collective group does darn near everything short of killing bass to damage the sustainability of the fishery. 

How about there is no "keeper" size. Throw them ALL back. If you want to have a tournament do it the MLF format way. If you need to eat a fish go to the store or learn how to catch another species. There are other fish in these lakes besides Bass and they are fun to catch too! These green fish have become such a big business $$ they need to be protected.