When asked how many limits of walleyes people catch in a thread some time ago, the consensus was most here couldn’t catch a fly if it drowned in your drink. i.e. people really struggled to even catch a limit.
There’s also a whole fleet of people who can catch fish well, who absolutely choose to not be involved in these discussions. So, don’t take participants here as a representation of the whole. In my experience we aren’t a fair representation, but we do congregate a specific type of representation and we do shun those who oppose it, quick and often…They leave or know to stay out. Example, in the “DO you catch limits and how often” topic, you would be called arrogant ass if you stated you could often, and do. I know, i was called that. Tell someone there’s more to know, and they’ll not take kindly to this. Especially when they have a “High post count”, but lack in the “High Fish Count” category.
I really wonder the success of same people who cannot catch a walleye limit with panfish. Responses here is that you could snatch the wings off a fly (Panfish) vs couldn’t catch a dead fly (Walleye). That’s interesting to me. Doesn’t seem credible honestly. Are these panfish you speak of that bite anything all keeper sized fish, or are we exaggerating to force opinion. Are we quick to forget the times we struggled?
And, it seems to be overwhelming opinion that there are MANY instances of overharvest beyond the regulations. Enough so that many feel it is the greatest impact to the panfish populations, therefore a change of limits is only a slight modification in the harvest. I question these statements. Are those made up statements or do you have specific instances that you did not act upon. I ask that pointedly because of the strong feeling against it, yet the frequency in which people claim to know it is very abundant. Panfish limits are larger than other species, and a “Pile” of fish photo, can easily drive perceptions of WALKING CORMORANTS. For some, perception is considered reality and that is becoming more true everyday in OUR SOCIETY.
I personally am not seeing folks in general have phenomenal success just because of an expenditure (Graph, Etc). AT TIMES, yes, but for the most part, NO. Folks watch a video, see someone do “It Right” and I’d bet the vast majority couldn’t compete just because they purchased the equipment and watched a video. It would be like saying Gophers can play as good as Gonzaga, because they watched them play. HA!
Increased pressure is rampantly brought up, but i don’t think buying a license is an investment in understanding how to catch fish and doing so often. It is just the first legal step to being able to wet a line. Having equipment is second step, and the BIGGEST step, is learning to catch them (Often a lifetime of learning and the largest investment of TIME). Since i spend a LOT OF TIME on the water, i also know the vast majority DO NOT!!!!!
Ya’ll who show up to Pool 2 or 4 this weekend will think “MAN, It is so crowded and there won’t be any fish. Reality was, i didn’t see a one of you on pool 4 monday when it was 15 degrees. Ya’ll show up in groups because you share the same group mentality.
Increased technology also brought up, again, folks are buying these gadgets yet putting forth the effort to understand a fraction of that technologies output. When you become an expert of those technologies, it is super easy to forget the learning curve and the time it took. I ask each of you to look back 5 years in your fishing experiences and ask yourself how you rate today vs then. It takes TIME to learn and Time to experience, and time goes by fast and is quickly forgotten. I didn’t know JACK 5 years ago about catching eyes on the river. I know more people who invest very little time in fishing, and have learned very little in every 5 passing years. However, if you started with 5c and now have 10c, it sure feels like you have twice as much…But you still have only 10c while others are playing with hundreds, like the IDO boys; who frankly, don’t do it all on their own either. They’re a team, with a much larger team of resources(Guides or equivalent). Like asking an NBA player to jump on your highschool squad so you can win friday night’s game.
Lastly, there is a large majority of Fisherman who feel that any lake should possess the type of fishing found in the latest video they watched. IMO they’re naïve. There are those who know what lake cycling is, and they’ve seen it many times though many years of fishing many lakes and staying on top of the bites in the area. Then there are those who are discovering it. Bar conversations are not how you discover it btw, you must invest a lot of time to be better than the crowds to truly understand what is going on within a fishery. Some get used to it(lake cycling), some it aggravates the heck out of and they try to prevent it to no avail. It used to aggregate the heck out of me, but one must start to understand how the lake is managed, and that cycle, is absolutely part of the management plan. Your individual contribution usually meaningless in grand scheme. People also get comfortable thinking what i did last year will work this year…Groups being the largest offenders of this, and their community spots. People love to grab allies for whatever self deception they have going. Groups not catching fish immediately, and wholly blame the fishery. When, it may be as simple as a monkey see monkey do mentality and the monkeys aint got it figured out. Those who’ve left the groups, are those who’ve found a reason to do so. They’ve discovered something better or more complex than the group understands. This is why your best fisherman aren’t found in them groups.
PS, I don’t look at any argument with emotion of i can avoid it. I’m not calling any one of you out. My statements above should not be taken personally or with emotion. My 2c if you will, take it as that and that alone.
These regs will make some happy, some mad. As a professonal my job is to make change. In order to make my customers happy, i describe exactly what the problem is, how we’re going to measure it, what the solution is, and how we’re going to measure the change. If you don’t describe any of those things, and you simply implement a change, you get people racing for their pitchforks.
Example: Lake X has a gill net survey of X. The netting results are undesirable by public opinion. By implementing these changes, we intend to change the gill net survey to X. The results will be measured each year and weighed against the benchmark, and the goal. The plan will be adjusted as we measure our success.
I’m all for individual lake management, if the lake is managed in a way that is measurable, and those definitions are displayed to set expectations.
Without setting expectations, people make up their own…and this day and age, their expectations is to match that latest youtube video they watched of James putting the hurt’n on the hump head gills.
