06-09-2006, 09:51 PM
Kokeking: This isn't a legal issue, its a common sense one.
I AM biased, but its not about the money, its about 20-40 year-old fish. Once one is dead, it takes another 20-40 years to replace it. I've guided all over North America, and if every lake trout was gone from here tomorrow, I can still guide anywhere I want. If people let the big ones go, yes, there would be more for me and my customers to catch. But, there would also be more for EVERYONE ELSE to catch too! And there's a lot more "everyone else" than there is me and a few customers. A LOT MORE. Heck, there'd probably be enough so that nobody needed to hire me to catch 'em!!! Wouldn't that be the best thing? People hire me because they can't catch them on their own. That's the only reason. Is sure isn't my charming personality that they pay big bucks for. I'm pretty rough on most of my customers, and they're waiting in line and begging for more abuse.[sly]
And no, I never have and never will allow a fish over 28 inches to be intentionally killed on my boat. For one, there's no good reason to kill one. They don't taste good, you don't have to kill one to have it mounted, and they're just too old. For two, there's no price you can put on a big old fish. It's not worth a few hundred bucks to kill a monster. And what about a so-called record? Those, in my opinion, are stupid. Who cares about a silly record? That's just an ego thing. In fact, I have personally weighed two fish from the Gorge that were 54 and 55 pounds, both of which were released by the anglers who caught them. They didn't care about anything except those fish swimming away to be caught again. I know another reputable angler up here who says he has caught one larger than that, but didn't kill it. He has no reason to make it up, and would shoot me if I mentioned his name. Yet, the so-called lake record still claims to be 51 pounds? I call it the "dead record." What does it really matter anyway? If you want to keep score, try baseball or golf. Fishing is about the enjoyment of fishing, not records.
In the thousands of trips I've guided here and everywhere else I've guided (25 years), I've never had a customer request to kill a trophy fish, so I don't know what I'd do. Actually, I do. It would "accidentally" slip out of my hands and get away. "Gee, I'm sorry."
I inform every prospective customer before hand about my view on catch-and-release. Most compliment me for it time and again. Those few that don't never book a trip. Perfect.
I have no problem with tournament fishing. I have no problem with killing renewable fish for eating or whatever other purpose you have in mind, like rainbows and other trout that can only live a few years, or kokanee that live for only 4 years, or bass that reproduce in here like rabbits, or even small lake trout, for which there is an abundance. Heck, my customers probably took out 100 or more little lakers on my boat just last year alone, to eat. I took guys out several times and brought in 18 fish limits (for e fishermen), deader than hell and filletted at the cleaning station. Thats ok, there are plenty more where that came from. 20 and 30 and 40 pounders? There aren't that many that make it to that size, and it takes decades. They're treasures, just like 10-lb bass, 10-lb. rainbows, 20 lb. pike, 30 lb. muskies, giant tarpon, billfish, and a host of other species of fish across the globe that shouldn't be needlessly harvested. Some are fine to kill and eat, and some even need to be kept in check. Others need to be released. Large lake trout in Flaming Gorge are one of those, whether I ever guide here again or not. They're everyone's fish, and I'm just one boat on this big pond full of people trying to catch that one giant laker. If all the 20 and 30 pounders killed over the years had been released, nobody would blingk an eye these days at a 40 pounder. Why don't we have more 40's and 50's? Because people kill them when they're 20 and 30. And theres plenty of food in here for them to eat. Not just the kokes and rainbows, but I catch lake trout all the time with smaller lake trout in their throats. That like of they're eating themselves out of house and home is bunk. Just look at some of the pictures on my website. I don't see any that are starving. If they were, they'd be hitting our jigs and lures much more aggressively.
We need to protect them so everyone has a shot at catching them, and then releases them for the next guy, and the next guy, and so on . . .
Keep fish when it makes sense, and don't when it doesn't. Killing a 30 year old trout for a derby and a few hundred bucks doesn't make sense. That's my story, and I'm sticking to it.
And by the way, if these derbies are so "professionally" run, why aren't they catch and release, like they do in the rest of the country for bass, walleye, sailfish, marlin, redfish, etc etc.??? An observer in each boat, weigh 'em, measure 'em, and send 'em on their way. And big corporate sponsors would jump all over it, increasing prize money and tackle give-aways dramatically. Catch and kill tournaments were "out" a long time ago. That's why they call it a "derby" instead of a "tournament."
Whew!!! And I was just getting warmed up!
Have fun out there Kokeking, keep what you need, and save some for the next guy. That's what it's all about!!!
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I AM biased, but its not about the money, its about 20-40 year-old fish. Once one is dead, it takes another 20-40 years to replace it. I've guided all over North America, and if every lake trout was gone from here tomorrow, I can still guide anywhere I want. If people let the big ones go, yes, there would be more for me and my customers to catch. But, there would also be more for EVERYONE ELSE to catch too! And there's a lot more "everyone else" than there is me and a few customers. A LOT MORE. Heck, there'd probably be enough so that nobody needed to hire me to catch 'em!!! Wouldn't that be the best thing? People hire me because they can't catch them on their own. That's the only reason. Is sure isn't my charming personality that they pay big bucks for. I'm pretty rough on most of my customers, and they're waiting in line and begging for more abuse.[sly]
And no, I never have and never will allow a fish over 28 inches to be intentionally killed on my boat. For one, there's no good reason to kill one. They don't taste good, you don't have to kill one to have it mounted, and they're just too old. For two, there's no price you can put on a big old fish. It's not worth a few hundred bucks to kill a monster. And what about a so-called record? Those, in my opinion, are stupid. Who cares about a silly record? That's just an ego thing. In fact, I have personally weighed two fish from the Gorge that were 54 and 55 pounds, both of which were released by the anglers who caught them. They didn't care about anything except those fish swimming away to be caught again. I know another reputable angler up here who says he has caught one larger than that, but didn't kill it. He has no reason to make it up, and would shoot me if I mentioned his name. Yet, the so-called lake record still claims to be 51 pounds? I call it the "dead record." What does it really matter anyway? If you want to keep score, try baseball or golf. Fishing is about the enjoyment of fishing, not records.
In the thousands of trips I've guided here and everywhere else I've guided (25 years), I've never had a customer request to kill a trophy fish, so I don't know what I'd do. Actually, I do. It would "accidentally" slip out of my hands and get away. "Gee, I'm sorry."
I inform every prospective customer before hand about my view on catch-and-release. Most compliment me for it time and again. Those few that don't never book a trip. Perfect.
I have no problem with tournament fishing. I have no problem with killing renewable fish for eating or whatever other purpose you have in mind, like rainbows and other trout that can only live a few years, or kokanee that live for only 4 years, or bass that reproduce in here like rabbits, or even small lake trout, for which there is an abundance. Heck, my customers probably took out 100 or more little lakers on my boat just last year alone, to eat. I took guys out several times and brought in 18 fish limits (for e fishermen), deader than hell and filletted at the cleaning station. Thats ok, there are plenty more where that came from. 20 and 30 and 40 pounders? There aren't that many that make it to that size, and it takes decades. They're treasures, just like 10-lb bass, 10-lb. rainbows, 20 lb. pike, 30 lb. muskies, giant tarpon, billfish, and a host of other species of fish across the globe that shouldn't be needlessly harvested. Some are fine to kill and eat, and some even need to be kept in check. Others need to be released. Large lake trout in Flaming Gorge are one of those, whether I ever guide here again or not. They're everyone's fish, and I'm just one boat on this big pond full of people trying to catch that one giant laker. If all the 20 and 30 pounders killed over the years had been released, nobody would blingk an eye these days at a 40 pounder. Why don't we have more 40's and 50's? Because people kill them when they're 20 and 30. And theres plenty of food in here for them to eat. Not just the kokes and rainbows, but I catch lake trout all the time with smaller lake trout in their throats. That like of they're eating themselves out of house and home is bunk. Just look at some of the pictures on my website. I don't see any that are starving. If they were, they'd be hitting our jigs and lures much more aggressively.
We need to protect them so everyone has a shot at catching them, and then releases them for the next guy, and the next guy, and so on . . .
Keep fish when it makes sense, and don't when it doesn't. Killing a 30 year old trout for a derby and a few hundred bucks doesn't make sense. That's my story, and I'm sticking to it.
And by the way, if these derbies are so "professionally" run, why aren't they catch and release, like they do in the rest of the country for bass, walleye, sailfish, marlin, redfish, etc etc.??? An observer in each boat, weigh 'em, measure 'em, and send 'em on their way. And big corporate sponsors would jump all over it, increasing prize money and tackle give-aways dramatically. Catch and kill tournaments were "out" a long time ago. That's why they call it a "derby" instead of a "tournament."
Whew!!! And I was just getting warmed up!
Have fun out there Kokeking, keep what you need, and save some for the next guy. That's what it's all about!!!
[signature]