12-09-2008, 10:24 PM
I agree with the things windriver said.
I don't think the problem is as much ice fishing as it is poaching and using bait and such. Most ice fisherman are ethical people and release a lot of fish. It seems most fish I release in the winter have twice as much spunk and are super quick to swim off. Now how many of those die later I do not know, but I bet the number is very small. Now, if I caught that same fish in late July or August on even the tiniest hook the fish would need some reviving.
I have heard a lot of people say how ice fishing has ruined their favorite lakes, and I guess I could see that. Its just from my experiences I feel lot better after I release a fish in the winter then I do in mid-summer.
With more people fishing now, it means more idiots as well. As long as you have idiots that will be breaking the law I don't know how realistic it is to grow those super huge fish. Its
really. A fish like the size Flygoddess mentioned doesn't grow to that size overnight. It takes time and if the fish are all kept then it doesn't happen.
For the above mentioned reasons, that is why I do not care for slot limits either. There are places (like Strawberry) where its working. But in a lot of places (like Daniels) as soon as that fish reaches legal size they are almost always kept. Slots typically don't allow people to keep many fish but when they do get big enough, they are usually kept. Those are the fish that need to be released to get to "trophy size" and a whole lot of people would never release that fish.
Anyway......
[signature]
I don't think the problem is as much ice fishing as it is poaching and using bait and such. Most ice fisherman are ethical people and release a lot of fish. It seems most fish I release in the winter have twice as much spunk and are super quick to swim off. Now how many of those die later I do not know, but I bet the number is very small. Now, if I caught that same fish in late July or August on even the tiniest hook the fish would need some reviving.
I have heard a lot of people say how ice fishing has ruined their favorite lakes, and I guess I could see that. Its just from my experiences I feel lot better after I release a fish in the winter then I do in mid-summer.
With more people fishing now, it means more idiots as well. As long as you have idiots that will be breaking the law I don't know how realistic it is to grow those super huge fish. Its
really. A fish like the size Flygoddess mentioned doesn't grow to that size overnight. It takes time and if the fish are all kept then it doesn't happen.For the above mentioned reasons, that is why I do not care for slot limits either. There are places (like Strawberry) where its working. But in a lot of places (like Daniels) as soon as that fish reaches legal size they are almost always kept. Slots typically don't allow people to keep many fish but when they do get big enough, they are usually kept. Those are the fish that need to be released to get to "trophy size" and a whole lot of people would never release that fish.
Anyway......
[signature]