10-03-2003, 05:47 AM
I gotta chime in on this one. I always wonder what the guys who only fish the soft water are thinking when it comes to persecution of guys who dabble on the Hard Water. Do you really think that there are THAT many folks on the water when it's frozen? I hear my grandpa making the same argument that Ice Fishermen are killing Strawberry, and that we should go back to when there was a memorial day openner on that lake to protect the fishery.
I can't imagine a lip-hooked fish caught jigging through the ice is anymore injured than a gill hooked or gut hooked fish caught on a marble sized chunk of power bait (not that I'm a purist, if powerbait is working, use it). Fish will bleed much slower in the cold winter water, and have a much higher chance for survival once returned to the water. I just can't see the limited number of icefishing dudes putting that much pressure on them.
I think that the bigger threat to Strawberry and any other fishery in this state is not the icefisherdudes or the flyfisherdudes, or the baitfisherdudes, or dudes in boats, or anyone class of folks, but rather the folks that think a slot limit means that you keep all fish qualifying to be kept. The old limit would have worked fine n the berry if folks didn't say "OK, we've got one at 18 1/2 inches, that's a keeper, now all we need is three under 18". A 4-fish limit doesn't mean keep 4 fish unless you need them. A 4 non-cutthroat trout limit doesn't mean keep all rainbows and salmon you catch either, but that's what that lake has come to. That is why the limit was adjusted, not because the ice fishermen were putting too much pressure on them. No offense WH2, I love reading your posts, and you have the same opinion that a lot of folks have on this issue, I just don't agree with it.
Fisch R. Mann
[signature]
I can't imagine a lip-hooked fish caught jigging through the ice is anymore injured than a gill hooked or gut hooked fish caught on a marble sized chunk of power bait (not that I'm a purist, if powerbait is working, use it). Fish will bleed much slower in the cold winter water, and have a much higher chance for survival once returned to the water. I just can't see the limited number of icefishing dudes putting that much pressure on them.
I think that the bigger threat to Strawberry and any other fishery in this state is not the icefisherdudes or the flyfisherdudes, or the baitfisherdudes, or dudes in boats, or anyone class of folks, but rather the folks that think a slot limit means that you keep all fish qualifying to be kept. The old limit would have worked fine n the berry if folks didn't say "OK, we've got one at 18 1/2 inches, that's a keeper, now all we need is three under 18". A 4-fish limit doesn't mean keep 4 fish unless you need them. A 4 non-cutthroat trout limit doesn't mean keep all rainbows and salmon you catch either, but that's what that lake has come to. That is why the limit was adjusted, not because the ice fishermen were putting too much pressure on them. No offense WH2, I love reading your posts, and you have the same opinion that a lot of folks have on this issue, I just don't agree with it.
Fisch R. Mann
[signature]