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Posts: 2361
| Just got done watching a segment of "Outdoors with Joey Mines" and as he is gut hooking stripers on I think, West Point, he is dialoguing the importance of catch and release, as they bring stripers up out of deep water and do a cut the line
release of the same.
It brings up the question of why are we gut hooking fish and releasing them anyway? He comments on how deeply they are swallowing the bait after one fish.
Why are guides not more to the forefront on fishing ethics and education and why are they not educating themselves?
Why are sponsors not more sensitive to what media their product message supports? In this case Lowrance and a few other fishing brands are associated with the show, and I am guessing they are not looking at the big picture in any way.
It would seem that circle hooks would have been well suited to this show, might hook a few less but would have potentiated at least some live release. And looking at the show, why was release neccessary? I am guessing so the cameras could keep rolling a little more on playing fish. Maybe 4 fish and a fish recipe might have made as good a show.
Southern lakes can be fish factories but many have populations that are impacted notably by fishing pressure and angler mortality. Cherokee, near me in TN is one that has problems with angler kill impact.
This would seem something fishing shows could be much more cognizant of without taking any kind of a tact to "save all fish".
And while I am griping about guides and sponsors , here is another problem that looms for all of us, the bait transfer. This pic was taken in the parking lot of one of the landings at Melton Hill TN. What it is showing is a live bait tank, in use, with oxygen bleed tank and circulating pump, used to transport shad, alewives, shiners? etc. from lake to lake? state to state? landing to landing? I am not convicting these guys of anything. It is possible they caught bait in Melton Hill and just stored the excess in the truck tank overnight, although the pump was up and running in the middle of the day.
This was an out of state truck and boat.
This is a quick illustration in the potential for moving alewives around the countryside, and in the same tank, disease, and non native, unwanted invaders such as Zebra mussels. Alewives, while seeming just another bait source, have changed the fishing on several reservoirs due to their deeper water, cooler water habitat. Unintended consequence. I've heard they are very lively bait but... Once again, not implicating anyone, just pointing out the ease with which unpleasant consequences can occur. Whats moving into TN?
Currently editting pic before placement. 
Edited by firstsixfeet 2/12/2010 11:41 AM
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 mobile bait tank.JPG (51KB - 111 downloads)
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Posts: 91
Location: Knoxville, TN | What pic are you talking about? anyways, I know the guy from GA with the huge bait tank with oxygen and he uses rainbow trout that he buys from a local Trout farm. He is a good buddy of mine and I believe there is no harm in what he is doing. We all know the effects alewives have had on the walleye fisheries here in TN and know the regulations regarding the transporting of live bait from reservoir to reservoir. Here in TN, I encourage people not to target muskies with live bait, simply due to the facts that, artificials will outfish live bait anyday if you know what you're doing, and I do not gut hook any fish unless its a freak accident. As for griping about the fishery, the approach our musky club has taken is to not gripe and moan about the situation, but put our heads together and make sensible suggestions on how to make the fishery better. And maybe thats why they raised the musky limit on Melton Hill limit to 50 inches and tripled the stocking rates for the future. |
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Posts: 553
Location: 15 miles east of Lake Kinkaid | "artificials will outfish live bait anyday if you know what you're doing"
I wish that was true. In Tennessee......possible although when I was down there a bunch of amateurs caught fish on Trout. In very cold water, especially if the waters are clear and pressured....This is definetly a false statement |
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| Next time you should just take the time to contact him and see what he has to say about it instead of writing an essay about it on an internet message board. |
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Posts: 91
Location: Knoxville, TN | Matt, don't tell me I'm wrong about this.....I have striper fished on Melton Hill for 10 years until the muskies were big enough to start being caught, and yes they do bite live bait, but if you want more action, artificials is the way to go. I have tons of striper buddies that fish the lake and it is a rare occasion to have a musky hit a live bait. At BullRun where you saw the "amateurs" catching fish is a different scenario but I still will catch more fish than they do. Just because you spent a day or two on a lake doesn't mean you know it all, you just think you do. |
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Posts: 2361
| BDavis - 2/12/2010 11:59 AM
What pic are you talking about? anyways, I know the guy from GA with the huge bait tank with oxygen and he uses rainbow trout that he buys from a local Trout farm. He is a good buddy of mine and I believe there is no harm in what he is doing. We all know the effects alewives have had on the walleye fisheries here in TN and know the regulations regarding the transporting of live bait from reservoir to reservoir. Here in TN, I encourage people not to target muskies with live bait, simply due to the facts that, artificials will outfish live bait anyday if you know what you're doing, and I do not gut hook any fish unless its a freak accident. As for griping about the fishery, the approach our musky club has taken is to not gripe and moan about the situation, but put our heads together and make sensible suggestions on how to make the fishery better. And maybe thats why they raised the musky limit on Melton Hill limit to 50 inches and tripled the stocking rates for the future.
Billy, that is exactly why I editted to cover the license plate and advertising on the truck, and noted that I was not fully knowledgeable of what was going on. However the problem presented here is still the same, the potential to transfer bait, water, invaders and disease from lake to lake. BTW, while it is on the table and since you are aware of all this, who certifies the hatchery as disease free? Just curious if the TN fisheries dept does that, or the Feds? I assume someone does? We have bait collectors here in KY, and I don't have any idea where that bait ends up, but hopefully on the same lake as collected from, however in cold weather, it could certainly stand a trip down the road. And the rainbow trout bait seems to be very popular at Melton Hill. Last year they were bringing them in by the bait bucket and throwing them in the hot hole, and also camping on the pipes with them.
I am not particularly talking about musky fishing per se, more about fishing and bad bugs in general. In KY we have had suckers imported in the past, not sure of current status of that, but if free ranging suckers are captured and transferred, there are several watersheds that could not be guaranteed disease free, already. Silver carp would certainly flourish in many of the watersheds down here, and would make mincemeat of some of the fisheries around both of us. It is much better to prevent a problem than to try and solve it. I worry when I see live bait transport occurring. |
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Posts: 553
Location: 15 miles east of Lake Kinkaid | Billy-
I was not attempting to argue with you. I admire the conservation-mindedness you have brought to the musky fishery on Melton Hill. You are certainly more experienced on Melton Hill than myself. I was referring to musky fishing in general. There are many days on northern (and even southern lakes) where suckers outfish artificials. This December we had 5 days where we only caught on suckers. One day in particular we had 5 hits on suckers, with 2 landed and another fish lost at the boat. That day we never saw a fish on an artificial. I can only think of 2 out of 8 or 9 fish myself or partner caught this past December that were caught on artificials, in fact. I also know this to be true on many of the Indiana lakes such as Webster, Tippy, and the Barbee Chain as well as Pewaukee and many others in Wisconsin. Again, I am not trying to make an argument over who has the correct opinion...I was making a general statement. |
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Location: Knoxville, TN | Matt, I am not much for arguing either but what I try to do here in TN is deter guys from using live bait for muskies because there are no quick strike rigs down here. You have to take into consideration the situation down here in which we have much warmer waters and the fish here will act totally different than anywhere else. The reason I do not encourage using live bait for muskies is that I have guthooked a musky while stiper fishing and it really turned my stomach. I get all kinds of inquiries about using live bait for muskies and I always tell them aritificials are the way to go. I know the guys using this forum is different than most people since you guys have experience, but I still have to concur that I will still catch more fish than one guy using live bait. |
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Posts: 91
Location: Knoxville, TN | Oh yeah and FSF, TWRA has cracked down on the transport of live bait and most of the responsible striper guys are aware of this......http://www.tnfish.org/InvasivesExoticSpeciesTennessee_TWRA/InvasiveExoticFishSpecies_TWRA.htm If you guys are ever interested in a striper fishing experience you'll never forget, get in touch with me. |
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