put-take fisheries

[kicker19]

had a fantastic weekend! did a 15-mile two day float trip down the Toccoa river in north ga. Weather was warm, sunny, and water levels were excellent.

unfortunetly i was not able to fish during the trip, firstly, its very hard to paddle through rapids and cast at the same time, and secondly, i ended up losing my rod in a tricky rapid. paddled back to look for it but no luck (just means i get to buy a new set up, )

i noticed through the trip that people out fishing were catching fish, mostly rainbows, and that ALL of them kept the fish they caught. it did not matter the size of the fish, once landed it went either straight in a cooler or to a stringer. while floating past a group i asked how they were doing and they responded "only one so far, just big enough to make a sandwhich". I had the opportunity to talk with a few locals and they confirmed that majority of people in that area keep everything they catch. i am not against keeping fish, but taking everything you catch out of the river just makes me mad, even if it is a stocked river. i am curious if any one you have this same type of behavior in your areas.

 

[plecain]

i am curious if any one you have this same type of behavior in your areas.

Yep. As fast as they can reel them in.
In some local streams the pickings are pretty slim about two weeks after stocking.

 

[mridenour]

Sure we do! I'm glad because it helps keep the bulk of the fishermen out of the really good areas. People here in Missouri pay the taxes that fund the hatcheries. There are plenty of fish. Let 'em eat.

Most all of our put-take streams are stocked daily so as long as they sell daily tags, there are new fish put in.

 

[buddhist_palm]

you should see the animals come out when the salmon start running up the rivers in southern wisconsin

its really a dam shame, people are people

some fish for peace and relaxation and some to feed their kids

cant fault em for hungry children

i fly fished right under blue ridge and found the fly anglers in that stretch to be pros

 

[mirabelasunshine]

Yup, pretty standard on the stocked stretches. What's nice here is that there are lots of streams that aren't stocked & that folks with that mentality don't trouble with. Something for everyone, I guess.

Growing up, I lost track of the number of times I'd fish past somebody's yard on some little brook and get told I was wasting my time, there were no fish there ... I could have told them different, but why spoil a good thing?

 

[repperson29]

No problem with keeping fish, I pay near 40$ to fish every year, so when they put stockies in if I want a few meals there's no problem with it. Would I take a wild trout to eat? Probably not, but the chances that the stockies they put in end up on the shore dead is pretty good. Might as well feed someone other than the 'gulls.


Ryan

 

[kicker19]

I guess I had never noticed the full extent of folks taking from the system due to me intentionally finding places to fish that require effort to get there, like hiking a mile or two through woods or paddling to the other side of a lake. My conservation outlook is obviously different also. It makes sense why I get odd looks when they see me throw back a fish.

 

[fly_guy12955]

Stocked fish are eternal. Eat what you want,,,but,,turn a wild one lose.

 

[kicker19]

Stocked fish are eternal. Eat what you want,,,but,,turn a wild one lose.

Agreed. That brings up the never ending debate over wild vs stocked fisheries. It seems that if a system relies on hatcheries to supply fish, added with the take whatever you want mantality, at some point there will be no such thing as a wild fish. I can honestly say that in all my years of fishing I have only caught one wild trout. This goes along side the debate over wild steelhead. They have started mating wild with hatchery to get number up. So in that case will the offspring really be wild ? It's almost like KFC, for example, they advertise it to be chicken but with all the hormones and additives it pretty much isn't chicken.

 

[Liphookedau]

I'm like many others who are not in favour of Put & Take Fisheries why not return Fish so they can be caught again?
To me taking an odd Fish to eat is OK however I'm can't see the sense in either Killing every Fish you Catch or taking The Bag Limit every time you go Fishing.
Another thing I'm against I know some don't agree however that's fine is people either Filling Their Freezers &/or giving away most/all of their catch because all they are virtually doing is Fishing their Sport Away.
I've seen it too often where people have Filled their Freezers not used all the Fish,then cleaned The Freezer out & have Thrown The Fish out what a waste???
Brian.

 

[fly_guy12955]

I cant speak for everyone,,,nor can they speak for me. I DO eat a lot of fish,,that's one reason I FISH. As I've said forever,,I eat a few natural fish,,,being some bluegills, crappie and catfish. I NEVER keep a bass or wild trout or anything but the sunfish and catfish.

If you broke it down into units,,lets say 12" fish or a big crappie or bluegill,,or a decent catfish fillet,,I...the family.... eat prob 200 fish a year. That's a lot. I like fish. They like fish.

Now,,what fish would you prefer I keep ?

If I catch a HUGE stocker,,it goes right back in the water so some youngan or old person can have the kick of catching it. If it's 2lb or less it goes,,,,,,,,,,,right home for food.

We eat about out 8 to 10 deer a year, also. A few squirrels, and other small game. Turkeys.

Add a big garden on top of that.

We tend to have the smaller grocery buggy full of chemically enhanced corporate food when we check out of the supermarket though.

I agree with one thing..someone 'pretending' to be substance gatherer/hunter and in actuality freezes or puts up food and lets it die a shelf life should have their license revoked and be fined for wastefulness.

On the other hand, I make NO fun of the guy that catches fish all his life and turns ever last one back to water. Fishing IS fun..first and foremost its FUN...I'd fish if i didn't eat the first one.

Mike

 

[lkyboots]

THe stocked fish in Pa. Aren't real good to eat until they get in the stream for at least a couple of weeks. You catch a hold over or a pinky we used to call them and they're worth taking home. I caught some Browns last week that were stocked last fall and they were in excellent shape.

 

[Sage & Abel]

I used to fish put/take fisheries when I lived in PA quite a bit. Look, I have no problem with people keeping the fish. My issue, I suppose, is selfish in nature to some point. If they dump in a bucket, and they get yanked out as soon as they're dumped in - fishing is done. For those of us that like to fish simply for the joy of catching, our fishing is limited because of the immediate harvesting. Once they're gone, they're gone unless they dump in more - making the season and opportunity to fish exceptionally short. I'm going to fish a put/take fisherie this coming weekend with my nephew - first time fishing one of those in a long time. I know they're stocking this week. I'm already worrying if they'll all be gone by Sunday and if we'll have a chance to catch a few.

I'm glad I don't have to rely on the stocking truck where I fish now.

 

[ejsell]

Once a year they stock a local pond or lake in every county here in Ohio with brown trout. The pond in my area gets wiped out in a couple of days but that's what the stocking is meant for. They wouldn't survive much more than a month or two anyway.

One of our county parks has a nice little lake I take the kids to to catch blue gill. Last summer they bought an adjacent property with a nice small stocked crystal clear quarry pond that had never really been touched. The week it opened to the public my oldest son happened to be attending a budding naturalist camp put on by our park district. Every morning dropping him off and afternoon picking him up I'd see the same dozen or so guys with buckets taking home every fish they could get. They looked like they were on a mission to clean it out. I finally got a chance to take the kids to it a few weeks later and really wasn't surprised we didn't see a single fish.

 

[Bigfly]

I always say....."we are shaped by the waters we fish". (Sorry for repeating this...)
Somehow (acculturation), we have come to believe, millions of folks can/should take 5 or 10 fish home......every time....
Raising a culture to believe that trout should inhabit all waters everywhere, and all the time, also leads them to believe we should have lettuce in winter, and that gasoline was created for us to burn in an unlimited fashion. (Oh, it isn't?)
Folks should be able to savor a trout dinner, but to go to the water expecting to clean up every time, isn't rational......it's "consumer style",
and not a connection to nature.....
More like a Disney take on things......a romantic vision of days gone by, when no one fished, and fish were easy....and unlimited.
We have both styles of water here (stocked/wild c&r), and it's easy to see the difference in approach by fishermen.
One brings a bucket.......and expects fishes, the other is into hoping for a fish and then recycles it....

We have a pond that's stocked every year for the kids, by local Rotarian's, the kids love it!
As soon as the event ends, the "grown-ups" ring the water and pummel it....intrepid fishermen all......just ask them....


Jim

 

[fredaevans]

Sure we do! I'm glad because it helps keep the bulk of the fishermen out of the really good areas. People here in Missouri pay the taxes that fund the hatcheries. There are plenty of fish. Let 'em eat.

Most all of our put-take streams are stocked daily so as long as they sell daily tags, there are new fish put in.

Interesting read. Lake stocking is up on the Oregon's ODFG's web site, dang near down to the hour the truck will back down the boat ramp. Only got to watch that once and talk about a total zoo. People standing 'shoulder to shoulder' waiting for the truck to get out of the way.

River stocking is a total different game plan ...... other than there's going to be one you have no idea where. I like that plan.

 

[mridenour]

Yeah we don't have once a year stockings here. Plus, Missourians pay a portion of our sales tax that goes to the Department of Conservation that runs the put and take fisheries here. Fish are stocked daily and so people get the trout fix they want. You can only keep 4 fish and I have seen some folks get dealt with pretty harshly that tried to do otherwise. Some of them were pretty ingenious too but not quite as ingenious as the game wardens.

Personally I'm glad that there are places to hold the attention of the meat hunters. Every now and then I go into the park and catch some fish for me to eat. It is pretty awesome in the campground to smell fish frying at several sites. But I am glad that I can go beyond where they are fishing and find some quiet water mostly all to myself.

There are abusers and losers but for the most part they are good people that fish different than most of us do. Getting upset with them is pointless if they are obeying the law. If that causes our water to get cleaned out, well, then the guys making the laws are at fault. As long as there are limits, then that is going to be someone's goal for the day.