Category: Rules/Regs
Science: Extreme Rigging
We’ve touched on the subject of fishery regulations before, and the argument that has been made that many of those regs are antiquated, and have either been arbitrarily set, or are more in place to create equality of harvest among anglers, kind of a social/ethics type thing. For example, back in 1974, the average daily [...]
Science: Of Rigs and Regs
Just when the fishing forums were finally starting to quite down. When the last word on the Nate Wellman incident truly WAS the last word. Along comes Paul Elias, cracking the century mark down at the Guntersville FLW event in what was expected to be a lightweight deal. Of course, it’s not so much that he won [...]
Nate-gate: Is There A ‘Something Else’ Or…?
AAAAAAAAAAAAA! Nate-gate won’t die! Been trying not…to…write…about this again, but dang. Writing because Ray Scott and Bassin’Fan’s Johnny Johnson recently issued opinions on the Wellman matter, both on BassFan. If you didn’t read ‘em, they’re good. Ray said it’s all about the polygraph, and JJ saidtourney rules need to be enforced to the letter. Stack [...]
Ain’t Over ‘Til It’s Over
Seemed like everyone had weighed in on the Nate Wellman thing, but forgot about the PAA. If you haven’t seen it, here’s what the PAA did, followed by the interesting parts: “The Professional Anglers Association has declared Michigan professional angler Nate Wellman ineligible to compete in any of its events for a year.” Appears from [...]
Promiscuous Fishing Coming in IA
Starting Monday, “promiscuous fishing” will be allowed in certain Iowa waters. That’s right. Strap on the Speedo, Google your old flames’ phone numbers, grab your…uh, rod, and head down to your favorite fishin’ hole.
Canada Is the New Bassin’ Nicaragua
WTH? Check this out: The president of the NY BASS Chapter Federation (Mike Cusano, good guy) said today his group has changed the rules of its July 23 fishing tournament on the St. Lawrence River. The announcement comes…in the wake of May 30 incident on the river when Roy Andersen, 22, of Baldwinsville, was threatened [...]
Bassers vs. Wallies at NY’s Oneida
Looks like there might be fisticuffs on the shores of New York’s Oneida Lake, scene of many a bassin’ darby. Here’s what’s going on. On the one hand we have the NY DNR, trying to do the right thing by opening the lake to catch-and-release bassin’ from Dec. 1 through the traditional bass opening day, [...]
Bass In Decline at Eufaula, AL?
According to the Alabama DNR, a year ago it took 22-25 pounds to win a tourney on AL’s Lake Eufaula. Now it’s down to 13-15 pounds, a pretty drastic swing. What happened? According to fish biologist Ken Weathers, from a recent AL DNR article, the current “poor bass condition at Eufaula” can be chalked up [...]
WI Cull Progress, MN Still Lobotomized
After 10 (or more?) years of trying, Wisconsin bassers finally got through the dense fog in their state legislators’ brains and now can cull. Except in waters that border Minnesota. That’s right. Even though Wisconsin allows culling statewide and Minnesota allows culling in all its inland waters, Minnesota still does not allow culling in border [...]
Let Northern States Fish the Spawn
In some northern-tier states the bass season is closed until after the spawn. Meaning bassin’ is closed right now. Why? To me this might be right up there with a ban on culling. I’m guessing the reason for a closed season – other than “it’s always been that way” – is that the “evil derby [...]
Way To Go Wisconsin Bassin’-Heads!
Wisconsin bass fishermen were offering largies and smallies free boat rides this weekend thanks to a bill legalizing culling that was finally signed into law on Saturday (I believe) by state Gov. Scott Walker.
TX Ramping Up Tourney Cheat Laws
The great state of Texas already has a law that penalizes dastardly folk for cheating in fishin’ tourneys. Pretty soon it’ll be tougher. Like felony tougher. A little background first: The law originated a couple decades back, when there was a rash of well-publicized cheating in TX bass derbies. One fatality was involved. At the [...]
No Info Rules Are BS
I think that’s where I’m coming out. Not that my mind can’t be changed, and not that I don’t like what no-info rules are supposed to represent (I do), but…. The cardinal rule about rules is that they’re worthless if they can’t be enforced. And let’s face it: The only way to really enforce anything [...]
WI Cull Law Awaiting Signature
Don’t pop any corks just yet, but it looks like – barring any nuttiness, always a possibility in Wisconsin it seems – Gov. Scott Walker is about to bring his state into the 20th Century of fishing. Yep, that’s right, graphite rods, trolling motors and braid could soon be allowed in Wisconsin waters. Okay, not [...]
Today WI Can Join the 21st Century
Today the Wisconsin State Assembly will vote to allow culling – and thus join the 21st century. Or actually the 20th century since every other state with common sense allowed culling sometime back. The state Assembly will vote today on bill AB 35, termed an “economic stimulus bill for the sporting community” by its author, [...]
Would You Fish a Catch-Keep Tourney?
Or a Dink Bounty? Saw a news item recently from the Indiana DNR establishing a 10- to 14-inch slot in Big and Crane lakes in Noble County. The reason: to get rid of dinks. I’m betting the slot won’t work. So how ’bout a derby?
WTH Is Up With No-Cull Madison?
If you don’t live in Wisconsin, you may not know that Madison is a huge Democrat town. Or so I’ve been told, since I don’t live there either. Not commenting on D vs. R, just putting into context the recent Republican sweep of the state governorship, assembly and senate, and how that might affect the [...]
Spot Thoughts, Part 2: All Small?
We have the facts that pre-tournament local info is now super-local (GPSd spots), and during-tournament info is now super-local. What this means is that “the spot” has gained and will continue to gain in importance at all levels of competitive fishing. And by extension, a good information network and the knowledge of local big sticks [...]
Is There Too Much Location Info?
Spot Thoughts, Part 1 Got a call Saturday morning from a fishing industry bigwig who wondered whether up-to-the-second information on Classic anglers is harmful, both in the short term (during the derby) and long term. What prompted the issue, he said, was
Classic Gossip: Info, Info, Info
So far the dominant topic around the Classic hasn’t been weather or baits or who’s on what. It’s who knows what and how they know it. No specifics, no details (well, a few), no accusations. But let’s face it: When you’re fishing the biggest tournament in fishing on a gazillion acres of confusing water with [...]
More WI Knuckleheadedness?
Just in case you weren’t already thinking Wisconsin had it’s head up…you know…about tournament fishing, this: As of this year, June through August (give or take) you can only keep (catch-hold-release) 3 fish per day in Wisconsin bass and walleye tourneys. Yeah. Three. Click the pic below to read from a DNR letter to a [...]
PA Bass Tourney Guys Speak Up
A while back we posted about how the PA Fish and Boat Commission said that Susquehanna River smallies were suffering from pollution – so they decided to ban spring bass tourneys, and mandate measure-and-release the rest of the year. This is like…well, I can’t think of an analogy off the top of my head, but [...]
FL Tourneys Avg 26-28% Mortality?
Say wha? That’s the figure cited as the Florida DNR looks at options for its new long-term Black Bass Management Plan. And I quote (from this article): > “Research from the University of Florida and elsewhere has shown that tournament-associated mortality could harm a fishery and prevent managers from meeting objectives. Tournament-associated mortality has been [...]
NH Limiting Hardwater Bass Catches
Seems that New Hampshire Fish and Game wants to protect spawning females, which is the reason behind new hardwater limits on bass. Highlights from an AP article: > The size and number of black bass that can be taken during ice fishing season will be reduced
Duckett: No Info, No Problem
What started as a simple blog post has turned into an interesting point-counterpoint discussion between two high-profile [and opinionated] Elite Series pros. You have to figure these types of conversations between pros go on behind the scenes all the time, but thanks to the magical powers of the Interwebz, this one is playing out right [...]
