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Old March 1st, 2008, 12:58 AM posted to alt.flyfishing
Halfordian Golfer
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Posts: 551
Default Catch and Release Hurts our Quality of Life

On Feb 28, 5:34 pm, Dave LaCourse wrote:
On Thu, 28 Feb 2008 15:40:53 -0800 (PST), salmobytes

wrote:
wiworth:
....you're supposed to laugh, Dave.
Not fly off the handle (just in case).
:-)))


Bseg

Hmmmm. Thought I answered your first post, Sandy, but I don't see it.
In any case, I did laugh.

I am a curmudgeon 'cause of all the liberals in Taxachusetts. d;o(
They have yet to see a tax or fee that they do not like.

Timbo and I have gone round and round on this subject for years.
Catch and kill almost killed one of the most beautiful native brookie
waters in the country. Meat gatherers (if that ain't a word, it is
now!) devastated the river by taking all the large fish as
meals/trophies. I can remember a Sunday 15 or so years ago with 17
anglers in a spot that can handle 6 or 7, AND there was another six or
so waiting for a spot to fish. They were all after meat. A 16 incher
in those days was a very big brook trout..

The State of Maine protected the brookies in this river by finally
making it illegal to kill one, and put a season on killing only one
land locked salmon. It did not take long for the native brookies to
recover. I have taken many in the 3 to 5 pound range, and a friend
took a 7 pounder on a #10 Royal Wulff (go figure). The landlocks have
also come back - I landed/released a 25 incher last June.

Conclusion: Catch and release works. Imagine a five pound brook
trout rising up and taking a #16 Goddard Caddis. You set the hook and
five minutes later you have fought and successfully released a fish
that is now wiser. You are stuck with the puzzle of how to fool him
again. What to use........ he'll still be haunting that little riffle
at the head of that pool, but he's wiser now. You have to be wiser
too or else he'll win. Your paths *will* cross again.

Imagine that same brook trout rising to take another dry fly in catch
and kill waters....... it will be his last rise, his last "meal".

There are no polutants in this river. C & R does not cause polution.
However, the drinking water for the City of Boston is contained in a
resevoir about 40 miles west of the city. It is C & K water, yet
there are signs present about not eating too much of the fish because
they contain heavy metals and PCPs. Should I make the conclusion that
catch and kill has caused the heavy metals in this water? Same logic
that Timbo is using.

Ya wanna eat trout, kill the cement pond mutant crap they stock the
rivers with. Or, eat some Purina Puppy Cow - tastes about the same I
imagine.

Dave (Curmudgeoniz Supremious)
d;o)


Culling works too Dave. Has for a really long, long time.

Your pal,

TBone