"RGarri7470" wrote in message
...
I read or saw some info
released last year on sight fishing (aka bed fishing) and how there was
currently no proof that it affected overall bass numbers when

I wrote an article for Outdoor Frontiers with my thoughts on bed fishing.
I
don't think it affects bass reproduction - here in the south, especially.
But
I don't do it much - most of the lakes I fish are too stained, and I don't
have
the patience.
Ronnie

http://fishing.about.com

Thanks Ronnie, I will see if I can dig it up. I just don't buy into the
theory that hunting or fishing, associated with some selected and controlled
harvestation hurts an animal population. Actually, I think it helps. Too
good in some cases: How many dead white tail dear have you seen by the road
the past few years? I've hit two in the past 5 years myself.

It just seems like the past few years I've heard more from animal activist
groups about actually stopping hunting and fishing all together, in certain
areas anyway. Given that there is an election coming up, and every Democrat
in the field could use the help of the PETAs, Greenpeaces, et al that they
can get, if one manages to get into the White House this go-round, we may
hear even more about it. They already won't let us collect our own oil in
the US, shutting down outdoor activities in the *name of the planet and its
helpless species* won't be too far off.

Sounds crazy I know, but so did the Big Tobacco thing only 20 years ago. So
did unleaded gas in the 1960s. The defense of our right* to enjoy the
outdoors will fall on us, the outdoorsmen (women too) I'm afraid, as I am
not aware of any lobby group representing us in Washington, past maybe the
NRA. Just trying to bone up so I can do my own protesting at the appropriate
time, and for my own knowledge so I can help educate people I come into
contact with.

*(It's a "right" to me since I fully equate it with my right to life,
liberty and THE PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS. No farther fetched in my feable mind
than burning the American flag being protected as "free speach".)