FishingBanter - View Single Post - On track for a 2020 ban on sportsfishing?

**Willi** · August 3rd, 2006, 03:39 PM posted to rec.outdoors.fishing.fly

JR wrote:
rw wrote:

wrote:

It's never, ever necessary. A 'practical; slot limit can be set just
above or below the target. Imagine a 1 trout over 5 pounds limit, for
example.

That would effectively be C&R almost everywhere all the time. I've
caught quite a few trout this year (it's been a very good year so far)
and none of them were close to five pounds except for a bull trout
(strictly C&R).

Furthermore, a laboratory study (I can't find the source at the
moment) showed strong evidence that culling larger fish led to genetic
changes on the population in a surprisingly short time, reducing the
average size of the fish. If anything, people should be allowed to
keep smaller fish and be required to release "trophy" fish.

"One trout over 5 lbs" is not a slot limit.

I agree it's not a slot limit but I think Tim was illustrating a fairly
common type of limit used here in Colorado. For example on a small
stream in my part of Colorado, there is a one fish over 18" limit. There
MAY be an 18" fish for every mile or two of stream but I've never seen
a fish over 12". It is defacto C&R.

However, just because it is POSSIBLE to catch a fish you can keep, it is
EXTREMELY unlikely. I don't see how you could say you're fishing for
what you call a "serious" purpose or that you're not "trivializing" the
prey with that type of limit just because it's not strictly C&R.

Willi