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Trout
Average Member
USA
170 Posts |
 Posted - 07/09/2004 : 9:44:29 PM
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I think most guides would agree their customers would be happy with a 15 fish limit of trout and two redfish rather than the current limits for these species. This is becoming an important issue as the number of guides and therefore fishing customers increase having an impact on the trout and redfish fishery. I am not stating the impact is severe at this time nor am I wanting to limit the way someone makes a living. Most out of town guests would be happy with a "limit" so long as they could say the indeed "limited out with their Captain (guide)." Assuming you were a fisherman and would like to have continued access to what your tax dollars pay to study and maintain, our fishery, you might want to simply count the number of fish reportedly taken by guides on a day with good weather, including all of the LA coast. It's staggering despite fluctuations. What are your thoughts on a commercial guide limit that would reduce the number of trout and redfish taken by individuals who don't pay the full fees for fishing licenses, pay for or maintain their own boat, fuel, equipment, and baits which support the local markets for these products? What would the fishing be like for those of us who appopriately fish once-twice each week at most, if guided boats were not pounding the schools every day with increasing intensity? We pay to maintain our fishery just like some of use pay to deer hunt. Would you want to pay to hunt a piece of land that a commercial guide was also hunting, day-in-and-day-out? Why not? Some of the same problems apply. I am not a screaming conservationist but instead a life-long resident and proud recreational fisherman of our salt water bays and marshes. There have been an alarming number of comments by guides and others using the term "weekender" or "weekend warrior" in reference to most of us. Since when is this something to be ashamed of? If you don't think constant fishing pressure can affect fishing then why do you approach trout under the birds with stealth, or push-pole for redfish in the ponds? Guides have become abundant and with their increased numbers the competition intensifies creating an increae in pressure for them to produce. The result, multiple boats owned by one entity, fishing in nearly any conditions on any day. Most drastically is the obvious competition to catch and post the multiple limits of trout and reds on the "dock shot" for customers who in most cases couldn't clean their own fish or know how to cook them. For us who read these postings, catching specks and reds is about much more than limiting out and dock shots. We own this fishery as the citiczens of Louisiana and don't think for a second that you don't have the power to regulate the fishery and control our fish stocks that leave the coastal region and the state. For the record I truly believe the guide industry would not suffer but improve efficiency. Less pressure to produe lowered limits and therefore expectations, would mean less time on the water and lower fuel and bait expenditures. What do you think?
Trout
Rodney Hesson |
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