Can’t we all get along?

Ok since it is fish in general………I would like to add that any fish is worth putting back in the water alive if you are not going to use it. AKA wanton waste! I enjoy catching fish and keep a dozen or so a year for family or friends but I tell them to go to the grocery store if they want fish.

I just about go ape on people leaving fish on the riverbank to just die! I have released 1 pound plus shad that others have left on shore to die. Yes the turtles or birds will eat them bt that is not the point. It is just as bad as the guys running over those poor ducks with snowmobiles or the deer those other yahoos did. I am a big advocate of letting the Redhorse and other suckers go if you do not plan to eat them or use for cutbait. There are laws in place for a reason and other laws not in place because the word has not been spread enough.

An example of a law few know about the redhorse in WI is that the River and greater Redhorse are protected and may not be harvested and the same goes for the Blue Sucker. All of these are more rare catches. Knowing ID on some of these things are important to very few as of now. Much like sturgeon and catfish in the midwest people are stating to target fish for the fun not the harvest. The redhorse fight well! Not only that there are no closed seasons. Fish em year round. I love catch and release fisheries! The potential of catching large fish are increased and everyone benefits. Well I’ll get off the soapbox but yes I am more passionate about redhorse than most walleye fanatics.

Tight lines Boys!
Aaron

Nice post O4L. I actually have a blast catching mooneye of all things. They’re so aggressive on the take and have a fast-twitch fight that can be pretty fun. They’re like little salmon of the Mississippi. Problem is that they’re so fragile. Any hook inside their mouth gets them bleeding and at that point their done for. I usually only catch a couple to cut up, and if I’m in my catfishing position, will try to catch a smaller one to put out live. Luckily mooneye are thriving on my little stretch of the river.

I like the redhorse too, and you’re right, most people don’t know the difference between species. They’re also energetic fighters and pretty tough. I generally don’t keep them for cut unless I really can’t catch a mooneye and really want to get some cutbait in the water.

I am every bit as careful with the carp and sheephead I catch as I am with a cat. But nothing gets TLC from me like a pretty bass.

Back to the original question (again… sorry if I’m ranting but it’s a thought provoking topic).

If the potential overharvest and (as I would see it) squandering of a trophy fishery is happening elsewhere, I can see two very different outcomes that could eventually directly affect me:

1. The “Cautionary Tale” – A popular fishery gets depleted and people get up in arms over it – eventually our own legislators and managers come to the conclusion that they want regulations in place (or at least research into the local conditions) to make sure it never happens here.

2. “Out with a whimper” – A popular fishery gets degraded to the point where it’s just mediocre, and its popularity fades. The impetus to regulate and research vanishes as the popularity of the fishery declines, and fewer and fewer people bother with the lousy fishing that’s left. Eventually people forget that they used to really have it good, or if oldtimers start talking about it, it’s just another tale of how everything was better in the old days. The sport as a whole suffers.

Of course the third possibility is that they just keep doing it and the fishery never suffers, in which case people would be reassured that fisheries are pretty durable. I’d be careful generalizing those assumptions onto other circumstances though.