ok

Hi James, here is a sampling of studies, there are many more, you can just Google them.

The equation is really simple, say for walleys >25″, you can use this with the people you know, just fill the number you catch per 10 hours of fishing, the number you release, and the number you keep, here’s how mine works out:

#caught | #C&R | #harvest
———————————
2 | 2 | 0
———————————
mort.rate | 5% | 100%
———————————
fish kill | 0.1 | 0
=================================

So, that means I kill one walleye greater than 25″ every ten fishing trips due to mortality, given a 5% mortality rate. I kill zero from harvesting because I don’t keep those fish. But let’s say we have a tournament, 75 boats, 150 fisherman, 50% of the boats bring limits, the other half bring half-limits, it is a C&R tourny, but we all know the fish that anglers choose to weigh in are not exactly “immediately returned to the water” after de-hooking, dramatically increasing mortality rates (as the studies linked to below clearly show – for every two minutes the fish is in captivity, the mortality rate jumps), you can quickly see that even though the tourny is C&R, the number of fish killed can be very significant.

Please, please, don’t get the wrong idea. Without any doubt whatsoever, C&R is a good thing, there is no question. But when you have a large percentage of anglers already practicing C&R, the laws of dimishing returns sets in with setting more regulations. I mean guys, seriously, who keeps big walleyes? I honestly do not know anybody that does, with the exception of a once-or-twice in a lifetime true trophy for the wall. Education has done this, in my opinion, not regulation.

Studies:

http://www.dnr.state.md.us/fisheries/recreational/articles/crmortalityresearch.html

http://www.absc.usgs.gov/research/Fisheries/Alagnak/catch_and_release.htm

http://www.fish-wisconsin.com/articles/My%20objective%20of%20this%20article%20is%20to%20educate%20both%20Tournament.pdf

http://news.minnesota.publicradio.org/features/2003/09/26_baxtera_fishstory/

Gator, you just nailed it right on the head.

In modern times, with the enourmous popularity of CPR, mortality on released fish kills far more large fish than keeping them does, according to numerous studies and surveys.

So strictly statistically speaking, making it CPR, while possibly adding more small or medium size fish, would not increase the numbers of large fish. The only way you could do that is to simply close it to fishing.

I personally rarely keep fish, but I admit I do KILL fish. Stresses of being caught and handled are very high, especially on bigger fish. This is why I never, ever, talk bad about anyone who does choose to keep any legal fish. The fact that I release does not guarantee the survival of that fish, and in fact quite the opposite, it does almost guarantee I at least shortened the lifespan of that fish.

My personal opinion is that conversation efforts are much better suited to focusing on eliminating pollution and increasing water quality in general (i.e. less waterside development, dumping, etc.), eliminating invasive species, and other long-term or permanent-term efforts like that.

The thing is, an individual fish is not permanent. It will die, of something. And in the old Miss, they die pretty young (relative to northern lakes). For those reasons, I always view CPR as more of a temporary solution.

Note that I’m speaking of walleyes/saugers here, and my thoughts also apply to all our species of bass and sunfish. My beliefs are different for other species, including Northern, Musky, Sturgeon, etc.

As anyone who operates a forum site knows, this is a forever battle. It really is a tough situation, all around, and it’s good that it gets talked about.

I don’t operate any forums for this very reason, but I’ll tell you a little about some of my clients — I own an IT company, we do all kinds of custom software and web hosting, etc. — I have never published a link to my company or even so much as mentioned the name of it on this site, and I never will. It is a commercial, for-profit, business, and I have not paid (or approached) IDA for advertising, so I have no right to promote that business here.

However, I have posted links to 100% free, non-competing to IDA, non-forum fishing-related sites. I only do this in cases where I really believe the users and even operators of IDA will find those sites useful. I truly believe that on forums in general, that is in keeping with the spirit of forum use.

I am a member of better than 70 “outdoors” forums (fishing, hunting, conservation, etc.). In addition, I’m also a member of many IT-related forums (programming, OSs, etc.). And finally, my company has about 30 clients that we host forum sites for. The commonality among all of them is the inherent struggle between not being too restrictive on posts (which truly turns users away) and not having their forums turn into nothing but huge pots of spam.

This may also sound a little harsh, but that is the “work” required in forum operation, please let me explain a little… From a purely technical and financial standpoint, it is extraordinarily easy to start a forum (whether it be fishing-oriented or anything else). Nearly all popular software packages for web forums are free, they cost nothing at all. In addition, these days web hosting is also very inexpensive. So from a start-up perspective, quite honestly anyone can do it for a song. What’s sets the good ones apart (like IDA) is the time effort that is put into it. That includes finding the best “staff” to contribute content, monitor posts, doing SEO, and of course, advertising…a website is absolutely nothing without users. And for those who don’t know, you need a TREMENDOUS amount of users on a website to pay the bills.

So with all that said, it is clear that the IDA staff spends an incredible amount of time and effort making this site good. And I prefer to look at things the following way instead of monetarily: posting for-profit advertising on the site is simply direct disrespect for that time and effort put into making the site useful for the most people.

On the flip side, here is what I always tell my clients that operate forums: Be very, very hesitant to alter posts with links, if that link could be useful to your targeted audience. If you do that consistently, the user base begins to distrust the forum…

Gem Eye, well said.

My two recommendations for the absolute most beatiful scenery, full service resorts with boats and fishing guides (and even seaplane rides and lots of other cool stuff), deer swimming in the lake right in front of you, bald eagles everywhere, etc.: Lake Vermilion or Rainy Lake.

Both of the lakes have multiple upscale resorts that will cater to your every need.

If you want a great, mid-tier resort, that has great service but won’t break the bank, you can try my personal favorite (I stay there every year): Head O Lake resort at http://www.headolakeresort.com

Hey Jim, yes, what I call “white” is model 510, the regular glass shad rap.

Good luck to you!

Thanks!

Does anyone know if HuDu has a website or how to contact, doesn’t show up on Google?

schrump, I have some screenprinting business for you.

can you send me an email: [email protected]

I was telling fishingfreak on another site that I’m also looking for a local place to switch my embroidery work to as well, so “blue” will be hearing from me as well.

Thanks guys

osprey, great points.

It does take quantity to get good results, and quantity takes time, and who likes to take time writing!

The one thing I have noticed about paper and pen, is that I have found that in a lot of cases, it actually discourages anglers from continuing, because they don’t see anything tangible from what they are writing. Frankly, doing data analysis against a stack of paper is pretty much impossible.

With the really good computerized logs, there is at least some level of instant gratification, seeing your statistics numbers as soon as you enter, having a lot stuff auto calculated for you like moon phases and weights, etc. (and with quantity, the gratification while not instant is a lot more intense when the patterns start showing up). Also, the good logs do make data entry as easy as possible with drop down fields and the like.

I also like to always make this point: The fact that entering a log (no matter what kind) takes time, is actually a good thing. It forces your brain to think about what you did on that fishing trip on a different, almost subconcious level, making you learn things that weren’t apparent when you were in the act of fishing.

On Pool 4, and out at Big Stone, I use them a ton. I troll with #5s and cast #7s, almost always in white, but I replace the hooks with red gami’s.

Those white glass shadraps are pretty much my goto baits on those two waters these days.

Just to add two cents, I’m a proud Crestliner owner with ZERO problems. Have the 21′ sportfish, and when in “fish” mode everyone I’ve taken out in it is amazed at the room, the fishability, and the speed and performance of the big boat.

Hi panfish, thanks for posting. What do you consider the difference to be between the two?

Then maybe we could get someone from http://www.fishermanslog.com to come on post what they think?

Would be really interesting to see the two different perspectives.

Thanks

Jason, they are both free (unless something has changed I don’t know about).

I don’t know how long http://www.fishing-logs.com has been up, but I know http://www.fishermanslog.com has been up since June.

I have used both.

The main difference I see in the actual logs is that fishing-log.com is what I would call a “single page” log. It’s simple without a lot of features, but fish can be entered very quickly. fishermanslog.com has a lot more features, but it’s a “multi-page” log.

Thanks guys. I’ve actually been on the site a fairly long time, just one of those “lurkers” who reads everything and never posts! By far this is the best site for my favorite body of water, though (Pool 4).