2015 Bass regulations: GET ON THE PHONE/WRITE AN EMAIL!

[Vernon]

Originally Posted by JBird

My personal feelings are to release all the big fish HOWEVER I am against any law that would prohibit the taking of 1 trophy. I have released every large bass I ever caught (and plenty of smaller keepers) with the exception of a tournament situation. That includes my personal best over 40 lbs and some 30's. Maybe one day I'll be able to release a 50+.

That being said I absolutely respect any angler who wishes to take a large fish home and eat it. Hunters and fishermen are the last of the hunter gatherers and I have a deeply held belief in the right of capturing of your own food. BUT when I see guys with 3 dead cows I begin to wonder, "How much is enough?" One 30+ pound bass is a lot of meat. Do you really need to take home 3?

Now, I am absolutely biased because I rely on striped bass to earn a living. But I also reside in a state WITH NO COMMERCIAL FISHERY FOR STRIPED BASS, and feel that because of that we recreational anglers should be able to keep more than 1 bass IF WE CHOOSE TO. If I had the power I would make this fish a gamefish coastwide and our issue would be resolved overnight.

The rules as they are with a second fish over 43" will actually encourage some anglers, not all, to keep that big fish.
It will hurt my industry because some people won't want to pay for the chance to only keep one fish, which is effectively what this rule is going to do.
Why in the wide wide world of sports would they actually encourage people to kill a cow? It makes no sense at all.
If I had the chance to rewrite our regs I would have 1 fish at 28" or better and 1 bonus tag fish over 28". I actually like the bonus fish being switched to a slot in the Fall too. Honestly, I wish I got a tag for every cow I released that authorized me to keep a 18"-24" bass for the table.
So there's my 2 cents.

You are correct, when they did the study, they only went by tonnage, not the economy or industry. To me that is a flawed study!

See ya next weekend. RJ