Went out late afternoon and based on zero fish last week, planned on a nap. Drifted main river channel from Goat Is. toward dam for about 1/2 mile. Brother in law and nephew and myself caught 10. Lines probably never got a low as 30-40 feet. Marked a lot of fish deep but didn’t fish for them. All 20-24 inches biggest 26. Based on lack of fish last week brought no knives or cooler. Understand 5 and done, but as I understand it you do not have to keep them. Fish were probably caught around 20 feet on average and were put back for you and others. Clarification on rule is appreciated.
The rules, as I understand, are 5 fish per person any size. Once someone catches 5 they are done. Keep or release does not matter. Everyone on the boat has the chance to catch 5, but only 5 each. Not sure how they can enforce this but that is the rule as I understand
I know last year I saw the DNR sitting out in front of Jakes watching the guys at the towers with some rather large binoculars. I guess they keep a tally on who is getting what. I’m not sure how they would have any evidence for it to hold up in court, but most people won’t fight a ticket if they know they are guilty. I’d like to see it changed to June 15 to August 15.
I really like the law. I prefer eating smaller fish, and I just take a bunch of people on the boat and slaughter the babies. Helps keep my freezer full.
I really like the law. I prefer eating smaller fish, and I just take a bunch of people on the boat and slaughter the babies. Helps keep my freezer full.
That is certainly your right. I just hope that there are not 100’s of fishermen out there that also have that practice. If so, the population of 21" legal fish, will most certainly decline.
Plus, the striper remnants make the best crab bait when I go down south. The 21" plus heads/bodies don’t fit well in the trap. The smaller 18"-19" fit perfect.
I really like the law. I prefer eating smaller fish, and I just take a bunch of people on the boat and slaughter the babies. Helps keep my freezer full.
That is certainly your right. I just hope that there are not 100’s of fishermen out there that also have that practice. If so, the population of 21" legal fish, will most certainly decline.
No worries there, Rick … We have a self imposed slot limit of 23" to 30" … everything else goes back into the lake …
I’m working on a weighted release that’ll get the fish back down quickly in the hotter months thus increasing their chances of survival …
The thought process is to use a heavy weight (5lbs or so) rigged with a boga type grip attached to heavy line/rope …
You grip the fish and send it down … the rush of water on the way down should help in reviving the fish …
The line/rope is marked off at 10’ sections so once you get the fish down to 40’ or so you then release the fish …
This gets the fish past the hot oxygen depleted water and down into the cooler oxygen rich water faster than if the fish was swimming on it’s own …
My only quandary is how the release the boga once I get the fish down there … but I’m working on that as well …
Once I’ve got a working model in place then I’ll send it down with the GoPro attached so I can record the reaction of the fish throughout the process …
If I’m right you should feel the fish trying to get off the boga once it’s revived … or I could be wasting my time … whatever, at least I’m trying …
I won one of those things in a drawing at the Saltwater Seminar series in Charleston several years back…it can be had cheap because I’ll never use it…just pm me and I can hook ya up…
Fishing is a prefectible art…in which nevertheless, no man is perfect – Gifford Pinchot
