"JohnH" wrote in message
...
On Thu, 05 Jan 2006 14:53:33 GMT, "Doug Kanter"
wrote:

All this explains why I have changed my fishing habits. For instance, a
buddy of mine loves fishing for muskies. But, they're not especially good
to
eat. He just catches them (rarely, thankfully), photographs them, and puts
them back. I won't target certain fish unless I plan on eating them.
Obviously, you can't always choose what you're going to catch, but
sometimes
you know the odds of catching certain kinds are higher. For instance, I
often fish in a certain stream where there's nothing but trout, and the
occasional baby pike that wanders up from a larger river. The stream's no
more than a foot or two deep, so the business about the swim bladder isn't
an issue. I use Mepps (or similar spinners), which come with extremely
small
treble hooks, too easily swallowed by the fish. I've gradually been
changing
them to much larger single hooks, which means the trout are lip hooked
most
of the time. If I can see right away that the fish is too small to keep, I
can sometimes release them by just letting the line go slack, and they'll
shake themselves off. If I want two for dinner, I stop after I catch two.
The limit is 5. If I'm positive I'll have the time to freeze them
properly,
I'll go after more.

Especially if I'm fishing from the boat, I always try and have a good book
along for the ride. Fishing's only half the reason I'm out there. I'd
rather
read (or just stare at the clouds) than kill more fish than I need. This
makes perfect sense to responsible hunters, who don't shoot 23 deer until
they finally get one that's OK to take home.


Great minds.....etc.

And then, there's a fishing spot where, in summer, a bunch of inflato-blob
boats always raft. Very weedy, very bass-y and pike-ish, and the ladies like
to sun themselves topless. The morons all have boom boxes playing different
music, very loud, but I put up with it because of the scenery.