Don White wrote:
Reginal P. Smithers III wrote:
JoeSpareBedroom wrote:

"Reginal P. Smithers III" wrote in message
. ..

JoeSpareBedroom wrote:

"Shortwave Sportfishing" wrote in message
...

Stumbled into something on Saturday and tried 'em out last night.

WHOO HOO!!!

http://tinyurl.com/f3hpy

In Pearl/Gray, they are very attractive to stripers - big
stripers. I
was totally surprised.

Boated and released a ton of blue too.

Good times.

Those things are delicious with dijon mustard.

Somewhat related: I'm reading more and more info lately (and not
from anyone even remotely involved with PETA) that catch & release
does not work. The mortality rate may be MUCH higher than we've
thought for many years. It has no relationship, either, to whether
you use barbless hooks.

It seems the stress of the fight is too much for the fish. I have
seen many more dead fish floating around the lake in the past few
years, especially in the coves, as catch and release has become more
popular. I have actually seen a "catch and release" fish kill a fish
that was not caught. a 12" large mouth bass tried to eat a 24"
large mouth that had died (my assumption was caught and released)
and the smaller fish died because his eyes were bigger than his
stomach.

As the popularity of fishing with light weight tackle increases, the
mortality rate among the catch and release increases substantially.
It seems if you can pull them in very quickly they stand a greater
chance of surviving, but who wants to catch a 5 lb fish with 50 lb
tackle. Fisherman need to start fishing with a chum line and then
snapping photos of their "catch".

I try to stay out of the "hunting" and "fishing" debate, but the
Shark tournament TV show makes me sick.


Frankly, I don't see the attraction of light tackle for big fish. I
mean, I unexpectedly caught a huge pike on 4 lb test once. What did
that prove? It certainly was not a personal achievment of MINE. It
illustrated only two things:
-Berkley makes great 4 lb line (which I had nothing to do with)
-The line didn't get near any sharp fish parts and get cut, which is
a matter of chance. You could say "You did a great job of keeping it
away from the gill covers", but the water was muddy. I couldn't see
the fish at all.

So, why risk having the line break, leaving a fish with a treble hook
in its throat? And that bull**** about "The hooks will rust away -
the fish will be fine" - it's a crock. Yeah, the hooks will rust
eventually, but meanwhile, that fish won't be able to eat with a 6"
Rapala and two sets of treble hooks in its face.

I've reached the point where I won't fish for anything that I have no
intention of eating. And, if I catch enough, I stop and read a book.
If I had a live well and could make sure the fish were recovered
enough to move (so enough water will pass through their gills), I
might do things differently.

I really do enjoy just being outside. My favorite time of the year is
early spring and late fall, when the lake is quiet. I can go up with
a book. I used to enjoy beer, now I just go up with bottled water and
enjoy mother nature. Now that I have a new Photographer hobby, I can
take some photos of the birds flying south for the winter. I do
enjoy eating fish and meat, so i have always steered cleared of the
guns debates and hunting and fishing debates, but I wish people would
catch what they wanted to eat, and then sat back and just enjoyed the
sights, sounds and smells of mother nature.

Since no on in my family listens to me, I really don't expect anyone
in this NG to listen either.


We listen... we just don't pay any attention...........


Just like everyone in my family.

I hope I don't have to pay for anyone else to go to college.