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.

--
John H.

"Divide each difficulty into as many parts as is feasible and necessary to resolve it."
Rene Descartes