Overfished

[trypman1]

It's all sad.

[Orion_70]

This topic came up during the FWC public meetings about the Crappie Management policies... As Huntinslabs said, can catch a limit a day and process to be legal.. illegal when loaded and moved... Now talking with FWC they said at any given time you may only have 1 or 2 FWC officers on duty covering the entire county. For Marion county, that's over 1600 square miles.. so when you add in hunting seasons, ongoing investigations, etc basically there isn't enough man power...We have the snowbirds who are retired and come here to winter that fish every day, as long as they are legal, it's their right... just have to rely on their morals and integrity to say when enough is enough, take what you need throw the rest back have fun and catch them again

[scrat]

Bad thing about this is the legal fishermen will suffer with less limits and size slots as the illegal ones will just move on to another lake to continue doing this same thing.

[deathb4disco]

... just have to rely on their morals and integrity to say when enough is enough

Morals and integrity aren’t what they used to be. The answer to not enough game officers is people policing themselves.

[wicklundrh]

Wow, kind of glad I live in Michigan then.
We have a daily limit and a possession limit. It doesn't matter if you are a Michigan resident or someone form out of state.

You cannot go out in the morning, keep your limit, and then go back out in the evening and do the same. If you have more than (2) limits in your freezer/cooler of any one species, it is illegal.
In the past, people were always concerned about turning others in. Unfortunately, the only way for enforcement to happen is for the sportsmen of the group to police their own. IE, if they see something, they say something. Once that caught on, it was then up to the law enforcement division to do something about it. If (like in some situations listed here) they do nothing, then, eventually people stop saying something to them.

In Michigan, we see major busts happening on a daily basis. All because the MDNR got a tip. Our DNR works hand and hand with the US Fish and wildlife, local law enforcement, city law enforcement, and state law enforcement. To say they do a great job is an understatement.

It is unfortunate that many in this thread don't have the same things happening. I guess if I heard someone say something, or watched someone do something, I'm the type of guy that is probably going to embarass you for doing it! After embarrassing you, I'll probably call law enforcement in front of you for doing it! Even if they do nothing, the other people around you quickly catch on. It takes a village to protect things but also takes a village to raise an idiot!

[hdhntr]

don't get the fixation of catching "limit" every time you go out to keep. Catch what you can use or can give to those who can't fish is what I and most of my friends do. Heck some of my best days are when I am ketchn hundred plus 4 to 8 inch fish and tossing them back as quickly as I Ketch them. which I do a lot on my home lake. Same time some there fixate on that couple of guys could ketch all the big fish in the lake which isn't true.

fish biologist who was at a CDC gathering at MT last august said fisherman were not as big a part of the equation as many think. more to do with whether there was a successful spawn or not, bait fish supply and other factors.

Still folks should NOT be taking many more than they should. just obey the rules it isn't that hard.

[RobAnderson]

With the modern mentality ,I am afraid to say something to those who violate the law as I don't have any interest in getting into a shootout with anyone.

Wow, kind of glad I live in Michigan then.
We have a daily limit and a possession limit. It doesn't matter if you are a Michigan resident or someone form out of state.

You cannot go out in the morning, keep your limit, and then go back out in the evening and do the same. If you have more than (2) limits in your freezer/cooler of any one species, it is illegal.
In the past, people were always concerned about turning others in. Unfortunately, the only way for enforcement to happen is for the sportsmen of the group to police their own. IE, if they see something, they say something. Once that caught on, it was then up to the law enforcement division to do something about it. If (like in some situations listed here) they do nothing, then, eventually people stop saying something to them.

In Michigan, we see major busts happening on a daily basis. All because the MDNR got a tip. Our DNR works hand and hand with the US Fish and wildlife, local law enforcement, city law enforcement, and state law enforcement. To say they do a great job is an understatement.

It is unfortunate that many in this thread don't have the same things happening. I guess if I heard someone say something, or watched someone do something, I'm the type of guy that is probably going to embarass you for doing it! After embarrassing you, I'll probably call law enforcement in front of you for doing it! Even if they do nothing, the other people around you quickly catch on. It takes a village to protect things but also takes a village to raise an idiot!

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[NIMROD]

I have seen in the last 3 years my home lake go from decent to poor. Mostly due to some unscrupulous anglers who know the FWC doesn't bother getting out on the lake to check for violators. It's really sad that a handful of people have destroyed the fish population. Even worse is they have bragged about keeping so many fish that when the go back north and sell them it pays for their winter down here. I have tried turning them in, but the FWC doesn't have time or the resources to worry about the smaller lakes around here. I could try to say that I am not going after them correctly but you just don't see the quantity of fish that we used to. It has definitely made me more concise of what and how many I keep. I am sure that just me worrying about it won't fix the problem but I also know that 2 wrongs don't make it right.

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[Bricks]

Here in Wisconsin the DNR appreciates phone tips we have had some major busts from other fishermen taking pictures and contacting the DNR while still on the water. Here the DNR tries to get there as soon as they can to take advantage of a tip take a pic of there boat number for more follow up, a few times DNR has contacted the local police to help out. Here we take over limit very seriously if possible. Ice fishing is the hardest as usually they are in a shack so no one can see what is going on.

[RobAnderson]

After reading over the post and all the comments, I don't feel as though I was fair or clear about the main violators. I need to be clear that I am NOT saying that all snowbirds are the problem. I have a lot of good friends who are snowbirds and do follow the law. It's a select few and even some locals who have the above the law attitude. I apologize if anyone took this as all visitors are the problem because I didn't mean to imply that. I am sorry for that impression

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