Overfished

[RobAnderson]

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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[Noodle rod]

I worry about that here as well. We hear all the time that crappie cannot be overfished, but all the evidence points to can,has been,and will again.

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[Jamesdean]

A spot I go to is owned by the city.There is no size limit, and one can take thirty a day.You have limited access to it also.I was talking to another angler their and talking about not as many crappie as in the past. His, and others blame river otters have moved into the lake, and that the pike and musky are eating them up...but I think it's a lot more than that. In the last year I have seen no mdc officials visit this lake at all. It has a bar type gate that a security company locks sometimes, but not always like they are supposed to.

[RobAnderson]

At least I have the luxury of having several lakes very close by. Kissimmee is still doing well but it is patrolled 7 days a week. It is just irritating that because of a few bad anglers I have to be inconvenienced by pulling my boat to fish the other lakes when I wouldn't have to if people would just follow the rules. They are in place for a good reason. Yes there are about 4 locals that overfish but there's a lot more visitors that don't even follow safe boating much less the fish and game laws.

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[huntinslabs]

It is a prolific problem in many areas of Florida and many species fresh and salt. Problem is they are legal to have as many cleaned fish packed in that freezer as they can while parked and staying. Becomes illegal when the freezer is loaded into truck or 5th wheel and pulls out on road. Very hard to police that. Now if they catch them on the water over limit or more than posession limit in cooler uncleaned then they have something.

[skeetbum]

I sat next table to three guys talking about the same scenario years ago, but they were fishing the St. John’s. It was all I could do not to get ugly with them. I also spoke with a wildlife guy and got nothing. I don’t know the solution, aggravates me too.

[wanafish]

The same thing is happening on our lakes in Alabama. I think our state officials are more concerned about the money. So they don’t want to upset the money bucket. My wife and I have been fishing Lake Talquin 3 to 4 time a year for about 4 years. We were over in Oct. and found out that there was no available cabins or RV lots during Feb. or March. This is at Ingram’s Marina. For the record the most fish that we have every kelp is 30 after 4 days of fishing. I don’t believe in keeping a limit for everyday that we fish. We catch fish to go in the freezer from our home lake. We just enjoy being able to fish different lakes and seeing different areas of our great country.

God Bless to you all

[Crestliner08]

It's even a bigger problem with us folks up here in the colder climes. The growing seasons are short compared to those down south. Consequently such action on the part of a few, impact the many. Over harvesting can dramatically affect our fishing - and has - for many seasons now.

Unfortunately, law enforcement is usually thin in comparison to the areas they have to cover. And our local court systems appear to be ineffective in dealing with the law breakers. No easy solution I'm afraid.

One more thing: As our technology escalates, so does the ease with which these "fishermen" (loose term in my opinion) can achieve their devious goals.

[RobAnderson]

I agree with you Crestliner except for the northern lakes don't get the influx of thousands of out of staters who don't really have an investment in the ecosystem. As a lot of them can and will just stay somewhere else when the fishing gets tough. It's just really sad that people can't respect God's creations and the local laws. Maybe I was just raised different.

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[Fastdrop]

Asian carp not fisherman have destroyed lakes where I live.