Thread: Friendly discussion about Bream Limits

Sign me up!!!! I can ride by trolling motor And Usually Smell me up a mess of Gil!L's!!!!

Thanks for the opportunity to make another post, DBD. Rambler, to answer your question, I had an experience with TWRA and bluegill regulations that was in some ways similar, and in some ways dissimilar, to what Alpha has had.

In 2009 I contacted Jim Pipas, the man that at that time was the head over fisheries for Region 2 of TWRA (I don't remember his name). I talked to him about the possibility of implementing new regulations for bluegill on one of the lakes at Williamsport; I was hoping to get said regulations for Shellcracker Lake, the lake that at that time was starting to have some big bluegill, but I felt that any one of those lakes could be made into an exceptional bluegill lake with the proper regulations. I also offered to help manage whichever lake they might choose for the regulations, at no cost. I told the fisheries head that there were other things that could be done, such as stocking coppernose bluegill, that would improve the level of bluegill fishing.

The fisheries head seemed open to my ideas, but said a year-long angler survey would need to be done to see if anyone was fishing for bluegill. (Yes, he said this.) We talked one time on the phone for perhaps fifteen minutes; I tried several times to follow up with him but he never returned my calls or e-mails. And, of course, within six months of when I initially spoke with him the bluegill anglers he wasn't sure existed had fished out Shellcracker Lake.

My take on actually getting the regulations changed is this: Yes, TWRA is a good-ol'-boy agency. However, every one of their salaries, from the chief down to the technicians, is paid for by taxpayers, i.e. you and me. One or two individuals is easy for them to ignore; if on the other hand there were five thousand or ten thousand signatures on a petition, or a conference was held and they were invited and it was publicized, and they continued to ignore the demand for change, I think they would have a problem. This is, after all, a democracy we live in, and they can't act ignore the people who pay their salaries on a major issue; this would just have to be made a major issue.

I don't think TWRA wants to have to put out a press release stating that they don't give a whit about the tens of thousands of bluegill fishermen in the state and they're going to do what they want because they feel like it. That in effect is what their actions are saying at the moment, and they'll continue that course as long as it's expedient for them. When it becomes more difficult/inconvenient/hazardous to their job security to keep the outdated regulations than to change them, they'll change them.

If people on this site, want to post info about why you should or not keep fish, they should have the decency to make those posts in their own posts. Not on a post of someone sharing their day with all of us here. It is not your place to ruin someone else post. We all have opinions, but, start your own, and not abuse others. If I was mod of this board, I would have deleted your posts from this one, and have P"Med those who were involved as to why they were deleted.

If someone is within their legal limits and not wasting fish, who am I or you to judge? If you think someone is beyond their legal limits a call to game commission is needed. Bashing them on here is mute. And a big body of water that has 100 boats fishing it may look like a lot, but how many are actually catching a limit or even 10 fish? Same I see here in Florida Crappie fishing, lake will be packed but only a small portion of people will do well. Looks can be deceiving and Kudos are in order for a great day fishing.

I'm not done here with these threads. But I will say one thing, bashing someone posting their catch here will not be tolerated.

^^^^thank you.

Originally Posted by arkansasbowhunter

Agree with ya on catch and release but don't think On the Arkansas river it's a viable thing to do since it spans several states. I have learned the hard way that you can over fish a lake. Now a lot of my fishing is catch and release on the ponds and lakes. But I will keep what I want to eat on that occasion. I have fished the Arkansas river from 100 miles north of home to 100 miles south of my home and still catch the same size gills. While they are not as big as some of the northern states and smaller impoundments catching a trophy on the Arkansas river probably isn't gonna happen for me.

i agree,i do fish a lake every year with a bunch of guys.a little before the spawn.it used to be all about the big bluegills.now its all about how small the gills have gotten.the big males are the key.let them go after a few pics and keep all you want of the rest,this annual trip has been going for a couple decades now.the lake had an explosion of crappies a few years ago.we were getting 16s and 17s.it was the spawn and i made everyone who fished with me release those big females.it was real easy to get a limit of crappies over 12.now 5 years later everyone is complaing about the small crappies and lack of crappies in general.this is a lake that needs bluegill limits and a slot limit on crappies.i love a fish meal as much as anyone but love to catch fish even more

Originally Posted by Slab

I'm not done here with these threads. But I will say one thing, bashing someone posting their catch here will not be tolerated.

i also agree with you,what do they call it?selective harvest.i have bass tourney buddies who flip out when they see someone keep a bass for dinner.many lakes have too many bass and keeping a limit of bass for dinner is no different than a limit of anything.my point is that a big bluegill is becoming as rare as a 10lb bass in my area.want my grandkids to be able to catch a 1lb bluegill with their grandkids.