I took some time off from fishing because of health issues and Covid .
I have recently returned to find my favorite water reservoir lake void of fish .
I’m mostly a sunfish or panfish ultralight fisherman who practices catch and release 99.9% of the time .
Over the years I’ve witnessed folks bait fishing panfish beds until they were wiped . But I knew there were some beds in deeper water that allowed the fish to recover and to keep a decent population over the the years .
Now with the new electronics, people are able to find the deep water fish and with bait have ruined the lake for everybody .
The “ fishermen” I’m talking about , don’t follow regulations. If they catch it , no matter what size , it goes in the bucket, only now it’s a livewell.
It only took a couple of years to wipe out the fish population in this 350 acre reservoir.
My electronics consists of an old Eagle depth finder that shows fish as little fish and the depth . Also beeps when I pass over one . I bet I haven’t heard more than 10 beeps in the last four fishing trips .
I can remember years before underwater structure that I would pass over and the beeper would sound off with multiple beeps and show the structure full of fish , now , occasionally I’ll might get one beep , if I’m lucky .
And it hasn’t stopped . On a recent trip , a guy fishing off the docks with minnows landed an undersized bass and it went straight into his bucket . As I passed under the only bridge on the reservoir, a couple of guys in a large bass boat loaded with electronics were tied up under the bridge dropping minnows down under the bridge .
When I asked if they had had any luck , one said he’d caught dinner , a four pound largemouth.
It’s sad that people would abuse a resource in this way .