Excessive Catch?

[TahoeJeff]

What do you guys think of the amount of fish kept and killed by these guys?

http://imhooked.com/cgi-bin/forumsyabb/YaBB.pl?num=1313715834

Fantastic Goldens for sure, but all those fish were eaten by 2 people?

[Terry Imai]

I'm amazed at the size and shape of those fish due to the lake's elevation location. While I usually practice C&R (almost 100% of my fish), there are times where I don't have any problems with keeping a few for dinner. Any body of water can support only a specific number of fish where there are too many fish with limited food become stunted and need to be caught for thinning out the population. If you have to horseback into that lake, I'm assuming that lake isn't hit by too many fishermen and taking a few out of the lake generally will not affect the overall condition when you take into the number of fish removed from the winter kill.

I bet those trout were very tasty and as long as they were properly consumed rather than thrown on the side of the trail or put in the freezer for several years; I believe should be too large of an issue.

[luckydude]

It's way more than I'd keep, one of those would be more than enough for dinner. Seems lame.

I agree that thinning out is good if they are stunted but those are nice healthy big trout, why not leave them for the next guy?

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

Not sure what they did with all those big fish?

I think eating "some" fish fresh in the back-country is OK.

Who would want to pack them out??

[Fly Guy Dave]

This subject is discussed ad-nauseum in the general fishing link of this board here:
http://www.kiene.com/forums/showthread.php?t=24515

[TahoeJeff]

Sorry guys, I didn't seee that thread in the General Fly Fishing section.

[Scott V]

If they eat what they killed and did not exceed the limit I am fine with it.

And I personally do not eat fresh water trout, just don't care for it. But if they are obeying the laws and regulations it is not our place to say anything bad about them. Now if they did not eat everything they killed then I have a big problem with that.

[Jgoding]

Whack 'em and stack 'em.... that's what I say. I think they said they ate 10 total, cnr the rest I presume.

I'm all for CnR but if you keep what you catch there's nothing I can do to stop you if you're in the regs.... just don't be a crybaby and be the first person complaining when your fishing spots are all fished out... or all you catch is dinks cuz you kept all the big ones...

[briansII]

Whack 'em and stack 'em.... that's what I say. I think they said they ate 10 total, cnr the rest I presume.

I'm all for CnR but if you keep what you catch there's nothing I can do to stop you if you're in the regs.... just don't be a crybaby and be the first person complaining when your fishing spots are all fished out... or all you catch is dinks cuz you kept all the big ones...

This is not directed at you, jgoding. Just an observation of what this person has posted, vs what we can see in his pictures.

He said he ate 10 trout on that trip. If you look at the pictures in his first post, I count 21 fish. Not saying he didn't release those, but if you look at them, they don't look all that healthy. Kinda dry looking, with pupils centered. They are also holding them up by the gill plates. If you count just the fish in the pictures, where multiple fish are being held at the same time, there's 15. Maybe it's just me, but I don't see any of those fish being released....alive anyway. I'm not even counting the fish in the second run of pictures he posts.

So he only ate 10 fish on the trip?

I would really like to think this guide did not waste any fish, but something(his posts & pictures) is nagging at me that it did happen.

briansII

[jbird]

This is a TRAVESTY!!!!!! Shame on them! And if they were in the legal boundaries of the catch limit, shame on the state of California!!

[Ed Wahl]

I think that fish-hoggery of the first order. Sure it's legal.
But consider this.

"Ethical behavior is doing the right thing when no one else is watching- even when doing the wrong thing is legal."
— Aldo Leopold

Anyone care to argue with Aldo?

Ed

[luckydude]

I think that fish-hoggery of the first order. Sure it's legal.
But consider this.

"Ethical behavior is doing the right thing when no one else is watching- even when doing the wrong thing is legal."
— Aldo Leopold

Anyone care to argue with Aldo?

Ed

I could tell you how I also am from Wisconsin, blah blah blah. What Aldo said is so profoundly right there is nothing I could add to that. What he said is what I try to teach my kids.

[OceanSunfish]

I think that fish-hoggery of the first order. Sure it's legal.
But consider this.

"Ethical behavior is doing the right thing when no one else is watching- even when doing the wrong thing is legal."
— Aldo Leopold

Anyone care to argue with Aldo?

Ed

Unfortunately, Aldo's rule hasn't been past on to future generations (plural).... goes way beyond bad behavior in fishing..... i.g.; subprime mortgage BS, Wall St., and the calamity that is now our two-party political system.

I can recite instances where you actually get penalized for doing the 'right' thing today. Very sad indeed.

[wineslob]

We ate the fish we kept and released over 100 goldens...Or More on that Trip . I have been catching and releasing goldens at theses lakes for over 30 years... without dent... they are getting Better... and Bigger every year....


and I have done the same thing in certain lakes. One of which is no longer a trophy (up to 5lbs at one time) Brookie lake because F&G f*cked it up.

I'll reserve my distain for the Gov. They've done far more "damage" than any guide could ever think of doing.

[joh]

I am so offended. So offended that they ruined two perfectly good ribeye steaks.

[Ted S.]

It's hard to justify keeping that many big fish anywhere. Pretty ugly scene in a beautiful spot.....

[GoldenStone]

That makes me sick... Especially when the trout in the pan are smaller guys! What the heck!

[BillB]

Ed made reference to taking the fish in question may be legal but . . . I think (occasionally I am guilty of thinking!) this is a larger problem today than solely fishing. There are many instances where many "stretch" the law. We may abide by the law but creep up to the fringes of legality and occasionally place one foot on the other side. A huge issue we face as humans is recognizing the "spirit" of the law or living the "heart" of the law. We may be legal but the "spirit" may wish us more conservative in regards to the ultimate goal. If the limit is 5 but the "spirit" is telling us to conserve our resources and take only minimally. I suppose it may be like the accident victim stating that he/she had the right of way, but the other car ran the stop sign. Still got you in an accident and you were completely legal! So, pardon the ramblings of an old man but as Ed says "I think that fish-hoggery of the first order. Sure it's legal. But consider this."

[Woodman]

When you're taking fish/catch photos that look like those from the early 20th century with the only difference being that yours are color and not black and white, you may need to realize that you're out of step with the times....

The fact that it's a guide whose livelihood is dependent on sustainable natural resources makes it all the worse.

http://i1089.photobucket.com/albums/i343/jwoodling/Doc_LS_Fish_Catch_Extraordinaire_Bill_Reeve_1914.j pg

[OceanSunfish]

Ed made reference to taking the fish in question may be legal but . . . I think (occasionally I am guilty of thinking!) this is a larger problem today than solely fishing. There are many instances where many "stretch" the law. We may abide by the law but creep up to the fringes of legality and occasionally place one foot on the other side. A huge issue we face as humans is recognizing the "spirit" of the law or living the "heart" of the law. We may be legal but the "spirit" may wish us more conservative in regards to the ultimate goal. If the limit is 5 but the "spirit" is telling us to conserve our resources and take only minimally. I suppose it may be like the accident victim stating that he/she had the right of way, but the other car ran the stop sign. Still got you in an accident and you were completely legal! So, pardon the ramblings of an old man but as Ed says "I think that fish-hoggery of the first order. Sure it's legal. But consider this."

Yes indeed. The first thing that I questioned was the man's couth, not the legality of the catch.

[Jgoding]

LOL JOH, i thought the same thing... pan frying ribeyes??????? Brians, sometimes I post to be funny as I would never whack em and stack em like that. I read the whole thread and they said they ate 10 and I hardly believe that too but who knows. Some of the pics could be the same fish but it does look like they kept a lot of them.

I keep 1 striper a year (22"-24" range) and maybe a couple of trout on the lower McCloud by the lake. I do dislike people posting pics all week long of fish they've been catching.... Reading the sniffer this one guy was keeping fish (stripers off the AR) almost every day. Although it's perfectly legal, with the fisheries the way they are I just can't condone it. Plenty of dead fish pretty cheap at the supermarket if you wanna eat some. Last year I did not keep any fish and all the fish we've caught this year have been CnR'd. Some people do not understand this mentality but if figure if I want to keep catching fish I can at least respect the fishery enough to know that now's not the time to be filling the freezer.

[bigfly]

There are all kinds of guides, just like people.
Some are concerned with the environment, some consumer oriented.
I guessing the latter in this case.
One time I found the mother load of fish in a high lake. Every big fish in the lake was in the same spot. Could have pummeled them.
We caught dinner (1 fish that size feeds two growing boys), and left the rest for you guys.
Wish everybody did.......

Jim

[Scott V]

There are all kinds of guides, just like people.
Some are concerned with the environment, some consumer oriented.
I guessing the latter in this case.
One time I found the mother load of fish in a high lake. Every big fish in the lake was in the same spot. Could have pummeled them.
We caught dinner (1 fish that size feeds two growing boys), and left the rest for you guys.
Wish everybody did.......

Jim

Jim I really doubt you found a lake with big fish sitting in the same spot. Can you please send me gps coordinates so I can verify this for myself. :p

[bigfly]

Scott, I'd have to kill me if I did.....
Seriously, it was during the infamous one fly tourney in 1980. Best friend and I almost came to blows over that one fly.
Found 7-8 big goldens in a nameless lake at 11,000 FT. (that should narrow it down a little) a deep water point, everything else was shallow.
Stacked up like......fish. I can still see'em. One was big enough to spool my buddy.
Went back later, a horse pack trail led straight to the spot.......
Lake seemed fish free....
I guess that's why a bunch of Alpha class fish on stringer seems a little sad to me, and why I would eat the little ones..