Thought....
Mike McK,.... I certainly agree with your thoughts and thank you for the info you posted earlier and you efforts on this.
Mike O.,.... I think we might have an area of agreement in this (YIKES!!!!). I too support legal harvest by legal means and safety in doing so. I know that you're a diver and respect the spearfishers request for the change as they did nothing to misrepresent their position.
My problem with CSBA is the manner in which it was carried out (stealthy) and the fact that they apparently encourage catch & release fishing for everyone but themselves. Should know better as CSBA's sponsor page reflects almost all bay area charter/party boat operators and other commercials as sponsors. That in itself isn't bad but it appears that we (including me) have misjudged who we should've placed our trust in to protect the resource (e.g. Stripers).
Finally, I do believe that this change will result in some major conflicts in areas where divers and bankies (in particular) are fishing the same waters. Since many of our counterparts don't respect the need for room, now, just imagine what will happen when we're all occupying the same waters. Every AM at the head of "last chance" riffle a couple of gear guys plant themselves and claim the entire riffle while bait/drift fishing. These guys are obnoxious to the point of causing some incidents at times. Now, think about how that attitude translates to an area like the Feather River at Shanghai Bend, the Lower American or Yuba.
Wonder how long it will be before the survivalists (spell that homeless) along the lower American pick up on this I can't imagine they'll try to distinguish between Salmon, Steelhead and Stripers....
"America is a country which produces citizens who will cross the ocean to fight for democracy but won't cross the street to vote."
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