[tiny]

hello all
I think it's admirable that you guys are so pationate in your persuit to get new regulations passed concerning catfish. I do however know of a few problems that have to be overcome in states that are focus'd on income from gamefish like bass, walleye, crappie etc etc ... all of these fish generate lots of money for the state's dnr or wildlife agencies and all of these fish are predated by flatheads ... the dnr recognizes this and will be very reluctant to impose limits and size restrictions due to the fact that the more flatheads there are in the waters the harder it is for them to maintain a fishery for the fish that bring in their income.

I don't know how true this is in Ohio but I discussed this in extent with an odwc officer here in oklahoma. He explained to me that most states that host fishing tournaments for walleye and bass generate staggering amounts of money compared to catfish anglers because the money and sponsorships, tv coverage and tourism generated by the scaly fish make catfish their number one enemy.

This seems to be the biggest hurdle to overcome since they govern our fisheries and not the cmb ... the catch n release issue has been beat to death there and everyone has made up their minds on the issue there and Jack knew that when he got you guys to come to the cmb ... he chose to do this on his own and without ya'lls knowing about his previous record there as a very militant objector to anyone keeping fish even if they lived 5 states away he'd flame people repeatedly.

I read through the post just a while ago where jack was building his posse to storm the cmb knowing full well the arguement was inevitable and this time instead of him fighting it alone he asked for back-up in trying to change the cmb's wicked ways.

The thing is that all the cmb members come from different parts of the US and a couple from canada and each environment is different. Here in oklahoma we have countless healthy fisheries where it doesn't hurt to harvest a limit of fish, and others that could do with very strong limitations.... the thing I'm getting at is there's very little anyone from the cmb can do to help your cause but it was jack's own personal way of keeping that iron hot I guess.

what happened was jack had someone come in on his fishin hole ... he said it was noodlers at first and now sayin it was trotliners so who knows ... who cares ... it wasn't me or anyone from the cmb so why does jack take it out on everyone there? beats me!

The problems to overcome here is you want stronger regulations in ohio. Our problem to overcome is this board getting sidetracked from it's goals to follow someone that's already alienated the catch n release discussion from appearing on the cmb and now going around and getting people that know nothing of his antics to come help him attempt to slam the cmb members into another fight... he even predicted that the cmb members were going to give him a ration and asked you fellers to come back him up.

Now I'm not sure what his intent is concerning the cmb but if I have to I'll start banning people, which I'll ask the members first as it's up to them ... I hope it doesn't come to that.

 

[mrfish/OH]

Interesting post

I haven't been to the CMB but I do post at another MB where the people are from all over the country. I brought this Catfish as Gamefish up in the OHIO forum there.
Different fisheries are different. When I went to Lake Marion at Santee, those guys keep about 100# of fish each per day. We saw three like that, but there has to be literally hundreds of guys doing that during the hot bite. That's thier business. Dave wanted to bring home a few fillets, so we did harvest a few, from one day, and released all the rest. Down there those cats are highly prized for the meat as it's a sandy bottom vs a mud bottom & the fish don't have that yellow in them, supposedly taste MUCH better.

Anyway , back to the topic at hand. There's a few of us putting in the legwork & time on trying to pass some regulations. I know it's going to take work & time and effort. There's a procedure that must be followed. I've said numerous times, lets get together & get this done. Set aside our differences for awhile and get this off the ground. Let's NOT make this about egos & personal agendas. Let's protect our Ohio Catfish.
Tiny, you mentioned this.

oklahoma we have countless healthy fisheries where it doesn't hurt to harvest a limit of fish

So are you saying you have limits ? If so what are they, you can answer me in a PM if you prefer. You also mentioned about the predator thing. I would think that eventually catfish tournaments will also generate the same types of income as the walleye & bass T's do now. Maybe the state will have specific site regulations. Where you may or may not harvest the larger fish. In other words, some lakes will become known as catfish lakes, just like some are striper lakes, walleye lakes, muskie lakes aready. Thanks in advance for your input. Jim

 

[tiny]

the limits

the limits are statewide regulations which are not concerned with the smaller, more accessable fisheries like below keystone dam where the fish can't come up river and has been fished out for the most part. In the lakes and rivers the limit is a pretty reasonable one at 15 channels and blues per fisherman and 10 flatheads per. Blues are considered channelcat in the limits so both count in the limit of 15.

The minimum flathead size is 20" which I think should be changed to about 30" because it don't take much of a flathead to reach 20 ... I think about a 3 to 4 lb flathead will make the 20" minimum.

I'd personally like to see a maximum length limit also which would allow the big fish to be more abundant, but that's just my personal feelings over the subject and would never try to get such a thing enforced other than just a vote towards this change in certain areas that can't sustain heavy fishing pressure.

The reason I'd want things like this is from a purely selfish standpoint. It would allow me to catch bigger fish but on the other end of the scope would take away from other people's rights to harvest fish from healthy fishing environments and some of which do so out of necessity. I won't try to take those people's livelyhood from them just to make things nicer for myself and I think most catch n release arguements stem from this same selfishness.

It'd be great to have such a fishery that you can go out and catch really big fish all the time but at what cost would it come. How many of those disabled and poor folk depend on a regular fish supper once in a while that would otherwise be denied this due to our wanting better sport. This is the reason I spend my efforts in the direction of setting examples instead of pushing for more regulations.

When I started catching and releasing almost all the fish I catch below keystone dam it was unheard of. People acted like I was kicking them in the head when I wouldn't give them the fish I was catching and old ladies threatening to get into a fist fight with me but I continued releasing fish. Now there are several of the regulars that don't mind releasing larger fish.

If I keep fish from keystone dam it'd never be over 7 lbs and not very often at that ... If I'm needing fish I'll go fish in the lake one or two nights and stock up and not keep anything over 25 lbs from the lake ... it takes too long to grow them big fish to waste them for my supper and this is just my self emposed regulations I've set for myself and anyone that fishes with me I'd ask before we go out if it's okay with them to release the bigger fish ... all have affirmed that it was a good idea.

so what I'm saying is I promote catch and release but in a more subtle, less selfish way that won't ever have a chance of taking away other people's rights. In doing this I hope that it does some good one day.

 

[mrfish/OH]

Thanks.

If you've been looking, I've been leaning towards a 10 fish limit combined. Only one fish over 30" and maybe no fish over 40"
It probably won't happen ( the 40" maximum) but a 10 fish limit should satisfy anyones appetite for fish dinners. We filleted 9 fish, a total of 43# of fish, and had alot of meat. from Santee.
My thinking is to lump them together. Blues are endangered here, but most can't tell a blue from a channel. Also a brown channel looks like a flathead or visa versa to alot of anglers. The size limit of 30" will automatically protect the flatheads as most channels here are going to be smaller than that, so it protects the larger fish ( the flatheads)

 

[BottomBouncer]

What does cmb stand for exactly?

 

[CW03]

CMB=Catfish Message Board